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Messages - Nicklab

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1
TV-9D9 / Re: Andor (SPOILERS possible)
« on: April 28, 2025, 02:14 PM »
I loved the juxtaposition between Andor rescuing Bix and the sacrifices made along side Mon realizing she can't control it all and letting loose. 

I think Mon losing Vel and Andor losing Bix in the next two weeks will lead to the final propulsion for the for drawing together of most of the rebel factions leading up to R1.

This show is extremely top-notch. 

Mon's demeanor during the wedding would lead you to believe that Perrin's speech landed with her.  I just have to feel for her though - she knows what she's getting her daughter into and offers her an out.  But Leida can't see that for what it is, and shuns her mother once again.  During the party it seems like Mon takes on an attitude of F*** this.

The next big beat seems like it's probably going to be the Ghorman massacre.  It's a major event in canon and the storyline involving Krennic and the ISB seems to be headed that way.  IIRC, it might be the event that leads to Mon Mothma's eventual departure from the Senate.

2
The Vintage Collection / Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« on: April 28, 2025, 02:04 PM »
Oh, that bull****?  I'm always in favor of calling that out.

I prefer to deal in real, verifiable news.  Please forgive me for not getting the distinction you were trying to make, because I know that the Chicken Little crowd has no shame in their never-ending quest for clicks and likes.

3
The Vintage Collection / Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« on: April 28, 2025, 10:30 AM »
Hasbro Extends Long-Running Strategic Relationship with Disney Consumer Products for Premier Star Wars and Marvel Franchises

"Under the extended agreement, Hasbro will continue to develop a wide range of products for families and fans of all ages, based on the iconic brands. This includes bringing characters from the Star Wars galaxy to life in action figure form through the highly popular lines, The Black Series and The Vintage Collection, as well as engaging new generations of fans with Lightsabers™ toys and other kids’ and preschool toys themed around characters from Darth Vader to The Mandalorian."

I guess all the rumors about Hasbro losing money and wanting out were just click-bait fodder for the youtube trolls...

It's not rumors - the Hasbro CEO and CFO were saying as much on corporate earnings calls.  There's a legal obligation for corporate officers to be transparent in those investor communications, otherwise they might be guity of breaking securities laws.  I think it's likely that the sales performance of licensed merchandise might been a major factor in setting more favorable terms for Hasbro this time around.

4
The Vintage Collection / Re: 2025 TVC Wave 3 (New TVC Wave 42)
« on: April 28, 2025, 10:25 AM »
I’m just going to wait two months and pick up the caped variants that are 100% going to happen.

But Rob, if you buy THESE, then we can absolutely guarantee that the cloaked versions will be released!


Kidding aside, I'm wondering if Hasbro will opt to make a new headsculpt for Baylan as played by Rory McCann?  Or would they start over?


5
The Vintage Collection / Re: 2025 TVC Wave 3 (New TVC Wave 42)
« on: April 28, 2025, 08:45 AM »
I'm tracking my Amazon order of Baylan and Shin like a bounty hunter this morning, LOL!  The Amazon delivery service center is less than a mile from my house, and the order seems to have arrived there at 5:01 AM.  Now it's just a matter of waiting for it to get on a delivery truck to my house.

I've seen some people re-purposing cloaks from other figures for both Baylan and Shin.   Evidently the Darth Malgus cloak is a good fit for Baylan.  And I think one of the ROTJ Jedi Luke figures might make a good substitute cloak for Shin.

6
I was surprised to see that this was not being discussed.  But seeing "Revenge Of The Sith" in the theaters again to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release is something pretty remarkable.

I went to see it this past Friday night.  The presentation at the theater I went to on Friday night was amazing! Such great sound and the movie looked fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many enthusiastic and relatively young cosplayers in attendance - and they had the good judgement to NOT light up their lightsabers until they were outside of the theater. The Vader helmet popcorn bucket looked cool, but I couldn't justify it at $45. Still, the intro by Hayden Christensen was a very nice touch.  And evidently he and Samuel L. Jackson both turned up at one screening.

The unfortunate takeaways? Some fans really need to be more mindful of their hygiene. Please, guys - regular bathing, deodorant and doing your laundry aren't difficult life skills. ALSO? A movie theater is not your living room. I don't need to hear you recite the dialogue like it's Rocky Horror.

7
TV-9D9 / Re: Andor (SPOILERS possible)
« on: April 26, 2025, 04:17 PM »
I finally got through all 3 episodes.  I do not think the pacing of the episodes lends itself to binge watching each story arc as they get released.

I really like that they’re doing three episode arcs all dropped at once.  I have a feeling each arc is only going to be loosely tied together.  I’m looking forward to binging the next three on Tuesday.

I saw the through-line of all three episodes.  My own feeling was that each episode was dense enough that I felt like I needed some breathing room between viewing each episode. 

8
TV-9D9 / Re: Andor (SPOILERS possible)
« on: April 25, 2025, 05:17 PM »
I finally got through all 3 episodes.  I do not think the pacing of the episodes lends itself to binge watching each story arc as they get released.

The TIE Avenger was pretty phenomenal.  And was it me, or were those TIE Advanced V1's that were chasing Cassian?  It's kind of cool to see those, as we had only ever seen the Grand Inquisitor fly one in REBELS.

