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: Will you be releasing a true-to-artwork V-Wing pilot at some point using the new helmet (different deco of course) from the "Republic Gunship" pilot in the new Evolutions set, and the gray flight suit ARC-170 pilot from the first version of this set? Seems like an easy release, and one that actually fills a gap. Similarly, can we assume that we'll see the ARC-170 pilot re-decoed as Oddball at some point?

Hasbro: There are no plans to release another V-Wing Pilot as of now, but it could be something we re-release in future years and your suggestion makes a lot of sense. Oddball still has not been slated into the line, but as a named and on-screen Clone from Episode III who has yet to have his day in figure
form, we're keeping him on a short list of Episode III figures we can do next time we have an opportunity.

Rebelscum: Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Thank you for finally getting around to the Saurin Hr'chek Kal Fas in your rotation through the Cantina patrons. But as has been the sometimes tradition with the release of new figures, we have to temper our excitement over the figure with the fact that the figure is not entirely accurate. The figure seems to have taken on a number of Trandoshan characteristics that are not what we see on screen with the Saurins in the cantina.

The notable differences are the eyes, the Saurins have black eyes, no coloration. The hands, the Saurins have five fingered gloved hands in the cantina scenes. And then finally the feet, the Saurins wear boots in the cantina scenes. Any number of film or production stills easily show these characteristics.

So what are the chances that we'll eventually see a "corrected" Saurin (maybe released as cousin Saitorr Kal Fas) with the more screen accurate characteristics?

Hasbro: Thank you for your support and great attention to detail. We love Cantina aliens too and we do strive to make the figures as authentic and highly detailed as possible. Lucasfilm has a great reference library of images for us to use but sometimes it can feel like a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because it is such a great reference asset, but a curse because with this vast array of material, their minor discrepancies and scrutinizing details can sometimes minimize the awe and wonder that we all have when entering the Star Wars universe. You are correct about the boots and the eyes.

Regarding the boots, we did make a creative decision to give him alien feet that are in keeping with the species because we felt that if he had been meant to be featured as a main character in the movie Lucas would have probably made prosthetic feet, but because he was never intended to be seen as a main character they just had him wear boots. One of the things we love most about Star Wars is the aliens and just giving them human characteristic - while easy and cost effective in production, minimizes the their potential coolness.

With regards to the eyes, there are two Saurins in the Cantina. One of them has clear dome lenses and the other, in some reference shots, does not and appears to have pupils. As you can see in the painted image of the figure on the back of the package, we never intended him to have gold eyes with black pupils. This was just a production variant from our China vendor, and we have actually already made a production correction to the eyes to give him black eyes.

While Sai'torr is not in our current lineups, we do intend to do him someday. When we do we will consider and discuss with Lucasfilm giving him 4-fingered gloves and boots.


Rebelscum: After the recnt news regarding the 2nd Utai and beardless Hoth rebel trooper., I'd like to make an add-on to my previous question-

It seems that in the past there has been communication issues at the factories regarding changing a figure to a new variant, so instead of having a 2nd variant issued in a following wave (as was planned originally w/ the Hoth Trooper) could the variant figs such as the 2nd Hoth trooper, 2nd Utai, 2nd scanning crew member, 2nd Bespin Guard, etc be placed in a non movie themed wave to them selves much like a repaint wave is done when necessary to do a repaint wave? (In other words instead of a "repaint" wave, release a "variant" wave)

Hasbro: The problem with this is that the variant would occupy a full-blown product spot, where we have been trying to do variants as "extra figures" within our item count. To do what you suggest would mean actually slotting in those figures instead of, say, a new or wholly different figure. It has become so problematic to track these figure changes and stay on course for their release that we will stop doing them altogether because of the disappointment they cause when they don't stay on schedule or get cancelled. As of now, the Bespin Wing Guard is scheduled for the final EU wave next Spring. The Scanning Crew member may not make it out in red/white line look but we will look for ways to eventually bring him out.


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!