3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys

[McMetal]

Wow, that was a fascinating video…had no idea the whole backstory on this thing, or that there was another one available now too. What a complete mess.

[Jedi Idej]

My favorite part is the upholstery nail taking the place of the harness buckle; creative if you're a 7-y.o., mind-numbing for $180 profesionally produced toy.

The more I think about it, the more I believe there will be a niche market and it will become a sought after item in the future.

[Matt_Fury]

What it should've been!

[Rob]

It has been a horrible fascination of mine to see TFSB stumble so hard on their two big projects.

What was the other one that didn’t go well?

[Muftak]

What was the other one that didn’t go well?

In Summer of 2019 they offered a wave of 12 vintage styled figures that Kenner didn’t get to from A New Hope, things like Owen and Beru. Fleet Trooper, Sandtrooper, etc. At the time they said it would ship in December 2019. Price was like $300/$400 depending on loose or carded, iirc.

There was also a mystery 13th figure that turned out to be Grand Admiral Thrawn, which did ship, and is the only thing that has been released so far.

Meanwhile, TFSB changed all the language on their website to say that this purchase was actually a crowd funding investment and that there is no guarantee the figures will ever get made. Oh, and also no refunds even if they don't get made.

So it is 3 years in on that with no end in sight. They keep making and selling other figures, or sets with things like Fleet Troopers and Sandtroopers that were ordered separately from the bulk wave. They are just now saying that if they get enough interest from their "investors" that maybe later this year when 6 of the molds have been completed they could possibly send out half the set.

Like I said, a horrible fascination.

[Rob]

I waited until I was back at my desk to type this all out... but that's crazy.  And it's got me doing a bit of a double take because when I first backed the Bantha in 2019, I emailed them to ask if it was getting made regardless or if this was a kickstarter style thing, and they told me that it was happening no matter what, and would probably be in production by about October or November of 2019.  So I paid the $200 or whatever it was, and in the fall I emailed and got a reply from someone else telling me that it was an expensive piece and wouldn't get produced until it was fully backed.  Which was like TWO YEARS later.

So I'm not surprised at all to hear that that 12 pack of figures involved changed language.  I get it, they don't have up front money... but it's insane how loose their entire process is.  I'm looking forward to being done with this Bantha business, but I'm glad I didn't buy anything else.

[Jesse James]

Wow that is ass.

Retro Blasting is too a lot of the time but he’s not wrong at all.  He’s even being kind since you can tell that’s all resin.  It’s not even good resin casting as it’s done with single part molding (thus the big flat shiny parts) to save money.

That’s a shame.  I’m not gonna say that it’s not that much resin in terms of cost, as it’s big, but it’s not super high quality. 😕

[Nicklab]

That Stan Solo Bantha looks pretty amazing.  But I'm sorry to hear that the guys you backed are totally dropping the ball, Rob.  It sucks.

This is unfortunately one of the pitfalls of this kind of boutique / third party producer that isn't an official licensee.  Hell, even when a company actually manages to become a licensee, like GTP did, there's no guarantee that things are going to work out.  Even people who know what they're doing, like the guys behind Blue Milk and the TVC book, can run into issues that delay the delivery on their projects.

And it's because small operations tend to be lacking in the investment capital that can help them weather the unforeseen problems that arise when you're developing new products or dealing with supply chain issues like we're seeing globally right now.  I want to be able to support this kind of small operation that offers a niche product - like Muftak's Cardboard Galaxy, or guys that are making stands or aftermarket softgoods.  They're all delivering something worthwhile to the collecting community.  Maybe it's the current climate, where this sort of project is more challenging to see through.

[Muftak]

And it's because small operations tend to be lacking in the investment capital that can help them weather the unforeseen problems that arise when you're developing new products or dealing with supply chain issues like we're seeing globally right now.  I want to be able to support this kind of small operation that offers a niche product - like Muftak's Cardboard Galaxy, or guys that are making stands or aftermarket softgoods.  They're all delivering something worthwhile to the collecting community.  Maybe it's the current climate, where this sort of project is more challenging to see through.

It has really changed since the pandemic on so many fronts. I had my long term print shop close because of the loss of business, and the two I am bouncing between now are facing shortages in paper stock to the point that sometimes I have to wait a significant while for what are not large orders. I have had to scramble a few times, and push preorder windows out significantly a couple of times. And this I'd just getting cardstock prints, nothing complex like factory molding. I mean a real factory, not the TFSB kind.

But then, you have to tell the customers that is happening and offer them refunds if they can't wait. Revolutionary, I know.

Stan Solo has an amazingly cool Retro Ball Speeder coming out next, I might cross that line into 3rd party vehicles finally.

[Matt_Fury]

The difference between you and TFSB Muftak is that you will regularly communicate with your customers about issues that cause delays.  TFSB and Anovos before them did not do that and that's why they receive the backlash.  Unlike Anovos that did put out a good product, TFSB is producing crap that is not at all what they advertised.

[Rob]

I finally looked up Stan Solo’s Etsy page…. His Bantha does look really nice, and for less than the other.  I’m thinking about just ordering one then selling the TFSB one for whatever I can to cut into the price of Stan’s version. 

[Rob]

Also, I’m a sucker.  I just ordered the Stan Solo speeder.  I don’t know if he just orders more or
if this is it, but Etsy said only 3 left (2 now) and I love it.

[Muftak]

That Ball Speeder really is like a Mini Rig I never knew I wanted as a kid. I haven't pulled the trigger yet, and if it sells out so be it, but it has been hovering at the end of the on hand for a while now so I think he is just doing preorders for now and keeps adding more to the stock as they sell through.

And honestly, all of this stuff would be perfectly sellable by Hasbro too. Is it that Lucasfilm has them on a very tight leash as far as what they can sell in the Retro format? I have been saying since the beginning that the Retro format needs more not-done-by-Kenner things. But when that makes its way to reality, it becomes Disney+ stuff, which is not what I meant.

And I look at what Super7 did with the 5POA GI Joe stuff, multiple ethnicities of troop builders for both sides, comic-only characters, a vehicle pack that is a dog sled from one scene of the first cartoon miniseries (!) ... Hasbro at least adjacently has to see the stuff that collectors will go for just by being involved in all that.

I try to purposefully not list want lists anymore, so can I just say a Retro style Valance or Dani or Vlix or Kneesa or Antilles or Figrin D'an would go a long way towards showing me they have some kind of plan for this.

But instead I expect Owen and Beru...from the new "entertainment" obviously. And I will have mixed feelings.

[Nicklab]

I'm fairly certain that there's another third party guy who is also offering the ball speeder.  Stan Solo's version looked a little pricey to me.

[Ben]

Not to derail the thread, but I have a lot of Stan Solo’s products and you won’t be disappointed in any of it if you choose to buy it. I recently received Oola and Garindan and he’s cracked the Kenner code. These things are amazing. There’s a seller on eBay named onebad07 that sells them stateside and will save some money and time on shipping.

I ordered his Bantha in January and I’m still waiting for it, but they’re being shipped in batches and it takes a while for your number to come up.