1/6 Hoy Toys - TMS 087 - The Bad Batch - Clone Force 99: Crosshair

[Asta]

But why?

Because the Clone era holds no interest. The interesting parts of Star Wars on film begin with Solo, especially from 10 BBY, which matches A.C. Crispin's trilogy. Prior to those books it was 3 BBY, covering Daley's and Smith's trilogies. It runs as far as The Mandalorian on film, and then the old novels take over again because they're better than the ST.

The "Clone Wars" also sounded more intriguing when they were mentioned in the OT, so I don't regard the PT or TCW as canon. At least TBB begins at the creation of the Empire, so it's already getting closer to what feels like genuine Star Wars.

 

[Ramatuelle]

I dont see this as all or nothing, but I will want at least three of them. The question is, which exact three. I wont know that until I see all the facial renderings.

Right now I am really leaning toward Echo, Cross and Hunter. But Tech is a favorite of mine, sooooooo......

All five is a significant financial decision, and we got Mando season 3 coming up. Much depends on who ends up tugging on my heartstrings with their badassitude. If it ends up being all five of the Batch, I will worry about that later.

 

[Ramatuelle]

At least TBB begins at the creation of the Empire, so it's already getting closer to what feels like genuine Star Wars.

I dont know how much more "genuine SW" one can get than the CW era? "Execute Order 66" is in fact the most SW thing ever. From this one era springs everything good about the OT. What kind of genuine SW can you have with no Kenobi telling Luke the truth, but not the whole truth? Without it you got no Darth Vader, you have nothing!! Really nothing.

I could expand upon this significantly but I wont. (And everyone sighed with relief.) This concept is a real head-scratcher for me. Its like saying that the WW2 era had nothing to do with our society now. Au contraire! WW2 sent out ripples that still affect us now.

 

[Asta]

This is a figure thread, so all I will say is that for me genuine Star Wars is the age of the Empire and its Remnant. The PT was a series of bad movies that spawned the largely boring TCW cartoon. I have no interest in that era.

And now back to figures. I'm leaning towards cancelling Echo and Hunter because I keep telling myself to stop buying figures that hold no meaning, no matter how good they look.

 

[SOU7567]

"genuine" Star Wars

lmao

 

[Asta]

"genuine" Star Wars

lmao

Star Wars begins with the 1977 film (or technically the 1976 novel). That's my benchmark for "genuine". Everything else is held to account. The old EU novels felt much more faithful to the original than say, the PT or the ST.

Your mileage may vary, but there are roads in this franchise I don't want to take.

 

[DarkChocobi]

Because the Clone era holds no interest. The interesting parts of Star Wars on film begin with Solo, especially from 10 BBY, which matches A.C. Crispin's trilogy. Prior to those books it was 3 BBY, covering Daley's and Smith's trilogies. It runs as far as The Mandalorian on film, and then the old novels take over again because they're better than the ST.

The "Clone Wars" also sounded more intriguing when they were mentioned in the OT, so I don't regard the PT or TCW as canon. At least TBB begins at the creation of the Empire, so it's already getting closer to what feels like genuine Star Wars.

I believe you're probably figured it out all wrong. Bad Bad squad has undergone countless covert ops during TCW and their creation possibly was at some point during the early stages of The Clone Wars too...so I guess they're not befitting with your definition of "genuine StarWars" not bearing the PT/TWC stain.

 

[Asta]

I believe you're probably figured it out all wrong. Bad Bad squad has undergone countless covert ops during TCW and their creation possibly was at some point during the early stages of The Clone Wars too...so I guess they're not befitting with your definition of "genuine StarWars" not bearing the PT/TWC stain.

I was referring to TBB cartoon beginning at the creation of the Empire.

I found their arc in TCW to be typical of much of TCW: jingoistic Saturday morning nonsense. Based on that arc I didn't think I'd be watching TBB, but it turned out to be a more interesting series. Especially since it's now the age of Empire.

The characters have good designs, are unique yet aesthetically connected, and could fit into a later period as a mercenary team.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Anyone questioning keeping a preorder for a $250+ figure, should go ahead and cancel the order. These things are too expensive for the buyer not to regard them as must-have, imo. If you dont must-have, keep your money.

 

[Asta]

Anyone questioning keeping a preorder for a $250+ figure, should go ahead and cancel the order. These things are too expensive for the buyer not to regard them as must-have, imo. If you dont must-have, keep your money.

It's not really about the money, but I like collecting that as well.

It's more about the fact that so many Star Wars figures have gone from box to shelf, look good but don't inspire me. A collection should mean something, and more recently it's taking a different direction. I already ditched Cad Bane, Gideon and extra shiny Mando.

There's others I could cancel too, but something is holding me back. They're from The Mandalorian, plus the one lonely OT Scout.

TBB is an odd one. Hot Toys are putting in the effort with these and they're looking great. But it's all or nothing. It's a team, even though I never intended them to be 'The Bad Batch' in the collection. They'd have their helmets on so they don't have to be Clones.

My heart really isn't in Star Wars any more. It's an over saturated subject now. I'm looking forward to other themes, including the '66 Batman series from Mars which is a much needed breath of fresh air.

I've seen posts from people saying they're giving up Star Wars, and it never seemed a possibility until now.

 

[Hoody999]

It's not really about the money, but I like collecting that as well.

It's more about the fact that so many Star Wars figures have gone from box to shelf, look good but don't inspire me. A collection should mean something, and more recently it's taking a different direction. I already ditched Cad Bane, Gideon and extra shiny Mando.

There's others I could cancel too, but something is holding me back. They're from The Mandalorian, plus the one lonely OT Scout.

