JediDefender.com Forums
Collectibles => Past Hasbro 3.75" Lines => Saga Collection '06 => Topic started by: Brian on March 10, 2006, 04:04 PM
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There's a few different vehicle threads in the forums, so forgive me if this is redundant at all. I was just wondering how many of you collect the vehicles, and if you do, if you display them. Are there only certain ones you buy (maybe OT or PT, or just new ones or properly scaled ones), or do you buy anything that is new or different? Also, do you (and how do you) display them? I have been looking at my vehicles lately, and while I do have them all out, they are tough to display sometimes because of their size and I'm pretty much out of room at this point. With some more rumored this year that I'd like to pick up (Snowspeeder, AT-AT), as well as some other OT vehicles that I'd like to eventually pick up (Imp. Shuttle, Cloud Car, Y-Wing, Skiff, Sandcrawler, TIE Bomber), I know that space will be even more of an issue. I've considered packing up some of the PT ships, but I really like some of them too. Anyways, I was just wonder how many of you collect the vehicles. If you have them, do you display them in a particular way or have to pack them up?
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Nice Thread.
Well I love vehicles and I display as many as I can. I actually think that given the fact these are toys and if they do no have a window display it is a crime not to open and show them off (IMHO).
Half of my basement is finished and so it is my Star Wars/home theater room. I display vehicles in dioramas with figures. I have my Arena battle playset with all the figures that have been made from that sequence there and I have two gunships. One is taking off after dropping off reinforcements and the second is fighting two geonosian fighters in the air. A single Hallfire droid drives around the scene.
I have an AT-AT crushing a snowspeeder (with Dak still in it). While another snowspeeder "flies" around another AT-AT with a tow cable.
I have a rebel hangar that has two x-wings, a y-wing and two a-wings along with a few dozen pilots (released and customized) and lot of droids.
I have an ARC-170 giving Anakin's and Obi-Wan JFs support as they fence off two of those tri-droid fighters.
I have some TIE (fighters, bomber and interceptors) dog fighting with alliance ships.
All of these hang from the ceiling. I have 6 or so x-wings and a-wings plus 3 b-wings in storage waiting for more ceiling space when I buy a house.
I have wookie copters flying over a massive battle between droids and wookies and clones. Yoda is flying over in his dragonfly looking thing.
I have some vehicles that I like to much that I keep in my desk at home, work, or in the lab like the T-16, Slave 1, EU airspeeder and cloud car. Most of them though I display in an action sequence. Amidala's ship, the Falcon and Anakin's CW fighter sit proudly in shelves of my entertainment center.
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I have my BARC Speeder parked behind my Clones. My Droid Starfighter (Vulture) is on the same shelf with my small CIS army, and my EU SOTE Swoop is parked next to my K*Mart Cantina. I couldn't fit my Target TIE Fighter on one of my shelves, so it's sitting on my desk.
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If it's not to-scale I pass at this point... Which is nice because I save a lot of $ these days.
For display, right now it's mostly packed away but I am pondering hanging some items. I have multiples of some ships though, and as many as 6 red A-Wings and 4 Green A-Wings... So those won't hang but I'll probably just shelf them. I have a lot of TIE Bombers too and two Target TIE's I'll probably shelf somewhere as well.
The Jedi Fighters I may hang though simply because they'll be out of the way if I do that.
I used to collect 1:18 WW2 Airplanes however there's so many and they're so huge that I can't justify buying them. The armor pieces I still buy I'm trying to just display side-by-side since it shows scale, comparisons of pieces that would have matched up, etc... But these things are all huge compared to most SW toys.
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I love the ships, but space has definately become a big factor. Now I will only buy/keep them if they fit in to a theme I have. I have a cabinet that is all Imerials, so my stormtroopers, tie pilots, etc etc go in there. There is a shuttle, two ties, two interceptors, a bomber, Darth's Tie, and two AT-AT's. It's nice, because the different shelves are like hanger bays. The AT-AT's are surrounded by snowtroopers, the ties by pilots, the standard shuttle scene, etc.
I also have a cabinet devoted to Tatooine, so that has the landspeeder, sandcrawler, Falcon, and miscellaneous swoops.
Last is the rebel hanger with a couple of Y wings and A wings, plus luke's x wing. This gives the pilots and astromechs some props to hang around.
