Can you listen to yourself for just once in your life?
OK Collectors… It’s time that someone knock some sense into a bunch of you. First I want to lay things out from my perspective. I’ve been collecting since the "Peek-A-Boo" testing-the-waters soft launch of the line in 1995. Well, that or senility has set in early. As a struggling student, I lived on bread and jam for a few weeks, and, of course, the mall food court crew were generous.
From the amazing set of reproduction vintage style figures to the modern, mind-boggling, extreme-articulation in practically every figure from here on out — I’ve seen the line shift up and down, and I’ve seen segments that I loved (Cinema Scenes and Screen Scenes) come and go. I am adjusted to the ebb and flow. Many newer collectors don’t have that perspective. I’ve seen figures get nixed, and I’ve had my share of disappointment.
(Hasbro! If you’re reading this, pull that Trophy Assortment Swamp Obi-Wan Kenobi out of cold storage, add a STAP attacking him, and I think that would be the formula for some sort of Battle Pack. There it is… public domain. Go for it! Also, if you need someone to root through cold storage, I can be on the first thing that zooms from ATL to RI, just drop a dime, an e-mail, a text, a tweet…) [As always, thanks to Bill from Yakface.com for use of his Swamp Obi-Wan Kenobi Figure.]
The rapid free-fall of the global economy has made a profound impact on the collector-based segments. Kids can nag Mom and Dad. Collectors are used to being able to snap up a lot of whatever we want, and we’re having to cut back on our spending a lot. (Yes, even Bloggers — the media elite — have had to cut back. I have yet to see the Wal-Mart 2-Packs for The Clone Wars or the AT-ST.) Hasbro has to respond to the economic crash until things turn around. Remember that it was us (the collectors) who pulled the line back out of the mud with the Power of the Jedi line. When the economy steers back — and it will — we’ll be back out there buying Legacy stuff up as quickly as Hasbro can make it. Legacy (or whatever they’ll call it) is the foundation that all of the other lines are built on. It’s not going away.
I hate to say it, but the extreme EU-centric stuff in the Comic 2-Pack line did not sell. I can run to a few Wal-Marts and snap some pix to show you how they piled up, and the "Hero" pieces were snapped up by Moms and Dads. (Luke/Lumiya, Vader/Rebel, Stormtrooper Han/Chewie, and Stormtrooper Luke/R2 — those didn’t hang around much, but your mileage may vary.© Adam Pawlus)
Regarding "canceled" figures hopefully you know by now that Utris M’toc (the alien guard) IS NOT CANCELED. He will ship with the Expanded Universe Assortment. (Naturally, we all encourage Hasbro to look at the Bespin Guard again and again in 2010 because we’ll need guards to load a carbonite block into our Slave 1*.) This takes some explaining. The Hoth Rebel Trooper (sans beard) fell into a Poodoo Happens situation at the factory level. We all make mistakes, and we’ve been told that he’ll be in a Battle Pack next year (probably running from Snowtroopers, but still…) The main point is, he’ll be released. The second Utai, who knows? Maybe they’ll put the Boga back out again with the little Utai trying to wrangle him? I don’t believe that Hasbro will let that level of tooling go to waste.
*I’m now fairly convinced that a new Slave 1 will not make it to market in early 2010.
Hasbro is working very hard to make sure that the last of the Comic 2-Pack segment make it to retail. Don’t lose faith.
The richness of this whole line is something everyone should consider. The ill-fated Princess Leia Collection still puts some of the modern versions to shame. The comical Spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi which required eating potato chips and Stormtrooper Han Solo, which required eating treacly cereal — definitely not something most of us should be doing. The paperboard pop-up playsets — they meant well, but in real plastic those two environments would cost a lot. They did their best with those sets. (I still pine for the canned Echo Base pop-up playset, which Hasbro could stuff inside a Hoth Rebel Transport to make sure it sells.) The Cinema Scenes and later Screen Scenes were so rich with all the stuff collectors love, but they were very niche market, and retailers seemed to hate them.
If you’re thinking about bailing, please consider this: WHAT OTHER TOY-MAKERS WOULD GIVE COLLECTORS LOVE IN THE FORM OF PORKINS, BO SHEK, AND WILLROW HOOD? Answer — none. Hasbro has listened to our pleas (and my constant whinging) to make a Jabba The Hutt, and I know that he will be a BMF (Big Mafioso Frontman) all on his own, and do you think Hasbro is going to let other licensees upstage them? (No!) So the set that I wrote about in 2004(?) will finally come to fruition (and then some). For the "Wait For Clearance" crowd, if the retail partner winds up being the big red bullseye, I will wipe them out all across the country (because I can do that), and I will wreak havoc on your plans.
[Yo SIDESHOW! You never sent me back a replacement glass since mine arrived broken.]
Getting back to the richness of the line, I can point out the countless amazing aliens — Wol Cabasshite (a/k/a "The Thing That Licks C-3PO), Bubo the frog-dog, and Ephant Mon come quickly to mind. In all honesty, the wealth of amazing creatures is something I dreamed of as a child, and I would have never thought that I’d see them in my lifetime. I bet many of you more mature collectors would agree about the wealth of amazing creatures and characters. Think of ALL the Rebel Pilots (and I’m officially lobbying for "Original / ‘Fake’ Wedge").
