The Future of Star Wars Collecting

[CHEWIE]

To be honest, all I really care about is the 3-3/4" line.  It's the lifeblood of Star Wars collecting.  I hope (and think) it will continue for a long time...

More than anything, I want to see a few large playsets/vehicles... with the Unleashed line supposedly going towards a 2" scale, I think they are making a mistake and slitting their own wrists with that line.  If they were to make the Unleashed figures smaller, I think they would be best to make it a 3-3/4" scale line.

About a year or so ago, I opened a thread somewhere here, and was thinking that it would be cool to have the unleashed go in the 3-3/4" direction...

I really thought that some sort of 2-pks priced at the $15.00-$20.00 range would be awesome. Each one would have a cool unique base to display them on... the figures themselves would have limited articulation similar to the current unleashed line...

Also, each movie would have one large scene (almost a playset!) - something around the $40.00-$50.00 range that was a pivotal moment in that particular film.

For instance, here are some ideas for the $15.00-$20.00 range sets -

TPM

- Qui Gon fighting Maul w/ desert environment
- Obi Wan slashing Battle Droid w/ Naboo Forest base

AOTC

- Arena Padme w/ Nexu climbing Arena column
- Obi Wan deflecting shot w/ "hovering" Jango Fett w/ Kamino base

ROTS

- Palpatine fighting Yoda w/ Senate pod base
- Grievous fighting Obi Wan w/ Utupua environment

ANH

- R2D2 and C3PO w/ Tantive IV environment
- Han and Chewbacca sitting in Cantina w/ table and booth

ESB

- Dagobah handstand Luke w/ Yoda standing on him
- Han shooting at Vader w/ Cloud City dining room table

ROTJ

- Han throwing Scout Trooper against tree
- Stormtrooper shooting w/ Ewoks attacking him

Then, there would be a $40.00-$50.00 set for each film -

TPM - Theed Generator room w/ Obi Wan fighting Maul w/ dying Qui Gon on the floor

AOTC - Geonosis hangar w/ Yoda fighting Dooku w/ injured Obi Wan and Anakin lying on floor

ROTS - Mustafar control room w/ Obi Wan fighting Vader and destroyed Battle Droids, dead Nute Gunray on floor

ANH - Death Star hangar w/ Obi Wan fighting Vader

ESB - Bespin gantry/eather vane w/ Vader outstretching his hand to injured Luke

ROTJ - Throne room w/ seated Palpatine and Luke fighting Vader


Honestly, I don't care what the Unleashed line does. As it is now, it's not my cup of tea. I understand that a lot of people do enjoy it, but I don't think that scaling it down to a 2 inch line is a good move. If they were to make them smaller, then a 3-3/4 line would make sense.

This is really the way I see it - the upcoming ATTAKUS Line that is going to have some stuff in the 3-3/4 scale is probably going to be extremely expensive and that Death Star scene is going to be out of the price range of most. If there were some sort of 3-3/4 unleashed line, at least for the first time since the vintage days we MIGHT get some cool playsets/environments.

But WHAT IF the unleashed line could make some sort of playsets like this that the legendary Niub Niub made, but of course with newer figures, even preposed would be fine if they weren't "nailed down" to the playset -



Or as another example the Throne Room that forum member DAGOBAH is working on -



And as an example, here is what ATTAKUS is putting out later, that is probably going to be damn expensive -













Would any true collector that opens their stuff NOT WANT these? We know damn well that Hasbro isn't making any effort to get us playsets with the regular line, so maybe we could get something like this as some part of unleashed Line.

To scale down the unleashed Line to a 2" line is probably a big mistake. If they are to scale it down, they should go with a 3-3/4" line because the 3-3/4" line is the lifeblood of Star Wars collecting, plain and simple.

Thoughts? I know most people want to see the unleashed line stay as it is, but I think this would be A LOT better than going to a small 2 inch line which is what it seems is going to happen.

 

[Ben]

I'm rather glad the Unleashed line is changing scales. Now I can step off that boat, though I still need the newest wave, the last wave, and the Stormtrooper wave.

It was getting hard to spend $15, plus space was hard to find for them. Not to mention how hard it was to find the damn things in order to buy them.

And that Attakus stuff is friggin' awesome. I bet they'll want $1,000 for that Death Star display.

[Pete_Fett]

WOW, GI Joe is only sold via their site?  How'd I miss that!

What you see in stores now of the 3.75" GI Joe toys is merely stores trying to move the last of the product they have. At some point, whether it be in the fall or for Christmas, Hasbro will be introducing a 6" figure line called "Sigma Six" or something stupid like that. They will essentially "reboot" the line and be able to start off with all new versions of Duke, Snake Eyes, etc...

