Pretty Petty Things
Top Ten Cheap Little Things
That I’d like to buy (as always)…
Make no mistake about it, dear readers, Hasbro hates me. Why? Because they deep-sixed those cool little blast points from the Blue Card Saga line despite me telling them how much I love them. So here’s a little top-ten list of cool things that they could’ve made a little extra moolah on, but they chose not to because they hate me.
1. Blast Points — They were just so cool, especially for dioramaniacs like me. I recommended putting a little batch of them in a simple plastic baggie with a cardboard header stapled to them, and sell them by the bundle to idiots like me who really want Han to shoot everyone first. Hasbro yawned and told me to go away.
2. Action Figure Stands — I’m partial to the stands currently being packed-in as a "value added" thing to our figures in The Saga Collection. Even generic stands with the simple "STAR WARS" logo in this style would be a nice addition to our collections. Some people may not care for them, but people who display their figures loose in an organized manner do like the uniformity. If Hasbro doesn’t take our money, someone else will. That Stand Tall Display System looks nice, and it adds some "merchandising" flair to a display. (That’s an uncompensated plug, mind you, I like their product.)
3. Scene Specific Action Figure Stands — I’m convinced that I’m never (NEVER!) going to get a nice, quality playset of any sort for my 500+ (and counting) basic action figures, so I really liked the little stands that connected a bit to create a scene. (Note — I hate the random, nonsensical stands packaged with Revenge of the Sith figures.) And why was there never a companion piece to this wedding balcony? Jeez! Someone dropped the ball there. (It doesn’t connect to duplicate pieces just right, so it really doesn’t do it for me.) Barriss Offee (Saga) and Aayla Secura (Saga) both came with great pieces that expand the scope of a collector’s battle on Geonosis. Why not sell some extras? They can be painted other colors, too, to form other environments. (See… I’m talking to the wall again.)
4. Print-Your-Own Scene Playsets/Shadowboxes — Hasbro has never been good at the interactive, but why they don’t make little scenes for their Star Wars website that users can print out to display their toys, it’s beyond me. Guys… I don’t ask for much. Send me some free toys, and maybe make an action figure in my likeness down the road (when I’ve lost another 20lbs). I’ll Photoshop for free toys. Kids and collectors would eat it up, and high-quality printers are in every house, office, and school these days. Think about it…
5. Collection Posters — I look forward to any printed material from Hasbro, and I love the line-specific posters that they’ve been so nice about giving away at Comic-Con. What I’d really be quick to buy, and I know many of you would, too, is a series of posters documenting the entire run of the Star Wars line. Posters are cheap, but they frame up nicely for office walls. There are plenty of online outlets that could sell these for collecting folk.
6. Vehicle Stands — I know this is a bit of a stretch, actually, but an inexpensive acrylic stand could be offered through direct accounts and/or HasbroToyShop.com to enhance the sale of the latest vehicle. Master Replicas’ nice lightsaber stands turn a "toy" (their FX Light Sabers) into a real collectible worthy of display. Hasbro has made a lot of nice ships that deserve a little extra love. (Note: No one is saying to sell these at Sprawl*Mart… it’s a niche thing again.)
7. Action Figure Collector Cases — Not many will agree with me here, but I always loved the cheap little vinyl carrying cases with a printed insert. Even if they were only sold online, I’d welcome their return. And full color printing is very inexpensive these days. Make a batch up, slip in some different movie graphics, and surely a few of us will buy them.
8. Book/Magazine/Action Figure Guide — Print is dead, but most of us collectors would rush to get a nice action figure guide officially sanctioned by Hasbro with all the juicy details behind our favorite line. (Where’s my resumé?) We want to know everything… the toys that didn’t make it. The changes that took place. The sculptor(s) who did it. All the good stuff. OK, well, I want to know. These guys can speak for themselves here. (That’s what comments are for.)
9. Collector Coin Holder — I’m getting this one in before the curve. If I’m going to "invest" in these 30th Anniversary Coins pack-ins, I want to show them off. Someone had better be working up a plan to "bonus" us a coin holder, album, or something worthy of our highly esteemed collections of plastic stuff.
