Star Wars Black Series

Honestly, I don't know what Hasbro did wrong with those Landos other than ship too many to retail. The first version(s) were no better or worse than any Black Series of that era; he got the improved face printed versions when the tech improved just like the rest of the cast. I mean, we could speculate why the supporting black character from most Star Wars projects languish at retail (Greef Karga languished too, and Finn), but the sample size is so small I don't want to get into that particular grim part of the Star Wars fandom today. It may just be that adult collectors who like OT stuff don't buy their figures at Target or Walmart anymore and Lando has no appeal to anyone under 40 or whatever.

I am in the camp of never really wanting to give the sequel trilogy much of my brain space anymore but I would love an old man Lando just so I could have all the original gang in their retirement age looks. But I don't see them doing another Lando short of some miraculous made-to-order option.
 
The first release of Bespin Lando did fine, though, right? It was only when they packed him two or three to a case (TVC) and then re-re-releasing the same version that he started to fail. The Archive Skiff re-release was one of Hasbro's dumbest decisions.

Greef probably didn't play a big enough role for two outfits, even though his second figure is the only one I have. But The Client sat on shelves for just as long, so maybe it's ageism and not racism.

Finn got overshipped, but I never thought his likeness was all that bad. The Imperial Officer one had some bad eyes, but his Stormtrooper version didn't languish. Gosh, that was 11 years ago now. Were those his only three TBS figs?
 
docsilence said:
I mean, we could speculate why the supporting black character from most Star Wars projects languish at retail (Greef Karga languished too, and Finn), but the sample size is so small I don't want to get into that particular grim part of the Star Wars fandom today. It may just be that adult collectors who like OT stuff don't buy their figures at Target or Walmart anymore and Lando has no appeal to anyone under 40 or whatever.
Click to expand...
Not to be that guy and open up that can of worms, but there is a weird trend there- all the Landos (Billy and Donald), Finn, Jannah, Reva, Greef, Moff Gideon, Yord, Saw, Val- they all languished on shelves (and that's not even counting other minorities like Rose). Only real exception might be Mace, but that's because it's Samuel L Fuckin' Jackson, and even some of his releases have sat for a while (though you could argue that's mostly because of how similar each one is). I guess Wim sorta counts; he didn't sell super well, but none of the Skeleton Crew figures really did.

And sure, it's not like white characters haven't pegwarmed, but it is a bit oddly disproportionate. But that would imply that Star Wars fans can be problematic, and surely that's not the case..... 😇
 
Schizm said:
Finn got overshipped, but I never thought his likeness was all that bad. The Imperial Officer one had some bad eyes, but his Stormtrooper version didn't languish. Gosh, that was 11 years ago now. Were those his only three TBS figs?
Click to expand...
Good point about the Imperial and Stormtrooper versions, though one could also argue that those are barely Finn figures to begin with, since, with an easy headswap (or just by keeping the helmet on, blood aside), it becomes not a Finn figure anymore. Whereas even if you were to headswap, say, a Rey figure, you know that outfit still belongs to Rey, if that makes sense.

All the Force Awakens figures were pretty bad as far as likenesses go. Finn was pretty bad, but I wouldn't say he was any worse than any of the others. They're all in desperate need of redos with proper face printing, but I feel like we missed the window. I suppose only time will tell.
 
Schizm said:
The first release of Bespin Lando did fine, though, right? It was only when they packed him two or three to a case (TVC) and then re-re-releasing the same version that he started to fail. The Archive Skiff re-release was one of Hasbro's dumbest decisions.

Greef probably didn't play a big enough role for two outfits, even though his second figure is the only one I have. But The Client sat on shelves for just as long, so maybe it's ageism and not racism.
Click to expand...
I think it's just overclocking production on characters that just don't matter that much. Greef had two outfits AND that stupid off-color version (the Credits series, or whatever?). Why did we need THREE Greef figures? He barely does anything. Same with Lando - he sold okay, I think, but they kept releasing more of him and it just reaches saturation. Especially with Lando where the only reason we got more of him was face-printing, but I don't think THAT many people are going back to the well on tertiary characters just for face printing.

In those cases I think it's just Hasbro overestimating how popular those characters were going to be with fans. Compare with Wedge Antilles, who had one release ever. I guarantee you if they released him three separate times in like two years, he'd be a peg-warmer.
 
Actually, correction to my earlier post: I still need a quality, modern Finn and Poe too. I was hoping something might be announced given the 10th anniversary but welp.

