Have You Thought About Your Plans for the New Movie(s)?

[Brian]

Not necessarily "Black Series" per se, but thought this was the most relevant place to post this.  With a sort of slow time this year and last, have you given any thought to what your collecting might look like once Episode VII hits theaters (and beyond)?  It looks like, if Disney's plans hold, that we'll be having yearly Star Wars movies - and likely yearly toy lines as well.  Will you collect it, pick and choose, wait and see?

Our family has been going through a whole house condensing/cleanout this summer - and I've been spending a lot of time on the office (which is also the collection room) and also going through storage tubs.  What I've realized is - news flash - I have a lot of crap .  The display areas in our office are already pretty full (primarily Star Wars and Marvel stuff, with some Joes, LEGO, LOTR, Indy, MOTU, and DC), not to mention all the tubs just sitting in our garage, full of toys.  It makes me realize, not only do I need to sell off/donate some of this stuff, but I really need to re-assess as we look forward to this onslaught of new movies and merchandise.

Star Wars has always been my primary collecting focus, and hitting the toy aisles and visiting forums like this is what led me to collecting other lines as well.  I know, barring a huge change to the scale/look of the line, I'll be on board for the toys for these new movies - particularly the "main trilogy" - at least to some extent.  Knowing that, I know that I need to cut back in other areas.  Some collections (Joes, LOTR, DC, MOTU, Indy) are pretty much complete, I just like having them displayed.  Marvel is something I've really gotten into though, and the movies there don't show any signs of slowing down either.  I've gotten much more selective in what I buy, skipping a lot of figures in the SW line over the past couple of years simply because they didn't excite me, and I'll continue that.

Anyways, back on the original topic - do you plan to collect the stuff from these new movies, or are you taking a wait and see approach?  I know I'll at least buy some things, but I will take a wait and see to know what the spinoffs and of that are all about.  Plus, I need to figure out a place for this stuff to go before I buy anything.  I'm at capacity now, and not someone who likes to collect just to put in storage, so I've got some decisions to make in the next year plus.

[Matt_Fury]

For my collection room, it's a wait and see approach.

Colin will be 5 years old and will probably want most if not all of the stuff!  We just finished a four day road trip to the East Coast and he watched the OT.  After getting back to the house, he immediately went into my office/collection room and yelled, "ARTOO!  Where are you?!"

[Jesse James]

I'll just be on a wait and see stance, just simply to see what's coming...  For all we know there won't be a collector 4" line.  It may be all 5POA figures, which I'd pick and choose...  I am not buying 6" anyway, so I'm set there.

If the 4" line has a collector quality line, I'm sure I'll be picking up what I'd like...  Like with ROTS though, I didn't buy it all.  I got picky actually in 2002.  1999 really soured me on the crap Hasbro was putting out at the time...  I doubt my limitations change much.

4" figures are easy to display in scads though too.  Especially when you don't buy them all in the first place.  Hell, I just bought my first 5POA figures tonight really.  There are very few Rebels characters I'm interested in right now do to the animated style, so those are out too.

Vehicles are where I am at an impasse of sorts.  I have tons of the new AT-ST around.  Most are for storage till wanted for something specific.  I have only the ROTJ one we just got displayed at this point.  TIE's are the same though.  I have tons of the big-wing, various types...  A handful of Ints and Bombers too.  I have like 12 A-Wings of various colors.  Most are in storage and one or two will get "displayed" ultimately.  Most are just waiting for a paintjob, or some customization, at some point.  Lots of plans, and only so much time.

[Greedo The Green Menace]

I've got a similar situation where I've just got too much crap and need to dump it off. I'm basically just gutting my collection and focusing solely on the smaller scale stuff from my main lines. As for these new movies, if they look good standing next to the other guys on my shelves, as in solid sculpt and paint (I can live without super pose ability if they don't make em) then I'll nab em, as long as they do things the way they used to, lots of weird aliens and robots from the background and such. They should be giving us a whole slew of new there in the background for 5 second creature designs, and that's the stuff I love, and miss collecting right now.

[Rob]

As much as the idea of collecting SW into my 40's strikes me as a bad idea, I'm going to play it by ear and probably just go with it - if the 3 3/4" line stays alive and consistent.

[P-Siddy]

My gut is telling me that this is it;  I'm not going to invest into more figures from the new movies.  I feel like the OT is what I grew up with and love (not that I hate the PT, it's just wasn't in my childhood), so I think that will be my focus moving on.  But, yes, my displays are pretty much filled up now.  The other thing is that I am not sure if I enjoy picking up figures any more.  I think this is mostly do to Hasbro's recent downward spiral in quality of figures.  It's disheartening to find something you want at a store and leave it behind because there is an issue with pain apps or something.... it's one thing to never find an item on a shelf than to find it and leave it behind.  Hasbro is making it easy for me to quit.

[Jesse James]

Paint, prices, articulation, general quality, general burn-out or simply lack of connection...  A lot to think about going forward.  I feel like Abrams may get people to look at the new films a little more closely because he's trying to link to the OT so much. 

Lucas didn't try for strong bonds between trilogies.  He thought the obvious, like Leia's ship having a cameo, was good enough.  Or just the character names would be sufficient (hey, it's OWK!  But not really.  And it's Yoda but he's fighting instead of being wise and cerebral!), and that didn't jive with fans as hoped.

