The Future of Star Wars Collecting?

[Jeff]

The line has turned into repacks, clones, and a new Mandalorian figure here and there.  It's gotten boring.

I was just complaining the other day that the lack of REAL world-building is killing the 3.75" line.  The "we gotta hit certain profit margins" stuff forces them to make really dumb choices -

"Hey, GameStop wants a 3.75" exclusive figure from Jedi: Fallen Order - should we take the time to scale down the existing BS6" sculpt of the main character from the game?  Nah bro, let's slap a new harness on a Scout Trooper and call it good."

"Hey, the Bad Batch is hot right now - should we get cranking on 3.75" versions of Squad 99? Nah, we don't want to cannibalize sales of the 6" Bad Batch figures so let's just crank out a 4-pack of 3.75" clone repaints and call it good."

Cost constraints force them to make dumb decisions like this all the time and it ends up like you said Rob - clones, troopers, and photo-real updates of stuff I've already owned for 5+ years.  Hard to get too excited for that.

I'm all for raising the price to $15 and allowing them to mix in some 5-7POA figures where it makes sense (stuff like Quay Tolsite and Moloch were fine) if that gets us more ALL NEW, NEVER BEFORE MADE CHARACTERS... but I don't know that I can trust it would turn out that way.

[Rob]

I would 100% be in favor of bringing back 5-7 POA figures. I want quantity and variety as much as I want quality and articulation.

[Matt_Fury]

They lose me on 5-7 POA figures.  I feel that's a big step backwards on what they are capable of.

They've shown with the success of the Sail Barge and the overwhelming success of the Razor Crest that there is a high demand for high quality TVC items.  They just need to make them and make them available.  I understand it's a balancing act in regards to profits and not wanting to have to put items on clearance....but Hasbro needs to make a leap of faith and make the stuff we are clamoring for.  A little passion on their end would go a long way.

[Jesse James]

I’m not against 5-7poa as much as I once was, mostly because I’ve found articulating them is kinda satisfying, but the price has to be kinda right for me to be into it.  It would help flesh things out a bit.

[Nicklab]

Bringing back 5 POA figures does seem like a big step backwards.  The current standards for articulation in The Vintage Collection have gotten almost ridiculous.  Not every figure needs rocker ankles.  And 17 POA (about where most TVC figures max out) is definitely not necessary for characters that are largely about "world building".  I don't need a 17 POA Bib Fortuna or Lobot - the characters simply don't do that much in their respective entertainment where that's necessary for a good figure.

I keep coming back to the figure that really ushered in the new age of articulation - the 2003 SA Clone Trooper.  That figure was the pinacle of articulation at the time and was the gold standard as articulation went, and it had 14 POA.  But we still got along pretty well with figures with a little less articulation.  During that period from 2005 - 2009 figures would have between 10 - 14 POA.  If Hasbro was able to keep sculpting and paint quality at the current standard but be more judicious about appropriate articulation for each character, that could potentially buy a few more figure slots in the line.  I hope that some fan sites can bring up the topic during the next Q&A sessions they get.

[Matt_Fury]

Why I need a super articulated Lobot.   

[Muftak]

I wish Hasbro would take a chance on a 5-7 POA "Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett" line like the TFA Movie line, but with character choices and pack-ins that make sense. It wasn't the figures that made those lines sit, the first wave with all the main characters sold out months before the movie came out. It was trying to sell all the wonky secondary characters once the main heroes and villains were missing after the movie was out that slowed it up.,,and from there the cycle repeated as each movie only had 6 months to work with before it had to step out of the way for the next year's push. With the TV shows, the lines could blend together better.

At this point I could easily come up with 36 figures from the Mandalorian that would sell consistently, even as 5-7 POA. At a lower price point stores could afford to fill the pegs and maybe a casual buyer would be able to go in and pick up a Din Djarin figure if they wanted one. Look no further than the success of the Retro Mando line as an indication that this would work, I think--the main characters never sat in that line, and even the secondary guys moved eventually.

I could give two flips about articulation at this point in my collecting habits, depth of character selection matters much much more. The other day I was trying to take a picture of TVC Moff Gideon, and I'll be damned if even with all that articulation I could get him to stand in any pose that looked "natural."

[Rob]

100%.  They need a line that's basically for all of the TV shows... Star Wars Episodic or whatever... Put out a Mando wave or three, then put out a Bad Batch wave or three, then put out an Obi-Wan and a Book of Boba Fett wave.

And get over the secrecy thing.  I get not doing a Baby Yoda toy way early, but toys not being available when the shows and film are fresh isn't helping things either.

[Nicklab]

I could get on board with a new line of figures with 8 POA for the new entertainment projects.  But I agree, one of the biggest missing pieces in world building is character depth.  It’s non existent right now.  That and the missing vehicle and creature lines are equally important in that concept.

[Jedi Idej]

I still prefer super articulated but can go with fewer points if it translates to more consumer purchases that'll nudge retailers to expand shelf space and give Hasbro the confidence to produce characters only we geeks know and love.

Hopefully Hasbro is done with the notion that the 1:18  scale can be tweaked for a sustained kiddie and collector line. It can't. Those little monsters gravitate to the next shiny object that drops on youtube. Bey-blades one minute, crocs the next.

