JediDefender.com Forums
Collectibles => Past Hasbro 3.75" Lines => 30th Anniversary Collection => Topic started by: speedermike on April 4, 2007, 01:49 PM
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Over the weekend I was really steaming ay Hasbro for shortpacking the Concept Stormtrooper. It occured to me, that as a company, I really don't like Hasbro. While they've made some great toys and figures over the years, their treatment of collectors has always been questionable.
Then I figured that if someone else was making 3 3/4 SW Figures, I would drop Hasbro in a minute. My loyalty is to Star Wars, not Hasbro. What about you?
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I think my loyalty is to the basic figure line - which is somewhere between. While it is first to Star Wars, I think if somebody else picked it up, we'd have to start ALL over with Farmboy Luke, etc. With Hasbro, at least you know that there's a BUNCH of stuff completed, and that they continue to get into the more obscure, and interesting possibilities - just don't think that would be the case if somebody else picked up the line.
As for the McTrooper - relax, it comes two-per-case in the W1R1 assortment. Haven't had a hard time finding them so far, even have an extra that somebody locally didn't need!
'78
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As for the McTrooper - relax, it comes two-per-case in the W1R1 assortment.
Actually, the McQuarrie Trooper is only 1x per case in each of the three cases that he's in:
McQuarrie Stormtrooper:
- 1x per case in Wave 1, Revision 0 (http://www.entertainmentearth.com/aff-home.asp?id=JE-405087801&number=HS87500A)
- 1x per case in Wave 1, Revision 1 (http://www.entertainmentearth.com/aff-home.asp?id=JE-405087801&number=HS87500A1)
- 1x per case in Wave 2, Revision 1 (http://www.entertainmentearth.com/aff-home.asp?id=JE-405087801&number=HS87500B1)
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We all gripe about Hasbro but I can't really see another toy company doing it much better than Hasbro. McFarlane would be statues. Mattell I don't know what they would come up with. Someone showed Playmates prototypes of their SW offerings to Lucasfilm back in the day they were competing for the license. Those looked horrible.
I don't know as much as people whine about Hasbro (me included) it could be far, far worse. I am always glad that they have at least given us tons of obscure figures that I seriously doubt any other company would even consider.
However, I am not a pro-Hasbro fan or anything. So, I guess I would be open to it. Oh well. It's not happening until at least 2008.
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I kind of agree with Darth Broem - we all complain about Hasbro from time to time (myself included), but at the same time, they have done some pretty good stuff. I mean, figure these days especially are often top notch ("vintage" figures, much of ROTS, and the current/recent TSC/TAC collections) - and we've gotten a number of characters/figures that I never thought would see the light of day (starting back with ones like BoShek and Duros, and even now with the McQuarrie concept figures, Myo, Feltipern Trevagg, Jerjerrod, Imperial Officers box set, etc.). Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who says they do no wrong either - it is frustrating when you can't find a particular figure(s), as well as constant repacks and some questionable decisions, but overall I can honestly say I'm pretty happy with the line. That said, I don't know that I'm necessarily "brand loyal" either. If another company took over, I'd probably buy from them too. But, that would likely depend on whether or not they would "fit in" with the figures we already have. Like many others, I don't know if I would "start over" if the line was all new/different. Hasbro can be frustrating, but I'm not sure what mass retailing license would do better. We all know Mattel's faults with lines in the past, McFarlane would likely be similar to what we have gotten in Unleashed, and I'm not sure which others could/would take over the license. So, I'm not necessarily brand loyal, but I'm happy with what Hasbro has done/is doing for the most part.
