Chic, IL Bleh

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/04/people.georgelucas.ap/index.html

OK, by show proof of purchase of 5 Vintage action figures...I'm guessing they mean the crappy "new vintage" action figures, as opposed to showing proofs from actual vintage action figures...which I would actually think would be a totally cool concept. I'd like to see hard-core collectors have to struggle with cutting off the proofs of purchase from the card-backs of something they bought in 1982 to get some lame new piece of crap figure. I'm sure the contest can't be that cool though.

Bosh

 

Correct. The contest is not that stupid (or as you put it "cool"). Half of the market for Star Wars figs is still kids. Good luck finding 1982 POP's for them.

Also, have you actually seen the "new vintage" figures? They are fantastic. Incredible detail, articulation, and movie accuracy. Um, exactly how does that equal crappy?

Wait now I get it. You live in bizarro world: cool=stupid and crappy=fantastic.

Dave, you make so much more sense to me now.

 

Here's what the figure is going to look like. I've seen a couple of them on e-bay already.

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAR-WARS-MAIL-AWAY-LUCAS-STORMTROOPER-UGH-VTSC-IN-HAND_W0QQitemZ6055228023QQcategoryZ101609QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

 

Personally, I am happy that Hasbro is finally doing something like this, they tried to do something with those Jedi master points a few years ago, but that was worthless. Since I buy the figures anyway, I am glad I can get something for the 4 bucks in shipping. Hopefully they continue the mail-in traditions they used to do back in the 80's.

 

I'm pretty tickled that it is a GL in a SW costume figure. At least you get a miniture version of who we're making rich.

 

CONSUME!!!
CONSUME!!!
CONSUME STAR WARS GOODS!!!

 

Well, I'm not saying they're crappy molding or crappy packaging. I'm saying I've already got 4-5 sculpts of Greedo....getting one that's in a different package isn't necessarily on my priority list.

Also, I have plenty of POP's from my many vintage figs The only ones I ever turned in were for the mail in diorama stand, 2 of the ESB accessory packs and for my mail in Anakin Skywalker figure. I've probably got 50 vintage POP's in a box somewhere. I've also got all of the Jedi Points that I didn't use for my two mail in Mace figs (actually I only sent in for one and they accidently sent me two).

Dave
"Dan, aboout that rare gem investment involving your ass and a lump of coal.....call me!"

 

Ah, Dave.

Once again you demonstrate your expertise in all things having to do with another man's butt.

You are clearly Chicago Force's top man.

 

Wouldn't that make him the Bottom Man?

 

Anyone that has had more than 10 beers with Bosh knows that. I speak of course of Springer as I've only had 9 beers with Bosh.

Back to the subject at hand though, Bosh is right. This is going back to the well again. I can't imagine that sales now are as good as they were 4 years ago on all this reissued garbage. I suspect and hope that LFL is feeling the pain and will be forced to innovate. I haven't bought a SW figure in years. I think 2004 was my last figure purchase.

Edit:
Damn my poor grammar!

 

But that is part of the problem, what choice do they have but to go back to the well?
Did I want another Greedo, no. Since I open and play with my figures, did I want an X-Wing Luke with a ton of articulation, yes! Do I want a couple of those ton'o'articulation Scout Trooper, oh yes please! These figures that Bosh is talking about are not just reissues, they are better figures.
Believe me, Hasbro does go back to the well with reissues, and they are figures of previously released figures, but what else is left? The only movie figures that haven't been made, is that what is left? So what the Tonika sisters? We are going to see plenty of more Luke's, Han's, Obi-Wan's and such. Yeah, this might be the fortieth time I've seen those figures, but it's the first time for my seven year old cousin.
And innovation? Yeah, trying to think outside the box got us the following, SW Choppers, Attatix, Force Battlers, SW Transformers and to be complimentory the Lego Star Wars game.
So to sum it up, some things are bad, and some things are good. Oh, and Nintendo's conference is streaming live, and the Zelda game looks sweet, please please please let the next innovation be a SW game with the Wii controller!

 

Exactly Carrie. This isn't "going back to the well again", or at least, I don't see it that way. Even the Greedo figure is a big, big improvement over past versions. He's got so much articulation that he can cross his legs while sitting at the cantina with Han. Plus, he's got a soft goods vest!

