1. Preamble: I am 56 years old and have been reading your newsletter since June 1996. I collect Retro and TVC figures mostly. I open 50% of them.

Question. Like you, I have (very recently) jumped in to the 3D printing hobby. I liked hearing about your exploits, and your links to makers on Cults3d really helped me out. As a result, I bought/printed the Cantina Band Booth, and my next plan is the Star Destroyer Bridge. My question is - what are you up to now? I am sure there are other people like me who are also interested!
--Steve

Thanks for your continued readership, Steve! And kudos on your excellent taste.

As of my writing this I just finished printing the bulk of a chassis of a Droids White Witch. Can I paint it well? No. But it's a start. Not to complain for a free design, but I really do wish they could have it so each color was a separately molded piece because I am bad at painting.

I am enamored by 3dplasticplaysets files, but most are too big to fit on my printer bed. (Who knew?) The designs seem great but a lot of them must be 1:1 to fit specific elements from Hasbro's line - so I may be waiting on those. Also, they're free and you can grab the files for future use.

My main obstacles now are availability of filament and the size of the printing bed - but otherwise, I've made a few neat things here and there. I also moved the printer to the garage for some longer prints, which helps a lot.

I have an in-the-works 3D printing thing that is a ways off from  being done.  It was going to go in Q&A a couple of months back when questions slowed, but things have not slowed lately!  Hopefully I can finish it for summer.  Also check out The Retro Collection Figure Dump, where I just make a lot of lists about things.  It's newish!

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2. So, yeah, I love that Andor season 2 ship [the TIE Avenger prototype]. What are the odds Hasbro makes a toy from it? Seems to have had enough screen time and iconic enough.
--Dan

Unless it's already in production, I don't think we're ever going to see it as a Hasbro vehicle. It has less to do with "is it cool?" (yes) than "is this something that's going to sell to kids and collectors and adult fans alike, and will keep asking for until Hasbro makes it?" (probably not.) I love it, but it needed to be up for a pre-order or HasLab 3 weeks ago. Also, I assume fans would fight each other over if it would be Retro, Vintage, or The Black Series. I might even say they should do it POTF2-style. Classic Kenner aesthetics, but drop the stickers for sculpted solar panels.

Andor products (especially The Black Series) have not exactly sold well. It has been possible to get Luthen Rael shipped to your home for under ten bucks. Most characters from the show have been pretty easy to get for half price, and the exclusive set with Cassian and B2EMO is still quite affordable.

The Vintage Collection figures from Andor are also cheap. The only figure that seems to sell above its original retail price is the theme park exclusive B2EMO... which says to me that maybe that's a format worth a risk. So, sell it in a format with no risk.

Since Hasbro hasn't made Andor toys in the kid line, it would only make sense that this ship might exist as a $250-$300 The Black Series ship, a $100-$120 The Vintage Collection ship, or a $15-$20 Jazwares Micro Galaxy Squadron ship. Or more likely, collector-level LEGO.

What Hasbro should do (if you ask me) is throw out the current paradigm and try a TIE Avenger in The Retro Collection with a smattering of action figures. Why? It can be done a lot more cheaply. ince the audience is all adults anyway, this might actually work just as well. Wouldn't you shell out $250 for a TIE Avenger, Bix, B2EMO, Pilot Cassian, Wilmon, Mon Mothma, Saw, Two Tubes, Luthen, K-2SO, Partagaz, Dedra, and Syril? Maybe have a stretch goal of Syril's mom and a faceplant bed? I'd pay for it.

If you seriously want this product - make it your focus. Get others to join you. Make a movement out of it, ask for it at conventions, because sometimes it pays off. We've got Sail Barges now! If people just sit idly wondering why it never happened, it will never happen.

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FIN

I don't really have much to do this week other than complain.

As you've no doubt seen by now, tariffs have resulted in pre-order disruptions and price increases this week. The news making the rounds indicates new Hasbro $25 figures are going to be around $30, $17 figures are going to be around $22, and other things are going up 20%-40%. Tariffs were previously pretty much avoiding the toy business, and now we're reading US weighs plan to lower China tariffs to as low as 50%, New York Post reports. Again, please contact your representative in Congress. If you live outside the USA and are saying "ha-ha, I'm safe!" remember that R&D for toys happens in America. If things stop selling enough units because of how much America subsidizes global toy business, there will be layoffs. This will negatively impact American product development and marketing teams to bring out items that get distributed elsewhere on Earth. On the other hand Spin Master is in a pretty good place being based out of Canada.

The super-cool The Vintage Collection Cantina set sold out pretty much immediately. So did the Stormtrooper 3-pack. Hopefully those will come back - it sold out before I woke up on Sunday. I assume runs were cut due to fear of product not selling from the tariffs, so of course, they cut back the coolest things in years and not The 50th Version of Something On Clearance Already. That's my life. I was unable to order either - so I hope they come back. I've got money. Not a lot, but I can skip soda or something.

Target's The Retro Collection exclusive set got pushed back again on Tuesday... with all pre-orders being canceled due to "technical reasons" on Friday. There's a shelf tag in the store for it, but no product. Pre-orders were asked to approve a delay until May 20. And on Sunday, pictures started surfacing of people finding these - so welcome to an unpleasant weird week again.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.

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