2021 HasLab - Black Series Rancor

[Rob]

Here’s the question… Malakili won’t be on a card or in a box.

So will they just release him on a card or in a box later?

If he’s truly exclusive to this set, he’ll be expensive as hell.  If not…

[Jeff]

So will they just release him on a card or in a box later?

Of course they will.  Maybe it'll be a slightly tweaked version (like the TVC from Razor Crest were) but the main figure sculpt will 100% be in the basic figure line at some point if they are making the tooling for this.  You know they can't resist double dipping - especially with ROTJ 40th Anniversary in 2023.

Now some people have probably soured on this, spent their money elsewhere, and don't want to change the viewpoint on this.

Those that dropped out have already had Black Friday and Cyber Monday to re-allocate/spend the $350 on something else.  Some will sit tight and stay out just on principle.

I wonder about the message/precedent this sets for future HasLab projects - Don't think it's got enough value?  Then just sit on it until the last week and see if you can force them to add an extra unplanned sweetener again!

[Rob]

Yep, so if he’ll be available later, I don’t see how this is that big of an incentive.  It’s not like Malakili had different outfits or armor or could be repainted in any meaningful way… I mean, it saves you $25 later to not have to buy one if you’re an opener I guess.

[Matt_Fury]

It's jumped up to 4,886 backers at roughly 9 pm MST.  This will get backed.

[P-Siddy]

I wonder about the message/precedent this sets for future HasLab projects - Don't think it's got enough value?  Then just sit on it until the last week and see if you can force them to add an extra unplanned sweetener again!

Yeah, I think this will end up biting Hasbro in the long-run.

[Matt_Fury]

Maybe if they paid attention to the fans and if Patrick and Ling actually watched Star Wars, this wouldn't have happened.

[Nicklab]

Maybe if they paid attention to the fans and if Patrick and Ling actually watched Star Wars, this wouldn't have happened.

I for one have taken issue with the personal attacks on the members of the Hasbro Star Wars team.  I disagree very strongly with their choices and decision making processes, but dragging them in personally is not how I want to exercise my fandom.  There are some people on social media making memes of them and I think that is completely out of line.

What I hope the Star Wars teams takes from this situation is that Star Wars, as a Hasbro brand, does not exist in a vacuum.  And that Star Wars collectors are not stupid - we are tapped into what's happening in the action figure segment of the toy industry.  So when Hasbro's Marvel team offered up so many new Marvel Legends figures with both the Sentinel and Galactus Haslab campaigns, we had the temerity to actually notice that.  Furthermore, we expect at least as much creativity and innovation in the Star Wars line as any other Hasbro property - not just a bunch of repackaged ****.  Because that's what the original stretch goals amounted to. 

Someone at Hasbro really has to have a long discussion with the Star Wars team about whether or not they think it's alright to treat their customer base like we're a bunch of dummies who will buy anything with the Star Wars logo slapped onto it.  That's what I think this episode really boils down to.  But has the Haslab concept already been damaged by this nonsense?  The campaign has rebounded a little bit, and it's now over 4900 backers.

Another thing struck me recently when I was discussing another toy line with a friend.  A while back we had been discussing a legendary toy - the GI Joe USS Flagg.  I had just seen one go up for sale on the secondary market, and I remarked how I remember seeing it at retail in person and was stupefied by just how large that box was.  That got into another issue from the time - how GI Joe began to take up peg and shef space from Star Wars around 1983 - 1985.  Which in turn got into how kids who had been avid Star Wars fans picked up on the GI Joe line at that time and transitioned over to that as their primary focus.  Did Hasbro talk to ANYBODY who was around in the mid 80's to ask them if running a GI Joe and Star Wars Haslab at the same time might potentially lead to splitting their customer base?

[EdSolo]

I think the bigger problem is who actually wanted this item?  There are enough Star Wars collectors out there who purchase everything Hasbro.  Is that number about 5,000 people?  Who really knows.  I live in a small state and I haven't collected Hasbro for a while, but I always check the toy section at Target and Walmart if I happen to be there just to see what is out.  The vast majority of the time I see nothing on the shelves or maybe one beat up figure sitting there.  So either people are still buying in droves or distribution is just as poor as it was ten years ago.

