3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys

[Rob]

No idea but if you go to the RS link and read back a bit he’s posting links and screengrabs.  People really do need to find better stuff to do with their time, but Chris seems particularly bad at ignoring ******** on the internet.  It’s not a great combination.

[Muftak]

Who's the YouTuber giving him crap?

The Junkman.

They're a toxic pair...Chris goes full rage at the suggestion that his figures paint color is a little off, and Darin's stock in trade is trolling for laughs.

[Matt_Fury]

That explains it.  I stopped watching Junkman a long time ago.

[Rob]

It's getting crazier.  A set of listings popped up this week for older OOP Stan Solo Figures.  Of the ones I was watching, there were 2 Imperial Weapons Techs, 2 U-3PO's (mis-listed as K-3PO's), 2 R2-Q5's, and 1 R3-M3.

Imperial Weapons Tech A sold for $410.00
Imperial Weapons Tech B sold for $610.00
U-3PO A sold for $179.02
U-3PO B sold for $214.26
R2-Q5 A sold for $513.71
R2-Q5 B sold for $233.50
R3-M3 sold for $542.00

7 Action Figures:  $2,702.49

We've jumped the shark.

[Dave]

I hope Hasbro is watching this and catches on that collectors want new figures...

[Rob]

Honestly I don't think this applies to the Retro line.  This isn't hundreds of people trying to get them, it's probably half a dozen or a dozen wealthy collectors knowing that it's tough to get a chance to buy one of these.  I bid on the 5 droids in that list and lost every single one of them, so someone was putting in huge numbers at the last second hoping to nuke everyone else. 

I set out thinking maybe I’d be willing to spend $600 to get the three droids I’m still missing and it turned out I wasn’t able to land a single one of them.

[Muftak]

These are the kooky collectors though, the ones that collect this kind of one-off "boutique brands." He makes hundreds of each, not several thousands.

Still, Hasbro has the Retro artoo and threepio molds now. Maybe Adam Pawlus will get them to do more EE droid packs. Hmph. That could be our best chance.

If I had any of those droids or figures, I would be really tempted to be selling now, that is a pretty sizable return.

[Dave]

The point I was trying to make wasn't that we need Hasbro to make expensive short run figures, the point is that creating new Retro (or TVC) figures is what people are likely interested in.  I think these Stan Solo figures are cool, and I'd love to have them, but I've got no interest in paying probably over $50 for a custom figure.  I'm guessing you want these figures because they're cool, not because they're short runs or expensive and if you could buy them for $40 you would prefer that to $200.

[Rob]

Of course. I’m just saying that I’m not sure that the high demand for such a limited niche product indicates that Hasbro could scale this up and make a lot of money.  The Obi-Wan wave was all new stuff and my Target just cleared them out for $4 each.  And honestly, I like these because he’s making stuff that IMO slides seamlessly into the original Kenner line.  The two “new” Retro OT figures Hasbro did were Tarkin and Snowspeeder Like, and I don’t think the sculpts on either were very inspiring in terms of matching the Kenner look.

They seem much more interested in price creep and prototype cash-grabs anyway.

[EdSolo]

Honestly, even though the SS figures are "more rare" due to lower production numbers, if I were to spend that amount of money on a figure, it would be a vintage last 17 that I'm still missing.  I could get a loose Yakface with original weapon on ebay for ~$500 just looking at it this morning.  It is nuts what these are going for.  I know he says he no longer has the molds for the astromechs or protocol droids, but imagine if he somehow got them back and did limited small runs like he is doing for the Bantha.

[Rob]

I mean at some point why not just make new molds?  He's got his digital sculpts or scans of the droids I'd think... they're clearly popular in the quantities he works in.  I'm surprised he hasn't just started them again.  But he's a small operation and probably is more interested in new stuff... while he's still interested at all...

[Muftak]

He said more or less that very thing in the Stan Solo Facebook group today. He would rather work on new stuff than go backward...and he is not confident that there are enough new blood buyers to justify the runs he would have to do at the factory.

Case in point, he also said he is pulling the plug on the GITD Jedi Spirits because they aren't selling well, so he is not going to have the factory run the second half of the planned batch. Expect those to dry up real quick once people learn the run is done.

Lastly he seems to be suggesting he is going to unplug from social media and focus on working with the factory to get stuff done. I applaud that, if you get so bothered with the outreach, hire someone to do the PR and focus on your passion.

[Rob]

Those all sound like smart decisions.  I don't want to get into trying to psychoanalyze the guy, but he doesn't seem to have the best track record when it comes to ignoring the trolls, he'll probably be a lot less frustrated if he finds a way to do that. 

Regarding new molds for Astromechs, I just meant that he could do other droids with those molds that haven't been done yet.  There are always more droids.

I did order the glow in the dark Jedi Spirits when I ordered the last of the available droids that I didn't already have, they shipped a few days ago.  As far as I know, I'm current.  I just need to find a way to get U-3PO, R3-M3, and R2-Q5, and then I'm just waiting for Animated Fett... the new Jawa... and eventually Dagobah Luke. 

[Muftak]

I will be receiving a Baby Wampa and a Toothface (J'Quille) soon, I will let you know what I think of them when they arrive.

I received my "TheNext17" figures a while back but hadn't had time to futz with them much. They are pretty close to Stan Solo figures as far as construction goes, the joints feel good and they are injection molded plastic as opposed to a heavier resin. The design aesthetic is a bit stylized in a way that does its own thing and is not really what I think of when I think of the Kenner style. It works really well for his original creation Baby Wampa, though. Super cute figure.

The big difference to me is the 3 I got ( I picked J'Quille and Baby Wampa but he threw in a Tanus Spijek as a bonus) are all fully painted figures, and that is a huge visual difference to a molded in color figure. It might just be my luck (they are also all fur-covered creatures) but that choice makes them seem more custom and less factory-made, even though I know they were.

I also got my Rebel Fleet Trooper and Sandtrooper from ProCustomFigures. They are much closer to Kenner style in my eyes, though they have their issues.  It seems they struggled a little bit with proportions on the RFT. He feels just a hair too big. The limb joints feel a bit iffy and on the loose side, too. Also, the Sandtrooper struggles to balance, probably due to the backpack being grafted straight on to a Kenner Stormtrooper template, and not compensating the leg stance for a new center of gravity. He has to lean forward a bit to stand on his own.

[Rob]

Thanks for the scouting report.  That lines up with what my impression was from looking at them.  I think I'm going to pass... if they don't fit into the regular Kenner line on this shelf, I don't really have a spot for them. 

I just ordered some more of the Pro Custom Figures stuff... ordered Dondonna, Antilles and 6 pilots:  Luke, Biggs, Garven Dreis, Wedge, Porkins, and Dutch. 

I'm going to wait a month or so and order another batch.  After seeing what his White Witch is selling for on eBay, and seeing what the Stan Solo stuff goes for once it's gone, I want to get caught up on the ones I want and avoid risking missing them.