Vintage Collection HasLab LAAT/i Gunship Postmortem

First of all, congratulations to all of you who had the good sense to back the Gunship since it now comes with a massive bonus as Coleman Trebor has unlocked in overtime. At just over 10,500 units, it will be rarer than the Tonnika sisters which currently fetch roughly $125 each (and I have a feeling they will go higher). I know that's not the point of the hobby, but to me it makes laying out the cash for these things easier knowing the value is still there after the purchase should I ever need to tap it.

Obviously, the campaign wasn't as successful as we had all hoped it would be. A lot of people have theories as to why that is. There was one thing in which I was disappointed, but I didn't want to air that while the campaign was ongoing. I don't believe in complaining about a die that has been cast because nothing can be done about it. In this case of this HasLab, I preferred to wait until it was over to offer suggestions for the next one. My disappointment was that the base offering figures lacked any and all sizzle. Phase I Clone Pilots simply are not exciting figures. They're like getting socks for Christmas when you're a kid. Sure you need them, but they would never show up on your wish list.

The Ghost had Hera in the base offering, which was a "must have" figure. The Cantina obviously had the Tonnika sisters. The Gunship simply didn't have that "must have" figure. But as we noted when we ideated about a PT HasLab HERE, it's hard to come up what that "must have" PT figure would be. There simply isn't that character that has never been done and that a large contingent of fans have been requesting for years, like the Tonnikas or the Spectres. When the Mustafar Sentry already exists, you know that Hasbro made so many figures, that they almost ran out of Gulps too. The most commonly requested unmade PT character seems to be Tikkes, but I don't see the demand for a Senator being big enough to move the HasLab needle. However, there still may be a solution.

From a conceptual standpoint, my favorite base offering in a HasLab is the POTF Yak Face. The reason I like this is that it can be separable from the Barge itself since it's just a carded variation. Yes, you need Yak Face for your Barge, but he was also available in main line on the standard card. Therefore, if a collector wasn't a carded collector, they could sell that POTF Yak Face to offset the cost of the HasLab (in that case literally half the cost), but wouldn't be missing anything from their Barge display. You can't say the same about Hera or the Tonnikas. Your Ghost and Cantina would feel incomplete without them.

Now, a normal card variation would never be appealing enough to offer a good cost offset. It would have to be a very special card variation to do that, and to me, there is only one. It's that POTF 1985 card with coin like the aforementioned Yak Face. I know it may seem anachronistic, but I would have put the pipelined Padmé on a POTF '85 card as a bonus in the base offering. Hasbro has the capability to put a figurative $100 bill in the box by doing something like this (because that's conservatively what it would sell for on the secondary market) if they chose the right character. I think it would enhance the perceived value of the base offering without tremendous cost to Hasbro, and may make it easier for some to back if they can use these novelty figures to recover some of their funds.

Finally, I was planning to comment about the need to change the mind of those who keep waiting until the last day to back. It makes no logical sense for many reasons since you don't get charged until the end of the campaign. But I'm giving up the ghost on this. We're five campaigns in now, and it keeps happening. I'm done wasting my breath on this subject. We're just going to accept it as a fact of crowdfunding.



I expressed my disappointment early on when this HasLab was first announced. I was simply underwhelmed by an updated item. In no way, shape, or form, am I diminishing the near studio quality effort of this sculpt. There is zero argument that this isn't a leap forward in scale, detail, quality, and "wow" factor when compared to the 2002 model. But that doesn't change the fact that it was still something I already owned - many times over. So swapping out my old Gunship for the new one doesn't provide anywhere near the same level of joy and childlike wonder when the alternative is what happened with the previous 4 TVC HasLabs. I had to design a new space in my displays to make room for things that I had never dreamed I would have. Instead of a bunch of Jabba goons lined up on a nondescript shelf, I now own the ultimate dream Sail Barge that is the true center of gravity of my entire collection. The Razor Crest, while obviously not a life long dream, was still something that seemed impossible at retail, and it was a "hot" item that we desperately needed to legitimize our Mandalorian displays. The Ghost was not my cup of tea, but it was, again, an item that would have no prayer of existing without HasLab, and it was the impetus to finally provide the much requested Ghost Crew, several of their variants, and a handful (so far) of supporting cast members. And I'm still "unpacking" the Cantina. Anyone who argues that the Cantina was a "resculpt" should sit in the corner with a dunce hat. The cardboard cantina from 1998 was a poor substitute for the actual plastic playset that we were never going to get without the HasLab model. They should also shove it when they say that other properties had resculpts and redos for HasLabs, proving the gunship was no aberration. To that, I say, "Irrelevant!" This is Star Wars TVC - King of Action Figures and Worldbuilding! I don't care that GI JOE got a resculpt of the Super High Tech Jet Fighter or that Transformers got another resculpt of Super Duper Transforming Thing!

All 4 of the previous TVC projects that were debut items provided me with a shot in the collecting arm that I needed, and are the main reason why I invested heavily in a custom built-in shelving unit, because I didn't feel anything I had was going to do these things justice on display. I simply don't feel the same about the Gunship. I have mentioned on multiple occasions that I will take NEW over RESCULPTS almost every time, aside from #MakeTheMains and some characters of which we know every single greeblie, like the stormtrooper. Those need to be kept modern and up to date. But for almost everything else, I want something I've never had before. I know it's not possible, and so I take all the resculpts for what they usually are: incremental improvements to my collection rather than something transformative. I agree that resculpts and redos need to happen as a natural part of the line - I just don't want this for the HasLab format. Haslab should be reserved for only the most special of all special possibilities. I don't need to do anything new to my collection when the LAAT/i arrives next year. I will just my existing gunship out of the way, and replace it with the newer one. The whole feeling for me is that this lacks specialness.

While the gunship is not "NEW", I also echo Chris's sentiment about the pilots. Boring. I have pilots already! I also have Coleman Trebor, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar. There wasn't a single thing about this HasLab that offered me anything but some form of incremental improvement. And there's the root of the problem for me, and I'm sure plenty of others out there - I don't think there is very much that the HasLab program can offer me for the PT that I don't have on my shelf right now. What vehicle or figure hasn't already been done by Hasbro? They have had the PT very well covered. And even if some things do deserve an update, there's very little NEW they can do that would have widespread appeal. I would have preferred Palpatine's Office or a Senate, but I realize these would probably fail to gain enough support. Despite my personal disappointment in the choice, I could offer no alternative that made as much sense, or was as iconic and appealing to the PT crowd as a new Gunship.

But even with all that, I am a huge supporter of this item in a general sense. I think a lot of people wanted it whether or not they have any of the existing gunships. I fully support the PT crowd getting some much-deserved HasLab love. Throughout the campaign, I was on the edge of my seat hoping for success so that I could own this amazing piece, even though I hadn't seen it in person. I have no doubt it's going to be a nice addition to my collection, even if it isn't my dream item. I backed several, and I am looking forward to them arriving - along with Coleman Trebor #3.

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