I really like the action fleet ships, but since they are not to scale they sit in a rubbermaid bin. It's too bad, because at that scale you can actually line up a dozen ties and x wings and create some really cool scenes. Unfortunately, there is never enough space.
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I used to collect most of them, but had to pass on a bunch of ROTS ones I wanted. Mostly it's space. All of them are in a closet, though I do have the AT AT in there laying down the law. I really like them, and I wish had the space/cash to go gonzo with them. I am looking forward to getting the CW gunship, though.
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Ditto that Spuffy, I'm looking forward to the CW gunship as well. That will sit so cool in the middle of all the animated figures- Time for another cabinet...
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I have all the ships, and I try to display them all, but after 25 years, it's begining to take up too much space. Now I only open the stuff I want to display from the PT. OT, everything goes on display.
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I have almost every vehicle, but most of them are in Rubbermaid bins in my folk's basement. The only one I have on display is the Target TIE with a few Imperials around it.
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I mostly get prequel vehicles to go with my preference of prequel figures. Yes, I do like the prequels more than the OT. I only have one OT vehicle, which is a TIE fighter with the ginormous wings. I hope to eventually get Vaders TIE, the Falcon, an X- and Y- wing, an AT-AT and a snowspeeder. I developed ways to hang my vehicles on my shelves, so that makes room for figures below, and it looks like they're flying/dogfighting. I use the little rubber bands and twist ties that the vehicles are secured with in their packages to hang them up, and I do it so they are easily removeable, but stay secure and in place. Along with the above OT vehicles, there are several ROTS vehicles I missed and future PT vehicles I'd like to pick up. I believe that the figure line would be nothing if it weren't for the vehicles, playsets, and deluxe lines.
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I like to get at least one of each vehicle to open, if not more for army-building purposes. Even if it's not to scale (heck, what really is in most toy lines anyway) it's still enjoyable for me. I'd say here's what I have on display for vehicles, all in dioramas -
Diorama 1 - Dagobah w/ TRU Luke's X-Wing
Diorama 2 - Geonosis hangar w/ a couple Dooku Swoops
Diorama 3 - Jabba's Palace, no vehicles here
Diorama 4 - Purchase of the Droids, w/ the OTC Sandcrawler
Diorama 5 - Imperial Fortress (by Owen D) w/ 4 AT-RT's and one custom Landspeeder
Diorama 6 - Yavin Hangar w/ one large X-Wing, one Y-Wing, one custom War Speeder, one custom Troop Transport, one Millenium Falcon
Diorama 7 - Endor Battle w/ 4 AT-ST's
Diorama 8 - Mos Eisley w/ SAGA Luke's Landspeeder, one custom landspeeder, one custom ATL Interceptor, several Dewbacks/Rontos
Diorama 9 - Tantive IV, no vehicles
Diorama 10 - Tusken Slaughter w/ Anakin's Swoop and four Banthas
Diorama 11 - Yavin War Room, no vehicles
Diorama 12 - Dex Diner, no vehicles
Diorama 13 - Naboo Hangar w/ one Naboo Starfighter
Diorama 14 - Echo Base w/ one Snowspeeder, one Side Gunner and one custom Troop Transport
Diorama 15 - Geonosis Battle w/ one Hailfire Droid, one Gunship, one custom Homing Spider Droid (by Owen D)
Diorama 16 - Mygeeto Invasion, no vehicles
Diorama 17 - Outlander Club, no vehicles
Diorama 18 - Battle of Hoth, three AT-AT's and two Snowspeeders
Diorama 19 - Jedi Council, no vehicles
Diorama 20 - Courscant Landing Strip with Royal Starship
Diorama 21 - Cantina, no vehicles
Diorama 22 - Kamino, one custom Aiwha (by Owen D)
Diorama 23 - Star Destoyer Diorama (by Owen D), w/ two custom INT-4 vehicles
Diorama 24 - Boonta Eve, Anakin and Sebulba's Podracers
Diorama 25 - ROTJ Rebel Hangar with two A-Wings, OTC Y-Wing, Red Leader X-Wing, Milennium Falcon
Diorama 26 - Kashyyyk Battle w/ one AAT Tank, two mini Spider Droids, one Wookiee Flyer, two Crab Droids
Diorama 27 - Geonosis Arena - no vehicles but lots of beasts
Diorama 28 - Cloud City w/ vintage Cloud Car
Diorama 29 - Naboo Battle w/ two Fambaas, two AAT Tanks
Diorama 30 - Ben's home, no vehicles
Diorama 31 - Republic Hangar with ARC-170
Diorama 32 - Mustafar, no vehilces
Diorama 33 - Utapua with ROTS Gunship, Crab Droid
Diorama 34 - Death Star with Imperial Shuttle
Diorama 35 - Senate Duel, no vehicles
Diorama 36 - Dooku's Death, no vehicles
Then I do have about 10 or so extra vehicles that are kind of out of place on shelves or hanging from the ceiling.
