The Energon Pub

[King Kuuga]

Imagine my surprise to wake up and see how far along the Skystriker is. Maybe the Joe/Star Wars fans who lost out on the rancor decided to pledge for this instead. I will laugh my ass off if this succeeds where the Rancor didn't though.

[o.supreme]

Seems strange that Rancor didnt fund with additional overseas backers.

I've asked about this in other places, and I am unsure, but according to a few live streams I watched last night, I think the Only Haslab's that were open to international orders were the Transformers ones, which seems odd to me. Unicron & VS were the ones that spiked when international orders were dumped in large quantities, no other Haslab seems to do this.

Also congrats on the Skytryker for those that wanted it/backed it. Only 75 to go With 9 hours 20 minutes left, I wonder if later in the day, orders will go crazy enough to push it past any of the additional tiers? As predicted though, I'm sure some of the support is coming from the fact that the Rancor didn't fund, which freed up financial obligations.

[blackeyedprime]

was waiting on the 70 or so backers past 30 mins, refresh, 10,400+

Cobras plot worked and hopefully first stretch goal is attainable.

Not sure how well the relaunch will go for GI Joe over here as it isnt stocked by the large toy retailers and onl speciality stores. Having our anti terrorism unit called cobra is still bemusing.

[o.supreme]

Having our anti terrorism unit called cobra is still bemusing.

Here in the United States, health care coverage that is not required, but often advertised to people who are unemployed, is known as Cobra Insurance. . I've been offered it in the past when between jobs. Thankfully I always got another job soon after, and didn't have to enroll in it.

But I still think back to GI Joe Renegades. I always thought it was hilarious (in a cool way), that Cobra had a front as a *Walmart* type one-stop shop among other unassuming businesses (Housing, Pharmaceuticals etc...) to hide their evil criminal empire.

[King Kuuga]

They actually made it. I'm impressed.

[King Kuuga]

This thing was sitting at 7732 at 11:55 PM yesterday. They really got over 9000 backers in 24 hours. I'm blown away, I was sure it would flop. Congrats to all the Joe fans out there.

Skystriker.png

[o.supreme]

From the beginning, even before tiers were revealed, while growth was slow, it seemed as though there was always a little more support for the Skystryker than the Rancor. Again, I wasn't rooting for any to fail, but a few days before both ended, many fans online thought BOTH were sure to fail, and even if one of them succeeded most figured it would be the Rancor as opposed to the Skystryker. I always felt the opposite. I just saw the raw numbers, and whether the support was minimal, or abundant, GI Joe seemed to always have the slight edge in this particular instance. Who knows...if the situations had been the opposite (If Rancor Funded one day later than GI Joe), there may have been a different outcome.

As others have stated, I am impressed that with just a few hours left they added 6.5K to blow through 2 tiers. I think it would be a great gesture by Hasbro to amend relations with Haslab projects if they just gave backers the 3rd tier as a "thank you" for all their support. I doubt it, but we will see.

I also go back-and-forth on The Rancor. Many fans think Hasbro will try again next spring with a new campaign slightly altered. I can see both benefits, and detriments if this were to happen.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I think a lot of the support for the Skystriker came in once Rancor failed. There were very few fans who could go in on more than 1 Haslab, and the majority took the Proton Pack. Once Rancor failed, seems like a lot of those backers went to the Skystriker, right at the end of the time too. that was a great push.

I still want the proton pack, but like Unicron, just cannot afford it right now

[King Kuuga]

I think a lot of the support for the Skystriker came in once Rancor failed. There were very few fans who could go in on more than 1 Haslab, and the majority took the Proton Pack. Once Rancor failed, seems like a lot of those backers went to the Skystriker, right at the end of the time too. that was a great push.

I still want the proton pack, but like Unicron, just cannot afford it right now

Skystriker got more backers in the last 24 hours than it did in the previous 44 days, about 9000 compared to the 7500 it was sitting at when the Rancor ended. More than the entire number of pledges that the Rancor got. So it wasn't just ship jumpers, although I do think that's a big part of it.

[o.supreme]

Well the proton pack ended with a great success. 21 K backers and all 4 tiers unlocked. Something else I noticed though...

Pulse updated their past Haslab projects section. While they were quick to bury cookie monster hoping people would forget it. They show the Rancor as an "unfunded" project along with the others that have already shipped. Unlike Cookie Monster which had little interest, the Rancor came very close to funding despite all the controversy. That along with Hasbros continuing to show it on their site leafsy me to believe they will try again in the not to distant future.