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There is one company out there that also could do this line justice and IMO its Zizzle. Their Pirates stuff is great with great likenesses but it also lacks in articulation. Hasbro has listened over the years for more SA and for the most part we've gotten it on pretty much every single figure. Sure its not all ball and socket type joints and not all knees and ankles are articulated but its there. Case packs and the addition of "chase" crap is where Hasbro still has room to improve (as well as perfecting a Mark Hamill likeness)
One thing I'd be sorely tempted by is a 6" Marvel Legendsesque SW line...but that doesn't have to be Hasbro running the show. We've debated many times if another company took over would you still collect. I know I would as long as like Brian said, they were in scale and similar feel as to the Hasbro stuff. I couldn't see another company wanting to do that...they would want to start fresh with their own take/scale etc. And hell...Hasbro if they ever did do a SA Marvel Legends SW line. It would be in 5" scale and then I don't really see the point as its basically a little bit bigger than 4" and to me not worth it.
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I feel loyal to the Hasbro line in theory, but the line is losing interest for me. The last 12 years have been fun and full of figures, then figures getting re-done and improved, then figures repainted and repackaged, then new or semi new figures getting packaged with figures I have no interest in. The biggest fact for me is that for most of the figures, there is nothing left to do with them but stick them in a box and say "I have it." I'm not done buying Hasbro's line, but I can't imagine I would start another action figure line if the license were re-awarded in the future.
As far as brand loyalty- the Lucaslicensingmachine has done a pretty good job of keeping the various manufacturers from stepping on each others toes, so they really don't have comparble lines for us to choose from. There aren't 2-3 action figure brands out there like colas or cars.
I guess you could say that my Kubrick collection is the closest thing to competing with Hasbro for similar play toys. If I were to choose between them, the kubricks would win. Right now I find myself collecting Hasbro ships and playsets to use as props for the kubricks.
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I think this is a good topic.
I don't have loyalty to Hasbro at all. It's purely about Star Wars for me. I admit they do a great job sometimes, other times they are terrible. They seem to jump around quite a bit in their quality of product, and their decision making.
What do I love about Hasbro? The variety of characters they make. If some other line had this, I'm afraid that when TPM came out, we would have seen nothing but Darth Maul, Obi Wan, Qui Gon, Anakin, and Yoda. That's about it. Look at the Spiderman lines in the past - really nothing but SPIDERMAN was available until this year with Spiderman 3, finally there's variety in that line now that Hasbro runs it. They do a fantastic job in variety of characters, kudos to them for that. BUT - I think that the foundation for that was laid with KENNER. KENNER is who we should really thank. If they hadn't done the variety in figures they offered in the vintage days, and with GI JOE... it's scary to think what Star Wars toys would (or would NOT be today).
What do I hate about Hasbro? Their excuses for not making some items available, like small playsets that cater to collectors (or bigger ones!). Therefore, I make my own or get something like the Death Star hand made from www.owenscustoms.com... Hasbro appears to have absolutely no clue how to even make something like this, so I wish they do what they did with the 12" line - sell the rights to a company who actually has an interest in this niche. I'm sure Gentle Giant or Sideshow would jump at the opportunity to have the license for playsets. Why doesn't Hasbro do this? I think it's because they DO realize there is an opportunity here, but they fail to act on it, and instead of us having access to these things being made, we're left hanging. Piss poor job on this Hasbro. It would be impossible for a company with your resources to screw this up any worse than you have.
Overall though, I give Hasbro a passing score of course, they have improved a lot. But my loyalty is with the Star Wars franchise of 3-3/4" scale items, not with Hasbro. They have done many great things but failed miserably in some areas.
:P
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There is one company out there that also could do this line justice and IMO its Zizzle. Their Pirates stuff is great with great likenesses but it also lacks in articulation.
That's one company I didn't think of, and Scott makes a great point. Their line is pretty well done (articulation issues aside), and they might be able to do a good job with Star Wars. Aside from the Hasbro SW line, its Zizzle's POTC stuff that reminds me most of the SW of my youth. I know I've said before, but if I were a kid now, I'd be all over that line I'm guessing. A good variety of characters/figures (and even minor characters), a nice big Black Pearl playset/ship, and other stuff in between. A good choice there.
