2022 HasLab - Black Series Reva FX Elite Lightsabers

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

This is sad and entertaining at the same time. Hopefully the SW Haslab team gets a reboot.

Yeah, I'm not sure if they've got a mission to broaden the Haslab SW collecting world, or if their primary mission is to make money.

If its to make money they should stay focused on 3.75".  If its to broaden the Haslab world to something other than 3.75" they've managed to get the failure part mastered. 

They're 2 for 2 on 3.75" and 0 for 2 on everything else.

Are there any weapons or props you guys think haslab should touch?

That doesn't seem like a good fit to me. There's plenty of other companies doing life size replicas and hasbro and disney have so many lightsabers covered.  I feel like action figure related toys are the best SW ideas to focus on with has lab. Plus TVC is the scale for me.

[Dave]

I can't think of a weapon that would work, unless its some crazy Star Wars Nerf thing.  But then you run the risk of people thinking $250 for a Nerf gun???  I passed on the $120 Mandalorian Amban-phase rifle because it was too expensive and I love Nerf.

I'm sure we've debated it in other threads, but I'm not sure what 6" vehicle/mega set I would be willing to drop $250+ on that was more than just a pile of figures.  The problem with 6" vehicles is that they're just so damn big I'm not sure I would get any just for space reasons.  I've got nearly every 6" figure, but passed on the TIE as it was too big.  I got the $140 snowspeeder, but have struggled to find a place to display it.  I like the speeder bikes, landspeeder etc, but those are smaller $40 items.

Maybe a Max Rebo band and instruments set, but that is mostly a big figure set.

I'm not interested in a 6" X-Wing or A-wing or N-1 Naboo Starfighter, or anything else that I can think of.

[Matt_Fury]

There are plenty of saber making companies out there to the point that you can find what you want, the quality ranging from something that looks good on display to something that you can really duel with and it just comes down to what you are willing to pay.

That being said, the Hasbro Black Series sabers are really nice and for a decent price.  Hell, their Darksaber and Rey Skywalker sabers are better quality than their Disney Legacy counterparts.  I'd have purchased that new Obi-Wan saber from Hasbro if you didn't have to change the neck of the hilt to accommodate a blade.  I really wish someone would make that improvement!

[Dave]

The project is officially unfunded with a final tally of 1,413 backers.  Just a wee bit shy of the goal of 5,000.

[McMetal]

For 6” I still think the AT-ST is doable and wouldn’t be such a burden to display. You could also add some excellent tiers in there with extra Ewoks, logs, etc. people keep saying X-wing but that would be too damn big.

For 3.75” scale a lot of people seem to bring up The Ghost, which is surprising to me because no one (except me) was clamoring for it when the show was on and we actually had a shot at it. But that would be a dream. Especially if it matched the existing Phantom aesthetically.

I think they will probably stay away from Star Wars for awhile now though. Get ready for that My Little Pony HasLab! 

[Nicklab]

Hasbro keeps getting in their own way with some of these Haslab choices.  Their TVC campaigns were great.  But I don't know what they were thinking here.

I do not like seeing Star Wars fail. And I think reveling in it isn't exactly a good look, either. Criticism that's based in a credible assessment of the Star Wars collecting landscape is certainly welcome.
I think that a Reva Force FX Elite lightsaber is a good idea in that Black Series roleplay line. But I think that it probably should have been released in a way that was similar to the Darth Maul Episode I lightsaber - a mainline release where you could buy one and combine it with a second to make the double bladed saber.  Because that $500 price tag was definitely a deterrent.

Secondly? Hasbro needs to put themselves in a position to succeed. So if they're committed to the concept of a Haslab campaign for a Black Series roleplay item - they need to go with something that's a dream item. That's the idea behind Haslab. I can appreciate how they wanted to be current by going with Reva. But given the timing of the launch of the campaign? Reva was not well established enough as a character to be the centerpiece of a Haslab campaign. If the campaign might have began after the Obi-Wan Kenobi series aired? The response might have been different. But if Hasbro was really keen on a high priced Black Series roleplay item? Something like Boba Fett's jetpack or gauntlets, or perhaps Darth Maul's CW season 7 lightsaber might have found more traction since those characters have had decades to build up their own fanbases.

I think a Black Series Haslab campaign for either the 6" figures or the Black Series roleplay line is still a possibility. But I think Hasbro needs to explore the nuances of what drives those segments of Star Wars collecting, and what would really resonate with collectors of those lines.

[Dave]

For 6” I still think the AT-ST is doable and wouldn’t be such a burden to display. You could also add some excellent tiers in there with extra Ewoks, logs, etc. people keep saying X-wing but that would be too damn big.

I think they would definitely need to make something that is more vertical that you could put on top of a bookshelf or something.  Although how tall would a 6" scale AT-ST be?  Probably close to 3' wouldn't it?  Still probably too tall to be displayed very easily in most cases.

