12" Gamorrean Guard Revealed!!

[Wookieboy]

Why do so many people bash the 12" line. I love this line of Star Wars toys. Yes, I have all the 4" size, but even if some of the 12" are a bit suspect, you still gotta love em. I think Hasbro is getting better at this line every year. Just think how great these things will be by the time EP. III gets here. All you have to do is look at the magazine Toyfare, 2002 Toy of the Year, 12" ultimate Jango Fett!!!
This figure is freakin' awesome. I only wish they made accessories for these like say, G.I. joe has. What does everyone else think?

[mini-rock]

I agree Wookieboy. I don't understand why the 12" line gets bashed so much either, yet still buy the figures they *****h about. Every year they do get better, and will agree also that EPIII figs will be the best.

[Tycho]

I honestly think they are bashed for these reasons:

1) first, people spend a lot on the 3 3/4" line and can't afford the 12", too. It's easy to put something down to help you get over the fact you can't afford it.

2) 3 3/4" line has vehicles - the first reason SW figure collecting got so popular. That was the revolutionary event in toy making: KENNER, decided to make small figures so they could fit in ships. GI Joe's standard size back in the day was only 12". The 3 3/4" Joes started coming out AFTER SW if I have my facts straight.

3) 12" are still like dolls to some people. We know they're not dolls - they're action figures!

4) the 3 3/4" line is easier to get all the characters made. How many here think we'll see a 12" Amanaman or Ephont Mon?

5) Finally there are some articulation and accessory issues , but number 1 is really the first and foremost reason.

Put down what you can't participate in..... that's what they do.

[JediTricks]

Most of the folks I see coming down on the 12" line have legitimate complaints about likenesses and accuracy of scale (especially when the standard GI Joe body used for these figures starts at a smaller scale at the bottom and gradually increases in size until it reaches the head to simulate a 1/6th scale perspective). I think it's mainly how much those issues mean to the individual collector. In other words, it all comes down to personal taste.

[derek]

Why do so many people bash the 12" line

my biggest complaints have been hasbro's use of an older, bulky GI Joe body when hasbro should of used their slimmer, better articulated GI Joe body. that, and the figure's heads are too big.

I think Hasbro is getting better at this line every year. Just think how great these things will be by the time EP. III gets here.

they are getting better, but it shouldn't of taken this long. with the resources a company like hasbro has, this line should of been stellar from the start. hasbro has been using a decent body for it's GI Joe 12 inch figures since 1996, but didn't use it in their star wars line untill 2002. and by the time they used this body for jango fett, they had an even better body they could of used for him. and don't even get me started on their use of barbie bodies for their female figures.............

while hasbro may say the line is geared towards children, as we know, many adults collect this line of figures. hasbro has lost many, many sales because their 12 inch figures look more like a "ken doll" than an actual high end figure adults and children would want to add to their collections.

hasbro would win over many adult collectors who have left this line for dragon, blue box and sideshow if they would strive for a more realistic 12" line.

[mini-rock]

At 20 bucks average a figure I would not consider the Star Wars 12" line "high end" but surely not low end either. The more costly figures seem to be what everyone is more happy with however you can look at numerous threads where "collectors" decided to just wait till these go on clearence so they can afford them, and they wonder why they sometimes get mediocre figures or rehashes. I have to sgree with Tycho that it is an affordability issue (all others are just an excuse or too nit-picky and just plain lame), and can be backed up by the numerous posts where waiting for figures that they supposedly hate but collect anyway to go on clearence. Like I have said in the past you can't put a price on something you love, and I love collecting & displaying my Star Wars 12" figs.

[Tycho]

That is true. Hasbro will not take bold steps into an adult-only market, and their method of cost-benefit analysis only takes an approach that looks at the broadest market.

Put simply, they won't make anything that they have zero chances of selling to kids.

Their attitude has always been they are a children's toy company that has to deal with adults that just won't grow up.

Part of that last statement, which is as offensive to me as it probably is to you guys, means that Hasbro doesn't want to hedge their bets on folks who will wait for clearance sales versus those who will buy $40 stormtroopers that have extra power-packs that fit their rifles (with working holsters) and who can store the power cells on utility belts with grappling hooks, food rations, water canteens, and other stuff 21st Century Toys might include with their figures if they made the Stormtroopers.

With a large market of 'children that won't grow up,' they might deal with a broader cross-section of income levels due to professional or labor-class employment (again due to maturity levels of their customers). I'm not saying only Doctors or Lawyers collect these higher-end lines, nor do I really know what those toys even cost, since I don't collect them. However, Hasbro wants to make a certain return on their investment into each figure. Average cost per figure gets lower and lower with higher production numbers - but that also means they need higher sales.

