Nomadscout Reacts To SDCC ‘26 And Stuff!  (Part II-ish)

Here's a belated Part II to the reaction I posted a couple of weeks ago. (Click HERE for Part I)

This part serves as some quick take responses to some of the comments that have come from the Hasbro Star Wars Brand team recently, whether on Social Media or at SDCC itself. While I haven't posted much content of late, I am definitely hard at work! I recently conducted a few scientific polls based on some of the recent discussions in the collecting community. Here are the results:

Question: Should the packaging for the 3.75" scale change or be refreshed?

Poll Results:



Comments: Wow. 100% of the people I spoke with were right on target. There is only one right answer here. I don't collect packaging. I don't care about packaging from a collectibility standpoint. The only reason that I personally want TVC to keep its look is because without it, we stand the very real chance of splintering the line in a return to madness that was the Dark Times, when we had 3-4 line-looks occurring simultaneously - confounding casual buyers, frustrating collectors, and diluting the line itself. But I also know that of the few collectors we have left on this planet, there are enough that buy TVC because of the packaging. We NEED them, no matter how bizarre they may be. I have long railed against the weirdness of people who collect the cardboard packaging more than the thing inside. I find this strange and upsetting. But if we lose them, we are all screwed. We must protect these people at all costs! This should be very clear to anyone involved in TVC, whether it be LFL/Disney/Hasbro, the Brand Team, or 3.75" collectors. This question should never be asked again, and it's disappointing that this even came up at all. This is as close to settled law as you can get for TVC collecting.

Question: Do we want animated sculpted figures?

Poll Results:



Comments: Amazing! Again, 100% of the people I surveyed were in agreement! When the 3.75" line was the only game in town, and we had a vast collecting base supplemented with a significant casual buying population, and the ability for Hasbro to bring its considerable budget to bear, we got a separate line of figures that were styled like cartoons. Personally, I never like this, and as a completist, I had to draw my first line in the sand. To me, animated styling is essentially the same as 6" scale or Pokemon. What's the point? It's an entirely other thing. They are not compatible with the realistic 3.75" line, and I decided not to waste a penny on that nonsense. If Hasbro wants my money, they need to stick to expanding and building upon the core line, and not branch out into such silliness. Despite the question coming up, it seems Hasbro has been careful to never (as far as I can tell) give us a figure that is true sculpted to an animated aesthetic in TVC. I know there's some debate when it comes to the rare example of Hunter or the visors on the helmets from the 212th clones, but I'm not sure how intentional that was. I know these turned off a lot of collectors, myself included. This is another question that should never be asked again - at least as long as we're fighting for budgetary scraps.

Question: Do we want animated / comic painted figures?

Poll Results:



Comments: For a collector base that is known for divisiveness and consistently failing to send a clear message, here's another result of 100% of the people surveyed being on the same page. If we don't want weirdly shaped and sculpted figures, why would we want them weirdly painted? Does anyone alive remember the first run of Comic 2-packs? By most accounts, this "expression", which lasted from about 2007-2012, was a huge success. They contained characters that were usually from comics, books, or video games. Most of them were unfamiliar to mainstream and casual fans. I didn't know who at least 75% of the characters were, but still thought they were awesome figures. But that was only after the initial nightmarish offerings. We got characters like Vader, Tarkin, R2-D2, and Stormtroopers, including Luke and Han in disguise. Not only were they painted like their outfits appeared in the comics - Tarkin had these weird yellow stripes on his tunic - but they also had shadows and lighting painted on them to make them look like exactly like weird shading and shadows as if they jumped right out of the comic panel. It was insane. It was the first time in my collecting life (which was about 8 years at the time) that I felt like, "What the hell is this crap?" Hasbro seemed to try to correct their egregious attempt mid-stream. There was a variant of the Luke and Han troopers where the armor was left pure white, as it should have been, and deleting the weird blue "shadows" that had previously ruined the figures. But for some reason, the left the eye lenses as comic book red. This rendered these figures essentially useless for displays. Later, the figures were re-released in the TLC line, and were given proper black lenses. By that time, Hasbro had long abandoned the comic coloring, ending the insanity.

Or did it?

It seems this has returned. While realistically sculpted, cartoon and comic paint applications are rampant. First, we were getting figures from the CW Microseries back in 2022 that were painted more like their animated-inspired looks rather than attempting to fit perfectly into the realistic line. Then we got a few figures like the Kenner Fett, along with Droids figures and Ewoks figures. Shoved in there, were a bunch of other Fett figures, one of which was painted in such a way as to bring back the nightmares of 2007. Then we got the 212th Battalion clones, which had angled "mohawk" paint like the TCW cartoon, rather than how they appeared in live action. And most recently, we got the Cantina Creature 4-pack.

Some of that was more frustrating than others. I wrote off most of the repaints as novelties, but the 212th figures ticked me off because those are in need of a proper update, and the animated paint applications ruined them.

But now we've got 2 recent reveals that befuddle me. The Asajj / Anakin pack is neat in almost every way, but the way they painted Asajj's eyes ruins the figure as far as I'm concerned. I like the realistic interpretations of the sculpt and the outfits, but painting the figure like a cartoon renders the effort moot. It can't fit in the aesthetic of the thousands of other figures I have.



Asajj staring out at us with her eyes that have actual irises! She has actual irises! So help me, God! Actual irises!

That's the way to do a realistic interpretation of an animated figure. Even though Asajj has never appeared in live action, that figure fits right in with everything else. This SDCC figure with the white eyes is ru-eened! What's the story here? She had bad cataracts but then saved up enough credits to get iris implants? Nonsense!

Question: Should we blend TVC and Retro into one totally awesome line?

Poll Results:



Comments: Once again, my survey speaks volumes. And this brings us to one of the worst announcements of the year (and of the decade): The "Kenner" X-Wing. This is 100% a "Retro" toy that has no business in TVC, and yet here we are. Even the figure cardback packaging is now nearly indistinguishable from actual TVC since they got rid of the (admittedly silly) wear-and-tear / used look. I could probably convince myself to write this off again as just a one-off specialty item, but these comments by Brandon and Chris during Victoria's interview at SDCC (starting at the 10:24 mark) lead me to understand that Hasbro can't tell where the line is between Retro and TVC:



The line between the two is simple: TVC needs more resources and Retro is dumb. You can't cross the streams, Ray! How is this even a question??

The fact that these notes are even in the conversation are among the many indicators that we are in real trouble.

And one final comment regarding recent product announcement: I am more interested in the Sixer 501st AT-RT and the 1:1 Clone Jesse Helmet than I am about either the Assaj / Anakin set or the Kenner X-Wing. And that's a shame.

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