What happened with the CE Lightsabers?

[JediTricks]

http://www.sirstevesguide.com/index...._articleid=518

Why did this program not work out? I have my own theories about this.

MR didn't do anywhere near enough advanced marketing on the CE line, details were sketchy and occasionally changing, no firm price or release date was given to the mass audience. There was never a listing on the MR website for the saber, advance or otherwise, that in my eyes doomed it from the start.

Also, and I don't mean this to sound callous, but the announcement that the CE line was going to switch from resin to metal at an affordable price made them far more exciting to a general audience of Star Wars collectors - those who normally would not buy a lightsaber replica because of its high price. That sounds like a good thing, but it would threaten sales of the higher-priced LE sabers, calling into question why customers are being asked to pay such high prices for previous MR entries. The tragedy is that the quality of MR's work would have paid off at the lower pricepoint far more than threefold, so the losses would be offset in bulk sales by a slew of new customers, and there would still be demand from LE fans who wanted numbered, boxed lightsabers.

It also saddens me to see that the Corgi merger is a major contributor to the project's demise, Corgi was not supposed to affect anything yet immediately they've killed a product that would broaden MR's sales to a greater market.

These are just my personal theories. I look forward to hearing from MR about what really went down. And I hope some day when MR's exhausted all the LEs and their various gimmick reissues that they return to the CE line and make a great-looking, great-feeling metal lightsaber prop replica that the common collector can afford, collect, and treasure.

[Jayspawn]

Personally, I dont think there was enough interest or sales to make it worth their while.

[JediTricks]

My reasons were part of why there wasn't enough interest, MR didn't market it, didn't give enough details like "when" and "how much", didn't have pics on their site. Heck, I'm still not totally sure it's even been released.

[decadentdave]

The fact that they even released ONE CE is incredible. Most of their products never get released because they lose confidence in them before they even go to production. When I went to MR in 2004 I saw many prototypes for products, some of which had been announced with pending pre-orders, that never saw the light of day such as Gandalf's Staff, Arwen's necklace thingy (sorry, not a LOTR fan) the light-up Star Wars jacket, the Predator mask, and others that ultimately were cancelled. Seems MR is so gunshy about anything they doubt will sell if they don't receive enough pre-orders for then they don't even bother going to production. While I can understand that from an investment standpoint, they obviously don't want to get stuck with a surplus of inventory that doesn't move, the fact is they just aren't producing. I was one of their loyal customers from 2003-2005 but to tell you the truth, I maybe only bought one item from them in the last year because A.) they have priced themselves too high for the average collector and B.) lack of interest in current products. I would love to get that Millenium Falcon but not when I have to sell a kidney just to afford it. To be honest, I think MR isn't doing too well. I had high hopes for this company in the beginning but they seem to be grasping for straws with new licences that hardly excite my interest. Perhaps they should take a cue or two from Sideshow Collectibles on how to market themselves, build a loyal customer base, and market and produce exciting products beginning with an interactive website that does more than offer the same old LE leftovers and update their blog a few times a week. The CE's had great potential. They could have really marketed these to big retail chains but they never even gave it a chance based on sales of the Qui-Gon CE which isn't exactly the most exciting lightsaber most fans want to have in their collection. I wish Master Replicas luck in the future and hope they announce some interesting products for their 2007 lineup, but my attention and wallet have been diverted to Sideshow for now.

[Tenric78]

Maybe its like Tiffany's. If they sold lower priced jewlery, people would devalue the high end stuff. Or if BMW would make a 20,000 car... or for that matter if cadillac made a... oh wait.. the catera heh

[Jayspawn]

MR probably should have debuted the CE line with Anakin or Luke's lightsabers which are more exciting. But I was never wild about the line to begin with so I would still have the same feelings about it.

[nash]

I for one am ecstatic that the CE line is dead. Good riddance!

[JediTricks]

I for one am ecstatic that the CE line is dead. Good riddance!

Why do you feel that way?

[nash]

Why do you feel that way?

Because IMO having made the QuiGon CEs out of metal instead of resin was a bad move and a slap in the face to the LE collectors. There is not enough of a visible difference from the LE/CE.

If MR had made the CE out of resin to model more of the stunt saber feel, I would have been all for it. But when I spend $300+ on a "limited" prop, I like to think that it would stay that way and not be undermined by something that is very similar for a cheaper price.

[JediTricks]

Because IMO having made the QuiGon CEs out of metal instead of resin was a bad move and a slap in the face to the LE collectors. There is not enough of a visible difference from the LE/CE.

IMO, that's a flaw of the LEs, if the CEs can be made out of similar materials for 1/3rd the price and look just as good, then the LEs are completely overpriced.

If MR had made the CE out of resin to model more of the stunt saber feel, I would have been all for it. But when I spend $300+ on a "limited" prop, I like to think that it would stay that way and not be undermined by something that is very similar for a cheaper price.

The stunt sabers aren't resin though, are they? (UPDATE: in the OT they were aluminum, in Ep 1 and 2 they were resin inside but metal outside like the CEs, and in Ep 3 they switched to carbon fiber.) Even if they had been though, when they first said they'd be resin I completely lost interest, it was only when they changed their minds and went metal that I renewed my interest. Anyway, thanks for sharing your viewpoint; I suspected that'd be the concern of LE owners all along and it's an issue that has been coming to a boil since MR first started making lightsaber replicas.


I feel like the LEs are overpriced and have not bought one yet, MR's costs may be tied up in the man-hours required to perfect each replica, but the finished products on the $100 Force FX and the $35 .45 Scaled Lightsabers look nearly as good without that same heavy cost so it's hard for collectors like myself who generally stick to a $100 ceiling to see the value in the LEs. Now we're coming to the end of possible LE lightsabers for MR to make, so beyond just halting the line, they have 2 choices with full-sized prop replicas:
- A) go up in price a la Elite Editions; or
- B) go down in price a la Collectors Editions.

If they choose option B, they cheese off their previous customers, but garner a whole new lower-priced market. If they choose option A, they cheese off EVERY customer and dig further into the pockets of their already tightly-niched market, carving out an even smaller niche within that and sending themselves into a downward spiral of failure.

(UPDATE 2: So, the CE was metal sleeve with a metal cast interior that looked like the LEs until you got up close, it was cheaper to assemble and looked nearly as good but had far fewer parts and thus couldn't look as nice up close, the CE pricepoint turned out to be an insane $199)