Official Save Masterreplicas Star Wars line petition

[LZeitgeist]

I suppose the difference of opinion is coming from the difference between a guy who's been collecting prop replicas (and an occasional original prop along the way) for the last 25 years, as opposed to those new to the hobby (like those with 18 and 40 posts)... not a slam, just a vastly different perspective.

To each their own.

 

[Tan Djarka]

"...they can sell a truck-load more lightsabers at $250 a pop instead of $350..."

Or maybe, instead of re-doing everything MR's done, exactly the way MR did it, introduce unlimited run affordable replicas at or below the FX pricepoint. I'd probably buy a visually accurate replica of colored and vacuum metalized plastic, and so would alot of consumers. If it looks exactly the same sitting on the shelf, most that don't already own replicas who may want one, wouldn't care.

 

[Tan Djarka]

"I suppose the difference of opinion is coming from the difference between a guy who's been collecting prop replicas (and an occasional original prop along the way) for the last 25 years, as opposed to those new to the hobby..."

Well, EVERYONE was new to the hobby at one point (or maybe just to this board). The main reason I think this hobby isn't more popular is that sort of exclusionary attitude. More people would be collectors if there were an entry level replica market, instead of the choice of balls-out over-hyped mega-expensive replicas or NOTHING. How many people would drive if the only option level was Rolls Royce?

But, returning to the subject at hand, I think the license should be passed on to a company that can strike a balance between quality and affordability for the everyman. unforunately, it'll probably end up being more of the same...

 

[Tony]

I'm sorry Joclad but I think this petition is a waste of time. Why not accept the reality that Master Replicas no longer wants to continue with the Star Wars license.

Who knows what the reason is. Either it's financial or maybe they no longer have any of the key talent left to pull off an accurate future replica.

Nothing's permanant.

 

[Darth Detroit]

MR not making anymore Star Wars replicas?? Good ridance!
As far as someone out there not making an accurate saber otehr than MR, I would have to beg to differ. Larbel Did, Parks DOES and you can still find both MR's and a REAL Graflex on E-bay.

I just think its pathetic that they have over saturated the market with what they call an "accurate" saber. Hell, an MR Luke ANH saber doesnt even say 'Graflex' on the bottom! And this is supposed to be an accurate prop?! :confused

Just let this horse die. People will still E-bay MR stuff, so its not a total loss like Icons was. Just let this go. :unsure

 

[Joclad Danva]

I'm sorry Joclad but I think this petition is a waste of time. Why not accept the reality that Master Replicas no longer wants to continue with the Star Wars license.

Who knows what the reason is. Either it's financial or maybe they no longer have any of the key talent left to pull off an accurate future replica.

Nothing's permanant.

On the site that this petition originated where I even happen to be a Moderator at, I even made the comment that this petition likely wouldn't do any good.

But the way I see it, it can't hurt either so it's here for those that want to sign it.

As to MR's not having the word "Graflex" on it, they decided to make an accurate, idealized prop. They knew that some would like it, and some wouldn't, but they also knew that to make something like that that had the same exact markings on it as the actual Graflex probably wouldn't generate much in the way of sales. After all why buy that, when there's either vintage or Park's to be had?

They certainly couldn't have offered it any cheaper, now could they?

So they decided to make it look just like the screen used prop, only idealized without the words on it. And sure enough, people bought them up.

-Joclad

 

[Stormy320]

Some of you guys are so hard core - you start to take away some of the fun.

Who gives a **** the saber doesn't say Graflex...geez.

MR did an outstanding job and I fear we have seen the end to mass produced replicas that are super accurate.

 

[Funky]

MR not making anymore Star Wars replicas?? Good ridance!
As far as someone out there not making an accurate saber otehr than MR, I would have to beg to differ. Larbel Did, Parks DOES and you can still find both MR's and a REAL Graflex on E-bay.

I just think its pathetic that they have over saturated the market with what they call an "accurate" saber. Hell, an MR Luke ANH saber doesnt even say 'Graflex' on the bottom! And this is supposed to be an accurate prop?! :confused

Just let this horse die. People will still E-bay MR stuff, so its not a total loss like Icons was. Just let this go. :unsure

Bravo! I couldn't have said it better myself! :thumbsup

 

[Dewy]

If their products suck or are inaccurate, they will go under before they bother making their second batch.

So-called prop 'hobbyists' these days want perfect accuracy for a pauper's price. If expectations aren't met, licensing money will go wasted, and the hobby will go back underground where it might or might not actually belong.

It was more fun when you had to find an actual, antique Graflex flashgun if you wanted to have a Luke sabre... Hell, these days you can walk into Wal-Mart and buy a rack of them. What's the point...?

