The Jaina Solo Black Series figure has been out for about a month now and while retailers are doing a much better job of putting her on shelves than they did with Revan last year, people are still having some difficulties it. This article, however, isn’t entirely about Jaina or Revan but rather the fan choice polls themselves, and a general PSA to Expanded Universe fans as a whole.
Simply put, the fan choice polls are the ONLY way we currently have of getting EU figures. Yet I often see people use fan choice polls as an opportunity to express a purely personal view about a figure they want to see. People complain that they don’t like the figure the larger Expanded Universe movement has chosen to support and won’t therefore vote in the same way. That is the wrong way to look at these opportunities, and if we as a larger movement tried to cater to what is simply popular among us, we would fail at our ultimate goal.
What is that ultimate goal? The EU movement is a long play. We aren’t going to get more Legends in the next few years; we're here for the long haul. We're here to maintain its interest and increase its demand so that when new canon has run it’s course, Lucasfilm looks back in the direction fans have routinely asked for all these years.
The Hasbro poll is the same. We are in it for the long haul. The goal isn’t to "get X character made because I like it," the goal is get a popular EU character made, make sure it sells well, and then repeat that victory. The plan is to do this year after year, to provide countless examples that Legends characters are popular and will sell. The goal is to use these opportunities to convince Hasbro that a dedicated Legends line is not only popular put profitable. Once that happens we can then focus on getting the characters we like.
I’m not saying you have to like the characters you are voting for. I don’t care much for Revan as a character but I voted for him because I knew he would succeed, and that he was the first step towards getting the characters I actually want to see. So when the next Fan Choice poll comes up, please vote for the character being campaigned for. It may take some time to get to our eventual goal but trust the process and the wait will be more than worth it.
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