As part of Hasbro's tri-weekly Q&A session, Rebelscum passed on 3 of your burning questions and now we've got the answers for you.
Rebelscum: With all the attention being paid to the EU with The Clone Wars (although one COULD argue that TCW is not really EU) and the Comic Packs, and all of the attention being paid to the Prequel Trilogy this year, can you reassure fans of the Original Trilogy that they have not been forgotten? I know there are several waves dedicated to the OT coming in 2009, but OT fans can't help but feel left out in the cold, what with the OT waves getting pushed back farther and farther away (2008's TESB wave), or seemingly abandoned (Whatever happened to Willrow Hood?). Say it ain't so!Hasbro: While 2008 was light for basic figures, there was plenty of reason to celebrate the OTC with the Millennium Falcon, some cool battle packs, buildable Droid Factory figures, and several exclusives including a revamped A-Wing and both a Lars Homestead and Sarlacc Pit (we never dreamed that we could deliver both of those, but were able to do it). So if pure-OTC fans thought we neglected them last year we really beg to differ!
Anyway, since the focus seems to be keenly on basic figures, we believe OTC fans will have a fantastic year in 2009. There will be five new waves (if we count the EpIV wave which is shipping now) along with some very special non-basic figure announcements which will come later in the year that will make this a year to remember. Willrow is slotted for the second ESB wave for late 2009.
Rebelscum: On the other hand, from a fan of the EU...the Dark Horse comic book Jedi characters are very popular with fans. It's great to see Sharad Hett, K'Kruhk, Ki-Adi-Mundi What are the chances we'll see action figures based on T'ra Saa, Badoo Bok, a REAL Jedi Quinlan Vos, or my personal favorite....Tyvokka the Wookiee?Hasbro: We agree - the Dark Horse run of Republic was an amazingly fertile ground for key character introduction and storytelling, and if fans haven't sought out this series they really ought to (available in trade paperback under the Clone Wars reprint volumes). We will be exploring a good number of characters from this series over the next couple of years, including T'ra Saa and others.
We just released a Jedi-robe version of Quinlan Vos, so look for him now packed out with the Scout Trooper version of Commander Faie (unless we misunderstood your point about a REAL Jedi Quinlan Vos?).
We are not sure who Badoo Bok is as we are not tracking him in our parking lot, unless you are referring to Bok the Morgukai warrior, who is indeed AWESOME but not in the lineup yet (hopefully, some day).
Dan's Note: A bit of a private joke here...Badoo Bok is a fan-fiction Rodian Jedi Knight, so that of course wouldn't get past Lucasfilm's scrutiny. But an upgraded version of the figure from the Jedi Knight Army set WOULD be cool, wouldn't it?As for Tyvokka, he remains one of the figures that is off limits to us and will not be produced.
Rebelscum: It's already been revealed that there will be a Podracer pilot in the Episode I wave in 2009. Will this be a 2-pack, or will we see a single figure release?Hasbro: It will be a single figure release. We would like to be able to do multi-figure packs, but it all comes down to what we can manage to get into the lineup based on costing, etc.
Rebelscum: Since this is the 66th Q&A, we gotta ask a clone question (hello? Order 66!)....How soon if at all can we expect an upgrade for Bacara and Cody, after what you did with Gree I'd really like to see these two Commanders get theirs, they are the only two left from ROTS that need to be updated.Dan's Note: I tried to sneak this 4th question in, but they were wise to me... 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 time!
