Xizor?s View 115

Fellow collectors, I am here today to discuss the state of the hobby we call Star Wars collecting. This will not be for the faint of heart, so if you have weak constitutions, I suggest you leave the room now.

It has been said that we travel down a road in life. On this road we face obstacles and potholes, and occasionally come to a crossroads. Well my friends, we stand at one of those cross roads in our collecting lives. We have Episode 1 behind us fraught with it?s over production, failed distribution and bottom dollar clearance prices. Episode 1 was, I hope, a learning experience of a good many people and companies. It should have taught us that you can have too much of a good thing. That there are limits to how much people will buy and how many figure remakes they will take. And most of all, don?t buy red ink on sale. Episode 1 ushered in a new era in toy-movie tie ins, it ushered in the era of the failure of these tie ins.

Oh yes, the Episode 1 line was successful, don?t get me wrong. At what price though? Collectors were alienated from the toys and figures that they wanted. Retailers were hung with huge inventories of toys that no one wanted. And e-tailers were forced to slash prices to keep down their overhead. It was a no win situation for everyone. In the two years that followed E1 more and more product sat and hung in stores. Even blowout prices didn?t solve the problem. To their credit though, retailers fought through all the stock and eventually opened up space for something new. The Power of the Jedi line.

At first glance the Power of the Jedi line was unheralded. The hokey card front with jumpin? obi-wan, failed to muster a large amount of support. But over the course of the year and change that we have been witness to the PotJ line, we have seen some drastic improvements from Hasbro.

Case packs are the first thing that come to my mind. I (along with a host of others) have harped for years about Hasbro?s distribution of product with in the cases. Although the first few groups were not great, as the line progressed, Hasbro adopted some new thinking. Instead of sending out one or two new figures in a case with older figures, we got to see three or four fresh faces in a case. The 12-figure case seems to be the best. In turn, we saw fewer ?peg warmers? sitting in the stores. The figures sold and stores were more willing to re-order more product. This in turn made finding the newer figures a bit easier. I am not saying the system is perfect, but part of it depends on your area and stores. The footprints have been laid for future issues.

The second thing that comes to mind is the figure selection. While we were all tired of seeing E1 figures, the ?Classic? trilogy was due for a return. What I have enjoyed, is the mix. Sure, right now we are getting ?collector friendly? figures. But more importantly, we are seeing some great sculpts of both classic and E1 figures. Having just seen Eeth Koth and Zutton (snaggletooth) up close, and looking at the recent Imperial officer and FX-7, Hasbro has made great strides from the days of ?buff? Luke, Han and Stormtroopers. Combine the excellent likenesses and the selection, we may have had it too good for a while.

Crossroads

I am preparing myself, and you should too, for the onslaught set to start April 23rd, 2002. Though we don?t yet know what all will be available, suffice it to say that there will be a large number of figures out there come opening day. The TRU midnight sales have been announced, although at this time is seems as though it will be ?selected? stores. (as they say, check your local listings) Wal-Mart employees are reporting E2 product already sitting in backrooms. The wheels are turning, but are they attached? Can the fall of E1 be erased? Can more sane numbers beset overproduction? Can a sea of blue calm the sea of red? And, can we go more than a few months without some classic trilogy figures? All these questions will be revealed in due course, but until then it may be up to us as collectors.

We as collectors stand at the entrance to this era as the answer to these questions. Can the fall of E1 be erased? I think we have gone a long way in answering that with the PotJ line. I get few complaints anymore (aside from poor Chad in Alabama  ) about distribution or a lack of figures in an area. There are no more, why aren?t there any new figures coming out, e-mails. And few, why does Hasbro ship so many old figures, questions. We seem to be at peace with the way the line is running right now. Note to Hasbro, if it?s fixed, don?t break it.

Can more sane numbers beset overproduction. If not, this may be shortest offensive of all time. I for one, would consider packing up the farm if there are too many initial figures. I live in an area that did and would see pegs sit full for months on end of E1 release day one product. Not to mention the fact that Hasbro has to look at how many figures were still sitting when Wave 2 of E1 was to hit the street. How many of you didn?t see wave two until well into September of ?99 when they hit the street in June? Don?t everyone stand up, you will tilt the axis. In the case of Episode 2 figures, less is definitely more.

Can the sea of blue calm the sea of red? I don?t know about you, but I got really sick of the sea of red associated with E1. Aisles and aisles or red product, kind of a foretelling color for the line don?t you think? Although I will be the first to admit that the blue of the micro machine line did little for me either. But I must say that I like the ?vintage? look of the new cards, so I will reserve judgement until after they are in my hands.

Can we go more than a few months without some ?classic? trilogy figures? NO! I think that hurt some people last time around. Hasbro seemed to just forget about the classic trilogy figures for a time. The few comtech figures from the classic trilogy were difficult to find, outside of the first four. Although they did give us the very articulated Stormtrooper, Admiral Motti, and the ever-popular R2 w/ holo Leia, they seemed doomed to second class status until the PotJ line emerged. I am curious to see how this ?One Line? concept materializes. Will we see fewer characters made from E2 initially? Or, will the Classic and E1 figures simply take a back seat? Or, will the worst case occur and we will have waves hitting every week. So many in fact that collectors won?t be able keep up or afford to keep up.

Many interesting questions to ponder as we approach the release of E2 toys and figures. One thing to keep in mind is that we are collectors of toys. These are not nuggets of gold anymore than they are investments. They are what they are, and that is?? TOYS! If you are like me, and true of collecting heart, they are a reminder of a time gone by. They transport you to a place, maybe not long since forgotten, but forgotten non the less. Its? not about investment, or money, or who has the best of everything, or even who has it first. Collecting Star wars toys and figures is not about that, and it shouldn?t ever be. It should be about the love of a place and time, and it should be about the shared community that we call Star Wars.