Leave the gimmicks and action features to the accessories please.

[Jargo]

Okay, so a lot of people don't mind the action features. A lot more don't like them. A lot of people are now saying they've pretty much curbed their spending on star wars toys.
Me, I only buy what I consider worth buying. never been compelled to buy one of everything. But with the number of items i consider worth buying getting smaller and smaller I begin to wonder why I collect at all. Is any of it worth it anymore? The quality of the product has slipped, the plastics are horrible and the way the figures are put together is sloppy. Pain applications are really slapdash. Looking at the close up pictures at other sites where they manage to get crystal clear shots of newly released figures i marvel at how bad the painting is. joints are weak and limbs are misshapen in the blisters thanks to the dynamic style of packaging them, and coming back to the action features, they never work and aren't at all exciting as you claim. If i think like a kid and approach my new aquisitions with an open mind and the excitement that a child feels i get really disappointed when the advertised slashing action turns out to be no more than a flapping arm. That the magnetic attraction is as powerful as when I use spitle from my mouth to pick up a saber hilt on the end of my finger - not at all powerful and total failure to deliver the promised action. True enough the quickfire actions are just that, quick. But they hardly allow you to use the figure for anything else and i don't really need any quickfire figures. It's like a stunt double figure. you swap them over for the one action each can do? truly a bad idea. Not to mention the buttons being obtrusive. The Zam wessell figure had a tiny button that wasn't obtrusive in any way, why the huge things then on so many figures and why the awful mace Windu thing with the arms? That has to be the most stupid and pointless gimmick yet, also the ugliest.
There are certain aspects of modern figures that are right such as extra articulation and removable limbs and superb posability. But those seem very few and far between when so many figures are so preposed that they articulation becomes redundant.
There are legitimate places to put action features though. Accessories are getting bigger and there are more accessories packed with figures which is a good thing. Leave the action features in the accessories. If there has to be an action feature then make it a working accessory and leave us with a good articulated figure that we can pose how we want. Make accessories electronic or with loads of moving parts or spring loaded stuff if you want but please for the love a baby cheeses leave the action features out of the figures. give a figure an exagerated pose and they again become redundant for any other use. Scene specific figures are not a good idea if that is the only time a particular figure will be released, so knock the scene specific figures on the head and save that stuff for the unleashed line. Knock the action features in figures on the head and leave that to accessories. Just give us action figures with tons of articulation. The army builders are a fantastic idea but if they had more capability for different poses they would be 100 times better. A sandtrooper with knees and ball jointed shoulders, A scout trooper that could have been posed in a variety of sharp shooting ways, A death star trooper with knees and arm articulation, Not preposes but articulation. Will we ever get a death star trooper who isn't running? There are ways to make the toys more exciting but not the way you chose to go last year. You made a grave mistake and now it's time to correct it.

So leave the action features to the accessories please.

[Lord Malakite]

I'm all for special/action features on a figure, provided it deals with reinacting something that happened for a specific scene in the movies. A few examples include Jango Fett with removable head, Anakin with removable arm, etc. Using magnets for the force was a neat idea, but overall it hasn't quite pan out as I would have anticipated it, so I would drop that feature. I wouldn't mind seeing more articulated figures though.

[Darth Cruel]

Lord M - The features you mention are not really action features. At least not to me. Those are details that don't really affect the poseability of the figure. In reality they help. Figures with removeable limbs get an extra point of articulation by default. If the action features added to the poseability of the figures every time, I would be all for them. The action features I don't like are the ones like light saber slashing, kicking, quick-draw, and how stupid is the spinning hand on Anakin that negates the possibility of elbow articulation for a completely useless and unsightly "action feature"? And lets not forget that stupid flame-up-the-sleeve thing on Jango.

A great many times the offending action features are controlled by an unsightly and non-removeable button, lever, or wheel. To me those take away from the visual appeal of the figure when it is posed in a scene. Darth Maul doesn't look very cool standing triumphantly over a vanquished Qui-Gon Jinn with those two big wheels sticking out of his back. None of the figures with those control points do for that matter.

I realize that the 3 3/4" format limits the articulation that can be included while keeping a reasonable price. But we have seen again and again in this line and others that 16 points of articulation is easily doable. And based on what I have seen, I will not believe that 20 points is beyond reason. And maybe even more if they would cut back on some of the less desireable accessories like that stupid console that comes with Tattooine desguise Anakin or the box that comes with take-my-cloths-off C-3PO.

On the other hand. I am all for a figure of less poseability that comes with a cool accessory as long as I also have a well articulated version of that figure. I would enjoy my Clone Pilot even with his reduced poseability if I had a super-articulated version as well.

I would even love to see some stormtroopers that are sculpted to be laying around wounded or dead...but first I want a super-articulated one. None released so far are even adequate.

And now lets discuss the term "super- articulation". How sad is it that this term is used to describe articulation that is still less than adequate. In MY head..."SUPER-articulation" should be describing articulation that allows a figure to be posed in a super-human pose, like putting their legs behind their heads. NOT for articulation that SHOULDN"T even be considered standard. STANDARD articulation should give normal human range-of-motion to a figure. Now I do realize that part of human range-of-motion is allowed by our soft flesh and that it is restricted in an action figure made of hard plastic...my only point is that I feel that my intelligence is being insulted by toy companies trying to cloud the truth by touting 13-14 points of articulation as "super".

[Lman316]

I agree with just about everything Jargo said (I say "just about" because that was a big post and maybe there was someting in there that I really don't agree with :p).

