Tag: Star Wars Black Page 2 of 6
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!â€
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.
- It’s another Mattycollector release day. Today’s sale includes DC Universe Classics Ra’s Al Ghul, John Constantine, and Elasti-Girl; Watchmen’s Ozymandias; MOTUC Geldor and stackable stands and a number of re-releases.
- Castle Grayskull ships soon, but Pixel Dan won’t have an early review due to assholes who nicked bits off the display piece at NYCC.
- In Four Horsemen news, rough cuts of the Raven arrived at 4H HQ, and they’ve also been running a feature detailing the creation of my personal favorite Power Lord, Sydot the scientist. I must say, the various exclusives they’ve done to this point are nice, but I think the Power Lords need to be fully-painted to really be appreciated. I’m hoping we get those, but I’m wondering whether funding is becoming an issue for this line. If so, why not hold another Kickstarter to make themselves more financially comfortable? I doubt they would need as high a budget target they did for the Raven. That said, I must admit I’ve noticed very few, if any Kickstarter projects for Glyos-related toys.
- In the course of getting back into Star Wars via Star Wars Black, I’ve actually gone back and picked up a few of the 3.75″ figures – just my favorites. What’s been interesting about it is that some of the most definitive versions of these characters are nearly a decade old. For example, I picked up the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Han Solo from 2004; it’s a great figure with great articulation and the best head sculpt I’ve ever seen in this scale. I also got the VOTC Chewbacca and Boba Fett. Each of these figures has been reissued at least once or twice and they’re not that hard to come by. I also picked up the Holiday Special repaint of Fett, because fun. The only other figure I picked up was the Vintage Collection (not “Vintage Original Trilogy Collection”) ANH Darth Vader. This was the only one I had to think about; the VOTC Vader had the better ESB design and a ball-jointed neck but cut rather than hinged elbows, and every other decent Vader Hasbro has made has cloth on the front of his outfit. The VC ANH Vader also has ball-jointed hips, which seemed novel, so I went with that. It bums me out he doesn’t have a ball-jointed neck, though. Not that Vader was constantly cocking his head in curiosity like Data, but I’d like him to be able to look up and down somewhat to add some character to his poses.
- Another thing about Star Wars 3.75″ – the line seems to be on a sudden downhill trajectory, at least for collectors who want well-articulated, highly-detailed figures. The quality on the Star Wars Black 3.75″ appears to be pretty bad across the board, and the Saga Legends figures have only five points of articulation. It’s odd how a Star Wars figure made in 2004 is far superior to most of what’s being produced now. (Though the Vintage Collection just ended and seems to have retained that level of quality – again, this downturn seems to be recent.)
I used to love taking photos for my reviews. It was exciting. I started out just taking them on my desk, then started to get concerned about things like lighting, so I made a custom light tent out of a cardboard box and some tissue paper. Eventually I got a real light tent and a nicer camera. And yet, for whatever reason, somewhere along the way I stopped enjoying taking photos. I tend to find the process tedious nowadays.
I have a few different ideas why this might be the case, but the main one is: what is the point, tell me, WHAT IS THE POINT when TheFwoosh.com‘s MatthewK is doing crap like THIS?
Or this?
- I hope you all enjoyed Star Wars Black Week! I’ll also be reviewing Han Solo, Leia and Greedo soon. And of course, don’t forget to enter our Trygg Poftu contest for a chance to win a Series 2 Boba Fett!
- Our partner CollectionDX has had some great reviews recently, including OMFG! Series 3 and the Four Horsemen’s Power Lords Ggrapptikk, as well as the vintage Power Lords Sydot, which I owned as a kid (although I had the version with the chrome chestplate, and the non-chrome one never looks quite right to me).
- ToyFinity has updates on their Mordles and Robo Force lines, as well as the news that the next Robo Force drop will feature more paint apps on Maxx Zero (née Maxx Steele, but Mattel’s trademark on the name nixed that). I missed the drop for the gray Maxx, a mistake I shall not repeat next time. One interesting tidbit about Maxx, according to Matt Doughty (who aided ToyFinity’s John Kent in the figure’s development), is that there are lots of secret builds in Maxx’s design “from old Tomy robots, ZOIDS and Zeroids to the Trapping Rigs used by our own Rechlen and Aves.”
- I went ahead and pre-ordered the Alien from Super7/Funko’s ReAction series. Now that they’ve announced all those licenses for ReAction, I just have to try one. Doing vintage-style 3.75″ figures as a kind of retro-aesthetic for both classic and modern properties seems like the most obvious thing in the world now. I think the price tag might limit their collectability, unless Funko can get them down into the $10-$12 range like their POP line. But certain figures, like the Alien, will be hot sellers.
Don’t forget to enter our “Trygg Poftu” contest for a chance to win a Star Wars Black 6″ Boba Fett!
It all started on November 17, 1978. That’s the day the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special aired for the first and last time. In-between live action scenes that lurched from soul-crushing tedium to wince-inducing sentimentality (Bea Arthur sings!), there was a brief cartoon segment that featured Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and a character who would become one of the most famous members of the Star Wars universe: Boba Fett.
It Figures returns for a special one-week engagement in honor of Star Wars Black Week!
Don’t forget to enter our “Trygg Poftu” contest for a chance to win a Star Wars Black 6″ Boba Fett!
My personal Star Wars: The Phantom Menace story was the same as that of many other SW fans. The excitement of of the initial rumors the prequels would be made. The preview figures. The first trailer, downloading on the Internet oh-so-slowly over my college’s T1 line. The puzzlement at announcement of the terrible title. The plastic orgy of the early May toy release. And then the realization, just a few minutes in to the movie, that something was very, very wrong.
You’ll never convince me the original films are of the same quality of the prequels. I’m not blinded by childhood nostalgia; it’s simply not the case, and I could write volumes on why, but it’s already been well-covered by others.
It Figures returns for a special one-week engagement in honor of Star Wars Black Week!
