1/6 Hot Toys - VGM58 - Battlefront 2: Umbra Operative ARC Trooper (Exclusive)

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I think what bothers me the most is there are less units than Anakin. I wasn’t able to snag an Anakin, but I also wasn’t too upset… He’s a main character and they will probably do more versions of him, but this is just disappointing. Especially since there were 12 different Ebay listings from scalpers. One account sold mainly shoes… seriously?

For me it wasn’t FOMO or exclusivity, it’s the many hours I have played as this character in Battlefront 2 and when the servers eventually shut down this along with the heavy weapons clone will still be on the shelf to remind me how much fun that game was, it’s a graphically beautiful game that got me into watching the Clone Wars.
 
If you already have an Anakin the artisan head will be overpriced on the secondary market but still likely noticeably cheaper then getting the whole figure. Unlike say the artisan Joker the head is the only new thing about Anakin. This trooper I don't think you will see much of on toys anxiety, the only Frankenstein project I could see for this guy would perhaps be the death troopers, don't think there is any other black clones around?

Was surprised to see the queue at over 5k people for this guy, tho even for its relatively low edition once the fuzz does die down I think he might drop in price as the scalpers try to get rid of it, I know there is some clone collectors out there but somehow the universe tends to favor scalpers in these queues it seems.

I 100% get why they do it like this for the buzz factor, but a lottery based on the rsvp list with a timeframe for winners to accept would be the most fair way to do these releases. The queue "works" but its dog doodoo - I joined the queue for this figure around ten minutes after launch and got in at sub 200. Makes no sense.
 
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just so i dont bury the lede - i got very lucky and got one from sideshow.

that factor aside, how else would you guys have them handle these kind of releases? i think the blame falls on HT for making it this limited, but as others have pointed out - this isnt the most sought after character. imo stuff like this and arena boba are the perfect example of what to use as limited releases: niche recolors. if this was a popular named character like fives or wolffe then the quantity would truly be BS.

i feel really bad for those who wanted it and didnt get it, but coming from the sneaker game, idk how else sideshow could handle this demand. 5000+ people were waiting for what was apparently 700-800 copies. “first come first serve” would just lead to site crashing, overselling, and bots getting everything. a randomized queue position seems like the most fair option. if it was a general raffle open for entries for a week or so, forget about having a chance of getting it.

for reference, i opened SS page on both my laptop and phone an hour before the drop. at drop time, my laptop got spot ~1,800, phone got ~330 (which is obv where i got it).

if it’s any small consolation, i’m a huge fan of battlefront with 1000+ hours on the 2017 game that this is from (need to reevaluate my life choices), my most used class by a wide margin is infiltrator (aka arc trooper), and i will be 1000% keeping this and displaying it top shelf. not everyone who got one is a scalper.
 
freeze320 said:
just so i dont bury the lede - i got very lucky and got one from sideshow.

that factor aside, how else would you guys have them handle these kind of releases? i think the blame falls on HT for making it this limited, but as others have pointed out - this isnt the most sought after character. imo stuff like this and arena boba are the perfect example of what to use as limited releases: niche recolors. if this was a popular named character like fives or wolffe then the quantity would truly be BS.

i feel really bad for those who wanted it and didnt get it, but coming from the sneaker game, idk how else sideshow could handle this demand. 5000+ people were waiting for what was apparently 700-800 copies. “first come first serve” would just lead to site crashing, overselling, and bots getting everything. a randomized queue position seems like the most fair option. if it was a general raffle open for entries for a week or so, forget about having a chance of getting it.

for reference, i opened SS page on both my laptop and phone an hour before the drop. at drop time, my laptop got spot ~1,800, phone got ~330 (which is obv where i got it).

if it’s any small consolation, i’m a huge fan of battlefront with 1000+ hours on the 2017 game that this is from (need to reevaluate my life choices), my most used class by a wide margin is infiltrator (aka arc trooper), and i will be 1000% keeping this and displaying it top shelf. not everyone who got one is a scalper.
Click to expand...
I missed out on Ani, Joker, Stealth Cap, and Scarlet Witch due to being too far back in the randomized que line. However, I snagged the Umbra trooper being 202 in line. I missed out on the Iron man 100 but then the waitlist converted a few days later! Sadly, I didn't have the cash. I think the system is fair unless there are bots that are abusing the process.
 
freeze320 said:
how else would you guys have them handle these kind of releases?
Click to expand...
For starters, I wish Sideshow hadn’t blasted it out short of a press release… they emailed it, texted it and posted it to the Sideshow app…

By contrast when they released Arena Fett I didn’t even know they had a day where they were available at Sideshow, so I missed out initially.

