Without a doubt, one of the most recognizable creators from the Original Trilogy was ILM model maker Lorne Peterson.  Check out this fantastic interview that Adam Savage, himself an ILM veteran, has with Lorne about the nuts and bolts of creating some of the iconic miniatures from the Original Trilogy.

Adam Savage's Tested - An Interview With Former Star Wars Modeler Lorne Peterson

It was interesting to hear Adam mention that he replicated some of the OT miniature work for Galoob.

I found two Ross stores, but both are close to an hour's drive away from me.  It's didn't seem worth it to make the drive.

I would be happy to be wrong about the Tonnikas, or Lucasfilm, or Hasbro's stance.  I just feel like there are more constructive things that the community could rally behind that are attainable.

A Blurrg or a Howler would definitely be nice.  But IDK if Hasbro will go there with a creature in this line.

I think it's more likely that we might see vehicles in the Epic Heroes series.  And probably something that's on the simpler side.  I think we can *POSSIBLY* look to the Marvel Epic Heroes line and its vehicles for an idea of what might happen.  But I'm have a difficult time figuring out what that might include if the vehicle line is going to hit a price ceiling of $39.99.

I hope this will not be an excuse to re-release the REBELS speeder bike in new deco for Sabine.  I'd prefer that to be re-made from the ground up in TVC as it's seen in AHSOKA.

Quoting myself the SW The Vintage Collection Facebook group, because I simply can't bring myself to go through this again:

I can’t express how much IDGAF about these finalists. We’ve got one candidate that might be interesting, but is largely in contention because Momaw Nadon (Hammerhead) checks an O96 box.

And the other(s)? A masturbatory exercise that makes people in the collecting community feel better, but will likely not succeed in persuading Lucasfilm Licensing to change their position on the Tonnika sisters. I spoke with actress Christine Hewitt at Star Wars Celebration 3 about this - in 2005. She couldn’t explain the situation, and neither could Hasbro at their SWC3 panel - when the guys from Sandtroopers posed the question to Hasbro with Hewitt in attendance they would not say anything. Fast forward to today? And the Star Wars brand team at Hasbro has turned over. The people at LFL licensing have not. I stopped banging my head against the wall on this topic years ago.

I thought I understood the general concept of this poll at the outset. But I don’t think it’s achieved its goal. I haven’t had a candidate from my list in contention since the first round. I liked some of the top ten, and was persuaded to stay in it until there were 4 left. But the structure of the poll makes me feel like it’s a card trick where the choice is being forced on you. I don’t feel like the goal of this poll has really been achieved here. It’s simply reaching that 50% +1 via artificial means. And I’m just not going to vote in this round.

I’m interested to see how the participation numbers look if/when that data is released. Did it increase or decrease over the course of the process?

Quote from: Nicklab on December 12, 2023, 12:38 PM

I'm taking Hasbro at their word for the $24.99 price.  Because if you've been in a Target store lately, you've got to see all of those $28 deluxe figures lingering.  Hasbro pushed pricing too far, and I think they've come to recognize that.

No doubt about it.  No one is buying Paz Vizla for $33.48.

My question though, is what is Deluxe about this Jango Fett?  That is 100% a basic figure IMO.  Over the last year or two, Hasbro raced right pass inflation into price gouging.

Don't you know, Rob?  It's paint apps!!! 

I think it's ridiculous, too.  It's like the Boba Fett tax all over again.  But this time it's anyone NAMED Fett.

I think the real culprit here is that volume sales are down, and costs are up for manufacturing in China.  That's the end result of the growth of the Chinese economy and its labor market - increased labor costs, and the "global supply chain" issues.  Plus, those license royalties have got to get paid somehow.  So who's going to do it?  Us, of course.  And Hasbro is all too happy to give us that "gift".

On this Navarro Cantina E-Web Stormtrooper... now that I have a bunch of extras, are there other scenes they'd make sense to put one with?  At this price I'll keep just the Stormtroopers if need be, but I'm wondering if I might space them out in a way that makes sense. 

The E-Web shows up again on Tython in "The Tragedy".  Whether or not it's a match for the one in TESB remains to be seen.  I haven't seen a comparison between the modern one and the version in Empire.