Legacy Wave 3 - Repaints/Repacks

[Keonobi]

I like the Imp Engineer, but if we were getting a BF2 figure I'd rather have gotten the Bothan Spy or Rebel Smuggler, but those wouldn't have been a repaint.  Maybe a kitbash, but not a repaint.

[Dressel Rebel]

I like the Imp Engineer, but if we were getting a BF2 figure I'd rather have gotten the Bothan Spy or Rebel Smuggler, but those wouldn't have been a repaint.  Maybe a kitbash, but not a repaint.

I thought I read somewhere a Bothan was in the works.  Anyone remember when/where?

[jedipurge]

jodo kast doesnt look like a VOTC fett....looks more like a saga 2 fett with that crappy action feature
Vintage fett had more rounded out shoulders, this one does not and the shoulder pads dont stick out as much
Way to ruin a good character Hasblow.

Thought the same thing there, also look at the molded wookie braids.  There also looks like a swivel line right on the bicep like the saga 2 version.

Dooku-is that the Evo mold?  what's up with the missing "skirt" piece.  New cape?
I hope they don't fis the lightsaber, make for cool variation and could be used for a pre fall to the darkside version of Dooku saber.

Neyo-for those of you that were able to find him in the last SL wave lucky you, all I've seen is Zev, so this is welcome to me.  I thought Neyo shoulder pad thing was the same color as his legion markings and not the silvery/grey like here.

[Adam_Pawlus]

Not bad for a repaint wave.  It seems like they put a little thought into this wave.

What, really?   By "more" do you mean "less"?    Two of the figures seem to be just renames-- RENAMES!-- unless they're holding back some accessories of an awesome nature.  Hasbro's done a lot with repaint waves, with ROTS, we got 2 of 'em, and they were all pretty fancy really.

With TSC, we technically got 2 if you count Wal-Mart's, and again it was pretty robust.  The astromech repaints and Aurra Sing were very nice, as were the new clones.

Dooku's pretty fancy for a holo figure-- the cape is from the 2002 Saga one (it seems), the body is from ROTS Evolutions, and I think they just up and dropped the "skirt."  Oh well, that's a downer.

TAC brought us R2-B1, another couple of Clones, a holographic Vader, the Naboo guy in red, it was pretty solid.

Here, we have a 2-pack repack, 2 more repacks, and 3 figures which are par for the course (token Clone, token Holo, and the I'm-quite-excited-for-it Jodo Kast.)

I'm usually the one who gets pretty excited for these things, but man, this is a letdown.  I'm glad you dig it, don't get me wrong, but if it weren't for the build-a-droid, I can't think of a reason for me to want to go near the "Imperial Engineer" and "Saleucami Trooper."  I've got those.  I've actually got a few of those. At least Jodo Kast is going to be cool.

[Nicklab]

I don't regard the wave as perfect by any stretch, Adam.  "Not bad" is somewhat open-ended.

Hasbro seemed to respond to the call for the Coruscant Clone Trooper.  And that's really one of the last on-screen Clones to get Basic Figure treatment from REVENGE OF THE SITH.  And that's a positive to me when you compare this clone with the two off-screen repaints from those TSC waves you mentioned.  Those were only ever seen in reference materials and not a movie.

Jodo Kast is a positive step forward for the EU fans.  And in that regard it's a positive step forward in pushing the EU in the basic figure line.

The two Jedi are okay, but not perfect.  The sculpts are a little dated, but getting versions of these two Jedi on a card and with lightsabers is a positive move.  Especially if you think about collectors who might have come late to the game and missed the Jedi Council screen scenes of 5 years ago.

I dig most holo figures.  And I think the combination of parts for this Dooku is good.  Although the missing skirt is a little curious as is the lightsaber, I think it's a good character choice.  Especially since we actually have seen Dooku as a hologram in the original Clone Wars series.

The Saleucami trooper is admittedly a little weak.  I'd be more receptive to a straight reissue of the Target exclusive trooper with the same unit markings over this.  Especially with Commander Neyo having been released in Saga Legends just a couple of months ago.

As for the Imperial Engineer?  That's not great.  I think the TSC Death Star Gunner was a great figure, even with the angle cut elbows.  As for trading this figure's slot with a repainted droid?  I could think of a couple of decent substitutions (Red Leader's R5 unit).  But I think Battlefront as a brand has some traction, and there might be an effort at work to promote the video game figures.

I think that offering more off-screen clones or EU droids might not be the best move at this point.  Even if they are the easiest fodder for repaints.  I think Hasbro is probably aware of the collector term "skittle clones" and might be trying to reshape their strategy.  And droids might be somewhat more limited since the entire basic figure line (for this year) is designed around trying to give us more droids.  More droids in fact that might not be good sellers on their own.

