Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Lots of finger pointing and armchair quarterbacking going on today. This really become a toxic subject the last few weeks to a level I’ve never seen Star Wars sink to, and that is saying something.
I feel like with the Rancor even most of us who backed it weren’t exactly thrilled with the value, especially the super lame tiers. So I never felt bitter about it not funding, nor begrudged anyone who chose not to back it. I totally got that.
But jfc, the insane hostility and hyper defensiveness from some of the people backing this thing was hard to stomach. Seems like a weird item to get so worked up about, but I guess some people need little provocation.
I think a lot of things are probably true here:
The base offering was just not that compelling. 50th anniversary of the character but they chose to put out a much later iteration that a lot of fans don’t connect with. Hard to capitalize on nostalgia with a character that new.
The Early Bird thing was a mistake. They really shot themselves in the foot once that failed to fund, and the bonus head they offered instead just seemed like a halfhearted capitulation. Either do it like Mattel, where only the people who back by a certain date get the Early Bird, or just skip it altogether. Otherwise once that fails to happen you have an instant perception of diminished value.
The timing was ill advised. People are generally more flush with cash in the spring, and having to compete with the Eternia playset, AND that Transformers HasLab that recently launched did them no favors.
The tiers were so poorly executed it almost seemed like trolling. Hey, you’ve wanted Daemon Hellstrom for 20 years? Well here he is in a look no one recognizes. We can’t sell the Goblin Queen at retail because she’s too sexy, so instead here’s a super conservative interpretation that isn’t even comic accurate. Ditto with Mephisto.
I could go on, but what’s the point, this thing is old news now. Hopefully more lessons learned for the future!
