Anybody still collecting SW on here?

[nacho]

Nah, no bitchin' just, "Hmmm, well I guess that's a thing."

While most of us like SW quite a bit around here, I think we're all well beyond the need to spend $500 + tax on a ship from a recent TV show. It doesn't hit any nostalgia buttons like most classic SW ships, and I fully expect the bloom to be off the Mando rose before this thing even gets shipped in 12-15 months.

When I saw the design, my reaction was "meh". When I saw the pricetag, I busted out laughing. I mean, Disney must have jacked up the license fees. They're selling a reissue BMF for $400... the same damn ship most of us bought on clearance for $69 bucks. I simply don't care enough about SW to be gouged that hard.

 

[NSA]

When I clicked on this thread I really expected to hear bitchin about the new mini rig.
Haslab mini rig

The detail is very impressive.. and if I was a big SW person still I might think about it.. but as it is, even though I *adored* Mandalorian.. there is no way I am paying that for the ship.

 

[Videoviper]

While I was really ready for a Death Star playset, this thing is ok. Not $350+ ok, so it’s an easy pass for me.
I preordered the mando, but when I saw the show & realized he only looks like that for 2 1/2 episodes so I will wait for the bescar version which will be replaced by the season 2 new version

 

[pcsguy88]

If the paint is as detailed as the Barge, I’ll be buying one. It’s really going to have to have everything painted, not like the original BMF in boring grey plastic.

 

[nacho]

You're buying the $500 Mando ship? That's dedication. I backed the $300 ML Sentinel, but the only SW item I would consider spending that kind of money on would be a death star playset, and it would have to be a massive, modular beast.

 

[pcsguy88]

It’s $378 after tax and shipping which is at the extreme edge of what I’d pay. It has to be fully painted inside and out with the same care as the Barge before I’ll even consider it. The thing is 30” long and 20” wide, so right there with out prized 1:18 jets. I have a handful of tanks with more than that invested, 3 of them double.

 

[nacho]

I would have sworn the original listing was $500 b/c I remember scoffing loudly... regardless, even $378 is too rich for my blood, or for a 1:18 jet too (I didn't pay nearly that for any of my BBI birds). I'm not sure comparing a hasbro product to RC tanks is particularly apt, but hey, if it floats your boat, that's all that matters.

I guess maybe I just can't imagine people being THAT excited about anything SW at this point. I haven't watched Mando yet, but after the last decade of underwhelming SW films, I've somewhat fallen out of love with anything that's not OT.

However, I've spent thousands on a single page of comic book artwork, so I'm clearly in no position to point fingers.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Mando is OT 3.1. It takes place not long after ROTJ And features left over OT equipment and gear. It is nothing like the sequel series.

 

[pcsguy88]

It’s not even about nostalgia or my love for Mandalorian, it’s about it being a badass ship design and if they pay the same attention to detail paint wise as they did the Barge, I’ll gladly pay $350 for custom quality work. I really have nothing left of Star Wars in my collection beyond the new 6” Snowspeeder for my yard Christmas display and I think this would make quite the statement. I do still have my big Slave I that hangs nicely on the wall in flying configuration, so the two will really complement each other.

 

[NSA]

Yeah watch Mando nacho it's seriously OT+ there are links to some other SW projects, but none of it is offensive.

It's Star Wars made by Star Wars fans.

I love Mando but I don't want or need the ship though. If it ends up as sexy as PCS is hoping it might sway me.. but really I know I don't need it.

 

[Videoviper]

The original rumor was a $500 Haslab project (possible Desth Star) & a $350 Razor crest at retail + everything else they are rumored to come out with.

The RC looks good & i’d Consider it since it looks like it will be one of their high quality products, but for $50 more I can get a BMF assuming I can ignore real like obligations.

The less said about 6” scale Christmas troops the better.

 

[pcsguy88]

I’d love the Christmas troops for my 10’ AT-AT Christmas inflatable, but as soon as I watched them tell us each must be pre-ordered from a separate store I was out. Piss off Hasbro.

The new BMF has Hondo’s voice chip in it, so that will never be allowed in my home even if it does come with the original too. Plus I bought my original for $100 and could never bring myself to dip in at 4x’s the price. Even on clearance it’s still $200.

 

[Videoviper]

The BMF pricetag really hits home because before I started collecting (offically) I found that sucker for $40 but the wife was with me. Went back an hour later & it was gone.

 

[nacho]

That hurts. I thought I got a steal at $69 for the original BMF. Of course, I overpaid for the first reissue in vintage packaging, but even that wasn't half of what they're asking for it now.

I've never opened either of them. The vintage one is displayed with all my other VC vehicles still in the box, and the original BMF is in storage. I had it for my son, but it's so big, I started him out with a reissue of the classic kenner version, you know, one he could actually fly around the room. And by the time he was old enough to enjoy the larger version, he'd lost interest in SW. I guess I'll sit on it for another decade and sell it when I liquidate the MOTUC Grayskull I never opened. So much stuff I never got around to.

