Well, yes, that's what I said if the rumors were true. I know it may or may not happen, but if it does, not having some representation of Star Saber in a more affordable form as well would be jarring. I'm sure some who would bite on this hypothetical Deathsaurus would want a Star Saber to go with him, if not the HasLab one, then something more mainline.

Sure, but then why not retool such a figure into Star Saber as well then? After all, as mentioned, Hasbro is always looking to see how to reuse molds to get more mileage out of them and to earn back the money spent in making said molds.

 

I think so too.

Actually, this is one figure that could really use a new version. The original made G1 figures look like Revoltech figures when it comes to articulation.

 

Hopefully one that can combine with Energon prime.

 

A sizable chunk of the global demand for Star Saber was already satisfied by the Haslab campaign. A mainline/general retail release of the character (new mold or otherwise) isn't likely for at least a few years after backers get this one. In addition to that, reissuing Haslab projects after the fact, without running another backer campaign, would be detrimental to the success of future Haslabs because fence sitters would stay on the fence and wait for a rerelease.

 

I'm really curious though if SS could be reissued without all of the other stuff, maybe as a Leader class figure or maybe as a new mold? I don't forsee Unicron ever being reissued for obvious reasons unless there's a second Haslab project, but that's not likely.

 

If you look at it from Hasbro's perspective you already eliminated 27000 potential buyers of a retail scaled down Starsaber. I just don't know if there's enough people out there that fit the small demographic of: have enough interest in Starsaber but don't already own the MP or the Haslab and won't spend 180 on Victory Saber but will spend 100 on just Starsaber.

 

Pretty much this in a nutshell

 

In an ideal world where everything was happy and fair and right, sure they could. But the reason they can't is tied to how they sell this figure.

Hasbro: "We will make this awesome figure, but only if we get x number of orders. But if you're nice enough to back us on this project, the figure will be yours! And you will be one of the lucky few (thousand) who made it happen!"

Backer: "Sweet! I gotta put in my order now! Don't want to miss the chance of ever owning this figure."

Hasbro, a few years later: "Hey... Did you miss that awesome figure when we had it as a Haslab project? Here it is again on Pulse for anyone else who wants it."

Backer: "What."

Hasbro, shortly after that: "Come check out our new Haslab project! Back it today!"

(Former) Backer: "Meh. I'll just wait for it to hit Pulse in a few years.

Hasbro: Sorry, folks, the project was unsuccessful.

The exclusivity of it is part of the draw to get backers. If they just made more later, there'd not be as much incentive for those on the fence. Or for those who can afford it to buy multiples to potentially resell a few later. (Which I am fine with, since it's not scalping if Hasbro can guarantee everyone who has the means to buy it when it's for sale can do so.)

If Hasbro wanted to get another use out of the molds and put out a drastically different version (even if just colorwise) that could in no way be an easy collection placeholder for the original character, I'm cool with that. But anything else cuts into the exclusivity that it integral to these campaigns.

 

A Haslab figure isn’t getting a retail release, simply put that defeats the entire purpose of Haslab. We can speculate all we want but that makes no sense. This would be no different then VS a retail, it eventually sells out through its inventory and no longer on shelf’s or online then deathsaurus comes 2 years later. Same thing happens VS is been sold out so if you missed out you gotta pay secondary market price

 

I'm personally skeptical that this is the be all and end all of Star Saber as a figure and he won't ever get toy representation again. I think that yes, at some point later on in the future, we will get another figure of him, and if it's a new mold that is more retail friendly, then so be it. I'm not necessarily advocating for this figure to be reissued because I am sympathetic to backers not wanting the value of their figure to be devalued or fence sitters just saying wait for a reissue. I just don't think it will take the literal decades that some people on this thread seem to think it will before another Star Saber figure comes out.

I think it's perfectly fine to expect and wait a few years for a mainline Star Saber release, because Hasbro only just proved that JG1 characters can be viable sells. They likely need that amount of time (a few years) to cultivate more interest in JG1 stuff to begin with.

I'm personally thinking if we get a new release of Star Saber, it'll be a new mold. As was mentioned, this project seems to be done to examine the viability and demand for more obscure JG1 characters in the worldwide market. This has now been proven with the success of the project. I think now, given some time, we can potentially expect to see more JG1 characters in the mainline retail. And that likely includes Star Saber, given his stature in his series as Autobot leader.

Well, how many Optimus figures have there been? And how many will we get in future. People are saying that Earthrise Optimus is "perfect", but I'm betting we'll get a new figure of Optimus fairly soon. Of course, I will not compare Star Saber directly to Optimus (given that the former is much less well known than the latter and has much fewer alternate versions), but if Hasbro wants to expand on the JG1 representation in the mainline retail releases, Star Saber must be one of those names, along with Deathsaurus.

It's certainly much easier to predict what goes on in retail versus these HasLab projects. If we get a Star Saber at retail, it's probably a good guess that Deathsaurus will come around the same time or in an immediate subsequent line, given past retail trends, so even if you missed say, a retail Star Saber, it's not difficult to pick one up (and for not all that much of a markup) if it was in the immediate preceding line. Leaks and rumors are much easier to come by for retail releases, so we know what's coming up and can plan accordingly. You can't say the same for HasLab stuff, in that you're likely screwed if you missed out.

