A Postmortem Of The Ghost HasLab Campaign

The emotional ride of the Ghost HasLab campaign felt different from the Barge and the Razor Crest. It took on a different shape. I think the reasoning is obvious. Once the Barge and Crest reached their minimum backer requirements, the struggle was over. Every backer from there on out was gravy. Sure the Razor Crest had tier unlocks, but if any of them (aside from perhaps the first one) failed to unlock, it didn’t feel like we’d be getting an incomplete Razor Crest. The same can’t be said of the Ghost. Once it met its minimum requirement was met, the struggle was only just beginning, and I think it made the campaign a little less fun.

The Ghost without its crew would be like a foot without a big toe, and unlike Sgt. Hulka’s platoon, we don’t have John Winger volunteering to be that big toe. Even though we can be assured that some version of the crew would be coming, fans needed an iron clad assurance that their Ghost and crew would be in hand simultaneously. Plus, and I didn’t want to say this as the campaign was going on, I want the seasons 3 and 4 appearances more than the presumed seasons 1 and 2 appearance coming later on. However you shake it, not being able to represent the Ghost with crew for any of the four Rebels seasons would have felt hollow. We need all versions of the core characters.

I feel like those previous two statements will be fairly well accepted. Here’s where I stray into the unknown, and I’m putting this out there for debate. HasLab campaigns need to include everything that is required for perceived completeness in the initial offering, even if that means raising the price and/or minimum backer level. Here’s why I struggle with that statement. I feel like $500 is a psychological threshold that many fans won’t cross for a HasLab. So if the Ghost cost $600, but included loose figures of the entire crew, would that have been better or worse? Would it have gotten any more backers? Probably not. The Ghost was a smashing success. But would the community have enjoyed the campaign more?

Along the lines of this theory, if Hasbro entertains a Death Star HasLab, it needs to come with Grand Moff Tarkin, and the remaining officers (minus the upcoming Motti) from the briefing room scene. Any Cantina playset must come with the Tonnika Sisters, Wuher, Labria, and several other patrons. An all new Hammerhead also needs to be released or pipelined before any Cantina campaign.

This leads me to my last point, I sort of feel that stretch goals should be something that is separable from the main offering. The Barge Yak Face was like this. Because you could get a Yak Face on a standard card, it doesn’t feel like the Barge is any less complete without the POTF carded Yak Face. That means that fans who don’t care about the card could easily sell off the Yak Face and recoup more than half their money. I feel this becomes a big selling point for any potential HasLab. It allows fans to creatively budget for these big ticket items. In the case of the Ghost, it could have been additional carded samples of the loose figures of the crew in my proposal above. Let me state this again because I feel it's going to get missed. The carded stretch goal figures would be in addition to loose versions of the same figures that would be included in my proposal. Alternatively, a Rebels carded Stormtrooper with a meiloorun fruit would work.

Part of me feels that stretch goals should be the gravy on top, and not the meat and potatoes, which they definitely were for the Ghost. But I don’t know if there’s an easy answer. Should HasLabs included everything that fans view as requirements from the beginning at a higher price, or should we have to work for them?

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