The Joy of Pre-orders

 In 2019, I experienced a common fate in the Hasbro Star Wars modern era: lack of new product at retail. It reminded me of the dark times in my days as a Star Wars collector. From 2002-2005 I almost quit due to the "action features" most of the toys had. Sure, the magnetic lightsaber hilt were cool, but the features made it impossible to fit in vehicles plus the "new" figures didn't fit with my POTF2 stuff at all. Then came the super articulated Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Revenge of the Sith line and a new era was born. In 2009-10 I would experience the same problem with the Solo kids Legacy Wave, which was made a last minute exclusive to Toys R Us. Of course it could never be found at TRU! All I wanted was Jacen and Jaina Solo, plus Shaak Ti in her Force Unleashed outfit and Jedi Master K'Krunkh because that was another Jedi badass from the comics, plus the build a droid character was cool. Sigh. I've got Jacen, cheap on eBay but I still need Jaina, just because. But anyway, let me get back on point.

In 2018 the Vintage Collection returned with a questionable first wave. Repacking Jyn and Rey made little sense but Snoke was an all new figure, the card for the FO Stormtrooper was good, as was Kylo Ren's card (I'm still mad at passing on that, as I need a carded Kylo for my VC display of carded figures). But, I had no issues finding stuff throughout 2018. Even got Dr Aphra, Old Man Luke, Cassian, all good. Then the calendar changed to 2019. And all Hell broke loose. In summer of 2019, even going into Fall of 2019, the only VC stuff I could find was from December of 2018. I drove all over my state, even I to the next state. Same thing.

So I turned to eBay. Got some figures. Craig Luke and Island Journey Rey, but highly overpaid for them. When Force Friday happened for Episode 9 I was worried, but found them at retail. Still need another Sith Trooper and a couple Shadowtroopers from that wave. Those I'll have to go eBay for. Also at this time I had been reading and participating in fan collecting sites, and had heard of using online retailers (Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, Brian's Toys, etc).  So, I took the plunge.

The good thing is as a collector, I'm getting what I want. The down side, the thrill of finding what I want in stores has diminished. Sure, I always look in toy sections at Wally World and Target. Sometimes I actually find new stuff there, and in some cases get them before my pre-orders arrive. Just because now I can get what I want, that doesn't mean there aren't any drawbacks. However, I save on gas driving to stores, and have more time I can waste doing whatever I want, LOL!

If there is a downside, it's events out of my or the shipper's control. Delays are the new normal. An item initially promised in January now comes in March or April. Costs for figures are going up, etc. Just have to accept it. This excludes retail exclusive pre-orders which you have about 10 seconds to get when they go live because they sell out. Yes. Selling out of a preorder. Yep. It happens. But still, if you are collecting this is the way to go. You get what you want, in time. That's a plus. There are alternatives to eBay and Amazon, with great service and not worrying if the figure's card will be damaged. So there are ups and downs, it is just weighing them altogether. It is worth it.