VINTAGE COLLECTION:  I Find The Lack Of OT And PT Mains Disturbing

I'm about to state a talking point that I made on livestream two weeks ago. If you watched that, I apologize for the repetition. That point is that the reasons for The Black Series becoming Hasbro's "bread and butter" are numerous. They include 6" being the new industry standard, as well as well as having a better perceived value due to the improved detailing the scale offers. But there is a third factor that I think is hugely important: from a character need standpoint, the entire TBS fan base was on the same page. That is a massive advantage.

To clarify what I mean by that, let's examine the case of Kit Fisto. I consider Fisto a main character; a core PT Jedi. When he was announced for The Black Series, 100% of the fans needed that figure. It's hard for a line to not be successful when 100% of the customers need a core character, and the fan base celebrates its announcement. Now contrast that with the situation in the Vintage Collection. I'm willing to bet that half of you reading this own the outstanding VC29 - Kit Fisto, and half of you don't. So if a newly tooled Fisto were announced, 50% of the fan base would be bemoaning the waste of tooling dollars and half would be celebrating a chance to get access to a core character. The Vintage Collection fan base's oars don't pull in the same direction, while the Black Series' do.

I contend that this was an important (yet not the only) factor in TBS's relatively better success than TVC. I'm not trying to pick on the Black Series, but just trying to illustrate an observation. Now that TBS is running out of core characters that every customer needed, you can see signs of weakness in the line. Lets look at some recent secondary character TBS releases:


I know you could cherry pick secondary Vintage Collection characters and make the same image. THAT'S THE POINT. I believe that the Black Series "bread and butter" magic had a lot do to with not needing to lean on secondary characters for freshness and breadth. A-listers like Mace Windu and Count Dooku were breaths of freshness in the line merely by existing.

Another contention of mine is that action figure lines roll over in time. Sculpts become so old, and aesthetically and functionally different from contemporary figures, that they effectively no longer exist in the line. The importance of the character is a factor in this. A dated Barada is not nearly as egregious as a less dated Episode IV Princess Leia. We've been highlighting this in our #MakeTheMains series. The response has been just short of universal support, with even moments of outrage that some figures (* cough * Episode IV Luke * cough *) are waiting for an update. The Vintage Collection fan base is now at the point where our oars are all pulling in the same direction with regard to out of date core characters.

That is why I'm frustrated that OT and PT main characters are not being utilized in the Vintage Collection as often as they should. If they were, maybe TVC would get some of that "bread and butter" love and then, and only then, can we get a Client or Q9-0. Investing new tooling dollars in an all new Episode III Anakin Skywalker would do more for the line than investing new tooling dollars in figures that are occupying clearance pegs, both virtual and real, such as Reva and the Mythrol. I know that's running counter to some of the current hue and cry in the community where there is frustration over the lack of new media figures, but look around. Those new media figures don't seem to be hot sellers, but part of that is because we're not getting enough of them to make representative displays. Make the mains > better sales > bigger budget > get enough new media figures to make collecting them worthwhile. It's a process.

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