What we need are playsets, playsets, playsets

I brought this up in the speculation forum for Episode III, but I wanted to see how the true collectors felt about this as well. In the days of the vintage line we had some really well done playsets with which to display our figures on. The ones I remember are:

*Death Star playset
*Creature Cantina playset
*Land of the Jawas playset
*Droid Factory playset
*Hoth Turret Probot playset
*Imperial Assault base
*Hoth Ice Planet playset
*Rebel Command Center playset
*Vader's Star Destroyer playset
*Dagobah playset
*Jabba playset
*Ewok Village


For this current Hasbro line, I think the playsets are severly lacking, or at the very least few and far between. We got little pieces of the death star, a tiny piece of Hoth trench, a sliding door for Endor, and some folded paper sets for the Cantina and Jabba's palace.

Now I admit that the Carbon Freezing chamber was cool, but far too small. And the Geonosian Arena was right on line with anything we had in the vintage days. But instead of being satisfying, this made me wonder why we can't have more?

Are playsets too expensive to build these days? Does Hasbro just assume we all keep them in the packages? If they can re-use the molds and improve upon the vintage vehicles, why not the Death Star?

 

I think that there are few playsts as Hasbro understands that vintage was for playing and recent stuff is mainly for display and/or collecting (leaving in the package}.

 

You have a great point man,The Vinatge line was made for kiddies,and The new Hasbro line,is mainly bought by collectors

 

But do they not understand that as collectors of toys, we are essentially kids living in adult bodies? I have to agree, what the line needs are more playsets. If for no other reason, than to display figures that we have bought. It makes me yearn for the days of the vintage line when you basically got a playset for just about every scene. Heck, we still have out Ewok Village in the attic, I think.

You must remember, collectors are not the only ones buying this stuff. Parents do still buy them for kids, and as such, the kids deserve the joy of playsets that we adult collectors experienced when we were growing up.

 

Hasbro has said time and time again that the reason we get so many repaints, repacks, and rescuplts of the same core figures is because they're not marketing to the collectors alone. Most of their SW toys are sold to kids. And believe it or not, your action figures were made to be played with.

It just seems kind of sad that I want to introduce SW to my daughter, but if I want her to have playsets for her I have to go on ebay and buy vintage items and worry about safety standards from 20 years ago.

 

I'd give my right eye for a really good Millenium Falcon cockpit. Hasbro should produce modular playsets(Millenium Falcon, Death Star, Star Destroyer, etc)that could be linked together to form huge playsets. A Lars Family playset would be cool, too. That could fit in with the PT or the OT.

 

Jedi Council Chamber and some Clone Wars playset are also needed. I'd buy them

 

I had the droid factory and dagobah playsets and played with them all the time. They should make playsets now, they appeal to the collector and children of all ages. I would buy a new battle droid factory set. how about a battle arena. they could even cut these into portions to cut cost and size down. the lars homested would appeal to the vintage collector along with the new figure collector.

 

I agree we do need more playsets. I'd like to see an Emperors Throne room playset adn Count Dooku's secret hanger playset with room for a Solar Sailer too. (Solar Sailer sold separtly.)

I really love my Geonosian Arena Playset. I have all my open AOTC figures displayed in it and I have my Gunship next too it as well.

Here's a picture of it. The arena is sitting on top of my dresser in the middle of the photo.

[image=http://www.angelfire.com/hero/agent_007/images/My_Collection_Final.JPG]

 

I for one most DEFINATELY agree with you guys. We really need more playsets. They help a lot in displaying (and playing with) your figures....

I for one love picking up playsets. And if the playset I want doesn't exist, I just create my own diorama for it. It's really fun to do and it helps re-create all the famous scenes that I love.

so once again... Yes, we need more PLAYSETS!!!

 

If you look at the picture I posted above you'll see my homade AT-AT that I made out of carboard boxes on the left of the picture. I made the walker myself because I could not find nor could I afford the Hasbro version. I created the Hoth battlefield with white t-shirts and a paper towel roll. The figures and the snowspeeder add the final touches.

 

We do need a lot of them. We need one w/ Max Rebo in it!

 

I have the solution: build your own! Foam-core board and Hot Glue are your friends. Also sheets of styrene and generic cyano-acrylate (superglue).

I have done this.

Hasbro kept delaying and delaying on the carbon freeze chamber, so I built my own! It's got a 19.5 inch diameter, and, with the upper levels I added, stands 3.5 feet tall, has 4 landing platforms, a banquet hall, sliding doors, elevators, and the stairs in the freezing chamber light up.

I also built my own vaporator, B-Wing, Skiff, and expanded the Deathstar Detention block. Oh, and the rebel briefing room from RotJ.

If you need help building something, I'll be happy to assist.

If hasbro won't do it, do it yourself. If you're prepared to spend the time, you'd be amazed what you can accomplish.