One thing I'd be sorely tempted by is a 6" Marvel Legendsesque SW line...but that doesn't have to be Hasbro running the show.
Sadly, I can almost say with 100% that I'd be all over a new Marvel Legend-ish SW line as well. I wouldn't want it alongside the basic line though, as it is hard enough for me to keep up now the way it is :P. If for some reason the 3 3/4" line wrapped up, and then later on we were "re-started" with a SW line like this, I know I couldn't help but collect it. I wouldn't want to start over fresh with a line, but this concept might get me to do that. It wouldn't need to be as expansive in character selection necessarily, but getting the "big names" and troops done in this fashion would be enough for me. That, and the releases could be cut back a bit too. Like I said before, 60-100 figures each year (in the basic line alone) is more than enough for me - if the releases were cut down a bit to a more manageable number, it would be ok by me. Sure, we choose to collect it so it is our own fault, but if you think about it I don't know that there is another line around with so much stuff out in a year to keep up with. Marvel/DC/GI Joe/POTC/etc. have full lines, but I still bet the number of different characters/figures each year is probably closer to half that for the most part.
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My sentiments exactaly.My loyality is to Star wars.Hasbro is great for Varity.Their sculpts have been getting better.In some case others not.I still yet to find SA Qui-Gon without funky hair,but that's beside the point.What might be lacking.I don't know.Hasbro has come a long way.So far they've catered to us quite a bit. I really couldn't imagine this from any other line,but that was what Kenner has first done.So my loyality is to Star Wars,nothing but Star Wars!!
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We all gripe about Hasbro but I can't really see another toy company doing it much better than Hasbro. McFarlane would be statues. Mattell I don't know what they would come up with. Someone showed Playmates prototypes of their SW offerings to Lucasfilm back in the day they were competing for the license. Those looked horrible.
I com-pletely agree with you, but I agree with OCB & Brian, I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up. Mattel's figures would be the crappiest things ever.
My loyalty is to Star Wars. Star Wars is the only thing I buy from Hasbro. Hasbro really pisses me off sometimes with over-packing main characters (Vader in praticular) & under-packing army builders, who both kids & colelctors snatch up quickly. But you have to admit Hasbro is really improving over the past years this year. Last year 80% of the figures were re-packs, this year as of now there's not one re-pack. Also look at what Hasbro gave us in the 90's & early 2000's, buky, 6-point figures, sometimes with gay action features or weird facial expressions. Now it's acurate ( or close) sculpts with great points of articulation. Though Hasbro still needs to get Mark Hammil's, Carrie Fisher's & Samuel L. Jackson's face sculpts as good as they have with Harrison Ford's & Ewan Mcgregor's.
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We give them a tough time, but really, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Yeah, I'm sick of the repaints and rehashes, but they gotta do what they gotta do. The SW team at Hasbro have bosses, just like we do.
PS: Please ban the starter of this thread - all CAPS SUBJECTS ARE ILLEGAL AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!
Oops, wrong site. :-*
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I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up.
Do you guys honestly think that you'll be collecting SW toys in 10 more years?? Hasbro cranks out hundreds of figures per year and I'm pretty sure that they will have covered all the bases by then. I'm already on overload from the stuff I have and I can't even fathom how much more stuff I'll have by 2018.
So if another toy company takes over the license - are some of you guys really thinking about starting all over again - from ground Zero??
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I think Zizzle has done well with the pirates line, but alot of the figures look terrible. At one point i considered buying a few until i really looked at them. I think for the most part hasbro has done well. The figures are for the most part always improving upon themselves. They are finally willing to expand into the EU characters and they have listened to the fans. They give us fan choice polls year after year. Now they have the Q & A's (which i am very surprised about). We may not get all the figures we all want right away (i want Yarna but who knows if i will ever get one) but they seem to acknowledge the fact we want her. (There sense of humor is not the best) With that said, if another company puts out quality product (Sideshow), my money is given to them. If another company got the rights to do STar Wars figures in the same scale, and they were better for whatever reason, i may abondon the Hasbro figures and move onto those. If anything i think i am more loyal to the scale of the figures.
