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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

I Bought Them All - the Figures, the Ships, even the LEGO! (Part 2)

Discussion in 'Collecting' started by LAJ_FETT , Sep 8, 2012.

  1. Giovs

    Giovs Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 29, 2013
    I've won both auctions! :D
    Han and Sandtrooper should be here in a month or so.
     
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  2. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004


    I could be wrong, but I've been seeing the mass produced movie tie-in figures going more and more to the basic five points of articulation and lower price point of late. The Dark Knight Rises did it, while simultaneously offering highly detailed larger scaled figures (I think they were 6", but not %100 sure) aimed at collectors. Iron Man 3 did it. I don't see Hasbro killing the s/a, $9.99 figures permanently, but for Ep. VII I could see them going with a basic 3 3/4" line and the 6" line together with no s/a 3 3/4" line.

    Congrats! I think you're gonna love 'em.

    I've been focusing on my 80s G.I. Joes for the last few months, but I turned my attention back to Star Wars and won a vintage Emperor's Royal Guard on eBay (Lost out on an Ugnaught). That puts me at 46 vintage Kenner figures.
     
    whostheBossk likes this.
  3. Barbecue17

    Barbecue17 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2013
    Oh, I definitely think Hasbro will keep the collectors 1/18th line around for new films. I think one of the issues with the 1/18th line for collectors is that we basically have everyone. Minor characters, even major EU characters. There's just not much left for more average collectors to add to their collections. A new film gives us lots of new characters and will probably once again renew interest in Star Wars collecting.
     
    PadmeLeiaJaina likes this.
  4. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Post Ep. VII I agree, it'll give them a whole host of new characters to help diversify the collector's line. But the trend for movie tie-ins is stripped down basic figures with a lower price point. And even those haven't been selling. My local Wal-Mart actually still had several Iron Man 2 and Avengers figures mixed in with their Iron Man 3 stuff this spring. None of it sold.

    We'll see. My gut tells me that Hasbro will take a more low-key approach with the ST than they did with the PT. I know Star Wars defies trends, but the movie tie-in isn't what it used to be.
     
  5. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    Uh maybe not but the Mouse needs to recoup it's 4.05 Billion dollar investment, they'll do whatever is necessary to do that. I expect that w/ Ep VII we'll see marketing on the scale of TPM if for no other reason than for Disney to really announce to the world "STAR WARS is BACK!" It'll be right before Christmas - they'll want every house to have something "Star Wars" under the tree.

    From what tidbits we've been given they're going to have several younger characters which will mean that they'll be courting kids for toys. So yes, I expect lots of the less articulated toys for the younger kids. But they have to know that the adult collectors/fans are where the money is at. Our generations are the ones who buy the merchandise for ourselves and for our kids.

    Hasbro produces the toys for those Marvel toys right? They've had a few really bad years recently which is why it seems like the toy market is all messed up. Hasbro is chasing it's tail not knowing what to do to get back it's glory. Kids still want toys but people have less money to spend on them. Hasbro's real problem is that they're relying entirely on film franchise toys to make a profit rather than come up w/ "the next big toy" line ala Transformers from years ago. Mattel's Barbie sales have been a bit sluggish, but the company is raking in the bucks because they've come up w/ this new hugely successful Monster High teen doll line. Toy companies can only stay relevant if they look to current trends and come up w/ new toys to entice new generations.

    I have this theory that someone at Hasbro went "Pffft" when Gentle Giant came to them and asked for the rights of the vintage figures that they could sell supersized. Whoever that was said, "Yeah, whatever, go ahead." Then that person ended up spitting coffee all over computer when he saw how much they were charging and how quickly they were selling out of their 12" scale vintage replicas. Hasbro tried desperately to ride on the coattails of that - let's make 5 point articulated figures to give adult collectors new figures to go along w/ their older ones, and at the same time they can be at a lower price point to give to kids. FAIL - why? Because they didn't improve the quality of the figures and they weren't "vintage enough" feeling. Hasbro screwed itself by doing the vintage line previously w/ the other figures. Had they done the vintage style packaging w/ the more vintage articulated figures, they might've been received better by adult collectors. Instead everyone thinks they're cheap knockoffs.