 

Hasbro kept delaying and delaying on the carbon freeze chamber, so I built my own! It's got a 19.5 inch diameter, and, with the upper levels I added, stands 3.5 feet tall, has 4 landing platforms, a banquet hall, sliding doors, elevators, and the stairs in the freezing chamber light up.

I also built my own vaporator, B-Wing, Skiff, and expanded the Deathstar Detention block. Oh, and the rebel briefing room from RotJ.

Impressive... Most impressive...

Building dioramas is one thing, but making a B-Wing and a Skiff as well? That's a little bit tougher if you ask me. Are you one of the entries in NuibNuib's guests section? He's my idol when it comes to diorama building.

And yes, diorama making IS loads of fun. And in my opinion, it's sort of a way for us older people to play with our toys. But it can be a bit frustrating when you're not too good at it. hehehe...

 

Which would you guys that want playsets really prefer, more playsets or more original sculpts of figures that haven't been made before?

 

Well if you don't count Episode III, there's not too many must-have unreleased figures left. If I had to choose one over the other, at this time I'd ask for new playsets.

And while I'd love to make my own dioramas, I just don't have that kind of free time.

**goes looking on ebay for a decent Death Star playset**

 

I'd go for playsets as well, Hasbro has already made lots of distinct characters from the Original Trilogy to keep me happy.

And just like RolandofGilead said, making Dioramas is lots of fun, but it is quite time consuming. Although when I get my own place and have my own room for my collection, I promised myself I'd make lots of my dioramas and have them displayed in glass cases to preserve them.

 

I didn't say the B-wing and Skiff were perfect...

And no, I'm not familiar with that one.

Again, if anyone wants help...

 

Okay, I want help! =)

I'm trying to recreate the Wampa Cave scene. The figures that I'm using are the Ultra Wampa and just a plain ol' POTF2 Hoth Luke. Now I had initially thought of using a combination of styrofoam and say, baking soda (for snow), but it doesn't complement the nice ice-base that came with the Ultra Wampa... or maybe im just doing it wrong...

Also, I'm not too sure on how to go about creating stalagmites and stalagtites. Again, I can only think of styrofoam and baking soda.

Any (specific) instructions on how to go about this would be most appreciated. =)

 

The latest Star Wars inisder has a how to article on how to make a Hoth cave for your figures. Unfornateley it's in the Bantha Tracks section which only goes out to subscribers so you can't buy the magazine at the store.

 

If we want playsets which I do then we need them to be quality made and they need to be very movie acurate not only in detail but in size. For instance the carbon freezing chamber was beautiful but too small maybe it could have been a little bigger and had extensions like the areas where Vader and Luke fought. The Ewok Village Vintage set was cool but not that movie acurate to me. I want bridges, stairs, rope, realistic branches and plantlife, not too realistic.

The Jabba's Palace could be made all big and what not with dungeons and the court room and then the bottom would be the massive Rancor Pit.

 

OK, now it's a question of $.

If you really want to go high-end and have the time:

Sculpt your stalagtites/mites out of clay (the never-hardens kind, not pottery clay.
Make a plaster-of-paris mold.
After the plaster hardens, you can use a hair-dryer to get the last of the clay out.

Go to a store that sells RTV (Room-Temperature-Vulcanization) materials. There are a variety of types. You're going to want something that's clearish.
TAP plastics is a good store if you happen to have one near you. The people there may be able to give you some good ideas on materials.

You'll need some paints: different shades of blue and white. Paint in the deeper crevices with medium blue, and then dry-brush lighter and lighter shades. If you drybrush before the darker coat is done, you can get some really good blending effects.

If you don't have that kind of budget, go with styrofoam and plaster. You may want to carve up the styrofoam, then coat the whole thing with plaster. Don't forget to put wampa tracks in the floor. Wait until the paster is mostly dry, then use something rounded (sculpting tool, end of a paintbrush,...) to add in details.

You may want to sculpt the ceiling elements with Liquid Latex. That way you don't have to worry about weight, cracking, etc. It may be a bit trickier to paint, however. Or, you can use the styrofoam shavings from the rest of your carving, and either emlers or hot-glue it to the board before putting in on top. You could avoid the whole problem by leaving the cave open-topped...

If the cave is to be all-enclosed, you may want to consider some kind of lighting system behind the pillars where it can't be seen. There's a Lite-Glow cable intended for motorcycle & car stereo customization (PepBoys carries it ~$20-25) that can be very cool, and comes in different colors, including clear/white, orange, blue, purple, green, red.

One key thing to do is practice with whatever materials you use. Experimentation will yeild interesting results.

Let me know if you need other suggestions/help.

 

DBL post

 

Whoa! Now that sounds like instructions coming from a professional!

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions, they really are a lot of help. Although some of them seem a little too challenging for my unexperienced hand at diorama making, I'll give it a whirl anyway and hope for the best.

I'll let you know how it turns out when I'm done... although I still have to attend to my Hoth scene first.

 

Thanks. I have been working on models & such for a while now...

I think you'll find that plaster works well for snowbanks and such on the surface.

Good luck.