[King Kuuga]

Well the proton pack ended with a great success. 21 K backers and all 4 tiers unlocked. Something else I noticed though...

Pulse updated their past Haslab projects section. While they were quick to bury cookie monster hoping people would forget it. They show the Rancor as an "unfunded" project along with the others that have already shipped. Unlike Cookie Monster which had little interest, the Rancor came very close to funding despite all the controversy. That along with Hasbros continuing to show it on their site leafsy me to believe they will try again in the not to distant future.

I seem to recall that Cookie Monster was there for a little while before being quietly removed, so the Rancor may face the same fate.

Anyway I wanted to compare the different projects so I put together a spreadsheet. Some of the data I had to find through internet sleuthing, and the tally for Unicron especially is more speculative than anything because the page just says 10k+. TFWiki says it once said "X% funded" and they calculated that out of 8k to get the 11k.

Haslab spreadsheet.png

Some curiosities: I don't know why Galactus needed twice as many backers as Sentinel, he doesn't seem that much more complex. By raw numbers though, he's the most successful project so far. In terms of the total percentage past the goal, the Razor Crest takes it. HeroQuest was a fundraising campaign where you could pledge any amount and only certain amounts would get you the game, so it's hard to compare with the others. Not counting that, the Proton Pack is the fifth most successful project by raw numbers and the third by percent. Victory Saber is third and fourth by the same metrics. Skystriker had the lowest turnout of any successful project in the last two years, so despite sailing past its goal maybe the GI Joe fandom really is as small as I thought.

[o.supreme]

That is a cool breakdown. I know someone provide the fans that run the Geek Dad Life YouTube channel something similar in graph form, with day by day breakdowns of all the Haslabs. That might be the best way to get the actual final numbers for Unicron, unless someone here happens to remember ( I'm sure there are several that do).

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I'm very happy the Proton pack went well. Honestly, now that I got my Christmas bonus amount, I realize I could have backed it and I'm very disappointed that my bonus notice came too late to do it.

The Rancor is even more an oddity with that breakdown in funding you made, wow

[King Kuuga]

That is a cool breakdown. I know someone provide the fans that run the Geek Dad Life YouTube channel something similar in graph form, with day by day breakdowns of all the Haslabs. That might be the best way to get the actual final numbers for Unicron, unless someone here happens to remember ( I'm sure there are several that do).

The problem is that the numbers fluctuate for a few days after closing, as people get charged and some accounts decline. We saw this with Victory Saber, and now the Proton Pack has lost about 40 from where it was at midnight last night. I believe most projects aren't even opened up to international orders like the Transformers ones have been, which makes it even harder to get concrete data for our fandom. That may be why Haslab just has the 10k+ on their page now. Now if they were tracking that even after the end.... well it'd be nice to see.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Heads up, Sentinel is still really cool.

also, I got my notice that RazorCrest is prepping to ship, it won't be long now!

[o.supreme]

Well... I was a bit surprised that Hasbro didn't try to roll our the Haslab Rancor again during todays Star Wars Thursday reveals. Still, fans did get a Huge item reveal, the Boba Fett Throne room. This very easily could have been a Haslab. Now it's time for SW fans to (literally), put their money where their mouth is. They said they would support large ticket items that were not Haslab...We shall see.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Got my Razor Crest! and holy crap, is it a beaut. They nailed this. Really nailed it.

[o.supreme]

So as part of Star Wars Celebration, Hasbro reveals it's first Haslab in over 6 months ...and



$500, 5000 mnimum, 45 days




Sorry, Unless the videos I've seen really represent the vocal minority, Hasbro really misjudged this one, If this actually funds, I will be truly shocked.

[o.supreme]

Well, with just over 24 days left (not quite half way from the original start date), the campaign for the Reva Lightsaber sits at 1060 Backers. I only am updating this because I got my standard "Dont Miss out" email from Hasbro.

This is the largest lack of interest shown for a mainline Pulse Project ever, and will likely be the 2nd Star Wars project not to fund, which is sad. I really hope whatever the GI Joe team has planned for the end of the month is pretty spectacular, otherwise, Hasbro may consider scrapping the Haslab format altogether. Not because fans dont want to back expensive items, they just wan to Back Exceptional Expensive items, something that is truly unique and fans know could not be produced any other way.

If the GI Joe item does well, I'm really hoping for another Transformers Haslab before the end of 2022.

