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Messages - Adam_Pawlus

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76
The Legacy Collection / Re: Legacy Collection Comic Packs
« on: March 11, 2010, 03:24 PM »
Me too. I just ordered from EE but I have a feeling it may be in vain. Very disappointing.

Don't worry yet.  Note, we added a limit to hopefully get as many people these packs as possible.

77
The Legacy Collection / Re: Legacy Collection Comic Packs
« on: March 11, 2010, 01:22 PM »
Totally agreed CHEWIE.   It's sort of ridiculous, without the ships and a strong mandate from a wider audience it's just a bunch of the same orange dude again and again.  I mean, I could see putting 1 pilot into every year's lineup just because it's probably good to keep it in circulation if/when a vehicle gets made, but yeesh.  How many figures have we had with the female pilot body since 2008?  5?  I'm stoked that I now actually own a Shira Brie figure but man.

It's a real shame they didn't include an extra bonus head/helmet as an accessory with these figures in efforts to boost sales.  That way you could sell the same SKU 2 or more times to collectors to "make" both figures while including a handy, delicious, and colorful choke hazard for kids.

...on the "Legacy doesn't sell" thing I'd probably point to Hasbro's decision to remove entry-level figures from the assortment.  Where are the Vaders?  Or a basic movie Darth Maul?  The TLC Vader repacks did spectacularly well, as far as I've seen, cranking out more of them would probably be good for the overall TLC SKU.  (And if they subsidize the development of new figures, hey, fantastic.)

78
The Legacy Collection / Re: Funeral Pyre Vader w/ Luke
« on: March 10, 2010, 03:25 PM »
I reject the vehicle comparison. :)  Apples and oranges.  An AT-AT's chief selling point is the AT-AT, the fact that it comes with a bike or an old figure is icing on the cake.  Different audiences, different expectations.  It's not the same kind of customer.  The person who buys a pyre may well buy literally any Hasbro Star Wars item, but the TIE Interceptor casts a much wider net-- boring or no, Star Wars vehicles and characters that keep getting trotted out are trotted out for a reason.  A new group of kids discovers Star Wars every day, and these are evergreen products.

Heck, the Lars Homestead is probably really the best analogy to the Pyre.  You have a piece of scenery people wanted with figures they already had-- and one that they didn't with the Womprat.  Now I know it's an off-scene scene, but that doesn't necessarily matter.  It just wasn't a fun package to collectors and even though it did offer some new stuff, like Luke's house, that didn't quite make it work.  This kind of a product just doesn't really have a place in the post-playset world.

Another fine example is Vader 500.  That thing may have been overproduced-- I simply do not know-- but I've seen some at big box stores as recently as last year.  This may just be a bad category unless it's made as a high-price, low-run exclusive.  Which basically means it would be a pretty swell Sideshow diorama, and what I've seen puts this sort of thing in the category of a high-quality pricey product and not an action figure thing.

At this point, I'm basically secretly wishing this item gets made at the price proposed in a normal Hasbro-sized exclusive run (which is ample) so I can say "see?"  Cuz, you know, neither of us is ever going to convince the other one.

79
The Legacy Collection / Re: Legacy Collection Comic Packs
« on: March 9, 2010, 03:36 PM »
"As an added bonus, Plourr Ilo has a working holster for her blaster!"

Greatest selling point ever! I love the writeup on this! This was a new feature 11 years ago in 1999 with Cantina Han, to tout it now seems to be a stretch since it's almost a standard for figures. The copywriter who typed this up is AWESOME for writing that!

Thanks!  This was one of mine.

80
The Legacy Collection / Re: Funeral Pyre Vader w/ Luke
« on: March 9, 2010, 03:34 PM »
With all due respect is it really any different from a redeco vehicle (Imp ARC, TRU Tie Interceptor) or a resculpt like an AT-AT?

