Memo To Hasbro #4
Hello Hasbro… it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Me? Oh, I’m fine. I had some dentistry and other real life things, and they got in the way of what’s really important — toys. We all have our priorities, right? Let’s get down to business, shall we?
TIPPING THE SCALES
I saw over at Yakface.com (hello Bill and Co.) that you’ve finally confirmed the Sith Infiltrator vehicle for 2007. Mazel tov! I can’t wait to buy it. I can’t wait to buy the ‘cloaked’ version, or the ‘half cloaked’ version that will inevitably be coming out. I can’t wait to buy Darth Vader’s Sith Infiltrator, which will eventually happen (in all black, naturally, very Goth).
I was shocked, a bit, to read "It will be develoepd for the $19.99 Starfighter Vehicle line, so liberties will be taken with scale…" I always expected liberties to be taken with scale, yes, but I’m really, really hoping that you lot will be able to incorporate the Sith Speeder and Dark Eye Probe Droids into the actual functions of the vehicle. This is Darth Maul‘s signature ship, really, and it should feature all of his unique accessories. The $19.99 Starfighter Vehicle Asst. isn’t exactly what I was hoping for with this piece.
What was I hoping for? I thought you’d never ask! The team really did right by the ARC-170 Starfighter, and I was hoping for something a little more definitive like that piece. I hope to see the boarding ramp. I hope to see the Sith Speeder and Dark Eye Probe Droids incorporated into the ship’s features. I was really hoping to see the larger nose piece that unfolded or opened up a bit to feature some play area or other fun features. At a $19.99 price point, I’m not going to hold my breath. I just hope the penny pinchers and money men don’t strip all of the fun out of this ship, as it holds a lot of promise.
Speaking of promise, yes, I promise to buy two when it comes out. I promise to buy the ‘bigger wings’ version when that inevitably comes out. I promise to buy the cloaked version when it comes out. I’ll be curious to see what our comment-taters say about this.
So here’s the memo part of today’s rant. I’m very happy that you’re doing new ships. I’m happy to hear that even newer vehicles are in development for Clone Wars 3D. I’m even happy to hear that the scale will be toy-friendly. However, please do not make so many concessions to scale and budget that we’re getting glorified models with no play value.
P.S. If you could consider it, please think about re-releasing the vintage Rebel Transport, and maybe refurbish the inside with some sort of Rebel Command Center, Hoth Ion Control or similar play area? There are plenty of things that can be done to salvage play value out of that piece, and it is beautifully sculpted, even for the vintage era.
October 4th, 2006 at 7:20 am
Amen, brother. I understand that liberties have to be taken with scale in a lot of cases. A true to scale AT-AT or Millennium Falcon wouldn’t fit in most of our living rooms. I think we can all understand that those vehicles have to be scaled down. But what is truly frustrating about the Infiltrator is that Hasbro already has a form factor that would have done it justice. The Infiltrator could have been masterfully done in the ARC-170/Gunship size (mid sized vehicle?). They still would have to scale it down, but not too such a drastic degree. Again, the platform was there to do this vehicle right. Hasbro didn’t need to reinvent the wheel on this one. I’ll be passing on the mini-rig version of the Sith Infiltrator and I’ll wait for the eventual TRU Exclusive more accurately scaled Infiltrator in a nice window box in three or four years.
October 4th, 2006 at 8:01 am
I’m just glad it’s coming in whatever shape or form.At $20 I won’t complain as long as I get my $20 worth out of it.It seems when we get vehicles at $20 or $30 price points they hold their value.Above that we start spending money towards packaging and which retailer has it as an exclusive.
Down the road there will no doubt be a bigger and better version and I’ll get that as well.For right now I’ll settle for what I get.Make it bigger and better w/ extras later on.I’d love for it to be able to hold the Sith Speeder.I’d like it to come with the Probe Droids and an exclusive Maul.Give me the $20 version and I’ll also buy atleast two.
Hasbro I’d like to see you guys stick to the $20 and $30 price points for the majority of your vehicles.I bought both the TRU XWing and AT-AT Walker and will be getting the Target Snowspeeder and maybe the Shuttle.I’m just still grumbling about paying the extra money on the TRU stuff basically b/c its a TRU exclusive.
October 4th, 2006 at 8:15 am
Thinking about the $20 box size, I can’t imagine it being anything other than a small one man fighter. I expect no boarding ramp, but probably a top hatch like a TIE. Judging by the size of the Sith Speeder and the box, I can’t imagine fitting the speeder into anything that could fit into a mid-size vehicle box. I’d like some probe droids, but I’m not holding my breath. I imagine the action features will comprise of landing gear, folding wings, an opening hatch, and maybe some missiles.