First problem with this item is that it is pretty niche.  The 6" scale overall seems pretty popular, but I never got on board due mainly to space, but not wanted to collect yet another figure scale.  Previous large items in this line haven't sold all that well.  This item takes up a lot of space.  The Barge takes up a lot of space, the Razor Crest takes up a lot of space and it is yet to ship, so people are justifiably hesitant on this item.  The bonus tiers are lackluster.  Just look at them compared to what you get with either the GI Joe or Ghostbusters offerings.  I had a bunch of GI Joe toys in my youth, including the Skystriker.  If I collected from all three fandoms and could only afford one of these items, GI Joe would win.  If I could back only two, I would probably lean towards Ghostbusters second.

Overall, this is just a bad choice in my opinion.  They really should have stuck with 3 3/4".  The fanbase has wanted a Death Star playset forever.  They should have maybe done a poll just to see where interest lies.

[Jeff]

I think the bigger problem is who actually wanted this item?

All the people who asked for it after a different version was on display at 2019 Hasbro Comic-Con booth?  In 2019, they said that 6" scale Rancor was just a custom for the display.  Based on the positive feedback from fans at and after the show, it probably sent them off on the track of trying to figure out if it was feasible for an official product. 

I know this was pre-pandemic and not trying to pick on you Ed since you've said yourself you haven't kept up on all things Hasbro lately, but I keep getting surprised how many people on social media forget that this Rancor project springs from that 2019 diorama they had.  It's not like it came out of the blue and was totally unrequested by fans.

[Matt_Fury]

Maybe if they paid attention to the fans and if Patrick and Ling actually watched Star Wars, this wouldn't have happened.

I for one have taken issue with the personal attacks on the members of the Hasbro Star Wars team.  I disagree very strongly with their choices and decision making processes, but dragging them in personally is not how I want to exercise my fandom.  There are some people on social media making memes of them and I think that is completely out of line.

I am not attacking them personally.  I am critiquing their professional decisions.  There are a lot of people out there that car calling for Patrick and Ling to be fired.  I do not want that.  I want them to learn from their mistakes and do better.  It is clear from the livestreams that their scripted comments are not their own words and there is a serious lack of passion from them as well as a lack of knowledge of the product they have been hired to sell.  That lack of knowledge and passion is hurting the brand.

Case in point.  Look at the livestream where they revealed the Rey Skywalker lightsaber.  Chris was excited to show off the features on how it ignited and the movie accuracy of the ignition color sequence.  It was the prime reason I pre-ordered the Hasbro saber that very day and why I didn't try to get the Rey Skywalker legacy saber on our trip to Galaxy's Edge back in October.

I'm not saying Patrick and Ling need to be steeped in the lore of Star Wars as much as we are, but they constantly get basic information of the franchise wrong and it hurts their credibility with the fans.  I want them to succeed, because then the line succeeds.

BTW, the Rancor is up to 4,922.  I bet if they announced an Oola in the mainline to support this, it would be fully backed and possibly hit some of the stretch goals.  Honestly, the Gammorean Guard and the Luke are nice stretch goals.

[Jeff]

I bet if they announced an Oola in the mainline

I wish they would just give us a straight answer on Oola or similar figures.  Are they off-limits now or not?  There are so many rumors that Disney has said characters like Jabba Prisoner "Huttslayer" Leia or Oola are off limits but then the Marvel Legends team can sell Tigra, She-Hulk, or Hercules.

I guess bikini/speedo wearing characters are OK for figures if they are based on heroes but not OK if they are based on people held against their will by intergalactic crime lords?

[Nicklab]

Maybe if they paid attention to the fans and if Patrick and Ling actually watched Star Wars, this wouldn't have happened.

I for one have taken issue with the personal attacks on the members of the Hasbro Star Wars team.  I disagree very strongly with their choices and decision making processes, but dragging them in personally is not how I want to exercise my fandom.  There are some people on social media making memes of them and I think that is completely out of line.

