Hasbro Has A Death Star-Sized HasLab Problem With Me

This web site has afforded me many wonderful opportunities for which I will be eternally grateful. Tops among them is that I got to be at ground zero when Hasbro made history by announcing the Sail Barge HasLab campaign at Toy Fair 2018. It was the first ever crowd funding project by a major toy company ever. In the showroom, as we gathered in disbelief around the prototype, a young, unknown team member was surveying the attendees for what the next project should be. Without hesitation, and without even engaging my conscious brain, I immediately offered up "the Death Star." So immediate and effortless was my response that it was like The Force was speaking through me. This wasn't "my truth." It was the truth woven into the fabric of the universe. HasLab was almost purpose-built to bring the long awaited modern Death Star playset to market.

Starting in 2008, Hasbro introduced the "big" vehicle program. We got two that year with the "Big" Millennium Falcon and the AT-TE. I eagerly bought both, and shamelessly used my mother to get Target to break the street date because I thought they were going to sell out (let me know when you're done laughing at me). 2009 would follow up with the Turbo Tank. A little wiser, I waited until it showed up at my local Walmart and grabbed that one too. The big vehicle program would continue in 2011 and 2012, but my purchases did not. I didn't get either the Republic Attack Shuttle (2011) or the MTT (2012).


The reason I skipped the last two is that I was running out space at the time. Space that I was saving for a Sail Barge and Death Star. The clip-on rail cannon that came with the Nikto Gunner (Nysad) convinced me that the Barge was assuredly in the works. I was clearly wrong on that, but Hasbro ultimately came around on it nine years later.

The reason I felt strongly that a Death Star was in the offing back in the late aughts was Hasbro's constant probing of the community on what a modern Death Star should be. Should it be a replica of the Kenner play set? Should it be round like the Palitoy cardboard diorama? As Bret and I often say, if you ask ten different TVC fans what a Vintage Collection Death Star should be, you'll get nine different answers. That is perhaps the biggest reason for the hold up, but I was reserving space for it nonetheless.

That was at my old house where my display room was more limited. Now that I have a purpose-built collection room, I have (or had) the space to continue acquiring new big display pieces. I backed the Crest, Ghost and Cantina. But I'm now approaching my threshold again, and therein lies the problem. I can't afford to back any more big HasLabs that are not the Death Star. I don't mean monetarily, but spacewise. I have room for one more big display piece, and I have to save that for a potential Death Star.

I don't know if one's coming or even being considered, but I can't risk using up my shelf space in case it is. I might be able to get back in the game after a Death Star, but until I can confirm how it will fit in with my display, I need to stay conservative. I am now officially out on big HasLabs unless and until a Death Star gets announced. I could do smaller ones, or modular ones like the Cantina that can be shaped to fit my display, but I can't swing anymore space eaters. Truth be told, I massively regret getting the Ghost, and that is also playing into these feelings.

I can't be the only one in this position, so I wonder if this presents a larger problem for Hasbro going forward. How many acquisitions will be on hold until the ultimate HasLab is announced? Will the specter of a potential Death Star have a cooling effect on any HasLabs announced in the interim? It will in my case.

I have massive blinders when it comes to a Death Star. I would happily plunk down $1000 for the ultimate Death Star on day one. I don't know how many other collectors would join me in that mania, but it's viability is utterly inconsequential to my issue at hand. The mere potential of a Death Star, no matter how likely or remote, is going to keep me out of the "big ticket" game for the foreseeable future.

Oh, that young unknown team member? It was Patrick.

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