The $450 Vintage Collection Gunship has a pretty slow start. After 24 hours the current backer tally is pretty low with just 1,685 backers. What does that say about the new Star Wars HasLab? And how does it compare to the previous campaigns? Click through for more!
The engines are sputtering
To put things in perspectice, the TVC Cantina had 3,040 backers after the first day, the Razorcrest 4,082 and the Ghost 4,491. It even has lower numbers than the Black Series Rancor. The Khetanna is a bit of an outlier because it was the first HasLab ever, so I think the lower numbers for the very first HasLab ever can be ignored here.
The Cantina was only unlocked on day 29. If the overall dynamics are the same now, i.e. the first two days add a majority of the early backers, then it slows down considerably down to a trickle in weeks to come, only for the campaign to get a boost on the final day, then people who want to have the Gunship may need to be very patient.
Now the campaign is running longer than for the Cantina, but this will probably not have a huge impact on overall numbers, because after the first few days things always slow down a lot only to pick up again in the last 24 hours. So the extra days for the LAAT now may only make a difference of 200-300 backers, if at all.
At the moment chances are the Gunship may be the second TVC Haslab not to unlock all tiers, especially when week 1 numbers are even worse than for the Cantina which did not quite reach tier 3. The price tag of $450 (in the US, considerably more outside the US) is also noteworthy.
Early fan reaction seems to be more in the “meh” category, you can read various complaints about the price and many people also bring up the fact they already have a Gunship, or even multiples. So do you really need another one, even if bigger, for $450? Wasn’t HasLab once promised to be about “once in a lifetime, impossible to make otherwise” items?
It is noteworthy that the still ongoing GI Joe HasLab is also very, very slow this time. The previous three GI Joe HasLabs all unlocked on the first day. Yet after 25 days the Snow C.A.T. has only 7,330 backers, but it needs 8,000.
And since there is certainly quite a bit of overlap between the two collecting communities: maybe Hasbro is asking for too much here when they basically want collectors to spend $775 if they collect both lines? But even on its own wanting $450 for a plastic toy is asking for a lot. And people who backed all previous HasLabs may also, ultimately, run out of space. How many super big items can you reasonably display? Especially when you have a family / partner who may not want all of the house (or apartment) to resemble a toy museum?
Will you back the LAAT? Are you or do you think about (also) backing the GI Joe HasLab? Or are you still waiting? How do you feel about the price? Especially knowing there is a high risk you may not get all the bonus Jedi figures?
Do you think the age of HasLabs may come to an end, when they get ever increasing dimishing returns? Or is Star Wars currently just in a slump, ready to rebound after movies hit theaters again?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
You can back the LAAT on Hasbro’s HasLab site.