I am not attacking them personally.  I am critiquing their professional decisions.  There are a lot of people out there that car calling for Patrick and Ling to be fired.  I do not want that.  I want them to learn from their mistakes and do better.  It is clear from the livestreams that their scripted comments are not their own words and there is a serious lack of passion from them as well as a lack of knowledge of the product they have been hired to sell.  That lack of knowledge and passion is hurting the brand.
.

I don't know, Matt.  I read this particular bit...

Maybe if they paid attention to the fans and if Patrick and Ling actually watched Star Wars, this wouldn't have happened.

...and how can you not see that as something bordering on a personal attack?  It doesn't go to the extent of the memes, but it's incredibly dismissive.

That being said, I also question the decision making process.  But for me it's from the standpoint of what does this Haslab offer relative to recent, similar campaigns like the Sentinel and Galactus?  Those were very different from the Vintage Collection Haslabs because the 3.75" and 6" scales are very different animals.  And it seemed like a Vintage Collection mindset was being applied to a Black Series project like the Rancor, which was inherently a mistake, when it should have been treated more like the Marvel Legends campaigns.

[Matt_Fury]

Nick,

Trying not to derail the thread more than it already has, do you honestly think that Patrick and Ling have more than an extremely casual knowledge of Star Wars?  Remember, Ling actually thought that the time when the Rancor ate a Stormtrooper was an iconic moment in the original trilogy!  There was no hint of joke or sarcasm in her comment!

I was lucky to be part of the Universal Shabby Reviews livestream last week, and we discussed the Haslab Rancor.  I brought up the same comments that I've said in here and on other threads about the marketing people's lack of passion and knowledge of the franchise they are supposed to be selling to us...and when someone made a comment about firing Patrick, I specifically called it out that I do not want them fired, I just want them to do better.

I can't help how you take my comments, but calling out the marketing team for an obvious lack of knowledge of the franchise they are supposed to be selling, is not a personal attack but a professional one.

BTW, they're now at 4,963 backers and climbing...looks like adding the Rancor Keeper was a good move on their part.

[Nicklab]

Tone doesn’t always translate to text. 

As for Ling and the Stormtrooper comment?  I know they said were using a Stormtrooper figure for the purpose of showing off the size of the Rancor.  My guess is they didn’t want to show it next to a previously released figure of a character who interacted with the Rancor on account of the uninspired stretch goals #1 and 4.  And I think Ling’s remark might have also been a case of sarcasm that just didn’t land well. 

The team has suffered because the person who was the face of the brand got moved elsewhere.  He set the bar high, and from a communications standpoint the current team is lacking in comparison.  And there have been periods in the history of the line that were lackluster.  But then new leadership came and it was really good.  Does anyone remember the guy in charge of the brand before Derryl DePriest?  I have a hard time remembering, and I’m pretty sure I spoke with the guy on more than one occasion.  But then Derryl led the line through OTC, VOTC, ROTS, TSC, 30AC, TLC, CW and TVC.  It was a great run!  Steve Evans distinguished himself much in the same way as Derryl.  There are going to be people in that position who don’t measure up to their standards.  We might be in that period now.

[Matt_Fury]

As for Ling and the Stormtrooper comment?  I know they said were using a Stormtrooper figure for the purpose of showing off the size of the Rancor.  My guess is they didn’t want to show it next to a previously released figure of a character who interacted with the Rancor on account of the uninspired stretch goals #1 and 4.  And I think Ling’s remark might have also been a case of sarcasm that just didn’t land well. 

I get why they were using the Stormtrooper in that particular livestream, because they were announcing the first stretch goal not five minute later.  Going by her tone, Ling's comment was not sarcasm.  Hell, the last livestream they did looked more like a hostage video.  Every spoken word was scripted and there is zero passion from them.  I get why a lot of collectors are angry with them.

We're up to 4,970 backers.  Looks like they word is spreading and people are reacting well to the Rancor Keeper announcement.  The usual suspects are out there telling collectors to hold out for more...with less than a week left I don't know how good a strategy that would be.