This was my 3rd time trying the system out and each time I was in the thousands, with multiple devices. I was fortunate to grab an Artisan Joker but that’s a 4,000 batch run.

Anyways maybe prices will come back down later on like Arena Fett, someone said that was a batch of 800 but I’m not sure how accurate that is, You can find them on Mercari for mid-high 300’s.
 
TheeWanderer said:
This. This figure is literally only popular BECAUSE it's a limited release. Pure FOMO doing it's thang.
Click to expand...

I'd have to disagree. A lot of clone and TCW collectors out there.

Would this be a huge seller like a main character, major supporting character or a named clone? No.

Would it sell 1500 or more? Definitely. It is a skin from a popular video game as well, so could be a figure more casual collectors would go for as well.
 
I wonder if MyenShi got one....? 🤔

I hope he did, if he wanted one. In these instances the thing that makes me maddest is not so much the limited run, but that most of them probably went to scalpers. If they went to clone fans that would be more palatable.

Ah well, we can make our own should that become a priority.
 
Remember the artisan craze. Joined the queue for Joker, just to try it out to be prepared for the Anakin drop. Got to the Joker page and added to cart, bought it. Then, time comes for Anakin, where do I get placed? At 800, thinking I will secure one! When times up, I get thrown to a blank page with nothing (or they restated it?), forcing me to restart the queue. Of course, nothing was scored that night.
Annoying.

This release was truly unexpected but a nice one. Managed to ‘secure’ spot ~780 and was not offered a copy. A bit annoying but it is what it is, only hope Sideshow change their system. There must be a better alternative.
 
Marketing is not my field but I am 99% sure what we have now is how it will be for the foreseeable future from Hot Toys. The pandemic brought a lot of new people to the hobby and a lot of the figures from the last few years were obviously made in bigger runs then before and currently, even big runs like Vader is getting waitlisted before official release so they are definitively trying to build some exclusivity back to try avoid having to give away figures or have them sit in stock for years.

With Inart and others having soundly beaten them on quality right out of the gate Hot Toys have to try to match them on if not quality outside of their artisan line then on exclusivity, or they will go the way of the dinosaurs. These sporadic limited releases is a very effective way of getting exclusivity while maintaining a buzz, hence a bee trooper half the edition size of Anakin 🐝
 
Chamberlian said:
Isn’t Pop collectibles just as bad as Toys Wonderland?


View attachment 694508
Click to expand...
Yup, they are just as bad. I wouldn't risk it. They've been ghosting me on every platform because they don't want to refund me money they owe me. I have emails where they promised to refund money and give me a "sorry" coupon to use, and they have since ghosted me with zero refund.

If you want to risk losing your money, go ahead. Otherwise, go with the known sites like OSK etc....even Ebay with an upcharge will be better.
 
rayeknor said:
Marketing is not my field but I am 99% sure what we have now is how it will be for the foreseeable future from Hot Toys.
Click to expand...

When companies refuse to sell me items I want on a regular basis, I have a tendency to walk. Ive left two hobbies over it. Not planning on leaving this one, but I will go alternative routes.

Inart should be keeping HT up at night. Theres a few other newbies that are looking interesting. Keep playin' the customer, that always ends well⚡🌩⚡
 
Chainedstream said:
Oh I don’t like SS’s queue system at all. It is ****** af. Why let us wait when it is sold out? Just limit the queue for the amount of items available +5-10%….
Click to expand...

THIS IS A GREAT POINT that I missed prior. When you sell through your run, put a SORRY FOLKS banner up there and end the event! Why make ppl wait in a queue of 8500+!?! Its like they enjoy frustrating people.
 
Sideshow should have done a lotto for the pre-registrants. If you got in, they send an email saying you get picked and a link to buy. If not everyone takes the spot, then institute a first-come, first-serve drop of whats left.

This queue for 5000+ people trying for 800 pieces is super dumb and a huge waste of everyone's time- especially with the random placement.

-James
 
Pretty sure it was only 6-700 available at sideshow, if that. so slightly less then 50%.
 

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