New limited Luke Skywalker special edition

By KaLeu, in Star Wars: Legion

2 hours ago, Khobai said:

FFG is definitely to blame because they know stores with low integrity exist.

Honestly, how could they have done this better? And despite some stores' shady practices, I guarantee more people who wanted one of these got them for the normal $15 price (or cheaper) than if they had been released at Star Wars Celebration as was originally planned.

11 minutes ago, Lochlan said:

Honestly, how could they have done this better? And despite some stores' shady practices, I guarantee more people who wanted one of these got them for the normal $15 price (or cheaper) than if they had been released at Star Wars Celebration as was originally planned.

They couldve just sold them for $15. that literally wouldve been better.

1 hour ago, Khobai said:

They couldve just sold them for $15. that literally wouldve been better.

Then bot scalpers would have snatched them all up and flipped them on ebay for huge profits.

3 hours ago, Digitalfiends said:

BoardGameBliss told me they weren't getting any LE Lukes?!!

Maybe you have a more up to date response. I was told that they may get them but that was a while ago.

On 11/27/2020 at 6:09 AM, Flyfishingdad said:

My local shop got these in. They are selling them for $150 dollars. Quite a rip off.

Go into the store, open up eBay, and laugh at them. The prices have been steadily dropping over the last few weeks. Spread the word to other patrons that they should not buy from the store at all. Maybe if everyone in your area votes with their respective wallets, the store will learn a lesson.

11 hours ago, Lochlan said:

Then bot scalpers would have snatched them all up and flipped them on ebay for huge profits.

Theres plenty of ways to thwart scalpers. especially bot scalpers. lmao.

Like just having someone prove theyre a real person and limiting it to 1 per real person.

There were definitely things they couldve done differently to make sure the miniatures got into the hands of players without the price skyrocketing to $80 or higher.

Trusting retailers not to be sleazy was not the best idea.

Edited by Khobai
15 hours ago, Khobai said:

FFG is definitely to blame because they know stores with low integrity exist.

LUL

9 hours ago, Khobai said:

Theres plenty of ways to thwart scalpers. especially bot scalpers. lmao.

Like just having someone prove theyre a real person and limiting it to 1 per real person.

Tell that to every single online retailer that exists. There have been many, many examples recently of bot scalpers snatching up the majority of a release of a product. Because how would someone prove they're a real person to a web store, in a way that couldn't be faked by a bot? And all online retailers limited the new consoles to 1 per person, and yet scalpers got the vast majority of them.

And even if they were somehow able to limit these to 1 per real person, they still would have been scalped, probably at about the same rate that they currently are.

4 minutes ago, Lochlan said:

Tell that to every single online retailer that exists. There have been many, many examples recently of bot scalpers snatching up the majority of a release of a product. Because how would someone prove they're a real person to a web store, in a way that couldn't be faked by a bot? And all online retailers limited the new consoles to 1 per person, and yet scalpers got the vast majority of them.

And even if they were somehow able to limit these to 1 per real person, they still would have been scalped, probably at about the same rate that they currently are.

This. I've been trying to get the new xbox since pre order day. After the third time of bots buying them before my transaction would process I gave up and will wait until I can physically go to a store and buy one. I'm normally all in favor of the free market, but in these kind of cases I'd be ok with an anti price gouging law.

I have read that hard plastic molds are expensive to manufacture (at least that is what I have read in regards to Warhammer models) and I'm surprised that FFG has put in the effort to sculpt an entirely unique model that they are not directly profiting from. Are they just going to get rid of the mold after this?

I know that the LE Vader and Obi-Wan are not being produced anymore but did FFG just trash those molds?

1 hour ago, tdcthulu said:

I know that the LE Vader and Obi-Wan are not being produced anymore but did FFG just trash those molds?

This is a good point. Depending on the size and complexity of the mold, it probably costs more than FFG could make back with a limited release. It doesn’t make sense to me to have these limited releases.

Maybe when Atomic Mass Games takes ownership of SW Legion and starts producing new products (if that’s the intention), then they might re-release these “limited edition” figures.

6 minutes ago, Digitalfiends said:

This is a good point. Depending on the size and complexity of the mold, it probably costs more than FFG could make back with a limited release. It doesn’t make sense to me to have these limited releases.

Maybe when Atomic Mass Games takes ownership of SW Legion and starts producing new products (if that’s the intention), then they might re-release these “limited edition” figures.

No limited edition sculpt “makes sense” from a cost-benefit perspective. They’ve all been convention promos, which is almost certainly what this Luke was going to be before COVID.

21 minutes ago, KalEl814 said:

No limited edition sculpt “makes sense” from a cost-benefit perspective. They’ve all been convention promos, which is almost certainly what this Luke was going to be before COVID.

That doesn’t negate the point though - convention promo or limited edition release -they don’t make sense. That was all I was commenting on. In this case FFG is just trying to clear out stock but unfortunately it has led to some serious scalping and frustration for some FLGS that aren’t “entitled” to receive these.

For instance, I know of two smaller FLGS in my area that aren’t able to order enough Legion products to get this exclusive figure. Kind of **** as it potentially drives business to other stores.

Edited by Digitalfiends
17 minutes ago, KalEl814 said:

No limited edition sculpt “makes sense” from a cost-benefit perspective. They’ve all been convention promos, which is almost certainly what this Luke was going to be before COVID.

FFG didn't do them for no reason, FFG did it because they viewed the marketing benefit of the convention exclusives was seen as worth it when it comes to attracting new players. (They could still sell the previous LE sculpts as long as they have the molds too)

There isn't any marketing value to what they did with the Luke LE (or at least very little), FFG distributed them to stores that were then going to distribute them to already entrenched players. Nothing prevented FFG from just selling the copies they made and then producing more copies if there was a demand for them.

