Wow it is getting funded!!!
I wonder where those 4000 people came from.
It is either Hasbro themselves or maybe BBTS getting a few.

Haslab Rancor failed, probably freed up some fun money for people who might've prioritized Star Wars over 'Joe.

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definitely thinking some folks thought "Oh why not, I had already mentally spent that money on the Rancor...at least now I'll get something exclusive."

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I backed it. Was hoping to get the 2 Pit Crewmen with it, hopefully they will be available later on.

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oh wow
16,798 Backers
when I ordered it was at 14 thousand something
I do think some online stores got in on the action

I'm sure the reality is that between online stores, people with "Rancor money" to spend, and just plain FOMO, it made the funding.

But the conspiracy theorist [pessimist] in me still can't help but wonder if Hasbro didn't fudge the numbers because they didn't want to have 2 Haslab projects fail back to back.

I'm glad it did fund though.
Any time a 6" project fails but a 3.75" project succeeds, I consider that a win.

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I gotta dispute this because JoeCustoms exists because Hasbro couldn't or wouldn't give us the products we wanted, pretty much the diametric opposite of nostalgia.

And yes, the Rancor's failure is pretty much the only reason this succeeded. You could practically watch the cancellations swap over to new pledges in real time if you had two tabs open.

I can't honestly say I'm happy this succeeded since I see this whole o-ring travesty as the very last gasp of Hasbro doing 18th-scale figures at all. Once this Pulse-only line dies on the vine after the nostalgiac flavor-of-the-month goes away in a year-ish Hasbro will simply do away with 18th entirely. And it will be entirely the fault of Hasbro having no good ideas they couldn't steal from other companies or previous employees.

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i just watched hasbro vs. mattel on one of the "toys that built america". you could say both companies were based on people using someone elses good ideas. barbi was a copy of a euro gag gift/sexy doll for men and gi joe was a "boy barbie" . hasbro made pencils and pencil boxes until the son of one of them bought the rights to "vegetable face" for $7000.

i'd say people using other peoples ideas is what makes the world go round. have a good idea that's great, but you need the $$$ to r&d,manufacture, and then stay afloat and hope to make a profit. hasbro risked it all a few times. they actually went full steam on gi joe before they bought the exclusive rights from the designer. they ended up buying it outright for $100,000 face to face in a bar the night before the toy show where gi joe was revealed to the world. that guy who sold his design turned down a 3% royalty deal for the quick money. at that time 100k was a whole lot more. he could buy a lot of lucky strikes and cool hats

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I think that's a very philosophical question.....Kind of chicken or the egg.
If we make the toys we always wanted but never got....isn't that a form of nostalgia? Is engaging with the same product we did as children but now calling it "collecting" instead of "playing"...basically nostalgia?

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I just fear the future of collecting any toy, as if you look at it now Hasbro can demand secondary market prices that I know many of us don't really like for anything now. This is something that shouldn't have gone out to be crowd funded from a company that didn't really come up with anything new. Did the 30th version really not sell that well? I guess I jut don't understand why they would have done this. Even at $80 to a $100 on this, I would have picked it up in stores no problem. Would have most likely got a few, if on the shelves. I don't see anything they did to the Skystriker that warrant the extra $130 to the price. Everything done on this project was what most of us customizers do already. It's a total win for the big company, as they don't risk anything either way. Though on the other hand not so great for consumer, as now we get saddled with the up front cost of manufacturing on top of regular retail costs. Then the other edge of the sword is they now know we are hard up enough to keep on doing this. I see this is much like how second hand stores (non profit) work, as they get everything donated to them. They don't risk anything as they don't have any up front cost to stock anything. Though with second hand stores have to give back a percentage by law to do what they do. Hasbro found a way around that in my eyes with this and I can see more big companies following suit. Which you can say what is the problem as we buy things anyway, but I find that it kills competition and creativity. Not to even factor in cost of things will be going out the window. Though I guess it doesn't matter at the end of the day, just the way I see it.

momaw nadon

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i was very surprised to learn standard mark up on jewelry is 500%. again surprised that diamonds aren't rare or in short supply, but they have this perceived value and people expect to pay a lot. i was also surprised when my manager laughed at 500% and told me the mark up on socks and most clothing is 5x that.

the only way to win is buy second hand, but that has limits. if you do buy new than get the most use out of items as possible. most of us men do wear clothes until they start to return to dust

there is no such thing as a good deal on something you don't need. i have seen excess in all hobbies. like guns where collectors have dozens of the same rifle . it ticks their box and that's ok. by all means if you have the play money and want it i say get it.

for toys i think this retro bubble is going to pop one day. hopefully fortnite and batman stay lower cost 4" options.

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It's more than just a 30th Skystriker. It includes 5 figures with accessories and cloth parachutes that's a retail value of $50 alone, if you consider that they're limited exclusives you're looking at $150 in value for just the figures. Plus there's an additional vehicle that would probably retail for $25. That's $175 with out the two stretch figures, the updated skystriker, the extra decals, the extra bombs, or the exclusive stand. It's fair to call it expensive, it's not fair to say it isn't worth the price.

I think it succeeded when they threw in three more figures.

I see this come up a lot with the Rancor and the Skystriker... "this should have been at retail!"
And it is safe to say...

RETAIL. WAS. NOT. INTERESTED.

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Not buy much and their claims to be more accurate F-14 is laughable. 5 figures that have no new tooling cost other than a new torso, as I see it. Not worth $50 in the least. Cloth chutes are nothing new, as we got them as accessories with figures in the last line. I don't doubt they would try and retail the service vehicle for $25 or more, as we all expect Hasbro to retool/repaint and then mark up. About the only thing you can count on with them. Plus you state yourself that $175, if you add in another $20 for the other figures, which again don't have any new tooling that is still under what they are asking the fans to pay. Though I don't want to get in a debate over anything, as we all have our opinions. I was just venting my concerns for the hobby we all love.

momaw nadon

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