Based on all the comments I've seen and read over the last few years, the Death Star and/or the ME Cantina are going to be
really interesting choices for potential HasLabs. Probably way more controversial than anyone is expecting for two OT popular locations.
There are so many personal visions of what a Death Star playset should look like (a giant ball, a throw-back to the Kenner set, a throw-back to the palitoy set, something customizable/stackable) and then the cost expectations that go with it. A lot of people say "$450-500 max", but the renders and info Jayson had seen
for the mega-ball render he had seen and sketched would cost in the $800-1000 range. That's going to be a LOT for some folks. How much detail does it need to be a HasLab "dream" project? How far can Hasbro push that "dream project" angle before they price themselves out? If it costs more than most can handle, that will cause a lot of anger and jealousy from the segment that can't afford it.
And the Cantina. The cost would probably depend greatly on what it looks like. Is it the whole thing, like the LEGO version? Should it just be the main bar section with chairs/stools and bottles and bits that the Instagram collectors would LOVE posing figures in for photos but make the old timers complain "who needs all these bottles and pillows"? (Hi, Dave!
) And what about pack-ins? Again, going back to the JD Twitter polls - you'd get some kind of "no oola, no moolah" type reaction to the Cantina if they finally make it and there are no Tonnika Sisters in the tiers ("No Tonnika, No Thanks"? "No Sisters, No Sale"?). What about a new Wuher or Chalmun the Wookiee Cantina owner? Are they "must haves"? Are you willing to pay extra if Hasbro goes all out on lights/sounds/electronics?
I feel like you could do a crazy "dream level" Cantina for $500 with electronics (the droid scanner at the door, the cantina band soundtrack) and go crazy with the pack-ins - 6-8 figures instead of 3-4. Do the alien weirdos that have ZERO chance at getting into the main retail line these days - Tzizvvt, new Wuher, Chalmun, Baniss Keeg, new Lak Sivrak, etc. Support it with a new Greedo, Hammerhead, Ponda, Snaggle carded 4-pack at Hasbro Pulse.
OR, maybe the Cantina doesn't need to be a HasLab? Maybe Hasbro could go the Hasbro Pulse way with the Cantina like the Jabba's palace set - you'd have to sacrifice the pack-ins down to one (likely Wuher) and then sacrifice all the electronics and sounds to get it down to that $250 range. Tricky decisions to get right and get the biggest bang for all involved.
(after all this fun speculation and talk, watch it turn out to be a HasLab Bad Batch Shuttle, launched months after the hype of the Series finale when they could have capitalized on that hype if they stuck to the original reveal this week...
).