[Diddly]

I gotta say, this most recent Star Wars Livestream this week was a bummer. In the first Star Wars reveal livestream in ages, only a handful of new items were revealed, most of them being repaints or resculpts. Meanwhile, feels like there's Marvel Legends, Power Rangers, and Transformers livestreams every week where there are new items revealed by teams that are clearly having fun with the products and invested in their fanbases. I dunno why it's bugging me so much.

[Brian]

I gotta say, this most recent Star Wars Livestream this week was a bummer. In the first Star Wars reveal livestream in ages, only a handful of new items were revealed, most of them being repaints or resculpts. Meanwhile, feels like there's Marvel Legends, Power Rangers, and Transformers livestreams every week where there are new items revealed by teams that are clearly having fun with the products and invested in their fanbases. I dunno why it's bugging me so much.

You know, I thought the exact same thing watching this week. I still (and always will) love Star Wars, but there just seems to be so little energy in the line/brand lately. Which is strange, because with all the positive buzz with Mandalorian (and upcoming spin-offs), you’d think now would be the time to strike.

I’m also a Marvel fan/collector, and Legends just seems to be on fire the past few years. Something is revealed basically every week, and there rarely seems to be any disappointment. I feel sometimes these days that I’m a Marvel collector who also buys Star Wars things (when there are any). It isn’t as if the products are bad, I think both the Black Series and Vintage Collection have had some great figures, but it is such a slow drip.

Also, and I know this has been discussed a lot, but Star Wars fandom really has become a mine field. I know you deal with that in anything when the internet is involved, but from my experience these days Star Wars might be one of the most toxic. So many splintered groups, many of which outwardly despise what the other enjoys. That goes for the movies, action figure scales, vintage vs modern, take your pick. I know as a fan that enjoys most of it, I am genuinely happy for those who get more of what they like. For example, I gave the animated show Star Wars Resistance a chance. It wasn’t bad, but didn’t necessarily hold my interest, so I kind of stopped watching. Now if they continued making seasons of it, I’d be happy for those that did. It doesn’t take away from the things I enjoy more. The livestream comments section is just ugly, it has to be exhausting.

Although it is there other places, it seems like Marvel, Transformers, Power Rangers are at least somewhat more positive (Joe can be another story, but primarily for distribution reasons), and the fan base seems generally still excited for things instead of the usual “Hasblow Sux” nonsense. Just wish it was a more positive place for fandom now.

[Muftak]

I think the problem with the Star Wars line of late has been the lack of the kind of collector mentality that all of us using these forums built over the years. During the 30th AC, Legacy line, Clone Wars line, and the beginning of the Black Series, the Hasbro Line Lead was Darryl DePriest, a hardcore "army building" style collector himself. When he left it switched off to Steve Evans, a very outspoken and fan-connected collector who barely got a chance to reboot TVC and launch the Sail Barge HasLab before being shifted over to the Marvel team.

From him we switched to Patrick Schneider, who I have not heard is himself a collector at all, in fact I have no knowledge of the man outside of his marketing speak. As far as I can tell from how the Star Wars collector lines have developed the last two years, his strategy for a successful collector line is to mimic the profitable Funko Pops model: leverage repaints in the main line, create new sublines consisting of repaints (or "expressions" as he put it way too many times Wednesday,) and develop new figures and tooling with a priority weighted towards future reuse of the molds in repaints and other "expressions."

I am not saying it is not a viable strategy to continue the Black Series and Vintage Collection lines, but it is very different from the mentality of the previous 15+ years--a period that contains what most of us consider the "golden years" of the modern line.

[Matt_Fury]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's zero passion from the Hasbro Star Wars team.  I highly doubt any of them have been toy collectors in their life and I'm still not 100% sure that Patrick and the girl from marketing on the last livestream have even really watched Star Wars.

On Universal Collector's watch along livestream, I mentioned we should start a drinking game every time Patrick said "Iconic".  It was his word of the day!  For instance, I am a huge fan of The Mandalorian....but the only thing in that show that can be considered "Iconic" is Luke Skywalker!  He's using that phrase to describe anything and everything to generate excitement for a line of toys he has no excitement for himself.  It's just sad to be honest.

[Nicklab]

There's a dramatic difference between the previous brand manager, Steve Evans, and who Hasbro has running things now.  All you have to do is look at their respective resumes.  Steve came up within Hasbro over the course of 20+ years.  It's been his career.  The other guy?  His position prior to joining Hasbro was in marketing at General Mills.  To him it's just another product that has its own jargon that he's trying to incorporate into the way he communicates with customers.  And I get the sense that's how he views us - as customers more than fans.

That lack of connection to the franchise comes across as obvious with a corresponding lack of appreciation for the depth of the Star Wars universe.  He talks about "world building", but when Patrick says it I get the sense that again, he's trying to use jargon as a way to ingratiate himself to collectors - he's trying to sell the brand along with himself.  Steve didn't have to do that.  His knowledge and passion were obvious.  You can't get that in a crash course on a franchise that's over 40 years old.  I've heard an old saying that seems to apply here:  "A fisherman always sees another fisherman from afar".  I see Patrick, and he's no fisherman.