The Haslab Cantina Campaign is Over, But Was it a Success?

At 11:59 PM ET last night, the Haslab Cantina Campaign ended. Chris contacted me through his lawyer and declared that he was retiring from collecting, and would live out his days as a lichen farmer on the coast of northern Nova Scotia. No, I'm just tickling your funny bone. Chris simply passed out with joy last night, so I'm left to pick up the pieces and do a thing here this morning.

Anyway, it was an interesting campaign. After some leaks and a false start, it was officially revealed on June 6th, and launched on June 7th. Due to all the things, the ordering window was shortened to 32 days instead of the normal 45-ish. It started out strong with the initial reveal, but then lost momentum quickly, barely reaching the halfway point to basic funding on day 4. This was alarming for many in the community, as The Razor Crest (Day 2) and The Ghost (Day 5) funded very quickly. It took until Day 29 (day -4) for the Cantina to fund.

It wasn't looking great, that's for sure. After the slow start, I had been convinced throughout most of the campaign that Nabrun Leids would be 50/50, but that Arleil Schous (sadly) would be out of reach. After it funded at 8000, the last few days were a rollercoaster, I was alternatively thinking it had a an equal shot to either hit the third tier, or fall back due to cancellations and fail to fund completely. It was a slow and painful crawl to get to Greedo, the first bonus tier, which was unlocked on the final day at about 1:20 PM ET. It then spent the next 8 and a half hours moving upward consistently but without any real punch, all but eliminating any chance at Tier 3. The trajectory was lacking that surge of backers that would at least get it to Tier 2. Then, at about 10:00 PM ET, the pace finally started to pick up, hitting about 500/hr for the next hour and a half, and then accelerated in the last half hour to unlock Nabrun Leids at about 11:40 PM. The campaign added over 700 backers in the last 20 minutes, finishing at 14,737.

The campaign had a lot going against it, or at least was full of some untested and risky aspects. It was only open for about 2/3 the time of every other campaign. It ended on a holiday weekend. It ran while the previous TVC Haslab hadn't shipped yet. It was the first playset for TVC (although I would argue the Barge was half vehicle / half playset). And it was the first TVC playset to offer purchase options (Base and Deluxe) and different price points. It did not occur during a major showcase event, so members of the public couldn't get a close up look in person.

Also, for whatever reason, it seemed this Haslab was particularly divisive and toxic. The Star Wars community has dealt with its share of internal strife and outright trolling over the past 10 years, but I think this was the worst we've seen on the collecting side of things. There were some vocal influencers out there who actively campaigned against the success of this Haslab for a variety of "reasons", none of which made any sense to me. They ranged from disdain for Disney and/or Hasbro and/or TVC, to frustration with the perceived lack of value of the offering (No floor! Stupid Greedo! Not enough pipelines! OT is for dead people!).

In the end, 14,767 Cantinas were ordered. Half that of the Razor Crest, and about 2/3 of the Ghost. What does it mean? Maybe nothing. We can Monday Morning Quarterback this all day, and the factors I listed above may have impacted the final number in some way, or maybe there's just less interest in a playset from a 47 year-old movie that supports figures that many newer collectors don't own. But it funded, and achieved 2/3 tiers. We're getting the Tonnika Sisters (instant grails) and incredible upgrades to 3 figures. In support of this, Hasbro has already pipelined 5 new / mostly new tooled figures, including the 4 mains that we've been requesting since, like, forever. We've been promised much more support during the "Return to Tatooine" campaign, and those in the know have teased that collectors would regret passing up the Cantina.

TVC is 4/4 in Haslabs, and the Arleil Schous miss is the only thing preventing TVC from pitching a perfect game so far. I don't see how there is any way to spin this as a failure.

The bottom line for me is this: The Cantina is iconic Star Wars. The scene is what captured my imagination as a kid more than any other in the film. This Haslab product is the worthy TVC update to one of the oldest playsets in the history of the line - one which they tried to modernize early on in the POTF2 era. It is super shelf-friendly, and will instantly provide a monumental improvement to my figure display. I currently have 49 figures on a shelf using the POTF2 cardboard cantina as an indoor environment (with several other items outside on the "streets"). It's one of the most vibrant displays in my collection, and I am absolutely thrilled to be getting this "Dream Project."

While it was disappointing we didn't unlock Arleil Schous (my most wanted Cantina patron), the star of the show was the Cantina itself, followed closely by the Tonnikas. The fact that I will be adding these pieces to my collection is something that I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. I can't wait for the delivery.

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