They announced back at Toy Fair in Feb of this year that the 3.75" and 12" GI Joe lines were effectively cancelled.

After many cries let out by GIJoe collectors, Hasbro decided to change their tune (slightly) and are now going to be offering individually carded 3.75" figures on retro-style cards (the packaging looks A LOT like the packaging from the 80s) and from what I understood they were going to be available only through their toy shop website.

Now I have seen that online retailers like Brians Toys are going to be selling them as well - but I'm not sure if they are just buying from the store applying a mark-up and then reselling them with the intention of being the ONLY game in town after Hasbro's store sells out or if Hasbro is letting some of their smaller customers buy in to the line. The big chains however, will transition to selling the new 6" line instead.

Hope that helps, sorry for being off-topic of SW.

[Darth Broem]

Well I don't really know what the future holds for Star Wars.  I would think they would want to continue on with the 3 3/4 line.  Like someone said before it would be nice if they could cut back a bit on the amount of figures in a year and make some nice, close to ultimate styled figures now.  Something on par with the ROTS Ct Dooku, Evolutions figures, even VOTC.  But yet keep the price range between $5-$6. 

Hopefully they would still offer us new sculpts, maybe reshash some figs that people may have missed like Ree-Yees.  Still offer some never before made characters like the Tonnika Sisters, Hem Dazon, Hermi Odle, Major Derlin, Yarna.  Improve upon some figures in articulation like the Snowtroopers.  Re-do some classic characters like Luke and Han with VOTC style stormtrooper bodies.  Make a nice new Luke, Han, and Leia in their Endor outfits.  Maybe with soft goods? 

12 inch - They just can't make good figure decisions any longer.  Where the hell is Hammerhead for Christ's sake?  If they just want to make Luke with that Tatooine outfit again then just let it die.  Give it to another company to make them.  Only put a few of them out per year like the Unleashed line, but make them nice looking.    I really think Hasbro killed this line all by themselves really over the past few years. 

Unleashed - I think the retailers must have killed this line off.  I can't really see Hasbro just wanting to kill it the more I think about it.  But don't even bother with that 2 inch line.  That's a joke.  Sorry but it is. 

Vehicles - Personally I am tired of seeing 1977, 1980, and 1983 molds repainted.  I accpeted the Sandcrawler because I never had the original and they painted it nice and no major retailers wanted to sell it.  Make something fresh for everyone.  It's to the point where I am not even interested in vehicles any longer.  It was nice to get some new ones for ROTS of course.  But as far as the OT goes it's same old rehash of the 70-80's era.  Yawn.   

Playsets - These are in such desperate need.  Hasbro makes a big stink about the 500th figure but there is nowhere really to put a vast majority of those 500.  I like the idea of the smaller sets as someone pointed out above.  They act like it will break the company if they try and make that stuff though.  Hell just make them in limited quantities.  I guess there is a reason for it but it sucks as a collector not to be able to put the damn figure in an environment where they fit.  Instead you get to set them on a shelf with a stand.  Yay!

[Darth_Anton]

This is really the way I see it - the upcoming ATTAKUS Line that is going to have some stuff in the 3-3/4 scale is probably going to be extremely expensive and that Death Star scene is going to be out of the price range of most.

Not to mention all the spacial issues.

I'm not into the uber-expensive stuff, but this line is really tempting. Is it 3 3/4" or close to? I've head they can't do a proper/exact 3 3/4" scale due to conficts with Hasbro's rights to that scale. Is this true or am I getting improper info?

[CHEWIE]

I don't know about the "rights" issue, but it would make sense... I think they look pretty darn close to a proper 3-3/4" scale though!

 

[dafoo]

6" figures!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

and this does apply to Star Wars as Hasbro has a kick for redoing the same stupidity over and over and over again.

I fear for the future

[DoctorPadawan]

Regarding the Joe line, I am reminded of the saying, "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."  Thanks Jonestown Massacre documentary! 

About ten years or so ago, give or take, Hasbro decided to cancel the 3.5" Joe line in favor of a larger scale, called "GI JOE EXTREME."  This did wonders for the Joe franchise and lasted less than a year because PEOPLE WANTED 12 INCH AND 3.75 INCH GI JOES, NOT 6 INCH MUSCLE CRAP.  So, they went back to the 12" and 3.75" lines in the late 1990's and everyone cheered.

Now they're doing the exact thing that practically demolished the Joe line ten years ago.  It reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Lisa wires the cupcake to see how long it takes Bart to learn.  For those who haven't seen the episode, let's just say that Bart is a slow learner, and reminds me of Hasbro's approach with the Joes lately. 

