Star Wars Black Series

Oh carp! I remember those gear packs. Somehow we wound up with one that had, like, a trundle droid and a poncho.

As far as I'm concerned, Hasbro cannot rip off Valaverse soon enough with all the weapons, head and hand packs they've released. I don't feel like the connectors are as universal across characters in each line. Haven't tried, though.
 
Fletch said:
Oh carp! I remember those gear packs. Somehow we wound up with one that had, like, a trundle droid and a poncho.

As far as I'm concerned, Hasbro cannot rip off Valaverse soon enough with all the weapons, head and hand packs they've released. I don't feel like the connectors are as universal across characters in each line. Haven't tried, though.
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To be fair.. Valaverse is just copying better lines. Accessory packs aren't new. Hell, Hasbro has done them way back in the day.

I feel like they could do a Jedi-builder pack without actually doing a generic pack, though. They keep edging up against the idea: Cal. Anyone that's played Jedi Survivor can tell you that he has tons of hair/beard options, tons of lightsaber options, tons of blaster options, and a bunch of different outfits - including some that are more Jedi and some that are more scoundrel. Making a bunch of different Cal sets would go a long way toward creating some legitimate 'build-a-character' sets without the uncertainty of NOT linking them directly to a named, popular character. After all, Cal is the main character of two incredibly popular and well-received video games.
 
Damien said:
To be fair.. Valaverse is just copying better lines. Accessory packs aren't new. Hell, Hasbro has done them way back in the day.
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I was being facetious. Taking a passing swipe at Bobby.


The Missus and I still play a lot of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and if there were any way to get our characters made as figures I'd be set for several years worth of birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries.
 
Yeah, Cal is the reason why I think it can- and should- be done. Don't get me wrong, I love Cal as a character, but he's not the only one I want to see given the treatment. At the very least, do a generic Jedi 2 or 3 pack like they did back in the day. Hasbro did give us the Quantum Suits for Endgame that had a couple swappable heads in there, and were at least compatible with others too to make even more.

You'd think something akin to the Selfie Series would be doable- like a character customizer in a game, but in plastic form. Obviously there'd be limits, and people would need to be patient, but being able to pick through different heads, robes, sabers, hairstyles, scars, etc. Obviously limited to pre-existing sculpts and paint schemes, so you can't go too wild on things like eye placement or nose shape, but still. Want an orange Twi'lek Jedi? Go for it- the parts are more or less there. I'm sure there's some legalities in their contract that keep them from doing it, and I'm sure it's more costly than we fans think, but if there's any franchise to do it with that would theoretically be viable, it's Star Wars. Heck, have a window of time each year where orders are open, and they can spend the rest of the year making them or something, so it's not a constant open window and they risk getting swamped.

It just feels a little silly how good some of the fan-made options are, whether they're sculpted, 3D printed, whatever. I know Hasbro has to work under the confines of LucasFilm and Disney, and I can't really fault them there, but some of these fan offerings are so good, they're outdoing Hasbro!

But yeah, a build-up pack or weapons pack like we get with McFarlane, etc. seems like the first smartest option.
 
I'm sure there are logistical reasons why they didn't, but selfie series on a Jedi body seems like a HUGE missed opportunity. The pilot was fine, but vs. a JEDI option? I mean....

Fletch, I was just looking at where SWTOR is these days. I played for YEARS and have been thinking about going back but not sure where I left off with all my characters and I know my friends all moved on. If I could've made my PCs from that game? Gold. (And a lot of the NPCs in that game could be great in Black Series format.)
 
I finally got my ROTS Carded R2-D2 with rockets today. Holy balls I love this figure! I don't know why it's so fun to have him with his rockets and the rocket blast effects, but it is.
And people were talking about lowering R2's bottom center leg. It is really in there on this version. But I just took a butter knife (something not sharp so it wouldn't scuff the plastic) and slid it in and pried and the center leg just popped right out.

It didn't require much pressure at all, and it was a lot easier than trying to just pull the leg down.

Also, I had Ahsoka Season 1 Captain Rex ship today from Pulse, and Anikan should ship any time.
 
joshsquash729 said:
Yeah, Cal is the reason why I think it can- and should- be done. Don't get me wrong, I love Cal as a character, but he's not the only one I want to see given the treatment. At the very least, do a generic Jedi 2 or 3 pack like they did back in the day.
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The point I was making about Cal is that you can make him a generic Jedi 'builder' figure WITHOUT making it a nameless non-character on the packaging. That latter part is what I think Hasbro would want to avoid and the reason they would never do what you guys are suggesting. Making it a 'nameless Jedi builder' but using Cal as the base for it allows Hasbro to do it, but without worrying about the lack of name recognition. They'd still be releasing a legitimate Star Wars character even if they understand the intent for collectors might be to never use it as that character, if that makes sense.