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I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up.
Do you guys honestly think that you'll be collecting SW toys in 10 more years?? Hasbro cranks out hundreds of figures per year and I'm pretty sure that they will have covered all the bases by then. I'm already on overload from the stuff I have and I can't even fathom how much more stuff I'll have by 2018.
So if another toy company takes over the license - are some of you guys really thinking about starting all over again - from ground Zero??
I started collecting in 2005 so I'll be. Who knows maybe there'll be a new movie by then. :P
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I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up.
Do you guys honestly think that you'll be collecting SW toys in 10 more years?? Hasbro cranks out hundreds of figures per year and I'm pretty sure that they will have covered all the bases by then. I'm already on overload from the stuff I have and I can't even fathom how much more stuff I'll have by 2018.
So if another toy company takes over the license - are some of you guys really thinking about starting all over again - from ground Zero??
I have an interest in almost anything with a Star Wars label on it. I can't buy it all obviously but I would undoubtedly have interest and most likely buy it unless it was pure crap of course. Even then you never know :) I have bought some crappy SW stuff in the past.
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You know, Hasbro really isn't as awful as we give it credit for. Here's a dozen reasons to stay with Hasbro:
TSC Death Star Gunner
TSC Sun Fac
SA Clone Trooper (AOTC)
SA Clone Trooper (ROTS)
TAC Mustafar Lava Miner
'Capture of Tantive IV' Battlepack
VOTC Chewbacca
TSC Gragra
ROTS Ki-Adi Mundi
ROTS Mustafar Sentry
ROTS Luminara Unduli
and the upcoming Jawa w/LIN Droid.
HOWEVER, there is 1999-2003... :P
I actually think the only thing Zizzle is good for are likenesses and detail. Sure, it'd be great to get an ANH Leia or a Mace Windu out of them, that would be very interesting, but as for sculpt and articulation, they are severely lacking. But, to my knowledge they are still a young(er) toy company, so there is room for improvement.
Hasbro has given us some great stuff, and I think that you cannot have Star Wars collecting without Hasbro because it just wouldn't be the same. 2004 was decent, 2005 was excellent, 2006 had its great moments (VTSC Biker Scout for starters), and 2007 looks better than any year ever. Hasbro does a good job ninety percent of the time. The only problem is in the ten percent they mess up in...they MESS UP BIGTIME, so much that people remember that even through the good times.
In short, I am a Star Wars fan that thinks Hasbro is doing a great job in producing an outlet for my fandom.
8)
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My loyalty is to Star Wars. If Hasbro chooses not to renew the license, then I would do one or more of the following:
-Continue collecting a new line of 3 3/4 inch figures if they are produced by a good company (Zizzle may be able to do a good job with Star Wars)
-Back track and buy items made from 1995 up until the Revenge of the Sith line. I wouldn't buy all items, just the stuff Hasbro hasn't remade between 2005 and 2018.
-Track down Wizards of the Coast miniature figures and ships. Those little guys have always intrigued me for some reason, but they are kind of expensive.
-Buy Lego Star Wars items. I am really tempted by the recent offering from Lego (Battle Packs, upcoming MTT and Hoth Base) but have been holding off on them for now.
-Stop collecting altogether if I am happy with my collection by 2018. Maybe I will attempt to get MOC/MIP versions of all of my loose items.
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I probably wouldn't continue. We all bitch and complain about Hasbro, but they DO give is stuff that we want. I'm not sure if I could start over with a new line, because I know the new figures would be different somehow (either in scale, quality, paint, etc.). I hate it when figures are mismatched like that. I'd probably just focus on Legos.