I suppose the difference of opinion is coming from the difference between a guy who's been collecting prop replicas (and an occasional original prop along the way) for the last 25 years, as opposed to those new to the hobby (like those with 18 and 40 posts)... not a slam, just a vastly different perspective.

To each their own.

Some of you guys are so hard core - you start to take away some of the fun.

Who gives a **** the saber doesn't say Graflex...geez.

MR did an outstanding job and I fear we have seen the end to mass produced replicas that are super accurate.

I have to agree w/ LZeitgeist. The hobby is just better off underground. Massed produced replicas are great, and MR did a commendable job but they just can't keep up with the hobby. I think they were indispensible when it comes to 100% accurate prequel sabers but the nature of the OT sabers is just beyond them. Idealized Luke ANH saber? No thanks. I'd much preferred the days when having an "accurate" (we knew and still know so little about this prop) Luke ANH saber made from a real graflex was owning a holy grail. The hobby was just more fun before MR and the new guys just can't understand that, plain and simple. We've seen the hobby both ways.

And for the record I care about the letters on the bottom of my Luke ANH saber. Just because you don't pursue 100% accuracy doesn't mean it's crazy or stupid, just means we have higher standards of accuracy...

 

[Helmetman]

MR dropped the ball in my opinion.

Perhaps by taking on too many projects. How long have some of us been waiting for certain helmets and blasters. It's beyond a joke.

Agreed. This hobby is best underground.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Ya know, MR did make some great products for Star Wars. Many of their saber replicas are great, and the FX sabers really pulled together at the end and stopped looking like high priced hasbro sabers. I have the Anakin FX and was disappointed with it, to say the least. I've seen the later Vader FX sabers and was wowed, wondering why they didn't have it together enough to make them like that from the start.

So, They made pretty good saber replicas, but anything else they made was just overloaded with quality control issues. Look at the Vader helmets, they had problem after problem. Clone trooper helmets...who remembers the yellowing paint and basic half ass job. I've also seen people having issues with greeblies falling off of, or missing from their Falcons.

I think it is a case of reach exceeding grasp with MR. I know there are some MR big wigs here, but truth is truth. MR probably lost a good deal of money on returns of things, like the Vader helmets.

 

[LZeitgeist]

The main reason I think this hobby isn't more popular is that sort of exclusionary attitude.

What 'exclusionary attitude'? DId I say 'n00bs SUXXors! Go home n00biez!!' No, I friggin' didn't.

I stated a clear-cut fact that the perspectives are going to be vastly different from someone who might have spent years hunting for a mint Graflex (or other rare, original, Holy-Grail-to-them item) and finally found one to fill that void in their collection as opposed to someone who can click on the Internet, grab their credit card and mail-order an exact duplicate that already looks like a lightsabre. Price be damned; manufacturer be damned; hell, age be damned.

There used to be a hunt, a desire... going to cons sometimes solely to scope out dealers' rooms to see if they might have a crappy resin kit of something you were looking for because that was as close as you were going to get for that moment of having what you'd desired. Working with that kit to make it as screen-accurate as possible, or sometimes choosing between already-finished items if you didn't want to deal with the mess.

There's no 'hunt' now. The only thing close to a 'hunt' is the waiting you do between when the next perfect replica is announced and the day it is released. And then you and 2499 of your buddies now have exactly the same thing on your shelf as each other.

Hey, don't get me wrong - I have the four Original Trilogy sabres from MR (plus a pristine OWK ANH), and I am happy to have them in my collection. They are as perfect, pristine representations as I will ever have. (Not because they are, indeed, flawless and perfect - it's that I'm not in the market anymore to replace or upgrade them. They fill my niches for those pieces quite well enough to satisfy my desires for the pieces.) However, I got the MR versions to replace the fan-made replicas that I had already collected over the years. So I had already experienced the thrill of the hunt and the success of the acquisition before I replaced them with the idealized versions that I'd pictured them in my mind to be anyway but knew that I was the only one that saw the idealization in the only partially-accurate fan-made versions I owned.

Hell, too many words - no one's reading this anymore anyway.

The perspectives are different. The closest thing to mass-produced mail-order props available was the Weapon Shops of Isher. Some people slowly became well-known and sought out among fans and friends as being skilled with resin and proficient with kits.

It was fun to see someone's collection because every piece had an individual story, and you'd rarely EVER see the same thing twice.

Times change.

 

[LZeitgeist]

Ya know, MR did make some great products for Star Wars.

So, They made pretty good saber replicas, but anything else they made was just overloaded with quality control issues.

Yup, another excellent point made.

