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 Hasbro's
Star Wars Q&A Session, here's a handy guide to help you get all the info.
Don't forget to check
Rebelscum's Q&A Session as well!
NEW: 16bit.com:1) The most commonly asked question we've been getting is regarding the build-a-droid tooling and their future use, specifically if Hasbro will use these molds for individually carded droids or other figures in the future. Will we see the U-3PO mold and Astromech mold from the build-a-droid series used to make other characters in the future?
2) We just got the animated Clone Wars Commander Stone figure which is notable because it seems to be an entirely new Clone Trooper mold. Can you walk us through the changes made and why? Of particular note are the revised elbow pads, the swivel (but not as articulated as normal) wrists, the swivel (but not quasi ball-jointed) waist, and the legs which seem to have a harder time sitting than before. However, we've noticed the shoulder joints seem to be way better than previous versions, and the overall look of the figure seems much improved. Is the older, arguably more fun to play with 2008 and 2009 Clone Trooper mold going away in favor of the new model?
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Action Figure Insider:1) I�ve noticed the many of the "space suit" Clone Wars figures (like Anakin and Obi-Wan) have Jango Fett styled jetpacks with little removable/shootable rockets. How close are we to having this tooling applied to the number-one character on any Star Wars action figure fan�s wish-list: Rocket firing Boba Fett?
2) What criteria would determine whether a character cannot be improved on any more? Super articulation? 100% reference accuracy sculpt? You think about characters like Boba Fett and Darth Vader � they�ve been remade so many times, it�s hard to think of what could be improved on them.
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From CollectionStation.com: 1) With the new deluxe vehicle assortment consistent of the ARC-170 repaint and the Clone Wars Y-wing, there seems to be a focus on raising prices in the line across the board, though that scale's jump from $30 to $60+ is especially noteworthy. Basic figures are $8 or more now, comic packs have gone up $4, battle packs and vehicles are going up around $5, deluxe figure & vehicle packs are a pricey $16+, the last dribs and drabs of Titanium Series are over $8, Force FX sabers have gone up $20, and exclusives pricing is all over the map. Clearly, the economic turmoil over the last few years has hit the Hasbro Star Wars brand exceptionally hard, but don't these prices seem harder and harder to justify for both hardcore and casual collectors? We know you are trying to do your best to keep the line alive, but right now collectors are very concerned about the brand's future, and they see the price-hikes as a major culprit to its possible downfall. Raising prices is a downward spiral, isn't there some way to better split the costs hikes between customers and profit margins, before there are virtually no customers left to eke profit margins out of and the line folds?
2) Will we ever get more multipacks from the Star Wars: Battlefront series? There are Original Trilogy factions that still need to be boxed up, and they'd have tons of cross-consumer interest from gamers to army building potential to kids who want a battle in a box, and just OT fans in general. Most of the figures exist as it is, with only the Rebel Smuggler, and the Rebel Sniper who could be retooled based on existing Leia figures, there are tons of variations from Hoth and Endor, and then there's also the Ep 2-era clones that show up in Battlefront 1 and 2 that could tie in with The Clone Wars. So, any chance of seeing anything more like this?
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Dewback Patrol: 1) Can you give us the story behind the blockbuster 2-packs?
2) Is it possible to get 3-packs of figures like those that you do for the Joe line (a small box with figures in clear tubes) - a Commander and 2 soldiers of sorts? Or, perhaps even something like the 5-figure trooper battle packs for G.I.JOE at TRU - 5 Crimson Guards in a box or the 5-packs of generic Joe troopers? It would be great to see things like 3 figures of AT-AT drivers, AT-ST drivers, and Tie Fighter Pilots. Or, a Biker Scout, a Stormtrooper and a Death Star Trooper. For the Rebels you could do a 5-pack of a Rebel blockade Trooper, a Ceremonial Guard, a Hoth Trooper, an Endor Soldier and a Rebel Flight Tech, I could go on.... These are great sets for collectors and kids and they have a lot of iconic figures. I'd by them all.
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WELCOME: From DroidsandEwoks.com: 1) Looking back over the Fan's Choice figures that have been made in the past years, I'm wondering if there are any that you would like to update someday. Most of them are nice sculpts, but characters like Amanaman, Darth Revan, concept Stormtrooper and Ellorrs Madak could benefit from a modern articulation upgrade. All of these guys are lacking knees and ankles, plus it would be nice to have some of the fan favorites back in circulation again after so many years. So, is there any hope for new and improved versions of any of these characters?
