Being Canadian, I see only about four fifths of the Hasbro line (at least the Classic line; for example, we never saw the Hoth Beasts, either Falcon Carrying Case, or the last six Expanded Universe figures). Is there any way to tell in advance which figures and vehicles Hasbro Canada is going to distribute, and which will never make it up here?
  -Scott

Unfortunately, I don't have info regarding Hasbro's plans for international markets available, but there has been mention of better international releases with Episode One and all. For your second question, well, that depends on who you ask. There are plans for POTF2 through at least 2000, and if the line continues to perform well, it should continue for years to come. Fact is, other than aliens, pilots, and a few Imperials, the line is running out of new characters to do, as evidenced by the alleged 2000 line-up.

Well, see previous questions. :) The Imperial Shuttle was one of the two most requested vehicles, as seen by the petition at Yakface's Realm over the past year or so (man, I'm feeling older all the time). As of today, no such announcement has been made. It'd make a nice exclusive, that's for sure, as it was the largest vehicle in the original line, and odds are wouldn't sell as highly as, say, something from Episode One right now. (For the record, I'd buy one. I've got the original [cost me $25 in 1991, if I recall] and it rocks!)

The Carbonite playset was cancelled last year after lukewarm reception from toy buyers. It was supposedly up for grabs as an exclusive but nobody took it. (Shameful.) However, there is strong speculation that the fate of this toy has not yet been sealed, and may become part of the 2000 line. The playset looked neat, but unfortunately, fell short of what a lot of us wanted. (For the record, I like big playsets.)

As far as the pop-up Hoth diorama that was to include an exclusive Hoth Leia figure, it seems to have been scrapped. I guess it's no biggie, a Rebel Flight Deck never really sounded all that spiffy. Now, something from Bespin or maybe the Death Star... that would be sweet.

A Cinemascene popped up on the rumor mill a while back, but turned out to be just a rumor. At the Star Wars Celebration, hope for future Cinemascenes from the classic line seemed bleak, and no announcement regarding ROJ aliens has been made as of yet (thus ending today's "are they gonna make [name of specific figure] of..." series of questions. :)

The releases, last I heard, were expected to be on the market around the Fall. Dunno if this is still accurate. As for pics... well, Hasbro, that's your cue. :)

For the record, the next wave is slated to include Endor Han (all-new face sculpt), Chewbacca (all plastic), Slave Leia with Salacious Crumb.

Right now, most people I've talked to have seen both in equal numbers. Lucky me, haven't seen either in stores yet. Oh well.

Arg, Hulk hate "worth" questions. Autographs are tricky. Depending on who you ask, an autograph could be seen as a blemish on an otherwise awesome piece (i.e., Jeremy Bulloch signing a 21-back Star Wars Boba Fett). Then again, with the new stuff, it's another story entirely since there tends to be a bunch of it. A fair estimate?

Cost of toy + cost of autograph = value of piece

Don't get me wrong, I like autographed stuff as much as the next guy... I just don't like parting with any of it.

9
With several waves last year seeing limited release (blastshield, Mon Mothma, etc) were they a short production run or didn't the stores order them like the collectors wanted? If it was a normal run, but with limited distribution is there any chance that we will begin to see those figures that I have NEVER seen in any of the second chance stores like Big Lots?
  -Scott

Some of each? This is one of those weird situations where some countries got these in pretty decent numbers while the US got... well, hosed. The demand by collectors was there, but there was a ton of clutter on the pegs in 1998, leaving many retailers with a decision: order new cases, get stuck with more old product or don't order new cases, don't get stuck with 20 more Rancor Keepers. I really doubt these will show up at Kay-Bee at 3 for $5, but hey, weird things happen. Expanded Universe continues to show up at Target and Kay-Bee on rare occasions, I scored a Prune Face at a Fry's Grocery Store in the spring, and some guys found Blast Shield Lukes as recently as a few months back.

Of course that's getting your hopes up, which is just plain cruel. {Insert bitter/snippy comment about chicks and cruelty toward the male persuasian here.} In all honesty, you'll probably never see these guys on a retail walk-in-to-the-store level barring some fluke of nature (i.e., cases misplaced in back of store, idiot returns collection to Toys "R" Us.) Give Entertainment Earth a whirl, or perhaps the Fan Club.

