1. Piggybacking on your idea of a Haslab of only figures, is the idea of a Star Wars figure subscription wildly unreasonable? I'm thinking of something similar to what the G.I. Joe fan club did for several years where it included 12 figures that everyone knew were included and a mystery 13th figure. Maybe make it Original Trilogy only, Power of the Force packaging and include a coin? Sure it would include a lot of recycled/reused parts to keep the cost somewhat reasonable (everyone will complain anyway) but I imagine that there are enough people looking to get a complete set of rebel pilots from the first movie that are willing to pay 20 bucks a figure. Double it to 24 figures and add some astromechs even? Throwing a stormtrooper belt on the Luke figure they just made seems like free money.
--Peter

I think it's too late for a subscription service. I kind of wish Hasbro did a subscription earlier on, mostly before any one line got too big so fans could shrug it off. If The Retro Collection launched in 2019 with 6 drops of 3-4 figures per year, I think it'd have been a huge hit. If The Vintage Collection or The Black Series were mail-order only, people would line up for it. Now that we're hundreds (or thousands) of figures in, anything short of all-new stuff sounds like a massive waste of time, talent, and resources. If there are concerns of getting stuck with a dud, I don't know if people would participate.

Would you be really excited to pay $20 to get Luke with a new belt in the mail, before tax and shipping? I wouldn't. I want to be excited. I don't want to settle, nor do I want to encourage Hasbro to take more shortcuts. I want something to make me glad I'm still in this hobby for over four decades, and while we sometimes get it, there's a lot of debris to get there. There's no reason to put out product that people don't actually want to re-buy.

It might not be good for Hasbro to do, in terms of logistics and profit. If other shops get reruns and all the good stuff goes to a subscription, that's bad for the health of the line. Granted, it's been stale for fans of the original trilogy for quite some time.

If they ever do something I hope they do all-new sculpts. I believe it would be more lucrative to do one big set - less waste in shipping materials and costs - and Hasbro has not been at all amenable to installment plans for their higher-end products. A subscription where credit cards can expire (or be canceled) would allow fans to opt out, possibly ruining the entire premise.

Offering a collection of figures - no mystery, just "here's what you're buying" - seems like a great idea. But subscription boxes seem to be very "out," and if we got something like the recent Bespin Guards (made of Han and Lando parts) I would not like that. If they ever go that route I hope they use it to subsidize all-new molds of all-new figures.

I really do think there's something to be said for made-to-order product, but I'm not sure if that solves the problem with the line's rut. There's little I want to buy in stores - exclusive figures have been mostly old tooling (or a new head), and it's dreadfully dull. I would love to see Hasbro instead put out a new Cantina alien in stores - over the past 10 years I think we've only had reruns, Mosep Bineed, Figrin D'an, and now Hammerhead - and see how it works.

Conversely: if Hasbro does the "right" character it would be a hit. Who among us bought the Cantina just for Brea and Senni Tonnika? Similarly, would you drop the big bucks to get a collection of figures with Vlix, or Sim Aloo, or some new droid? If the best we can muster is new versions of things we have in the same size and style, it might be best to let it go.

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2. Is there a definitive version of Darth Vader from Empire Strikes Back? I've been searching the internet but it seems more difficult to say than I thought it would be. Obviously everyone has different standards and essentials (my only hangup is ball jointed elbows, they're just the best). I'm thinking the Black Series release from 2013 with the blaster effects, but the fact that it's inexpensive on Ebay makes me think not?
--GP

The race to be the most accurate is a competiton that has few winners. Hasbro will keep selling you Vaders, but are you any better off if the boots or belt are a smidgen improved? Maybe! It has been a while since we last got an all-new one from the second movie so in that respect, we're 12 years removed from the last swing at an improved version from that particular movie.

"Definitive" is how you could describe that specific 2013 figure. Has Hasbro done a better version specific to The Empire Strikes Back since then? I don't believe so. There's always room for improvement, but it's still going to be a guy in black armor and a shiny helmet. Articulation and soft goods (and that chain) could be better, but as far as 3 3/4-inch figures go you'll probably struggle to find a better overall sculpt with better accessories than this one. Given a 50th anniversary for all the movies is on the horizon, I assume Hasbro will want to update this and other characters.

Fans (and the secondary market) can be weird - if a figure is not the first version, or if it doesn't adhere to some standard like "vintage cardback," sometimes they just don't care. It doesn't mean it's no good, just that there are literally thousands of different action figures and most people can't bother to keep track of it all. I'm amazed that this hobby seems to have mutated to believe The Vintage Collection is the only figure line that matters. Some really good non-TVC toys are cheap! It just doesn't meet some arbitrary packaging standard.

Hasbro could (and probably should) take another swing at him, especially if "deluxe" is the kind of thing they want to push. It would be fascinating to see what a $25 The Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader could look like in terms of hands, accessories, and improvements. I doubt it would be a very fun toy, but as we've all seen "toy" seems to be on the outs in "toy collecting."

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--Adam Pawlus

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