2) In the TV movie Ewoks: Caravan of Courage, there are a couple really interesting looking Ewoks in the film named Chukha-Trok and Kaink. Their cool and unique costume designs seem like they would make for some really great Ewok action figures. Are you aware of these characters, and if so do they stand a chance of finding their way into the action figure lineup someday?
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WELCOME: From Echo Base Forums: 1) After her recent appearance in "Holocron Heist" and her second place finish in the Toyfare Fans' Choice Poll, would you say that everyone's favorite Jedi librarian has a pretty good chance of being released? Also, if you were to release Madame Jocasta Nu, would it be in the animated line or the realistic line?
2) Why have the original Rebo band members, as well as the cantina band members, never been released individually? They are all in major need of an upgrade. They seem like they are popular enough characters, so any chance that you could be making some new versions of these guys in the near future? An original Sy Snootles would be really nice too!
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NEW: From Galactic Hunter: 1) Hasbro is going to unveil some "huge" toys at Toy Fair 2010, but sometimes the devil is in the detail. Big or small, animated or "real" (i.e. Episodes 1-6) what is the best/favorite detail from the 3�" lines (with or without naming the toy/toys)?
2) Only encompassing the "classic" Kenner line (now owned and carried on in the Hasbro line) what toy (from figures, playsets, vehicles, and "other") either as a new SKU or as a one-off would the "Star Wars Team" most like to revive for the modern line � especially items that are not in the forthcoming Hasbro plan for 2010?
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NEW: From Han's Hideout: 1) The 2010 Saga Legends basic figure line - will the cardbacks look like the recently revealed Clone Wars "Rex and Sky" cardbacks or will they look like the uh, "well-kept secret" 2010 movie line cardbacks? Or will they have a look all their own?
2) Man, the comic pack situation is getting harder to track with all the cancellations and moves. Any chance you can give us a definative list of which Comic Packs *are* coming in 2010 - basic releases, Walmart exclusives, and 2010 convention exclusives included?
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From Imperial Shipyards: 1) Will the new sculpt on Commander Stone be used for all of the new clones or is it just a new idea you tried?
2) Since you have confirmed a cloud car and new snowspeeder sculpt are coming can you tell us if these ships will be exclusive to one store and will we see new pilots for each vehicle?
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From Jedi Defender: 1) Why do you keep sculpting new heads for certain characters when you have really good likenesses already made? Can't you simply re-use existing head sculpts for some characters instead of creating new ones constantly? (example - that Resurgence of the Jedi Luke head would be great on a new Ceremonial Luke)
2) Is the Jedi Mickey Mouse & R2-MK 2-pack planned for April the 2010 Star Tours exclusive that you teased in a previous Q&A or can we still expect some sort of "non-droid" figure set this year?
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From Jedi Insider: 1) Are there any plans for the new Super Tank as seen in the "Weapons Factory" Episode of the Clone Wars Animated? This tank has a very similar shape to the MTT while perhaps meeting the "more dynamic" qualification for the vehicle assortment. Hopefully it could be made to fit into a higher than star fighter price point so it wouldn't be too small, while not needing to be as big as the MTT which should be AT-TE sized.
2) Rebelscum reported a rumor earlier this week that a new Jabba the Hutt figure was in the works and that it will include the dais and throne, plus an exclusive pack-in figure. Can you confirm this and are there more details you can share, like how big will it be, what will the pack in figures be, how much will it cost?
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NEW: From JediNews.co.uk: 1) The Galactic Heroes AT-AT has been solicited and shown by Hasbro several times over the last few years, including the UK and Canadian Toy Fair last year. When will this awesome product see the light of day (it seems like 2010 would be a great time to tie in with the 30th Anniversary of Empire)?
2) It looks as though we're going to see the demise of the Build-A-Droid pack-ins very soon. These have been a fan favourite compared with some previous pack-ins. Will we see any of these Build-A-Droid parts being reused in the future and will you make additional Droid parts available in some special Battle Pack or homage to the Vintage Droid Factory Playset?
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From Jedi Temple Archives: 1) Questions about everyone's favorite Jedi librarian seem to be on the rise. Especially since Jocasta Nu made the top five for ToyFare's online poll for this year's Fan Choice Figure Poll. But we've also seen comments from Hasbro to the effect that "an old lady librarian" might not go over well with the figure buying fanbase. And Jocasta Nu's dismissive attitude scene in ATTACK OF THE CLONES led to mixed feelings from some about the character.
