My thoughts on this run a little from a b and c.

"a" in so much as I remember reading an interview with Mark Bourdeaux (sp?) back in '98 where he said he was working out ideas for an FX-scaled Falcon to go along with the FX X-Wing that had just come out, and that the team's long-term goals included updating all classic vehicles that way. If the Falcon has been in the process for ten years, and if Hasbro has been denying it for the past year while cranking up the factories, then I don't see how we can put any faith in QnA denials at this point. A Death Star concept (or at least one) has been worked out, so the fact is we are past the planning stages.

'b' because the model exists and if the line shows that it can support a big hundred-dollar-plus non-tie-in item this year, they will try it again. Until it fails.

"c" because they haven't slotted a spot or geared up any tooling for a Death Star playset yet.

I expect the Death Star to be much more die-cut cardboard with printed on details than full-blown molded plastic wall and floor pieces. A few accessories that can be rehashed as figure pack-ins, a couple of interesting figures, and you've got your hundred dollar set.

Thanks. I don't mean to highjack the thread, but that Death Star really is a love-letter to the POTF2 Playsets, so I had to share.

That's awesome!  What did you use for the base structure?  Looks very Death-Star-ish.

Everything except the detention block, compactor base, and the bridge platforms (from the 25th anniversary Luke and Leia set) is hand made (by me) out of foamcore, foamies, and odds-and-ends. The thread detailing the creation of each level (with many more pics) can be found right here. The bottom level will be five years old next month, holy crap!

I believe they were basically decoys meant to anger the Imperials, but I digress...

Big pass for me. I still haven't picked up a big-wing TIE, but at 55 bucks I don't think this is in my price range at all for what it is. Hobbie is interesting and a great use of existing parts to get a good exclusive figure out there, but I only plan on having one TIE and this one obviously ain't gonna be it.

Quote from: ctonra on June 13, 2008, 09:37 AM

Sal,
     If Muftak passes on Bigg, I would be willing to trade/buy him from you,
Chris

Okay cool. For now I'm only looking for Kashyyyk troopers. Though when wave 2 Legacy hits I'll be looking for a few multiples there.

Consider the Biggs on hold for you, if Muftak passes. If I don't hear from Muftak by the end of the day, then the trade will default to you.

I'll let you know.
-Sal

He's all yours, ctrona. Thanks for the offer, Sal. I appreciate the gesture.

Looking over the latest rumor list for the ANH wave brought an interesting wrinkle to mind. I was thinking it would've been nice to see Han and Luke stormtroopers be a running change since the tooling difference and deco change are pretty negligible, and it would free up a spot in the wave for one more all-new character.

Then I realized any running change during Legacy/Build-A-Droid is going to result in an extra droid piece. (As will, in the larger context, army building as a whole.) Would you want Hasbro to hold off on running changes for the length of the BAD experiment (slotting two endor troopers, for instance, as individually numbered figures in the same wave or breaking them up over two waves to work out the change itself,) or would you still prefer running changes to get more variety out of the army builders and background characters of future waves, even if it means one more protocol droid arm?

Shadows of the Empire, then.

If the Falcon is successful and they want to repeat that success, they very well could be looking at doing a companion ship in the Star Destroyer. Sort of the big good guy/bad guy ship dynamic.

Three feet long, with a detatchable top and hollowed-out center featuring Darth Vader's Bridge with crew pits and computer stations. A separate area with Vader's meditation chamber. Sort of the Kenner playset on steroids (which, of course, is exactly what the BMF is too.) Launching misslies, light-up engines, movie sounds ("No disintegrations!" "You are in command now, Admiral Piett!").

It would fail, I think, because while the fans are pumping their fists in victory over a 50% scale Falcon, there would be distaste for a 5% scale ISD. Instead of "I can't wait to shell out $150 for that" it would be "I can't believe they expect me to buy that!"

It would wind up sitting, and that would kill the big-ticket stuff again.

I have complete faith that we will see a Death Star before the end of everything, but I would believe a three-foot Star Destroyer toy would postpone it indefinitely.

Quote from: Ryan on May  8, 2008, 12:38 AM

Is this a joke?      I seriously got some good laughs out of that pic though.   

The first thing I thought when I saw that was...it's Holiday Special Luke Skywalker!

"Oh, hi Malla! Where's Chewie? You mean he hasn't got there yet..?"