I too would love to see The Ghost in 3.75".  Maybe if the ship shows up in the Ahsoka mini-series we might have a chance of them offering it.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

That's the idea behind Haslab. I can appreciate how they wanted to be current by going with Reva. But given the timing of the launch of the campaign? Reva was not well established enough as a character to be the centerpiece of a Haslab campaign.

I don't have any desire to defend this poor campaign, but wasn't this the first black series Inquisitor saber? I assumed this campaign was the chance to produce an Inquisitor saber, tied to a new character from a new series. So not just a bet on Reva as a character.

Either way it was a poor bet, and I support the idea of pursuing this as a normal release in two halves like Maul's sabers. Thought I don't buy many sabers and wont be buying it if it is released.

[Jeff]

I don't have any desire to defend this poor campaign, but wasn't this the first black series Inquisitor saber? I assumed this campaign was the chance to produce an Inquisitor saber, tied to a new character from a new series. So not just a bet on Reva as a character.

I blame the marketing more than the product.  Did the Star Wars team do anything to support this after the kick-off at Celebration?

For example, the main image on the Haslab shows the full ring version, which Reva didn't even really use (except once she used what was obviously the "stunt saber" they had with the spinning tech).  This led people to complain it wasn't really "Reva's saber".  You could customize it to just the half-ring version Reva had, but that wasn't clear unless you got into the guts of the text.

They should have branded it as an "Imperial Inquisitor" Lightsaber.  Your chance to join the Empire in the search for Jedi like the scum Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Leaned into the role-play part of it.  Then showed how you could customize/display it as The Grand Inquisitor's saber (full ring) or Reva's (half ring) or split into two sabers.

I think the whole "no tiers" thing put people off as well. I think the tiers and the chance to "sweeten the pot" draws more backers.  Not sure what they could have done that wouldn't have just been cost trickery (like saving the display stand for tier 1).  Maybe they could have added some kind of brass display name plates (Third Sister, Grand Inquisitor, Fifth Brother, etc) for a tier?  Maybe some kind of kyber crystal or holocron or something?

[Nicklab]

I was shocked to see how much the prices have risen on the Force FX Elite sabers.  $270 - $300 now?!?!?!  I agree that tackling an Inquisitor lightsaber seemed like a challenge for Hasbro in this line.  The Grand Inquisitor was the most familiar of the bunch from the REBELS series.  But it seemed like we were getting to know the character again in the OWK series.

From what I've seen the Inquisitor lightsabers are unique to each of the Inquisitors.  Reva's looks different from the Grand Inquisitor's saber.

The launch was clearly tied to Star Wars Celebration and the debut of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.  But I think Hasbro needed to weigh the price tag of this lightsaber with fans familiarity with the character.  $500 is steep to begin with.  When that price tag is linked to a character that fans don't really know yet?  I think that it was not a great risk to take, and that's because the character just had so much less history.  The added effect here is that I really believe each failed campaign diminishes the Haslab brand.

[Dave]

Tough choice for a Haslab campaign on multiple fronts.  It sounds like having a generic Inquisitor lightsaber would be hard to pull off, and nobody knew who Reva was when this started.  Even if they had done the launch later I still don't think Reva was that interesting of a character and thus the lightsaber isn't all that iconic. 

I'm not sure any amount of marketing support from the Hasbro team would have pushed this over the finish line, but you can clearly see the difference between the GI Joe promotions and the energy behind those Haslab offerings.  I'm not sure anyone here was even close to on the fence about this.

[Nicklab]

On the character front, I think there's some history we could look at that might give a little perspective about how fan attitudes change.  Does anyone remember 2008?  And the rather strong reactions to Ahsoka in the Clone Wars animated movie?  OMG, people were brutal!  But she evolved into a beloved character.  I don't know if Reva is going to get that expansive of a story arc - Ahsoka got 7 seasons of Clone Wars, appearances in 2 Disney+ series and a series of her own.  It's just interesting to see how things change.

Here's a comparable, hypothetical situation - would people have backed Ahsoka's two white bladed lightsabers at $500?  I think the love for the character would have carried it to full backing.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

Here's a comparable, hypothetical situation - would people have backed Ahsoka's two white bladed lightsabers at $500?  I think the love for the character would have carried it to full backing.

Yeah, that may have succeeded. Though, do they even need haslab to sell Ahsoka's sabers?

[Nicklab]

Here's a comparable, hypothetical situation - would people have backed Ahsoka's two white bladed lightsabers at $500?  I think the love for the character would have carried it to full backing.

Yeah, that may have succeeded. Though, do they even need haslab to sell Ahsoka's sabers?

The most recent Ahsoka lightsaber was just the one blue bladed saber from CW season 7.  Her lightsaber releases have never included the second shorter saber.

[GrandMoffNick]

I plan to buy all and only 3.75 Haslab. That being said if every Haslab SW offering going forward were to be 3.75 I may have to skip some things for sake of space and my wife's wrath. I don't know if Hasbro has been trying to play to different groups of collectors (of course there's overlap) but I appreciate it. That being said that only works if they make better choices on front end.