ATTN HASBRO:  Please Don’t Forget About The World Building Middle Class

Preface: The above image is not necessarily meant to advocate re-release of the featured items. They are merely examples of the type of products being discussed.

Both Nomadscout (Bret) and I have recently written about our reasons for renewed optimism with respect to The Vintage Collection. You can read those articles HERE and HERE. This wave of optimism has been building over the last several Fan events and crested with the announcement of the Amazon exclusive Bad Batch 4-Pack, but that doesn't mean it's time for complacency. It feels like the world-building items priced somewhere between action figures and $100 X-Wings are fading into extinction.

I first need to say this is not a conclusion solely arrived upon by Bantha Skull. This is a community-wide observation. This concern has been expressed by John from the @SWTVC group and The Vintage Concepts Instagram page. as well as John Miko from the Star Wars The Vintage Collection Facebook group and the Star Wars The Vintage Collection community page. If I've failed to mention anyone with whom I've discussed the subject, it's merely an oversight, and I apologize in advance. As a show of numbers, we do ask that you like/follow the above linked pages.

The DNA of The Vintage Collection is based on world-building, and it has many facets. It's the breadth of imagination-inspiring figures. It's the massive set pieces like the Millennium Falcon, the Sail Barge, and upcoming Razor Crest. It's playsets like the Tantive IV corridor and upcoming Nevarro Cantina. It's also smaller items like Tauntauns and Landspeeders (both of which do need to see re-release, despite the preface above). The Vintage Collection and the 3.75" scale are all of those things, but the latter is rapidly falling by the wayside.

Hasbro, we know this is easier said than done. As I wrote yesterday, if no retailer will stock an item, it hardly matters how willing collectors are to buy it. It will never see the market. But it seems like someone would be willing to dip a toe in the the small/mid-size vehicle pool after the recent run of Vintage Collection successes. Maybe the next playset should really just be a re-release of the Landspeeder (current secondary market value of $100+).

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