10. Star Wars Action Figure Collecting Con — They have them for G.I. Joe and Transformers, Hasbro‘s other two flagship brands, but us Star Wars nerds are left out in the cold. I’ve encouraged high-profile collectors to start one for years, but it’s going to take a big gun like Hasbro to really help us out. There are enough of us to fill a convention hall, and we love having stuff marketed to us. So what’s the hold up? (No, Star Wars Celebrations are not collector events. I want something that is totally centered around the toys we love.) I hear Atlanta is hard-up for more convention biz since a bunch of those tech cons dried up. Give my homies a call. We’ll hook you up.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:26 am
I’d definitly buy book based on action figures. If each volume contained a line of figures…SAGA, POTF2 etc….and had nice detailed photo’s and commentary I’d be all over it just for reference. With the amount of archival data on the web now I can’t believe we don’t have a fan-published book. I’d pay for a downloadable copy in Adobe format.
Vehicle Stands are a tough product to design. With so many different shapes and center of gravity it would be difficult to find a "one size fits all" product. It’s a great idea but it would need to fit other 3 3/4 inch lines and not only Star Wars. If anybody has any idea’s I can point you in the right direction to get it manufactured.
Adam..thanks for the plug.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Speaking of collecting cons, how about one in Portland Oregon for a change. It seems like there are so few good cons in the Northwest states. The closest cons to me (that I know of) are in California and being a working father of one (and one on the way) I can’t afford to go that far. Please bring something to the Northwest every once in a while. PLEASE.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:01 am
I m with you Adam on the print a scene shadow box idea. Its one of the many ideas in my unfinished business plan on adding value to the SW collecting universe
August 30th, 2006 at 11:02 am
There are some great ideas in here! Yeah, I want the printable backgrounds for displays and RIGHT NOW would be a great time for them! Do you picture them as photographic or graphic renditions? I think either could work though perhaps the photographic ones would be a bit nicer. Nice pack-in stands specific to the films and the action figure’s role/environment in the film would be perfect. I was absolutely baffled that the Anakin Secret Ceremony didn’t have the companion piece of stone balcony. When I bought it on ebay I didn’t check for this detail and just assumed it would come with it. I had to check the image bank here at Galactic Hunter right after it arrived just to make sure I didn’t get a weird variant that had missed the stand somehow! Not a big fan of blast points but I haven’t "evolved" into a diaroma-tician so far so maybe I just don’t appreciate their aesthetic value yet (for now they reside in plastic baggies in my "extra pieces" box….does that make you sad? Picturing them all alone in a dark box doing nothing when they could be used for display? Or is that just where you assume most of them have ended up?) If I had to go to a convention, I’d want it to be in Portland Oregon too Michael. Even though I live in Eastern Canada I’d make an extra special effort to get back to Portland for that. Combining my favorite hobby with my favorite American city…match made in heaven as far as I’m concerned.
August 30th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Action figure stands are a must.If they can’t be included as a pack-in then they should be sold in some other manner.I want to see more of the ROTS environmental stands and also the Episode specific stands.If Hasbro can’t or won’t do them then let someone else take over.These wouldn’t sell well (or at all) at retail but if offered online they would.
An Action Figure Guide is much needed and overdue.I’d like to have everything all together in one place.You’re right that there’s information all over the place but its also inconsistent and not all there and available.I’d love to see something more expansive that what Adam is doing.For one thing I’d love to know more about prototypes and such.
August 30th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Some of this stuff sounds like some really good ideas, but you left out one thing that I think a lot of collectors would really go for, Weapons packs. Maybe if they did Weapons Packs they could throw in blast points while they are at it and we could both be happy. Lets face it no matter how many imperials they make we still need more E-11 blasters, or some people probably need generic lightsabers of all colors. I know I could also use more clone rifles and short blasters. The carrying cases would be cool also. I would love to see a retro carrying case with Episode II graphics on it. I really think they should offer up more stands. That is one of the best things about the Saga line this year. Its also one of the stupidest things about the 30th Annisversary line next year. I could care less about coins. I am a loose collector and like all loose collectors I need stands for some of my figures. I think they are backsliding at Hasbro, by not including stands in next years line. One last thing. I like Steve Sansweet’s figure guide, but it has become antiquated at this point. Why dont they commission him to make a new updated version that would probably have to be a thousand pages long?
August 30th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Just a note I ranted off in a forum over at Jedidefender a couple of days ago. I’m glad to see I’m not alone in the shadow box department!
