Deluxe vs. Accessory Sets vs. Cantina Sets

[sith_killer_99]

This OK here we go. This thread is dedicated to comparing and contrasting the strong and weak points of these three products.

Deluxe line: Overall, these just plain suck, IMHO. There have been very few Deluxe sets that are worth a darn. Among my favorites are:

Yoda
Clone Trooper w/speeder bike
Anakin with slice and dice Geo Warrior

Unfortunatly these sets seem to be EU driven, for the most part. This goes all the way back to the POTF2 Deluxe sets. Then along came the EP1 sets, which were Hasbro's big attempt at action features.:rolleyes: This idea NEVER should have left the drawing board.

Recently Hasbro has done a better job with the Deluxe sets, but they still have a LONG way to go. Hasbro didn't exactly get these thing off to a stellar begining for the SAGA line. Flippin' Dooku and Obi-Wan.:rolleyes:

Cantina sets: These are a nice idea that could have gone better. I for one would have liked to of seen all new sculpts for each of these characters. Though it is nice to see that we will be getting at least one all new character.:D

The only other thing about these is that we are limited by the number of "Bar stools" for the cantina.

My suggestion for these would be to make booths from the cantina, with all new characters.

The only other downside is that these are exclusives. Fortunatly for us these are Wal-Mart exclusives, which means that they are fairly easy to come by.

However, my local Wal-Mart still has plenty of these guys, I just bought an extra Greedo (the harder one to come by) last week. This does not really bode well for wave 2:( but we shall see.

Accessory sets: These are my favorite sets. I for one would be happy if Hasbro did away with the Deluxe sets in favor of these guys. Hasbro has been smart and tried to stick with "Army builders" which is another great selling point.

I suggest that Hasbro continue with these sets, and stick to the Army builders.

The big downside to these is that they are TARGET exclusives. :mad: Now, I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I HATE TARGET EXCLUSIVES! Maybe it comes from years of living in Hawaii, where there are NO Targets. These things always seem harder to find. Though to Target's credit (and Hasbro's), these sets have been easier to find. Not to mention the fact that these have recently shipped again. :D

I look forward to seeing the second wave of these guys and feel more confident about finding these now that we have seen the first wave ship more than once.

So, am I way off base with these?

[Jargo]

You forgot the most excellent POTJ deluxe sets and the SAGA deluxe Nexu and C-3PO/Battle droid, truly the finest examples of what a deluxe set should be about. Not these lame do nothing sets. The flipping sets were the crappiest idea ever. The force powers Yoda set is appalling Anakin and slice and dice Geo warrior is only good for the Geo warrior. The clonetrooper set is really not worth the effort of production aside from the speeder bike but if you have the POTF version you're better off, that pinky red plastic of the saga version is so offputting. I really hate the clonetrooper with a passion, from his oversized armor to his crappy gimmicky button activated hurling action to his horrid rubbery helmet to his stupid ugly mush face.

The accessory sets are better but not brilliant. only a few of the accessories have been worth the bother. I liked the Endor set the most and the arena set the least. There could have been a lot more thought put into these sets and they just seem like half hearted attempts at doing the job. For getting army builders a fine idea, for being exclusive a crappy idea. Down with exclusives.

Cantina sets are good for finally getting Momaw Nadon's costume right and for getting greedo's colors right. Ponda baba with removable arm is cool. The upcoming sets look just as good for correcting the faults of the previous releases on the figures and for giving us an incredibly cool alien character totally new. The bar sections are a bit weak but then again at least we now have a sculpted bar and some drinking vessels for all those cantina patrons. The biggest drawback to all the sets is that there should have been a curved section to each wave and so far we have a never ending straight bar and unless they do a third wave we're stuck downstream without a paddle. Also again these are exclusives and that sucks. Down with exclusives altogether. general release for everything I say.

These items aren't that bad as far as shoe-in sidelines go. They could have been better and then again they could have been a lot lot worse. They cost me an arm ad a leg to get because of their exclusivity, I'm glad i bought them for the parts that are good like the figures but not glad I had to go over budget to do so. And wait an interminable time for them to reach me thanks to stupid importation procedures. If they'd been available at regular retail over here...... Y'know I'm bored of this tune now. Hasbro and the UK, just not a good mix at all. :rolleyes: :dead:

[sith_killer_99]

I have to admit, you have a good point with the POTJ Deluxe line (Maul sucked though). But then, the POTJ line is the best work Hasbro has ever done IMHO. I have a complete set of the POTJ stuff (minus the 12 inch garbage Hasbro feels the need to crank out).

