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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Concept Luke



I remember when Hasbro announced that they would be doing a whole series based on the concept artwork of Ralph McQuarrie (one of my major influences as a kid) I was pretty jazzed about it, but now months into the line and with the trouble of finding these figures I'm not so thrilled anymore.

Rumor has it that there are about 12 or so figures in this sub-line, all but one McQuarrie inspired. To date I have three (well four if you count a two pack as two separate figures). Man I hate me some scaplers. This is not the first time a McQuarrie inspired figure has hit stores, matter of fact one of the new ones is a repaint of the first concept figure produced back in 2000. The Stormtrooper concept figure. This guy was a cinch to find, nobody wanted him. I could have made an army out of them if I was so inclined. Fast forward to today and the repaint was the first released and has still eluded me.

This was a convention exclusive Concept Luke, based on the painting of Luke and Vader facing off. This guy is sort of notorious because he was released at Comic Con, and during the convention he was released on line at a less expensive price. To add a discount code was circulated, and then later denied by Hasbro. So people on both sides of the purchase were pissed to say the least. Hopefully I can complete the painting at least, if I can find the concept Vader!

4 comments:

Plaidstallions said...

I know your pain, my son collects and plays with JLU figures. He has to compete with adults and scalpers, it's impossible to find the characters he wants except for $30 or more. Saps the fun right out of it.

chunky B said...

Now I feel bad for complaining, I can imagine being a kid now a days, with all the adult collectors and scalpers out there.

I remember once getting a strange look from a stock boy who just brought out a case so I could get the snowtrooper from the line at the time, and a kid came up and asked if they had more, he said no, so I handed the one I had to the kid, figured I have a car and can come any time, the kid pretty much was at his mom's mercy.

I'm a firm believer in toy karma!

Plaidstallions said...

Heh, I once grabbed a figure before a creepy scalper guy could (he tried to push me BTW) and handed it to my son. The guy actually followed us to cashier to make sure we didn't drop it, I made my son open it.

As for Karma, I'm lucky enough to have friends look for these figures on their travels. It's my son's birthday next week and every figure he is getting is from a friend who looked out for him.

chunky B said...

I've read other places that scalpers are getting more aggressive, you know you are the scum of the earth when you have to push people around so you can sell black market toys for a living...

As for karma, does your son have a list of JLU figs he's looking for. We usually don't get all the new releases first here in Texas, but I'm willing to keep an eye out, plus tell him Happy Birthday!