Call it Evil
1 On the Star Wars: Special Edition soundtrack, on the first disc, if I play the last track and let it keep going, it eventually has what seems to be practice sessions of the main theme... with old John Williams saying "Take 18, Take 19" and so on every time they start up again. So, I'm wondering if this is on every disc? Or am I just cracked? -Vorkosigan
Those bonus tracks are included on every version I've seen and are also mentioned in the liner notes. Just a word of advice: the liner notes are usually worth looking at.
2 Why are the foot pegs on Queen Amidala's Cruiser (cockpit level) too small for the figures feet to fit on? Who would make such a ridiculous mistake? Is it just my paticular ship, a glitch? -GrandMoffBrers
Well, I put this to the test with my Jedi Duel Kenobi and the starship, and you're right, them be some small pegs. It did help Ben stand unassisted, however, it was a loose fit. Such mistakes are not uncommon in the POTF2 line where cockpits are too small for figures and carry case don't hold in figures all the time, and well, this sorta thing just happens. At least figures can sit in the cockpit...
3 What are your feelings on the end of Commblech chips, and do you think this will mark the return of Expanded Universe figs? -Chris
What? I miss your reasoning, I think.
CommTech chips were never an issue to who was and wasn't made. Lines were made up for figures like Adi Gallia, and I can tell you, some of those chips weren't the actors. If Hasbro really wanted to do CommTech EU, it could be done via some of the "radio dramas" made for a few series, or they could just do what they did in 1998: drop the current gimmick for something better, namely, the dioramas.
CommTech had nothing to do with the lack of Expanded Universe. It just wasn't were Hasbro wanted to be in 1999, where they were rolling the dice for Episode One as opposed to... well, anything except maybe Pokemon and the much-needed return of Pong in 3D.
4
It's a different toy market... most kids want expensive game consoles or something else, and not $50-$100 playsets. We did get four items for the 4" line priced like that, but two of the four are widely available on clearance today, one of which sold out when it hit clearance, and the Falcon...
If the Starship sold better, you can bet we'd see more nice playsets or something like that. Alas, it was not meant to be.
5 ok i just wanna know why dont the star wars figures have the same articulation as g.i.joe figs have they where made by the same company right -Brimstone247
Then-Kenner opted to go for sculpt over articulation. We're seeing improvements on certain figures when a scene-specific character is made that requires the extra work, like the excellent Cantina Han, Cantina Greedo, and the Cantina Band Member. I probably wouldn't mind paying $7 if the figures could do a little more, but hey, nothing's perfect.
6
Packaging mock-ups for this sort of thing were shown at Toy Fair so yeah, it's a safe bet now that they're moving most if not all Hasbro SW product under one big packaging umbrella.
7
First, allow me to let everybody know: I know two towns particularly well. Phoenix, and Tucson. If you don't live there, your phone book is the best resource for locating collectible, comic, and hobby themed stores.
As far as online goes, there are many, including our sponsors like
Brian's Toys, eBay, and elsewhere. There's also the Empire of
Toys (the owner I blame for selling me most of of my vintage
stuff back in the early '90s before he had the store), but their store
site is under renovation... but you can probably ask them if they have
what you're looking for. A few minutes in a search engine like Yahoo
can probably get you to where you want to be going.
8
I think it's just you... well, sorta. Most items are about the same level as the regular figures, but some like the Mos Espa Encounter rank as some of the worst licensed figures I've seen in years, and yes, I have seen wrestling figures.
The Purchase of the Droids set's C-3PO is one of the best made, at least in terms of deco, the A-Wing pilot is OK, I didn't get a cross-eyed Luke, and my gunner stations figures were great. I think the AT-AT Commanders and some figures could stand to be better... but typically, they're pretty OK.
9
Look at the regular Stormtrooper 12" figure from Hasbro... then look at the Marmit 12" Stormtrooper figure. The pictures pretty much say it all, and they are here.
10
You can kinda make it out in the Lars family garage, although it appears black. He raced it in the radio dramas, so I'd say it's a safe bet he's got his somewhere.
FIN
My Galoob Action Fleet Mos Espa Market playset includes three little grey pieces of Space Junk that aren't pictured on the box nor mentioned in the instructions. They are clearly actual toy parts and not part of the packaging or stray bits of plastic left over from injection molding.
Do you have any idea if they're just there for decoration, or if they're
supposed to attach to anything on the playset or each other, or are
really part of another set, or what? Someone obviously went to a great
deal of trouble to sculpt, mold, and paint them, but their purpose is a
mystery.
Well, I had the same confusion when I first bought this set last year. I still don't know why they weren't mentioned on the packaging or elsewhere, but I'm considering them just random debris to toss around that Galoob was cool enough to create for the line.
2 Whats up with the light-up figures (Maul and Qui-Gon)? First of all, the Maul doesnt even have facial tatoos, he just looks like a guy in robes. Second is, I dont ever remember seeing Qui-Gon as a hologram. Francly I think Hasbro has no more ideas. :) -Darthminime64
As to your last comment, there's only so many ways to try to innovate in the 4" scale short of a new direction in sculpting. Yeah, they're kinda lame for $10, but I was lucky enough to snag the pair at $5 per, and I think that's quite a bargain, especially considering that other translucent figures look great on the stand.
