Post by aric on Feb 5, 2014 22:13:04 GMT -5
Here's an interesting article on the current state of Hasbro and Star Wars action figure collecting.
Jedi Temple Archives
As an aside, I've always been interested in Star Wars action figures ever since they first came out 30 years ago. I remember having the Lambda-class shuttle - the one with the pistol grip on the bottom that moved the wings up and down when you pulled the trigger. I also had the snowtrooper and the Death Star gunner. That was pretty much it for me. Then my toy interests were overtaken by Transformers and G.I. Joe. This was partly because the TV shows were current and the Star Wars movies had finished, but also because the toys for the newer franchises had far more articulation. If any of you guys remember, the original Star Wars lines had five points of articulation: a swivel head, two swivel shoulders, and two swivel hips. On the other hand, G.I. Joe action figures had a ball-socketed head, ball-hinged shoulders, ball hinged elbows, swivel wrists (sometimes, I think), ball jointed waist, swivel or ball jointed hips, and ball jointed knees. And of course, the levels of articulation for Transformers toys was commensurate with what type of transformers they were, which was often incredibly elaborate. These were huge positive aspects of the newer toys that pulled me from Star Wars to the other toy lines.
Now, when the new prequel trilogy for Star Wars came out in 1999, they released action figures for the movies. Initially, the action figures had, again, minimal articulation. Even worse, a lot of them had preset action stances. So even with the articulation, which was already limited, the way the toys were designed made them very undesirable. The articulation got better by the time Revenge of the Sith came out. And I even bought a few of them (Darth Sidious and General Grievous). And that was pretty much it. As cool as the action figures were (and they were definitely better than anything that came came before them) I really couldn't bring myself to splurge on them because 1)I got spoiled by G.I. Joe figures and I expected more articulation, and 2) I was only sporadically employed at the time, so I really couldn't justify getting more than a couple of the figures that were available.
After 2005, by interest in Star Wars and the toys once again waned. Then in 2008, The Clone Wars cgi animated series came out on Cartoon Network. Despite starting off rather iffy, it got better as time went along. I didn't really warm up to it until 2010 or so, two years into the show. By then I started watching it semi-regularly and I was once again curious about the action figures. When I bothered to look back into the action figure lines put out by Hasbro, I found a lot of really well-designed action figures. Most of them had full articulation, including ball jointed ankles on many of them. There were two broad toy lines within Hasbro: one that developed in the style of The Clone Wars and the other was basically a continuation of the older lines that were more realistic. And even the latter line were separated into multiple lines, probably for the purposes of redistribution.
I actually bought many things from these lines, though I am not a completist. That is to say, I don't buy everything in every line just to have everything in every line. I picked out my favorite characters and designs. But then after 2011, my interest in buying diminished. They were getting more expensive. When my interest renewed in 2010, the average price for SW action figures in Honolulu was anywhere from $7.99 to $9.99 depending on which line of toys i was purchasing from. Then it slowly creeped up to $10.99 and fluctuated. Now, action figures are about $11.99. And the cheaper line that is now meant to be strictly for the little kids is about $7-8 when the msrp is supposed to be about $5-6. Additionally, I noticed that the quality of the figures were deteriorating. The plastic on many of the figures, especially visors and weapons, came warped. The paint application got sloppier, and there were weird pink spots on the clone trooper and stormtroopers.
As of 2014, I no longer buy action figures from regular retailers. I have found places like Ross Dress for Less and TJ Maxx occasionally have Star Wars action figures that sell for $5. Granted, these figures are usually from lines of the previous year or even further, but considering how bad the quality of toys have been getting recently, older toys are probably the better buy.
Anyway, that was my toy rant. RIP great Star Wars toys, 2008-2012.
- Aric
Jedi Temple Archives
As an aside, I've always been interested in Star Wars action figures ever since they first came out 30 years ago. I remember having the Lambda-class shuttle - the one with the pistol grip on the bottom that moved the wings up and down when you pulled the trigger. I also had the snowtrooper and the Death Star gunner. That was pretty much it for me. Then my toy interests were overtaken by Transformers and G.I. Joe. This was partly because the TV shows were current and the Star Wars movies had finished, but also because the toys for the newer franchises had far more articulation. If any of you guys remember, the original Star Wars lines had five points of articulation: a swivel head, two swivel shoulders, and two swivel hips. On the other hand, G.I. Joe action figures had a ball-socketed head, ball-hinged shoulders, ball hinged elbows, swivel wrists (sometimes, I think), ball jointed waist, swivel or ball jointed hips, and ball jointed knees. And of course, the levels of articulation for Transformers toys was commensurate with what type of transformers they were, which was often incredibly elaborate. These were huge positive aspects of the newer toys that pulled me from Star Wars to the other toy lines.
Now, when the new prequel trilogy for Star Wars came out in 1999, they released action figures for the movies. Initially, the action figures had, again, minimal articulation. Even worse, a lot of them had preset action stances. So even with the articulation, which was already limited, the way the toys were designed made them very undesirable. The articulation got better by the time Revenge of the Sith came out. And I even bought a few of them (Darth Sidious and General Grievous). And that was pretty much it. As cool as the action figures were (and they were definitely better than anything that came came before them) I really couldn't bring myself to splurge on them because 1)I got spoiled by G.I. Joe figures and I expected more articulation, and 2) I was only sporadically employed at the time, so I really couldn't justify getting more than a couple of the figures that were available.
After 2005, by interest in Star Wars and the toys once again waned. Then in 2008, The Clone Wars cgi animated series came out on Cartoon Network. Despite starting off rather iffy, it got better as time went along. I didn't really warm up to it until 2010 or so, two years into the show. By then I started watching it semi-regularly and I was once again curious about the action figures. When I bothered to look back into the action figure lines put out by Hasbro, I found a lot of really well-designed action figures. Most of them had full articulation, including ball jointed ankles on many of them. There were two broad toy lines within Hasbro: one that developed in the style of The Clone Wars and the other was basically a continuation of the older lines that were more realistic. And even the latter line were separated into multiple lines, probably for the purposes of redistribution.
I actually bought many things from these lines, though I am not a completist. That is to say, I don't buy everything in every line just to have everything in every line. I picked out my favorite characters and designs. But then after 2011, my interest in buying diminished. They were getting more expensive. When my interest renewed in 2010, the average price for SW action figures in Honolulu was anywhere from $7.99 to $9.99 depending on which line of toys i was purchasing from. Then it slowly creeped up to $10.99 and fluctuated. Now, action figures are about $11.99. And the cheaper line that is now meant to be strictly for the little kids is about $7-8 when the msrp is supposed to be about $5-6. Additionally, I noticed that the quality of the figures were deteriorating. The plastic on many of the figures, especially visors and weapons, came warped. The paint application got sloppier, and there were weird pink spots on the clone trooper and stormtroopers.
As of 2014, I no longer buy action figures from regular retailers. I have found places like Ross Dress for Less and TJ Maxx occasionally have Star Wars action figures that sell for $5. Granted, these figures are usually from lines of the previous year or even further, but considering how bad the quality of toys have been getting recently, older toys are probably the better buy.
Anyway, that was my toy rant. RIP great Star Wars toys, 2008-2012.
- Aric