I’ll buy it, but I’ll be anxiously awaiting a real one down the road.
October 4th, 2006 at 8:15 am
It should at least be in the $25 range, like the Slave 1′s. I think having the ability to hold the Sith Speeder feature is expecting too much in this day, sadly. If they’d actually made the Sith Infiltrator back in 1999-2000, might have been more to scale. Of course, one reason they probably did not was that it was never in any combat scenes. If they had chosen to make the Inflitrator larger, then it would likely be reduced to a store exclusive. All new tooling for a limited release, meaning a high price tag…which diehard fans would pay, but Hasbro wouldn’t ever expect to get many reissues out of a mold that doesn’t fit into their "starfighter" assortment.
I liked the Rebel Transport as a kid, some fans deride it as just a carrying case, but it was a carrying case that had a useful purpuse, unlike a Vader or 3PO bust. It also showed Kenner’s commitment to the line and making as much movie stuff as possible. It was also the only big ship other than the Falcon, prior to the Imperial Shuttle.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:16 am
The $20.00 price point is fine. I just want a representation of this ship in my collection thats even close to scale with the 3 3/4 figures. It’s not like I’m going to play with it (at least not when anybody is watching)……(that really doesn’t sound good!). Well, on that note, I guess I’ll be going……
October 4th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Spot on as usual Adam. I’m cool with paying $20, but it better be bigger than the JSF. If I have to assemble it, that is fine, just don’t underscale it so much that it looks dumb. I love the Rebel Transport, and I think they could totally remake it with lots of guns, missiles, accessories, etc. Kids would love it too me thinks.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:34 am
I think it’s an ok concept… but I think they should also release Mini-Rigs again.
I’ll still buy one maybe two if the cost justifies it (read looks cool out of the box)
October 4th, 2006 at 10:37 am
I can’t even remember the last time I was even tempted to buy a vehicle in the Star Wars line. But I think it’s great that Hasbro is making an effort to get some new ships out for the kids to play with. This one will be interesting to see.
Adam – I got my Hasbro action figure poster yesterday. THANKS!
October 4th, 2006 at 10:54 am
There’s a solution for how to give us a back loading ramp into a large interior and a removable sith speeder in this price range.
The removable Sith Speeder should double as the seat and controls for the starship.
The interior of a TIE sized cockpit can be left pretty empty, with a slot in the floor or something to hold the speeder in place. When Maul’s inside, he sits on the speeder, so there is no need for an additonal, space-consuming seat. When Maul and the speeder are removed from the ship, the ramp appears to open to a decent sized interior (there’s no seat or speeder inside, so there is at least enough room for a figure or two to stand).
October 4th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
I have to agree with Adam completely on this one. I’d much rather have a more accurately scaled Infiltrator at the $30-40 price point and have it be an exclusive. (Prefer TRU) I prefer TRU because, one-they need the help drawing in customres, two and ore importantly, they are willing to stock bigger toys that Wal*Mart and Target would balk at-especially Target.
Over on SSG we had a discussion regarding how small a toy version of the Infiltrator could be before it starts to be to small. IIRC, we estimate 18 inches at it’s longest point. With the wings fully deployed it would “stand” at approx 10-12 inches. Again this is the MINIMUM we would go for.
The $19.99 pricepoint smacks all of being small. I’d venture to say it’s going to be no bigger than the older TIEs or snub-nosed X-wings. That’s truly a shame and a travesty to the design of this ship.
Maul’s ship is a small sized transport not a starfighter. It should really be comparable in length to the Falcon with a slender box in width.
I too had the idea that the Sith Speeder should be a PART of the ship and be removable. It would (mostly) fit with the curvature of the ship and can be tucked in just below the enignes, so that when removed the slot that’s left isn’t as noticeable.
Integrating it as the seat as Baytrooper said is a great idea as well. Good way to both get the speeder itself, plus added room.
No doubt I’ll get the ship as I DON’T thik Hasbro will make a larger version down the line. If they do, I’ll most likely buy it too. But the big question is, why not just get it right the first time and reissue the toy later on? (Simple answer is, that if they decide to remake this ship larger, they know most of us will buy the new version as well…)
BTW, great blog Adam! Thanks for that Hasbro code in the previous blog! I saved a bundle on an order I placed.
