The Vintage Collection Is More Than Half Way Back To Its Former Glory

One thing that I think collectors lose sight of is that the main line has always been stocked with repacks, repaints and partial tool reuse. When we were getting 60 figures per year, we were not getting 60 100% newly tooled figures per year. In the past, the number of newly tooled figures varied from year to year. Certain variables would influence that number. If it was the year before a new movie, we could expect very few newly tooled figures as Hasbro ramped up for the following year. Then in the year of the new media, we'd get an onslaught of new tools. As an example, 2004's Original Trilogy Collection was predominantly made up of repacks and repaints as Hasbro was gearing up for the Revenge of the Sith product launch the following year.

This is all to say that the number of overall figures in a given year is an imperfect measure of Hasbro's investment in the line. We really want to use newly tooled figures as the measuring stick. Let's wind the clock back a decade and see what 2011 brought us in terms of newly tooled figures. I count 14. This might not be 100% accurate because the Jedi figures mentioned below are mostly likely using some preexisting tooling, but since I can't definitively identify the parts, I'm giving Hasbro the benefit of the doubt. Here's the 14:

VC29 - Kit Fisto
VC30 - Zam Wessel
VC32 - Anakin Skywalker (Peasant Disguise)
VC33 - Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise)
VC45 - Clone Trooper
VC47 - General Lando Calrissian
VC48 - Weequay (Skiff Master)
VC49 - Fi-Ek Sirch (Jedi Knight)
VC51 - Barriss Offee
VC52 - Rebel Fleet Trooper
VC53 - Bom Vimdin (Cantina Patron)
VC68 - Rebel Soldier (Echo Base Battle Gear)
VC69 - Bastila Shan
VC70 - Ponda Baba

Now let's apply the same test to 2021. I come up with seven Thanks to a memory jog from Greg Sanders in the comments, we have nine newly tooled figures (with the same caveat as above):

VC179 - The Armorer
VC180 - Moff Gideon
VC184 - The Child
VC185 - Greef Karga
VC186 - Boba Fett (BOW YOUR HEAD IN RESPECT)
VC201 - Darth Maul
VC202 - Ahsoka Tano
VC?? - IG-11
VC?? - Lando Calrissian

Considering the shifts in the industry over the last decade, clawing the line back to half of its former glory isn't terrible, but 9 newly tooled figures isn't great either. I think this exercise is more a case of the Billy Joel line:

The good old days weren't always good.

Let's keep an eye on 2022. As long as the "newly tooled" number keeps inching forward, it's a good sign. Considering we were already shown 3 newly tooled figures for 2022's launch wave, we may be on that upward trajectory back to 14.

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