Comments on: Lucky Charms?: They’re Magically Ambitious http://kozinets.net/archives/52 Robert Kozinets on Marketing, Media, and Technoculture Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:57:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Jeff Podoshen http://kozinets.net/archives/52#comment-70 Jeff Podoshen Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:06:51 +0000 http://kozinets.net/archives/52#comment-70 I'm glad you brought up your JM article. I'm probably one of those fans who postings you read. Now, up until SW Ep 1 I probably spent about $10k on the SW brand lifetime prior to Ep 1 launch. Yeah, its a lot. (FYI - my kitchen to this day features SW curtains) I waited in line for hours to see Ep 1 the night it opened. I thought it sucked Bantha poodoo. I went again the next morning just to make sure... yeah it sucked. After SW Ep 1, I was extremely upset and felt like hitting Lucas over the head with a shovel. He ripped my still beating heart right out of me.... like in Indiana Jones. I remember going home, looking at all my SW collection and feeling like a total sucker. Total dejection. Ep 2 was slightly better, but not great. Ep 3 was slightly better than 2 and lots better than 1, but still generally sucky. After Ep 3 I realized that there were really TWO SW brands. The first was the authentic SW brand - which featured characters and concepts from the original trilogy and there was also the "new" brand. In order to make peace with myself and not have the "magic" of SW ruined I decided to pretend that SW Eps 1-3 just plain didn't exist. I purged myself of all Ep 1-3 merchandise (which nobody will actually buy - I took it all to a shelter... I wonder if they just tossed it) and decided to pretend that after Jedi - that was it. Quite honestly, I feel much better about it now. I still do buy new SW merchandise, but ONLY if it has no references to Eps 1-3. Today, on the brand community that I am a part of - there are places for those who collect only Original (OT) stuff, those who collect only New (PT) stuff and those who collect both. There is little interaction between the groups of collectors in the one community. In fact, when a PT person jumps into a OT thread, they're immediately flamed - and the mod has to step in. The opposite is also true. The lines are pretty clear. Hasbro, the license holder of SW created a huge issue when the re-issued the Stormtrooper action figure with removable helmet. The Stormtrooper of course is OT - but the head under the helmet in this new fig was a clone head - from Ep 2. We were all torn as to whether or not to purchase this figure - it was a great sculpt, but sacreligious. Most of us agreed we could buy the fig, but never ever take the helmet off. I think it would be interesting to revisit your JM article now that Ep 3 has been released and the film series is history. What happens when we desire nostalgia, we get it in large doses, then almost wish the whole experience never happened from the beginning? The SW brand today is diluted. It didn't have to be. You can see parallels in other exemplars - Metallica (pre and post Black album), Iron Chef (original series vs. new). And uh, point of clarification here - Jar Jar lollipops? I don't think anyone bought those. Please tell me you didn't! But the way, my all time fave Onion article re: Jar Jar... http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29418 I’m glad you brought up your JM article. I’m probably one of those fans who postings you read. Now, up until SW Ep 1 I probably spent about $10k on the SW brand lifetime prior to Ep 1 launch. Yeah, its a lot. (FYI - my kitchen to this day features SW curtains) I waited in line for hours to see Ep 1 the night it opened. I thought it sucked Bantha poodoo. I went again the next morning just to make sure… yeah it sucked. After SW Ep 1, I was extremely upset and felt like hitting Lucas over the head with a shovel. He ripped my still beating heart right out of me…. like in Indiana Jones. I remember going home, looking at all my SW collection and feeling like a total sucker. Total dejection. Ep 2 was slightly better, but not great. Ep 3 was slightly better than 2 and lots better than 1, but still generally sucky. After Ep 3 I realized that there were really TWO SW brands. The first was the authentic SW brand - which featured characters and concepts from the original trilogy and there was also the “new” brand.

In order to make peace with myself and not have the “magic” of SW ruined I decided to pretend that SW Eps 1-3 just plain didn’t exist. I purged myself of all Ep 1-3 merchandise (which nobody will actually buy - I took it all to a shelter… I wonder if they just tossed it) and decided to pretend that after Jedi - that was it. Quite honestly, I feel much better about it now. I still do buy new SW merchandise, but ONLY if it has no references to Eps 1-3. Today, on the brand community that I am a part of - there are places for those who collect only Original (OT) stuff, those who collect only New (PT) stuff and those who collect both. There is little interaction between the groups of collectors in the one community. In fact, when a PT person jumps into a OT thread, they’re immediately flamed - and the mod has to step in. The opposite is also true. The lines are pretty clear. Hasbro, the license holder of SW created a huge issue when the re-issued the Stormtrooper action figure with removable helmet. The Stormtrooper of course is OT - but the head under the helmet in this new fig was a clone head - from Ep 2. We were all torn as to whether or not to purchase this figure - it was a great sculpt, but sacreligious. Most of us agreed we could buy the fig, but never ever take the helmet off.

I think it would be interesting to revisit your JM article now that Ep 3 has been released and the film series is history. What happens when we desire nostalgia, we get it in large doses, then almost wish the whole experience never happened from the beginning? The SW brand today is diluted. It didn’t have to be. You can see parallels in other exemplars - Metallica (pre and post Black album), Iron Chef (original series vs. new).

And uh, point of clarification here - Jar Jar lollipops? I don’t think anyone bought those. Please tell me you didn’t!

But the way, my all time fave Onion article re: Jar Jar…

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29418

]]>