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Collectibles => The Vintage Collection => Topic started by: Nicklab on January 7, 2025, 08:32 AM
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The guys who run the @SWTVC Instagram page are back with the 2025 edition of their Vintage Collection March Madness tournament. They are asking TVC collectors to submit their Top 25 most wanted Vintage Collection figures. The 64 characters with the most votes move on to the TVC March Madness bracket tournament.
Nominations are now open via this Google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqDohyhsIguvZdypxB98c75xRfUI7YgnJw7Rlpq-mPqrelLA/viewform
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Looks like YakFace (https://yakfaceforums.com/main/2025/01/06/yaks-top-25-tvc-tbs/) is doing a Top 25 for TVC and TBS as well.
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Looks like YakFace (https://yakfaceforums.com/main/2025/01/06/yaks-top-25-tvc-tbs/) is doing a Top 25 for TVC and TBS as well.
The Yakface Top 25 polls are the culmination of their Top Ten series of polls that ran throughout 2024, much like the ones that were run over here. It's a tournament of champions. I tried to pick as many of the characters that made my March Madness Top 25 as I could, but I think my list only wound up having about a dozen of the eligible choices in the Yakface polls.
It's been interesting to see how this year's March Madness is playing out. And it's also been cool to see how this kind of opinion polling has lined up with what Hasbro has chosen to produce in The Vintage Collection since it started in 2021. Some quick stats? Every year the bracket tournament has 64 entries. So what kind of progress has been made?
2021
MADE - 37
ANNOUNCED - 3* (*denotes the entry - the Tonnikas account for one entry, but two figures)
UNMADE - 20
2022
MADE - 28
ANNOUNCED - 5* (*denotes the entry - the Tonnikas account for one entry, but two figures)
UNMADE - 31
REPEAT APPEARANCES - 42
POLL DEBUTS - 22
2023
MADE - 21
ANNOUNCED - 6* (*denotes the entry - the Tonnikas account for one entry, but two figures)
UNMADE - 37
REPEAT APPEARANCES - 51
POLL DEBUTS - 13
2024
MADE - 2
ANNOUNCED -11* (*denotes the entry - the Tonnikas account for one entry, but two figures)
UNMADE - 51
REPEAT APPEARANCES - 45
POLL DEBUTS - 19
2023 and 2024 accounted for a lot of the progress made with the poll entries. But I think it goes without saying that you have to participate to really let your voice be heard.
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Check it out!
"The SWTVC Show" - 2025 TVC March Madness Bracket Reveal [LIVE!] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxzB-5GXGnQ)
It seems that they might be holding up the printed bracket graphics until after the Hasbro livestream on Wednesday. The potential is always there that Hasbro might reveal some character(s) that made the bracket, and other characters could potentially move up on account of the changes.
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So has anyone been taking part in the voting?
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So has anyone been taking part in the voting?
I managed to do the Wednesday and Friday vote. Missed the Monday vote.
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The Southeast region voting is happening today. These are the matchups:
CROSSHAIR VS GALACTIC MARINE
PLO KOON VS QUI-GON JINN
OBI-WAN KENOBI (JEDI MASTER) VS ENDOR REBEL COMMANDO
SIM ALOO VS SUPREME LEADER KYLO REN
PELI MOTTO VS PADME AMIDALA (BATTLE OF GEONOSIS)
CARSON TEVA VS DASH RENDAR
NEEL VS PIRATE CAPTAIN BRUTUS
TECH VS EZRA BRIDGER (PERIDEA)
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I submitted my list and have been voting in the past few rounds. I might get half of my picks if I'm lucky each round. I'm one of the guys that wants new figures from old sources, or old figures on TVC cards, and non-EU, so I know that I'm in the minority in most of them. That's fine, though.
