Hasbro Gets Into Crowdfunding With 6 Kilogram Star Wars Toy

Hasbro has unveiled Haslab, which promises to basically be the toymaker’s answer to Kickstarter, for diehard fans of its toys. The new crowdsourcing program is kicking off with one hell of a project: a 1.22m long, 6kg intricate recreation of Jabba’s Sail Barge from Return of the Jedi.

All Images: Hasbro/Haslab

Hasbro sees Haslab as a chance for its most passionate fans to become directly involved in the production of premium toys based on its seemingly endless litany of merchandise franchises that would otherwise be considered far too lavish as part of a mainstream toy line. Like, say, an absolutely gigantic version of Jabba’s Sail Barge.

Here’s how Haslab will work: Hasbro will announce a potential project, and if enough fans preorder the toy by a certain date, the damn thing will actually get made and released exclusively to backers of the project.

If the target number of preorders isn’t reached – in the case of the Sail Barge, that’s 5,000 preorders at a whopping $US500 ($632) apiece before April 13 – the toy won’t get made, and you won’t be charged for your unsuccessful preorder.

It’s a strange move, but then again it’s the only way something as absolutely crazy as the scope of a toy like this Sail Barge would actually get made. The proposed vehicle would be in scale with the newly revived, 9.53cm “Vintage Collection” of Star Wars action figures, which makes it an insane 125.35cm long, and just over 43.18cm high at the top of the barge’s fabric sails.

As well as including a fully detailed interior accessible by removable panels, the Barge would include a special figure of Jabba himself, as well as a lavish production booklet detailing how the vehicle was translated from the movie to $US500 ($632)’s worth of plastic.

If the Sail Barge meets its goals, who knows what product could be next for Haslab — now that Hasbro has the Power Rangers licence, maybe a giant Megazord?

Regardless, it paves the way for a range of collector’s items that would otherwise never see the light of day. If you want to know more about Haslab and the Sail Barge project – as well as become a backer of the project ahead of its potential release date in February 2019 – head to HasLab.


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