 

[Videoviper]

Don't start me on the MOTUC Grayskull, I'm not really a heman fan, but every year I consider buying one of thoughs cheap metalic skull masks green/silver/even considered gold with plans to put it on an insulation board to make a my version 1:18th scale Grayskull.

Usually get the drive to actually do it when the masks are not available. So this year I said F it I will get the mask & maybe I'll get around to it in winter. Dollar store syndrome = They always have it until I actually look for it.

 

[nacho]

Man, they revealed the last of the stretch goals for the Haslab Rancor today. Everyone wanted the Keeper (weepy fat guy) and Oola (green chic who gets fed to him). Instead, they revealed:

- a gammorean guard (everyone has these)
- some random bones (presumably remnants of previous meals... which should have been included from the get-go)
- a Salacious Crumb (which most people have from the SDCC Jabba set)
- another Luke Skywalker (new tooling, which will certainly get reissues 40 times in the next decade).

People are so pissed that I've actually watched the backer count decrease. They've lost over a hundred backers since I looked at lunchtime. It may very well not get funded.


Maybe some of those people will back the skystriker instead.

 

[Videoviper]

& they thought I was crazy when I suggested that last year (start of COVID) they knew the Rancor would not get funded so they switched it to the Razor Crest, which should have been retail/online at a much cheaper cost. Would have sold more units too.

 

[nacho]

I assume that the successful funding of the Razor Crest (i.e. a medium-large vehicle that should be sold at retail) is what convinced the Joe team that they could charge $250 for a $75 skystriker.

 

[Sgt301]

Man, they revealed the last of the stretch goals for the Haslab Rancor today. Everyone wanted the Keeper (weepy fat guy) and Oola (green chic who gets fed to him). Instead, they revealed:

- a gammorean guard (everyone has these)
- some random bones (presumably remnants of previous meals... which should have been included from the get-go)
- a Salacious Crumb (which most people have from the SDCC Jabba set)
- another Luke Skywalker (new tooling, which will certainly get reissues 40 times in the next decade).

People are so pissed that I've actually watched the backer count decrease. They've lost over a hundred backers since I looked at lunchtime. It may very well not get funded.


Maybe some of those people will back the skystriker instead.

I assume that the successful funding of the Razor Crest (i.e. a medium-large vehicle that should be sold at retail) is what convinced the Joe team that they could charge $250 for a $75 skystriker.

What is the deal with this stuff? I went and looked at the skystriker thinking about supporting it until I learned how much they wanted. If I wanted to spend that Much I would buy a 21st century toys plane off of eBay

 

[nacho]

The Rancor is now below 5k backers, and dropping.

Hasbro has to be getting the message at this point. I kinda wish I had backed it just so I could cancel

Edit: Now below 4950, down nearly 200 backers since the livestream.

 

[Videoviper]

Watching the comments is the best part of my day.

The project went from easy slam dunk to tone def morons, will be interesting to see what Hasbro does next.

 

[nacho]

It just keeps sliding down, now at 4871, roughly 270 down from its peak yesterday. I'm like you, VV, watching the meltdown is entertaining. I wasn't going to pay that much for a Rancor, as it seems like a $150 item, not $350. But we've never seen a haslab take a turn like this.

I hate it for the people who really wanted this beast, but I kinda want one of them to fail to keep hasbro bringing their A-game. This one feels like they phoned it in, and fans seem to be letting them know about it. I'm just glad they're teaching hasbro a lesson on a project I wasn't too jazzed about.

 

[nacho]

Hahahaha




And they wonder why...

 

[nacho]

The slide continues...

 

[pcsguy88]

Good. Target has a JP T-Rex of the same size, paint and quality on the shelves for well under $100 so this dumbass campaign needs to crash and burn.

 

[pcsguy88]

The Rogue One X-wing is the only one for me. Somehow I ended up with 2.

 

[nacho]

Isn't it the same mold as the 2013 & 2019 TVC releases?

 

[ThunderDan19]

The Rogue One X-wing is the only one for me. Somehow I ended up with 2.

View attachment 15296View attachment 15297View attachment 15298

Yeah, the classic X-wing is the only one I acknowledge as well. Poe Dameron can buzz off.

 

[nacho]

Still heading the wrong way with time not on their side...



Haslabs usually have a huge push at the end, but with this continuing to slide, there is speculation that a lot of people who planned to defray the exorbitant cost by selling the stretch items will be pulling out at the end if it appears to be funding without the extras.

If it was $250 and came with Oola and the Keeper, I probably would have backed it, despite not having anywhere to put a giant ugly beast. But $350 for this turtle-headed monster with gimpy (or no) extras, it feels like super-greed and/or laziness. Haslab definitely did not bring their A-game to this campaign.

 

[Videoviper]

At this point I'd rather see a true studio like puppet like what was actually used, but that's just me.

