Chris Reiff Takes The Vintage Collection Mando’s N1 For A Shakedown Cruise

Today I'm doing something that I try my best to avoid. For content creators, it's called "springboarding.” I'm using someone else's content to "springboard" off of to create my own content. Please note that I said "try" to avoid. I've springboarded in the past, but it was when I was either short on time or short on inspiration. Today, it's for a completely different reason. I'm spingboarding because I legitimately need to talk about what was shown.

Here is the inspiration for today's article. Take a look at our friend The Imperial Communique's video with Hasbro's Chris Reiff:


Before moving on to the guts of the article, I have to say that Anthony makes some amazing Vintage Collection stop motion videos. If you don't already subscribe to his YouTube channel, you should.

For the vehicle itself, the first thing that struck me is that, from tip to tail, it definitely looks bigger than the previously released Episode I Naboo Starfighter. Once you get beyond things like Speeder Bikes, none of the vehicles in 3.75" are 100% 1:18 scaled. The most recent jarring example of this would have been the Imperial Troop Transport where the Stormtroopers tower over the vehicle. I don't ever expect vehicles to be 100% 1:18 scaled, nor would I want them to be. They'd take up too much space, but I hope this Mando's N1 indicates that Hasbro is warming up to getting a little closer to 100% 1:18 scaled.

The other thing I wanted to discuss is that fact that Chris mentions the "play features" of the N1. I think this is a bit of misnomer, but it's understandable. I consider real play features to be things like spring loaded missiles. I feel like what was demonstrated is more akin to the features that come on high-end die cast car models that have working doors, steering wheels, and opening hoods. And that leads to a point that some will meet with consternation, but I actually think is a good a natural evolution of the line: Vintage Collection vehicles are no longer children's playthings. These are much closer to high-end scaled replicas. The Vintage Collection is an adult collectible line, and kids are never coming back to the hobby in earnest because the economics no longer make sense.

I know that will make some people uncomfortable, but this is what the market wants. Mando's N1 is a bonafide success, and this next step in the evolutions of vehicles lead me to another realization: there's an opportunity to redo some previous vehicles that were still partially kid sensible. I have one in mind that I think could sell like Mando's N1, but that's an article for another day. I need to start working on the packaging mock-up.

Don't forget to check back later today for SDCC reveals.

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