1. I just read your answer regarding Hasbro's Epic Heroes line moving to a 9POA format. My question is - WHY??!! I understand the 6" Black Series line. I understand Retro. I even understand Galactic Heroes (which my son loved when he was little), although I disliked the rebooted format, and the Unleashed line from way back when.

But why would Hasbro create a line that's literally .25" larger than a line they already have? If they're going to do that, and up it from 5POA to 9POA, wouldn't it make more sense to just use the 3.75" scale and reuse tooling when you can? While I like articulation, I don't think every figure needs it (An ROTJ Mon Mothma would be fine with 9POA), and I think we've gotten to a point where many characters aren't going to be made in the 3.75" line because of the expectation that every figure must be hyper-articulated.

I wouldn't mind seeing core characters with super articulation that doesn't detract from the sculpt. They can then do a 'kids line' of the same characters with 9POA in the same 3.75" scale. And secondary/background characters can be made with 9POA as well, if 9POA is the new standard. That would seem to me to be a good way to get more characters out there.
--Mike

Mike asked a lot of good questions and everything I wrote kept getting really in-the-weeds about every last detail. Size, price, articulation, and the classic "why isn't Hasbro making what I want?" are all things that are challenging to describe without a long essay. So this time, I'm trying a short approach so we can all go home.

Why are the current kid figures 1/4 inch taller? My hunch is licensing (there may be a different line item in a license for 4-inch kid figures vs. 3 3/4-inch collector figures.) My second hunch is they wanted to look bigger and better than equivalent humans from Spin Master (DC/Batman) or Mattel (Batman) at the same price, now that they cut the price to $7.99 and added articulation. I think the Marvel line has a lot of potential for success. I like the Star Wars kid line a lot, but it's a little too scattered for kids to buy deeply - but great for one-off souvenir purchases. From a design and quality perspective, on its own merits, the line is excellent.

I don't believe that collector-level characters (like Mon Mothma) can succeed in a kid format, unless they got collector-size runs. If we went back to a 1990s or 2000s-style "one size fits all" approach - where we're all fishing off the same figure pier - things might be different. Collectors may be disappointed that their favorite character lacks ankles, despite all logic to the product benefiting from that feature and your paying for it. (See also, The Black Series Mon Mothma which would probably would be a better product as a statue-level action figure.)

I don't think a 3 3/4-inch Mon Mothma would benefit from 9 joints. In the movie, she barely moved. Existing action figures are quite cheap, and the one pricey one - The Retro Collection - is getting a reissue. Any Mon Mothma in a gown or dress with leg joints, unless they're done like we got in Retro, is probably wasted development dollars.

Most figures don't need the level of quality we're getting today. I want a figure to look good, be able to stand, and hold their accessories. If they need to sit, they should be able to sit. Most or all should fit in vehicles. I don't need ankles unless the figure needs it for stability. I'd like wrists for my Jedi figures, but most other figures won't need it. I'd probably prefer alternate arms rather than joints - I bet Chewbacca would look better without visible cut joints in his fur - but that's another topic and we're already running very long today.

Given what's going on in the economy, it may be worth Hasbro's while to condense its offerings. 9-jointed 3 3/4-inch figures with (roughly) Vintage-level realism at $10-$12 would probably do just fine, especially if there were parallel assortments running with "kid stuff" (Vader, Luke, Boba, etc. for the masses) and "collector stuff" (Wedge, Bacta Luke, Resistance Vest Leia) with less mass appeal. I would also love to see more Retro because it's cheap and because I think putting Yoda on pegs in stores would get a lot of people collecting again. (Bundle him with a Dagobah Luke. I'd buy an extra Yoda.) If the fancy new Epic Yoda were a tiny bit smaller, but on a silver-and-black cardback, you'd buy it and you'd love it.

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2. Speaking of packaging...around 1983-1984, I bought a Scarlett from G.I. Joe at Sears. The figure, her crossbow, and her filecard (not the full size cardback, just the file card, plain red on the back) came in a factory sealed bag, like maybe she was a mail-in or a pack-in or something? Never saw THAT before or since. I really can't imagine Hasbro doing anything like that with Star Wars today... but I suppose that was one way to get the cost down.
--James

Carded collectors are vocal and hate baggies. You're right, there's no way we would see that for the adult collector market.

If you're focused on adult collectors with a significant portion of mint-in-box collectibles, a change like that would be enough to make many reconsider. Shifting from "window box" to "closed box" annoyed people, I assume "no box" would be catastrophic. Don't forget a lot of fans are infuriated by figure cardbacks being unpunched! "No cardback" would result in rage-quitting comments (and possible actual follow-through.) As to what that would do for the business remains to be seen - Hasbro's switch to plastic-free closed-box packaging coincided with a lot of figures collectors didn't seem to like very much.

Baggies may have a place, though. Personally, I think it might be good for reruns, or for troop builders. I wouldn't say no to plain white Stormtroopers in some sort of mail-order baggie packaging, but I don't think big box stores or the average MIB/MOC collector are going to accept them instead of cards or boxes. I feel like the "white boxes" we're getting for the The Vintage Collection 4-packs are too nice, something simpler and cheaper would probably be better for all parties.

Bagged figures in the 1980s from Hasbro, Mattel, Kenner, and others were built for the mail-order business. You're right that they were for catalogs, mail-aways, vehicle drivers, and so forth. I don't have an exact date of when toy companies stopped making special bagged packaging for JC Penney, Sears, Montgomery Ward, and so forth, but I know most of them phased it out by 1993. I can tell you from personal experience JC Penney was shipping full-carded figures in additional brown mailer boxes for Jurassic Park, Star Trek, and other brands in the 1990s.

Amazon has brown box versions of some Hasbro, Spin Master, and other products, but they're not collector figures. It's the kid stuff, and they do enough volume to warrant it. (And I keep finding it in Ross stores on markdown.)

For anyone just joining us, we've been talking about fans looking to find places to cut costs to make additional figures each year. As far as I've been able to find out, that's not how the business works. If Hasbro found a way to save money, it would probably go into developing other brands or paying salaries, not tooling new and weird Star Wars alien or droid action figures. If this spun out of "how can we get more all-new characters and aliens?", well, that's not going to happen because of budget. You can make anything, you just have to get your boss to sign off on it. The best way to do that is to make a business case for it, so if you guys go on a posting rampage about how much you want something? That might actually help. But be specific - "anything OT!" is not going to help.

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FIN

I figured I'd be set to spin out on tariffs and how if they don't get lifted we won't have much new, but no! We have a new Star Wars Celebration to spin out about.

The Shawn Levy movie has been revealed and it's Star Wars: Starfighter. My knee-jerk reaction was sort of an eye-roll, but I also misread the story initially as "five years before The Rise of Skywalker" (it's after) and "Firefighter" (which makes no sense.)

There were new toy pre-orders, a bunch of streaming updates along with the next Star Wars Celebration location, and a Bantha that's probably priced a hair above what the 1998 one was adjusted for inflation. Could be better, could be worse.

It's kind of interesting to see that we're getting very, very few The Vintage Collection exclusives at mass retailers anymore (I can't remember the last time Walmart or Target had a new one) --Adam Pawlus

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