Sure.  The AT-AT is a completely new toy, remade from the ground up with modern toy technology.  In this case, it's taking the 2008 Darth Vader and giving him a flat surface to lay on.  It's 2009 Luke, with a new stick.  Granted, it's a nice stick.   This is more like the 2006 AT-AT, which took the 1990s AT-AT (which itself was a modified 1980 AT-AT) and tossed in an exclusive figure which, really, was just a regular figure with a new head.   "Just Different Enough to Make You MadTM."

The new TIE Interceptor was properly recolored, included a new (at the time) super-articulated pilot, and had a resculpted interior.  The Imperial ARC 170-- which was a weak item, I won't argue there-- at least gave a new paint job to an existing toy.  But that might be the best illustration of my point, the price really wasn't good for what you got.

And remember, if Hasbro doesn't make this item, the fans can get a pretty close replica. It isn't THAT hard to manufacture an unlicensed item, and a pile of sticks with electronics and flame sound effects is something you can make without a license.  It's not even kinda close, a funeral pyre isn't Star Wars specific.  Transformers fans can (and do) do this sort of thing, so there's no reason that we as a group can't if we really, really wanted one for our collections.   If you're a MIB collector, well, that's a different beast but a similar product can be made by a third party if the market wants it if Hasbro ever says, once and for all, "we're not going to make this."  If/when Hasbro decides they can make money on this, I'm sure we'll see it.

MOTU Classics is absolutely not the way I'd want this line to go... they're wonderful figures and I buy 'em too, but one day sale windows to buy a figure, and then you gotta wait months for a reissue-- should one happen?  That's awful.  And not in Hasbro's business model, yet at least.  In the 1990s there was a stink about Hasbro selling figures directly through StarWars.Hasbro.com with its first internet exclusive, and that seems to have basically (and unfortunately) stuck.

81
The Legacy Collection / Re: Funeral Pyre Vader w/ Luke
« on: March 9, 2010, 01:13 PM »
That's because he HATES everything about this thing.

Not true!  I like the Darth Vader figure.  I also have that Darth Vader figure.  I also like the Luke figure a great deal.   Interestingly, I also have that Luke figure.  (Not the torch, but still, I can cobble one together.)

I hate the notion that the fans are being asked to shell out again for toys they already own with plastic wood and flame chunks at, most likely, a higher than what I'd like to pay price point.   

82
The Legacy Collection / Re: Legacy Collection Comic Packs
« on: March 9, 2010, 01:05 PM »
What was up with one of the comic packs AP was talking about in his QnA?  WM found it to be questionable or something?  I didn't quite catch what he was talking about.

It's going to be a shared online exclusive, Wal-Mart opted not to stock it.  Aaaaand you can order it right about now, if you order it from my place o' business.

83
They most likely have a small run like 15k similar to the Disney pack. This is one time I do believe them on the run being small. Just look at the EU wave. I defiantly want about 4 of these sets so hopefully it will not be too crazy to get a hold of.

Even if it is 15k, 15k isn't as "limited" as it used to be.  Considering how much work it will be to get this set, a lot of collectors probably won't even be at CV (me, for example) and a lot of the people who go to the Celebrations aren't collectors.  Given the obscurity of the characters, this might actually be not too much of a stretch to track it down shortly after the show.

...failing that, loose figures from eBay via China at six bucks a whack.

84
The Legacy Collection / Re: Legacy Collection Comic Packs
« on: March 2, 2010, 01:27 PM »
I am ready for the Vintage Preorders now......

Odds are that'll be sometime in (or after) May.

85
So we're getting Kenner deco 4-LOM and Zuckuss.  That's cool, I can dig it, I thought the colors on the TLC Zuckuss were weak anyway.  But what about Kenner deco Boba Fett?  (And no, Rocket Fett doesn't count.)

86
Shadows of the Dark Side / Re: 2010 Disney Star Tours Box Set
« on: February 24, 2010, 02:28 PM »
I just got the Star Tours Crew Dude, Teek, and Kaink (sans hood) in the mail from eBay.

