The SDCC Pipeline Reveals Made My Stomach Sink

The San Diego Comic Con 2023 Hasbro Star Wars presentation was definitely a mixed bag for the Vintage Collection. Most of product reveals were outstanding, and of course the launch of the Ghost HasLab campaign was epic. Then came the pipeline reveals, and without exaggeration, they made me nauseous because I felt like they portend the end of the Vintage Collection once again. Not all of them are bad by any stretch, but when you take into account the bigger picture they present, it's concerning. I'm going to go from worst to best when discussing them.

Finn (The Force Awakens)

Honestly, if I tried to announce this as an April Fool's joke, it would have strained credulity so thoroughly that it wouldn't have tricked anyone. Yet, it's reality. Repacking figures in the Vintage Collection that have only tepid interest on the secondary market IS the formula that caused the disastrous relaunch of TVC in 2018. How minimal is the interest in this figure? One loose sample recently sold for a whopping 99 cents:


In fact, most Walmart stores still had that figures in the clearance section when TVC relaunched. This beaut was at CJ's Walmart when The Mandalorian was debuting on Disney+:


This figure alone could have retailers back away from The Vintage Collection. Specialty stores are going to be stuck with product that will never sell. Hasbro, if it's not too late, cancel this figure. Double up on another figure in the case assortment if you must. Alas, I feel this decision may be out of Hasbro's hands. I suspect a certain returning CEO is adamant on protecting the legacy of the characters created under his watch.

Axe Woves

Why? I don't care if he's going to have some minor tooling to make him Season 3 accurate. Did any of us even notice that there was a difference? The original Axe Woves can still be ordered on Target's web site for $14 HERE. There is no way on Earth collectors are going to pony up in meaningful numbers to pay $17 for a slightly different version. These are the same line decisions that have torpedoed TVC in the past.

Cassian Andor (Rogue One)

This figure has already been released twice. There is no market demand for a third release. Hasbro, are you trying to turn Ollie's into a de facto Hasbro outlet store?

Grogu (Season 3 pram)

The community was Grogu'ed out about 5 Grogu's ago. A Poly Pocket on a card is never going to sell at $17.

Mandalorian Commander

This is where the pipelines start to turn the corner. I feel like a lot of the community has been asking for some of the Season 3 Mandalorians to make it into the line. Even though hardcore collectors might be starting to get "Mando'ed out", this figure will do fine.

Din Djarin (Season 3)

This is a very smart main line choice. Din Djarin is still an incredibly popular character, and the rocker ankle version of the figure with the soft goods cape has been locked behind expensive sets so far (Mando's N1 and The Rescue set). Fans definitely need access to it in main line. Heck, I want a few extras.

Clone Trooper (Phase I)

This is going to be a huge seller. I don't even have to elaborate.

Count Dooku

This is confirmed to be a 100% newly tooled figure in the Star Wars The Vintage Collection Facebook group's Q&A HERE. It's the only newly tooled figure out of the eight, and that is massively concerning. Fans (not me) have been asking for this figure ad nauseam, so I'm sure it will be a roaring success.

Conclusion

I would also like to address one of the reveals, and that's the repack of the Corvus Ahsoka. This too has me concerned. The original figure is available all over the place at the original MSRP over a year later. You can find it in stock at Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, and even Hasbro Pulse. Why on Earth is this figure getting re-released when the original supply didn't sell through?

My biggest concern is that the pipelines showed very little investment in The Vintage Collection on Hasbro's part. Eight figures were announced, which is almost two full waves, and only one of them is newly tooled. Half of them are straight repacks. Three of them are minor retools. It seems like Hasbro is backing away from TVC again even though fans aren't. We're putting more skin in the game with the Ghost campaign than Hasbro is with these announcements. These pipelined figures could flop so hard that it's difficult to feel safe in TVC's future. At best, I have to imagine the budget shrinking in 2025. I will go further. The repack selections are so weak that I feel like it indicates a sudden reduction of the 2024 budget, and Hasbro had to scramble for any tooling that was readily available. It's hard to see any deep insight in these choices.

Hasbro, you can't sell those profitable big ticket items like Mando's N1 and the Ghost without figure support.

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