Author Topic: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation  (Read 36437 times)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #30 on: April 23, 2015, 09:01 PM »
Given the state of things, I'm not against seeing what Disney would do with it.  Their Star Tours Starspeeder set is a work of art, but it's also getting up there in years.  Hasbro did works of art at one time too, after all.

I love the BAD they do, but that's Hasbro stuff...  Would Disney take over 4"?  I don't even know that they could, as Hasbro paid to do it.  Forget when the contract is up though?
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Offline P-Siddy

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #31 on: April 23, 2015, 10:48 PM »
I love the BAD they do, but that's Hasbro stuff...  Would Disney take over 4"?  I don't even know that they could, as Hasbro paid to do it.  Forget when the contract is up though?

I'm by no means a business lawyer, but I wonder if Disney inherited the contract Hasbro had when they bought LFL as is, or if there is an exit/performance clause (maybe it originally had one)?  Or perhaps Disney could buy it off Hasbro (or maybe just buy Hasbro in whole)?

I doubt this is the case (Disney taking over) but it still frustrating to get a non-committal answer to something so simple as "Will we get still SA SW figures in the near future and beyond?"  It doesn't infringe on any movie spoilers or anything like that which would fit under the "We can't discuss TFA at the moment."  Instead we get "We can't talk about 2015 and beyond," so it sounds like there is a possible shift coming up and Hasbro is keeping tight lips anymore (maybe due to the backlash from the perceived misunderstanding they got about the lack of female figures) so they are covering their behinds.  I mean, saying "we are (no longer) going to continue producing super-articulated figures for the fans/collectors " is all they have to say and we know.  I guess in the end, we will know if there will be 3.75" SA figures when they let us know.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #32 on: April 23, 2015, 11:10 PM »
Generally in acquisitions you inherit all existing contracts.  They can't just say, "We don't like you and don't want to work with you anymore".  At best they could offer a buy-out but Hasbro wouldn't be inclined to do that I feel sure.

That's not to even say Disney is disappointed in Hasbro.  Collectors are, Disney may not be.  They have a decent working relationship as-is, with the BAD stuff and all.

Disney also may not be inclined to tackle that kind of a business either...  For all the Hasbro bashing, running a property that big isn't like running a line for Game of Thrones or something.  Disney dabbles in toys, but do they have the capacities Hasbro does?  The partnerships?  I dunno.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #33 on: April 24, 2015, 10:32 AM »
It seems like the skirt the 3.75" answer and say things are great for the TBS 6" line, etc.

Yeah, just look at the message from Hasbro at SWCA:

Mission Series -
"Have you seen our great new Ahsoka and Vader?  They're coming Fall 2015! Yay!!!"

Black Series 6" -
"Did you see the Fall 2015 sample package?!  And the prototype 6" Ahsoka coming in 2016!  Black Series is awesome! Yay!!!"

Black Series 3.75" -
"We cannot comment on plans for Fall 2015"

Nothing suspicious there at all... :P


I'm just really surprised that we haven't seen something (anything) for the 3.75" Fall line at this point.  If you believe the reports, this stuff is going to hit Labor Day weekend.  That's less than 5 months from now.  For Revenge of the Sith, we saw Hasbro's card back in JULY 2004, nearly 9 months before the launch.  They could have thrown us that bone and put a sample cardback in the booth, but nope.  Nothing.  :-\
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #34 on: April 24, 2015, 10:38 AM »
Yeah, just look at the message from Hasbro at SWCA:

Mission Series -
"Have you seen our great new Ahsoka and Vader?  They're coming Fall 2015! Yay!!!" - Nope and odds are I will never will see it at retail.

Black Series 6" -
"Did you see the Fall 2015 sample package?!  And the prototype 6" Ahsoka coming in 2016!  Black Series is awesome! Yay!!!" - Nope, never will see it at retail either.

Black Series 3.75" -
"We cannot comment on plans for Fall 2015" - I'll be sleeping when you do TRU Midnight Madness.
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Offline Diddly

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #35 on: April 24, 2015, 02:24 PM »
Also, if I were to buy 6" figures at all, I'd buy the Japanese ones.  They're vastly superior, so why not?  Pay the extra, and be happier.  Piss on Hasbro's $20 meh.  But I'm still refusing to jump scales, no matter how obvious Hasbro makes it that they want me to jump scales.

Yeah, the Japanese figures rock. I posted some comparison shots of the Revoltech 6 Inch Stormtrooper and the Black Series 6 Inch Stormtrooper a while back, and did anyone else see Jayson's comparison of the Revoltech and Black Series R2-D2? Pretty sad. I still buy some Hasbro 6 inch stuff that we probably won't get for a while from Japan, but if we do, it's gone to a storage bin with old POTF2 stuff.

I dunno, I figure that I have the extra cash to spend, and if Hasbro doesn't want it, I'll gladly give it to one of the other companies that does.
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Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #36 on: April 25, 2015, 03:28 PM »
I wonder how many people's heads would have exploded in internet rage if Hasbro had decided to make their 6" figs the quality of the Japanese version and thus charged the same price.

