EE Exclusive: Astromech 6 Pack

[Rob]

Heavy paint apps, exclusive to a single online store....  Priced per figure same as WM TBS line...  The price isn't that outrageous really.

Only compared to what we're used to.  You get a 6" black series figure for $6 more.  It's the same story all over the place though.  Prices are getting crazy and there doesn't seem to be much changing that.  Gentle Giant Mini-Busts cost 2.5x what they cost 5 years ago and about 50% more than they did just a year ago. 

5 POA was sold as a way to bring costs down and while they started at $5.99, they've been steadily increasing ever since to the point where $7.99 is a good deal on them and $8.99 or even $9.99 is common.

And it's not like Star Wars isn't as popular as ever - that new movie meant TONS of sales.  When Episode III came out prices went down from about $8 to $5 - but with this film we didn't see anything like that.  $13 might be in line with everything else today, but that doesn't make it a good or reasonable price.

[JediJman]

I don't know why we are comparing these to SA Black Series figures anyway.  You get a lot more out of a SA Phasma than an astromech with a center arm.  I consider these similar to the basic series figures at $8, especially since they're just repaints.  They're exclusive and have fancy packaging, so we get a 50% mark up.  I can stomach that, but I'm not looking at real SA figures for justification.

[Diddly]

Yeah I haven't really seen anyone bashing the price, just the perceived value. There are pros and cons in the set, it all comes down to how you look at it.

I'd guess that most of the disappointment stems from not the description, but for at least a few hours there was hope for the 3.75 inch SA line. Like maybe they were still going to throw collectors a bone. This thread got 6 pages of replies in 2 days! When is the last time that happened? When is the last time there was this much excitement around the 3.75 inch line?

[Rob]

I don't know why we are comparing these to SA Black Series figures anyway.

Really the only reasons is because that's how EE promoted the set.

[JediJman]

I don't know why we are comparing these to SA Black Series figures anyway.

Really the only reasons is because that's how EE promoted the set.

Exactly.

[Jesse James]

Yeah I haven't really seen anyone bashing the price, just the perceived value. There are pros and cons in the set, it all comes down to how you look at it.

Exactly.

Perceived value here is everything at this point, with the line in general I think.  I really think the effort to build anticipation did a disservice.      Drop this as a "surprise" and you probably get some murmuring on price and otherwise happiness.

While I don't agree that I'd compare these to the TFA basic line, I also don't look at them and think $13 is a steal by any means.  $10 per I'd obviously be a much happier man, but hey, like I've said, same price as Disney Droids built at the park.  I'm ok with that, so why wouldn't I order this set?  That's my rationale on it ultimately.  Plus I don't buy much Star Wars stuff, or I wait for sales if I do want certain things but don't see that value in them at full price, and so I figure dropping $80 on this is not that big a deal for me at this moment.

Now if I were buying TONS of Star Wars figures and this cropped up...  eh...  I'd be him-hawing it because of budget reasons I suppose.

[Scockery]

The guy who advocated the end of obscure super-articulated figures because they BORED him, promotes the set as SA figures of characters available for the first time.

[Nicklab]

The guy who advocated the end of obscure super-articulated figures because they BORED him, promotes the set as SA figures of characters available for the first time.

Ugh.  I still remember some of that, and the crazed rationalizations that "5POA figures make me feel nostalgic for the Kenner vintage line!"

...Because progress was such a bad thing.   

[Jesse James]

I'm not gonna start an Adam Pile-On because I imagine he's seeing some of the backlash over the pre-reveal talk and so on, but yeah...  I never agreed with him on articulation.  The only excuse to cut articulation is to cut costs.

If your figure doesn't stand because there's "too much articulation", that is more your fault, or the figure doesn't have ankle joints and the ankles/feet are sculpted like **** (Armorless Clone from 30AC line, I'm looking at you).

And if your figure is falling apart that's a design flaw, as there are ample hyper articulated figures that don't fall apart because they were designed properly.  It's much more the exception than the rule there.