As far as Qui-Gon, yeah, he didn't appear as a holo in the film. (I don't think Obi-Wan did, either, and a prototype of him surfaced the other week.) So toss 'im in the pile with Flashback Luke, E1 R2-D2, and a few others of "figures that never appeared on screen." I think the attempt to paint the flesh turned out pretty terribly, but the idea was an interesting one.
Maul... well, he's too short compared to the other Mauls. I can understand why they didn't sculpt the tatoo. I can understand why they didn't paint it. But why he's dwarfed by other Maul figures, I don't get.
Returning to the ideas comment... well, Hasbro's done pretty much every
standard toy mechanism in POTF2/E1 figures. We've got arm swingin'
action, battery powered lights, sounds, added articulation (on far too
few figures), light-up eyeports, and all sorts of things. With the
holos, we see an idea borrowed (intentionally or not) from Playmates'
Trek line. (Remember those Transporter figures? Man did those suck.)
Short of wind-up or self-propelled figures, there's nothing left to do
than come up with a wholly original gimmick for the line, and that's a lot harder than it sounds. Personally, I thought the Expanded Universe packaged backdrops were brilliant. But that's me.
3 After five years of following the "one to keep, one to open" collecting philosophy, I am seriously considering dumping the carded/boxed half of my collection, as I am getting 95% of my enjoyment out of the opened stuff. Any suggestions on anything that I might want to hold onto from the MIP side?
This is a non-Star Wars question, but what the hey. With much talk of a 4th
Indy film, do you think Hasbro would ressurect the 4" Indy line? I would
love to see the classic Indy characters done with today's scuplting talent
and advanced decos. Is it possible that Hasbro does not have the Indy
rights via Kenner considering that LJN made those Temple of Doom figures in
'84?
As far as the age-old "open or no" debate, well, right now you can't sell most of it to save your life, especially at prices that'd make your money back. It never hurts to have spares in case of rogue kids/cats/natural disasters if that sort of thing worries you, but if somebody out there will actually pay you back what you put into your boxed collection, and you want to unload it, I'd sell it.
I *think* (and I could be dead wrong here) that Hasbro obtained the
"master toy license" for Indy when they picked up Galoob in 1999. If
this is still true, they have the ability to make more Indy toys, and in
the past few years, all we've really seen was an American MicroMachines
box and a Japanese collector's doll. Classic Indy would probably be
almost certain if we were to see *any* new Indy product, but well, in
this topsy-turvy Batman world, I wouldn't expect too much if it were to
ever happen. After seeing figures like the Cantina Han from Hasbro, though, I would be very much interested in Indy toys. But then again, I had high hopes for their Planet of the Apes toys as well.
(Heck, I also want to see Doc and Marty and movie-based Ghostbusters toys. Nah... 'd never happen.)
4
Customizable toys are one of the high points of Japanese figure kits... weird as we may find it, it often results in a nicer product than we're given in the USA.
These toys were meant to be opened, pure and simple. They look pretty dull in their packaging, and well, while I can make a case that all toys should be opened, these things are made to be assembled. In the packages... well, they kinda suck.
5 I've got two 12" questions for you. 1-The first collector series 12" Han Solo I got had a blaster with a handle entirely too small for the figure's hand. I got 2 more of these guys during their initial run and both had two rings around the handle allowing the figure to hold the gun. The question is, did they originally use the mold to the Vintage 12" blaster or was it an oversight of the new sculpt which was corrected with the rings? Have you ever seen this before and how rare would you guess this is?
2-Is there any chance that we will see indivivualy packaged figures from the 12" 2-packs like Death Star Gunner, Bib Fortuna, etc. or do you think I should bite the bullet and buy the two packs on the secondary market?
On the first one: it's not a remold. (If it is, I missed something big.) The gun was changed because without the rings, it was difficult to actually have him hold his gun. This is one of few changes made to the line for increased ability to play with the toys, along with the POTF2 Hoth Han hand change and... heck, that's all the comes to mind.
On #2, well, no plans exist at this time. If you can score the packs
for a decent price (I was charged like $75 per shipped when they were
new because FAO charged shipping twice), by all means, buy 'em. With
the 12" line moving in a new direction-- a direction that doesn't rely
in one in four figure releases being new-- I would doubt that we'd see
more old molds being used, at least for a while. Considering the
two-pack with Bib has sold as low as $50 recently and the Gunner set as
low as $40, it's not impossible to assume a good deal can be had out there.
Fun trivia note: both of those two figures were originally on the product list for the 1998 12" line in place of Chewie and Barquin D'an. Consider that this was pretty much the same kind of list that's listing all those fancy new figures on it recently...
6
Target's NOT going to stop carrying Star Wars all together. I know what your toy people told you, these are the same people who may have told you about the lead paint that was never actually in the Speederbike or C-3PO toys in 1995. Plans still call for the Y-Wing being sold at Target-- just not this week. The possibility that they're getting more Skiffs is still open, after all, it's in the same assortment as the Y-Wings unless I'm mistaken.
7
Anything is possible in Star Wars, the line with 10 Darth Mauls in about a year.
8
Considering Peter M has yet to declare that he'll never sign anything again, numbered autographed figures are technically nothing any more special than your average signed figure. A crushed bubble is a downer, but as far as the number of the figure, I can almost guarantee you this is something potential buyers will not look at.
9
In no particular order: sculpt, accessories, paint... it's a different figure. I think the individually carded one looks a bit better, but hey, dunno for sure as of yet.
10
Yup. It, along with Mace Windu and OOM-9, showed up in stores earlier this month, mostly Toys "R" Us stores.
FIN
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