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: If collector-oriented obscure movie-only background figures are going to be less common in the basic line, is there any other place where they could be offered like a HasbroToyShop similar to MattyCollector.com? Their online-exclusive lines have been pretty successful and they are limited runs. You know, like the Lucas Family box set that was offered on StarWarsShop.com?Hasbro: We have actually been in business with this model before with the GI Joe line, and it has *not* been a successful business model. The reality is that online sales are only a small fraction of the total releases that brick and mortar will support. Despite the ease of getting figures online, many fans simply don't bother, or they enjoy the thrill of the hunt that is part of their collecting experience. As such, we have no plans to move back to this space and we prefer to devote our resources to delivering figures within our mainline assortments along with great exclusives and occasional Convention items.
Rebelscum: Will we see more Shadows of the Empire figures remade (the Prince Xizor & Leia Comic Pack is great!) like Chewbacca in Snoova Bounty Hunter disguise and Dash Rendar, Luke Skywalker In Imperial Guard Disguise and a few characters that were never made like Guri, Furlag, and Leebo! Hasbro: Yes, there will be some more Shadows figures from the list you mentioned, but it will take some time. Our guess is that within the next two years there will be at least two and perhaps more make it into the lineup in one form or another. Guri is the top choice, but she is not likely to be the first one out.
Rebelscum: It's great that you're releasing the remote control astromechs in the U.S., but one of them (R5-X2) was never made as a basic figure (or a Build-A-Droid). All the other droids relased as remote control are also available as regular versions (which are more in scale and better detailed). Any plans to eventually release R5-X2 as a regular figure? Hasbro: While R5-X2 is not in the lineup now, he would be a great one for down the road. Eventually, within the next couple of years.
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