Would You Buy The Mon Calamari Star Cruiser?

[Tycho]

I have started a new thread series.

This will discuss ONLY the vehicle in the title of the thread (in this case the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser [Home One] from Return of the Jedi).

I will cover several unmade vehicles for the action figures per week, choosing them from a rotating schedule through the movies and the Expanded Universe.

I'll order it TPM, AOTC, ROTS, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, EU, and then keep going back through the order in that manner.

So here I'm only asking you if you'd buy the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser [Home One] from Return of the Jedi?

Return of the Jedi basically has no new vehicles, unique to this movie, left, that haven't already been made. The movie might drop out of our polls, or I might go to a re-release vehicle for the final ROTJ poll that I can think of.

Anyway, I would trust that the Mon Cal Star Cruiser would be nearly impossible to see made for the 3 3/4" line. Of course this vehicle would be out of scale and never made tall enough (with a ceiling to the ship that is) to house the Tyderium shuttle in its docking bay. However, maybe getting in the original Millennium Falcon, and one or two fighters based of the vintage size molds could be possible.

LEGO made this as more of a playset with a command bridge and a docking bay only. I really don't care for their set as a final product, though it's interesting and if I were a LEGO consumer, I'd probably buy it.

I don't know what this toy would do necessarily, besides house a docking bay. Of all ships, this one must be electronic:


Ackbar exclaiming "It's a trap!"
Red Alert alarms
light-up Endor and Death Star Holos
briefing room with room for many Rebel figures
bridge with stations for Mon Cal and Ackbar's chair
Lando's voice: "Good luck."
Han's voice: "You too."
Ackbar again: "All fighters assume attack coordinates!"


Size is of course a big matter. Remember the GI Joe U.S.S. Flag aircraft carrier toy made in the 80's? OK, well the Mon Cal Cruiser needs to be at least 9 feet or more long. This vehicle will open up for an entirely off-scale play environment.

Inside the docking bay should be a vehicle maintainance energizer, or two, like the vintage one from the accessory sets of old days.

Maybe gun emplacements with launching missiles for the kids could be added. They should be white and hard to spot against the ship though. Mon Cal or Quarren soldiers or Rebel Fleet Troopers should man them.

The main market for this toy would be for high-end Star Wars collectors (who also happen to want to dedicate a 9 foot space for this in their house) and who buy a lot of Rebels.

Do you want this made?

Would you spend $200-250 for something like this? More?

Are you seriously capable of it, or just talking?

Do you already buy SideShow, Medicom, Attikus, or Hot Toys products that approach or exceede this price range. (It was $400 for SideShow's Jabba, throne, and Bubo and Salacious creature packs - now more if you add the alcove with Han Solo in carbonite). If you own these items, are you OK with the price of the Star Destroyer as I'm suggesting?

How big of problem is having the space to own this ship? Why is it a problem? Is the space-for-it-issue at all because of WHICH SHIP I'm discussing? (In other words, would you buy a different ship from Star Wars that's this size and around this price instead? Which one?)

What other features would you want on a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser that I have not described?

How do you think it would sell if produced?

Do you think Hasbro (or even a different company like SideShow) could make this and start out by taking pre-orders with non-refundable deposits on the ship, say for like $50 to $100? Then either go into production, beyond the prototype, or refund the deposits if the ship needs to be cancelled?

This vehicle hasn't been seen in Clone Wars, but I'm sure it could be in development during this time and later make appearances on the show as a prototype. Would an appearance on the show help it sell?

Do you want to see the animated series feature it?

[Note the Quarren led the Mon Cal government (with Senator Tiikes - a Separatist) and the Mon Calamari originally got the Clone Troopers and General Kit Fisto to help them return the government to Republic partisan. Of course they got a raw deal when the Republic became the Empire).]

[Darth Metalmute]

I would have to say no, as my money would have been spent on the 9' long Star Destroyer.:thumbsup:

The truth is, this ship only should be made if and only if the Star Destroyer is made. I think it is also a ship that price is an issue. The only features needed is the bridge and the briefing room as a hanger would just disappoint since the falcon and shuttle can't fit in it.

I'll pass.

[Devo]

I think again 9ft as massively over-optimistic in the already unlikely event that this ship gets made (admittedly you have yourself..erm-admitted that its unlikely to be made). Plus I very much doubt it would include the hangar bay, or room at all for any existing ships - more likely they'd make up an escape pod/craft for it.

The hypothetical toys primary function would be as an environment for figures I'd say so it would have the briefing room and the bridge and I'd be suprised if it was big enough to fit those at any decent worthwhile scale.

Again - No to the 9ft ship. Just totally unfeasible for a shop to stock that let alone me to fit it in my room.