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I collect Star Wars figures that happen to be made by Hasbro. I have no loyalty to Hasbro at all. They haven't done anything for me that wasn't primarily in their own best interest. If some one else took over the line I'd stay at the same level I am at now, I'd buy new characters and consider anything that is a vast improvement. If anything Hasbro's made me buy less. I started MOC, then loose, then just loose new sculpts, now just new characters and any vast improvements. They're repacking and repainting and minor tweaking has soured me and many others in recent years...Kenner put out the same Vader figure for 8 years. I have at least 30 different Hasbro Vaders. What makes it worth it is the "gold" they can churn out, like an Ephant Mon or the Evolutions.
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I confess to feeling little loyalty to Hasbro.
Partly it's their fault, partly not. The not part is just a general dismay and frustration at having so little on display since moving. Why the hell am I parting with good money for stuff to go into storage? It's a question I ask every day.
The part that is their fault is partly due to Hasbro Canada and partly due to Hasbro in general. The Canadian side can't be entirely blamed on the parent corporation, but the shitass distribution in Canada is frustrating beyond belief. Yes, it's a small market relative to the US, but adjust your business accordingly, you've been at it long enough.
Each sub-line of the modern era has seen us screwed out of the distribution system:
POTF2 - no last freeze frame figures (Zuckuss, RH Vader, etc.)
Episode 1 - no last two waves (Sio Bibble, etc.)
POTJ - no last two waves (Imperial officer, etc.)
Saga 1 - stopped around Djas Puhr
Episode 3 - the line sucked, but we missed something
Saga 2 - pretty much the last 22 never came here, save a smattering of Wally figs
See a trend? Yet I can go into TRU right now and see so freaking much EndBoo wave it's sickening, just like when they ****** up the amount of the Carkoon wave. Thanks for grasping what part of your product is good and what sucks ass as rehashes. ::)
As for the parent company, some of it is just bizarre rehashes or the placing of desirable single figures in multi-packs with 3-4 other rehashed figures that I have no desire for. The glut of product is getting a bit annoying too and I'm not army building or buying carded figures anymore, but there's just so much.
Combine those two and I'm pretty tired overall of Hasbro. There's still much to like, TAC wave 2 and all the McQuarrie stuff comes immediately to mind, but my patience is razor thin with these guys. I'd rather find a GG mini-bust at $50 than buy 5 regular Hasbro figures (they're $10 up here), even army builders.
Could someone else do it? Sure, like Scott mentioned Zizzle immediately leapt to mind given the scale and accuracy of the sculpts. My biggest frustration with Hasbro is the price given what ToyBiz was able to do with LOTR at a higher scale. Action features that didn't suck ass, great sculpts in a larger scale and lots of accessories as well. Oh yeah, the pricepoint was the same. I'll grant that the license was probably cheaper, but to suggest only Hasbro could do it? Not a chance.
To Hasbro's benefit though, I won't start collecting another line should they have competition.
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I highly doubt I'd collect another line of 3-3/4 figures, unless they were vastly superior to what Hasbro's doing.
If they outsourced vehicles or playsets though, that's another story.
:P
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I would definately drop the line if Hasbro lost the 3 3/4 inch licence. I also don't blame Hasbro for issues like the short packed MqStormie. The last two years they proved that they've been paying attention to trends and have gotten out the figures that people want in later revisions.
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I don't have any particular allegiance towards any one company, but I do think that on the whole, Hasbro does a very good job. Sure there are downtimes when action features get worked in, or the articulation sucks, or the price goes up. But there are also lots of times when they make new characters, delivery great collectibles, nail articulation and likenesses, listen to collectors, and their distribution seems to have improved too. It's important to remember they have two very distinct target groups when it comes to kids and collectors. They've said this all along and in general I think they've done a great job balancing those two. It's not their problem if they put something out that is more geared to collectors and everyone gets into a tizzy about 'having' to buy it.
