The HasLab Vintage Collection LAAT/i Gunship Campaign Ends At 11:59 PM ET Tonight

Click HERE to back the Vintage Collection LAAT/i Gunship HasLab campaign

And so today closes out yet another HasLab. Mercifully. From the very beginning, HasLa9b has triggered a percentage of fans. Some collectors were upset that the Barge was never going to be in stores (without acknowledging that no brick and mortar store would ever stock them). It seems with each passing campaign, that contingent gets increasingly vitriolic. Even though I love HasLabs, I don't know if I'm looking forward to the next one. Despite the naysayers for the Barge, it felt like the community really came together for the most part. Now it feels like these campaigns pull the community appart. It's not as much fun anymore.

Anyway, let's talk about where the campaign sits today. We're at 5,911 at the time of this writing which is just after 8:30 PM ET Sunday night. I'm reasonably sure we will be past the 6,000 mark as you're reading this. That means we need to get the last 25% today. It's a tall task, but I think it's doable. The ratio of the Cantina's last day to it's first day was 1.457:1. This is hardly scientific, but if we apply that to the Gunship's first day (1,077), that's 1,569 backers. That would put us roughly 400 backers away. I think we can do that. The Gunship's first day was truncated with it launching some time after 6PM ET (and on a summer Friday night to boot). So I think that first day total is artificially low. If it had a full first day, it probably puts up 1500 or so backers, which would then project to over 2,000 backers today, which is what I'm expecting.

I've felt from the beginning that this campaign was going to be backloaded because I didn't think it would lend itself to a snap decision for many fans. With previous HasLabs, it was merely a question of whether you wanted it or not. With the Gunship, it adds the question of whether or the upgrade is worth it, which will take more time to deliberate. I hope we have shown through the coverage of the Red Five event, that it very much is. I personally think that the jump from the 2002 mold to the HasLab Gunship is as significant as the jump from the Kenner based Falcon to the BMF.

No one should feel compelled to back the LAAT/i for the "team" or for the health of the brand. If you don't want it, you don't want it. It's not your job to pump the tires of TVC. But if you're still on the fence, and you have the funds, I urge you to back it. I'm not saying that because I'm trying to get the Gunship to fund. I'm saying that as someone with thirty years experience in this hobby who doesn't want to see his fellow collectors make a costly mistake. Barring something unprecedented, this LAAT/i will have a very low production volume, perhaps less than the Barge. It's never going to be less expensive than it is today.

It's not going to 5x like the Barge. They're two completely different animals. There is only one Barge. As we know, some collectors will always think the 2002 mold is good enough, which will chill the secondary market somewhat. Heck, I see pictures of some really nice Jabba displays still rocking the POTF2 Gammy, and there's nothing wrong with that if it works for you. But there are a lot of fans like me who are obsessed with having the "best" version of a given item in their collection, and that won't go away. So I see this LAAT/i eventually going for double on the secondary market, and never for less than $450. None of the factors that have hurt the Ghost's secondary market value will be at play here.

And that's another reason to back if you're on the fence. The LAAT/i isn't something you'll be "stuck" with if you decide you don't want it later. I'm confident you'll be able to get your money back. So as I said when it first launched, come next year, it will be better to have the LAAT and not want, than to want the LAAT and not have. I've said several times in the past that in my thirty years of collecting the modern line, I have very few regret purchases. But I have quite a few regret passes, some of which haunt me to this day. Learn from my mistakes. If you can comfortably afford it, err on the side of backing if you're even a little interested in the HasLab LAAT/i Gunship.

John Miko will be hosting a marathon livestream tonight to follow the end of the campaign starting at 7PM ET with a myriad of rotating guests (to include Chris Reiff). Both Bret and I will be joining, at different times. I will be on at 9PM and Bret will join towards the end at 11. You can bookmark it HERE, are watch the embed below:

---

comments powered by Disqus