Playskool's Jedi Force Line

[JediMAC]

You guys catch Jeff's report on the main news page?  Looks like Hasbro's going to eBay these things!  Go figure.  A "child's" Playskool line, and Hasbro sticks 'em up on eBay.  So let me get this straight...  The regular Hasbro 4" line is geared towards kids who make up the majority of their market sales, like they always say, but a Playskool line that will likely say "For ages 3 - 8" on it, is being put up on eBay?!?  Yeah, that makes all kinds of sense, Hasbro.   

Lots of loose and carded shots in Jeff's report too, so check it out if you're interested in these cute little guys...

[SilverZ]

A "child's" Playskool line, and Hasbro sticks 'em up on eBay.  So let me get this straight...  The regular Hasbro 4" line is geared towards kids who make up the majority of their market sales, like they always say, but a Playskool line that will likely say "For ages 3 - 8" on it, is being put up on eBay?!?  Yeah, that makes all kinds of sense, Hasbro.   

You really can't deconstruct their logic and tear it to shreds any better than that. Pretty damn stupid of them.

Maybe they didn't get any interest in the line from retailers. Maybe they actually do think they are making Star Wars toys for kids, and that this line would be zing! hotcakes for retailers, as if playing up all the kid factor to 1000% would mean 1000% more interest. It's a neat little middle line, but I don't see kids going for this.

I'll probably grab a couple carded figures from the line, like I'm doing for Galactic Heroes. I'm trying really hard to separate these as a line entirely removed from the 3¾” ones to control the OCD. I think they're cool in a weird, sort of odd mutant curiosity way.

[Brian]

Yeah, the auctioning off of these figures is a bit odd.  I see in the blurb that these will be released at retail in October, retail of $7.99.  Surprising to see, but most of the auctions seem to be getting pretty high...not surprising, Vader is obviously the hottest of the batch.

I'm not sure if I'm going to get into this line or not, although I do want to get a Chewbacca if possible.  Always like the wookiee .  I wonder if it will go beyond the initial wave.  Also, its getting tough to keep up with all the different lines/brands in the Star Wars world anymore.  Basic figs, Galactic Heroes, Jedi Force, Unleashed, busts, mini busts, etc, etc.  Too much stuff, not enough money or space .

[Brian]

I see these "Jedi Force" figures (the ones initially put up for sale) are up over $100 each now...crazy.  Still a little over a day left on the first batch as well.

[Brian]

Galactic Hunter now has some nice carded pics up of the first wave of the Jedi Force Line.  I'm still not sure if I'll get these or not.  I already pick up the Galactic Heroes line, so I don't know if I need another "kiddo" line or not.  I'd like to get the Chewie if I see them in stores, but not sure on the rest of the line yet.  They do look kind of neat in a certain way though.

[Morgbug]

Blech.   

Don't you realize these are meant for kids?  C'mon folks, grow up

[Brian]

  Oh yeah....I forgot

[JediMAC]

So I've finally seen a couple of these figures at Target over the past week - the R2/3PO set, and the X-Wing Pilot Luke.

My thoughts:  They look like ****.  They're WAY bigger than I thought they were going to be, so right there all the "cuteness" factor goes right out the door.  They're like 6" tall.  I should point out that yes, these are obviously intended for the younger kids, and I fully understand that.  But so were the Galactic Heroes sets, and we all know what's happened with those...   

But I think that maybe only half (at best) of the adult collectors that are buying the GH line, will dive into this line as well.  Just a totally different look to it.  Clunky, I'd say.  But they look like they'd make decent toys for younger kids.  They've got some surprisingly good articulation, plus the added little "EU" accessories...  But as I often suspect, there's really no young kids out there that seem to be into Star Wars at all, even with the recent DVD release, so it's just going to be a question of whether the Star Wars parents buy these to "force" upon their little kids to play with.  We're probably talking the 4 - 8 year old range with these things, I'd guess.

