The parents strike back at £900 build-your-own Star Wars spaceship toy
IT’S set be the one of the biggest – and certainly one of the most hyped – cinema releases of 2015.
But as anticipation of the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga intensifies, so too does the lucrative merchandising industry surrounding it, along with fears that fans are being exploited.
Devotees of the sci-fi movies are already up in arms about a model of the Millennium Falcon spaceship, commanded by Harrison Ford’s character Han Solo, which is currently being advertised on TV. The model is built from a series of parts released every week along with a glossy magazine.
But the cost of completing the project is an astronomical £900 – a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Star Wars fans. ‘For that you could just buy Harrison Ford,’ raged Josh Reynolds on Twitter.
Fellow Twitter user Amanda Westwood added: ‘I’d want a ride on the real thing for that much.’
And John Holt said: ‘I bought my first car for less.’
The first issue of the Build The Millennium Falcon magazine costs £2.99, but then the price soars to £8.99, and publishers say there are at least 100 instalments, meaning it will take two years to build the spaceship. The cost of the magazines flashes up on TV screens for only a brief moment. Many parents are trapped into buying every edition by ‘pester power’.
Nicola Lamond, from website Netmums, said: ‘Asking parents to pay almost £900 for a toy is luring them into the financial dark side.
‘Like a payday loan company glossing over its real APR, the true price is only displayed in tiny writing on the ads which parents may miss. And once they start buying, they are hooked in and committed to keep
For that you could just buy Harrison Ford!
TWITTER USER JOSH REYNOLDS
going or the family will be left with nothing but a few tiny sections of model for their money.
‘Even the most expensive Lego version of the Millennium Falcon is only about £100, so this version is a rip-off which mums and dads must avoid.’
The new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, is due out in December and director J. J. Abrams has already raised anticipation by posting online photos of the new Millennium Falcon. However, the Build The Millennium Falcon project has not impressed model-maker Mike Lees, who has produced Star Warsthemed models for private clients. He said: ‘There is no reason to stretch the project over two years. The first few magazines are available at newsagents, but you need to subscribe to get the rest so you are tied in. To be honest, I would prefer the cheaper one from Argos.’
Dai Chetley, marketing director at DeAgostini UK, the firm behind the magazine, said: ‘We are sure that Star Wars fans and model makers will be delighted with it. It is a fullsize model of the actual movie prop used in The Empire Strikes Back.
‘It needs 100 parts because it is a large and complex model. To be able to replicate the movie prop faithfully, we need that many.’