I am getting to the point where I'm tiring of looking at over-posed and gimmick-riddled figures. I want figures for multiple displays, but with current "one-pose" practices, it's hard to do that. For example, I want a Bariss figure for two scenes: Arena and Palpatine's office. Well, with the newly released Bariss, I'll only be able to put her in the Arena. She's a minor character, so a resculpt of her (neutral) isn't too likely, at least in the near future. If you [Hasbro] had given her a neutral pose with much articulation, she could be posed in a number of ways and workable for many different scenes. Right there, I would have purchased two, but now I'll only get one.


Originally posted by Darth Cruel
I realize that the 3 3/4" format limits the articulation that can be included while keeping a reasonable price. But we have seen again and again in this line and others that 16 points of articulation is easily doable. And based on what I have seen, I will not believe that 20 points is beyond reason.

I will agree that articulation is necessary - I want tons on my figures too. But the problem with adding that many points is that, over time, joints can become weak and loose. I've had a few multi-poseable Spider-Man's in my time, and my first one can't even stand up :crazed:. I don't need 16 - 20, but a few more would be nice, somewhere from 9 - 12, maybe. And that's not for all characters, either. I want the extra articulation put on characters that dictate it, like troopers (Clone, Storm, Death Star, etc), and maybe a few more for Jedi and Sith (12 - 14, maybe, because I want bicep swivel with elbow joints - I don't really need knee joints on all of them, but it would be really nice. Definitely increasing play value!). Other characters that don't do that much can stick with standard and/or maybe a few extra points.
And Darth Cruel, you mentioned the Darth Maul with the wheels on his back. I actually like that figure, but you're right about it. I would like it so much more (and I would have probably bought a couple more) if he didn't have an action gimmick and didn't have those wheels sticking out from his back. He's limited and I don't like that. I don't like that on any figure.

So, yes, I'll agree with Jargo and tell Hasbro to keep the "action" features in the accessories. Even though, sometimes, it doesn't work there either (Chewbacca's C-3P0 accessory, for example), it doesn't affect the figure, which is fine by me. But having missile launchers and the like is fine, those can be fun. And again, they don't affect the figure!

End...:happy:

[Jargo]

No, sorry, I disagree with that last comment. Missile firing mechanisms in the arms of characters does hurt the figure when the missile is long lost or eaten by the dog and you have a figure with a huge gaping hole in his arm and a huge bulge in his arm to accommodate the firing mechanism.
This quickfire boba fett could have had a simple mechanism using one of his little pockets much the same way Endor han used the droid caller thing. There was absolutely no need to use the backpack missile as a trigger and no need to change the sculpt of it so it isn't even close to looking right. That's nasty sloppy work IMO. If they'd made the backpack a firing one but also made it accurate like the 300th Fett's was I could accept that as being a cool accurate feature because that's what the backpack does. But I'd rather not have any action features as any feature that stops a figure from being posed is bad. You cannot use boba fetts arms because they are tied to the action feature. It's a waste of a really good sculpt to shove an action feature in it. It's just shoving too much into figures for the sake of competitiveness. it's like hasbro feels they must compete with rival companies and so shove all this extraneous stuff in which isn't necessary. hasbro's strength was quality of product. In order to get these features into the figures the quality has been allowed to slip. Hasbro needs to get back to basics and get back to producing the best quality product out there. The figures work fine on their own without novelty added in. The novelty cheapens the product, it's worth is sullied. There are plenty of accessories Hasbro could add in with figures that would be fine with action features. That's where the gimmicks belong, like this new snowtrooper. The figure is decently articulated and the figure looks great. the accessory has the action feature which is where it should be and what I would expect. That to me represents the near perfect package. It's an excellent toy. Let's not forget where the star wars line grew from - toy soldiers. that's all these really are, articulated toy soldiers. Armies with supporting characters and guest stars. half these actiuon features are stuff I'd expect to see in some cartoon based figures but not in a series of figures that have always sold well without them. It's a bad experiment gone wrong really. However, these newer figures for the clone wars line, the clonetroopers and the droids and yoda look absolutely fantastic and really are the business. The snowtrooper is just excellent but vader throne room battle is a wasted opportunity to have a product that shines above all else. A sad pale imitation of a frankenstein monster. it wants to be a statue but it has the action feature of a cartoon toy and it just doesn't marry up. So one of those things shas to go, will it be scene accuracy or silly gimmick? There just isn't room for both.

[Lman316]

I guess I should have specified, EJ. What I meant by "missile launchers and the like" was like what the Red Clone Trooper Commander comes with. The accessory has the gimmick, not the figure itself.
I too am against putting it on the figure, like the FB Jango Fett.
Sorry for the confusion, :p.

End...

[Kidhuman]

Gimmicks on figures make them look horrendous. They have buttons sticking out if their backs, the gaping holes in their arms, feet, and anywhere else. They are one pose only. It is ridiculous. Pieces get lost to the accessories and the gimmick is rendered useless. Come on Hasbro go back the the nuetral poses or give the joints that move so we can pose them anyway we want.

[markfett]

I would like to express that I am not happy with all the extra displays and accesoires that comes with the new figures. In one way is it cool, but I am a collector who takes the figures out of the packaging and put them in my special collectors vitrine, but now I have to buy a new vitrine because of the room that the new figures take.

Greetings Mark

[187-Maul]

so you're saying that hasbro gives us too much for our money? why don't you just display them without their accessories?

but I agree on the gimmicks, they only hurt the figs and add absolutely no "higher playlevel" or anything like that to the fig