The Good...
-Resculpt Choices... (AT-AT Driver, Veers, DSGunner, Sun Fac/Geo Warrior)
-New Scupts... (Derlin, Gragra, Pod Pilots, etc.)
-Smart Re-Issues/Kitbashes/Tweaks... (Sandtrooper, Utapau Clone, Shocktrooper, etc.)
-Reaction To Availability... At the start of the year Hasbro was sucking pretty hard on distribution, but they've stepped it up considerably and righted many wrongs on figures like Scorch, Clones, Sandtroopers, Gunners, etc.
-VintageTSC... Despite prices, the VTSC line was widely available, even the much desired Scout, and nobody should've had a problem finding this line in bulk if they wanted it.
-VintageTSC Quality... Superb. VTSC was head and shoulders above VOTC with not one "flop" figure in the wave. VOTC was plagued with at least one failure in each wave, sometimes a failure and some so-so efforts.... At that price, it was inexcuseable.
The Bad...
-Price... For most, we haven't seen a figure under the $6.50-ish mark for a long time. Target, WM, KM, KB and pretty much anyone else selling SW in the Pittsburgh area are all $6.99 or barely under it. No $5.99 Target prices here, nope. $7 a figure is a travesty when Hasbro's efforts don't include a standard higher level of articulation. I mean, ask yourself this; Is Rep Been really a $7 toy? Or what about Chief Chirpa who is cool for what he is, but $7+ cool? Yeah, I don't think so either.
-Quality... Sculpt and paint applications are rarely something Hasbro drops the ball on, nor should they. They're not something dramatically effected in the accounting of the individual figure's costs... That said, and this goes back to the ****** price we're paying, $7 a figure should not mean we get Major Derlin without knee joints, or Commando Scorch without knees, or any of the other myriad of figures who got screwed on articulation this year like all the Cantina figures... Momaw Nadon has a pathetic 6 points, not surpassing his POTF2 sculpt... 3 sculpts of that figure exist, and not one is more poseable. That sucks ass, but at $5 a figure it would've been a bit more pallatable... At $7+ a figure, you're getting a screwjob from Hasbro and retail.
-Accessories (Some)... Hasbro underwhelmed with some figures this year... Derlin coming with a peashooter and nothing else. General Riekean coming with really nothing, yet costing nearly as much as his ULtra counterpart (and not costing Hasbro much at all). And then there were other figures that were piled with some accessories but short of greatness, such as Veers lacking a back to his armor, and the helmet that doesn't fit right on the figure's head due to not having a removable kepi hat. Accessories were hit or miss this year it seemed.
-Holographic figures... I'm so sick of them I hav epassed on Maul every time I've seen him. I'm with Jeff on this. These are things that are better for exclusives or mail-away promos, not so heavily mixed into the basic line all year long. Hell, one or two a year tops, but not like we've seen.
-MAJOR Figures Screwed Over... Commander Cody was probablyt he most anxiously awaited basic figure this year, and Hasbro completely slobbed that knob. A pinhead, a pre-posed sculpt to the legs, lacking ankle articulation, questionable paint applications... Hasbro could've have picked a worse figure to say, "Hey, let's experiment with pre-posed action stances again!", and it was thoroughly irritating to this collector.
Add to that figures like Scorch who lacks knee articulation making him somehow a ******** figure than even Commander Bacara turned out. And there are others.
-And did I mention price?
Yeah, $7+ figures suck ass... They sucked in 1999, they suck now, and until every figure is at LEAST as poseable as the Death Star Gunner, the $7+ price is going to continue to suck and impact how much I buy and how picky I am about picking up extra stuff here and there. Hasbro and retail combine for that suckfest.