Speaking of mature collectors, the new meme seems to be "It’s like 1985 all over again!!!" Well, it’s not, and if you don’t stop that, I will hack into your computer and play "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" [it's the new Rick-Roll, but I can't say its nickname due to the PG-13 crowd] over and over until your ears bleed.
OK, to try to avoid making this TLDR, I’ll wrap this up. Rumors of Legacy‘s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Hasbro had a lot of faith in us with the new Millennium Falcon, so have a little faith in them. Wait until February, and we will bust our humps to show you the goods. (If there are no goods to be shown, then I’ll loot the Littlest Pet Shop display because it costs more than a couple thousand to go there, stay in a decent hotel, and eat overpriced food.)
November 25th, 2009 at 8:31 am
what’s up with the rumored return of vintage line? i’m about ready to throw in the towel.
November 25th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Return of the vintage line? Que? Explain or elaborate for us. What I’ve gathered is that it’s practically impossible to do modern figures on vintage-style card backs. The only qualified intel I have is that figures will use pop-up (or pop out if the feature opens from the side).
November 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am
i know Adam Pawlus Q&A is like the Bible around here but haven’t you read Hasbro’s Q&A before? They’ve said a thousand times ‘when the vintage line returns it will include all 6 movies.’So the question is ‘when?’ not ‘if’So what’s this pop-pop pop-tart stuff you’re talking about? What did you have breakfast this morning? Snap Crackle n Pop? Popcorn? Please elaborate.
November 25th, 2009 at 11:08 am
I had country-fried tempeh with vegetarian gravy, and grilled tomato and sauteed spinach on a buttermilk biscuit. (I don’t know why that would matter, but there you have it.)
As much as I love Hasbro, they don’t tell me their plans up-front. We’ll all find out at Toy Fair (unless something leaks out early). I just happen to think that the pop-up and/or pop-out dioramas (a la Captain Rex and Nahdar Vebb mail-away exclusives). The "dioramas" from the EU notwithstanding, I’ve seen several other concepts for the concept over the years.
This is just my opinion. (Adam’s Q&A — for the record, I am not that Adam — is not my "bible".) I do read other sites’ Q&A sessions. I’m not sure what the packaging will be, but the vehicle dioramas have been well received, so I can easily see that translating to the back side of figure packaging.
November 25th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I knew you weren’t Adam Pawlus, I just don’t get why he has a Q&A and we never get any ‘A’, know what I’m saying? Reminds of the ‘Question Mark’ days at Rebelscum. Thank Zeus they finally pulled the trigger on that one.Thanks for the pop-pop clarification and for making me hungry. That sassy look in your eyes tells me you know something but are keeping mum. What would it take for me to get it out of ya?
November 25th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Hasbro could package figures in baggies with a super-sealed header card, and I’d still by them. The whole point of the post above is to remind people of the depth of this line. If you’ve been with the line long enough, I simply encourage you to wait for 2010. It is a very important year, and I think Hasbro is going to offer some great product to bring collectors back home.
November 25th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Are you sure you’re not Adam Pawlus? This sounds like one of his ‘so called’ answers. Now Adam, I’ve been with the line since1978, boy. I was even collecting between ’87 and ’94 when all of you Johnny-Come-Latelys were buying Robocop and Hook figures so don’t even go there.Your last reply is not the Adam May I know. It feels like a repaint of a previously released figure on a lousy non-vintage cardback. Come on man, it’s Thanksgiving. Give me something to be thankful for.
November 25th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I just checked a mirror, and I am most definitely not Adam Pawlus. (He’s very skinny.) Kenner (later Hasbro) wasn’t releasing figures in ’87 through ’94. My focus is figures. (Bend’ems are not figures.). I did buy the Robin Hood/Ewok Village.
However that wasn’t the point of my previous post or the blog. I know that a lot of people are worried about where the line is going. Most importantly I wanted to convey to collectors that Hasbro is going to do right by the collectors in 2010, and simply keep the faith. This line has changed a lot, and, honestly, the line has to change, or it will become one with The Force.
If I knew they were going to package the figures on vintage-style cards, I’d say so. I won’t be shocked. They’ve reached the peak of sculpting and articulation, so I think they would be honoring the legacy if they went to vintage cards.
I don’t do rumors much anymore, but I can tell you this… I asked someone who would know if a certain rumor "had legs" — and that was the end of that communication. Take it for what it’s worth.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I would take the loss of communication with your insider as confirmation of the return of vintage style packaging in 2010. This is great news, thanks Swami.By the way, Bend’ems ARE figures in my book. I had my super articulated Luke in 1991. No Luke in the current line can touch his heels to his forehead. Jedi training for Bend’ems get medieval.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Listen — if I could say the packaging would be "vintage" style, I’d say so. I’m not dealing in subterfuge. (What’s your story?) Swami and I are an ancient ocean, wide, wild, lost, un-crossed. Bend ‘em figures? Really… OK, now this borders on the absurd. They have nothing to do with the modern lines.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I have my sources and information but that’s top secret for now. You just haven’t earned it yet baby.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I can easily guarantee you that I will never earn it yet, baby. I wouldn’t bother. It’s pointless.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Why do you come here when you know it makes things hard for me.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Funny man, funny, man…