Better question is whether I'm going to be a complete and total dumbass, and buy into a line that I don't even really like.    I've refrained on the first two I've seen so far, so hopefully that's a good sign...

My opinion aside, is anyone else buying these, or thinking about it?


P.S.  I should point out that both of the ones I saw (at 2 different Targets, a week apart) were taped up at both of the lower corners of the card.  I figured that was some kind of reseal on the first one I saw, but seeing the second one like that too suggests to me that they're all being released that way.  Maybe the glue holding the bubble on wasn't strong enough to support such big/heavy figures.  Anyway, don't be alarmed if you find some taped up too.  I think that's just how they come...

[Morgbug]

My opinion aside, is anyone else buying these, or thinking about it?

No, as stated above, I think they look like ****.  The GH stuff looks cute but is pretty accurate and inexpensive as well.  Vader, as always, is tempting, but I think I can live without this one.

[Brian]

I haven't seen them here yet (are they in the action figure aisle?), but I don't think I'll be buying in either.  I'd probably pick up the Chewbacca if I saw it, since I'm a fan of the wook, but otherwise I think I'd pass.  The Vader would be tempting too.  I probably won't know for sure until if/when these show up here and I see them in person.  For now, I think I'll just stick to the GH line, and probably pick up a Chewie from the Jedi Force line.

[jokabofe]

Ugh. I found Luke and r2/3p0 today, and I was almost sick to my stomach. The droids looked okay, but I can't buy them without getting the rest of the set. And Luke was just downright horrid.

[Brian]

Just curious...although I know most people aren't fans of this line, for those of you who have seen them in person, are you finding them in the "regular" Star Wars area?  Also, these have only been found at Target thus far, right?  I'm not going for the whole line, but would like to pick up the Chewie if I see him.  Just curious where the most common place to look has been, thanks .

[JediMAC]

I've seen one of each figure (except Vader) on 3 separate trips to Target.  That's it.  Oddly enough, each time they were just sitting by themselves on the shelf beneath the regular figures.  Looked rather like someone took a gander at 'em, and just set them there when they were done.  So I really have no idea where they'd usually be found on the pegs.  But I'd definitely check near the regular figures, then in the other aisle that usually has the GH figures, and lastly in the Playskool aisle.  If there's any, they should be in one of those 3 places.

Haven't heard of them hitting anywhere else other than Target so far either...

[Jeff]

Yeah, each time I've seen them they have been right next to the GH figure 2-packs.

AND, I broke down and purchased my first Jedi Force figure (Luke) last night.  One of the nephew's birthday is coming up at the end of the month (11-24) and it seemed like it'd make a good gift as he's got a BUNCH of Rescue Heroes stuff. 

I guess we'll see if kids actually like them or not at Thanksgiving when he gets his gift!



Jeff

[bobafett14]

I saw them at the PSWCS meeting this past Sat.  They are pretty nice.  For the price it's a much bigger piece than we're used to getting.  If they truly are going after that "Younger" market(which /I still don;t buy that they are) this is a step in the right direction.

If you ever just took a step back in the toy aisles and looked at all the other toy lines everything is bigger and ....bigger.  (except for SW)  Now, as a collector I personally like the smaller figs, but kids and parents in general when they walk through the aisles seem to always go for the bigger toys.

Look at the radio controlled Hummers they have now-Huge!  It grabs your eyes and kids will run to it with the "Mommy mommy I want that"-before they even know what "that" is just because it's big.  Anytime I see small kids walking around in public with a toy it's a large 12" scale spiderman or Hulk or something.  It's the WOW factor here.

I think parents don't like smaller pieces a)yes, kids can choke on them, B) Kids always leave things lying around or are dropping things, so they have to run around looking for the parts, or don't like to pick up pieces of the toys.

The Luke helmet being permanately attached to the fig by straps are nice features to see (and this feature is sone nicely)  It's not really collector friendly, but for the kids it's cool.