ATTN HASBRO:  Please Stop Using Dated Sculpts For Core Characters

When it was announced at Pulse Con last week that the VC35 - Mace Windu figure would be making another appearance in the Vintage Collection courtesy of the latest specialty wave, I was pleased. It's a figure of a core character that initially underserved the market. I honestly think part of me was thinking of the sales side. It will sell, and good sales are good for the Vintage Collection. Then I started really looking at the official pics of the reveal, and I was reminded of how badly that sculpt stinks. The two-handed-weapon-grip on the saber in those pictures is embarrassing. The body of the figure dates all the way back to 2007's TAC 30-06 Mace Windu. By the time of this specialty wave's release, the Mace Windu sculpt will be fifteen years old! To put it in perspective, that's almost twice as old as the oldest Black Series sculpt in existence.

I need to clarify that old sculpts in and of themselves are not necessarily bad. If it's a minor or background character, the older sculpts can be perfectly serviceable. You certainly won't find me complaining if 2009's Hrchek Kal Fas were re-released in the Vintage Collection. We're strictly talking about core characters which I would define as the PT Jedi and Sith, the OT big four plus Darth Vader, and army builders. For those core characters, dated sculpts are simply not sufficient. The Vintage Collection, whose fans have been passionately supporting everything under the banner lately, deserve an all new and definitive Mace Windu (among others). What's really frustrating is that it would be zero risk for Hasbro. It would sell like crazy. This trend is particularly worrisome when it comes to the ongoing Original 96 project. It feels like substandard older sculpts are being forced into the line just to cross those entries off the list. If it's an 096 core character, it would be much better to wait until an all new sculpt can be costed into the line.

The most frustrating incongruity of this particular ball of wax for me is that Magistrate Greef Karga appeared in exactly one episode of The Mandalorian, but we have a supremely articulated figure of him that even includes rocker ankles. Meanwhile, the best Endor Han Solo figure we have is a cartoonishly bad sculpt that originates in 2006. It's nonsensical. A figure that barely has any screen time gets the Cadillac treatment, and a bankable character like Han Solo gets a new paint job on a Yugo. Modern Vintage Collection figures are very much on par with their Black Series counterparts, and have the added benefit of not requiring an aircraft hangar to display them, but too many of the most important characters are locked into now obsolete sculpts. And don't even get me started about the fact that KI-ADI-MUNDI IS STILL STUCK WITH SWIVEL ELBOWS.

All I ask of you, Hasbro, is to consider how well VC186 - Boba Fett sold

Finally, I have to admit that I haven't always adopted this stance. I fell a little bit into the "good enough" trap at times. All I can say is that I was wra-wra-wra-wra-wrong, and to those with whom I may have debated this subject, let me say that I have seen the light. That light is unavoidable. It's shining pretty brightly off the VC205 - Lando Calrissian figure.

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