Would You Buy The Tantive IV (Rebel Blockade Runner) Vehicle?

[Tycho]

I'm going to start a new thread series.

This will discuss ONLY the vehicle in the title of the thread (in this case a Rebel Blockade Runner from ANH).

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 guess - we'll see how that goes).

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 a Rebel Blockade Runner from A New Hope.

I envision this vehicle for a $150+ price range. I built my own, off-scale, just large enough to set up the original opening scene from the first Star Wars and I ended up with a 5 foot long ship. Off-scale, this is larger than the BMF by more than 2 feet!

There will be a cockpit with a pilot and navigator station and a command chair, and perhaps two "aides' chairs" laid out as you saw the ship's cockpit in ROTS. A blast door separates the cockpit from the neck.

Then there is a gunner station (or upper and lower ones) where a crewer can sit in a gun chair and control the direction of the twin-barrel turbolasers.

Beyond that, on either side of the ships by the docking rings, there are boarding hatches that are accessable by action figures.

Further back, under the radar dish (which turns), there is one escape pod that can jettison from the ship, carrying R2-D2 and C-3PO, or other figures as you see fit.

In the back of the ship, the engineering section has hidden passageways for Princess Leia to hide within.

This ship can be filled with Fleet Troopers, Stormtroopers, Captain Antilles, Darth Vader, U-3PO, R4-M9, R2-D2, C-3PO, Princess Leia, Imperial Officers, and have red sticker applications.

Or it can host Bail Organa, Captain Antilles, Pilot Colton, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2, C-3PO and more prequel characters and have blue sticker applications.

Do you want it made even larger so Grievous' fighter can dock with it? How much would you price the vehicle at then?

What other features would you want on it?

Why would you NOT want it?

How do you think it would sell if produced?

I took my prototype with me to Comic Con in 1999 and had Hasbro and Steve Sansweet both look at. Back then I got it estimated that the thing could only retail for $250 minimum!

Maybe costs could be cut back from that? I don't know.

But look at what some of you are spending on your Hot Toys, SideShow, and even the BMF.

This is the Tantive IV - the very first ship seen in ANY Star Wars movie ever!

What are your thoughts?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

What did Hasbro think of your creation? I think I've seen it on here and remember it being pretty spectacular. I don't think an actual Hasbro version could do it justice. As I've said in the other threads, I would (and do) buy anything they release. But seeing as how this ship is huge, and it would just look weird in toy form, I doubt they'd ever pursue this. I imagine it would turn out like the old Star Destroyer set - more like a playset with a frame around it. If they were to somehow produce one in the big vehicles line - say, around $100-$150 - I'm not sure how well it would sell. The scenes in it are iconic, but the ship itself it somewhat less so, I think. Unless we see Bail kickin' some serious *** in the TV show (either one, actually - and I would really welcome that), I doubt they'll do it.

[TheDarthVader]

If they released a big one, I would buy it. I am not interested in little off the scale pieces of crap. I would want a big expensive Tantive IV with white hallways. That would really catch my attention. Features are not a big deal to me. They could have warning sounds like in ANH, blast off sounds, and, of course, bright back lights. Those are the features that would get my attention and my money. I would be ga-ga over those features, and, yes, I would buy it.

[Sean the Hutt]

yes, I would buy it! If to a nice scale. I think a hew things need to be re-sized and remade.

[plasticfetish]

If they made it big enough, I could sell my house and live inside it.

I suppose we'd need to settle for something drastically scaled down, and more akin to a playset than a legitimate vehicle. Even though I'm sorely laking in funds and display space, I'd be kind of interested to see Hasbro take a crack at this one. If it was fun enough, who knows, I might actually go for it.

I'll say this though... they'd never make it so big that a kid couldn't lift it or move it around. I'm imagining something that's three to four feet long, and has a few different play sections.

[Devo]

Yes I'd buy this, don't know how big they could make it but at least we know they wouldn't go so far as to pull another Sith Infiltrator on us with this one!

I'd say this would be about Naboo royal starship length but with an overall greater bulk.

I don't think they'll make one but I'd buy.

[Darth Jax]

i would buy it.

if hasbro made it though, they'd make it about the size of the queen's starship/playset.

it would need to have an escape pod. hasbro would cheat just a bit with the appearance of the escape pod to make it look more like a small ship (as we've seen with all the big releases, they want to include something that kids will be able to "fly").

[pbarnard]

Nope, even at $150 it will be so severly underscaled and such a downer that it won't be worth it. I also think Tycho's expectations on "included" features for that price and scale are idealistic, naive, and not practical from a design stand point.

[DarkJedi5]

First I would like to start by saying, not gonna happen.

Do you want it made even larger so Grievous' fighter can dock with it? How much would you price the vehicle at then?
I don't really even want it made. I'd never buy this. I passed on the Royal Naboo starship at $75 because it was too big. If it docks with Grievous' ship it's gotta be at least $250, maybe $300.

What other features would you want on it?
I think Tycho summed it up with all the features that would do it justice.

Why would you NOT want it?
Size. Price.

How do you think it would sell if produced?
Not well. Not many people have that kind of scratch, especially today, and I can't remember the last time an action figure vehicle/playset went for this kind of money. Also, I do think this is more playset than vehicle... twisted and evil.

[Droid]

I thought the Naboo Starfighter was a storage nightmare. It was just too big. I sold it. I would be hard pressed to ever buy a Star Wars vehicle that was that big again.

I don't think Hasbro will EVER make it. It isn't a very exciting ship. The most memorable thing about it is a hallway, and while a really cool shootout happened in that hallway a hallway doesn't make the best selling point for a kid's toy.

I would only debate buying it if it included an extremely movie accurate version of the hallway where the Blockade Troopers fought the Stormtroopers. That said, I'd much rather buy a playset that would work as a diorama of that hallway.

So I lean towards no. I wouldn't buy it.