As part of Hasbro's bi-weekly Q&A session, Rebelscum passed on 3 of your burning questions and now we've got the answers for you.

Rebelscum: Cantina aliens seem to be more popular with collectors than Jabba's aliens. I believe the Cantina scene is the most iconic "space fantasy" scene ever. When determining which cantina alien to produce as a figure, do you base your decision more on movie scenes or on popularity of a character?

For example, the descision to make Myo to fill the sceen with Muftak and Djas Phur. If it is based upon movie scenes what's the possibility of such characters as Arleil Schous, Brainiac, F'u Man-Chu, & Bom Vimdin to sit with our Hem Dazon?

Hasbro: We have to admit that we love our Cantina aliens, but don't necessarily agree with them being more popular than Jabba's Palace denizens, which have gained steam with collectors in recent years and seem to be popular in the Q&A, in online forms, and at conventions. We think the importance of both iconic scenes is that they, more definitely that perhaps any other scenes, transported us to a Galaxy Far, Far Away. We think It's best to "spread the love" to both of these iconic scenes in equal measures and you'll see us try to continue to do to that. As for Cantina character selects, since many of them have about the same screen time, we tend to base our selections on the ones we think look coolest and most uniquely Star Wars and are "must haves" for the Cantina fans. At least one of the ones you mentioned are scheduled for 2008. We hope, eventually, to be able to do all of them but the humans are taking a back seat a bit.

Rebelscum: Never-before released Original Trilogy characters (or never-before released scene-specific outfitted characters) are big on my list. This year's line-up appears to have many of these. How big of a priority is it for you to seek out characters and/or outfits that have never before been made?

There appear to be few core characters in outfits we have not yet seen (Luke in Medical Frigate garb and Sumggler Outfit Lando from the end of The Empire Strikes Back come to mind). After these and a few others have been exhausted, will your focus be mainly on how best to re-release many of these with new and exciting accessories or on newly improved sculpts of existing core characters?

Hasbro: Great question that gets to the heart of our long-term basic figure strategy. It's important to have iconic characters as wave "anchors" to make sure that the waves have kid traction, but at the same time our strategy for coins and beyond is to need to justify their purchase for collectors as well. So we have scrubbed the films very closely to find main characters in versions that make them new and unique and fresh, and in some cases that is a new sculpt, outfit tweak, new sculpting approach with more articulation, or an important new accessory (like Moisture Vaporator) that makes the figure an important one to slot into the mix. Over time, we'll look to all of these factors to keep the mix interesting for both audiences and this strategy should last us a good long while before we look to "off-screen" versions such as the still very cool but "off-screen" POTJ Jedi Training Qui-Gon and Cold Weather Gear Kenobi.

Rebelscum: If at all possible, could you have a few of your sulpters share with us the figures they worked on that they are most proud of or most enjoyed? It would be nice to get some feedback from them on what qualities they look for in a figure (either for aesthetics or for play-value) and to know which figures in our collections are their personal best to this point.

Hasbro: Dave Vennemeyer, Star Wars' sculpting manager, reports that of the hundreds of figures that he has sculpted and supervised over the years, his favorite is the VOTC Stormtrooper. "I feel that we really got everything just the way we wanted it with this one. The articulation was well-hidden. The proportions were right. It's a really iconic character and it just all came together well." We also had Dave check with some of his sculptors on the outside, many of which have been involved with Hasbro Star Wars figures for several years. The answers were various: one sculptor prefers his work on the EpI Queen Amidala figures, another likes the recent Bib Fortuna as an example of a very cool alien that was just fun, and a third cites the recent Utapau Airborne Trooper as their personal favorite.

Got any burning Star Wars questions you need answered straight from the source? If so, post your questions in this thread in our forums, and with any luck, you'll get your answers next week!