So many questions, so little space... Many other
Star Wars collecting sites also submitted questions you need answered, so if you want to know the latest answers from this week's Hasbro
Star Wars Weekly Q&A Session, here's a handy guide to help you get all the info.
From Action Figs: 1) Recently you were quoted as saying that Hasbro had subcontracted the 12" figures to Sideshow as their smaller business model allowed them to manufacture collector-quality 12" figures in a more cost effective manner. Given Hasbro's shelfspace limitations and struggles to generate profits with playsets, larger vehicles, and Micro Machines/Action Fleet, would Hasbro consider subcontracting those fan-desired items out to other companies?
2) What are the chances that you will make the Homing Spider Droid and Corporate Alliance Tank Droid in 3¾" scale if they appear in the upcoming animated series? And their chances if they don't appear in the series, or perhaps do you already have plans to make either of them? Would you be willing to add cockpits inside each for extra play value which don't affect the look of the outside (this would be consistent with Star Wars Battlefront 2)?
3) Hasbro was previously asked in a Q&A if the cancelled trophy edition OOM-9 could be released in a Battle Pack, and the response was "If [it] would fit into a future scene we want to do, we'd consider [it]." What about releasing cancelled OOM-9 and also the cancelled Destroyer Droid (from the Droideka vs Gungan 2pack) and Trophy Edition Obi-Wan as regular basic carded figures?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Galactic Hunter: 1) Now that e-tailers have started pre-sells for the Order 66 Two Packs, can anyone at Hasbro shed any light on these? Should we anticipate repaints, or are there new figures paired with troops?
2) Artoo and Threepio don't seem to get much attention. With the exception of the Holiday Edition, there have hardly been any two packs with these iconic characters. Any chance we would see nice sculpts of these droids in a two pack with a nice background?
3) I'm not complaining too much (especially since I already ordered the thing and I can't wait to get it and to tear it open), but the Death Star Briefing multi-figure pack raises a few questions. Are the figure images we've seen the final product? The reason I ask is that the Tarkin figure (an obvious repaint of the ROTS figure) has ROTS boots as opposed to the boots the character wore in the original film. Also, the Motti figure seems to be a straight repack (and as such, the coloring is not in line with the rest of the figures in the set). Any chance the legs for Tarkin have since been swapped out to reflect more accurate boots or that the Motti figure has been given the same arms and/or uniform coloring as the rest of the figures in the set?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Jedi Defender: 1) The rumor has always been that Ephant Mon was a figure on which you took a beating financially. If this is true, why? The figure's size was obviously quite large but shouldn't you make up for a figure like Ephant Mon by giving us tiny figures like Yoda or the new Chief Chirpa? Many fans would love to see Hermi Odle (Jabba's Palace) but worry that he'll never see the light of retail aisles because he'd be large like Ephant.
2) Fans were excited to see that the R2-D2 in the first wave of figures for 2007 appears to be the ROTS Sneak Preview Droid sculpt... but then came the disappointment after seeing all the yellow "flame reflection" paint aps on him. Will we be seeing a "clean" R2-D2 using this sculpt or are we going to have to buy some "goof off" to remove those yellow paint aps?/
3) Any chance we'll see the Episode 3 Felucia Clone Trooper from the Evolutions Clonetrooper set released as a basic figure? It was was pretty tough to find since the Evolutions sets weren't out in abundance for many people and many troop builders would love a crack at this one as a basic figure!
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Jedi Temple Archives: 1) Are there any plans to do any more vehicles with sound effects like the POTF line?
2) Why does the Greatest Battle C-3PO come with so many different base variations. All the rest of the figure in that line come with the ROTS base. We can see where the white/grey Tantive IV base some into play, but what is the inspiration behind the brown one?