 

Minerva from masterforce has been leaked as a walgreens exclusive for Legacy. I'd say this is a step in the right direction.

 

I don't think it'll take decades for another iteration of the character, however I also strongly doubt another iteration will come out within the next 3-5 years since Victory Saber is more or less the Legacy lines iteration, just like Unicron was WFC, so this is the Victory Saber to pair with a potential Legacy Deathsaurus.

It has nothing to do with being sympathetic towards backers or people that missed out really, people had 45 days to decide if they wanted it or not, simple as that.

 

Yeah we kept reminding people over the course of the project about the consequences of missing out.

 

I think the more accurate stance for some of those on the fence might be that they'd wait a few years for a new mold in the mainline general retail to come out, rather than this specific figure because they didn't back it. If JG1 becomes a bigger thing later on and garners more mainline representation, then Star Saber would necessarily be one of those names included. I know people that won't back this but would go for a mainline Star Saber (and Deathsaurus) because they are faction leaders, though they have no other attachment to the characters.

As I mentioned if JG1 becomes a bigger thing in the mainline, we probably need to give Hasbro that 3-5 years you are postulating to try and build more hype and garner more interest in these characters among the worldwide fanbase. Maybe if and when we get more JG1 stuff in the mainline and people collect those, they would want a Star Saber and Deathsaurus to go along with them, so there's that. People I know who would buy a mainline Star Saber would gladly wait that long, since Star Saber was never a big want for them to begin with. They only wanted him for the novelty of him being a faction leader. Some people have no real attachment to certain series but only collect faction leaders just because they are faction leaders.

But I think it's harder to correlate the 45 day window of a HasLab thing with that of retail. Some peoples' purchases are determined by what else comes out around a given figure. Some may not want a Star Saber without a Deathsaurus, for example. For a personal example, I might not have gotten an SS Sweep if I didn't see a reliable rumor that Cyclonus Armada was coming out in Generations Selects. But in the case of retail, you have a lot longer to decide if you want a given figure or not, and given reliable leaks and rumors, you also know what comes out immediately before and after that given figure, so you have a better idea to plan purchases. You don't have that information in this HasLab scenario.

Sure, but I don't think it's the end of the world if you missed this figure, personally. If you are willing to settle for a little less, wait for JG1 to become a bigger thing and surely you'll see a Star Saber in the mainline in a couple of years.

 

Nah, it's not a big deal if you didn't crowdfund the project. Just saying if you wanted it, you had time to consider to back him. Otherwise your only option is ridiculous scalper prices on the aftermarket unless Hasbro releases SS for general retail.

 

The earliest we would see a mainline generations Star Saber is 4-5 years. On the other hand, the retail Deathsaurus is rumored for 2023. So there won’t be a Star Saber to pair with him aside from this one.

 

I bet we have this same conversation with people who let Legacy Deszaras come and go before the next Star Saber happens because "there's no retail opponent for him".

We saw this with Metroplex/Trypticon and Fortress Maximus/Scorponok and Grand Maximus/Black Zarak too.

 

Of course! I absolutely agree with your stance here. I just think that some peoples' comparisons to retail aren't very correlated because you have a lot more information about what else is released in those lines and you have a lot more time to decide if you want a retail figure or not versus this figure.

Though by that point, it could be reasonable to postulate that a second new Deathsaurus will come out to go with that new Star Saber in 4-5 years. Of course, though, we don't know what is in the next two Legacy lines after Evolution. Would a new Star Saber figure in the mainline affect anything about this one? I don't think so. People would probably still bite on it and it probably won't diminish anything about the HasLab figure. It's like questioning why Core figures exist when Voyager and Leader versions were released in the preceding lines. It was mentioned earlier, but wasn't the point of WFC to do certain characters multiple times (a Cybertronian mode and an Earth mode)?

Also, if we get a mainline Star saber in 4-5 years, people may pivot and think this is the figure Legacy Deathsaurus is to be paired with. It's not much of a stretch to think that either, since that would be in the line immediately following the last Legacy line (would probably would be in 2023-2024). I mean, we get grouped figures in lines immediately following other figures in the same group before.

City bots are a bit of a harder sell than faction leaders though. But if you let Metroplex go, that's one thing. But then you see Typticon and Fort Max together in the same line, I think it was reasonable to believe Scoponok would be coming. That would've been ample time then to get Metorplex if you didn't and then plan for Scoponok, assuming you want all the city bots.

And what class would Deathsaurus be? A Leader or a Commander? Those are a lot easier to get if you missed out versus HasLab Star Saber.

 

Now what they could do is release an updated Energon Wing Saber around the release of Desthsaurus. Close enough for people that missed out but also differen

 

That is also nifty. Given that Hasbro will want to get more mileage out of the mold, they could also just retool it into another Star Saber figure as well. Would that matter too much to backers of this figure? I don't think so. I suppose it's also like Hotlink for those who missed out on Siege Skywarp.