Decompressing From The Sail Barge Campaign

The Sail Barge campaign was not unlike a three act movie. We were introduced to the character at Toy Fair in act one. There was some immediate success. The initial backing rate was brisk. Then we settled into the second act low point in mid March with the backer rate slipping into the thirties per day. We were losing ground with each minute. All hope was lost.

Then came Hasbro's deus ex machina moment when they announced that the POTF Yak Face (as suggested by Bantha Skull) would be included with the Sail Barge. The backing rate took off on a hockey stick trajectory not seen since the early days of Atari stock. Reaching goal was a fait accompli. It came this past Friday. Roll credits.

In the post credit scene, the final backing settles in somewhere between seven and nine thousand as we sit in awe of the crushing defeat of the naysayers.

So where does this leave us? Personally I'm a mixed bag of emotions.

I woke up Saturday morning with a little of that "we won the Super Bowl" or "Christmas morning" lift to my spirit. If you think I lack perspective because I find joy in a toy being made, I'm going to flip that back on you. If you can't find joy in the little things in life, your heart is too heavy. Lighten up. The Sail Barge campaign is a neat thing if you're a Star Wars collector. Be happy!

I'm very proud of the collecting community. The Sail Barge campaign was a love letter to hardcore fans from Hasbro. During the low points, I was terrified we were going to stamp that letter "return to sender". You pulled through and did it. Furthermore, we said early on that fan sites could only preach to the choir. We needed you to pound social media with news of the barge so we could reach the larger congregation. You did, and we feel it played a part in the success. Our readers have thanked us for being messengers during this campaign. Now it's our turn to thank you. Our message only reaches the sanctum doors. You carried it out into the streets.

Hasbro gave fans a chance to put their money where their mouths are. You did. And then some. With each passing tick of the backing counter, this is becoming less a mere victory and more of a mic drop.

Okay, for this you can say I lack perspective. I meant to have this written for Saturday, but I crashed. Due to the lack of content on Bantha Skull after CJ's Droids review, I have to assume much the same from my co-owner, Mr. Nomadscout (Bret). We don't mean this to be a self congratulatory statement of our tireless effort especially in light of the massive outreach and stumping the Hasbro team did over the life of the campaign. I hope the Hasbro team tipped a few pints together on Friday night. It would have been well deserved.

Nevertheless, Mr. Nomadscout and I (and our friends at Jedi Temple Archives and other fan sites) had a personal investment in this campaign, and now it feels like we can finally breathe.

The Super Bowl metaphor above was chosen for a specific reason. If you're on the winning side, as we are with the Sail Barge campaign, you have a sense of euphoria while at the same time you have a slight pang of "over-ness". Jim, you'll have to take our word on this (editor's note: He's a Cleveland Browns fan). This gets back to the admitted lack of perspective above, but after emotionally investing in something like this, there is a sense of emptiness when it's over. We're going to have to wait a year until the next campaign. WIth football, there's the start of free agency and the draft to tide you over.

Hasbro confirmed at the recent fan site Q&A that there would be a campaign every year. Fortunately, we're the Super Bowl champs, so instead of resting on our laurels, we need to be hard at work on the next campaign. We get to prepare our title defense, instead of leaning on the draft. (How's that working out, Jim?) Come March of next year, Hasbro will present us with our championship rings. Nevertheless, our work is never done. So Hasbro, how's that Death Star coming?

There is still time to #backthebarge. With each passing backer, this becomes less a mere success and more a mandate on the type of product we want made. DON'T MISS OUT. There's still time, but the clock is ticking.

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