I wonder why Hasbro's 12" stuff wasn't as good as Sideshow?
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #37 on: April 25, 2015, 05:52 PM »
Theoretically it's as complex for the most part but lacks a lot of the detail.  Japanese companies seem to just have a handle on that.  I'm assuming production numbers greatly vary between them, and that the Japan stuff is probably higher quality materials too.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #38 on: April 25, 2015, 08:00 PM »
I just can't see the 4" line dying after nearly 40 years.

If Hasbro doesn't want to do them anymore, perhaps someone else will.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #39 on: April 25, 2015, 11:11 PM »
I wonder how many people's heads would have exploded in internet rage if Hasbro had decided to make their 6" figs the quality of the Japanese version and thus charged the same price.

I wonder why Hasbro's 12" stuff wasn't as good as Sideshow?

I can't even imagine... 

I agree the Japanese stuff is far superior... but there's a severe lack of diversity that comes with that too.  Hasbro has a ton of 6" figures and all the Japanese guys have Vader, Stormtrooper, and maybe a couple others from the high popularity pool (Fett, Maul, R2, 3PO, etc).

But yeah, Nick - the Sideshow thing is a good comparison.  Hasbro isn't looking to be Tamashii/Medicom/Kaiyodo for 6" or Sideshow for 12".  They are looking for that happy middle ground "toy".


I just can't see the 4" line dying after nearly 40 years.

I think all those early worries of NO 4" line are gone at this point.  We already know there is a 4" line coming for Ep7 thanks to Target's leaked DPCI. Hasbro has said repeatedly that they have no interest in killing Star Wars 4" figures.

Whether they have an interest in killing collector 4" figures though... that seems to be where people disagree.  Lots of folks are convinced Hasbro is trying to kill collector 4" to move everyone to 6" stuff leaving dirt cheap to produce 5POA 4" for kids.

I'm hopeful a collector 4" line continues... but who knows.  With Hasbro refusing to say anything it's opening the door to lots of rumor and speculation.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #40 on: April 26, 2015, 02:00 AM »
I think a collector 4" line is a license to print money, if Hasbro had paid attention in distribution class.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #41 on: April 27, 2015, 12:55 AM »
I almost think the limited pool of the Japanese stuff may even be more of a draw for me, if I were to delve into 6" scaled stuff at all.  I'd almost prefer that than the temptation of a more elaborate line like Hasbro's going to churn out.  Still, you never know how obscure some of the stuff could get from Japan.  So far it's all been safe bets though, from any of it.  It's still so new.

I like the Hasbro stuff, actually, and have been tempted at times.  It's got flaws, but overall I think it's got some nice stuff even with the "cellulite".  I actually bought my first (and only) 6" figure they make tonight, as I happened upon a Bossk at a Wal-Mart.  Since I like  all things Bossk, I caved.  He's got some ugliness like the knee pins, and the mismatched yellow, but otherwise he's pretty neat.

But if I were to add a whole 1/12 collection, I'd prefer to go the higher end route ultimately.  And the pics seem to imply the two don't jive real well scale-wise either so I'd not want to mix them either.  I think if that were possible I'd be even more tempted, actually.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #42 on: April 30, 2015, 06:15 PM »
I'm not prepared to go into full-on Chicken Little mode just yet.  The leaked images of the TFA 6" figures looked promising.  But the 5 poa figures are definitely a valid reason for some skepticism about the 3.75" figure line. 

I know that a lot of people thought that Celebration Anaheim would be the big reveal for the TFA toy line.  But that event was some 8 months out from the release of the film.  Back in the PT days we got line reveals at Toy Fair.  And the timeline there was
-February/Toy Fair reveal
-April toy line release
-May theatrical release of the film

Given the December release of the film, I think we're probably looking at a TFA line reveal either at SDCC or a later special event.  And based on past history, I think we could be looking at an October release.  And that's still 5 months away.  All in all, we seem to be in thoroughly uncharted territory.
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Offline Matt

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #43 on: April 30, 2015, 09:11 PM »
Given the December release of the film, I think we're probably looking at a TFA line reveal either at SDCC or a later special event.  And based on past history, I think we could be looking at an October release.  And that's still 5 months away.  All in all, we seem to be in thoroughly uncharted territory.

This has probably been mentioned here somewhere already, but there are some books with tie-ins to The Force Awakens set for release on Friday, September 4. Maybe that's the day the toys will launch as well? If so, an official unveiling at SDCC seems like a pretty safe bet, but I'm guessing we'll see more leaked images out of the Far East before then, anyway.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: The Force Awakens Toy Line - Rumors and Speculation
« Reply #44 on: May 1, 2015, 09:06 AM »
Disney's D23 convention happens in late August. I'm pretty sure Hasbro will be there with bells on.
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