[Adam_Pawlus]

I didn't say I hated the wave-- it's just that the repacks are weak, especially in this context.  Jedi, OK, I can see that.  But taking existing figures and calling them something new is pretty lame.  If I wanted an Imperial Engineer, I can go to my Death Star Gunner, open the package, and tell him that he's going to be an engineer now, dammit, and he's going to like it.  Ditto Neyo and his generic cloneliness.  I like seeing new accessories, and I don't mind repacks to some extent, but in a build-a-droid wave?  That's ballsy.  If fans go out and re-buy the same figures with just a new droid part, I have a feeling I can guess what we can expect in 2010 and beyond.

Hopefully these repacks will have some nice extras, as merely calling them something new and packing a new droid part is really, really, really lame.  (I know build-a-droid is a marketing tool to encourage collecting, but yeesh, don't run us over in the process.)  This has nothing to do with the quality of figures, this has to do with the "let's call it something new and sell it again" angle.  Call it a DS Gunner.  Don't pretend it's something new if it isn't-- hopefully I'll be proven dead wrong and we'll see some new gizmos to go with them at the very least.  If Hasbro put out an individually carded Galactic Marine and called it a "Clone Commander," I'd probably feel the exact same way.  Renames suck, at least give it some EU deco or something, especially with the price increase to $8 at most stores.

One of my plastic pet peeves is in-store partial packaging theft, because I see the results on-shelf and it rarely gets cleaned up.  Figure sets have parts stolen out of them and the husk of the packaging remains for days, sometimes weeks.  I really hate the idea of seeing figures ripped open just to swipe the droid pieces, but if this is the best they can do with a repaint wave, I think it's a safe bet we're going to see it happen.  If these sit around, especially so.

(And don't think Hasbro isn't doing "skittle clones"-- they're just going to be in the cartoon style now. They're still obscenely popular.)

[Nicklab]

I think there is something positive about this particular wave.  Specifically about the BAF droid.  It's the black RA-7.  And that droid has essentially been in figure form for some time now.   The POTF2  Death Star Droid came out around what, 1997 or so?  In that respect, I think it's a positive that the new BAF droid for this wave is a droid that collectors who have been in the game for some 10 years or so are likely to already own.  Certainly, I would like to see some better imagery of the BAF black RA-7 for comparison's sake.  But it does seem to provide an option out for longterm collectors who might want to avoid a repaint wave.

I have similar concerns about the BAF droid parts.  I've seen theft of the Marvel Legends BAF parts firsthand, and it stinks.  It would be nice if the retailers could police this better.  But I do have hope that Hasbro is trying to foil the efforts of the mouthbreathers that are doing this.  I scored a few Clone Wars figures yesterday, and the packages were genuinely somewhat difficult to open.  The packaging might deter some of the scoundrels who are trying to steal the parts while they're in the store.

[Adam_Pawlus]

I have similar concerns about the BAF droid parts.  I've seen theft of the Marvel Legends BAF parts firsthand, and it stinks.  It would be nice if the retailers could police this better.  But I do have hope that Hasbro is trying to foil the efforts of the mouthbreathers that are doing this.  I scored a few Clone Wars figures yesterday, and the packages were genuinely somewhat difficult to open.  The packaging might deter some of the scoundrels who are trying to steal the parts while they're in the store.

When opening my figures-- because I am that deranged-- I often try to see if it's possible to slip out a particular piece first, in this case, the BAF parts. I wanted to see the built figures more than I wanted another Chewbacca in my living room.   It really wasn't hard to make a couple of quick incisions and slide it out, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see people do what they did during Saga/POTJ in Phoenix-- buy it, open it, take out some pieces, replace them (or don't) with older stuff, and return it.  I saw at least two Geonosians with Massiffs, sans Geonosian, and resealed.   I saw repainted Corps figures placed in POTJ packaging because, apparently, it was "close enough" to the employee.   Some goon during ROTS here in LA would buy figures, take the blaster, and return it in a way that looked sealed if you didn't inspect the seal.

The packaging isn't going to to squat if someone really wants that droid bit.  Heck, I've seen enough Joe comic packs sliced open in the front with a giant chunk removed from it and a figure missing.  As long as peopple have access to the product, a consumer/thief has the ability to remove most any part(s) as they see fit.

I was always really surprised nobody swiped (or reported swiping of) 2006's Saga Collection stands.  When I first heard there was going to be a "Greatest Hits" line I assumed (incorrectly) they'd have new stands with them, and found out it was supremely easy to remove just the stand from the packaging.  Thankfully, that didn't happen... but I'm sure I'm not the only one who did see lots of stolen coins last year.  The tape makes it harder to rip something open, but it's really easy to retape something if you're careful enough.

...and is anyone 100% positive which RA droid comes with which wave?  I'm sure we can assume it's going in order of release, from left to right... but you never know sometimes.   (And still, a new figure doesn't offer "a way out" if it's similar to an old one.  If that were the case we wouldn't have 50 or whatever Darth Vaders in our respective collections.)

