Nomadscout’s Collection Part XIV

Here's a peek at a tiny sliver of my collection...because sports!

Previous parts can be found here if you missed them or are interested in looking again:
PART I: CIS Droids
PART II: CIS Factions and Leadership
PART III: Naboo
PART IV: Coruscant
PART V: Clone Troopers (Phase I)
PART VI: Jedi
PART VII: Clone Troopers (Phase II)
PART VIII: GAR Vehicles
PART IX: Republic Navy
PART X: Jedi Starfighters
PART XI: Kashyyyk and Utapau
PART XII: Solo
PART XIII: Rogue One

You may be wondering why there's only 5 images in the gallery above. If you've been following this series, you're used to seeing 20+ pics of figures and toys that represent the day's topic. There are actually two reasons for this. The main reason is that I chose this particular grouping because I knew that my free time Sunday night was limited because of the one-two punch of the Giants on Sunday Night Football and the Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS. I only have so much bandwidth for this stuff, people! [Update: I hate sports.]

But the second reason is more collector-oriented. I opted to spotlight the items in my collection that are sourced to 4 series, all of which happen to pre-date the OT in the timeline. Yes, it saves me some time because it's only a handful of pictures, but it also puts a spotlight on the extreme lack of figure/toy support for some of the newest media. The Acolyte, The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor.

All, some, or none of those series may have captured the imagination of fans and/or collectors. But it's clear that none of them captured the imagination of Hasbro/Disney/LFL toy marketing, because the entirety of the available TVC collectibles for all four shows combined are shown in these few pictures above.

Let's start with The Acolyte. We have a grand total of 3 figures in TVC, and zero vehicles/beasts/environments. We've got Mae and Osha, along with Sol. The figures themselves are outstanding, but they don't generate a ton of excitement as they are rather lonely. At least they interact with each other (I think?) on screen, to some degree. Hasbro has pipelined two more figures, Indara and Yord Fandar. Indara may be one of the more popular choices, even if the source material wasn't all that well-received, just by virtue of her being Carrie-Anne Moss. Yord maybe not so much. He's a random supporting character, but I would judge him to be just outside the circle of characters that are most important. First of all, I would "complete the crew" of the 4 Jedi that were hunted down by Mae. With Sol, Indara makes it two. So we'd need Kelnacca and Torbin. Besides being a crew, Kelnacca is an interesting looking Wookiee, and Torbin is Tommen Baratheon. Those are reasons enough. Then you've got the main villain, The Stranger. He's another intriguing looking character, and a swappable head would be excellent - and he's made it to the top 6 of the Last Figure Standing vote. And as far as Jedi go, before you get to Yord Fandar, I would think that Jecki Lon and Vernestra Rwoh would be more important. Of course, if most of these names ring no bells for you, then your interest level is probably close to zero anyone.

Next up is The Bad Batch. This is a weird one. Essentially TBB is an extension of The Clone Wars, or at least can be viewed as a spinoff. Overall, TCW was a very popular show. While TBB didn't seem to generate as much hype, there does seem to be a lot of interest in more figures from that source. In fact Wrecker, Crosshair, and Tech all made the cut for the 12 figures in the LFS initial round, with Wrecker and Crosshair making it to the Round of 6. While these characters generate enough organic interest, I would suspect there's a bit of frustration, if not jealousy, that they exist in 6" form. I believe most of them got repainted to represent their appearances in later seasons. In the meantime, we do have a strange hodgepodge of characters sourced to TBB. The first figures we received in TVC were from a 4-pack, which consisted of 4 Clones that were repainted/retooled/re-accessorized based on the old VC41 mold, which was pretty much already set to be retired at that point. We got a mediocre Rex that was based on some early concept art, 2 clone commanders, and an Imperial Elite Clone. They all suffer from being VC41. To make matters worse, the early intel that was given to Hasbro caused them to incorrectly name one of them as Ballast. This was later corrected to Howzer as a single carded release than almost nobody asked for - This would have been a different story if it was upgraded to the new clone mold. That's exactly what happened to Rex. A far superior update was released, although sadly didn't include the poncho - the best part of the first figure. But even so, people probably would have preferred a Rex that was sourced to TCW, rather than TBB. So after that odd set of 4, we finally got our first member of the titular team, Hunter. He was followed by the aforementioned updates to Howzer and Rex. And that's it. Since 3 of the Clone Force 99 team members made the top 12 of LFS, it would seem that this corner of the collecting community really wants the crew. Not sure where Echo and Omega ended up on the list beyond the 12, but they should be made as well. After that, there are plenty of cool character designs that could be made into figures, as well as a slew of vehicle options, particularly the crew's own ship. The show was on for 3 seasons, and all we have to show for it is right there in image 3 above. Weak.