I would not collect any other scale and would only collect another company if they made them exactly the same style as Hasbro - so there you have it. I don't see any reason for a change, especially at this point.
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No loyalty to Hasbro . . . for that matter at this point in my collecting my loyalty lies to what I like, what I am interested in, and if it fits with what I am doing currently. Thus whether it was Hasbro or another company, I don't think that will change. I know over the last year or so I've changed as has my collecting. It takes a lot now for Hasbro to get money from me as the figure has to be to my liking, interests me, and fits a theme I am currently collecting.
Having said that, like any toy line, Hasbro has grown and has done some good things and some not so good things. The proof is in the pudding so to speak. Look at how many people buy what Hasbro puts out regardless. I think that is loyalty to Star Wars not to Hasbro. Hasbro is the company with the license so that is what people buy.
However, having been a huge collector of LOTR ToyBiz, I can say that when a line dies, you wish you had an alternative or that someone else would pick up the line. So since the Hasbro 3 3/4 line is not in overall danger, and more importantly, since there is plenty of money for Hasbro to make from people who buy the line from kids to collectors to those people who buy everything regardless. Because of that, Hasbro will be in the game until the profit and interest fades which I don't see happening for sometime. Luckily, they You have to hand it to Lucas, from a marketing standpoint, the prequels brought life into collecting this line. As those who were 12 to 20 during the orginial series transition out of collecting, an whole new generation has come into collecting this line. As a result, I think Hasbro will be around for some time and overall, thought not perfect, having Hasbro hang around is not a bad thing overall.
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The loyalty I have for Hasbro is based on 2 things. They are the successors to the Kenner line (which occupied so much of my childhood gift and cash spent) AND they did GI Joe (the other thing I collect).
Do I like everything they put out? Nope. That is the stuff I don't buy. Do I wish they would do some things different? Yup. That stuff I make a call on.
I would be afraid for anyone else to get the license at this point...based on what every one else has done in this scale, I'd say Hasbro is the best option. I won't go into detail but every other manufacturer of this scale messes SOMETHING up. Some have oversized hands and no articulation (comparatively), some have horrible head sculpts (yes worse humans than Hasbro), others have crappy plastic and terrible distribution and then there is the paint aps. I am in it for the FIGURES...so no amount of cool playset or vehicle is going to make up for it.
Now, if this thing gets relaunched by a different company in a different scale....it will depend on what they look like. I personally do no like the Marvel Legends look....somebody mentioned LOTR...I would have gotten into that line, the sculpts seemed good and the representations were decent (I guess, I did not study it enough)...
I've stuck through GI Joes for 25 years now and restarted every time it did, so I would probably be in. Unless they are crappy...I'd rather collect some Star Wars figures than go back to1985 when there weren't any on the shelves to collect...
I think Hasbro can get to 2018 fairly easily. If they did 5-6 VOTC style figures a year....that is only 55-60 more...they couldn't even finish the Vintage line up, much less taint it with PT stuff.
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...they couldn't even finish the Vintage line up, much less taint it with PT stuff.
;D
:-*
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Figured I'd chime in...
I have ZERO loyalty to Hasbro, which I suppose anyone who reads any of my reviews pretty much could guess. That's not to say I dislike Hasbro or anything. I dislike some of the decisions they make, I don't accept some of their answers as gospel either, especially seeing more and more of how other companies are set up and what they go through in the industry as well. Hasbro generally, to me, doesn't have as many "excuses" as they enjoy pulling out for our benefit via Q&A's online and elsewhere.
That said, I think Hasbro's got the ability to do the best while MOST other companies would have to prove themselves more.
I can't really champion zizzle... Their POTC figures are neat, but nowhere near the caliber of Hasbro's work I'm afraid, especially with the lacking articulation in their line and the lack of use of injection molded joints and such. Zizzle doesn't get my vote.
