Licensed Gen1 Chess set from Eaglemoss kickstarter
Announced at the Fan First Friday live stream by Hasbro is a new licensed item that they are helping design and promote.
A Gen1 Chess set is going through a kickstarter process, by Eaglemoss... who is a well established company of over 20 years that does subscription part-works (things like model kits you get one part at a time, or mini-models & chess sets that each piece comes with a book), so they aren't really a company that needs to do a kickstarter, but I think it would be a way to make a lot more profit from the different price-points, and from only producing the exact amount being pre-paid for (which would be cheaper to produce as the numbers go higher - as the prices are calculated to make a profit from the minimum production numbers, but they don't need to pass on the savings if they produce more than that minimum).
The Kickstarter can be seen here, but when it closes, images and details can be seen here.
It is very expensive if you want the complete set, but I don't think it ships to Australia.
The site converts to au$, but that might just be a default setting of the Kickstarter site, and not a decision by Eaglemoss with their listing.
The site says that it ships to US, UK, Canada, Russia and Brazil.
If you are interested, perhaps contact them to see if it also ships here. If they don't, you may need to find a friend in one of those countries and trust them with your money and purchase in 15 months time.
The project has a backer period of NOW until September 21st 2021, and is planned to be shipped out December 2022.
The chess board is about 60cm by 60cm, and the pieces are 10 to 15cm tall (including base), and are 32 different Gen1 characters (plus 2 bonus pieces if you back the full amount).
The bonus 272 page book details (just?) the 32 characters in the chess set, and reviews the cartoon episodes and 1986 Movie.
Their total minimum goal is us$300,000, with so far 62 backers pledging a combined us$30,000 with 41 days to go. Plenty of time, but the biggest backing periods are the first day (from the impulsive hardcore fans) and the last week (from those who have budgeted and not rushed into a decision).
The backing levels...
- US$700 (currently converts to au$950 on the site) gets you everything - full Chess set (board & 32 pieces), plus both bonus Kings (Rodimus & Galvatron), plus 272 page info book, and pin.
(as of this posting, there are 36 people who have backed the full set, after 10 hours... I'm not sure if that is a good thing)
- US$650 (currently converts to au$890 on the site) gets you - full Chess set (board & 32 pieces), plus ONE bonus King (Galvatron), plus 272 page info book, and pin.
- US$600 (currently converts to au$820 on the site) gets you - full Chess set (board & 32 pieces), plus 272 page info book, and pin.
- US$50 (currently converts to au$70 on the site) gets you - Optimus Prime chess piece, plus pin.
- US$10 (currently converts to au$15 on the site) gets you - Optimus/Megatron pin.
The full package at us$700 is more than the 3rd version of Masterpiece Optimus, more than the Haslab Unicron, and about the same as that remote control Robosen Optimus figure that comes out this year... between those things and the $1000+ statues targeting dedicated fans, the hobby is really getting very expensive lately. I kinda miss the days when it was just a retail toyline with a handful of store exclusives to track down, and maybe some assorted licensed non-toy goodies.
The selection of characters bugs me. The Autobot pieces focus on several 1986 Movie characters, but the Decepticon pieces focus on a range of the first three years of the original cartoon, without Scourge or Cyclonus. Like, why is Brawl included as the sole 1986 combiner when there are other characters that could have better fit the cast of 16 Decepticons on this chess board. I would have had all five 1984 cassettes as pawns, and maybe with the three Insecticons. The eight at the back row are a good selection of mostly first season Decepticons, but then having at the front one Combaticon, one Constructicon and one Conehead doesn't make as much sense (especially when you have 3 seekers at the back, an "equal" seeker at the front conflicts with the point of pawns being smaller and less significant/powerful).
As for the Autobots, to me it would have made more sense to have 8 1984/85 Minibots at the front, and seven of the eleven 1984 Autobot cars in the back row with Optimus, instead of 3 Movie characters (and a 4th at the front) that don't have any Decepticon equivalents (like Cyclonus or Scourge) on the board with them.
The thing that concerns me is that the pieces are noted as being "hand painted"... I would prefer that they are done by machine, as hand painting could result in paint errors or omissions that you wouldn't be able to exchange... and applying all of those tiny paint details on hundreds of small figures is something I wouldn't want to do, so wouldn't want to have people in low paid Asian factories doing it.
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