Thanks for the responses guys. When I initially posted it I knew guys like Jeff, Matt and Pete were sort of stuck and I didn't want to offend them. In all probability I'll end up with the exclusives and all sorts of other **** as well, if only to get at some of the clones in there.
You could NEVER offend me on a topic such as this one. My wife and I met through I mutual love of both Star Wars and Star Trek, yet now, even she is like "when is enough, enough?"
God bless the condition known as OCD 'cause it runs through my blood stronger than any midichlorians through Anakin Skywalker - seriously.
Sure I don't army build to the extent of some of the other collectors, but I know I am a crack addict and Hasbro produces my crack. Pure and simple.
As much as I bitch, when the end finally does come, I will mourn the line's passing much in the same way I mourned the loss of the Playmates 5" Star Trek figure line.
Being that I work as a website manager as part of the marketing department where I work, I'm very much in tune with branding and marketing and what helps actually SELL a product. What boggles my mind more than ANYTHING else is the amount of cost cutting Hasbro is willing to do in order to raise their profits in the short term at the expense of the brand. It's almost like someone at Hasbro is angry that they have this license and wants to put the final nails in its coffin. I just can't explain it.
One thing that echos here and on other boards is that if Hasbro actually wanted to, they could produce good product, raise the price point and all of us would still buy simply because the product is good. Like if they went to a line that was nothing but Evolutions Sets for new versions of the core characters and then re-tooled rehashes with Battle Packs, I would actually be okay with that.
It's when they repaint or recast in a translucent plastic a figure that (a) we just got or (b) have multiples of that I get frustrated. I mean Anakin #2 and Obi-Wan #1 are going to start giving Cantina Han a run for his money. They both came carded, they both are coming with Jedi Starfighters, Obi-Wan came with the Target Cup and now they are getting the "Lava Reflection" treatment. While I would have been okay with the Lava Reflection treatment, I would have preferred trhat they use the later release Anakin and Obi-Wan figures instead, if for no other reason that to "mix it up" a bit. However, the scary truth is that I LIKE these Target "Lava Reflect" Anakin and Obi-Wan figures and almost wish that this is how the two figures had been released initially. The bases are nice (albeit they're going to get a lot of use with the sep leaders having them too) and it's almost like Target asked Hasbro to make them 3.75" versions of the Anakin vs. Ob-Wan Unleashed figures.
It's hard when you love a line so much, are friends with other collectors who clearly love the line as well and collectively you all know that if Hasbro would just let your group be the focus group for the line, you would produce FAR SUPERIOR product than Hasbro comes up with.
I no longer buy into the rhetoric that Hasbro suggests figures to LFL and they pick and choose which ones they make. I mean who at Lucasfilm is going "repaint the Nemoidian? BRILLIANT!" I mean really.
I think all of us here would have GLADLY seen the #41 Clone repainted with Green stripes for Gree's grunts, Yellow stripes for Cody's grunts, Red markings as ShockTroopers and Blue markings for the 501st Legion all released as variants to #41 or as newly numbered releases.
Commander Bly and Commander Gree were easy re-tools of the respective figures so I can't blame them there. I also can't really blame them on the Grievous Bodyguard and the Wookie Warriors. The bodyguard sculpt could be better, but it is what it is and there WERE the two variations on color in the movie. These are choices I could see even us suggesting to bolster the army building potential of the line.
As I write this post, I'm still going through all of the pictures on GH and right now I just stumbled on the Crap Battlers and the [du]M
Pire garbage. Effort was put into developing, sculpting, tooling and manufacturing these turds. And the bread and buttler line gets 15 repaints for the remainder of the year? What a load of **** that is!
Now I'm looking at the Titanium stuff - and while I do think this little line is nicely done. I don't collect it, but if I was an Action Fleet collector, I would view any work on this line to be a HUGE slap in the face, especially with the 6" Titanium vehicles coming out. Also as a 3.75" collector, when I see things like the Titanium Republic Swamp Speeder (or whatever that speeder with the two clones is called), I wonder to myself, if they have this sculpt like this, why can't a version be made for the 3.75" scale too? The toy industry has long had the ability to scale up and down from source sculpts. If they were sculpting this vehicle for Titanium, why not start at the larger 3.75" size and then scale down for Titanium? Perhaps there's a piece of toy making logic that I'm missing, if there is, someone needs to explain it to me... VERY .... SLOWLY, 'cause no matter what you say, I'll still be confused.
Ok - enough ranting for now...
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