I don't have a Moff Gideon either but I've been holding out for the Figuarts one to escape the Bandai vaults. As for the Inquisitors, if I were to get one, I'd feel compelled to get them all and I just don't have the space. Finally, as far anything TRoS goes, I found it so soul-searingly bad that I'm not surprised the merch died on its arse.
 
With the Sequel Trilogy I'll always go back to I really don't WANT more focus on it, but an actual good Finn and Poe would get my money because I like the actors a lot.

The character thing may just be a coincidence (I mean, SW fans outside of this board can be such incredible fucking assholes). It sticks in my mind though because for a solid three years the only figures on the shelf at three of my local targets were Lando and Greef. And also to be fair, if you asked me if there were bigoted Star Wars fans in Mass my response would be fuckin' duh.
 
You could argue some about the chatacter designs too. I never bought a single figure from Andor because they all were just generic human to me. And quite a few of those figures went deep deep clearance too. Landos cool, but I didn't like the ESB figure. So I got the RotJ version. His ESB figure just looked... meh. I have the Magistrate version of Greef. But the first one didn't look great either. So I skipped it. I don't even have the new Han or Chewie because I'm fine with the ones I have. I may get them later, but it'll be on discount as well. There are a ton of figures I skipped because they just looked like random citizen #3 to me and I don't wanna buy something that doesn't appeal to me.

But I do believe there is probably a large number of SW "fans" that don't buy figures of certain ethnicities, or even sexes. Racist bastards.

Sent from my SM-S921U1 using Tapatalk
 
I'm actively mad at how good the new versions of the ANH crew are. I truly, truly was happy with the last versions of Han, Leia, and Luke, but goddamn, those last ones.... now I want them to do this with Obi-Wan. But just him though Hasbro seriously I'm happy with ESB and ROTJ heroes, do supporting cast members and weird aliens first!
 
I’m sure Obiwan/Ben is just a matter of time, gotta be in the pipeline after the updates of the rest of the cast. I also want a new Threepio. But yes, some tertiary aliens would be very welcome. Nien Nunb and Lobot are among my most wanted currently.
 
I was going through my SWB figures to sort them out and decide what I wanted to keep vs sell, and I realized not including all the various Boba Fett and Din figures I have, I have at least 16 Mandoloarian figures. Many doubles of some of the "army builder" types for building the ranks. I grabbed the concept all white Fett with the idea of painting some bits, and a credit collection Din just for another random Mando trooper.
I apparently really got into The Mandoloarian when it hit. 😁

They even dwarf my combo of 8 Storm/Sand Troopers and 3 Biker Scouts.

Other than a few random characters that had cool looks as aliens or droid figures, it's just those figures and a couple variations on the main cast and Vader that made the 'keep' cut.
 
Went with the family to see the latest Avatar movie (this movie was pretty much the same as the last movie, they need to do something new with the franchise), and Mandalorian and Grogu was one of the trailers, and it put a huge smile on my face. Can’t wait to see it!
 
I actually have more Mandalorian bodies on the way that will need some painting and detailing to add to mine. And there's another one I'm keeping an eye on for later. I also have 2 WIPs that I really need to finish but can't decide exactly what to do with.

Sent from my SM-S921U1 using Tapatalk
 
joshsquash729 said:
Not to be that guy and open up that can of worms, but there is a weird trend there- all the Landos (Billy and Donald), Finn, Jannah, Reva, Greef, Moff Gideon, Yord, Saw, Val- they all languished on shelves (and that's not even counting other minorities like Rose).
Click to expand...

My best friend takes huge issue with most of these figures. Most lines, really. But especially with a Star Wars or anything live action, she will find some way they "did the actor/character dirty."

To her eye, the skin tones are wrong which she attributes to Afterthought. "Does it matter if it's Lando if this is a bit lighter? Would you want a bronzer Carrie Fisher?" The hair detailing. The bland styling choices for some characters. Sculpts.

She will also tear about any other character of any race, but the representation and respect she's looking for just isn't executed in a lot of these toys. And she's not the first person I've ever heard that from in non white spaces. She also tells me I should have a higher bar for my Brie Larsons and Harrison Fords.

I'm not white. I don't even have any representation in toy land, but I also always write it off as "it's a 20 buck toy" where the likeness/detailing is concerned. Of course as we all know, that ain't true anymore.

It may be niche, but it is the answer I've heard over the years. In high school I had a friend who didn't care about Star Wars because you only had the one black guy, and it just wasn't enough. X-Men at least offered a bunch of diversity at that time. It was always easy for us to onboard new nerds with some sort of character they'd connect with.

I think that's why the prequels connected with the next generations. Clones, all the aliens. Lot of women. Splashed a little color on that canvas.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top