They can't sell more to a market that won't pay more.

Honestly, how many of you collect the Maramit 12" SW figures? I don't. They are $150 each approximately, though I think I've heard of sales for $80-90. However, I myself am not yet any kind of professional, and I can't afford that price for one figure (and it's true I'm not a fan of the Maramit style manily because there's no head in them - you don't put the helmet on as an accessory - they don't have a character, to me anyway. (on a side note, I do plan to spend $150 on the Royal Guard, should they release it, and customize it very carefully, with Max Steele, to make Kir Kanos' EU figure).

But Maramit must make up their costs by selling at such a high price. It's like if they needed to make 100 bucks, and there were 5 of us buying, we'd all have to pay 20, but if 20 of us bought, maybe they could sell it for $5 each to entice us to buy.

However, more accessories cost more, and in addition to the profit margin Hasbro wants to make (say they want to make 50% more of a return than what the average cost to produce an item was) Hasbro also has to fit in that product's share of the percentage Hasbro paid George Lucas because it's Star Wars.

Toweling paper ( 1roll, 1 ply) costs about 50-some cents at Walmart. Printed, designer toweling paper might cost 70 cents to have some flowers printed on it. I garauntee you that Star Wars toweling paper would cost maybe $1.15 or something per roll, because George Lucas must get his take on it.

So if a company wants to produce toweling paper because they make 20 cents on every roll, but they have to pay 30 cents to George just to have SW on it, they put that in the price and added 15 cents so they at least make some profit on it.

Trust me: if Lucas' royalties weren't so high, 1) the prequels couldn't have had as elaborate of funding as they were able to, and 2) we would STILL have options of buying Star Wars toweling paper.

Hasbro is in business for profits. They can't make them off of us cheap-skate, whining, over-grown brats who won't pay them $40 per twelve-inch, with one very big whinning, over-grown brat from Senoma, California raping them just for permission to think about it.

The people that work at Hasbro are also fans and would love to have stuff in as much detail as Ultimate Soldier! I know. I've talked to them. Management there controls them, or else managemet there couldn't even pay them.

It's George Lucas that needs to reduce some licensing costs.

That being said, Hasbro has probably already paid up for all their licensing costs until 2008 I think. Nothing can be done about that, but they did lower the price on the 3 3/4" figures for us, since E1 days. $4.99 is awesome!

Maybe they've now made a lot of their money back on the licensing rights they paid George.

Now George created this universe, designed the marketing for it, and definitely works hard and sweats for his profits he makes on us, but only if we're entertained by what he gives us. So far, that seems to have been working - and definitely for the Classic movies. If someone were to market an action figure based on you, for whatever reason, I'm sure you'd want some money out of that - after all you exist because you continue to pay for food to live, shelter to sleep under, and you work at some tasks you ordinarily wouldn't do (over playing with your SW toys) because you need the money to maintain yourself. So if someone was making a profit off of that, shouldn't you get some? (those of you who are married should all be answering with a strong yes by now ) I don't know by what formula Lucasfilm worked out what they rooked Hasbro, and consequently us, for. But maybe, just maybe, it was fair, considering SW's appeal. It helps fund our movies, since SW are all independents since ESB. However, I bet we all suspect George really rooked Hasbro, and forced their management to pass along costs to us.

[derek]

Put simply, they won't make anything that they have zero chances of selling to kids

making thier 12 inch line more realistic would only boost sales, not only to children but adults. dooku and jango are steps in the right direction. add airbrushed paintjobs to the heads as dragon and BBI do, along with super-articulated bodies and detailed accesories and clothing, and you have something any kid would want, as well being able to cater to the adult market.

these figures could still sell for under $25, as should the marmit figures. there is no reason hasbro couldn't easily duplicate these figures. all they are is properly scaled figures with hard plastic armor instead of bobble heads figures with soft rubber armor.

[derek]

just an example of what hasbro should do to improve their 12 inch line is better sculpted, properly scaled heads. here is a photo of an excellent example. this photo shows two hasbro heads of harrison ford and arnold schwarzenegger and two un-painted custom heads of the same actors.

[Tycho]

Thanks for posting that Derek.

I really like the Arnold head! (I collect MF's Terminator stuff)

Harrison looks very real - but more like Harrison today, than when he played Han Solo. That's why I feel that one is apples and oranges.