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Star Wars Collectible News, Photos, and Reviews

Are We Unknowingly On A Slippery Slope Already?

Posted by Paul | August 03, 2013 at 05:04 PM ET

So, the big part of the summer convention season is over now. San Diego Comic Con and Celebration Europe are all but a recent memory. Funny how these events take so long to get here then disappear within moments. You would have to be without a pulse if you didn't notice that it may have been the most lackluster year as far as Hasbro is concerned. (Thankfully those who collect Gentle Giant Ltd. and Sideshow Collectibles have new reasons to celebrate.) Between these two huge conventions, Hasbro has only confirmed four new figures for the basic figure lineup; the four we revealed here almost two months ago. But that's not the only problem we're seeing (more....)

The Q&As at SDCC and CE with Hasbro have also been vague at best. They seem to have and spout off canned responses now. Maybe there are good reasons for that or maybe there aren't, but the collecting community is becoming increasingly frustrated. I know I am. I reached out to fellow colleagues via quick text messages or longer phone calls and/or emails about various things related to this. The overall feeling that I walk away from the conversations and discussions are overtly melancholy. If you're a Star Wars collector, you're part of a people who need constant and instant gratification. That much is so. When we wait a grueling six months for Hasbro to reveal a plethora of new figure announcements and we only get four, it makes us very upset. Especially when in the past a convention meant as much as five new waves would get revealed.

We must drive Hasbro insane. But in all fairness, they're dealing with (mostly) adult men that have hounded them for the same things for years and never get some of the really important things that should have already been released by now.

Struggling with this, I reached out to my brother from another mother, Dan Curto. If you recall, he posted his feelings on the state of collecting for Hasbro collectors in Rebelscum.com's forums. (The original thread can be found right HERE.) You really need to read this again if you haven't, especially through the eyes of another year elapsed and another SDCC convention come and gone. It's visionary, it's prophetic and it's alarmingly uncomfortable, especially right now. He got a lot of flack for the post, but sometimes we can't handle the truth.

It makes my stomach a little sick inside that the Star Wars line has been following the path of other collector lines to the point that it's dancing dangerously close to the edge of a final cliff that Dan and others have talked about in the past. The signs are all in place. Cost and distribution have brutalized our beloved Star Wars line, so Hasbro needed to find new ways to make things work. There are actually more than a few examples that show Dan's thoughts are very accurate today.

Let's look at the facts. All of the movie Marvel lines followed a very depressing route. Hasbro diverted all of its attention to collectors with the 6" scaled lines. And guess what? Kids' figures got the reduced five points of swivel articulation. And there were no other "adult focused" 3.75" lines to complement the kids lines which will always remain the most favorite format of all for adult collectors. You know where I am going, don't you? It is possible that Hasbro will change the culture of collecting for us and maybe continue to steer the Star Wars line in new and inventive ways? We know they cross-pollinate their plan-o-grams to all of their licenses. Does the possibility exist that the Star Wars line may follow suit and have 6" for the collectors and 3.75" "Saga Legends" for the kids' only?

You probably have already hoped I have bitten my tongue by now, right? Hey, there is reason for concern. At Toy Fair, Hasbro told JTA that they were commited to The Black Series 3.75" for collectors. We felt good about that and were confident that great things were coming. But at every previous SDCC, Hasbro announced a plethora of new action figures. Not "zero" like they did this year. Yet there were plenty of new 6" TBS announcements. (The four new 3.75" announced were part of the Celebration Europe convention.) Why didn't they confirm all of the characters we revealed with our rumor report (that are currently in the Walmart computer as we speak)?

So now I am asking you. Do you think there is change in the air? Do you think the culture of collecting is on its way to completely changing as we know it? Do you know why they are withholding new figure announcements like they are? Is there nothing to be concerned about at all? Are they saving new announcements for something more special? But think about it some more. I bet none of us thought that we would be seeing action figures with five points of articulation again in 2012/2013. But now they're sitting on shelves as I write this. Again, read Dan's forum post. I think it ties everything together very well. Or do you think this is way off base? Your thoughts in our comments please.

Is Hasbro "getting out of the business of making 3.75" action figures" (as we know it) like Dan has once alluded?

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