As for the Deluxe Yoda and Clonetrooper, I still have yet to find these (admittedly, I may have misspoke). But I have heard some good things about them, and they certainly look good in the pictures.

I am opposed to the idea of exclusives. Unfortunatly, according to Hasbro, it is the only way some of this stuff will ever see the light of day. Then again, maybe that should only apply to the United States, then allow for general release overseas and in Canada?!?! In any event, exclusives seem to be a burden we must continue to bear, Hasbro seems bent on them.:rolleyes:

I am thankful that the Cantina sets improved upon some POTF2 characters.

I still think the Accessory sets are the best thing Hasbro has going in the Deluxe/Cantina/Accessory, or "big carded" department.

My only real disappointment with the accessory sets was with the Endor drum set, I really wish Hasbro had made these into actual, removable, helmets. Oh, and the oversized mouse droid....what the **** was that all about?

Anyway, I like these much more than the EP1 (no figure included) accessory sets. The way I look at it, those things cost $5.99 when they were released, the new accessory sets are $9.99, that's just $4.00 more. Of course, figures were much more expensive back in the hayday of EP1 figures. :rolleyes:

BTW, if I haven't said it before, THANK YOU Hasbro, for lowering the prices on SW figures. It used to turn my stomach to walk into TRU and see new figures going for $7.99!!! At the same time they were trying to off load old FF figs for $1.99!:rolleyes: But I digress.

[Jargo]

Digression is the path to enlightenment I've heard said, but that's a little off topic again.... D'OH! :crazed:

The exclusive thing is something we have to put up with. Hasbro UK said recently that they will attempt to bring more of the exclusive stuff to the UK but Will they or won't they? In a survey conducted by hasbro UK on their HasbroJedi.co.uk site it transpired that most people preferred to buy their toys at TRU rather than use specialist stores or online stores. Will Hasbro ship more stock to TRU and will TRU stay true to Star Wars or will they treat it like they did previously as a passing fad and clear the shelves? Stay tuned, same channel, same soap opera........

[jpak001]

Yep, store exclusives suck. That's my official opinion. I cringe at the mention of any Walmart exclusive as I have never, ever found any of them at any Walmarts. If they ever make any Vader Walmart exclusive, I'll be forced to pay collector prices.

As far as Deluxe figure in general:

I don't really care for most of the deluxe, or accesories sets (really, what's with the POTF boba, or the probe droid launching backpack in the sith set?), but there are a few execptions IMO. I really enjoyed the following:

POTF Probe droid = Just a nicely sculpted large figure. The action feature is almost tolerable too.

POTF Snowtrooper = Awesome! This is my idea of what a deluxe figure should be!

POTF Hoth Soldier = Great for army building and dioramas. They did have a lot of those laser cannons in the Hoth scene.

POTF Elec R2 = A nicely sculpted base for your dioramas, A great little figure (with magnetic feet!)

Walmart Jabas band sets = Even though I HATE the idea of store exclusives, these were just really nice figures that almost any SW fan would want. Unfortnately I never found them at retail & refuse to pay $30 each for them.

Episode 1 Obi vs Maul = Just a nice looking display piece. Cool looking little action scene for "keep in the package" collectors. Also, I think this Maul is the 1st figure with a "death scene" action feature (correct me if I'm wrong).

All POTJ sets (including Masters of the Dark Side) = Although the Amanaman could've really been a single carded figure....

Saga Nexu = For the same reasons as the Probe droid, just a nice large figure with a decent action feature.

Other Saga deluxe = I actually like the ones that have magnetic feet. Not for the stupid "force flipping" or "knock over the battle droid(?)" action (both of which hardly work), the rediculous bases, or the likeness (Obi's face is horrible), but because I have a metal circuit breaker box in my office. They look pretty cool duking it out there! :p It's kinda neat to be able to put 'em on your fridge, or wherever else!

I'm sure there were more that I liked, but I can't remember them right now. I like the idea of army builder sets (can't wait to see the Jedi Knights 3pak!), but really wasn't that impressed with the accessory sets. Nice army builder figures, but the accessories seemed like just some extra junk to me. Give us some stuff we could actually use for display, not just extra guns & helmets. I would go more with the idea of the Deluxe CT w/speeder bike, or the Geonosian w/pod over the accessory sets.

Just my 2cents! :crazed: