Q & A Archive for week of January 10, 2000


Questions for January 14, 2000

1
Is it true that we are going to see another price hike for the Hasbro action figures?
  -Christopher

While they haven't officially stated there will be one, the Classic figures have gone up a buck at Target stores, and considering sales, I wouldn't be too surprised if figures got bumped up despite the fact that at least two 2000 figures are just 1999 figures with new accessories. And yes, I am going out of my way to say that those are doubtlessly the worst things Hasbro has bothered to put out.


2
It's obvious that they are producing E1 figures in huge quantities since we see many hanging on pegs across the country, thus the appearance of poor sales. Do you think this will affect the POTF2 line? I don't really care for the E1 figures as much as the POTF2, and with the current line up slated for 2000 of POTF2, I would like to see it continue, or at last in quantities that will reach most people.
  -Aaron

Okay, first, pegwarmers do not equate to vast quantities. There really aren't all that many Rancor Keepers, just people didn't want them. At the same time, most people don't give a flaming horse's patoot about Episode One stuff... even a lot of collectors.

As far as POTF2 goes, it still seems to be doing quite well, as the newest CommTech figures are still as of yet unseen by me. They are coming in, just not for long. Kinda sucks, but as long as those Hans and Greedos don't choke the consumers, there shouldn't be a huge problem finding your favorites throughout the year.


3
I recently purchased an Obi Wan Kenobi (Naboo) and noticed it came packaged with 2 lightsaber handles and 2 lightsabers, it doesn't look like a mistake tho since it fits perfectly in the blister card. I was wondering if this will ever be worth more or less for having this annomally.
  -NYJORELL

Yes that's right, Diet Dr. Pepper does taste more like regular Dr. Pepper.

4
If you had to sell your entire collection and could only keep one figure and one vehicle/beast, what would they be?
  -Bryan

I'd sell my extra Beast Wars stuff... geez man, why would I sell my collection? I've been doing this for like 18 years, I can eat cereal every mean before I'd sell the toys...


5
I have a question for you. Did Hasbro ever make the POTF2 Deluxe Probe Droid on an "orange" card. I know one was made with a green front and orange back, but I don't know if there was ever one made that was orange on both sides.
  -Jeffro

No Probes that hit the market had an orange front.

6
I loved the Expanded Universe line. Does Hasbro have any plans of releasing a second or third or four... sorry, got carried away. I can't get enough of those figs!
  -Karl

Hasbro, like I said before, has no plans to do EU2. If there were plans to make more, you could hear me shouting it from the rooftops-- while you never know what they'll do to surprise us at Toy Fair (odds are nothing considering how much we've already seen, there can't be much left).

7
Has anyone out there been able to find a new Lego Millinium Falcon set. I've been harrasing employees at my local Wal-Mart and ToysRUs for weeks looking for all the new sets.
  -Legolunatic

InWell, you can keep bugging them, unfortunately it won't do you any good since they aren't due until later this year. You can be sure we'll post an update as soon as the first one hits store shelves (and someone tells us about it.)

8
Remember a few years ago there was a big tiff about what toy company would be producing Episode I action figures? Lucasfilm supposedly met with the BIG toy-producing companies to see what each of them could offer to the company as well as the consumer...
Do you know of any companies or art/figure samples that were used in each pitch? I remember there was a lot of talk about Mattel possibly producing the line before there was an agreement between Lucasfilm and Hasbro/Kenner. Have you seen or heard of any test product for Episode I that was not of Hasbro/Kenner origin?
  -Bob

From what I've seen and heard, LucasFilm was shown classic stuff from various companies with new and/or innovative mechanisms to try to score themselves the license. I haven't seen any non-Hasbro SW prototypes from any recent era, save for the alleged Playmates Toys Bespin Luke statue I had posted on an old web page a coupla years back.

9
Speaking of the radio dramas, are they still available for purchase as a boxed set? You could get a boxed set with ANH and Empire on either cassette or CD but that was before ROTJ was released. My off air recordings aren't as good as I would like and I would really like to upgrade them all to CD for a decent price.
  -David

Yup-- a set with all 3 on CD was at the Borders Books I went to the other week, so they seem to be out there. It was over $100, though... still, with the money you can save by passing on the Naboo Pilot Anakin and Obi-Wan with new Hat you can probably scare up the cash in no time. :)

10
Hey, do you think the E1 line will continue after 2000?
  -Jeremy

Yup. It's gonna be slow, and it's gonna start to really suck... as I've mentioned previously, these "let's throw a new cloak on a figure" things are just pathetic. C'mon Hasbro, you can do (and often do) better than this. This isn't Malibu Stacy... and a new weapon isn't going to freshen the look of the toys on the shelves for very long. Kids aren't blind, and neither are we.

Don't get me wrong-- Hasbro, we want to give you money. We've been doing it for some time, it's kinda like death and taxes... although we would like to see something for our money. We'd love to buy Skiff Guards or that new R2-D2... but (and I can't speak for everyone) if I see one more Darth Maul figure I'm going to collect something else. These new Kenobis and Anakins will sell OK for a while... heck, all new figures do. But in the long term, it cheapens the look of the line and it makes a lot of us ask "Now why am I even bothering to get a complete set if we end up buying the same figure 2-3 times?" Heck, repaint the Battle Droids some more... people love those. But what the heck can I do with 2 different Naboo Pilot Anakins (1 CommTech & 1 Tiger Game) or 2 Obi-Wans holding Qui-Gon's saber from that 5-second shot in the film?

This is the part where I sound like a dopey old man and say "Remember the good ol' days, where every main character in every major outfit was never made more than once?" I realize it's a different market today, and people do want to see improved versions of their favorites, but shipping cases of resculpts and half a case of pegwarmers to smaller retailers isn't a good thing... "new" is everything in this hobby.

I know I've been kinda down on the hobby lately... but c'mon, look at it. It's sick. It's dull. It's easy to fix, though...

A year ago today, people were pretty gung-ho on Star Wars. They were looking forward to finding Aunt Beru, they were drooling over the pictures of future pegwarmers showing up online, and they were as ready as ever for new Star Wars movies. A mail-in offer, or even just typical dealing (no exclusives, fewer production goofs, more product available through non-retail channels for the stuff nobody ever gets) would be great. Today, collecting Star Wars is a chore-- it's not fun to hunt for a figure for several months, only to still not find it. It's not fun when the most exciting new thing out there is a figure you bought last May with a helmet from another figure you bought last May. It'd make a fine mail-in figure... but it doesn't fly with a $7-$9.50 price tag.

Thanks for reading.

FIN
Slow week for questions...