I Find The Lack Of Paint Apps Disturbing

My contributions here haven't been as frequent recently. I think it's reasonable to assume this is reflective of my disappointment in the hobby, but that's honestly not the primary factor. My diminished enthusiasm for the Vintage Collection only accounts for about 10% of the reason why I haven't been as active here lately. The other 90% is merely because I had an opportunity to take a break. Writing articles Tuesday through Friday for the past two (?) years has been exhausting, and I enjoyed the time off greatly. But there was a day last month where Mr. Nomadscout asked if I could provide some coverage, and I said sure. So long as I could write an article saying that the Vintage Collection needs to just end. He said it would be better to go without content that day, and my sabbatical continued.

My mood didn't flip in an instant. It has been eroding for a while seeing the quality of the Vintage Collection regressing. There were four recent developments that progressively chipped away at my enthusiasm, and one was the straw that broke the camel's back. These aren't necessarily in chronological order. I would say they are in ascending order of seriousness. The first was the deluxe Cobb Vanth.


I reviewed that figure here on Bantha Skull and gave it a 9 out of 10, a score I greatly regret. It's an 8 out of 10 figure. I think I was too much in the afterglow of finally getting a long awaited figure to fully notice its warts. The figure desperately needs a wash on at least the boots. It looks very "plasticky" without it. It reminds me of the TBS Kuiil in that regard. Furthermore, the lack of paint apps on the rifle, which do appear on the TBS Vanth, was another paper cut on the way to death by 1,000 paper cuts. This becomes more worrisome considering Vanth is in the $25 deluxe line.

Next up is the Aurra Sing re-release.


It's more than just the missing lightsaber hilt suitcase from the original release. A lot of paint apps from the initial release have been deleted as documented by Galactic Figures HERE.

The Shriek-Hawk set had me on the ropes. As John Miko writes in THIS ARTICLE, they are "fresh from the dry cleaners" clean. They don't aesthetically align with our other "used universe" and battle worn Mandalorian figures. They more closely align with the novelty Boba Fett figures:


I need to stress, and as I wrote in THIS ARTICLE, I do not blame Hasbro for this, nor am I angry at them over this. The economics of 3.75" simply no longer make sense. This isn't just me saying it. You can hear it here directly from Hasbro at MCM London, and paint apps are specifically addressed:


If you don't feel like listening (or can't), here are the two critical takeaways:

• It cost Hasbro the same to produce a TVC figure as it does a TBS figure
• Paint deco is the area where they can save cost so they don't have to charge TBS prices for TVC

I was aware of the first part (as we all were), which is why I was going to start slowly ramping up a campaign advocating for a meaningful increase in the MSRP. It wouldn't be fun, or easy, but I felt we, as a community, could get there and fix this regression of TVC quality. But then something happened in mid-November, which was the aforementioned straw that broke the camel's back.

Seeing the under-painted IG-12 broke my spirit. It almost looks like an engineering sample (which I further exaggerated for the lead in image). If we can't get BASIC paint apps at the $25 deluxe price point, I feel the situation is hopeless. It seems there is no price at which we can get the quality we had just two years ago. Again, I'm not mad at Hasbro. I'm mad at the economics. Costs have exploded, and Star Wars carries a truly onerous licensing fee on top of that. But the end result is that I can feel myself starting to pull back from the line. We're very much in 2014 conditions right now.

It's hard for me to see the Vintage Collection declining in quality. It's like watching age catch up to a favorite athlete. I don't want to see the Vintage Collection become Willie Mays with the Mets, which is why part of me would rather see it just come to an end.

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