3) The images of the interacting Super Battle Droid and R2-D2 from the 1st wave of 30th Anniversary figures fresh in mind...will other figures from that line have features that interact and/or will they come with accessories that interact on either the basic figure level or a "deluxe figure level next year?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Sandtroopers.com: 1) Hey Hasbro ever thought about making battlepacks or extra accesories with your new snowtroopers and sandtroopers and flip up visor scouts, mabye like five per package with a web blaster or something big like that with some nice bfg's for the sandies? I would love to see an AT-AT driver battlepack done like this too. Maybe have a scuplt of a new trooper or imperial commander in with em? I would think these would sell like hotcakes compared to the battlepacks I have recently seen released.
2) Do some other Star Wars sites/forums get exclusive official polling rights with Hasbro, or do all sites get equal input? If we are all equal which figures does Sandtroopers.com get to have in our poll? And what other sites will be included in this polling survey?
3) Will the new 2007 30th Anniversary Collection of basic figures with collectible coins fit in your figure cases for sale on your website or do we have to look for new cases again?
Click
here for the answers to these questions. (Forum registration required.)
From Sir Steve's Guide: 1) Buyers have long suffered basic figure case assortments that cause more collecting problems than they solve, whether they be cases trying to refresh older product, focus on unpopular figures across multiple cases, or an extended lack of focus on popular figures - even a perception of intentional shortpacking (and I don't mean chase figures like UGH, that's a separate can of worms). Case revisions often don't do enough to remedy the problem, sometimes making it even worse. Currently, the "Greatest Battles" and "Heroes & Villains" older-figure assortments are in heavy rotation and are choking off shelfspace for actual new assortments in many markets. Nearly every Target, Toys R Us, and Wal-mart is stuffed with those figures which move much slower and have no room to put out the newest TSC wave, Endor 2/The Phantom Menace. Now Hasbro is saying this "greatest hits" style of assortment will be continuing next year. Why are new-product case assortments still such a problem, what is Hasbro doing to deal with the problems beyond simple case revisions, and - understanding that there is some need for older figures to keep a continued presence on shelves - how will the current problems of the "greatest hits" assortment be addressed?
2) On the issue of perceived value with small figures like Ewoks, Jawas, Astromech droids, etc., while scale-accuracy is important, smaller figures have often come in 2-packs - Wicket & Logray, Jawa 2pack, Gonk Droid & Jawa, Yoda & Chian, Jedi Padawans, Library Droids, even the just-released Dud Bold & Mars Guo; Wicket & Logray are not only a 2-pack but are scaled-up for perceived value - yet the recent Chief Chirpa feels like a very empty package because it's a very small figure with few accessories. Why was Chirpa not part of a 2-pack, and would Hasbro consider using the basic 2-pack format with smaller figures again in the future to give greater value for buyers' money and get more figures out there?
3) We often wonder why the current "kids market" is treated so much differently from the "collectors market", could you explain Hasbro's perceptions of the distinctions between the "collectors market" and "kids market" in Star Wars collecting? What are the percentages of "kids" collecting the line right now? Isn't that line blurred since most adult collectors started their interest as kids dating back to Kenner's first Star Wars action figures with notions of "collect them all" in 1978? There's a notion among collectors that the "kids market" is more important to Hasbro in the Star Wars collecting even though collectors make up a significant portion of the line's consumers and often buy multiples of each item, are kids today that much different in how they buy and enjoy their toys from 28 years ago that they should be treated as "non-collectors"?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Star Wars Action News: 1) I was wondering what methods you at Hasbro use to gauge the popularity of individual figures. You obviously see the sell-through rates of the whole cases you send, but in some of those cases certain figures, like Scorch recently, has a very fast sell-through while others like Darth Vader, Holographic Ki Adi Mundi, and Garindan do not move as quickly. Do you get direct customer feedback, visit forums, listen to podcasts, or some other means?
