You seem like a nice guy, but while I accept this mindset I certainly don't respect it. This is all very wishy washy feelsie talk and with all due respect I don't really care about how strangers feel, unless they're my friends. D:

If you feel like your toy has less value now that more less fortunate people can also purchase it I'm sorry you feel that way but that's a problem that lies squarely with you. If you think giving more people a chance to own a 'high end' collectible somehow 'cheapens' the one you already own, that's entirely on you.

I don't want to use the word 'selfish' but it's really hard not to when it describes this mindset to a T. :/ I'm not casting judgement either because I have selfish tendencies... but let's not sugarcoat what this is: it's pure selfishness.

Though I can almost guarantee you that a lot of the people who are most vocal about this would change their tune if they themselves were in a less fortunate situation. This is why empathy is such an important skill to have. Count your blessings and stop caring so much about 'value' and 'exclusivity'. You can feel pride for knowing you helped create a cool figure and made a lot of folks happy rather than care about how 'valuable' or 'rare' it is.

Is Hollow Knight less valuable to those who backed it because everyone can enjoy it and not just the backers? Perhaps it is, but I think the amount of people that game touched is worth so much more than if it were something that could only be enjoyed by a privileged few.

I know how sappy that sounds but I stand by it.

 

Haslab was conceived of as way for hasbro to make products for fans that neither would work at retail with little risk on their part but somewhere along the line certain fans got the idea that it was there so they could scalp fellow collectors that weren't able to back at the time for 300% or more. I for one have never been angry at my fellow collectors getting a second chance at a figure I was fortunate enough to get that goes for steep markups. I was happy for them. But that's just me.

 

Personally I would be fine even with Haslab figures end up at retail as long as there are still some advantages in backing (preferably in the form of lower cost rather than exclusive content because I hate hard to acquire content) and the fact is explicitly stated at the beginning if the campaign so I can make an informed decision.

 

I still curse Takara for not having made a MP Victory Leo

 

I am glad we are having this discussion out. Choosing Hollow Knight as your example was well-played, as I myself enjoyed it post-backing. If there were any bells and whistles I missed out on that only went to backers... I never noticed. But I also don't agree with the idea that a reissue of Unicron or Star Saber would need to be chopped down or worsened somehow to make it OK to do it; it would be necessary to make it BETTER so that previous backers would buy it too. Worsening it would just be a low-quality compromise that wouldn't completely please either group. Given the huge cost of setup and training workers to produce this monster, and the enormous cost of an individual QC failure (whether it happens before shipping or after) they still need to sell quite a few to make it worth doing. Let's not forget that shipping costs have generally doubled.

While I am happy to see that many Unicron backers have come in this thread to assent that they wouldn't mind a reissue or feel threatened by it, many more still have not weighed in. I get the hate for scalpers, although I think HasLabs are a bit different, since they are bespoke preorders paid in full a year up front: they seem to me like a perfectly valid target for investment. And let's remember that those investers helped hit the stretch goals. I recognize you are addressing the holdouts who own Unicron (and perhaps still possess sealed extras that they would like to see appreciate in value for later resale) for whom I am playing advocate (as I can understand why they might avoid this thread). Let me be honest... if Hasbro reissued Unicron, I would buy one and be happy. But I can also see that as soon as they do this, that class of investors may dip out of future HasLabs, which may then go the way of the Rancor, or at least fail to hit stretch goals.

It may be moot, as the purchasing power of Americans, Canadians, and Bretons is taking a dive. Over-the-top projects like this may be harder to sell from here out. Hasn't Pulse begun obscuring inventory numbers from their JS? If so, you can be sure there is a stock- and sales-related reason. Too many of us have grown wise to the fact that we can keep close tabs on the inventory numbers and hold out on items that aren't selling through, and buy them later at clearance. This massively impacts Hasbro's sales and warehousing overhead and quarterly numbers. Those clearances are a stop-loss measure because they are running out of space to house products, and that space isn't free to begin with. They really do rely on FOMO to drive sales at the new, "the news said the word inflation so we can raise the cost to value ratio by 40% for consumers" prices. And look how they are brutalizing Canadians...

If I can drive home one point here it is to clean your heart of hatred for the people who don't agree with you or whom you perceive as responsible for the problem, or standing in the way of what you perceive as the solution. What will be will be. Do me a favor and @ me if there is a reissue so I can get one too. In the mean time I am just distributing copium that is meant to help us feel better about the items we aren't or weren't able to get. This hobby can eat you up inside and distract from much more important parts of life. Thanks for keeping the discussion going, now I want to go back and beat HK again. Or maybe check if Silkworm came out. Moot too since I don't have my PC available!

 

Are these figures worth more because those who own them insist on selling them at unreasonable prices? Or are they worth more because those who don't own them are willing to pay inflated prices to acquire them?

We are so fortunate to be in a hobby where our collections go up in value over time, and we can sell our toys for more than we paid for them. That's a hallmark of a healthy hobby and a healthy fandom. We could be in a hobby where we're just throwing our money away on stuff that never gains value. That's an unhealthy hobby for people who care anything about money, which should be all of us.

 

I'm not about value when it comes to my toys. It's up to the people selling my estate to determine what my stuff is worth when I die.