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It's down to the Sweet Sixteen! Here are the matchups
THE WEST
THE STRANGER VS MARA JADE
ARLEIL SCHOUS VS ECHO (The Bad Batch)
LUTHEN RAEL VS SAW GERRERA
PONG KRELL VS BAZE MALBUS
THE EAST
WRECKER VS TWO TUBES
AGENT KALLUS VS ASAJJ VENTRESS
CROSSHAIR VS ENDOR REBEL COMMANDO
PADME AMIDALA (Geonosis) VS TECH
Voting commences tomorrow, Monday, March 17 at 12:01 AM ET.
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I voted...
THE STRANGER
ARLEIL SCHOUS
LUTHEN RAEL
BAZE MALBUS
WRECKER
AGENT KALLUS
CROSSHAIR
TECH
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Here's how I voted:
THE STRANGER
ARLEIL SCHOUS
LUTHEN RAEL
BAZE MALBUS
TWO TUBES
ASAJJ VENTRESS
ENDOR REBEL COMMANDO
PADME AMIDALA (Geonosis)
While I really enjoyed The Bad Batch as a series? I feel like Hasbro's neglect of the show in The Vintage Collection led to me just checking out on them. Sorry, not sorry.
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Mine’s almost the same as yours, Nick, except I went with Tech over Padme. I’m just tired of that version of her as I personally think it’s a boring design (but it fits the action figure outfit). But that’s subjective and others may love it. Plus, she’s already been done, though not in a tvc card.
In hindsight, I thought perhaps I should vote for her so she can finally be crossed off the list.
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Mine were pretty similar to Jeff's. I generally only vote for all new characters when I have the chance. That meant a lot of Bad Batch, which I agree are probably a lost cause. If Hasbro couldn't find a way to create a marked up exclusive five pack in the past couple of years I'm not sure they're going to go back and revisit it unless we get a radical change in how they operate.
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Yeah, we need a #FinishtheTeams campaign like we had #Backthe Barge to get the rest of the Batch and Rogue One, etc.
I guess I didn't vote for Crosshair because I thought he was on Jayson's latest rumor list... so hope is there that we'll get them eventually.
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I think a big contributing factor to the absence of The Bad Batch from TVC has been a very vocal minority in the TVC collecting community that is super focused on the OT. And the numbers bear that out in terms of the number of characters from each entertainment source. With the exception of The Mandalorian, the OT movies are much better represented than any other media. And that’s almost certainly why we don’t have figures of Clone Force 99.
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Congratulations to Mara Jade!! ;D
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17. Mara Jade vs. 8. Echo
4. Luthen Rael vs. 5. Baze Malbus
2. Wrecker vs. 7. Asajj Ventress
3. Crosshair vs. vs. 6. Tech
I guess Mara winning tells me a lot about the audience voting in this poll... and same with Echo beating out an OT cantina alien.
Here's my final four...
Echo
Luthen
Wrecker
Tech
Have to vote for the guys who have never had a figure (Echo, Luthen, Wrecker) over those with a figure (Mara, Baze, Asajj). 5POA Baze sucks but at least he has a figure.
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Have to vote for the guys who have never had a figure (Echo, Luthen, Wrecker) over those with a figure (Mara, Baze, Asajj). 5POA Baze sucks but at least he has a figure.
That is exactly my thinking and how I voted. I'll pass on redoing an "imperfect" figure to get something totally new.
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That's my general approach too but I wouldn't mind a really nicely done Two Tubes... I voted for:
THE WEST
THE STRANGER VS MARA JADE
ARLEIL SCHOUS VS ECHO (The Bad Batch)
LUTHEN RAEL VS SAW GERRERA
PONG KRELL VS BAZE MALBUS
THE EAST
WRECKER VS TWO TUBES
AGENT KALLUS VS ASAJJ VENTRESS
CROSSHAIR VS ENDOR REBEL COMMANDO
PADME AMIDALA (Geonosis) VS TECH
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I went with all never-before-made, also, with the exception of Baze. As much as I want Krell, Rogue One is a kick-ass movie (to me), Baze is a kick-ass character (to me), and I feel it's time to finally give him the TVC treatment. (Bhodi next!)
