Comments on: The Never Played Symphonies / The Public Image / Honey You Know Where To Find Me

By: cloner118

cloner118 — Sat, 10 May 2008 07:18:08 +0000

The purple jumpsuit wasnt the ‘disaster’ I was referring to at all. In fact, the purple that they used is a lot closer to what Jango ‘looked like’ in the film than the blue most people have in mind. Pause AOTC during the arena fight scene and see for yourself.
Rather, the ‘disaster’ was the marketing vs. production faux pas surrounding this set that began around Comic Con last year. They brought out the Fett Evo(complete with an immaculately painted Boba with a correctly scaled helmet) and made a big deal about it. Soon afterwards, there were promotional shots circulating that looked amazing. Seven months later, what we got was very different from what was originally shown.
The Boba they gave us has the worst detailing that the character has seen in years. The green used on the armor is a cheap looking tone that would have been more appropriate on a magic marker. It is nowhere near what it should be. The figure also ended up with a cheap wash instead of the usual mask-and-spray for the silver weathering, and they didn’t bother to include the insignia that even made it onto the POTF2 Boba. Beyond that, we got an undersized helmet that fits more like a mask and looks distorted when he puts it on. Releases such as the galactic marine and the new Gree demonstrate that Hasbro can make a correctly scaled removable helmet under the right conditions.
In the end, it wasn’t a ‘terrible’ figure but it was a far cry from what they showed us last July. People looking for ‘toys’ were undoubtedly satisfied. It left a lot to be desired, however, for those of us looking for aesthetically pleasing display pieces. And isn’t that supposed to be a big part of the target audience for ‘premium’ lines such as vintage and evolutions?
We were shown something that a lot of us wanted badly, and then the final product failed to live up to what was presented to us. If thats not a let down, I don’t know what is.
The interesting question is what led to all this. Was there poor communication between Hasbro planning and manufacturing? Did hasbro cheap out at the last minute and decide to cut a few corners? Did the people implementing production at the factory royally screw up? Did they fall behind in and have to rush these out? Only Hasbro knows…

By: Philip Ayres

Philip Ayres — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:25:04 +0000

I very much suspect that some deal had been done to give a publication the exclusive news on this story. Given the parties mentioned above you might be abl;e to hazard a guess who it was between With the pictures appearing online the contract for this deal has been broken and there are legal implications between both parties, hence the desire to know who leaked the information.(Think it sounds silly ? A similar arrangement exists between 2 Entertain Limited and Doctor Who Magazine for Doctor Who DVD announcements)

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:57:57 +0000

Adam, I pray that your partner pulls through. Cloner, were a lot of collectors really "feeling low" because of the "disaster" of Jango Fett’s shirt being purplish? That’s kind of sad. Regarding the leak, I think it would have been a huge mistake to just "surprise" collectors by putting this on the shelf on the same day as all the other product that’s coming out. As exciting as it might have been to walk into the store and see it for the first time, not everybody can just pull out $150 on the spot when they’re already buying a metric buttload of toys. Like Schneider said, this gives us less affluent collectors time to save, buy both the AT-TE and the BMF on day 1, and stage epic time paradox battles between the two(electronics be damned, I’m making my own awesome laser noises for these babies).

By: cloner118

cloner118 — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:59:01 +0000

Frankly, I think Hasbro should be thanking you. BMF threads all over the internet have become the biggest gush-fests that I’ve ever seen for a sw product. A lot of what we saw at toyfair was disappointing to many, and a number of Hasbro’s early 2008 releases came up short (pun intended). After the pin head qui gonn, the tiny and inaccurate kashyyk trooper, the still miscolored gree (yes, look closely at your dvd!), and the fett evolutions disaster, a lot of collectors were feeling pretty low. Yarna and the ATTE were nice, but seeing that BMF really restored my confidence that the upward trajectory of the line will continue and that theres a lot to look forward to.

By: Adam_May

Adam_May — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:33:36 +0000

Actually, you’re right jal4u2c — I’m sorry, the Return to Naboo Amidala is the 12" version, and she did, in fact, come out. See… even bloggers make mistakes. Crikey! So, I’ll go do that cartwheel now.

By: Adam_May

Adam_May — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:33:29 +0000

jal4u2c — none of the 16" figures came out, only the 12" versions. Believe me, as a Queen Amidala fan, I wish the 16" version had come out. I’d have done a cartwheel (which was probably impossible considering I weighed about 150lbs more at the time).

By: jal4u2c

jal4u2c — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:23:49 +0000

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I hope it turns out ok. I just wanted to let you know that the Amidala in the first pic did come out. It was called Return to Naboo and i was able to get it stupid cheap when KB Toys marked their Episode I stuff down. I think the line would have done better if the price had been a little lower on them though.

By: ddschenider1972

ddschenider1972 — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:06:11 +0000

Hey Adam, sorry to hear about the personal tragedy, I hope everythign goes well….as far as Hasbro’s "tragedy", I find it ridiculous. You did them a favor by promoting it, they were dropping the promotional ball, IMHO, then they’d complain and say it wasn’t well recieved. In this day and age of $4 a gallon gas, and rising food prices, I heard many a collector say they were glad they heard about the Falcon early and could budget for it (and the new AT-whatever Clone Walker, to be released the same time.) I’m just glad I quit buying vehicles.