I'm into firearms. When you're like me and you actually shoot your guns, they will never hold any value close to what you paid for it. When I buy something like a toy it's for my own enjoyment and pleasure, not for any potential resale value in the future.

So I'm not opposed to another run or whatever. I don't care that much at all. My own posts were basically of the mindset that if you had the money and ability to back then you should've backed. Again I only sympathize for those who came in after or those who just couldn't afford it. If you're neither of those and you just fucked around instead of backing and you missed it? Tough, kiddo.

 

Guns lose value? Surely there are guns that are worth more now than when they were new. What's the oldest/rarest gun you own? I can't imagine that, say, a Civil War-era pistol in good condition isn't worth a boatload of money, and it's certainly been fired before...

 

Umm. No. That's not fair to all the people who backed it.

 

That's the thing. The only guns that carry value tend to be rare pieces, low production runs and vintage guns(some, not all, and depends on many factors). I don't have any guns that are considered rare. I'll never get the full value for them that I paid for. Perhaps my AR-15 that I put some money in, but it isn't exactly a unique build. But I don't get guns for value. I see no value in what we call "Safe Queens.". I will never buy a firearm that sits in a case collecting "value.". I want to shoot guns that I get.

 

This is fascinating to me. Are there "MISB" gun collectors?

 

Deer season's coming, I'm hoping to fire my Mosin for the first time (finally)(had it 4 years already!). Firearms lose value because through time and weather and use they wear out and dirty up, and new and clean ones are always coming on the market. But in this discussion I don't think the focus is on civil war era stuff. Collector pieces like that, it's less common to fire them ever... But get a new, modern handgun for 600ish and then turn around and try to sell it after you've put 1200 rounds through it. You're competing with a lot of similar weapons in similar condition as well as with the large stock of available new ones. It's like with people on BST trying to sell opened, used, common CHUGs for $30 when they haven't even sold out at retail price yet.

 

Sell it at the same price backers paid (or more?)

Sure I don't care. I'm not an asshole. More the merrier.

 

I can see both sides of the argument here. We've all missed out on awesome stuff, either though not being in collecting at the time or not having the money. But there's also at least the suggestion that this was going to be a figure exclusive to this campaign, and it wouldn't really be right for Hasbro to back off from that. I recall some fans who finished their Classics Seekers with FunPub's Botcon set being pissed when retail versions trickled out over the subsequent several years. Not identical deco, but similar enough that it did seem like the Botcon set was a bit of a scam to those buyers.

To my mind the Haslab offerings are a wider-range version of convention exclusives - they're available when they're offered and that's all that are made. Fact of life with collecting, for better or worse. At least this was offered to everyone and with a nice long window.

But given the fact that the most recent Victory Saber figures are the Robot Master from 2004 and the Kabaya kits from 2012, I can definitely understand being bummed about missing the Haslab.

I've been in that position myself, and in fact I'm going through a financial crisis right now, so pretty much all recreational purchases are off the table. I'm likely going to miss out of Deathsaurus because of it, but it can't be helped. Mortgage and food come first. I'll just have to track one down later and pay the aftermarket premium if I can afford it. ANd if I can't I'll just do without. Not the end of the world, and I'm not gonna demand another run.

If Hasbro did offer Victory Saber again, it would almost have to be a more basic run. At the very least, the Tier Bonuses should be omitted from a second offering.

But even if Hasbro doesn't do a second run, the project had more than twice the number of backers it needed. That's a pretty good indicator that there might be demand enough for a retail version down the line. NOT the Haslab repackaged - that wouldn't fit into the retail pricing scheme - but another, simpler design that's more viable for retail.

So no, I don't think reissuing the Haslab set is likely or fair, but I do think there's hope for another version down the line. Maybe not in the next couple years, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

It's more likely from Takara, of course.

 

Not as far as I know? Guns are too spendy to buy them not do anything with them. I make it a point to try to shoot as regularly as shooting is a skill that degrades with lack of practice. Most people who buy guns and don't shoot generally aren't collectors.

Pretty much this!

 

How about if it’s a series of figures that go together, you can back the new figure and have the option to get the last one if the new one gets funded.

 

Why? Scalping?

 

It's like releasing Commander Motormaster, but without Motormaster, just the combine bits. Nobody would buy that because it's not even a full character

 

I kinda doubt that the full Haslab Victory Saber would ever be reissued.

That said, I'd love to have a core class Saber that combined with a voyager-sized V-Star.

 

You cannot scalp a bespoke preorder. It isn't possible. You people use the word "scalping" in place of "reselling" and it's frankly ignorant. There is a lot of whiny ignorance in this hobby surrounding resellers and there is really no excuse for it. It's willful ignorance. It doesn't become scalping just because you want to pay less than what people charge. People's time and opportunity cost must be considered! Otherwise there is no incentive to purchase stock in order to sell it later. Reselling becomes scalping only when the reseller attempts to limit other buyers' access to available stock in order to charge "unfair" prices for the stock they are hoarding. Personally I think it also requires that they use unusual and/or dishonest means to obtain their stock. That process is totally irrelevant when Hasbro charges up front for the product and agrees to produce enough units to fulfill all orders! Irrelevant! You CAN'T scalp a bespoke preorder!!