- The Star Tours guy has a shoulder tampo but either my sample is incomplete or it's just cruddy. There is a lot of very subtle deco-- so subtle you can't really see it in the photos, like little red lines indicating an opening on his shirt pockets.  I kinda wish I had a Starspeeder for him to sit around in.

- Teek is smaller than expected and has tiny, tiny, tiny hands. Decent sculpt, articulated (but non-ball jointed) ankles, swivel wrists, etc.  He's probably going to be good enough for the Teek faithful, I'm pretty happy with him.

- Kaink (without hood) is an Ewok. Without a hood.  Her eyes seem to be painted to be more in line with the look of the telefilms, brown with a black dot in the middle.

Also got Kota's Militia in this shipment, which is pretty swell overall.  He has removable shoulder armor, which is unexpected. I think it's for articulation reasons, because otherwise it seems kinda annoying.

87
The Vintage Collection / Re: Hasbro Q&A Sessions
« on: February 23, 2010, 06:00 PM »
"Bringing back collectors" also involves "bringing in collectors."  New blood isn't going to want to start with any of the 2009 Legacy waves.  The Vintage wave *seems* to start off with an OK mix but I do worry that once the MOC fans get their fill that we're going to see a whole mess of 4-LOM on the pegs.

I wouldn't count on the prequel kids.  Plus this is like a double- or triple-dip on the nostalgia packaging... it'll be interesting to see how it does.  I think you can sell Vintagey Vaders for a while but I can't imagine it's going to work as well for 4-LOM.  Although I would love to see Willrow on a Vintage card, I must say.

88
The Vintage Collection / Re: Boba Fett Mail-Away Offer?
« on: February 23, 2010, 05:24 PM »
Do it Hasbro you have the molds.

Actually they probably don't, based on the condition of most 1980s toy tools these days.

The story of the 1995 Classic 4-Pack was that these were new figures based on the original *figures*-- not molds-- and were slightly downsized with the modern-sized foot peg hole.  It wouldn't stun me if this new Boba Fett were new tooling that's very faithful to the original but not quite an original Boba Fett.

(Personally I thought this was a bit of a drag of a choice.  I was peeved it wasn't a modern sculpt figure with a firing rocket in vintage "Kenner" colors when I first heard about it.)

89
The Legacy Collection / Re: Legacy Wave 13 - Expanded Universe
« on: February 23, 2010, 02:03 PM »
Adam...being as close to ordering, selling, sales etc...has EE Legacy #'s fallen as dramatically as the supposed drop at retail Hasbro is saying?  If you can't answer I understand, but I am curious

I don't think I can discuss our internal numbers but what I'm seeing externally seems to indicate this is pretty close to the mark.   Besides, reality here is what Hasbro wants it to be.  If there's a target number they want to hit, whatever it is that might be a huge success for us might not be worth Hasbro's while if the toymaker can't replicate it at Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys "R" Us.

...personally I'm kinda surprised the "greatest hits/refresh" figures aren't generally more things like Darth Vader.  Because you know, those tend to sell to pretty much anybody and not just adult collectors like, let's say, a repackaged Padme.  And I saw a loooooot of leftover wave 9 on my last multi-state toy hunting safari.

90
Shadows of the Dark Side / Re: 2010 Disney Star Tours Box Set
« on: February 11, 2010, 05:16 PM »
Agreed.  Hasbro saved money by using this guy's outdated mold so they can create an all new tool for Teek!

atleast that is what i hoping for...   ;D

Well I just ordered a Teek.  Because I'm extremely impatient.   (Or extremely patient, depending on your perspective when it comes to time waited.)  Got an orange dude too.  I'll probably buy the set when it hits, but it's reaaaaaaaally hard to say no to Teek.  The Kaink looked good and if she had her gear I'd shell out for her early...

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