2) Many figures have histories of being exceedingly difficult to find, such as Ephant Mon, the McQuarrie Concept Stormtrooper, TC-14, and others, all of which draw a high amount on the secondary market. Since you said recently in a previous Q&A that Hasbro’s focus is on the customer who aims for a complete, loose collection, are such figure’s rarities taken into account when determining figures for inclusion in battle packs, vehicle pack-ins, or rereleases? I noticed a couple of very hard to find figures have been re-released (Sith Eyed Anakin from the Episode III line was hard to find on pegs, but then included with the lightsaber two-pack at Toys R Us) or are coming out in ’07 (The McQuarrie Concept Stormtrooper), so I wondered if people may keep hope for rereleases of the POTF2 EU figures, the last wave of Episode I figures, Ephant Mon, etc.
3) What is Hasbro’s opinion of the “scalping” that goes on with the Star Wars toys? Does the fact that people buy the figures from the big box retailers, allowing for faster case sell through and help the overall sales of Star Wars figures, considered a good thing by Hasbro, or is there a downside for Hasbro with scalping as well as for the collectors?
4) What is the reason for cloth capes and clothing in the regular 3 3/4" line? Will you be returning to all-plastic soon? I can sort-of understand cloth in the VSTC, but for the regular line I think molded plastic is more consistent with the modern sculpts and looks much nicer.
5) Why the short run on R2Potatoo? Actually, why end this line at all? It seems popular with kids and collectors, and has cross over appeal with the potato head crowd? I need a C3PO is needed to go with R2!
6) Does Hasbro do things like actually go to stores and look at the pegs to see what hot and what just warming the pegs?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From SW Collector: 1) There have been rumors that you may have a Star Wars item at certain stores -- more specifically Target -- that will be released on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving), can you confirm or deny this?
2) Is there any chance we could see a re-release of the 3 3/4-inch Max Rebo Band next year, either single-carded, two-packs, or a multi-pack?
3) Since the Star Wars Comic Packs revealed so far show figures packed with reprints of the original Marvel Comics adaptation of Star Wars #1-3, will we be seeing similar two-packs for issues #4-6 in 2007?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From The Jawa: 1) You answered in a previous response: One hint... we are fans of Cantina denizens and it's a good bet there will be at least two every year until... well, we run out! My question is, does this apply to some of the background human characters like Debnoli, Garouf LaFoe, Merc Sunlet, Swilla Corey etc, or even the space-suited Cantina characters? Also, does this level of commitment apply to the Jabba's Palace denizens as well? And since the Cantina aliens are mostly seated, will we see a return to articulated knees?
2) Given that there is a commitment to the mid-sized vehicle assortment by both Hasbro and Retailers, what are the chances of including something with the same footprint that is not a vehicle within a case mix? Perhaps the POTF2 Endor playset (you could even include a Speeder Bike so it is a vehicle).
3) About how many figures a year (or percentage of figures you release) are new characters? To put it another way, how much room do you give for new characters in a line based largely on the main-line heroes (Vader, Luke, Chewie, etc) in different poses or outfits? I don't necessarily mean new sculpts, just new characters...
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Yakface: 1) Thanks for last week's confirmation on the Sith Infiltrator, I know a lot of fans are looking forward to that one. However another vehicle rumored in the same breath as the Infiltrator has been the V-Wing fighter from ROTS. Is it coming as well?
2) I know that you are no longer able to answer questions about specific characters, but is there any way that you could tell us if there are *any* new-sculpt beasts on the way such as the dactillion, the aiwha, or the orray? These could fill a low price point and it has been a while since we have seen beasts on the market.
3) The Death Star Gunner has got to be one of the best figures released this year. That being said, I'm wondering if we might see some kind of deluxe version with a Death Star turbolaser cannon? There's a photo of a Gunner manning one of the cannons right on the cardback, so as you can see, it wouldn't be very large.
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
From Yoda's News: 1) Will the new coins be unique to each figure or will every coin be randomly on each card (like the little holo figures were)?
2) The waves of the new Galactic Heroes (Han/Greedo/ Wedge/TIE Pilot, etc.) figures have been very hard to find in the retail outlets. Is this because of any decreased interest from the retailers or has the arrivial of the wave been slowed due to changes made in the paint apps of the troopers?
3) Are there plans to make more Star Wars charactes as Mr. Potato Heads?
Click
here for the answers to these questions.