The Chandrila wedding story arc took a surprising turn.  Luthen has an uncanny ability to pump people for information.  And Kleya seems like she's much more valuable to him than we've been led to believe.  All the while Vel is blending in, and the palace intrigue is unfolding with Mon Mothma, Luthen, Perrin, Davo Sculdun and Tay Kolma.  Meanwhile, Luthen has Cinta at his disposal to deal with loose threads.

It was a bit of a shock to see Yavin 4 revealed.  And one of the beasts there was kind of eyebrow raising.

One of the sleeper moments?  Dedra dressing down Eedy Karn and taking control of that situation.  She came prepared to deal with Syrils mother like I had not expected her to do.

Sad to see what happened on Mina-Rau.  And a little shocked to see how dark things got.  The Imperial Lieutenant that attacked Bix was beyond anything we had really seen before.  But considering where ANDOR began in season 1, I guess we shouldn't have ruled something like that out.

9
The Star Wars Celebration Livestream channel is up and running.  The stream commences at 10:00 PM ET tonight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbV-4BmPmxc

10
Jayson's notifications of when products have arrived in the U.S. have never been quite so relevant before now.  Because everything that arrived up until about a week ago (and cleared customs) should be shipping at the original prices.

But I look at everything that I've received or found in stores over the past few weeks or found in stores, and almost everything has MADE IN CHINA on the packaging.  The only exceptions were the Epic World of Action Scout Trooper with Speeder bike and SM-33.  Those were produced in Vietnam.

I'm wondering what Hasbro might have to say about this at Star Wars Celebration.

11
I think a lot of people saw that note that BBTS sent out where they were reserving the right to raise preorder prices in order to compensate for the import tariffs.

But then I wonder about the big retailers - Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, etc.  If they accept a preorder at a certain price, are they bound by the terms of the sale agreement to deliver it at that price?  I know Amazon has their preorder price guarantee.  But US customers and retailers didn't have this kind of situation to navigate before the current situation.

12
The Vintage Collection / Re: 2025 TVC Wave 2 (New TVC Wave 41)
« on: April 17, 2025, 11:21 AM »
I now have most of the wave in hand, and it's pretty good.  What I noticed only recently though is the complete lack of any main characters.  I know this is a Fan Channel wave, but it's something that struck me as odd.

CHOPPER - I always liked this paint scheme on Chopper when he would infiltrate Imperial facilities.  And this release, the 2-pack with Sabine, as well as CH-33P following the AHSOKA version of Chopper all made it very clear that Hasbro was trying to maximize their return on investment for this new droid tooling.  But Chopper has so much personality as droids go that I can't resist getting him.  I got mine at GameStop, but my Amazon order is still MIA.

AURRA SING - The updated deco looks really good.  And I can appreciate the alternate cardback - especially since the actress is back on the autograph circuit.  I'd really like to get this version of Aurra Sing signed.  What troubles me is the fact that Hasbro left out the case with the lightsaber hilts that was included in the original release.  I'm glad I have that version because that accessory alone is a personal favorite.

LT. CALLAHAN - I think the figure looks great and true to the character on screen.  I'm glad that Hasbro went with a new character like Callahan, but I am fully aware that the reason why is directly linked to the release of the E-Wing vehicle.  A ship without a pilot is pretty pointless.  Now if Hasbro wants to complete the scene, and make Sabine with her speeder bike?  I am all for that!

SNOWTROOPER - I bought a case of them, and I think it's a fantastic step forward from the VTSC version.  I was expecting Hasbro to make the most of the new tooling, and they didn't disappoint.  The troop builder 4-pack already leaked.  I'm expecting a deluxe version with an E-WEB within the year.  And hopefully we get the officer at some point, too.


DR. EVAZAN - I held off on ordering this one.  I have the original release, and I didn't feel a great sense of urgency to get this re-release, photo-real paint or not.  I'll probably pick it up soon.  But I don't know if I would even open the new version.



13
The Vintage Collection / Re: 2025 TVC Wave 3 (New TVC Wave 42)
« on: April 17, 2025, 08:23 AM »
My 2 x 501st Clones arrived from Amazon yesterday.  But the delivery dates on the rest of the wave seem all over the place.  The Mandalorian Super Commando, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati are slated to arrive on May 5th, but Obi-Wan and Yord Fandar have June delivery dates.  I'm sure those dates are going to shift, but it's still seems odd to have delivery dates for figures in a wave to be spread out over the space of almost 2 months.

14
The Vintage Collection / Re: Recent Vintage Collection Purchases
« on: April 9, 2025, 04:04 PM »
It's funny - the Macy's TRU stores are probably better than the standalone locations.

But then I hear that TRU Canada is closing a number of their locations.  They had been hanging on, but the prices are ridiculous.

15
The Vintage Collection / Re: Recent Vintage Collection Purchases
« on: April 9, 2025, 11:22 AM »
Numerous GameStop stores have closed near me.  I can count at least 4 in a 15 mile radius from me that have shut down in the past year or so.  But the effect it’s seemed to have is that the inventory at the remaining stores appears to be more concentrated.  Before it seemed like they would split a TVC case of figures between multiple stores.

The Toys R Us flagship store is really TRU in name only.  Lots of old inventory that looks like it’s a step above Ollie’s, but with regular retail prices.  It’s a joke.

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