Re-issues do suck, but the advantage of opening your toys is that you don't have to buy them. Although, I am guilty of buying the same figure with a slightly different paint job. I can't help myself.

 

How many times have you bought Greedo?

It IS going back to the well dude. It has been going on since 1999. How on earth can you NOT be sick of it? I guess everyone has their hobbies but damn dude, call a spade a spade!

The only outside the box "win" was the Lego SW game. The rest is garbage because Lucas Inc is in no danger of collapsing. They aren't hungry enough to hire people that could help innovate.

And yes, the Wii looks f---ing awesome. My mind is blown.

 

Even though you are asking Dan, I'll answer.
I've bought Greedo once. That's the current version. I don't have a Kenner vintage version, and I never got a Hasbro version until now.

To continue on this theme, I have two Tusken Raiders, a Kenner and the newest Hasbro.

How many Luke X-Wing pilots do I have, I couldn't tell you, at least three or four. And why do I keep buying them, well several reasons.

First point is, I agree with Goat, they are going back to the well. But they have to. Star Wars is limited. There are only so many movies. The source material for toys is limited. Of course we are going to see Bespin Luke again and again, because what else can they do? Tatooine Luke, whoops that has multiple figures too. How about Hoth Luke, whoops, multiple figs. How about Wrigley Field Luke. They haven't done that figure before, but guess what, they can't, didn't happen in the movies. They tried to put out EU stuff, it sold horribly. They are only now getting back into it (The excellent Sorch figure, which is most likely popular because it's a well articulated clone figure, not because it is EU) and I don't see this becoming any part of the main line. Why, see point two.

Second point. We the collectors are only a small part of SW toy buyers. We are a very vocal part, but still a small part. Collectors are still not as big as the kid market. The same toys come out every few years, because the kids that were two, are now seven, and they want all the main characters. Hasbro does use this as an excuse way to much, so over time, it has become a lame excuse, but it is a reality. But this is why EU will never take off. Also why we see the same stuff, because to the kids it is new.

Third point. I'm talking about collectors. It seems obvious and dumb to say, but collectors collect. I don't just collect SW, I collect Transformers, Cubs stuff and comic books. It's my own personality quirks that make me want certain things. If I see a Cubs hat that I like, it doesn't matter to me that I literally have twenty others. Yes, it might only be different because the bill is red, and the one I have, the bill is blue, and they both serve the same function as a head covering, but to me, it's different enough to buy. To me the differnt hat has value, and to me, the newest X-Wing Luke has value also. I have every issue of the Fables comic that has come out. These comics will eventually all be available as trade paperbacks. I could go to Borders several times, and read all the Fables I want for free, I could probably do this at the library as well. I don't have to buy every issue. The only obvious reason to buy it is to not have to wait. And that is a big reason to buy it for me. But I also want to own it. I like having all the issues. I actually got into Fables after the first trade came out, so I went back and got the issues, because I wanted to have them.

Fourth point. I have no fourth point, or really, I want to stop typing.

So don't forget, Black Sun Collecting Syndicate meets May 21st at Graham Crackers Wheaton. I'll bring my X-Wing Luke and my new Greedo!

Edit: couple of errors fixed.

 

I know I have several Greedos, including a well articulated one that came out several years ago. The same batch that had the articulated ANH Han and Luke figs. I know I've got at least 2 others...the first Orange Card one...and one that came in a diorama or something. Then of course there's the Kenner Greedo.
Yes, I realize that there can be a worth-while reason to go back to the well, and they can make a better mouse-trap or a much improved sculpt that may well be worth buying. But I think what the critics such as myself (who believe you-me was an avid collector in my day) are saying is, it's obvious (and has been obvious for a long time) that Hasbro, LFL or whoever is completely milking the "I gotta have'm all...or as many as I can afford" collector.

Hey, you love to collect, the whole collecting mentality, it's way fun, I'm like a pirate and his booty (or as Dan would say I'm like a butt-pirate and his boot-tay)....I can relate. You love Star Wars, you want to have some cool-ass memorobilia to try to re-live the magic...I can relate. You're a proud collector who wants to show-and-prove to your fellow collector's what a collecting bad-ass you are....I sort of relate. In your lifetime you're already in for well over $10G in little plastic spacemen....and to stop, slow-down or suddenly be discerning in your purchases you'd have to admit to yourself (and everyone else) that you've sort of been a sucker.....I can relate.