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Here's my voting for the Elite Eight
ECHO VS MARA JADE
LUTHEN RAEL VS BAZE MALBUS
WRECKER VS ASAJJ VENTRESS
CROSSHAIR VS TECH
Somehow, I got tricked into voting for characters from The Bad Batch!!! And I'm hoping for a final of LUTHEN RAEL VS ASAJJ VENTRESS. With that matchup I would consider it a win either way.
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Voting results from the Elite Eight!
Echo (The Bad Batch) - 795
Mara Jade - 865
Luthen Rael - 778
Baze Malbus - 882
Wrecker - 774
Asajj Ventress - 886
Crosshair - 858
Tech - 802
So here's the Final Four:
Mara Jade VS Baze Malbus
Asajj Ventress VS Crosshair
Miraculously I still have 2 characters from my Top 25 still in the mix - Baze Malbus & Asajj Ventress.
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Can someone more up on this explain the desire for another Asajj Ventress? If I'm counting right we've already got five different versions of her.
I'm clearly out of synch with what people are looking for these days
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Can someone more up on this explain the desire for another Asajj Ventress? If I'm counting right we've already got five different versions of her.
I'm clearly out of synch with what people are looking for these days
I think part of it is some people want existing (or retooled) figures on TVC cardbacks... *shrug*
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Seeing how I'm pushing for Ventress to win? Here's some of my reasoning:
WHAT HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN RELEASED:
-Clone Wars (2002)
-Tartakovsky animated style (2003)
-ROTS Battle Pack (2005)
-The Clone Wars animated style (2008)
-The Legacy Collection Comic 2-Pack (2008)
It's pretty eye-opening to me that the most recent 3.75" version of Ventress is 17 years old. Especially in light of how her character was developed over the course of The Clone Wars series which debuted in 2008. Only one of the figures actually has articulated knees, and that's the 2008 Clone Wars animated version - not the one from the 2008 Legacy Collection comic pack. The Black Series version is really good, but that's a 6" figure. That could be a good template for a TVC version of Ventress. But the basic features of things like softgoods, an excellent likeness, and reasonable levels of articulation like knees and ankles don't seem like extravagant asks. I'm not one that has gotten over the top discussing rocker ankles or the new hip joint design. If that had been offered as a 3.75" TBS figure? I wouldn't make the argument for a new Ventress, because I recognize how much "Because Vintage Cardback" is not a good enough reason. But reasonable, modern figure design standards? I think that's worth arguing for.
There's also the matter of what has been released from the same entertainment. The Clone Wars is actually one of the best represented entertainment sources in TVC. It only seems natural that some of the villains would get a similar degree of attention from Hasbro.
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I guess out of those 4, I'm pulling for Baze. Crosshair is already on Jayson's TVC rumor list; Asajj was in the Final 4 (2024) and the Final 2 (2023) in years past so she's got to be on Hasbro's radar; and I'm fine with my custom Mara (the 2013 release with a Marvel Black Widow head swap).
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Yeah I guess I'd vote Baze out of that group too.
That said, it's a final four that does very little for me.
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Yeah I guess I'd vote Baze out of that group too.
That said, it's a final four that does very little for me.
Ditto. I think I've aged out of the masses that vote for these things.
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Yeah but also looking at the results from the last round, the vote tallies were pretty close. Less than 100 separating each winner from each loser with vote totals over 1600. So I don’t think we’re THAT out of touch.
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Mara Jade VS Asajj Ventress for the finals? It's easy for me to pick this - Asajj Ventress.
Here character turned from that of a henchman (henchwoman?) for Dooku in the Tartakovsky Clone Wars into something far better developed in the 2008 Clone Wars series and beyond. She was the one executing the plans in the movie that launched The Clone Wars in 2008. She was a device for showing the treachery of the Sith when Sidious and Dooku tried to dispose of her. Then she was the device for introducing the Night Sisters of Dathomir into TCW, and that in turn brought to light the notion of disparate factions of Force users who tapped into the Force in different ways from the Jedi and the Sith. And then the long arc of Ventress finding her way after her exile by Dooku led to some interesting storytelling, including her working her way into the final season of The Bad Batch.