:P
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I am all about the vehicles. I collect figures too but it's the vehicles I really dig. I don't have many displayed though due to space. I just have a speeder bike, Obi Wan's green ROTS star fighter and a POTF2 snowspeeder set out. I have bunch more but they are still in the boxes. Opened for the most part but still in the boxes. I'm dying to get the CW gunship and I'm hopeing that they come out with a new death star some day.
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I have an AOTC Gunship, a ROTS Gunship, Obi Wans blue Starfighter, Plo Koons Starfighter, and 5 Speeder bikes on top of my bookcase, but it won't stay that way for long......
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Even if it's not to scale (heck, what really is in most toy lines anyway)
BBI and X-Treme Detail for starters... Both of which make incredibly complex vehicles out of more parts than probably 10 Hasbro toys combined and for prices that rival Hasbro. I've never seen Hasbro as having an "excuse" with vehicles, and the way they factor size and price they actually don't make an excuse either.
A ship is often scaled to the packaging more than the figures... price maintains at a constant ($15, $20, & $30 if we're using ROTS as an example). The ship is made to fit a "standard" they've set for the box though... Could they deliver more? Sure, but it would require deviating from presets which they won't do... If it's to-scale by coincidence though it works, like the Tri-Fighter, JSF's, etc...
Thankfully they get off their ass now and then and do something pretty spectacular though like the TIE Fighter last year or the Saga Landspeeder. I only hope things like AT-ST, Snowspeeder, and some others get redone... Otherwise I've come to expect little out of them with their vehicles.
When you open a $20 halftrack from 21st Cent. Toys and compare it to anything Hasbro made though, there's simply nothing they have that has come close to that quality level... No matter how big or small the Hasbro ship is.
For me, ships are so collector-focused these days anyway (honestly, look at the exclusives... Unless its a movie year, ships generally go to the adults) and sell so poorly overall (I blame a bit of burnout on the "same old same old" here) I think they'd be better off doing less and less vehicles within any year and they should focus producing all-new and "collector-focused" ships every whipstitch as exclusives (like the Landspeeder)... Preferably ones that can be repainted and re-released as something totally new ala what the military lines do to help the costs.
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The thing is though Jesse, that while people you and me say they would love to see more to-scale stuff, we don't get it for a variety of reasons.
(1) A Sandcrawler, AT-AT, Juggernaut, Sail Barge, AT-TE, etc. of that scale would be almost as big as a sandbox or even a small car in some cases. Most Star Wars vehicles are gigantic in comparison to a tank or a jeep. Even the current molds used on the X-Wing are underscaled (but work well I think).
(2) There is the cost issue - who can afford something to that scale? Or even find somewhere to put it? Unfortunately even when Hasbro makes a $30-$40 Gunship, people are wanting to wait for it to go on clearance. So in that case, I don't know why they would jump to make bigger items. I agree that you get more bang for your buck with the 21st Century line, but at the same time that's not a brand name like Star Wars - Hasbro always is higher priced on their toys. I think that 21st Century is more like McFarlane in cheaper prices and great sculpts but not always the "name brand."
There's other reasons too. But to think they are ever going to make vehicles to scale (except in a few minor exceptions) is dreaming I think. So, I'd rather see vehicles that are made out of scale as to not getting them made at all. Then of course there is always the route of making them yourself or talking to someone like Owen D.
:P
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Things like AT-AT's and Sandcrawlers are the exception to the rule... For me, I'd just as soon they didn't make those at all actually, and that they focused on more feasible vehicles like fighters.
