Yes, this was an interesting development to say the least. One that I think might be around for a while to come too. My instant reaction to this news was "those money sucking pigs at Hasbro are just trying to screw us out of more of our hard earned dollars!" Though this is probably partially true, after I stopped to think about it and rationalize their reasoning, I realized that Hasbro really has every right to re-release these figures, and the manner in which they've chosen to do it - from a business standpoint - was very smart, and will indeed prove quite beneficial to them financially. As a company, I can't really fault them for finding an easy way to make more money - from both the kids and collectors.
What Hasbro is accomplishing here is getting some of the "core" figures back out on the market for those that may have missed them for various reasons the first time around. Had they not done it this way, they would've likely had to create another "rehash" of these particular figures, which as we all know, we're sick to death of. The way I'm trying to look at it, is if they aren't putting their resources into creating a new rehash (by just issuing an old one), they can instead be putting their now freed up resources into other figures, hopefully all-new ones, while still having some "core" characters available at retail for the kids.
I have
chosen to be a loose
and carded completist, and as such I can not necessarily find fault in Hasbro's decision to do what is in the best interest for their company. If they put an old figure on a new card, I'll have to pick one up to keep my carded collection complete. Plain and simple. Sure it sucks, but it's not Hasbro's fault that I've chosen to collect this way. Kenner re-released all of the Vintage figures on each subsequently issued new movie cardback as well, and nobody made a gripe back in the day about that...
As for the bases... Well, again I've got to say that this is a bummer for the loose completists that feel that they need to buy another just to have the new base (as I will), but again - not Hasbro's fault. The choice is all mine, and I've got to live with it. I must say that the new base is certainly a very nice touch in the way of an added accessory, but it is also very likely a clever attempt on Hasbro's part to lure in the loose completists dollars as well, even though they already bought the same figure before.
So as a loose and carded completist, I'm getting hit on both ends here, and will have to purchase TWO more of all 5 of these figures to keep my collections complete, along with any future ones as well. My initial reaction was 'THAT SUCKS' for Hasbro to do that to me! But like I said, they're making some very wise and clever business decisions here, and it is completely my own choosing to collect in the manner that I do, so if these rehashes piss me off and I still go out and buy them (which I will), I've got no one to blame but myself. But hey, at least I'll still have complete collections!
As far as the 5 specific figures chosen to be rehashes goes, well... they are some decent offerings of core characters, though I'd have probably made some different decisions myself. First off, the MOTDS
Maul was an excellent choice (if they had to go with a Maul), as it was near impossible to obtain at retail, and still near impossible on the secondary market as well. Good figure too! The
Han is certainly a good figure and choice (again, if they had to have a Han). The
Leia is OK, but the Commtech version was much nicer, not to mention a lot harder to find originally. That would've been a much better choice. The
C-3PO is decent, but I would've gone with the much nicer MMC version, which was also pretty hard to find (not to mention twice as expensive originally). As for the
Jango Fett... I am absolutely dumfounded by his inclusion here. He's STILL warming many of the pegs around here, and was NEVER hard to find at retail, and was released less than a year ago on a Saga cardback already! A most curious addition to say the least...
What I would like to see Hasbro do if they're going to continue with the rehashes, is try to pick some that
A) We could use some extras of (R2's, Stormtroopers, etc.) and/or
B) Were very hard to find the first time around (last waves of Ep. 1, Commtech R2, Motti, etc). That would be a lot better from a collector's standpoint.
Hasbro also needs to be very cautious about how they choose to include these figures in the future case assortments. If they're not careful, and overpack these things in the slightest bit, some, if not all, of them might very well become instant pegwarmers, which as we all know, could potentially lead to no new fresh figures on the pegs...
But as crappy as this rehash idea is, and as much as we'd all like to lash out at Hasbro about it, the completists are just going to have to suck it up and go out and buy 'em, or finally give in to the dark side and let go of their completist ways.
Don't expect to see
me doing that anytime soon though!
- End novel -
