1. [In 2013] Mattycollector couldn't get the echo-1 to fly at 1/2 the price that Hasbro is pitching it for [HasLab]... what am I not getting? How does Hasbro make it work? Secondly, why is every brand BUT Star Wars hitting on all cylinders with these crowdfunding projects? At this point, I feel like they could do toy runs for MegaForce (go Ace Hunter!) with a greater chance of success than Star Wars!
--Derek

How big is your collection and how much money have you spent on it? Star Wars fans have so much stuff they don't even realize what they skipped or, in some cases, what's actually new. Ghostbusters fans don't have all that much stuff. The Ghostbusters Plasma Series Ectomobile (Anniversary Edition) has a month to go and is doing fine. The only reason I'm not picking it up are that I went all-in on Playmobil and I got both of those Ecto-1 cars.

Look at your own favorite brand - a few years ago, a lot of us balked at $550 for the Jabba the Hutt Sail Barge, but some of us bought it. It's well beyond what I consider reasonable for a toy, but the craftsmanship was good, it would have cost me a lot more to commission one, and I doubt Hasbro would have made a smaller, less-fancy, consumer-friendly one. Not every HasLab is a hit. Some of the board games fell short, as did Sesame Street's Cookie Monster. Marvel Legends Ghost Rider also didn't meet the goal. These things are a big risk, especially as some readers have written in asking about - there's a non-zero chance that Hasbro could be on the hook for some hefty import taxes. Projects like this let Hasbro reduce risk, and there's only so much money to hoover out of our pockets in a year. So, other brands will continue to get some love.

Today's Ghostbusters fan hasn't had much to buy in 2024 despite it being a movie year. They probably don't have thousands of collectibles - maybe dozens, maybe a couple hundred - and they might even be ready for something really big. Hasbro's $400 Ecto-1A has seven figures with it, which changes the math and makes it look like quite a deal. Assuming that it funds - as of this question being sent in (11/3) it was at a hair under 73% funded. Mattel's $215 car came in an era where $100 toys seemed expensive, $200 toys were rare, and anything over $200 was unthinkable. Since then we've had $700 Snake Mountains, $200 Transformers Titans, and all manner of $55 7-inch figures. Matty Collector succeeded in other high-end areas, proving this market exists. A lot of fans cringed at Matty's $20 + $8 shipping charges for what were some truly exceptional action figures, especially by modern standards. Now, $28 is nothing for a collector figure. Toy Biz used to charge about $5 for Marvel Legends, but for some reason that never comes up. I still can't wrap my head around how those were so cheap.

Hasbro came to fans with an electronic vehicle with lots of customization options, pre-order bribes, and bonus figures galore - that sort of thing helps to soften the blow to the wallet. Mattel also (if memory serves) didn't launch with renders or a model - you got a cut-out. It's also 11 years later, with fans possibly being a little better off financially than they were during the era of Ghostbusters as a cultural force in exile. Fans are 10 years older, 10 years further into their careers, and potentially 10 years into their mortgages.

Star Wars is getting older, and so are we. We've got a few big items (two paid for in full and still outstanding), and at this rate I assume something like the ship from Skeleton Crew with all of the kids (if it's a hit), a Death Star (for 2027 delivery), or maybe a Star Destroyer are things Hasbro would be considering for the future. There are precious few awesome locations or ships left that fans may agree on without a big anniversary or show tie-in, but not nothing, and fans don't have to rely on Hasbro to make something. Surely someone could make a really good Ewok Village or Wampa Cave without the license, but that remains to be done.

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2. What [different] toy manufacturer would be capable enough to produce a figure of the quality (i.e., articulation and paint likeness) we're currently receiving [from Hasbro]?
--Chris

Would you believe: potentially any of them? Hasbro (indeed, any American company) can't own any factories in China, but they do go through Disney-approved factories. Someone else could probably take over the business and make a similar figure, for similar pricing, and possibly in the same factories with the same tooling.

Mattel does a pretty good job with printed faces, and we've seen some great figures out of Spin Master and McFarlane Toys lately too. Would they be the same? Probably not. Would they make as many obscure aliens? ...well it'd be hard to make less of them than we're getting now, but also, probably not.

I'm wondering of a Ma Bell Breakup of Star Wars figure licensing could be coming (or possible) - we haven't seen that sort of thing in any Disney action brand, but Warner has certainly broken up DC/Batman into smaller and smaller slices. Nobody has a master toy license any more, but today I can buy Batman figures from Spin Master, Funko, McFarlane Toys, Mattel, Mezco, NECA, Jada, and others. None of the lines get in-depth with the background characters, but I don't know what kind of a line we might get from a non-Hasbro. Mattel showed us tremendous toys for Jurassic World, and while they had some nasty distribution issues it's still a better overall line than what we got out of Hasbro (and, I'd argue, Kenner.) For a kid line, it's impressive as long as your goal is to not collect them all.

With Jurassic World we saw the license go from Hasbro - who made a good line with decent product at fair prices, complete with a wacky end-of-the-line hybrid line that I adored - to Mattel. Mattel didn't go full wacky, but they made a line that pleased kids and collectors with tons of amazing creatures - few of which are super articulated, many of which are cheap - and other than "distribution problems" the product itself is very good. Spin Master is doing fine with DC, as is McFarlane. In short, we'll live - the continuity could be destroyed, and I might even quit collecting if we get a Hasbro break, but that's more of a "hey maybe I don't need to spend all of my waking hours working with and collecting toys" kind of a thing. (But if someone does a Retro line, well, we know how this will go.)

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FIN

Another week, another reveal. And more shipments! The Retro Collection The Acolyte figures are shipping to pre-orders (well, mine is on the way and should be here this week.) Funko, Lucasfilm, and Hasbro all revealed (or put up for order) Skeleton Crew stuff - interestingly, I found out Jude Law was already in the mail before it officially went up for order. Toys R Us is opening a couple of new locations, and one of my friends went in Chicago and made a video. (He's done some video work for big investment groups and is available for your video project needs.) And there's the matter of a potential massive toy price increase, but other news sites are supposed to be doing more reporting on that whole thing.

Skeleton Crew! The series was shot in 2022 and wrapped in January 2023, making it an unusually long gestation period for a TV show. Heck, that's a pretty long time for a modern Star Wars movie! The toys may well be in stores before the show's streaming (that's good!) but as far as I know, it's only six figures for The Black Series and one for The Vintage Collection so far. Funko has a small slate of figures, and if anybody is doing vehicles they are not yet on my radar. The show itself starts December 3. Will it be good? Nobody is talking yet, and as anyone here knows a stupendous Star Wars trailer does not mean you'll get a show that you'll personally love. It's really difficult to make anything with real mass appeal when you're trying to appeal to everybody, because as anyone who isn't a child has probably learned, adults may not want the same thing that the tiny tots.

Here's the trailer, if you missed it.

As far as I know, Skeleton Crew is the last known (so far) live-action show in development. Ahsoka and Andor are both getting second seasons long after their debuts, to the point where I'd almost say "why bother?" I admit I'm spoiled, as I grew up in an era where 24-26 almost-weekly episodes were the norm, and 8-12 episodes every couple of years would be something you'd do for a show that bombed and needed to be burned off later in the summer. If any other live-action shows are shooting right now, I'm unaware of it.

--Adam Pawlus

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