World-Building:  Is There a Place for Animated Figures in TVC?

As an avid 3.75" completist and army builder, I generally have neither the time, nor the inclination, to bother with figures and toys that don't fit into my collection. The biggest thorn in my side is the 2008-2012 The Clone Wars animated line. After buying the first wave at launch in 2008, I quickly soured on the idea of having these figures in my collection. They didn't belong. The clone troopers were a whole new sculpt, when Hasbro could have just gone with the 2003 sculpt that was the standard at the time. There was no way I was going to go down the rabbit hole of collecting a new line that was incompatible with the many hundreds of figures I had accumulated up to that point. To this day, it upsets me that there are so many figures that Hasbro released in this styling that are not available in the realistic line.

To be fair, the TCW-sourced line, which ran concurrently with TLC (Blue and Red), TVC 1.0, and SOTDS, was highly successful. If they were going to do it at all, Hasbro certainly put in the proper effort and resources, and followed some world-building rules. The line had many figures, multi-packs, and vehicles that allowed you to world-build - BUT, it sadly was separate from the already vibrant realistically styled world we had been building for years. Fortunately, we did get plenty of vehicles that were well-suited for the main line. All that said, we are left to wonder if Hasbro could have done just as well with realistically styled TCW characters being integrated smoothly into the existing line. I know plenty of collectors enjoyed the cartoon line, but had it not existed in that format, they might still have loved realistically styled figures inspired by the show. I know my collection would probably have several hundred more figures in it if this were the case.

There were many examples of non-world building figures throughout the modern 3.75" run. With the exception of the aforementioned TCW animated line, they were all short-lived, limited run, distractions. I don't fundamentally have a problem with them. Usually they're cheap repaints or retools, and are meant to commemorate an event or holiday, like Christmas figures, or silver anniversary figures. Sometimes there's a little more depth, like that original run of Tartakovsky Microseries figures, or more recently, the animated stylings given the (5POA) Rebels and Resistance figures. I never had a problem with those, because they were a finite set of items that could serve in a standalone vignette on a shelf somewhere far, far away from the rest of my collection.

Do animated figures fit into today's TVC? My answer would be, without hesitation, ABSOLUTELY NOT!

With the recently released (and outstanding) conclusion to The Clone Wars, along with the currently airing The Bad Batch, there have been a few comments here and there from people who would like to see Hasbro commemorate these shows with some figures that are styled in the same animated aesthetic as the show. I have to believe that this is coming from a tiny sliver of the community, as it would be dangerous to the health of TVC, at least for the foreseeable future, to produce any of these types of figures. I already believe that a terrible mistake has been made with the Retro collection. Originally I assumed no harm done, with a limited run of a few figures that could satisfy some Kenner collectors. As I have said many times, I feel strongly that the TVC packaging alone is what scratches that nostalgia itch more than enough. I don't need to rub the itch raw and bloody with extra nonsense. There's no need whatsoever for modern reproductions of toys that you can find for next to nothing on Ebay. But Hasbro doubled down on that move with a second wave, and then tripled down (and then some) by making a wave of Mandalorian figures based on Kenner styling. It's a nightmare. This Retro thing already has a life of its own, and Hasbro should stop the madness before they start thinking of making a full on companion line of Kenner figures instead of focusing on TVC. Already there are like 7 people out there asking for all Kenner figures to be redone in the Retro line. Stop it! It was painful enough getting Retro Kuiil and IG-11 before we knew about their TVC versions, so lets end this before it spirals out of control and really starts to dig into TVC resources and funding, rather than supplementing it.

For the time being, as we have stressed so many times, TVC is fragile right now. There needs to be a stronger focus on growing this line with more figures, more vehicles, more beasts, and more playsets. Yes, I am all about a few cheap, random kitsch 3.75" items to help promote Star Wars, get retailers interested, and make a few extra bucks so Hasbro can reinvest in MORE TVC. But please, Hasbro, let's keep those to a minimum, and don't allow any bit of life to get into sub-lines that will ultimately distract from TVC. 2008-2018 saw so many different line looks and styling changes, it contributed to putting 3.75" on life support. We've only recently emerged from that morass with a potentially strong and unified line under the TVC banner. We don't need any more of these types of products that will dilute TVC. Keep the momentum going, and give us realistically styled and painted figures that fit in with the main line, and continue to allow us to world build like TVC was intended!

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