5 POA Will Never Be Okay Again

For years, the Star Wars 3.75" line was like the early days of The Force. In the beginning, there was no light side, and there was no dark side. There was just The Force. Similarly, in the beginning, there was no "kids" line and there was no "adult collector" line. There was just THE line. From 1978 through 2011, adults and kids collected the same Star Wars toys. Some may think that it was adult collectors that caused the line to fork, but that's not true. According to Hasbro (three brand teams ago), it was the parents. We were lead to believe that swivel wrists were causing kids to unintentionally pull the hands off their figures. Parents supposedly revolted over this rash of disassembled figures, leading to a return of reduced articulation. I know some people have been saying that Steve Evans brought 5POA back, but it actually came back two years prior to him joining Star Wars:


That 5POA Bespin Battle Battle-pack is from 2012. You will notice that parents were apparently okay with ball and socket heads despite being infinitely more susceptible to disassembly than swivel wrists, which apparently had to go. If you can't read sarcasm, the "our figure's wrists are falling off" explanation was a fib. It was always about the cost. Ball and socket heads are presumably less costly to assemble than swivel necks (or at least no cost difference), but I'm getting off track. There is nothing wrong with a less articulated kids line as long as it stays just that. Where the problem comes in when the 5POA (and also under decoed) line is used to augment the adult collector line.

This is where the light and dark side comes into play with the Star Wars line too. The goodly men and women who push for the best in quality in terms of articulation and deco are the light side. Collectors who advocate for dumbed down figures for the mere sake of volume are the dark side. Why? Because it's the short path. The easy path. And that's the dark side. Plus I need to be on the light side since everyone is the hero of their own story. Also, like the dark side of the Force, the community must constantly be vigilant against its return.

If you like and collect 5POA, I swear I'm not picking on you. Like what you like and collect what makes you happy. What I'm cautioning against is a very specific thing. I'm warning about suggesting (either directly or unknowingly) that a portion of the Vintage Collection budget be peeled off to support a 5POA line so we get MOAR MOAR MOOOOOAR. This will kill the line. 5POA's return in 2012, and continued proliferation in the years after, absolutely contributed to the dark times of 2015 trough 2018. When fans see lowering quality, they bolt the hobby. Bantha Skull has had two lives. One before 2015 and one after 2018 (with a hiatus in between that included some occasional Onion-like satirical content). Aside from Bret, myself, CJ, Randy, Trooper31, Sambuca, Blue Knight and a few other OG's, we have had nearly a 100% turnover in our user population between these two iterations. The reemergence of 5POA is definitely a factor in that.


Some collectors, such as myself, will never buy 5POA figures for our modern collections. They stick out like sore thumbs and ruin the storytelling fantasy of our displays. I've never heard of the reverse where a modern line collector refuses to buy a figure because it has elbow articulation. The problem with a 5POA supplementary line is that with some characters, the 5POA offering will eat up a portion of the demand. This means it will be years (or perhaps never) before Hasbro will attempt a super articulated version of that character (how many of you are still waiting for an SA Baze Malbus?). Not every collector has the kind of patience this requires. Instead, they offramp. The line can't afford to lose any customers. I know that my chest hurts a little, and there is numbness in my left arm over the fact that this is likely they only figure of Pao we're ever going to get:



This statement is absolutely true, but I will say that every adult line figure needs arm articulation. The straight armed poses of 5POA are the most jarring aspect, and pre-posed arms are limiting. But not everything needs to be ball jointed and hinged. I would be fine with a General Madine with swivel shoulders, ball jointed elbows, swivel wrists and swivel hips as an example. But, and no offense to the Star Wars brand team, I will never trust Hasbro to make that decision. When they make that decision, we get 8D8 without elbows, which are essential for that character. At risk of sounding arrogant, short of being able to personally sign off on every limited articulation decision, I never will advocate for reducing articulation on a case by case basis in order to get more figures per year. Again, 8D8 is the only argument I need for this.


5POA is never okay. Not every figure needs to have ball jointed everything with rocker toes and articulated eyebrows, but Hasbro can't be trusted to make those decisions. The result is we need to stay vigilant as a community and snuff out any messaging that suggests lowering quality for the sake of more. 5POA has one place for an adult collector line: The Retro Collection. Let it live and stay there.

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