Moving on to Obi-Wan Kenobi, we have a show that was a mixed bag. I think a lot of fans were hyped to see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen return to the screen, and some characters/elements were quite good. But overall, the show was a disappointment. Nevertheless, there are definitely some figures that should have been made. As of now, we have multiple versions of Obi-Wan (with another on the way), 2 Vaders, the line's first named Jawa, another clone variant that used the crappy VC41 base, and a pair of Inquisitors. For me, the coolest part here are the Inquisitors. Despite appearing in multiple sources, it took their live-action appearances to trigger the release of a couple of figures. Importantly, we have the Grand Inquisitor, although plenty has been said about the weird design of the head - despite the fact that Pau'ans already appeared in live action in ROTS. But now that we have him, and Third Sister, I'm a big proponent of Hasbro completing this crew. There was Fourth Sister and Fifth Brother that appeared in the show, and got 6" versions. But aside from them, there are other inquisitors that appeared in various media that I would like to see. There's quite a few other candidates that could be made in TVC, including young Leia and Luke, Ned-B, Tala Durith, Kawlan Roken, Haja Estree, Owen and Beau, and even Bail and Breha Organa.

And Finally we've got Andor. I had intended to throw these figures in with the Rogue One feature from last time, but I forgot. So here we have 4 figures. We've got 2 Cassians, a Vel Sartha, and a white Phase II Clone Trooper from a flashback scene. Many might argue that Andor is one of the best series so far, but lacks toyetic designs. Nevertheless, Luthen Rael has made it to the top 6 on LFS. And if that figure gets made, Hasbro had better give us The Fondor. Hasbro has also pipelined Dedra Meero, and I believe the upcoming K2-SO (or possibly a generic KX droid?) are sourced to Andor. Plenty of other options: Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera (again), Bix, Marva, B2EM0, Melshi, Kino Loy, Syril Karn, Lio Partagaz, the heist crew (Karis, Cinta, Arvel, Gorn), and quite a few more. And that only hits some characters from Season 1, with a second season on the way.

So after assembling this meager bunch of figures from 4 shows, I am left to wonder if I actually want more figures to flesh out some scenes, or if I would have just preferred that Hasbro skip these entirely and devote the resources to more figures from better established sources. My emotional answer is that I want all the figures from these shows AND more figures from earlier sources. But that's just not possible. I probably could have skipped The Acolyte altogether, but I do enjoy the 3 figures we have, and with the 2 pipelines, I do find myself wanting a few more just to complete the crew (plus extra). For Bad Batch, I most definitely want the entire team, including Omega. And there are plenty of other characters I'd like to see as well. For Obi-Wan Kenobi, I am looking forward to the "nomad" Kenobi figure, but find myself wanting so many more. While the show wasn't particularly inspiring, it did inspire in me the closest feeling with regard to design and aesthetics to the PT and OT films out of these 4 shows. As for Andor, "toyetic" shmoyetic. I definitely want more figures.

And for the record, as I demonstrated in my Rogue One feature, you can supplement 3 of these displays (not The Acolyte), with many existing generic troop figures, whether clones or Imperials, and some vehicles.

So how do you feel about these shows as sources for more figures? Or would you rather just put some of them in the rear view mirror, and move on to more pressing needs? Does it annoy you that several figures exist in the 6" line - and even the Retro line! - but not TVC? Or do you say good riddance to them?

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