Celebration VI

[Rob]

They also reiterate several times that the Vintage Collection was/is the worst selling action figure line of all of theirs so far, and that CW and Movie Heroes both outsell it.

Distribution is part of that problem, but $11.89 + Tax per figure during a bad economy might have something to do with that as well.  And even if people wanted to shell out over $12 for a single figure, they couldn't find them.  The last 4 or 5 waves, I've been getting off Amazon at $12.99 a piece.  I'm as dedicated as they come, but the pricing is finally starting to make me feel like I'm putting way too much coin into this hobby.

It was only 6 years ago that figures were $4.99, 5 years ago they were $5.99 / $6.99.  I know everything is more expensive all the time, but I have a hard time thinking that costs have risen 80%ish in the last 4 or 5 years.

[Dan]

The Clone Wars would beat the crap out of the PT in theaters. Whether it is 3D, 4G, or whatever.

I wish they would have saved some of the CW 3-4 part story arcs for theatrical release. Put one out every 4-6 weeks during the summer, and you would hit a lot more audience than the tv show- tv just has too many options. I would have loved to have gone with my daughter to see 3-4 CW movies over the summer. I didn't bother going to TPM.  I think theatrical releases would have kept the CW toy line much stronger as well.

[Jesse James]

Official Hasbro Press Images Posted

If you're interested in hyper detailed shots of the 2013 stuff, check it out.  The mini Yoda Fighter is really interesting.  I kinda like the mini stuff replacing Battlepacks.

[Force Guy]

So with Movie Heroes, we get Anakin again, Yoda again, Obi-Wan again, Vader again, etc., and more Clones....yippee.....isn't it safe to say that 2013 is the year Hasbro jumps the shark?  Seriously.  They are completely out of ideas.  I hope all the lines tank for them.  If they're not going to put forth any effort, why even bother?

[Brian]

I noticed that too, in the official pics we can see the "carry forwards" mentioned for the Movie Heroes line - Maul, Vader, Anakin, Yoda, etc.  plus older AOTC versions of Obi-Wan and Jango?  Again, the line isn't for us, I know...but they kept saying how they learned things from this year, but I'm not seeing it yet.  Hopefully they are shipping way less of it, and that might help.

I was thinking about this today, and now with AOTC/ROTS 3D hitting next year, and possibly the OT the year after that....I wonder what happens then?  We know that Hasbro has the line until 2020 now, the live action series seems to be going nowhere, CW is all but dead in the water, and if they decide to push all of the OT movies out in a couple months in 2014, that's a lot of nothing for awhile.  Maybe they'll start making "Detours" style figures .  I wonder if we'll ever see the days of the way scaled back SW line, like POTJ.  I always look back fondly on that time...neat figures (at least for the time), fairly easy to find things, decent prices, and a release schedule that people could keep up with on a limited budget (I was on a $30/month budget or less while in college/just finishing and didn't have any problems).  Granted, the current entertainment now changes that a bit, but now it seems to be "Hey, Star Wars is still around!" with attempts to take up half the action figure aisle with various Fighter Pods, multiple action figure lines, etc.

[Spirit of MAC]

Maybe they'll start making "Detours" style figures .

Please don't give Hasbro any ideas!  I'm happy with a scaled back line, to be honest, as I'd much rather refocus my collecting dollars on Blu-rays, travel, home improvement, and more "normal" real-world types of things.  The 2020 license extension is scary enough, but if CW is gone and the live-action series isn't happening (which I doubt is true), then at least Hasbro will be forced to stay focused on movie (and EU) figures bottled into just one or two figure lines at retail.  I think that'd help the overall health of the line: One kids' line full of underarticulated repacks, and one collectors' line full of all the good stuff.

As for the rest of the C6 showings and news, I'm excited to finally get that ESB big Slave-1 version out of the way, and just as happy to hear they're finally going to eventually knock out the MUCH needed larger version of the desert skiff.  If Hasbro's smart, they'll co-ordinate that with a (hopeful) release of Jabba's Sail Barge.  Speaking of which, has anyone posted a link to the finished Tatooine diorama from C6?  I haven't seen anything pop up around the collecting sites yet, and was anxious to see how it all turned out.

[shmashwitdaclub]

the new ceremony Luke has no ankles...

[Jesse James]

That's because he's from 2007 and not really "new".

[Force Guy]

I'm just glad that 2013 is going to be an inexpensive year for me, collecting-wise, that is.

[Jesse James]

Yeah I sort of like having things scaled back a bit, I just hope things are easy enough to find that I can pick/choose and not revert back to case ordering ALL the time...  I'd like to know that, if I wanna skip a case and only get a couple figures from it, I can do that. 

[P-Siddy]

I kind of mixed emotions about BAD right now, but I'm just trying to think positive that there will be other figure in the other waves in which I'll be able to trade for FA-4 and other movie ones... or there will be a droid part swap at a future Celebration.

[speedermike]

I'm just glad that 2013 is going to be an inexpensive year for me, collecting-wise, that is.

Yeah, I won't be spending much.  I think I'll spend the money at strip clubs into displaying the stuff in a better way. 

[Rob]

Yeah I sort of like having things scaled back a bit, I just hope things are easy enough to find that I can pick/choose and not revert back to case ordering ALL the time...  I'd like to know that, if I wanna skip a case and only get a couple figures from it, I can do that. 

I agree that scaling back the quantity will be nice, but that doesn't mean I want boring, less articulated, rehashes.

[P-Siddy]

I agree that scaling back the quantity will be nice, but that doesn't mean I want boring, less articulated, rehashes.

+1 

If Hasbro scales back, great, but let's make excellent choice in figure selections.  I don't think too many people were clamoring for Yavin Celebration Luke again (or a Bespin dinner Vader... although I see the need to put in Vader once a year, so giving people something different is good).

[Jayson]

As for how sites are reporting and interacting with Hasbro?  It's certainly complicated.  Every person who is working as a reporter on a collecting site started as a fan.  Nobody is doing this purely as a journalistic pursuit.  And very few have any serious journalistic training.  And very often their lines of questioning may be guided by their own personal interests.  Is it admirable that some collecting sites went to Hasbro with reader questions?  Sure.  And there is something kind hearted about them keeping those questions in their original form from the readers.  But in the grand scheme of things, you need to do some editing of those questions in order to make them coherent for both Hasbro and the readers.  Because this Q&A session frankly came across as a completely unfocused mess.

As someone who was there for 2 hours after the convention closed with Derryl and Bryan from Hasbro, Dan Curto, and Paul and Chuck from JTA, I can attest that what transpired that night was anything but an unfocused mess. The six of us sat in the darkened convention center exhibit hall and had a completely open round table discussion about the state of collecting right now as a conversation with questions sprinkled throughout. It was hardly a simple ask and answer grilling nor did we just dump a load of questions on their lap and say "answer these". One question sparked another which lead to another and so on. Very freeform.

There were a lot of things said in that 2 hours that didn't make it to the page whether it being proprietary information or something just omitted because the question has been asked and answered ad nauseum through prior discussions at cons, QnAs or through simple deductive reasoning. Also, it's very hard to translate the body language and wry smiles that Derryl and Bryan cast when we touched on topics that are not quite ready for public dissemination.

This experience was the highlight of the convention for me as I/we got to pick the brains of those responsible for the Star Wars line on a personal level. Derryl and Bryan were very gracious in giving up their time, and to be honest, they would have done it for anyone, not just for representatives of a few fan sites.