Vintage Collection Community:  You ROCK!

The passion of the Vintage Collection community was on full display yesterday. I have to assume that on an individual figure basis, the Black Series still has more customers, though I think that gap has been shrinking. But for what we lack in volume, we make up for in passion. The TVC community continues to support the bigger ticket items. To wit, the Mandalorian's N1 Starfighter, which was revealed during the Celebration Europe presentation, has sold out on both Hasbro Pulse and Amazon. WOW! Pulse is probably a lower volume retailer, but Amazon? That says something. This ship can still be ordered from site sponsor Entertainment Earth:


Mando's N1 is probably a perfect intersection for the community. The Mandalorian's OT adjacency brings in older fans, while it airing currently brings in newer fans. Additionally the fact that it's an N1 strikes nostalgia chords with the PT generation as they enter their prime adult collecting window. To cap it all off, the quality is apparent. It's clear that this vehicle is HasLab quality without the fans footing the bill. The only shame is that it's not out NOW, but licensor secrecy is the devil, Bobby Boucher!

Having said that, it does beg the question, should Hasbro be emboldened to increase the figure tooling budget even if the return on investment isn't directly realized. As Larry Hama points out in the G.I. Joe episode of The Toys that Made Us, the action figures were treated as loss leaders during the vintage era so that the more profitable "big ticket" items could be sold. I don't know if those same economic metrics exist today, especially with the kid market being effectively dead for practical toys, but the final fact in the success of the N1 is how much of the world of The Mandalorian Hasbro has already brought us. As I said several times before, the more of the world they bring us, the more of the world we want.

I keep saying that I don't want Andor figures, but if Hasbro brings me a Luthen Rael along with his Fondor Haulcraft, I'm thinking I might.

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