Hasbro – Page 2 – Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation

Poe’s Point > Thoughts on the state of Star Wars Black 6″

On January 16, 2014

So, at the beginning of 2014, where are we on Star Wars Black 6″?

Before I begin, let me state something: I’m not that worried about the line. I think sometimes collectors overthink this kind of thing. Star Wars is a big, recognizable brand with a new movie coming out in less than two years. The hype will be unimaginable eighteen months from now. Captain America 2 and the Amazing Spider-man 2 will probably not be as successful as the new Star Wars movie (the first one, at least), and both of those films just received a great wave of 6″ figures. Hasbro has not abandoned the format for Marvel, and I see no reason why they’d turn around and drop it for Star Wars when we’re not even a year in.

But that doesn’t mean I think they’re handling the line perfectly.

Pic of the Day > Wookie in Flight. by pharaohglyph

By Doc Thomas

On January 15, 2014

In Photos

Wookie in Flight. by pharaohglyph

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Pic of the Day > Boba Fett Headshot by crackhead9000

By Poe

On January 13, 2014

In Photos

Rumored Star Wars Black 6″ Wave 4 Line-up

By Poe

On January 11, 2014

In News, Rumors

First off, as always, take this with a grain of salt. This is based on third-hand information. I just happen to find it compelling enough to pass along. While I generally try to avoid rumor-mongering, I think it’s worth giving preemptive feedback sometimes.

User WayneStarActionF at the Rebelscum forums has made what I think is a decently convincing case (based on what he claims is inside information) for the line-up of Star Wars Black 6″ Wave 4. WayneStarActionF also states that while Wave 4 is disappointing, Wave 5 is amazing and consists entirely of Original Trilogy characters.

Odds ‘n Ends > SRGM convention, Mini-Rigs, Alien: Isolation, ThreeA’s 2000AD

By Poe

On January 9, 2014

In Odds 'n Ends

ItsAllTrue has been running a bunch of 2013-assessment posts, such as It’sAllTrue.net’s Top Ten Action Figures of 2013 and NoisyDvL5′s 2013 Highlights & Disappointments. Definitely worth checking out.
The amazing ED-209 by NECA is now in stock at Amazon.
CollectionDX has announced a new convention, Super Robots Giant Monster (SRGM). It will take place in Lowell, Massachusetts on March 29, and I plan to be there. Check out this page for more information. I’ll probably put up a separate post about this later.
Phil Reed of Battlegrip is putting together an unofficial guide to Star Wars Mini-Rigs. This is the future – extreme niche coffee table books. Frankly, I’m psyched. I love coffee table books. I fondly recall whiling away many a study period paging through The Ultimate Guitar Book…but I digress. I actually picked up two Mini-Rigs recently, the MLC-3 and the MTV-7; however, my motivation for picking them up was because I thought they would make great generic vehicles for the Alien ReAction figures. If you’re interested in learning more about the Mini-Rigs, visit your local library. Kidding! Here’s a Starwars.com article about Mini-rigs. But you should visit your local library anyway. They’re awesome. You can read books for free.
The 1980s animation-themed magazine Cereal:Geek has a bunch of issues up for pre-order. I’ve read an issue here and there and it’s always fun reading, if you’re into the subject matter. Which I’m guessing a good number of you are. Because you’re here. Reading this website.
I haven’t gotten on the Instagram bandwagon yet, but I do like the funny “toyselfie” project they’re running.
Alien: Isolation might be the game to persuade me to invest in a next-gen system…but I don’t know. I’m not really a big survival horror fan. I absolutely hated Doom 3 and what it did to my beloved Doom gameplay. I loved the Dead Space games, but those were pretty action-oriented (and more so as the games progressed). I had hoped for a Dead Space-like Alien game, and Isolation seems close, and yet I find the first-person perspective really disappointing (and rather outdated, frankly). I’ll wait for the reviews before making a purchase decision.
I don’t watch The Goldbergs, a show about the titular family set in the 1980s, because life’s too short to watch dozens of television shows. But Dinosaur Dracula has catalogued the ridiculous amount of 1980s toys that young Adam Goldberg has in his room. Holy crap, is that kid spoiled.
ThreeA has announced that their 2000AD line will be 1/12th scale moving forward (i.e., 6″ scale). This doesn’t matter to me per se because I’m not a 2000AD fan, but it does remind me of the painfully cool 6″ Boba Fett we will never get to have. ThreeA is the only company who does fabric in this scale that I don’t hate.