    Next decision - "let's chase Gentle Giant and make our own 12" figures that look like theirs!" Again, in this case the packaging was 100% blah and held zero appeal to adult collectors. The 12" figures looked like supersized versions of their less articulated figures but they didn't look that great. Once again they failed to ride another coattails to capture the interest of adult collectors.

    The good news is that they're not overly flooding the market w/ the 6" figures which makes them more in demand. Even though a few are "peg warmers" they're still not sticking around as badly as other 3 3/4" figures have done in the past. The quality of the figures are slowly winning over reluctant adult collectors. I think by 2014 they'll be flying completely off of the shelves as more and more collectors get behind the line.

    Hasbro needs to go back to doing what Hasbro does best. They need to make REAL 12" figures. Sideshow is following in the footsteps of Medicom and Hot Toys and is working to make their 1/6 scale figures so detailed that they're pricing the toys out of the market for your mid-level collectors. Hasbro could easily fill that gap. They've got great sculptors on staff and maybe they need to work w/ Gentle Giant on the line. I still love all of my Hasbro 12" figures. Even though some of the humans were poorly sculpted, most of their aliens/mechanical creatures, etc were awesome. I love their giant beasts because unlike Sideshow, you can play with/pose their giant creatures. Not that I don't love Sideshow, but when you start looking at $100 for Yoda being the cheapest you're going to see a 12" scale figure and then closer to $300 for Hot Toys - the market needs a line again that's under $75. Hasbro just needs for a new era to come up w/ newer, sleeker bodies that are more articulated and they'll sell well.

    Also like others have said in the "Unleashed figures" thread - there's a hole in the market for lower price-point statues - Hasbro could revisit the Unleashed figures and come up w/ a new line where maybe there's more pieces so people can modify their statues and display them so they look differently - but again, produce a nice line that are in the $20-30 price point range to give your collectors who don't want to spend $100's on higher end statues to get back into collecting.

    As for their other lines, I think they really need to work w/ some focus groups of collectors to figure out their next moves there.
     
  6. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    One thing's for sure; normal rules don't apply to Star Wars. How many toy lines based on a movie franchise would be pumping out this level of merchandise when there hasn't been a new movie made in almost nine years? We'll see what happens. I hope Hasbro does continue to keep a focus on collectors. I'd forgotten how much fun I have collecting at retail until the new 6" series came along.

    There aren't many details about what they have in store for '14. I assume we'll get some info when Toy Fair rolls around early next year.
     
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  7. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Postman brought the January issue of the UK Clone Wars comic magazine.
     
  8. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    I asked my Brother what my 5 year old Nephew wanted for Christmas. He said a toy lightsaber. I was only too happy to pick him up the electronic Anakin to Vader color change lightsaber. Not sure how many battles it will survive with all of those electronics inside, though.
     
  9. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    I bought a box of Lucky Charms and got a Mace Windu pen.

    AW YEAH
     
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  10. Barbecue17

    Barbecue17 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2013
    I'm hoping that Rebels really reignited the Star Wars toy market for kids and mass market retail the way that Clone Wars did a few years back. That'd be a great gateway to getting the younger ones ready for full blown Star Wars mania by the time Ep VII rolls around.
     
  11. Barbecue17

    Barbecue17 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2013
    Sorry for the 2x post! Can't edit the previous post anymore!

    I did just get in the Darth Maul Returns set! What a cool group of figures. I'm not sure I'm going to review it since it's not really that new, but I'm having a blast messing around with it. I think my wife and I are going to pick back up trying to finish Clone Wars now (we watched the first two seasons and loved them, but just got involved with other things).
     