When it comes to capital ships I would excuse massively scaled down vehicles and would actually be more likely to buy them that way. What I would hope for though is realistic internal environments in as close to an accurately scaled size as possible to the figures - with the external scale only as big as it needs to be to contain this. Forget about trying to match it to other ships, its so unrealistic as to be not worth talking about IMO.

[Darth Jax]

while i'd love hasbro to offer larger ships (and/or playsets), i'd pass on this.

[pbarnard]

No, it suffers the same problem as the Star Destroyer. It also would suffer that no two MonCal cruisers were ever built or laid out exactly the same. 4.5' x 2' is barely enough room for 2 X-Wings.

Also, Mon Cal cruisers, is it an MC80? MC80A? MC70? MC90? Home One? They have even more classes and size variants because early ones are retrofitted starliners, while later ships are exclusively warships.

[Tycho]

I'd see if there is a "yes vote" for this ship - or how it is voted for (opening playset inside a ship the size of the vintage Rebel Transport, or semi-larger with room for the old-scale X-wing, or larger with room for the old scale Falcon - we can discuss that later if this ship is "a go" for people here.

While I kind of doubt it myself, I'd buy one if it were available - and I'd buy any scale made available including a vintage Rebel Transport thing (I know a Mon Cal is a different ship entirely) which opened to only feature a bridge and briefing room.

I am interested - so it's a "yes vote" from me. I'm just not optimistic. I also think we should see a Star Destroyer first. I'd use a Mon Cal ship for battle against the Yuuzhan Vong and take it to an EU direction beyond the ROTJ use.

By the way, these larger capital ships could be made by Hasbro or another company, and pre-ordered for delivery later, with a non-refundable deposit substantial enough to help the company producing these to at least break even.

You've paid $6.99 ahead of time, probably at least a couple months before you get your Eopie mail-away (why do people expect them before November?). I spent $34 or something ordering 5 Eopies. I could see spending $50 to $100 NON-REFUNDABLE for one of these capital ships, with production expected to begin AFTER a pre-order dollar amount is hit with everyone's deposits. If the target is not hit, deposits would then be refunded. In the meanwhile, production photos in blogs should continue to hype the product and gain customer feedback so that changes could be made along the way by voting deposit-makers with a poll-access code.

i.e. [to deposit makers only]: "Vote for or against $100 more in cost to include a docking bay for one vintage-size X-wing fighter." Just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it cannot be.

[bigbarada]

No, too big, too expensive.

Are giant capital ships and obscure background vehicles really all that is left in the realm of never-before-made OT vehicles?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

It's too huge and too boring-looking, so I wouldn't want them to make this. Just tape a bunch of pickles to a log, spray-paint it gray, and call it a day. :p

[Old Fossil]

No way I'd buy this.

If it were made well, it'd be far beyond my budget.

If it were within my budget, it'd be poorly made.

No-win situation with this one.

[DarkJedi5]

Ha! There's no way I'd ever buy a 9 foot long toy.

[Snowtrooper]

I would say no for alot of the above reasons. Like the star destroyer, it would be better to make it as a playset. But even then it would be rather boring since you'd have basically a hangar and a breifing room. Not much there to generate excitement.

[Tycho]

Are giant capital ships and obscure background vehicles really all that is left in the realm of never-before-made OT vehicles?

Yes.

ANH:

Blockade Runner
Star Destroyer

Escape Pod
Sandcrawler
Lars Landspeeder
T-16
Luke's Landspeeder
various obscure background Mos Eisley vehicles
Outrider
Millennium Falcon
TIE Fighter
Rebel Hanger Transport
X-wing
Y-wing
Vader's TIE Fighter

ESB:

Super Star Destroyer
Rebel Transport
Rebel Medical Frigate

Probot space pod
Hoth Ground Troop Transport
Snowspeeder
AT-AT
AT-ST
TIE Bomber
Captain Needa's shuttle (I guess it's like Star Tours)
Slave-One
Twin Pod Cloud Car
various obscure background Bespin vehicles
various obscure background Rebel vehicles

ROTJ:

Jabba's Sailbarge
Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (various)

Tatooine skiff
Imperial Shuttle Tyderium (variations)
A-wing
B-wing
TIE Interceptor
speeder bike
Ewok Glider
Coruscant Taxi (more appropriately a PT offering)

You tell me if I'm forgetting anything (please).

[pbarnard]

Yes.


ROTJ:

Jabba's Sailbarge
Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (various)

Tatooine skiff
Imperial Shuttle Tyderium (variations)
A-wing
B-wing
TIE Interceptor
speeder bike
Ewok Glider
Coruscant Taxi (more appropriately a PT offering)

You tell me if I'm forgetting anything (please).

Left off the Correllian Gunships, they have different versions of the Corvettes/Blockade runners as well.

[Tycho]

Left off the Correllian Gunships, they have different versions of the Corvettes/Blockade runners as well.

