Unleashed figures

[Nicklab]

That's not terrible.  I saw an Unleashed Stormtrooper for $20 at a comic shop, and it didn't seem out of line.  It retailed for about $16, so the markup wasn't that painful.

[JesseVader08]

Considering the Unleashed retail for $24.99 up here in Canuckia, I'd say $30 is very reasonable, considering it came from a comic shop.

Nice find Dale.   

[Ook]

How the hell do Anakin & Obi-Wan go together?


LOL I think I got it...

[DoctorPadawan]

Ook, I actually posted a few pages back explaining how Obi-Wan and Anakin's bases fit together.  I don't know if I did a very good job of it, but it's somewhere around the end of page 18 or 19 I think if you want to have a look. 

I still maintain these are the best Unleashed figures that have ever been done when you put the two together.  Even better than Boba Fett.

[Holographic Elvis]

Looks like I may be getting my hands on a Stormtrooper.  One of my buddies actually has a couple extra and didn't know I needed one. 

[DoctorPadawan]

Good to hear you got one HE.  Now, if only Hasbro would get the hint that hardly anyone got one of these and make them available SOMEHOW again, as it is a really nice figure.  I'm not too fond of the cost-cutting they're doing on the bases (the Stormie's is really lightweight and IG-88's was warped due to the use of that famous "Hasbro Cheap Ass Rubber"), but the Stormie itself is a really nice piece once you get it assembled.

I actually splurged back when they first came out (this being relative, as "coming out" implies you could actually find one at retail) and just got one on Ebay for a cheap BIN price.  I think I ended up paying 25 bucks for it with Priority Mail shipping and DC and the whole transaction took less than a week.  So while I feel kind of dirty for having to resort to Ebay, at the same time I feel that it was worth it, especially given the fact that I've never seen one in a store period.  They should have just put a sticker on the front that said "Ebay Exclusive!" and be done with it.   

All the talk of reissuing older UL figures got me thinking about who was genuinely difficult to find at retail and who most deserves to be rereleased.  I'm not one of these people who gets upset when something is reissued (unless it's pointless, like Cantina Han in the POTF2/Saga/OTC/etc stuff) because "it devalues my original" of that thing, so here's the list of who I would think needs to be reissued (some of these are me hoping, naturally, and new artwork wouldn't have to be done for any of them, save the RH Vader):

-Darth Vader with Removable Helmet
-Princess Leia
-Han Solo
-Boba Fett
-Yoda
-Aurra Sing
-IG-88
-Stormtrooper

Strangely enough, weren't all of those "case buddies" with other figures on the list at one time or another?  IIRC, Vader and Leia were their own assortment, and I definitely know that Fett/Solo/Yoda and Sing/IG/Stormie were their own assortments.  If anything proves that Hasbro's case assortment system needs a major overhaul, this is it.

They could just do a straight case reissue of the latter two (or do a Solo/Yoda/Leia case, a Fett/IG-88/Sing case, at 2 per figure, with the third case being 3 Vaders and 3 Stormies) and I think it would work well, but knowing Hasbro, this will never happen, and they will decide to reissue the Bossk/Secura/Tusken wave, which is practically nonexistent.   

[ruiner]

Yeah, I don't get Hasbro sometimes.

Rehashing "in-demand" figures benefits the collector and Hasbro.  Their mold costs are zero and we get what we want.

Jango, Maul, Vader II, stormie, IG-88, Yoda, Fett, Solo, and Padme need to see the light of day again.

Chances are you won't see most of the above again because they've already seen the new cardback.   

[DoctorPadawan]

Chances are you won't see most of the above again because they've already seen the new cardback.

In my mind, that would make it easier to rerelease them than the older ones.  With the older ones (Vader 2 for example), they would have to do all new artwork for the card (unless they used the recent reissue of Vader 1's artwork instead; but even then they would have to modify the packaging on the plastic insert to accomodate the different base), but for the ones that have already shown up on the new cards, all they would theoretically have to do would be to change the image on the back (where it shows other figures from that wave). 

In my mind, this makes the cost absolutely minimal for Hasbro, because they could just use the same molds and the same packaging, maximizing their profits from those figures.  If they did a straight reissue of the Solo/Boba/Yoda and Sing/IG/Stormtrooper waves, they wouldn't have to change a thing on the cards (other than the copyright date, and that would not be a big deal).

Somehow, I don't see any of this coming to pass (Hasbro's too busy thinking up new ways to repaint Jedi Starfighters, I'm sure), but it's nice to dream.

And even though I don't have him, I hope to Jebus that Jango is never recarded, because he's what almost killed this line in the first place and to see him rereleased would be suicide.

[ruiner]

Hi Doc,

You're right - the re-issuing costs for Hasbro would be minimized if they re-released items like Solo, Yoda, Boba, etc.

But I think it's against their "internal" policy to re-release an unleashed figure that has already seen the new cardback.

I think they're afraid that sales will not be maximized if they re-release an item that was just out at retail not long ago.

Funny how Jango and Maul almost killed the line (that would've been funny, two figures in the entire line) and now they are highly sought after...sorta.

Here's hoping a forum member can help me out!   

[Morgbug]

Amazon had the newest wave up for order with the ships in 2-3 days line accompanying them.  Vader was not available though Asajj and Palps/Yoda were. 

[ruiner]

Does anybody remember the name of the company that designs the new cardbacks for the Unleashed line?

[JesseVader08]

I should be able to find out.  I bought a print from those guys at the art exhibit at C3...

... ah, here we go.  Four G Squared.



And just because I love this print so much, I have to show it off.  You can really tell that it is done by the same guy that does the Unleashed art, Clark Mitchell.  I got #75 of 250, because I was born in '75.  Incredibly friendly, one of my highlights of C3.     (unfortunately, the flash really washed out the colour, so this picture doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea  )

[DSJ™]

Holy Crap, I had no idea these things were going for so much on the aftermarket!!!

Vader Unmasked - $187.50

Holy ****!   

UNLEASHED DARTH VADER UNMASKED

[JediMAC]

That's disgusting.  Dammit, my Unleashed collection will never be complete now, 'cause I sure as **** ain't paying that kind of money for a $15 figure.  But since Hasbro's been re-releasing some of late, and is aware of the secondary market value of some of their earlier Unleashed items, hopefully they'll blow a huge hole in this bull****, and rerelease a bunch of the older ones, like Vader, Boba, and Yoda, to name a few.

What really sucks is that I used to see these now HTF figures all the time back in the day.  Unfortunately, that was before I decided to delve into the Unleashed line.  Stupid me... 

[ruiner]

That's borderline insane.

On second thought, it is insane.

$224 for a figure made just a few years ago and looks pretty darn close to the recently released "masked" version??!!

I'd much rather have a C8 MOC SW Vader from the good ol days....