If I had a company I do prefer what they do, generally, it's 21st Century Toys or BBI... Articulation and sculpting are outstanding. Distribution is less an issue of the company and more an issue of who the company is forced to deal with (respectively Wal-Mart and Toys R Us) exclusively. I think they could do justice, but Hasbro's BEST foot forward is still better than either company I am afraid.
Vehicles excluded, of course. Hasbro isn't in the vicinity of either of those companies when it comes to vehicles. Hasbro has lightyears to go on that.
So, with that said, I just prefer Hasbro to PUT their best foot forward. Not half-ass here and there, totally drop the ball here and there, and deliver an amazing figure the rest of the time. It's their inconsistancy I hate because they can do better across the line generally.
That said, I'm pretty stoked by what I've seen for 2007... Could be their best foot forward since the line started. I'm hopeful. I'm nowhere near loyal though. They dont' cut my check, so I owe them nothing and my $$$ pays their salaries so they owe me something I think.
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I'm undecided where I stand. I'm no huge fan of Hasbro, even if they get most of my toy dollars. Things like the Botcon exclusives for Transformers and the various Star Wars con exclusives irk me to no end, not to mention 1x per case army builders in the SW and GI Joe lines.
But, they do as best as they can, I believe. It can't be easy to offer 70 or more figures a year and make people happy, but then again, they didn't make this line last a dozen years by making people completely happy. My loyalty would lie with Star Wars far before Hasbro, but if another company were to start a new line, I couldn't do it. I have enough, and I've collected this line since the first wave in 1995, and I've been waiting for figures like we're getting now for years, and I'm not going to support another company's learning curve with this license with my money. It's bad enough with Hasbro and Sideshow stuff.
At least, as difficult as some Star Wars figures are to obtain, Mattel doesn't have the toy license. I find it virtually impossible to find the Hot Wheels Barris Batmobile and the DC Superheroes line, and when I do find stuff from DCSH, it's just repainted Supermen that make not a lick of sense. I guess the point is, it could always be worse.
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My loyalty lies with good products. Hasbro has definitely improved their product line over the years. Look at the advances in the line since it was resurrected in 1995. It's improved remarkably. Does that take time? Yeah. Hasbro is a major manufacturer in their field and with the size of the company they can't exactly turn on a dime to make major improvements. Smaller firms can do that, but they don't have the capital reserves to afford this kind of a major toy license. As such I'll probably narrow my focus as Hasbro works their way towards their license end date of 2018. I'll probably start to cherry pick their offerings if I don't like what they're doing.
I do notice that my own buying patterns have narrowed over the past couple of years. I used to buy a lot of toy lines, and they varied between Toy Biz, McFarlane, NECA and Hasbro. Now Toy Biz is gone and I'm much more selective in what I buy from McFarlane and NECA. But I think that this is due more to the licenses these companies have than any kind of company based loyalty.
As for the options in the marketplace? I'm not too impressed. Zizzle is offering a lot of product, but the quality isn't there, pirate ship or not. Mattel is doing work that's alright and they could probably afford the license fees, but what have they done in a 3-3/4" scale that could carry on the work that Kenner started? McFarlane? Not an option for me. They're more interested in collectibles than they are in articulation and action oriented figures. NECA is the same deal. They do very nice work but they're doing work that's targetted at a much narrower audience. Mezco? Again, another boutique firm that does some nice work, but is geared toward a very specific audience. The companies that are doing military lines are okay, but I don't think they have the capital to do what's necessary for a Star Wars line to succeed commercially. At the very least they don't have the money to pay Lucasfilm what they would want in exchange for the master toy license. I don't know what company does Power Rangers. I think it might be Bandai. They probably have the cash, especially since Power Rangers have been among the best selling boy's toys lines for a number of years. But would they be able to offer something that would fit in with what both Kenner and Hasbro have established? Personally I think their work looks like kiddie-crap. I won't even buy it for my nephews. It just looks bad.