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I feel like I have plenty of both of them. But I have more recent Ventress.
I’d vote Jade.
I don’t really care about either of them though… the luxury of having been at this since the relaunch in the 90’s I suppose.
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It's interesting to see how the tournament shook out. The support for The Bad Batch, with the exception of Omega, was pretty strong, with some lasting to the Elite Eight and Final Four. And the big news is what happened AFTER the Finals. Mara Jade is announced as the winner, and hours later Hasbro announces that Asajj Ventress, the runner up, is on the way this year to the Vintage Collection.
And Hasbro went on to reveal two more characters that were in the bracket tournament on the date that the tournament results were announced. I don't know about you, but this doesn't seem like a coincidence. What's even more interesting is that a figure that is in the same case as the newly announced Asajj Ventress, Carson Teva and Agent Kallus is the re-release of Ponda Baba. If you recall, Ponda Baba was announced on February 26th and made available for preorder on February 27th. But for 3 figures in that wave to be held back for a month and announced the day after March Madness 2025 ends seems a little too coincidental. Hasbro has made it clear that they follow the tournament every year. Did Hasbro just want to look good here? I'm having some difficulty giving Hasbro the benefit of the doubt because this looks calculated on their part.
As for what might have been? This is what the 2025 bracket matchups would have been in the first round if Ventress, Carson and Kallus had been removed in light of their pending release. The characters that would have moved up in the rankings were Shaak Ti, Mon Mothma (ANDOR), and Princess Leia (Ewok Village).
1 vs 64 THE STRANGER vs PRINCESS LEIA (EWOK VILLAGE)
2 vs 63 WRECKER vs MON MOTHMA (CORUSCANT SENATOR)
3 vs 62 CROSSHAIR vs SHAAK TI
4 vs 61 LUTHEN RAEL vs KB
5 vs 60 BAZE MALBUS vs YOTTS OREN
6 vs 59 TECH vs GALACTIC MARINE
7 vs 58 ECHO (THE BAD BATCH) vs CAPTAIN REX (REBELS)
8 vs 57 ARLEIL SCHOUS vs 2-1B
9 vs 56 C-3PO vs EZRA BRIDER (PERIDEA)
10 vs 55 PELI MOTTO vs PYKE SOLDIER
11 vs 54 PONG KRELL vs KELLERAN BEQ
12 vs 53 SAW GERRERA vs AMANAMAN
13 vs 52 SIM ALOO vs GENERAL GRIEVOUS
14 vs 51 TWO TUBES vs PADME AMIDALA (GEONOSIS)
15 vs 50 BODHI ROOK vs FIFTH BROTHER INQUISITOR
16 vs 49 MARA JADE vs MARROK
17 vs 48 DRYDEN VOS vs SUPREME LEADER KYLO REN
18 vs 47 OBI-WAN KENOBI (ROTS) vs MON MOTHMA (ROTJ)
19 vs 46 SAVAGE OPRESS vs KI-ADI MUNDI
20 vs 45 OMEGA vs BEN SOLO
21 vs 44 SECOND SISTER INQUISITOR vs JECKI LON
22 vs 43 PALPATINE (SITH ETERNAL) vs ENDOR REBEL COMMANDO
23 vs 42 JEDI TEMPLE GUARD vs EV-9D9
24 vs 41 SM-33 vs GARINDAN
25 vs 40 NEEL vs DASH RENDAR
26 vs 39 CHANCELLOR PALPATINE (JEDI ARREST) vs BOSSK
27 vs 38 AT-AT DRIVER vs FOZEC
28 vs 37 PLO KOON vs EZRA BRIDGER (REBELS SEASON 1)
29 vs 36 QI'RA vs PIRATE CAPTAIN BRUTUS
30 vs 35 DARTH MALAK vs SHASA TIEL
31 vs 34 THE CLIENT vs FROG LADY
32 vs 33 CLONE COMMANDO vs QUI-GON JINN