As those first half-dozen or so sabres were coming out from MR, the more of them I saw, the more I was impressed with how perfectly their idealization of the pieces that which was in my own mind. Their QC was (in my opinion) unquestionable. I felt secure in purchasing from them sight-unseen, which says a LOT.

Once they grew to a certain point where they had to start doing more outsourcing, the quality went downhill to the point that I no longer trusted ordering anything from them. The Rocketeer helmet fiasco was the last straw for me. Once the helmet I ordered was returned, I no longer even paid attention to what MR was releasing because I knew I wouldn't trust their QC anymore enough to be a customer.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

I think the exclusionary attitude comment came from post count bashing. I respect a person's tenure on this board, but going on about someone's post count is like using "Oh yeah?!" to end an argument. For all anyone knows, he has been collecting for years as well. I have not been in the hobby longer than the 5 years my join date says. I still like to hunt for little odds and ends that aren't often seen.

Now, my being relatively new to this hobby does not mean I am blind to quality. MR's items were hit or miss for the most part, and that is no way to run a business. "Let's ship out these Clone buckets", but ooops, they forgot the numbered plaques. If nothing else, that showed me that the numbering was worth nothing more than the plaque it was printed on.

I mean, we could go on for hours about where MR went right and wrong, but in the end, it was their time, that's it. Some things need far too much care to be mass produced. Sadly, those things are most of their recent additions.

 

[tripoli]

Frankly, I think when SD got dropped from Master Replicas, things started going wrong fast. He help engineer some super props at the beginning. But after he was gone, MR started to have some major issues with their product line. You need someone that cares about the product to produce a great product. You could see the care in the Millinium Falcon piece, those in on that project really put alot into it. But for the most part, every thing else just dropped apart at that moment. I think the management thought they knew better than the people that cared and the customers. MR went on a major projects push that flopped in terms of quality control. Thats sad, because at first, MR did put out some fantastic items.
It is time for a new company/ies to come forward and fly with this franchise. The potential is definately there if someone that cares about what they produce takes the license.

 

[defstartrooper]

I have to admit that as a relative newcomer to this hobby i would take an accurate prop over an idealized version any day.
It confuses the hell out of me that MR can describe their replicas as accurate and idealized they are one thing or the other it cant be both.
If Parks can produce replica Graflex hilts with the correct markings on why cant MR ?
Add onto this the customer satisfaction level diminishing because of quality issues and production problems i say give the license to someone else.

 

[Darth Detroit]

Some of you guys are so hard core - you start to take away some of the fun.

Who gives a **** the saber doesn't say Graflex...geez.

MR did an outstanding job and I fear we have seen the end to mass produced replicas that are super accurate.

I'll give MR some credit. yes, they made a fine PREQUEL saber. They did so ONLy becuse they were MACHINED and were based off of designs that were made up and required no existing parts. (Aside from Yoda's saber. Even Dooku' saber was inspired from a weed eater.) But they were never 'super accurate'.

I'm with Dewy on this one. I would rather have it say Graflex on the bottom, than it not. For the sole reason beacuse in the movies- it DID say that! I would rather have the opportunity to take off the Micro-Flash tag than not. I would rather get a hold of Elvis Trooper and say "Hey! Hook me up with a kit so I could finish my Vader ROTJ saber" rather than order an over priced hunk of what?

Larbel didnt have to have his sabers say Graflex onthe bottom- but- I had to assemble mine-which was fun- and it was a HELL of a saber for the price. In fact, I replaced the bottom tube with a real Graflex tube, replaced the socket, and nobody knew the difference. I guess what I'm getting at is MR isnt the only "talented" saber maker out there. There are better and more affordable ones, that the guys that have been collecting for years, only remember.

 

[SurferGeek]

MR did an outstanding job and I fear we have seen the end to mass produced replicas that are super accurate.

I actually don't see that as a bad thing...

 

[Darth Detroit]

I actually don't see that as a bad thing...

:lol
I think thats what a few of us on this thread have been trying to say!

 

[SaberFreak]

When I started collecting props 5-6 years ago I didn't even know MR existed. All I knew was that i needed to find several real Graflex, at least one real MPP, and a real Praco. When I first laid eyes on the MR Vader sabers I already owned a real MPP, but the MR Vader sabers looked so good in those glossy photographs I just had to have them. I bought a Vader ANH LE & a Vader ESB SE at the same time.

Guess what was the first thing I tried to do when they arrived? I tried to open them up to look at the internal details! When I realized that they can not be disassembled like a real MPP my enthusiasm totally hit rock bottom. It got worse when I saw the 'Made In China' sticker. Yeah silly me...I thought they'd be made in the USA considering the obscene price I paid for them.

This is not to bash anyone, but just an insight into why some of us who started without MR, feel the way we do about MR.