The Rancor did not fit the BS, if the project was for an AT-ST, I think it would of been funded in 24 hours. People want vehicles more then monsters.
Frankly because most Star Wars fans realized it was not a good price for the product, even considering if it got all the stretch goals. Compare it to the Sentinel HasLab which was for the same asking price. The Rancor was noticeably smaller, had fewer paint apps, less articulation, no electronics, not as many swappable parts/accessories like the Sentinel's heads/hands/tentacles, and only one extra included figure compared to the Sentinel. Just wasn't worth it to the majority of Star Wars fans for a creature with 40 seconds of screen time.
For the screen time, Rancors are pretty common in the video games (KotOR, Force Unleashed) and the Legends comics and novels. If they were trying to rope in old fans, they probably missed the mark.
Yeah I don't really get the screen time argument. How much time did Boba Fett get? Not a whole lot as I recall but he's a huge fan favorite.
So, what is the over/under on these HASLABs being purchased by personal collectors vs prospectors? eBay already has HISS Tanks up for $800.00, and one listing for a Dragonfly for $400.00.
The only problem with the Hellcharger was for the quality and effort they put into it, I’ve seen stuff on par or better from other companies for 10 times less the price.
If they had waited a few months or shown pictures of their BS Boba Fett riding the thing, I am sure it would have sold. Of course, they would probably have had to work that out with Disney as Disney has made a somewhat marked turn away from Boba Fett towards other Mandalorians, going so far as to say BF is not a Mandalorian in the new canon when he was Mandalore in the old EU.
I’m a Star Wars and GI Joe fan and that thing didn’t appeal to me. Objectively it seemed like Hasbro was banking on it funding just because it was Star Wars but this isn’t the Hasbro living in the glory days of Star Wars toys post-Kenner merger to pre-2012. This is the new Hasbro living in the larger shadow of that former empire + some Disney overseers suggesting which toys to make. Price and tiers were questionable to begin with. Some of the unlocked tiers were laughable. That cardboard backdrop they had should’ve been part of the packaging at most and should’ve never been seriously considered. Maybe they could’ve had swappable parts along with a Danny Trejo figure to make the Rancor from Book of Boba Fett but that Haslab had an uphill battle against it from the beginning. Objectively the Dragonfly has more play value at a lower cost and you get a display stand able to display in 2 positions, at least 1 figure, a bunch of weapons to swap around and configure and a vehicle that can be displayed on its stand or on its skids with 2 figures inside, 1 figure handing from the winch and some displayed on the skids. Plus you get electronics, moving control surfaces and opening panels to remove more detail and the vehicle is huge. I get why you want the Rancor but I think Hasbro dropped the ball on that campaign and that’s why I think it didn’t fund. I absolutely think a Rancor could sell; just not the way Hasbro pushed it.
Way easier when you don't have to pay out licensing fees. Lucasfilm complained to Hasbro that they were giving their Joe toys too many accessories compared to SW. Edit: also can anyone check in on @WyldeBill ? I hope he hasn't had a joy induced heart attack.
They also utterly failed in cross promoting it with Book of Boba Fett (which sounded like that was a Disney-side issue) and seems like they could have easily made a double-duty Rancor, with Machete as an unlock tier.
Yea that’s 1 hell of a complaint, especially if Lucasfilm somehow expects the BS figures to sell at their current price point by comparison. This isn’t 1997 lol, 2015-present Star Wars toy lines proved that Star Wars branding alone can’t be counted on anymore to push toy sales.
I don't think the Star Wars team gets to do what they want because of Disney meddling. There is so much out there that imo would fund compared to a Rancor and Reva's saber.
The Reva saber in particular seemed like they were forced to do it by Disney. During every designer interview for it they seems so unenthusiastic about it and like they were disappointed by the finished product.
The "Engine of Vengeance" was 18.5" x 7.5" x 5.5"; the HISS is 19" x 11" x ??? (for some reason they never disclosed the width), but it's not looking to be significantly narrower than 7" and it's much larger in height. The Dragonfly, meanwhile, has those wings so you're looking at 11" x 34" x 14" (that's the order they have the numbers, don't ask me why they're out of order, but it's definitely not the rotors as those are nearly as long as the gunship itself so way more than either 11" or 14") so at the very least it's 3.5" wider than the Engine of Vengeance. The VAMP is based directly on the Lamborghini Cheetah prototype vehicle that never met production: Lamborghini Cheetah - Wikipedia Adding the weaponry to the rear deck, shortening the wheelbase and removing the second row of seating makes it less practical and more ARAH; by comparison, all they did with the Dragonfly is change the traditional rotor tail to a V-tail. Star Wars has plenty of "dream" items already in the mainline, where GI Joe Classified collectors are hungry since it's still a fairly young line; Marvel did really well with the Sentinel and Galactus, they set the pacing. As for the failures of those brands' recent HasLabs, those were all very flawed campaigns. Because Black Series collectors largely didn't want it, and some were slightly interested but the clunky sculpt (especially with that big gap around the head) and high price kept them away. A friend of mine is a supercollector, has the Sail Barge and the Razor Crest, and he was relieved when the Rancor didn't cross the goal because he really only backed it to be a completist, he wanted the pack-in figures more than the toy itself. The toy's design isn't terrible, but it doesn't really fit what the majority of Black Series collectors are looking for in their collections, and the price made it really unpopular. I don't think the Star Wars brand management team really know their consumers that well, the brand's larger items like beasts and vehicles have struggled to sell every time, from the TFA TIE Fighter to my beloved Snowspeeder, the original Wampa to Jabba didn't blow it up either, the Gammorrean Guard is doing ok at Target but it's findable. Collectors only have so much space, Black Series is much more driven by character collecting than Vintage Collection, whose size was dictated specifically to work with vehicles and beasts back in '77. They'd be foolish to, at this point it's hard to pinpoint what will and won't keep value over time. The Skystriker, Victory Saber, the Razor Crest, Galactus, even the Proton Pack, they've all dropped down to no more than 50% over original price because it's so expensive to ship them and the economics aren't where they were 18 months ago; factoring in ebay's 12.5% take and an "investor" could end up losing money if they're not careful. The only way to really hit gold is to strike early and wait for FOMO to hit right around the time that the campaign ships, hoping to find someone who didn't have funds at the time but does now.
I agree and this was already an issue arguably starting right before Black Series even started and years before Haslab. It’s an issue only exacerbated by Disney’s input also. The Rancor was just 1 of the more recent hiccups in their handling of Star Wars toys IMO.
Hmm well I thought EOV was a little wider. A lot of the width of the Dragonfly is from the skids though. The body proper is likely around 4 or 5” wide. Still a better deal than EOV no doubt. Agree about the resale. After the eBay fees and shipping it doesn’t seem like many Haslabs are worth the hassle and risk. Of course the same could be said of a lot of stuff people resale. Guess it just depends on how much it’s worth it to you.