For those that missed that it’s FALL25 that code gets you 25% off PLUS free shipping! Good time to hit those pre-orders and save some scratch.
-Sal
October 4th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
I totally agree….this scares me a bit. I have wanted this ship forever, ever since Episode I came out. This is a ship that desperately needs to be done with a close to accurate scale. It is just too cool not to do. Can you imagine the backlash if this thing is tiny? A severe blow to the vehicle effort for sure. I totally agree with the ARC-170 comparison, that was a fabulous ship and a great deal for the price point. Actually, all of the ships lately have been fabulous…the droid ships absolutely shine with quality. Let’s hope the folks at Hasbro don’t get stingy at the last minute with the quality in the chase for the almighty dollar.
October 4th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Adam: you’re going to buy just 2???? Those dental bills must be making you cut back from your usual fleet sized purchases
October 4th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Syzerman – it’s not a fleet ship. If there were more than one in the movies…
I will have a fleet of V-Wings.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
I was thinking you meant the Imperial Troop Transporter when you said Rebel transport and was totally down with that! I’d love them to remake both, but for some reason I want that weird, never in the movies (as far as I know) Imperial transport, it doesn’t need to make any sound fx or anything.
Sounds like the Infiltrator thing is bound to be a bit of a disappointment. I might get one anyway as long as it doesn’t look ridiculously small. How do the other latest releases stack up? The Hailfire and AAT for example? Are they way out of whack for scale? Like others have said, and you yourself, we can’t expect true scale or some things would just be unwieldy. But something slightly larger, like the way they do the AT-ATs and Falcon and even the Gunship would be good (though is it realistic to think Maul’s ship are as popular as those others with the kids? Could Hasbro really sell enough of them at a higher price? I wonder…).
October 5th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Can Hasbro produce an in-scale (or close to in-scale) Sith Infiltrator and sell it to us for $20.00? Absolutely not. They would lose money hand over fist in this case.Can Hasbro produce an in-scale (or close to in-scale) Sith Infiltrator and sell it to us for $40.00 or $60.00? Probably not. Consider that this is likely to be a completely new vehicle. To conver the cost of tooling a new vehicle, Hasbro has to sell a lot of them. At a $40-60 price point, Hasbro would likely not sell nearly enough. Sure, we collectors would gleefully pay to get such a gem, but even if every die hard collector bought two it wouldn’t be enough. To be successful, Hasbro needs kids (and parents for that matter), to buy Sith Infiltrators.Think about the large scale vehicles Hasbro has done: AT-AT, Millennium Falcon, Royal Starship, Imperial Shuttle, Republic Gunship, ARC-170… what do they all have in common? They we all ships that we either integral to the plot of the movie or were featured doing something really cool (like fighting in the middle of a battle). The Sith Infiltrator? Is it cool looking? Yes! Did it do anything in the movies? Not really. Was it integral to the plot? No.Sure, Darth Maul is awesome and everybody knows who he is, but his ship? How many parents and kids are honestly going to walk into the store and recognize this ship?But it looks cool! It can sell itself just because it looks awesome! At $40.00? Unlikely. At $60.00? Absolutely not. At $20.00? Well, now you’re talking.At $20.00, the Sith Infiltrator can be an impulse purchase and will sell well regardless of recognition.But what about the scale? Will a $20.00 Sith Infiltrator be ridiculously small??Well, first of all: NO ONE HAS SEEN IT. We don’t know. I, for one, am going to give Hasbro some faith on this one. They know we collectors don’t want a dinky little ship. Also, they have managed to fit some really great vehicles in at $20.00! The AAT? The Hailfire Droid? I couldn’t believe what we got for $20.00! I think it’s going to be out of scale, but still great.Also, keep in mind that Hasbro is in the business to make money. They are a business. They have to make money to stay in business. If they produced things exactly the way collectors wanted them all the time, they would go out of business and no one would get any more Star Wars toys at all.Have faith. Be happy that after all this time we’re getting Star Wars toys at all. Rejoice that we get ANY version of an obscure (albeit awesome) ship like the Sith Infiltrator. And if you honestly don’t like it when it comes out: don’t buy it!Thanks!
October 5th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Maybe they could just offer a scaled down version of Maul to go along with it? Say, something the size of the hologram pack-ins? Then all you have to do is place the Infiltrator with the new scaled down Maul as pilot at the very back of a deep deep shelf and no one would be the wiser that he wasn’t a true 3 3/4 incher! Might also make your room look bigger.
(tee hee)