Rebels looks to have a lot of cool things that have my attention for sure, but I'm not sure it isn't taking a direction that will be too kiddie for me and I'll lose interest in the toys for any reason than simply how they fit in my collection and look good.  The figures already don't interest me as much as I'd hoped for.

So like Rebels I'm waiting to see if e7 ropes me in and thus sells more toys to me, or if I just find background guys they make interesting because they fit my collection as basically filler and fodder.  I'm quite sure I'd pick and choose anyway, given the volume of stuff I have already coupled with the fact I've been in that mode for over a decade anyway.

Space hasn't become a deciding factor for me...  Yet.  Then again I don't have a wife/kids living with me.  I have my rental family on the weekends when I'm not home to play with POSE toys.  So my space issues are more keeping my stuff out of public views.

[Muftak]

I cut the collection so far back ("only" 400 figures or so) a few years ago, long before thought of the sequel trilogy actually getting made cropped up, I think I'll be okay without the new line...with a couple exceptions. I'll probably be in for a version of Luke Han and Leia from EpVII, because middle-age versions of them will always be a part of Star Wars to me, no matter how I feel about the bulk of the movie. It's the same thing as the very few Prequel figures I still have...Anakin and Obi-Wan from the Final Duel are always going to be on display, because they were a part of the childhood daydreams that go along with Star Wars for me. Stuff like Podracers and Dexter Jettster, not so much.

Like someone else posted, I have this collection as a link to my childhood first and foremost. I hope beyond hope that my 4 year old gets into Rebels, because I want to get him those figures and start him on his Star Wars journey right. I'm excited for that aspect, and if he wants the figures from the new movies I fear he is going to be the most spoiled child on the planet because I will buy him everything...but just for his childhood, not mine.

[Darby]

I've started to think about it recently since vintage collecting has really become my primary focus over the last few years. Really since things have slowed with Hasbro, it's been nearly exclusive. My toy room is about half vintage / half modern, and more and more I look at the modern stuff as potentially expendable. I will be collecting sequel stuff for sure, but how much I won't now until we get there. Safe to say it won't be all in. I'll definitely want figures of the main characters and if there's cool aliens I'll buy them too. If there are 6 inch (of course there will be) I'll want a Jedi Master Luke. So we'll see. In any case I need to liquidate. I have scads of toys from here and there and I need to clean house a little. I mean a lot.

[Nicklab]

I'll be taking a wait and see stance.  I'm in the midst of trying to get my collection room as well as the whole collection somewhat under control and organized.  The thought of adding a whole new trilogy worth of toys to that?  OMG.  It starts to get a little overwhelming.

I might start to get more excited for the Sequel Trilogy and spinoff movies as the filmmakers start to reveal more.  But I think I have to be far more judicious about how I spend than I was during to PT movie days.

[Darth_Anton]

I'm just playing wait and see. Plain and simple. We'll see how well it builds on the OT.

[McMetal]

I'm not concerned at all about the new movies, as I am unlikely to buy any of those figures or vehicles, but I do have some concern about how much Rebels stuff will ultimately get released and how much that will compromise my available space. If it's even half the amount of stuff released in the animated Clone Wars line it will be a real challenge.

[Diddly]

It really depends on the articulation. If we're getting super articulated figures, I'll more than happily pick up the OT gang and probably the new main characters. But any troopers or minor characters? Probably not. I have more than enough Rebels and Imperials and won't care enough to pick up Poggle the Lesser or Zam Wesell type characters. Plus most of my collecting focus is on LEGO now, and that takes up enough space on its own. Adding a whole new trilogy to what I have, yikes.

Part of me is praying we get a shoddy 5 POA line similar to the last few Marvel movies so I can skip it entirely and not feel bad.

[Nicklab]

It really depends on the articulation. If we're getting super articulated figures, I'll more than happily pick up the OT gang and probably the new main characters. But any troopers or minor characters? Probably not. I have more than enough Rebels and Imperials and won't care enough to pick up Poggle the Lesser or Zam Wesell type characters. Plus most of my collecting focus is on LEGO now, and that takes up enough space on its own. Adding a whole new trilogy to what I have, yikes.

Part of me is praying we get a shoddy 5 POA line similar to the last few Marvel movies so I can skip it entirely and not feel bad.

This is part of how I feel.  As I've been organizing my collection over the past few months I couldn't help but notice something that REALLY got me fuming.  That being a recurring trend where Hasbro put out minimally articulated figures of main characters at the beginning of a movie line.  And then a few months down the line we got a well articulated version of those same characters.  This happened in both the AOTC and ROTS lines.  I'd really like to see Hasbro break this trend going forward.  And if they don't?  I'm going to wait until the gimmick figures get out of the way and THEN buy the core characters with good articulation.

[Greg]

I'll only be collecting stuff that is on-par with what I already have. Black Series/TVC-style 3 3/4" figures, some 6" figures, and any compatible vehicles. I bought some of the 5POA figures on the cheap last year and have since regretted it, so if the movie lines focus mostly on 5POA (like Rebels) I will be skipping a lot of product.