  12. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    At some point I'm going to get around to watching season 5 my self. I watched all of seasons 1-2, but after that I would pick and choose my episodes, so I've seen maybe 1/2 of seasons 3 & 4.

    I never did collect any Clone Wars stuff—well, not from the Dave Filoni series anyway. I loved the Genndy Tartakovsky micro series and collected those lines.
     
  13. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008
    I got Star Wars Art: Concept as my sole SW gift this year. Looks great with the other ones in that series. Still not as nerdy as the year I got the Complete SW Encyclopedia. :p
     
  14. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Yeah, I liked the Concept book. Didn't get anything directly SW-related, but I did get an Amazon UK Gift Certificate and I'm sure some will go toward SW books. The new Maul book is out in about a month.
     
  15. Barbecue17

    Barbecue17 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2013
    I found both the scanning crew sets today at a K-mart while out car shopping with my wife! I picked up both. I'll get around to reviewing them at some point soon and when I do I'll post a link here. Just glad to have found them after no luck for so long!
     
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  16. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Awesome. Look forward to the reviews! I might actually pick these up, but I just never get to K-Mart anymore. Even during Christmas I never once considered running to K-Mart to see what they had. When I was a kid, K-Mart was the store in my little corner of the world. Now it's like "Hey, look, a K-Mart. Wow, are they still in business?".
     
  17. Grand Admiral Strife

    Grand Admiral Strife RSA Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 2001
    Got the scanning crew sets when we visited my folks up in NY earlier this month. Seriously, they could make the box half the size and everything would have still fit. :p
    Scored a pair of Vintage Card Imperial Navy Commanders at Five Below the other day, hopefully I'll catch a Malgus there one of these days.
     
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  18. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Last year around this time I found TVC Wedge at Five Below. His secondary market price had already fallen by then, but I'd still never seen him at any of the traditional box stores. Closest one is a 20-25 minute drive, but I'm supposed to be going over that way Tuesday to meet a friend at Half Price Books, so I'll swing in and see what they've got.
     
  19. Oswald1901

    Oswald1901 Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Oct 7, 2013
    Got a Yavin Luke from the Black Series and a RX-24/Rex figure for Christmas and an Anakin yesterday. Also saw some LEGO sets I wanted but didn't get(Namely the Corporate Alliance Tank with Jango and the Gunship.)
    There's also a vintage store downtown we'll be going to soon which has 'Star Wars' and a picture of an X-Wing on one of it's windows, so hopefully something good'll show up there :p
     
  20. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Postman brought an Amazon US order containing Wild Space volume 2. I'd originally ordered from Amazon UK in November but after a delay of a month in which I got a few emails about further delays I cancelled the order and went to the US site.
     
  21. DarthMak

    DarthMak Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 4, 2001
    Clone Wars Season 5 blu-ray
     
  22. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Postman brought the Feb issue of the new UK Star Wars Comic and Insider 146. Love the Fett cover on the Insider! Looks like the new comic magazine is a replacement for the Clone Wars one as I subscribe and got issue #1 of this.
     
  23. DarthMak

    DarthMak Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 4, 2001
    Some loose complete figures from a comic book show: Luke X-Wing pilot, red Snaggletooth and Greedo. Also Droids and Ewoks Omnibus comic.
     
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  24. DarthMak

    DarthMak Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 4, 2001
    Vintage loose Dengar and Bossk on their way to my ol' mailbox
     
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  25. jade2013

    jade2013 Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2014
    From the 2014 goals thread:

    #1 finished today with receipt of the Survivor's Quest CDs
    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    #2 is half-done
    [​IMG]
    Also picked up a nice sketch card from Topps Star Wars Galaxy Series 5​
    [​IMG]
    Lastly, picked up a cool Shannon (Baksa) McRandle signed custom Japan Tour figure. Pics will have to wait a bit since it's coming from Japan.​
     
    Juke Skywalker likes this.