Unless we see something from Hasbro to try to course correct, I suspect this won't fund.

 

[nacho]

I hope it doesn't, just to teach them a lesson.

However, I fear that the lesson they will glean is that "fans are spoiled" or "fans won't support a 6"-scale haslab" rather than taking a good long look in the mirror. They can't say with a straight face that this is the best they can do, that the price and lousy extras were justified in any way.

I think they got greedy and thought that anything SW would fund by a mile because... "OMG, Star WArz!"

 

[nacho]

At this rate, it'll only take 11.64 more years to fully fund...

This thing is DOA unless it picks up steam in a hurry. Serves the greedy bastards right.

 

[nacho]

Soooo, Hasbro woke up from it's stupor and is now including the Rancor Keeper at the base funding level. It'll be interesting to see if this makes a significant difference. Waiting until after black friday/cyber monday when a lot of customers will be tapped out seems unusually short-sighted. He should have been included from the beginning, but they clearly decided that letting it fail would be worse optics than appearing to "cave".



At least they can't blame joe-fans given that they're having to included a fully-new-tooled 6" figure in the Rancor just as a hail mary to drag it across the finish line. If the Skystriker failed in a vacuum, they would simply announce "see, we told you no one cares about joe anymore!" I've still got my fingers crossed, but ideally they'll try to pull a miracle for the Skystriker too.

 

[Videoviper]

If they can get “enough” backers they will extend it like they did for Unicron. Then it will fund.

But ya I am glad I am not in the how to run a kickstarter meetings (for a company that shouldn’t need it)

 

[Sgt301]

Those prices for an overgrown flesh eating gopher are enough to choke a sarlacc pit monster.

 

[nacho]

If they can get “enough” backers they will extend it like they did for Unicron. Then it will fund.

But ya I am glad I am not in the how to run a kickstarter meetings (for a company that shouldn’t need it)

It gained less than 200 after the announcement. They need more than 4k additional orders in 5-1/2 days. That seems unlikely, but they have extended campaigns before, so maybe this one will go down that road.

I agree, a company this size shouldn't have to crowdfund anything, but I suspect it's less about raising money upfront for development and far more about doing these larger projects with effectively zero risk.

Skystriker is going to need a miracle (or extension) too. It really makes you question the business acumen of the teams in charge of this shit. Internally, who-the-f#$% sat in a meeting and decided that it was a good idea to run three big Haslab projects simultaneously, in a recession, during the holiday shopping season when people are forced to spend their disposable income elsewhere? You really couldn't devise a scenario much worse for these projects if you tried.

The biggest surprise is that the proton pack is the one that blew past the mark. I don't picture GB having a fanbase even remotely on par with SW or even Joe. And I wouldn't have imagined a giant inert $400 backpack would be so popular. It pains me b/c it means they're likely going to decide that more cosplay shit is the way to go, and we'll end up seeing less cool big toys. Goodbye carbon freeze chamber playset, hello BobaFett's jock strap, only $299!

Those prices for an overgrown flesh eating gopher are enough to choke a sarlacc pit monster.

Yeah, even if I could get over the price (which I can't), I just don't know where I would put this beast. I found space for the 28" Sentinel, but robots are cool and not off-putting or startling like this big ugly gremlin.

 

[nacho]

With the addition of the Keeper, they're *almost* back to where the campaign was two weeks ago (!). SMH, Hasbro just doesn't get it.




And last night they hinted that there *might* be a bonus item with the skystriker. The campaign has 4.5 days left, WTF are you waiting for? It's like these marketing people have zero idea what they're doing.

 

[pcsguy88]

With the addition of the Keeper, they're *almost* back to where the campaign was two weeks ago (!). SMH, Hasbro just doesn't get it.

View attachment 15306


And last night they hinted that there *might* be a bonus item with the skystriker. The campaign has 4.5 days left, WTF are you waiting for? It's like these marketing people have zero idea what they're doing.


View attachment 15307

Haslab G.I. Joe Skystriker Cobra Hack - HissTank.com

Incoming Priority #1 Message from Cobra Commander I Will Avenge This Insult! You thought you could get away with creating a G.I. Joe super offering without Cobra knowing?! You fools, you forgot to make it super! What nitwit conceived of this abhorrence?! They’ll live to regret it! Cobra...

news.hisstank.com

I won't even consider it without a guarantee that the 2 Joe ground crew are included.

 

[nacho]

Really? I'm pretty ambivalent about the ground crew, as I can't imagine displaying it in a passive/grounded fashion.

I'm backing the project even at the base level, but I really want that carded NF Ripcord. I think there is zero chance it hits that goal, but I'll pretend it's possible for another five days. The newly-added cobras are carded, which is extra awesome.

 

[pcsguy88]

I want the ground crew for the ground vehicles it comes with. Could care less about Scarlett and NF Rip, but getting a fully funded kit with all goals plus the Cobras pretty much makes this the only O-ring purchase I would need for nostalgia's sake.