[Nicklab]

The people who take the figures home and either do a swap of a figure or just take a part/accessory are obviously the worst offenders.  I saw some GI Joe vehicle packs that were the victims of this last week.  The degree of effort that's put into that is so ridiculous that you've gotta scratch your head over where that person's priorities in terms of toys/money/time may lie.  But I think the new packaging might deter people who are trying to just rip open the packages in the store.

The only people who are going to put a real stop to this are the retailers.  But sometimes when you're dealing with an employee who barely makes more than minimum wage, they're not going to care that much.

As for the droids allocated to each wave?  The poster indicates their release sequentially, as each BAF droid is numbered on the poster.  And the astromechs listed were shown in Hasbro's powerpoint presentation at Toy Fair, and were allocated to wave 1 and 2.  The best indication of the droid assignments will obviously be a carded sample, but Hasbro seems to have given us the sequence for the droids already.

[Darth_Anton]

Eh. A repaint wave will always be a re-paint wave. Works well for the Courescant clone, can't foul any clone repaint up too much, except for maybe the Saleucami trooper which I can't see any difference from it's BP release.

I might be in for a full squad of Courescant troopers and perhaps a few Saleucami's. The Engineer will most likely become Gunner squad leaders for me provided the outfit is sufficiently grey, so I'm only down for four.

[Adam_Pawlus]

The only people who are going to put a real stop to this are the retailers.  But sometimes when you're dealing with an employee who barely makes more than minimum wage, they're not going to care that much.

Not only that, but there's also some real issues of the toy not matching the packaging, or no real illustration of the toy appearing on the box.  For example, there are a number of Transformers Energon repaints that had a photo of the *original* toy, so Ultra Magnus (a white and blue vehicle) had a picture of Overload (a red vehicle), and to make things more interesting, it also showed a bunch of car Mini-Cons when in fact space  Mini-Cons were included.  An employee seeing that would probably cry foul if they weren't a collector.

At the same time, G.I. Joe presents a potential problem because the 25th Anniversary toys all have illustrations of the figures, but not any photos of the toy.  So it'd be really easy for someone to take another Shipwreck, or Cobra Commander, and stuff it into the packaging and return it.

Thankfully, swapping seems to have become less of an issue in recent years.  But I just have a bad feeling that swapping and swiping are going to pop up again soon.

[Darth Broem]

Eh, I will buy some and others I will not. 

S Trooper - I did not find the battle pack so this is a no-brainer for me.  There are quite a few of us that did not.  It makes sense since they released Neyo.

Grey Trooper - I may or may not get this.  I think the white ones will do fine that I have but many people wanted it so it's a good repaint in my opinion. 


Holo Dooku - I don't care for the holograms that much.  I will skip that one. 

Jodo Kast - I may or may not buy it.  I am not a big fan of that story really, but it's another mandolorian figure so maybe? 

Faie - I always wanted a figure of this but now that the figure is pictured I really don't want it now.  I don't care for how the cloak looks.  Maybe I wanted a plastic shell for the cloak?  It just looks odd to me. 

Gunner/Engineer - I think they just wanted another reason to put the Gunner out there for some reason.  It's okay, but will skip it. 

Piell/Yaddle - It is good for people that did not get the council sets.  I think they will probably rot on the pegs next to all the other better options kids/collectors will be going for. 

In regard to the repaint wave.  I really do not know why they have a repaint wave going here in the first place?  I mean they have plenty of new stuff to draw from.  The Clone Wars Movie, Clone Wars CN series, 2 ROTS waves, OT stuff, Comic Packs, and Unleashed video game.  I am just surprised there was even a need for it.  I guess they needed a wave for the B-A-D droids. 

[Jayson]

S Trooper - I did not find the battle pack so this is a no-brainer for me.  There are quite a few of us that did not.  It makes sense since they released Neyo.

Trouble is this isn't that clone though. The "other" clone trooper from the Treachery on Saleucami set had the visor/binoc piece that was molded to the helmet. So essentially this is a clean/renamed Neyo and a movie accurate Saleucami Trooper, but it's not the one from the WalMart BP.

As for the others in the wave, not great but not bad. I would have liked a Death Star Trooper repaint in the Gray or Olive (depending on your point of view) instead of the BFII Imperial Engineer.

Dooku-is that the Evo mold?  what's up with the missing "skirt" piece.  New cape?
I hope they don't fis the lightsaber, make for cool variation and could be used for a pre fall to the darkside version of Dooku saber.

It'll be interesting to see if the Dooku shown is the final product with the missing skirt piece and painted hilt and all - the cape is from the Geonosian War Chamber Screen Scene Dooku

[JACKOFTRADZE]

Not to deter from the swap conversation but after seeing crystal clear SDCC pics I am very disappointed the Jodo Kast figure is based off of the Saga2 Boba Fett. Was it too hard to use the VOTC body? Especially in a replacement wave, you need to really use good figures.

[JangoTat]

I was dissapointed in jodo as well, but I have to admit the paint apps are pretty good. The thing I am happy about is that the BAD figure is indeed SA, and since it looks better then Jodo, Ill just consider that the Single release and Jodo the free extra