Got my orange Luke from my local store. The owner asked if I wanted one since I'm his biggest Legion/Armada customer. Only charged $15. Please don't hate me.

To be fair, if a store just sold him for $15 it will end up on ebay for $150 so there is sense to just cutting out the middle man. Those using them for prize support or selling to dedicated customers makes more sense.

1 hour ago, Mep said:

To be fair, if a store just sold him for $15 it will end up on ebay for $150 so there is sense to just cutting out the middle man. Those using them for prize support or selling to dedicated customers makes more sense.

And it won't sell at that. There were people who couldn't contain themselves that bought one at $150 or more, but the amount of these models available is pretty high. Take a look for yourself:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=star+wars+legion+luke&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1
They've been declining in price for a while now, and they will likely continue to drop until the supply evaporates, at which point they will go back up. There is yet plenty of supply for those who must have the limited edition model.

Got a copy from a FLGS as a reward for buying a bunch of other Legion products. Big kudos for handling this properly.

42 minutes ago, robertpolson said:

Got a copy from a FLGS as a reward for buying a bunch of other Legion products. Big kudos for handling this properly.

Hey, I just PMed you...

5 hours ago, Lochlan said:

Tell that to every single online retailer that exists. There have been many, many examples recently of bot scalpers snatching up the majority of a release of a product. Because how would someone prove they're a real person to a web store, in a way that couldn't be faked by a bot? And all online retailers limited the new consoles to 1 per person, and yet scalpers got the vast majority of them.

And even if they were somehow able to limit these to 1 per real person, they still would have been scalped, probably at about the same rate that they currently are.


Like I said theres plenty of ways of doing it to avoid scalpers. Another option wouldve been to raffle them off to people who bought legion products.

For each valid proof of purchase you send in you get 1 entry in the raffle. It wouldnt be the first time a lottery was employed to thwart scalpers. its been done for years.

Theres dozens of creative solutions that wouldve avoided scalpers. It isnt as big of a problem as youre making it out to be.

a lot of the time the companies either dont anticipate the scalping or they just dont care. games workshop for example just had all their christmas boxes scalped online, and after it happened to all the indomitus boxes, you think they wouldve known better... but they obviously didnt care. But for a company that cares about stopping scalping theres ways to prevent it.

Edited by Khobai
15 hours ago, Khobai said:

Theres plenty of ways to thwart scalpers. especially bot scalpers. lmao.

Like just having someone prove theyre a real person and limiting it to 1 per real person.

There were definitely things they couldve done differently to make sure the miniatures got into the hands of players without the price skyrocketing to $80 or higher.

Trusting retailers not to be sleazy was not the best idea.

Uhm I’ve been trying for months to beat the bots and get a ps5. Bots aren’t beatable unless you’ve got no life and are wiling to stand outside Walmart or GameStop all night to get one. Resellers would have totally got the majority of the lukes and would have sold them for massive profit

5 hours ago, Mokoshkana said:

And it won't sell at that. There were people who couldn't contain themselves that bought one at $150 or more, but the amount of these models available is pretty high. Take a look for yourself:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=star+wars+legion+luke&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1
They've been declining in price for a while now, and they will likely continue to drop until the supply evaporates, at which point they will go back up. There is yet plenty of supply for those who must have the limited edition model.

Fair enough. $70 is less than $150. Still a huge mark up from $15.

7 minutes ago, Lochlan said:

Honestly, how could they have done this better? And despite some stores' shady practices, I guarantee more people who wanted one of these got them for the normal $15 price (or cheaper) than if they had been released at Star Wars Celebration as was originally planned.

Could have sold them direct like they did the exclusive N-1s for X-wing, I don't even know if any brick and mortar stores are still selling Legion in the SF Bay Area.

My store is gonna be doing a raffle for all 3 of their figures, while each person has a chance it's a bit sad not one of them would be saved for some sort of prize support. Here's to hoping I can win one.

On 12/2/2020 at 7:47 PM, Lochlan said:

Honestly, how could they have done this better? And despite some stores' shady practices, I guarantee more people who wanted one of these got them for the normal $15 price (or cheaper) than if they had been released at Star Wars Celebration as was originally planned.

Honestly? There's plenty of ways FFG could handle kits like these better. FFG has already set up prize kit systems for various methods of play (Tournament Play, League Play, Casual Play). I'd do something like this:

1.) Presuming that each store that requested them got 3, start by simply adding a signed agreement (between the store and Asmodee) that reselling these kits outside the provided parameters would earn a FFG/Asmodee distribution ban, or prevent them from purchasing further OP prize support. (I know a local store got in trouble for advertising prices lower than the MAPs agreements specified and almost had his store pulled from their distribution chain).

2.) Establish the parameters for end user distribution.
2a.) One kit to be used as tournament 1st place prize support. (all players must submit lists and basic contact info)
2b.) One kit to be used as painting contest prize support/League play prize support/added to the raffle prize. (all players must submit picture of painted mini and attest they painted it themselves, or provide league lists, and submit basic contact info)
2c.) One kit is to be added to a randomly drawn raffle. (each person entering the raffle may only buy one ticket at a price no higher than $15. Further tickets may be added ((1 per person per event)) for participation rewards on casual play days, tournament participation, league participation, or painting days. (minimum participation required ((say 5 people?)) the period to add tickets before the raffle is drawn must be no less than 30 days and no longer than 90 days).



I'd love it if the local stores had access to the means to support these kind of events, but without official prize support that's actually worth it, these kits just sell for $40-$150 straight to whoever comes first or has more money.

Edited by Darth Sanguis