"I agree with the need to capitalize on ROTS while the movie is fresh in kid’s minds. With the sheer quantity of figures that were released during the movie year, the greatest battles and heroes and villians assortments were not a bad idea. I’m sure many kids filled holes thanks to those assortments, as parents weren’t going to buy 60 plus figures in a single year. But I want to continue kicking around this dead horse I keep talking about. Playsets. And maybe playsets isn’t the right work- Settings with Props would be more accurate for what I am trying to describe.Consider: The newly redone Saga X-wing with Dagobah muck and swamp monster. This thing looks great, was unexpected, was not being clamored for, and is doing very well. It is a diorama in a box.While there are new people in the hobby, there are some of us that have been here a long time. It is true that the list of figures that "need" to be done, particlularly from the OT, is getting small and is starting to look more like a list of figures that need to be upgraded. I want Hasbro to bail on the big box stores for a while, and try something new. Galactic Hunter has a blogger section that touched on this recently, and it is something I have been making noise about on these forums as well. – I have over a thousand figures (I’ve been collecting since POTF2 first hit, I don’t mean to sound boastful). I really question whether I need a single one more to be happy. While I continue buying ones I like, I don’t feel excitement about that anymore. I buy them, cut them open, look at them, and put them in a baggie with their accessories. Sometimes they sit on my shelf for a little bit, or join one of the dioramas already on display. but most of them simply don’t have a home on my display shelves because….
I need settings and props!
Yes I can, and do, some of this on my own. But more and more of my collecting money is going to Medicom, Gentle Giant, and the like because I have just about had my fill of what Hasbro has to offer. HEY HASBRO!!! I want backgrounds so that all of these scene specifc characters have a cool place to sit. I don’t want row after row of random figures lined up on a shelf that I need to constantly dust. And I don’t want cardboard fold-out too-small pieces of junk that the big-box stores would carry. I want a 24" long, 14" high, 12" deep cut open box with scene specific backgrounds and props. OK, it doesn’t have to be those exact dimensions, but I’m trying to give you a starting point. Make the boxes generic, and sell the backgrounds and props seperately. Make the boxes capable of joining together, so I could make a monster one to fit my Hoth scene with AT-ATs and rebels in a trench. Go crazy and give me a plexiglass front door so I don’t have to dust all the time, and so it could sit on it’s own on a table top and look good. These types of things don’t require a ton of tooling. I don’t claim to say that everyone wants these. But I think there are a lot of us out here who would see them and say YES!! A chance to get some of these guys out of their storage containers and on display in a product we aren’t ashamed to put in the entertainment center in the living room. Right now that spot is reserved for Gentle-Giant statues, maybe Hasbro would like a piece of that pie? I wouldn’t mind giving them some coin if they do.Don’t be afraid of it because it is different, do it because it is different. The fact is Hasbro is losing me, and no amount of repainted clones and ships is going to keep me around another 8 years. But even if you don’t, thanks for the last 12 years, it has been fun."Dan
August 30th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Printed backgrounds? I have been making my own for years. I want some official stuff. Now. And I am all for more stands, the action figure book and a collecting con. Collecting is 90% of the reason I was at SDCC.
August 30th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
I like Dan’s idea for settings and props. It would be cool. I dont want something I can just print off on my computer. I can do that now as it is. I want something that is official and is going to look cool like a minitature movie set for my figures. That would be so nice. They really need to come up with this and do some cool stuff like the hallway of the Tantive IV with the door blasted open for my stormtroopers to come pouring through. That would be cool.
August 30th, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Some of these really do sound like no brainers for Hasbro. I’m with you on the collectors cases as I have a hard time storing my old figures that are no longer on display. I can really really really liive without the coins though. I would much rather have action figure stands than coins. I mean, what am I going to do with them except put them in the closet next to the recent holographic figures, CommTech chips, Force Files, and POTF2 action frame slides (or whatever they were called)? But stands I can use, especially for flimsy battle droids and super battle droids.
August 30th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
I love the idea of the Tantive IV- a ship they can’t financially justify making becomes a playset that they can.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Yes yes yes yes Hasbro we do want playsets and diorama pieces to display our figures in movie accurate scenes. How long are we gonna get the same ole song and dance about demand. Sideshows starting to embarass your 3 inch line and it really doesnt matter if one is a mass consumed mainstream toyline vs 12 collectibles. We want scene specific mini stands like wat tambors computer console and secret ceremony padmes balcony decor, mini playsets,big playsets,
whatever the case it doesnt matter,etc. Its time the number one action figure toyline of all time that started it all before transformers and everything else is given its proper treatment with all new playsets,vehicles,accessories,beasts,diorama pieces and speciality fan conventions along with the fans.