10
Any news of chance of an Expanded Universe II assortment? I am specifically interested in Guri.
  -Chris

I got a few versions of this question today. So Hasbro, please, buddy, pal, c'mon and throw us a friggin' bone here. Unfortunately, Expanded Universe will probably go down in toy collecting history as "that really cool line that nobody ever saw in the stores" and not "that really cool tryptich of toy lines where we got a C'Boath, a second Mara Jade, a Guri, Rookie One, and all those other groovy figures." I think it'd be totally awesome to see one or two a year as Fan Club exclusives (hint, hint.)

And I think it'd be even cooler to let fans vote on said exclusives (hint, hint.) Of course if they did a Guri/ Baron Fel 2-pack, I think everybody would be all smiles... no fuss, no muss. (Well, at least *I* would be stoked.)

FIN
Got a ton of questions today, folks, meaning that I'll be doing an extra edition of Q&A for Thursday to cover 'em. Keep them inquiries a-comin', and don't forget to check out back Q&As for answers to your questions! If it keeps up, I'll be upping it to 5 days a week, and yes, that is a threat. {Evil laughter.}

  
  Adam Pawlus

The Kenner one, circa 1983? Off the top of my head, look for a spit for Han Solo to be roasted upon, a rock that's tied to one of the three large trees, a drum, a net, a t-shaped piece that keeps the net from falling down, supports on each tree (look like some sort of cobweb), and a "throne" for C-3PO which included shoulder mounts for Ewoks. I'd go look at mine, but it's in the middle of a giant pile of my vintage ships... it's a mess. Philip'll vouch for me.

It seems to be pretty random. Nute Gunray has a sticker, but Rune Haako doesn't.

Why? Heck, why not? She's not my first choice for figures to do from the Jedi Council, but she'll be the first-ever manufactured non-white human female in the Star Wars action figure line. The first-ever, if you recall, was Jessica Meade, an unproduced character from the 1986 Droids line from the animated series.

As for "why not someone else," one of the questions I get asked every now and again (not here, elsewhere) is "Where is the carded Sebulba?" I think that character should be on the way, but odds are he isn't. I think it'd make sense to have him out, after all, Sebulba rocks. And he seems pretty popular. Well, at least there will be one more good character for a future assortment. Too bad people can't even find the Pod Racer a lot of the time...

There are characters with more screen presence than Adi Gallia, but when it comes to Hasbro releasing obscure or at least very minor characters, I don't complain. The more the merrier, bring those puppies on! You never know when we'll see these minor characters in plastic, and I think Adi beats a fifth Darth Maul any day. (Besides, better to get a good character today than have to ask 20 years later.)

You've got as much chance at seeing these at retail in a store in the United States as I have finding an original Beast Wars Dinobot toy at a reasonable price. I scored a Prune Face at a grocery store (cost me eight bucks, by the way), and others have found figures at oddball places. But odds are against you, especially so long after the initial release. The two best places to get these tough-to-get figures on the primary market are currently Entertainment Earth and the Fan Club. If you continue to wait on these figures, you will most likely miss out on getting them. And lemme tell you, that removable helmet Darth Vader is probably the best Imperial figure made, ever.

Well, on my toy expidetions last winter, I saw no more than a handful of Hantauns (snappy new word). I probably saw in the neighborhood of 20 or so Wampa with Luke Skywalker beasts... but you have to remember, I shop at places nobody ever goes to look for toys and at weird hours of the night. (For an example of time, this is being written at 2:33 AM.)

If you mean the bogus 3-pack of Hermi Odle, Amanaman, and Ephant Mon, that was... geez, there's for a badly written sentence. It was never confirmed by Hasbro, but a lot of magazines and web sites perpetuated the rumor for a good long time. I'd like to see a set like this, it'd definitely be worth its heft in plastic.

Well, Hasbro does a lot with stickers for some markets, so the answer: dunno. Outside the US, most carded figures come on (I *think*) Trilogo cards with CommTech chips in English, French, and Spanish, or a Battle Droid figure with limited articulation. Japan gets US carded figures with stickers on the back with their distributor (in this case, Tomy [makers of Zoids and other cool toys]), and I assume many other countries will see something similar. I don't believe there's an international archive of Episode One stuff yet, but hey, I'll post it here if a good one comes up. There's also rumors of Itallian CommTech chips, but I don't have information on that, unfortunately.

