1. Adam, the 50th anniversary of A New Hope is on the horizon. To mark the occasion, it could be time to roll out the BMF mold again.

My question is whether Hasbro would make it a Haslab project. If they do, what can they add to the existing product to make it worth buying again? If they just straight out put it on the market, but with a different box, will fans buy it?
--Derek

I don't think customers would be OK with a HasLab Millennium Falcon.

The last release at Target was $399.99, and the entire point of HasLab is to put out "dream projects" of some sort that may not be possible at normal retail. I think if Hasbro did a rerun - or a repaint - for HasLab, fans wouldn't go for it. It might be $450 or $500 if they run it again - and I don't think it necessarily needs to be that high for a reissue - but that's up to Hasbro and their licensor and partners.

If I were Hasbro, I'd reissue the 1978 Kenner Millennium Falcon - something simpler, and maybe just steal whole-hog from Mattel and its Masters of the Universe Origins line. Go back to how things used to be - one line for kids and collectors. We'll show up. If it's the original Kenner guys with minor enhancements (knees) and barely-modernized versions of the old Kenner vehicles and creatures, I think you would make multiple constituents extremely happy with lower-priced product, higher-units-sold-per-SKU, a nostalgia piece, and something parents (grandparents) can buy for kids ages 4-11. I don't think The Vintage Collection or The Black Series (or the way it's being run, The Retro Collection) have a lot of room for growth - but I bet you can get one size to fit all, and then squeeze in Mando and other popular new things in that format, but most important of all keep them in rotation. Mattel has sold Castle Grayskull for multiple holiday seasons now - that's unthinkable in Hasbro's world, but it's how things were in the 1970s and 1980s. I know it sounds cruel to say "give fans fewer options," but there are too many scales right now - if Hasbro did something like an old Millennium Falcon for $100-$120, with $12 figures, I really believe they could jumpstart the brand for 3-5 years before Star Wars probably sails on an iceberg to the sea.

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2. PS, the Cobra Airship currently on crowd funding is cool, but making a sticker sheet a stretch goal feels wrong. Do you agree?
--Derek (same Derek)

Super7 currently has an impressive Cobra Mothership from G.I. Joe crowdfunding on its own site and it's a little slow going - it's a massive, impressive beast that seems to be designed with 1980s kids interests in mind. If you had the old figures in 1982, or 1988, this is probably something you'd look at and go "yeah, this is awesome." You might also be out of space for big stuff.

A sticker sheet is not an amazing stretch goal, but let's be honest - it's probably going to be an uphill battle for this thing to make 3,000. It's incredible, but G.I. Joe convention exclusives have been made in very small numbers and Joe seems to oscillate between being absolutely the biggest thing in the market to something people all of a sudden don't want. This piece seems made for ReAction Figures, but should fit O-Ring figures, and I think will mostly appeal to 1980s Joe fans that never grew out of them. Due to the realities of mass-production, the turrets are pretty cool and stickers are a low-cost extra for something that is probably going to cost Super7 hundreds of thousands of dollars just to make the mold, not to mention freight from Vietnam or China, plastic, licensing fees to Hasbro, and so on and so forth. I'd certainly rather it be a simple figure redeco (or even freebies from overstock), but I don't know the full budget for this one.

I hope it succeeds. As time goes on I assume the market will get smaller, and the customers will have fewer things on which to spend money, so all action figure fans of the 1980s might be nudged toward more crowdfund projects as those may be the things that make the most financial sense, are the most enticing, and carry the least risk.

If I were Hasbro, I'd probably look at my portfolio and try something like a Cantina playset with 2-3 waves worth of The Vintage Collection figures bundled in it instead of putting them at mass (or fan) retail. Or do a 3 3/4-inch scale Tantive IV loaded up with Kenner-style figures and add-on packs for Stormtroopers and Rebel Fleet Troopers... but ensure it's sized to fit The Vintage Collection figures. I think there's a real market for a crowdfund "gift set" with a very high-end vehicle or playset, plus some figures, and Super7 made the right move with their figure add-on packs.

The only problem is, of course, what was mentioned above - room. If it comes to be a time where Hasbro doesn't sell 3 3/4-inch figures in stores anymore, there will be thousands of fans with some cash to spend and crowdfunded extra-large sets would make a lot of sense, until room runs out. As long as we all have jobs, a lot of us would rather have a fancy toy than a nice dinner - but we can only store so much of this stuff before we are in no position to buy any more.

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FIN

Speaking of crowdfunding, the Marvel Legends HasLab Giant-Man ends Monday night. It was around 72% when the weekend started, and is now at 76%. Will it make it? Well... it's going to be close. It's a good item but I really think what makes the difference for a lot of these products is including individually packaged basic figures with it to sweeten the deal. This one is pretty cool, but optional faceplates - like bonus hands in smaller items - are much less exciting than another whole figure. I hope it succeeds - projects like this with a smaller footprint should be the kind of thing other brands look at when planning their futures too! (Cough cough Black Series AT-ST.)

One of the most interesting sets of the year just hit my mailbox - Hasbro's The Vintage Collection Wicket and Kneesaa cartoon action figures. Reviews are in the works, and it's amazing to think that after 28 years of this stuff Hasbro has given us one coin-carded The Power of the Force figure with Yak Face, but two cartoon Ewoks and three Droids figures with coins. I have to assume it's out of spite now. Wicket's coin is almost the same as the 1985 original, with altered copyrights and - unless my eyes fail me - a slightly different level of sharpness. I need to dig out my old one, but I can say that the sculpt is close but not identical to the one I got back in the 1980s. They did a nice job, though. Wicket isn't quite how I would do it (the hood is a little too bright in its orange) but I'd recommend it in that it's weird. But as usual, the price sucks - it's a reissue of a $10 figure, and it's missing the other hood accessory.

If you post on forums and social, and you dislike the price increases (or really, anything), may I ask a favor? Please complain on your channels of choice. Hasbro does make it a point that they want your feedback, and unfortunately funneling it to just me doesn't help. It needs to be a bit more vocal, and I'd certainly like to live in a world where they do away with "deluxe" figures at higher prices in favor of something standardized and cheaper, even if it means we don't get 10 accessories. (Especially if we don't. I mean, I probably don't need that many.)

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.

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