I can tell you, just from knowing people in toy design/manufacture, that the thing you're describing is virtually impossible. The financial outlay to make a system like that work would be astronomical compared to the likely returns, on top of not really even being something you can offer because parts aren't created one-at-a-time, so you can't really allow people to choose their own colors unless it's from a pre-determined set of colors you've already run in your MOQs. That level of 'video game customization' on an action figure is, as I said, virtually impossible with the current technology and manufacturing process that companies like Hasbro use.
 
Damien said:
The point I was making about Cal is that you can make him a generic Jedi 'builder' figure WITHOUT making it a nameless non-character on the packaging. That latter part is what I think Hasbro would want to avoid and the reason they would never do what you guys are suggesting. Making it a 'nameless Jedi builder' but using Cal as the base for it allows Hasbro to do it, but without worrying about the lack of name recognition. They'd still be releasing a legitimate Star Wars character even if they understand the intent for collectors might be to never use it as that character, if that makes sense.

I can tell you, just from knowing people in toy design/manufacture, that the thing you're describing is virtually impossible. The financial outlay to make a system like that work would be astronomical compared to the likely returns, on top of not really even being something you can offer because parts aren't created one-at-a-time, so you can't really allow people to choose their own colors unless it's from a pre-determined set of colors you've already run in your MOQs. That level of 'video game customization' on an action figure is, as I said, virtually impossible with the current technology and manufacturing process that companies like Hasbro use.
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"Absurdly impossible demands for action figures by uneducated fanboys are built on hope." - Jyn Erso, probably.
 
Got Sebulba in yesterday. Absolutely amazing figure. I can't believe how well he stands on those arm-legs he uses. In Phantom Menace you usually see him walking on his two arms, but in the scene where Jar-Jar accidentally spit the frog-creature at him that he comes with as accessory he ran around on all fours. It would have been nice to get flat-palmed hands for his leg-arms to better pull an all-fours run off, but he can still do that pose pretty well anyway.

I'm not buying many Black Series figures per year, but the ones they're giving us are solid deep cuts that I'm ecstatic with. Savage Opress, Shaak Ti, Luminara Undula, and Sebulba all within a few months of each other is an amazing run of awesome figures. Star Wars doesn't have a deep enough character roster to support many more releases per year than they're already giving us, so they seem to be doing a great job.

Maybe they'll give us a pod racer set as a Haslab or Pulse timed exclusive. I bet we do get that in one of those formats, and they'll include lil' Ani with goggles, Sebulba, and both of their pod racers in the set.
 
I find myself regretting not getting the Black Series Landspeeder back when it was out. I remember seeing it on clearance at Best Buy for like $50 and passing on it. :oops:

Looking at eBay it's readily available for under $100 so I may finally buy it now.
 
I finally went into a Wal-Mart that had the May the 4th display stand and some of the Wal-Mart exclusive ROTS carded figures on it. Unfortunately, there were no 501st Troopers which is what I wanted. I did get a 501st off of Wal-Mart.com, as well as all the other ROTS carded figures. But I would have bought more 501st.

They had Commander Cody in the ROTS packaging x4 and the newest Wave with Ahsoka Ani and Rex, Moff in Beskar, and Moff Praetorian.

But I have all that too.

All the Wal-Marts near me I went in just never put out the display. My local Wal-Mart put out a couple Kit Fistos and R2's finally, but no display or new figures.
 
I love the idea of builder packs of some sort for Black series, and I would absolutely buy some. I feel like there's a few straight over home plate ones that would get at least some traction.

Weapons packs are easy. A stormtrooper pack (with pauldron and backpacks), a Sith and Jedi pack (with robes and holocrons), a Rebel pack (with datapad thing, maybe some other misc acessory), a clone pack and a droid pack. All existing molds and most of them you can shoot in a single color and it would still be worth picking up. I think a build-a-droid set would probably work well as a Galaxy's Edge/ Disney store offering, and I'd definitely grab one. Obviously start with a modular R2 style base and then give options parts galore. Could also do a protocol one with alt parts we've seen on those guys.

I feel like generic figures are less likely than accessory packs, but they're keeping the license so thy have plenty of time to experiment. I definitely would love redos of some of those old 90's toys in Black Series glory. Remember that one Stormtrooper with the HUGE jetpack? Or the Swoop Bike rider? I'd love to see some of that hit the line.
 
JakeEkiss said:
Or the Swoop Bike rider?
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The Shadows of the Empire Swoop with rider, done in Black Series style, is an absolute holy grail for me. All the other SotE stuff they are pumping out makes me so hungry for that rider: he had such a cool look and sparked my imagination SO HARD. I had him going on all kinds of cool adventures, he seemed like he was a real badass and definitely not canon fodder. I figured he was serious competition for Boba Fett and the boys.
 
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