Back on topic, though, I said it before and I'll say it again: 4" basic figure line, occasional vehicles for everyone; GH for kids; 7" Unleashed for collectors, and that should be all that they worry about.

[CHEWIE]

Throw in a mega playset every 12-18 months and I'm set.   

 

[dafoo]

Oh geepers I forgot about GI JOE EXTREME. now I'm really afraid!

MEGA PLAYSET!!?!  *drools*

[Ben]

Regarding the Joe line, I am reminded of the saying, "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."  Thanks Jonestown Massacre documentary! 

About ten years or so ago, give or take, Hasbro decided to cancel the 3.5" Joe line in favor of a larger scale, called "GI JOE EXTREME."  This did wonders for the Joe franchise and lasted less than a year because PEOPLE WANTED 12 INCH AND 3.75 INCH GI JOES, NOT 6 INCH MUSCLE CRAP.  So, they went back to the 12" and 3.75" lines in the late 1990's and everyone cheered.

Now they're doing the exact thing that practically demolished the Joe line ten years ago.  It reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Lisa wires the cupcake to see how long it takes Bart to learn.  For those who haven't seen the episode, let's just say that Bart is a slow learner, and reminds me of Hasbro's approach with the Joes lately. 

Back on topic, though, I said it before and I'll say it again: 4" basic figure line, occasional vehicles for everyone; GH for kids; 7" Unleashed for collectors, and that should be all that they worry about.

From what I understand, in 1994 TRU killed GI Joe because they could. Or they wanted a new scale, only to come crawling back in 1997 for the neat exclusives that year and 1998.

And in 2005, Wal-Mart killed GI Joe by not wanting to carry it anymore, or just trying to dictate to Hasbro too much about "what people want". I'm sure they pushed heavily for Sigma 6, just like they wanted the 3.75" stuff in two-packs since they took up less shelf space.  (Lamest reasoning EVER.)

Either that or Hasbro just passed the buck again.

Me, personally, I love this idea of selling them online. I don't have to buy a two-pack with a figure inside I don't want, plus they're on these beautiful cards. And I don't have to put up with some jerk who buys all the Vipers and nothing else, then brings back the packs with the Gung-Ho intact and partnered with a CORPS! figure.

The less I have to shop at retail for toys, the happier I tend to be.

[dafoo]

Yeah, Online shopping has advantages, but it greatly cuts back on the volume hasbro can sell off.  Making for small production runs and higher prices (plus S/H of course) and generally greatly increasing the chances of the death of the line.

GI Joe needs another cartoon show.  Not a crummy one (like new cartoons) either lol

[Pete_Fett]

My wife's god-son who lives with us collects the GI Joe 3.75" line and I stay on top of it (like he does with SW) so we can help each other collect the respective lines.

He feels that the Online Store approach for the GI Joe figures is a mixed blessing. He thinks the new packaging is beautiful and is glad they're back to individually carded figures - this way if all they release is a slightly modified repaint of say for example Duke - he doesn't have to buy it like he did with the two-packs 'cause the two-pack would have a completely new figure packed in with the Duke. He hopes that Hasbro makes enough to meet demand, he's worried that they may not initially and people waiting for these things may have their orders cancelled due to lack of production.

Personally, I'm glad they're trying it with GI Joe instead of Star Wars for a couple of reasons:

1) I'm selfish and while I'm glad they're trying this experiment with the GI Joe figures online, I'm glad they're not trying it with Star Wars. SW is the whipping boy action figure line as it is, there doesn't need to be any more fodder for that.

2) If the GI Joe experiment is successful, it means that if and when the SW figures go this route, Hasbro might want to provide a new figure here and there amongst the sea of re-packs that will most likely be available. Anything that encourages them to make new figures even after WalMart kills the line is a good thing IMHO.

3) The failure of the Sigma Six line along with mediocre Force Battler sales may indicate to Hasbro changing the scale of the SW line may not be such a good idea. So let's pray that Sigma Six flops.

 

[Diddly]

Well it's looking like Repack-o-Rama for the next year.

Luckily, there are no new figures on the horizon, so if there's another drought (like in 2000 and 2003), I won't be left behind.

[SilverZ]

Judging by the news so far today, I'm not even sure there's much future for the line at all.

Those 5-packs are going to convince retailers that Star Wars is over. They're going to choke on those.

The pointlessness of the exclusive (read: garbage) carded figures announced today are obviously target at carded completists, and a total abuse of those collectors.

The redeco figures in ROTS are getting carried away into piss-poor EU territory.

There had better be something good they're sitting on for Friday afternoon, because all the news thus far has been bad. Line-killer bad.