I still find it odd, that the failed Rancor can still be viewed on the Haslab page. When cookie Monster failed, it was pulled right away, likely because it was so experimental and received little support. I thought for sure they would try again with the Rancor, maybe with a different set of parameters to be more appealing? After all, it did almost fund in the campaigns final hours. While Star Wars fans may be jaded, they are not complex or hard to figure out. 3 3/4 scale is still king, despite the coolness and details for Black Series (6 inch), it is just too big/ expensive to scale for most vehicles and creatures.

[Emerje]

My understanding is that Cookie Monster wasn't Hasbro's own idea but something they collaborated on with someone else (Disney? I don't remember) so it was probably easy for them to detach themselves from it.

Reva is going to need one hell of a redemption arc to pull this off, but I don't see this succeeding. $500 is too much to ask for a completely unknown character during her first and possibly only appearance. They should have waited, Star Wars HasLab projects seem to be plagued with bad timing. If the Rancor set waited a few weeks it would have been successful since it wouldn't be running against another crowdfund and could ride the new wave of Rancor popularity from Boba Fett.

Emerje

[D-Maximal_Primal]

So at least in the Reva lightsaber example, their mistake, in my mind, was not just calling it a normal inquisitor lightsaber. That might have made the difference, especially with the weird reception to Reva and what has happened over the past month within the fan base and even outside of it.

2nd issue is exactly what Emerje said too: timing. Rancor should have waited 2 months and it probably would have made it. the Star Wars team has had terrible timing lately and super long lead times for a lot of products, which has not been helpig at all. If they had waited to complete the show and then reveal this as an inquisitor saber, it would have made a difference.

3rd issue is unfortunate but cost. A normal FX saber right now costs around $250-265 (I got my Dark Saber at $250 and my Kenobi blade preorder is also at that price). With the 2nd blade they doubled the cost, even if in reality it might have priced it too high (it's not an exact doubling of materials to make a dual bladed saber). So it might actually be priced too high.

Couple that with the fact that Star Wars land (I think that's what it's called) does "legacy" line sabers that are usually cheaper than the FX line, almost the same quality, AND can be purchased by the same target audience as the FX sabers, and you also have a straight up competing line in the same market, and a bunch of people I know are waiting on a Legacy inquisitor blade instead of the Haslab one because it will most likely be cheaper.

[Emerje]

Just announced, G.I. Joe Classified (6" line) H.I.S.S Tank. $300 with four unlockables. Looks good, comes with driver. The chat in the livestream is going nuts over that price so we'll see what happens. I don't collect the line, but not quite sure it's worth the price. It does have a lot of neat features like electronic lights (headlights, taillights, cockpit, and rear compartment) and real treads. The more I see the more I'm convinced, there are a lot of details molded into the whole thing.

Emerje

[o.supreme]

I probably saw this about the same time, definitely well before I got the official email (which just showed up). But wow!. I thought this would probably do well but I am shocked! only a couple hours in and already 3000+ backers, almost 50% funded!

Star Wars Team is really hanging their head in shame now...

They just need to stick with something super rare that is Haslab worthy, and stick with 3 3/4 scale. I'm actually surprised the GI Joe project went with a 6 inch scale vehicle, but whatever works. I mean Haslab cold try another SW Black series vehicle, but if it was small enough (like a speeder bike), it probably could go just to mass retail. Maybe something like Luke's hover vehicle from the Original SW might make a good 6 inch Haslab? It wouldn't need to be super detailed, the nostalgia is there, and price should be relatively reasonable, like in the $100-$150 range.

I still think an assortment of exclusive figures for ANY Brand would be a great Haslab.

[o.supreme]

It's already at nearly 6,000 that is Crazy! But once thing I hadn't noticed before is the "early bird" incentive.

I am just curious, would an extra 40 days (on top of the "roughly" 15 months they would have already to produce the HISS tank) make that big a difference when it comes to tooling up and producing a new 6 inch figure? At that I'm guessing it probably is a partial using already existing tooling from other figures, though I could be mistaken.

I mean the orders could exceed 8000 just to meet that early goal and then fall, or even cancel en masse? Especially if the tier unlocks are not great, although I have a feeling they will be fairly solid...we shall see. Sky Stryker was the only item so far that actually funded, but did not reach all its added bonus goals, only the first 2 I think.

[Emerje]

And it's funded in less than 8 hours... wow... We'll definitely be seeing more Classifieds stuff in the future. So that means the Early Bird figure is happening. They need to announce those stretch goals before they surpass the first goal (which could be before midnight the way this is going).

Emerje