This whole discussion is really an exercise in hypotheticals though. Hasbro has the license through 2018. That's another 11 years. Certainly in that time they could sell off the license to another company if it makes business sense, but I see that as unlikely. As for the product? If their work doesn't resonate with the collecting community, they're going to have to adapt. They're a slave to their sales numbers. So if they're offering product that we don't want to buy, they're going to have to respond. And with a decline in Star Wars presence in pop culture with no more movies on the horizon, they're going to have to work to hold our interest. The television projects will probably help that, but Hasbro is going to have to continue to innovate or fail. So in that regard I think we should be asking just how loyal is Hasbro prepared to be to the collector base?
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Fun topic to think through...
For the most part I agree with Jesse. Hasbro CAN do an incredible job. Unfortunately, they seem to drop the ball on some aspect 50-75% of the time and fall short of greatness. But I don't think there's anyone who would do it better. I hate the larger scales and Marvel Legends type figures... 3.75" takes up enough space. And I have a hard time seeing what people love so much about Zizzle's pirates... seem to have weak sculpting, weak articulation, and terrible stances to me. No comparison to Hasbro Star Wars. COOL playsets, of course. But I'm not too interested in playsets anyway (other than a new Cantina which I would kill for).
There are several things I really want Hasbro to do better:
(1) Put forth an A+ effort on every figure. I want more Flaming Super Battle Droids and Airborne Troopers, less Umpass Stays. Every figure should have as much articulation as can be accomplished while still looking good. I don't care if this raises the price a couple bucks (though I understand that Hasbro needs to factor this in for the good of the line). I think if they would keep the stances human-like, completely replace ugly angle cut joints with ball, and make sure head sculpts never have lousy paint apps (Ceremonial Luke?) they would be 80% of the way there. 30AC seems a big step in the right direction overall. The new GI Joe figs give me hope that Hasbro will completely commit to this for Star Wars as well.
(2) Better figure distribution system. I want an online collector's club that allows me to preorder exactly the figures I want in the quantities I want. I don't understand why they say this is not doable... charge an annual fee for the privalege. I'm tired of my choices being to go without figures (local stores suck), pay high eBay prices per figure, or buy cases and end up trying to sell the ones noone wants on eBay. Lotta wasted effort going on here that does not endear me to the hobby.
(3) Reduce the total product by about 50%. There's just way too much stuff out there. Throw in the additional expense of GI Joe and my goose is cooked this year. I think 50 new figures or less (not including Saga Legends/Greatest Battles/repacks) is reasonable.
Overall I would say yes, I do feel somewhat loyal to Hasbro.
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It really wouldn't matter who was making a Star Wars line. I would buy it no matter what. I have no loyalty to Hasbro. I am no longer a completist, either. I pick and choose with the product they put out.
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If Hasbro does not renew their contract then the line should end at that. Zizzle is a possibility but you're right back to limited articulation and questionable likenesses. I do agree that the number of characters produced for a year does need to be cut back. If there are only 40 or 50 to get for a year than distribution would in theory be better since there would not need to be so many waves.
Some of the major problems with collecting that Hasbro has no control over:
1-Scalpers, a figure is popular or short packed and gets bought up quickly for a profit. One solution is equal numbers of each figure per case.
2-Army builders, I got nothing against army builders I do some myself but Hasbro can not keep up with the demand of people that build Grand Armies with 50+ of a trooper.
My loyalty is to the hobby but if someone else picked up the license I'm not sure if I would continue collecting. Look at the 12inch line. I have some of the Hasbro ones and they are OK compared to Sideshow, but I can't afford a sideshow figure and had to stop collecting them.
If Hasbro stops, I stop.
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Need to reverse my answer from the top of the page.
Hasbro is making the three coolest figures of the year exclusives to C4 attendies.
In other words, loyal collectors have been stabbed in the back by Hasbro.
So, no... I no longer have any loyalty to Hasbro. Buh-bye.