It's a hard addiction to break....but well worth it. I mean we just closed on our condo here in Austin with the money I'd have spent on new Star Wars figures...and now I own a place where I can display my old ones. A representative from Hasbro called me and said if I'd forget the new mortgage and come back to them they'd send me the new fully articulated Bespin Guard that the rep said "Is way way cooler than any of the previous Bespin Guards."

Bosh

 

Anyone want to buy a fiber glass Boba Fett helmet? I am actually serious.

 

first off, bosh is as usual wrong.

being a collector doesn't make anyone a "sucker." It makes them a collector.

i'm a collector. always have been, and i'm realizing, always will be. i collected star wars figures briefly. i collect CDs and (to a lesser extent) DVDs. now that info is electronic, i collect mp3s instead.

i recently got back into comics collecting. did it in high school and college, fell sort of out of it except for trade paperbacks, for some reason Infinite Crisis and 52 have dragged me back in. got the short boxes in teh closet, the bags, the boards, the whole deal.

it's fun. i like it. i enjoy reading them, i enjoy cataloging them and bagging them and boarding them. most of all, I personally like hunting them down. that's what it's always been chiefly about for me--the thrill of the hunt. hitting targets and walmarts on the way to CII in the hope that I'd find that ultra-rare fig I wanted. digging in used CD stores for a rare bootleg or single. hunching over dusty long boxes to find a treasure for a quarter.

(and since I love quarter bins and dime bins, I'm finding my comics habit can actually be affordable and fun at the same time.)

anyway, collectors aren't suckers because the collecting is the FUN part. not even necessarily what is collected. i think people who collect native american ceramics are wasting money, but only becuase I would not spend money on it. they probably think I'm nuts to buy old comic books, or old magazines with STar Wars stories in them, or whatever.

i realize this doesn't play well in the LFL-hating, which I regret, because I hate them too. but it's the truth.

 

Word Carrie. Word Dartha.

Y'all are a bunch more articulate and thoughtful than I could have been, so I have nothing to add.

Oh, except Dave is one big sphincter muscle that's gotten kinda puffy in his 30's.

 

If that's true, I've found Dave's Wikipedia article.

 

I'm pretty sure I didn't say: Collector = Sucker

I just think it's a sucker's game to invest in cheaply rehashed crap....you know like Dan's last joke....a cheaply rehashed version of my original superior diss on him.

Bosh
"Who's puffy-looking?"

 

Yeah, "take a lump of coal, put it in your butt, and it'll become a diamond" is very original. I don't think anyone has used that before. Seriously witty. Whereas connecting you to bizarro world is a tired, tired bit and lacks the disgusting vulgarity necessary to be effective. I bow before your put-down superiority. Forgive me for thinking I can compete with the master.

I agree that you didn't explicitly say collector = sucker. However, the basic point seemed to be that your life will improve if you stop collecting.

//cut to infomercial//

"Look I got a new condo!" That's right people. You too can improve your life by following my simple "Stop Collecting Star Wars System". It's easy! Just send in 4 payments of $19.95, and you'll recieve 6 DVD's filled with the tools you need to stop the collecting habit and start having financial security. Just listen to these testimonials.

//end infomercial//

So the point seemed to be, why waste your life collecting when there is so much else out there? Thus, it would be pretty easy for Springer to make the inference that you were calling collectors suckers.

Another explanation could be that it is just hard to figure out your arguments. After all, in your original post you said: "I'm guessing they mean the crappy 'new vintage' action figures". From that we were supposed to figure out that the figures themselves were fine, it was just because they were new versions and better versions of figures that were previously made that rendered them crappy. Ah . . . right.

 

Denial is a nice place.

 

how's that photo-accurate replica of apollo's gun coming?

 

not to pick at a sore, but what part of this exactly doesn't say "collector=sucker"? or is it just "collector that doesn't collect in a way that bosh deems appropriate=sucker"?

weird that we'd fall at such odds on this issue, since I totally agree with you that the rehashing of figures is idiotic. i just am unwilling to take it the extra step of judging those who enjoy it. i mean, you enjoy coke, and I don't.

COKE CLASSIC, THAT IS! THE BEVERAGE! MOD ME TO HECK!

 

//one big loud guffaw//

Damn.