Poe’s Point > Third-party Star Wars Black 6″ suggestions

By Poe

On December 31, 2013

In Poe's Point

I’ve expressed my doubts about third-party toys in the form of licensed characters, but I have far fewer qualms about third-party add-ons. There are some really cool third party projects going on for MOTUC right now, such as Kevin Kosse’s Horde Trooper helmets or the upcoming conversion kits by Mat Vige O’Toole, a.k.a. Zombihamma (who’s also a special effects make-up, prosthetics and storyboard artist with a pretty badass resume) – plus of course Joe Amaro‘s great stuff.

Gentle Giant to work on Funko Legacy 6″?

By Poe

On December 24, 2013

In News

As you may know, Hasbro has partnered with Gentle Giant in producing the Star Wars Black 6″ (confirmation of this can be found in this interview with Gentle Giant).

In an encouraging sign, it appears that Funko may be working with Gentle Giant as well for their 6″ line, which is scheduled to include figures from Game of Thrones and Firefly. In reply to a post on the Funko Fanatic forums (a post started by yours truly, actually, speculating as to who would sculpt the line), Brian Mariotti of Funko writes, “I think Gentle Giant is incredible….hmmmmmmmm.”

So I think it’s safe to say Gentle Giant will be helping to produce Funko Legacy. That doesn’t automatically mean Mal Reynolds will have the same quality of sculpting or articulation as SWB6″ Han Solo, of course; different decisions could be made regarding articulation and how much to spend on paint applications, quality of plastic, and so forth. But Gentle Giant’s involvement is a positive development – at least for those of us who are hoping for something close to SWB6″.

UPDATE: On a related topic, Brian is also promising SWB6″-like articulation on Legacy.

Perhaps this will be a situation similar to Legendary Comic Book Heroes, where two lines were worked on by the same people (ToyBiz making Marvel Legends, and later Marvel Toys making LCBH), which ensured the lines were completely compatible.

Pic of the Day > Surviving Sarlacc by sir_winger

By Doc Thomas

On December 11, 2013

In Photos

Surviving Sarlacc by sir_winger

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Scoundrels

By Poe

On December 1, 2013

In Photos

Star Wars Black Series 3 casepack revisited

By Poe

On November 29, 2013

In News

This isn’t the most thrilling story ever, but I find it interesting so I’m following up on it.

Phil Reed of Battlegrip.com puts forth the theory that if Chewbacca is in an upcoming wave (as is rumored), Hasbro may have wanted to make sure there were Hans on the pegs when Chewie came out. It’s possible. I was ready to blame the retailers, but Phil doesn’t think they’re to blame:

I’ve personally met with buyers at the large retailers and my opinion is that these buyers are professionals and know their lines far better than many collectors seem to think. They also track sales history and keep a close eye on demand, so in my opinion the retailers may have commented on case mix, but I doubt any retailer said “Stick Han Solo in this case or no!”

I still think two Stormtroopers, or a Stormtrooper and Boba Fett, make more sense for both Hasbro and the retailer. Throw Han in the actual wave Chewie’s in.

Another possibility is that this was a last-minute decision due to yanking Anakin from the third series, and there wasn’t time to produce more Stormtroopers so they threw in Han because he was already in production at the time. That doesn’t quite work, though, because that suggests they probably could have swapped in Boba Fett instead of Han.

So…I really have no idea why this happened.

Tag: Hasbro Page 2 of 41