The deal is, basically, figures get made at different times and in different factories and inevitably, some discrepancies pop up between figures. There's so many of these in the vintage line it'd turn your iris white... if you really want to get into nasty laundry lists of changes, collect vintage. These changes in the POTF2 line are, for the most part, pretty insignificant. For example, at Wal-Mart last week, I went through no less than 20 Qui-Gon Jinn (Naboo) figures, each had different eye paint. Sure, I finally found a really good one, but I don't want a bad one in my collection as well.

In other words, I don't think it's worth the fuss. Little changes happen all the time.

9
I was wondering, is there any Hasbro E1 Action Figure that has a flat bottom? (POTF2 Emperor Palpatine and Royal Guard for example?)
  -Scott

As of now, it doesn't seem that way. Unilegs like Palpy or the Royal Guard served the figure well, as it stood up easier. Darth Sidious tends to be more wobbly... I hear Rune Haako is a semi-unileg, but since I don't have one as of yet, I dunno.

10
I have heard that the .00 version of the Ceremonial Leia figure was given to sales reps and dealer types only. I have seen a picture of the figure, but never one in person. What is the existing quantity of this figure?
  -Tim

I know a lot of people who have been offered these at prices so high you'd assume the seller was sniffing the plastic from that new Vader figure too much. When it comes to "samples," there always seems to be 20-50, but any estimate I give is just that-- an informed guess, not a number from Hasbro. Put this up there with adding a US carded Collection 1 Boushh Leia or Grey Plastic Darth Vader to your collection. It probably ain't gonna happen.

FIN
Believe it or not, all of these were leftovers from the Wednesday morning update. Yow. Come back Friday morning for more answers to more questions and more references to The Simpsons, guaranteed!

  
  Adam Pawlus

Well Kev, this is where Evil Adam would say something snide about being able to get 'net access from under a rock. But since I had him sent to Outer Mongolia a year and a half ago, this won't be necessary. The figures (even that elusive Death Ster Trooper are both available from the Fan Club as you read this (assuming this isn't 2015 or something) for twenty bucks for the pair. Both come on the original cards, unchanged, as the club and Hasbro promised.

Well, a big part of this is chance. For example, last Fall, I saw tons of all the band pairs and the large action figure band members when I went out to Wal-Mart, jonesin' for a new Insectoid Lego set or something. Fact is, these figures generally are out in your areas, I've gotten some email from people who claim to live in an area not too distant from my house and claim they never see Figure X. Whereas I was at the store they say they frequent a week prior to the email and saw six of said figure. Luck and timing play a big part of finding certain items. (Like anything cool in Doane, Nebraska.)

When it came to the big Cantina Band set, that was always tough to get, after all, a case is a complete set. But Hasbro did make several waves for Wal-Mart through 1998, a lot of them ended up in the hands of scalpers, lucky collectors, or someone who said "hey, that's neat." Some areas had these cleared out for ten bucks earlier this year because they couldn't sell. It's all regional. I don't think the demand is too high, because I've seen people stuck with sets they can't move at cost (which was in the neighborhood of US$120 and sales tax) and there's a set on ebay as I write this for $90, no bids.

As far as Max Rebo... would you believe I got a note from somebody who said his Wal-Mart is still well-stocked in all three? For the most part, they're gone, but in the 6-7 Wal-Marts I regulared back in December '98, these were available, and when Wal-Mart ran the advert, most (if not all) stores were pretty well stocked. Of course, some stores run out quicker than others. Sets of the band have gone online for at/near cost, though. With a little hunting, a collector can track these down in no time flat. (And yes, a few reports surfaced of these being cleared out as well.) Just keep looking, it is possible to get stuff on the secondary market at a reasonable price.

Luke didn't put a glove on until after the skirmish on Tatooine, the figure was made to reflect this. You know, right after that cut scene where he was jumping on the tramampoline... er, trabapoline.

Talk about coincidence-- just got a note from Hasbro today saying work is moving right along! It should be very soon, but things come up, knees get operated on, cars run out of gas, a friend comes in from out of town, locusts, you know how these things go. The same reasons I didn't write more than two or three newsletters in June.

