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Star Wars Collectible News, Photos, and Reviews

It's A Cruel, Cruel Summer, Leaving Wave 16 On Its Own

Posted by Paul | August 01, 2012 at 03:09 PM ET

It's a cruel summer because the last wave of The Vintage Collection will sustain a cruel fate! It’s been a while since I voiced my opinion about Hasbro's decisions and the distribution of Star Wars figures. And I need to get something off of my chest. Click through if you’re interested.

Why or why must Star Wars collecting be in the current state that it is? Hasbro has created some of the best Star Wars action figures of our lives yet they have become the most impossible to locate out in the wild. Hasbro appears sympathetic to this and unbeknownst to most collectors, they're about as frustrated as we are. But we need to keep them on the narrow path to correct the problem! If it weren’t for the modern era of using the web to find and buy toys, I would have not found any of the 2012 TVC figures (aside from wave 10 and 11 of course). Except for about five figures from waves 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 I have found nothing. Five freaking figures, Hasbro! I had to angrily buy case assortments that still make me mad when I think about it. OK, OK. I know, I have them now through alternate means so I should let it go. But I can’t. Because I need to know how this is going to be resolved now for 2013, especially when we will definitely need to buy “one of every figure” to compete the Build A Droids. I will go bonkers if I can’t get to a new wave of figures at retail without them being cherry picked.

Now, the confirmed latest news of wave 16 (also known as 2012’s wave 7) being an online exclusive makes my heart sink and again frustrates me. In all fairness, I have to give Hasbro credit for giving us 12 all-new carded figures, even if four of them are repackaged Discover The Force figures – I don’t care, they’re in glorious The Vintage Collection packaging and that’s all I care about for now. But they are some very important modern updates in this wave. Prune Face, Emperor’s Royal Guard, Lumat, and Nien Nunb all contribute to making one of the best TVC waves in recent memory. This is the kind of case assortment we needed all year with the previous waves instead of five new figures and seven The Phantom Menace carry-forward figures. So why is this happening to one of the best waves of the year? It’s only the beginning of August. Rush the production of them so they can be ready by September and then you’ll have all of Fall to sell through them.... at retail (you know – brick and mortar!)

How in the world am I going to be able to army-build the all-new Emperor’s Royal Guard, a figure I have been waiting to see since the beginning of The Vintage Collection!? I hope that Hasbro has most of these characters on tap for rerelease in the 2013 flavor of the Legacy Collection because this one is a no-brainer. It should be ten times more available than 2011’s TVC Senate Guard figure. And there are others I want to get multiples of for heaven's sake. Do collectors need to worry about these figures? Will online availability be heavy? Is this truly a limited released (as in low production like the Attack Of The Clones wave 7 from the blue phase of The Legacy Collection)? You're probably asking why would I care about this wave if I have bought all of my other figures online. I care because this means less availability (smaller production numbers) and no chance of those who do not order online ever seeing them. If you think you haven't found Star Wars figures this year so far, just wait until this wave "hits". Leave your thoughts in our comments and let us know how you feel.

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