It may have been a tad untoward, but to me, it's no less disgusting than the neverending pimping (or is it whoring?) of BLOwen_D's photonovels around here, just so you can get a break on all the crap he makes for you, which is already overpriced to begin with.
But thanks for the psychoanalysis, Doctor.
![Tongue :P](https://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/Smileys/classic/tongue.gif)
The stupid comments you make as you slither behind my every post looking for something to cry about rarely get under my skin these days, but when you accuse me of something you know nothing about, then your complete ignorance of the subject truly shows. Normally I wouldn't feel any reason to explain anything to you that you aren't going to understand anyway, but when you accuse me of something like that, you are blasting my integrity; which is starting to cross a line. You really don't know me as well as you thought you did Matthew. So perhaps you need a refresher course.
First off, Owen makes dioramas, not photonovels. Big difference. Keep it straight next time.
Do I kiss Owen's ass? At times, yes (he is my best friend in his hobby after all and my collection would be pretty bland without his dioramas). But I think he deserves a hell of a lot of credit regardless if he's my friend or not. Owen is making dioramas that would be the ultimate playsets if Hasbro followed his style. And, he's the only person who is doing so that I'm aware of, and filling a huge gap in my collection by doing so, as well as for a lot of other people in the community.
But why did I start pimping Owen's work here? Not that I feel obligated to explain myself, but for you I'll make an exception, because lately you seem to be getting a bit stressed. I started discussing Owen's work here a while back because Owen doesn't post at Jedidefender and I thought people should see his work. He doesn't have DSL and only posts at RS, which is pretty rare for him to even post there. So, after getting my first diorama from him a couple years ago, I was amazed at the quality and wanted to show some new items in my collection, and naturally I credited Owen for his work. So I opened
This Thread showing the stuff I had purchased from him. And from time to time when a topic comes up where I want to reference something with a visual, I'll use one of Owen's items as an example if it applies.
Now, if you think Owen's stuff is overpriced, whatever. You've never ordered something from him and I doubt he'd deal with you anyway. And I've never seen evidence of you doing absolutely anything in customizing, so I'd say you're have a lack of knowledge on how much work goes into a work of art. Overpriced? What a joke.
As for you questioning my integrity, I started getting some discounts from Owen after my first 10 or so items I ordered from him (more than anyone else has ordered to that point), but also because we've become friends.
But you mean to tell me that I also get discounts from Owen because I show pictures of his work? That's new to me! I'll have to tell him that since
Matt said so, I get a discount moving forward.
Really Matt, if you have any more questions about the fine art of customizing, there is a great customizing section here where many people would be more than willing to assist you, or please feel free to PM me. This is a thread about playsets; not rotting horses in Kosovo.
Thanks for the reply Nicklab. Those are good points that you make and I'm not saying at all that I disagree with Hasbro needing to have well over 10,000 of an item to satisfy the retailers. I wonder how many of the exclusive Imperial Shuttle were produced though, or TIE Fighter? Granted those weren't new molds (or not much of new molds outside of the TIE wings) but they didn't have to try and supply each retail chain.
Exclusives, whether it be at retail or online is the only way I think we will ever see anything like this made. Which is exactly why I applaud the way Sideshow has handled the 12" line with their niche marketing.
New products are too expensive to design, tool and produce for most of them to be exclusives. That's why you're seeing big so many recycled items being done as exclusives. Just look at this year's exclusive vehicle lineup:
EXCLUSIVE VEHICLES/BEASTS
___ ARC-170 - Clone Wars deco TARGET EXCLUSIVE
___ Gold Squadron Y-Wing Starfighter TOYS R US EXCLUSIVE
___ 181st Squadron TIE Interceptor TOYS R US EXCLUSIVE
___ Geonosis Creatures TOYS R US EXCLUSIVE
___ Jedi Starfighter w/ Hyperdrive ring TOYS R US EXCLUSIVE
___ TIE Bomber TARGET EXCLUSIVE
Then compare that with the general market lineup for vehicles:
VEHICLES
___ AAT
___ Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter
___ AT-AP
___ Darth Vader's Sith Starfighter
___ Darth Vader's TIE Advanced X-1
___ General Grievous's Starfighter
___ Hailfire Droid
___ Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter
___ Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter
___ Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter
___ Sith Infiltrator
___ TIE Fighter (white deco)
___ V-Wing Starfighter
Hasbro needs to be able to make those new designs work for them in volume. So that means trying to get them in 10,000 stores as opposed to 1,500 stores in the case of Target or even 5,000 stores in the case of WalMart. Greater volume helps Hasbro to recoup the costs of new designs, otherwise it isn't worth it financially for Hasbro to produce new product.
I think the only way that any sort of good quality playsets/dioramas/enviromas can be done successfully would be a different approach than what they've been using with their mass retail. And they're probably not even interested in a different approach. We know they're out to make money, which is what they should be doing. But I think if they researched this some more they could find a way to get it done. I'm guessing internet exclusive is the best way. Maybe they could do something along the lines of a preview of the playset, and take preorders to get an idea on what the production should really be. Or something.
Anyways, your arguments do make complete sense Nicklab and I'm not disagreeing with you, just throwing out ideas.
![Tongue :P](https://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/Smileys/classic/tongue.gif)