It is the grand reopening of the Disney store in the mall. I am overly excited as the new store is undoubtedly going to have the new Star Wars toys. I rush over to the half scale Darth Vader statue standing on top of a circular shelving unit filled with numerous amounts of Star Wars plushes. I want the 3 ½ inch action figures not the plush Chewbacca staring me down with its huge black eyes. These aren’t the toys I’m looking for, I move along. Then I spot them hanging from racks on a shelf behind the circular unit. I grab one of the new Star Wars Rebels figures and look in disappointment as I notice it only has 5 points of articulation (its head, arms, and legs), made of cheap plastic and the paint applications are way off especially on the face. The figure is giving me a cross eyed look as it hopes I put it out of its misery. Is this what happens when Disney buys out Star Wars? Is this what they do with the beloved toy line? They replace them with McDonald’s toys? As an avid Star Wars collector with over three hundred figures plus much more memorabilia I am very disappointed with how Disney is handling the toy franchises they have taken over. They do offer a higher quality toy line for both Marvel and Star Wars toys but they cost way more than they used to. I was able to buy a high quality Star Wars action figure for less than $10 before Disney bought Lucas Films out. Now $10 will get you a figure that mirrors a figure from the 70’s only without the charm the vintage ones had. This lack of quality is apparently due to studies that Disney has done that show kids apparently like a lower quality figure with less articulation points than one of higher quality that on average has around 18 points of articulation. How stupid does Disney think people are? Having more options to move a figure allowed them to have more realistic poses and stances. When I was a kid and still played with the few figures I had, all I would care about was realism. My favourite figure growing up was a Luke Skywalker figure and the only reason it was my favourite was due to it being able to move its knees. I could do so many more poses and actions with that Luke than I could with any other figure and that was simply because its knees moved. I don’t think that Disney understand that they are taking away the action from action figure with the decrease in quality that they are so fond of. Before Disney released their new toy line I was incredibly excited for what the new Rebels figures would look like. I was a huge fan of the previous cartoon’s figures as they upped a notch in quality. They introduced joints in the wrists, something I never thought I would want until I saw how much it helped a figure hold a gun. To my disappointment Disney brought the figures back to ground zero. The only upside to this is that I will have a lot more money to spend on other things like those new Halo figures that McFarlane toys just put out.