Feeling Like I’m Losing That Loving Feeling For The Hobby…Again

I, like most collectors, go through highs and lows with the hobby. I think this is exacerbated by my obsessive personality. I've soft quit the hobby a few times, much to the delight of some of the members here (since I tend to sell off chunks of my collection when I do). When I say "soft quit", I mean that I give up on completism. And by that, I don't just mean buying everything that comes out. I also mean maintaining a complete collection. I don't think I'd ever fully quit the hobby because Star Wars collecting is too much a part of my identity. When I'm in one of my low points, having a reasonably complete collection, and the space it requires, feels like a burden instead of a joy (hence my habit of parting with large swaths of my collection).

The last time I felt like this was in early 2017. The Patriots and Tom Brady had just done the impossible coming back from a 25 point deficit at the end of the 3rd quarter to win Super Bowl 51. As far as my passions, the Patriots actually outrank Star Wars (and I assume Mr. Nomadscout would say the same for the Giants). The 3.75" line was all but dead. The hobby was giving me very little. I looked around my man cave at the sheer amount of space that my collection occupied, and it weighed on me. I decided I was going to strip my collection down to just a few OT displays I would want to maintain going forward which would be the Cantina, Jabba's Palace, the Emperor's arrival, and a few others. With the space this would clear up, I was going to expand my Patriots displays. I was at peace.

Then, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III, just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Hasbro announced the return of the Vintage Collection. It's pretty much been full steam ahead since then. I started to lose a little oomph in late 2019, but The Mandalorian helped to reignite my engines. I'm currently in the midst of another enthusiasm lull, and I don't think I'm alone, which is why I'm writing this today. I know that, at a minimum, Trooper31 in the comments feels the same way. When I sense the community is frustrated about a subject, I want to try to highlight here in case Hasbro sees it. So, why I'm I in a bit of a down mood today? It's because the lack of 100% newly tooled OT figures going on three years now. My broheim, Mr. Miko, put together one of his handy data dashboards for the 2023 Vintage Collection figures. You can access it HERE. If you choose "new" for the tooling filter at the top, and then click on the OT for the media group in the middle, you get this result:


One. We got one newly tooled OT figure in 2023, and that was Admiral Piett (and we all know we wouldn't have gotten that one if it didn't lend it self to dozens of future releases). In 2022 we got zero. In 2021 we got 2 (and again both lent themselves to future releases). I don't mean to suggest, at all, that the OT doesn't get a lot of releases. It's just that it's constantly partial tools (which often come packed with inaccuracies), or repacks. It makes me, and I think the OT part of the community, feel that if a needed OT figure can't be used to make several future releases, we have to settle for a weak retool of a decades old figure, or an inaccurate kitbash. I'm not going to keep buying things that I'm only a little enthusiastic about if I think that Hasbro will never make the things I truly want. But, when Hasbro does make the things I'm passionate about, I tend to more freely spend on everything. I think the bounce from VC186 - Boba Fett is just now wearing off.

Where does that leave us for figures like Episode IV Luke or the Snowtrooper, where, aside from subsequent release of that same character, you can't really make other new figures from those sculpts? Are we never going to get them? What really frustrates me is that some truly forgettable characters from some truly forgettable new media seem to face zero obstacles in getting the 100% newly tooled treatment despite the fact that, not only is there limited to no other use for that tooling, some of these figures can't even sell out their initial production run without going on sale or clearance.. I know there are many factors for why that is (lead up by the licensor), but that doesn't lessen the frustration.

As I said earlier, I know I'm not alone in this sentiment. And I know Sequel Trilogy fans have an even bigger beef (but thankfully there's only six or seven of them). I fell that the overall community is at another inflection point right now. I truly sense that a chunk of the OT-first part of the fanbase is going to start packing up their tents on the hobby if this continues for too long. We have an all new Leia coming, but that's honestly not enough. Hasbro, you pipelined a 2025 figure for the Black Series. If you have another 100% newly tooled OT main character in the pipeline, I hope you reveal it sooner rather than later, even if the on-shelf date is a little far out. We need to keep this portion of the community engaged because they typically have deep pockets, but they are about to take their disposable income and go home (and the line won't survive much longer if they do).

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