While people say they want those other things, it's like you said. Everyone waits for clearance either because they know they can, or becuase they know they're not getting what they're paying for and vehicle prices are so prohibitive they are willing to NOT bite the bullet on them.
For an X-Wing can they make a scale one? Without a doubt... If these other companies can do an F-16 to-scale the X-Wing is smaller than that. And given Hasbro's construction of vehicles it'd be much simpler, fewer parts, lower cost-to-sales overall (especially if more units are produced), repaint possibilities... Price would vary but if Hasbro laid out the plans right like these other companies do, they'd know what they could price the early release of the ship at and still crank out repaints for online exclusives, store exclusives, etc. and they'd greatly reduce the costs by getting the most out of the mold toolings.
I think a lot of the reason the people don't want to pay the price for the product is because Hasbro doesn't deliver a high quality item for the collector. It's been said that vehicles are mostly something collectors demand though... Items like the Gunship and ARC-170 were great toys and still didn't sell though, which I found odd, but it's possible that kids simply just don't get the vehicles anymore, or not in the ways we did when we were young. And if adults are getting them/wanting them made then quality becomes a big issue in what people are willing to buy for specific prices.
21st and BBI pay way more licensing fees than you'd ever imagine. Almost every piece is licensed, and some are quite expensive, and all being paid for by companies a fraction of the size of Hasbro with a smaller buyer market than Hasbro has for Star Wars... Hasbro just has to think like these companies to make profitable to-scale ships that will actually sell for the prices they want because the collector is buying something more than just a toy...
The only unsure footing I see is them stepping into some grey area with the various licensees who actually do high-end collectibles... Otherwise, if 21st can sell 10 paintjobs of a P-47 Thunderbolt for $50 each and they don't sit long and command high dollars on the secondary market, then I'm sure Hasbro can match that kind of quality with sales in their line.
Short of a movie year though, vehicles have slim pickings mostly and Hasbro's had no real reason to do more since people don't want them and they aren't willing to "do better" to make people want them more for that price Hasbro insists on.
We'll never get a scale Sandcrawler or Juggernaught of course, but Y-Wings, X-Wings, TIE Interceptors, and the like are all quite possible at some point... I tend not to hold my breath though of course.
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I agree with what you're saying Jesse. But I'm still glad we get some vehicles that are out of scale, it would suck not having AT-AT's or any Falcon, Royal Starship, etc. Just my opinion of course.
:P
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I think I am the person you are talking about.
I bought a Republic gunship, full retail at TRU. If I saw more I'd have bought more. I only ever saw two.
I bought Obi Wans blue Starfighter full retail at TRU.
But, I keep seeing the Millenium Falcons for $50. I just can't justify paying that for something that was kool in 1977 but is cheesy 30 years later. I think that they can make it a little bigger, with ALL the landing gear??? I'd especially want a whole use of the body, frak that carboard wall.
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I really enjoy the vehicle aspect of the line, but the space (and to some extent, the money) is the factor that is causing me to re-think what will work best. For the most part, some shelving I have in a closet is where my vehicles reside now - and its pretty much full. Its a mix of both OT and PT vehicles, and I'm deciding at this point where I want to go. My overall goal would to be have each of the OT vehicles that are released (or going to be) displayed in there loose, and I'm not sure about the prequel ships. I'm giving some thought to packing those up, to clear up space once I pick up some of the other OT ships/vehicles I eventually want to get. Its tough to know what to pack away sometimes, or what to continue buying. Some of the prequel stuff is pretty neat too, but I'm at the point now where there just isn't room to display it all.
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I'm almost to the point where the EPI dioramas are going to be getting smaller, that stuff just doesn't excite me like the other films. I have a limited amount of display space, even though it is a whole room.
:)
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I do collect vehicles - although I'm becoming less strict about collecting them all now that the 5th and 6th jedi starfighters in a little over a year are being released along with the 4th Republic Gunship.
I hang mine from the ceiling - over my a/c duct (exposed ducts loft style...) using fishing line. Mixed in are a bunch of the asteroids from Hasbro's OTC Millenium Falcon commercial.
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You should post pics Rob.
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It's been on my to-do list for about a year now. I guess now that I bought a new camera I can get around to it... soon.