For me, GI Joe was everything in the 80's, and Star Wars was only good for giving cool vehicles and monsters for GI Joe to fight (or a cool cloth coat and pistol, to my favorite Joe figure who needed cold weather gear and a pistol that was somehow cooler because it was tiny and more easily lost).

I get "retro" figure love though, but retro figures need retro sculpts to really feel nostalgic, and I consider them a wholly separate thing to just dumbing down articulation on a toy.

This is a whole separate topic though to debate endlessly.

Hasbro cut articulation simply because figures were too expensive to produce in the land of, not just rising, but quickly spiking labor costs.  Sucks for us. 

[Jeff]

They're exclusive and have fancy packaging, so we get a 50% mark up.

Just like Jocasta Nu.  That is the nature of the small market exclusive.

Yes, TEN years ago we got two 5-droid packs for $60ish..  But guess what - still worked out to the same as a basic figure at the time, $6 each. Just sucks that a 'basic figure' has to be $13 these days.

It sucks balls that we are at a point where China labor cost and Hasbro shareholder profit demands ruined our hobby.  It is what it is.

I'll be buying this set to support the 3.75" line.  Maybe if this set does well, we get more.  Or EE takes a risk on something else 3.75" related maybe (hopefully).  Supporting the Walmart line or this type of set or really the only option we have if we want more SA 3.75" stuff.  But at the end of the day, I fault no one who skips this set or can't support it for whatever reason.  Different strokes and all that.

[Jesse James]

Yeah, times are a changing.  I keep hoping they move out of China, but that's a complex socioeconomic issue, and hey, we can't change squat on that.

I'm where Jeff is...  I buy because it supports what I like to buy.  There isn't that much of what I like to buy, so it doesn't sting tooooo bad.  A little maybe.  Like I said earlier though, I buy Acid Rain stuff and this is cheap by comparison.  I got a $115 toy from them from EE in the mail just today, and I plan to buy 2 more (at least) if I'm able to fit it into my budget.

I have 3 things from BBTS coming from that line too.  I have Aliens 4" stuff on the way...  Everything kinda kicked me in the nuts at once there, but if you like it enough you'll pay for it till you see it as simply not worth the other things you're giving up to have it, I guess.

[Jayson]

I don't know why we are comparing these to SA Black Series figures anyway.

TBS Astromechs:



TVC Astromechs



I think Adam's choice of words was appropriate. Although underscaled, the TVC R2 is far superior in terms of articulation/features than the TBS astromechs, in my opinion.

[Matt_Fury]

I think the set is good....not great.  I like astromechs, but I don't need a bunch of astromechs from a cartoon that wasn't very good to begin with.  I don't need super fancy astromech packaging (I do have to admit that the packaging makes for a great display piece).  I guess I was hoping for something a little different.

Some speculation that they were going to make updated vrsions of obscure droids cartoon characters, like Vlix, sounded nice, but I knew deep down that's not what we were going to get.

I think I'll wait until they eventually drop to about $20.

[Rob]

Just like Jocasta Nu.  That is the nature of the small market exclusive.

Yes, TEN years ago we got two 5-droid packs for $60ish..  But guess what - still worked out to the same as a basic figure at the time, $6 each. Just sucks that a 'basic figure' has to be $13 these days.

I get the defense of the pricing and what they are, but I'd argue that basic figures right now are $7.99, not $13.  I'd expect some level of mark up since they're exclusive, and some level of savings because they're made almost entirely out of existing sculpts and tools. 

[Jesse James]

A basic ARTICULATED figure is not $7.99 though, and these droids do fall into the more complex labor issue where they're put together and painted by hand...  All figures are painted by hand, but these paint jobs do look kind of elaborate.

IMHO they're just running on part as an (assumed) very small run exclusive that has a more complex mold used and some nice spiffy paint decos.  I don't LIKE $13 figures any more than anyone else though.  But that's today's price for quality, and all that stuff we've been over.

Now, if these were the R2 sculpt from the TFA 2-pack?  Yeah, that'd be some bull****.