Well, probably because a) it sucked and b) it really sucked. (For the record, I hate the entire line of Hasbro's figure carry cases to date. I've been using fishing tackle boxes for a couple of years now.) Very few retaillers ordered this particular case, and it, along with the Fantastic Sticker Maker Star Wars refill kit and a few other oddities, showed up at smaller retaillers or mom and pop operations. A few of the online toy stores got it, I got mine from a collectible store I frequent here in Phoenix, but basically, be glad you don't have it. This case was pretty much the nastiest thing in the POTF2 line, Cruisemissile Trooper included.

It was a pretty short-run item due to the lack of popularity in Weequay. There was going to be a Freeze Frame edition of Ponda Baba, but that got cancelled as well, most likely due to a lack of sales in the previous version. There aren't all that many out in the US, but Canada got a larger run than the USA (or they just didn't care about them) and I've had a chance to pick up one from the great white north for very reasonable prices on numerous occasions. (Only bought one, and that's in the hands of a buddy in Jersey.)

There is an R2-D2/Naboo case with a Destroyer Droid in ball form. It holds a few figures, and turns into a playset as well. No Maul case has been announced, but if you really need a good figure storage solution, I suggest the Plano line of fishing tackle boxes. I can't remember the model number off the top of my head (or find the paperwork from the last one I bought), but check out your local K-Mart or Wal-Mart's fishing equipment. It's probably worth it.

On most (if not all) Hasbro and Kenner toys, a part number appears on the back of the package to denote a revision. It's usually an item number followed by a suffix, like "562048.0100" or something similar. The last part is what people are talking about when they say ".00" or whatever. It could be ".00", ."01", ".0200", etc. ".00" is usually used to indicate first run, but on some figures, the first run was ".04" or later. It's collector's shorthand for a first run, usually. Some people say ".00" when they mean ".0000", so if that makes a difference to you (and it probably won't), you should ask a seller.

A useful example? First TIE Fighter Pilot figures came on ".00" cards with a small parts warning sticker. ".01" had the warning printed instead of the sticker. On some figures, a change might be nothing more than an assortment jump (i.e., a figure going from Collection 2 to Collection 1) or the change of a period to a comma. These numbers have nothing to do with changes to the actual toy.

9
I dont get it, I live near Cincinnati where Hasbro headquarters are located, and we are one of the last places in the U.S.A to recieve new figures. Why is that?
  -Chris

Everyone thinks they're last in the USA to see new figures-- they usually aren't. It's not uncommon for figures to show up where Toys "R" Us or wherever has a major wherehouse (the Lynnwood, Washington store became infamous for having all the new stuff a year or two back) but since the figures are shipped to the US from Asia, usually via ports on the west coast, there's really no reason Cincinatti should get stuff first any more than Doane, Nebraska.

10
Will hasbro put out all of the members of the Jedi Council?
  -Kelly

There's no announcement that all 12 characters are in production, if that's what you mean... but like the six bounty hunters from Empire Strikes Back, it's a pretty safe bet Hasbro knows we want the full dozen and we'll probably see them all around the time Darth Maul #27 comes out. (Kidding!) Hopefully we'll get the Pod Racers as well... considering we've got three years between flicks, I think we'll see everything we want from this movie.

11
Yo goober, when is Indiana Jones coming to DVD?
  -Adam Pawlus

Well you schmuck, Paramount just announced all-new VHS versions of the trilogy and the Young Indy TV series. However there will be no DVD counterpart... check out the site "DVD file" for more information on this. (DVD File is not associated with Rebelscum, yadda yadda yadda.) Why no DVD? Obviously Lucas and Spielberg both are out to get you, Adam. They know you want these flicks on DVD (in widescreen), and you ain't gonna see it anytime soon, even though most of these studios know you have no intention of buying VHS reissues...

FIN
Lots of questions today. Surprisingly, most were requests for Hasbro to continue Expanded Universe, make a new Jedi Luke with Jedi Duel articulation, or for an all-new Boba Fett action figure. What can I say? You dudes have awesome taste!

Oh, and no more pricing questions, please. Q&A tries not to be a price guide, but there are a lot of good ones in your local bookstore. Unless you live in Doane, Nebraska.

It's almost 5 in the morning, so I'm going to bed. 'night, all!