TBB is an odd one. Hot Toys are putting in the effort with these and they're looking great. But it's all or nothing. It's a team, even though I never intended them to be 'The Bad Batch' in the collection. They'd have their helmets on so they don't have to be Clones.

My heart really isn't in Star Wars any more. It's an over saturated subject now. I'm looking forward to other themes, including the '66 Batman series from Mars which is a much needed breath of fresh air.

I've seen posts from people saying they're giving up Star Wars, and it never seemed a possibility until now.

This seems to be a re-occuring theme with many collectors including myself.

As I wrote somewhere else, I think it stems back to the botched handling of Star Wars by Disney. Their hit/miss ratio for both TV shows + movies (for most people) must be at least below 50%. That's pretty poor imo.

Sure they make their money up front because fans are interested in what's next. But "several times bitten now twice shy" to blantant "I give up on Star Wars" is defintely being felt by many fans + collectors.

This then of course reflects itself in expensive figures being questioned. Both new figures and older figures pre-ordered back in the heat of the moment.

 

[ArtDamage]

I found their arc in TCW to be typical of much of TCW: jingoistic Saturday morning nonsense.

Jingoistic is an interesting descriptor for TCW. I'm not sure I agree with that as even a lot of the clone focused or more military episodes generally focus on the Clones brotherhood with one another, the cost of war and following orders etc. I mean you have the early war serial type narration in the beginning, but it kinda ends there as a comparison to me.


The prequels as a whole are definitely an uneven era to be sure though.

I don't have any particular love for the Bad Batch specifically, but I'm interested to see how season 2 goes and maybe decide from there. It is tough though as they seem to be putting In a decent effort on these.

Echo looks fantastic, but if I was asked to pick between this bad batch look and his Arc Trooper look I'd dumpster this bad batch version before you finished asking the question

 

[Ramatuelle]

Jingoistic is an interesting descriptor for TCW. I'm not sure I agree with that as even a lot of the clone focused or more military episodes generally focus on the Clones brotherhood with one another, the cost of war and following orders etc. I mean you have the early war serial type narration in the beginning, but it kinda ends there as a comparison to me.

You know what? I used to kind of feel the same way. The CW bored me. Sure, cool looking stuff and who could possibly object to Jango spamming the entire galaxy with exact copies of himself....? [This was actually a service to women all over the galaxy. Heh.] I dont care about some kids' cartoon, though. Nor did I care about Anakin and Padme' sitting in some field giving each other googly eyes. Boring.

Then after fifty people telling me I HAD to read the Republic Commando series, OKAY ENOUGH ALREADY I will try book 1. Settle down, Beavis!

I came out of book 1 with my hair on fire, and I had to know more.

Echo looks fantastic, but if I was asked to pick between this bad batch look and his Arc Trooper look I'd dumpster this bad batch version before you finished asking the question

My friend, do not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. We're going to buy TBB Echo. And when and if we get ARC Echo, we're going to buy that tech-manual-reading badass, too. My nine Boba Fetts agree. [Its not actually nine. But a bunch.]

 

[slynger]

Then after fifty people telling me I HAD to read the Republic Commando series, OKAY ENOUGH ALREADY I will try book 1. Settle down, Beavis!

I came out of book 1 with my hair on fire, and I had to know more.

My friend, do not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. We're going to buy TBB Echo. And when and if we get ARC Echo, we're going to buy that tech-manual-reading badass, too. My nine Boba Fetts agree. [Its not actually nine. But a bunch.]

This is basically my HT focus - just the big guys in their clone armor. Rex, Jesse, clone pilot (had to for his cool factor). Still on the fence about Vaughn but the instant they drop more big name Clones I'll be there.

 

[ArtDamage]

My friend, do not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. We're going to buy TBB Echo. And when and if we get ARC Echo, we're going to buy that tech-manual-reading badass, too. My nine Boba Fetts agree. [Its not actually nine. But a bunch.]

This looks good, but I think it looks better than it does represent Echo. If that makes sense. He felt kinda sidelined in Bad Batch so if I were looking for a figure to represent Echo it wouldn't be this one. In a vacuum though, they are just a cool looking clones which is why I think you have people who don't even care about Echo considering it or Crosshair

Also, yeah the republic commando books were amazing. As someone that's always loved Mandalorians the amount of life the books breathed into them as a culture is incredible.

 

[DevelDogg_48]

Think I’m going to get the all of them minus Echo. Have zero interest in his design or him as a character within the Bad Batch.

 

[ScoutingForToys]

Not shopped around UK retailers yet, don't think they've all got this guy up yet, but my usual go to, "Comics and Cocktails" have him up for £300.
Yeah that's a price I'm not going to on these figures.
"The Good, The Bad and The Robot" have been beating C&C on price so I'll see what they have him up for, but this could be it for me.
£300+ seems to be the standard price going forward for Hot Toys from UK retailers and I'm just not prepared to pay it.

 

[Angelo2113]

Is there a forum of people, like myself, who are trying their best to refrain from purchasing every one of the Bad Batch? Crosshair has made it exponentially difficult.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Is there a forum of people, like myself, who are trying their best to refrain from purchasing every one of the Bad Batch? Crosshair has made it exponentially difficult.

Bruh.

No that forum aint on here. This is an enabling forum. Its what we do. Lawl

 

[MyenShi]

Is there a forum of people, like myself, who are trying their best to refrain from purchasing every one of the Bad Batch? Crosshair has made it exponentially difficult.

Yes.

That would be a forum for an equally or more expensive hobby to sink your money into.

Because as long as you have the resources, the temptation to get the entire Clone Force 99 is only going to get stronger when they finally put Tech and Wrecker up.

Best to just accept it and prepare shelf space for them.