ATTN HASBRO:  Suggested Rules For Troop Builder Packs

Several outlets have weighed in on the subject of named characters in the army builder packs, so I'm taking the opportunity to spring board off those opinions (most notably comments made by Bossk's Bounty). I would link to the specific video, but too much time has passed and I'll never find it again. The problem with named (or specific) characters in these troop builder packs is obvious: if you buy more than one set to get the generic troopers, you're accumulating unnecessary extras of the specific character. It actual undermines the value of these sets. I would have bought many of the 212th Clone Trooper set, but the Waxer figure destroyed the value. After my first set, I would have been effectively paying $20 per standard Clone Trooper because the extra Waxer figures would be essentially worthless to me.

Commingling named characters and army builders in the same pack makes as much sense as combining nuts and gum.


I'm not opposed to having specific characters in these sets at all. In fact, I really want that as a way increase the volume of offerings per year for characters that don't necessarily need their own single carded releases. I would be thrilled for another Imperial Officer set that consisted of General Tagge, Colonel Yularen, Chief Bast, and Officer Cass to finish upgrading the old TSC Death Star Briefing Set. The issue is combining named characters with generic characters. It should be either or. The sets should comprise entirely named characters, in which case they would be "value packs" instead of troop builder packs, and fans would likely order one or two, or they should contain entirely generic characters, and fans would likely order multiples. By mixing the two, as Hasbro has been doing, collectors are likely falling into the pattern of only ordering one set despite the army building potential. I know I am.

For the lead-in image, I chose the recent Imperial Officers set because it allowed me to easily illustrate the point in thumbnail form, but it's a bit of a bad example. Due to the exposed faces, I probably wouldn't army build that particular set even if it were all generic characters. It's the curse of the modern sculpting and deco quality. The figures are too readily identifiable as individuals despite the lack of names. Army building them would look like an unintended army of clones. Contrast that with the vintage Kenner figures where the sculpt and deco were barely more distinctive than the heads on Lego minifigures:


That Luke X-Wing stands in as well as for Luke Skywalker as it does for Garven Dreis since in bears equally little resemblance to each character. That doesn't fly today since the head sculpts and deco bear uncanny likeness to the actors. So, to repeat, using an "unmasked" troop builder pack for the thumbnail was imperfect. Where the issue of combining specific and generic characters becomes hugely problematic is with this:


If that set were all Night Troopers, I would have easily bought three to open, but because I don't want to accumulate an army of Captain Enoch figures, I will only buy one.

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