2021 HasLab - Black Series Rancor

[Nicklab]

They said during the livestream on Friday that they had to meet the 9,000 backer goal, and that it had to be done by December 7th.  Changing that could damage the integrity of Haslab.  If people know that a project is going to end up being funded no matter what?  Then where is the incentive for people to back a campaign?  Aside from the Cookie Monster campaign failure, you had to expect that one of the major franchises would have a failure at some point.

The Skystriker campaign has a deadline the same day as the Rancor.  It's got a 10,000 unit goal, and they're only at 5600 backers right now.  GI Joe might be a house brand, but is Hasbro willing to eat over 4000 Skystrikers in order for the campaign to move forward?  I'm curious to see how things proceed over the next week or so with both campaigns.

[Dave]

They said during the livestream on Friday that they had to meet the 9,000 backer goal, and that it had to be done by December 7th.  Changing that could damage the integrity of Haslab.  If people know that a project is going to end up being funded no matter what?  Then where is the incentive for people to back a campaign? 

I think this is why we won't see any extra sweeteners for the unlocks too.  I'm sure they don't want to condition people to hold out for a better deal every time they roll one of these out.

This item may turn out to just be a bad choice by Hasbro.

[Matt_Fury]

Looking around the collecting community on YouTube, a lot of people are calling Hasbro out on their lack of general knowledge of the Franchise (mainly Ling and Patrick).  Hell, Ling actually said in the previous livestream that the moment the Rancor ate the Stormtrooper as an iconic moment in the movie.  Return of the Jedi has been around for 38 years, you would think she might have found some time to watch it.

A lot of the channels that focus on Black Series figures who have dropped their orders are thinking of still backing it...mainly for FOMO reasons.  I still think this will get some Galactus level amount of backers and at least get funded...Hasbro does not want the embarrassment of a Star Wars Haslab not getting backed, especially after the success of the Razor Crest.

[P-Siddy]

Looking around the collecting community on YouTube, a lot of people are calling Hasbro out on their lack of general knowledge of the Franchise (mainly Ling and Patrick).  Hell, Ling actually said in the previous livestream that the moment the Rancor ate the Stormtrooper as an iconic moment in the movie.  Return of the Jedi has been around for 38 years, you would think she might have found some time to watch it.

To be fair to Ling, the early concepts of the Rancor had a Stormtrooper beside it to show the scale so being in the moment of the livestream and seeing the Stormtrooper it might have just been in the back of her head when she said that instead of Piggy Guard, which she may have meant.

[Matt_Fury]

I can't give her the benefit of the doubt.  She didn't even try to correct herself.

There's a good clip of her in this video and the guy makes some great points about the Rancor and stretch goals.


Like Nick, I'm also surprised the Skystryker isn't doing so well.  That seems to be priced well and has some really cool stretch goals.  I'm not a GI Joe collector and I even thought about backing it!

[Nicklab]

A lot of the channels that focus on Black Series figures who have dropped their orders are thinking of still backing it...mainly for FOMO reasons.  I still think this will get some Galactus level amount of backers and at least get funded...Hasbro does not want the embarrassment of a Star Wars Haslab not getting backed, especially after the success of the Razor Crest.

The Galactus situation seemed touch and go for a while.  But in that last week it started surging in a big way.  I actually had an exchange with Steve Evans of Hasbro about it on Instagram, and he said that the projections and trends indicated there would probably be a strong, late push.  And Galactus wound up surging in a big way, to the point of hitting at least 4 stretch goals.

Could FOMO drive the Rancor in that final week?  Maybe.  But we seem to be knee deep in action figure collecting Schadenfreude as people speculate about what this means, along with the TVC cultists yelling "SEE!  SEE!  WE TOLD YOU STAR WARS IS A 3.75" FIGURE SCALE!!!"

[Matt_Fury]

Good points Nick.  I'm curious if something similar happen with the Rancor.  I checked this morning and it dropped to 4,769 backers and just checked again a few minutes ago and saw it's 4,770.  Did it hit bottom?  I don't know, but I do expect a surge towards the end, because that always seems to happen.

As someone who primarily collects the 3.75 scale, of course I'm biased that I want Hasbro to focus more on that scale.  Looking at the Razor Crest, it would seem that scale is more popular, but I have a feeling that has more to do with the vehicles being so popular and the 6" scale just is not conducive to vehicles.  (Although a 6" scale Falcon would be absolutely glorious!)

[Dave]

I'd be interested to know how many units of 6" TIE Fighters and Snowspeeders sold at full retail, and how that compares to their Rancor target.

If they didn't sell 10x at normal retail for each of these (around 100,000), then I'm not sure there is a market for large 6" items, regardless of price.   I think each of those were $130ish at full retail.

The TIEs seemed to sit even at hefty discounts (did they get as low as $40??), and I'm not sure I ever saw a 6" Snowspeeder at retail - they seemed to be online only.

I'm just not sure how many people want a 6" item that large (that's what she said).

[P-Siddy]

It gained a backer since lunch!

[Rob]

I thought the TIE was $180 at retail…

I bought one on Amazon for $60 and hung it at work.  Now that I work from home I don’t know what to do with it and will probably chuck it up on Craigslist pretty soon.

[P-Siddy]

It gained a backer since lunch!

And it went back down one.  I wonder if someone was playing a cruel joke.

[Dave]

I thought the TIE was $180 at retail…

I bought one on Amazon for $60 and hung it at work.  Now that I work from home I don’t know what to do with it and will probably chuck it up on Craigslist pretty soon.

I bought a Snowspeeder on sale, but mostly for the Dak.  I should probably list the Snowspeeder on Craigslist too as I have never displayed it and don't have any plans to.

[Rob]

This makes it official.  Kill the 6” line, double investment in 3.75”.  This stuff is just too space consuming.

[Nicklab]

The 6" line does seem to have become a little stale.  They worked their way through the OT and the Sequel Trilogy like crazy.  It's almost like the philosophy behind the line - offering definitive versions of that character ONCE - has burned it out to a degree.  And it's very dependent on new entertainment.

[GrandMoffNick]

You both lost me there.