Well, if they make any Corvette, it must be the Tantive IV (ANH or ROTS colors).

But where do you see the Corellian Gunships in the OT? In ROTJ, I can't tell the difference between them and Corvettes like the Tantive IV.

[pbarnard]

Gunships don't have the hammer-head shape. Same basic hull and engine block, just the difference is in the bridge area. Some of the problems come in is that the EU to make them more different changed the engine blocks to only a tripple engine or so. Lots more confusion, because a Gunship is one of the smaller capital class ships, while the YV (not Yuuzhan Vong) series of ships look similar to a Gunship, but are only 70 meters or so long.

[Tycho]

I'm picturing something like the Republic cruiser in the beginning to TPM now.

But if gunships were not in the OT movies, they don't belong in this poll, but rather when I do the Expanded Universe vehicle poll (next post, later this week, btw).

[Blue2th]

Again I would buy it if they made one (in Action Fleet) no problem. ;)

Any capital ship in any size as long as it looked real and not wonky.

So I guess my answer is a yes.

[pbarnard]

I'm picturing something like the Republic cruiser in the beginning to TPM now.

That would definitely be what they evolved from. Never thought of that before.

[clone157]

I would love to buy an item like this, but I just can't. No room, no money. HOWEVER, I would buy something smaller much like the old Rebel Transport. And here's how I see it:
It would have a large Bridge area for Ackbar to command from.
I would love it to have multiple "action areas" like the Enterprise Bridge playset, where new Mon Cals could "man the guns".
It would come with a "Mini-Rig" chair for Ackbar to ride around on.
A small area in the back for a few titanium ships to dock doing a "forced perspective" view of a starfighter hangar. A window from the bridge would be cool.
I would also like to see an ability to change the bridge to the mission briefing area including magnets to hold a "holographic" representation of Endor floating above the table.
I see this as being about 2 feet long, 6 to 8 inches high at the tallest point, and about 10 inches wide, about $100. What do you guys think?

[Tycho]

A magnetically propped up Endor hologram above the briefing table is a great idea! Many kudos for that one.

The forced perspective on the docking bay with Titanium vehicles in there? I don't know. I'd like to see how that would be done first. But it's an interesting idea.

Very creative thinking Clone157.

[Devo]

I'm using the endor planet from the old POTF2 complete galaxy set as my Hologram from the Home One briefing room and have it being orbited by the little death star hologram that came with the POTJ black R2 unit. I have it set into the middle of an old car hubcap and that in turn set into a nifty styrofoam base that came as the packaging of one household appliance or another. Its better than nothing, but a detailed Hasbro diorama with the ethic they used for recreating the Falcon main hold would be nicer.

[Tycho]

I did the exact same thing for my Endor / Death Star Holograms. (Complete Galaxy, yeah!)

[TheDarthVader]

I would not buy this ship. It is not iconic enough and the design of the ship is just *blah*.

[El Chuxter]

No. It'd have to cost too much, and isn't particularly exciting.

[IG 8D8]

I don't have room for a 9 foot ship, but if they did the diorama for the briefing room and bridge it would be cool, I'd get that. I think the hangar is gigantic and you're better off building one yourself.

[Tycho]

The Mon Calamari Star Cruiser took a big hit for a loss: 13-2 "No, do not make this." :(

[Tycho]

This ship's failure to garner interest is complete. Any turn-around on a second chance?

[DarkArtist]

I'd have to vote a Big NO. it's not a really great ship to make for the line i think with the exception of the war room / bridge and hanger there really isn't much to it.

would rather see this as a few UBP sets or dare i say playsets. I think Lego's version is the closest we'll ever to see this getting made.

although an UBP of the War-Room / Bridge would seriously rock. I see a large holoprojector with the Endor Moon and a mini Death Star, several seats for pilots and such, New Ackbar, and perhaps a rehashed Mon Mothma (Maybe ROTS body with ROTJ Head), General Madine, General Calrissian, and some other key members of the Alliance, and maybe a few generic Rebel Technicians and Pilots.

[JediTricks]

10 characters of NO

[clone157]

If they made figures based on the Republic Commandos books I will start campaigning for this to be made because it could double as the Aay'han, the ship Skirata uses from True Colors.

[Darth Jax]

If they made figures based on the Republic Commandos books I will start campaigning for this to be made because it could double as the Aay'han, the ship Skirata uses from True Colors.

there was the Delta Squad box set, Omega Squad box set, Scorch was carded and Fi was in the Evolutions set. There have been a couple of releases of ARC commandos. How many more figures you want.

[clone157]

there was the Delta Squad box set, Omega Squad box set, Scorch was carded and Fi was in the Evolutions set. There have been a couple of releases of ARC commandos. How many more figures you want.

Check out my question in the Q and A thread.