But fast forward to the debut episode of season 2 of STAR WARS - THE CLONE WARS. And Jocasta Nu is back in the mix, albeit not quite herself. In the episode (sorry, we don't mean to spoil but the episode debuted on October 2nd) bounty hunter Cato Parasitti shapeshifted into Jocasta Nu, to the point where she even had a lightsaber duel with Ahsoka Tano while still disguised as the Jedi librarian. Given this scene's departure from Jocasta Nu's matronly demeanor, might we at the very least see a Clone Wars rendition of Jocasta Nu at some point?
2) The Droid Factory build-a-figure program has easily been one of the best received value added pack-in's that Hasbro has ever offered to collectors. It has provided droid fans an outlet to get a wide range of droids from a variety of sources, both from the film saga as well as a number of EU sources. We also recently read the news of the end of the Droid Factory program and were some what disappointed by this development.
It seems that Droid Factory is one of so many good things in the Legacy Collection have suffered from bad timing due to the current state of the economy. It has forced a number of collectors to scale back on their purchases, and some to stop collecting entirely.
We've seen some sort of value added pack-in packaged with the basic figure line for most of the history of the modern basic figure line. But with the current economic conditions in mind, could we see the value added pack-in dropped altogether in an effort to bring the MSRP of the basic figure line down to a price point that might bring more collectors back into the fold?
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WELCOME: From One-18th.com: 1) Rumors of a new large AT-AT have surfaced as the upcoming large vehicle. We’re obviously excited about the news. Can you give us any details on this big guy, and how will it differentiate from AT-AT’s in the past, like the TRU exclusive, for example?
2) With all the various droid parts and pieces we’ve obtained through the Build-A-Droid collections, is there any plans or thoughts for a Droid Factory that we can either use and/or store parts of incomplete droid pieces?
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NEW: From The Private Universe: 1) A "Vintage" line of figures has been rumoured for this year, can you give us any more detailed info as what figures we are likely to see, the card design, number of figures and how long this line we run for? Any pictures of figures and or card would be nice too :)
2) Since the relaunch of the Star Wars action figures back in '95 they have improved dramatically, the cards, the sculpts, the likeness, the accessories and articulation. What plans are there to further improve the figures currently on the drawing board? Can we expect to see any electronics inside the figures for sounds or perhaps more realistic clothes made of very thin vinyl for example... what is the next big thing we can look forward to?
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From Raving Toy Maniac: 1) Any chance we'll see a re-issue of the old Saga TRU exclusive Land Speeder? That was a great looking vehicle.
2) I know playsets are off the table, but what about props from the movies - these would be iconic and action-oriented things like the Death Star anti-aircraft gun, a redo of Jabba's barge deck gun, a new Han Solo in carbonite block, Rebel base battle table (the thing General Dodonna, Leia and Threepio stand around at the end of New Hope) - these could be great additions for figure displays!
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From Sandtroopers.com: 1) Hasbro has announced (much to my disappointment, btw) that its production of EU-related items will be very limited in the future (it seems to me it was pretty limited already). Meanwhile, in the recent fan-figure poll, you pointed out that most of the characters from past polls, including many that were EU-based, had eventually been produced as figures. Clearly, this is something in which Hasbro takes great pride (and rightfully so). In addition, several options in the newest poll were characters from the EU, such as C'boath and Jaxxon. So, how do you plan on addressing the obvious desire on behalf of collectors to produce EU figures? What if the top vote-getters in the figure poll are EU characters? If you are, indeed, proud of your record of giving fans what they want, why stop now?
2) Will you be making any the other characters from the "Dagger Squadron since you have the stickers to make the other four ships. Will this concept be revisited with future B-Wings anytime soon?
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From Sir Steve's Guide: 1) Lightsaber Launching R2-D2, one of the little guy's coolest moments. The most recent figure wasn't very good, and was 11 years ago. We understand that safety regulations prohibit a spring-loaded projectile from being under 3 inches, so how about a few compromises instead? How about an R2 that can have a removable panel and can hold just the ROTJ Luke saber hilt (in the film it's facing upwards anyway so the blade would be sticking out the top), and if you still must have the gimmick, it can be replaced with a full-length Luke saber with blade that goes all the way through the body and a hole out the bottom and fires that way. R2 wasn't using his middle leg in the scene but kids will hold the figure during play so it doesn't matter that the blade goes past his feet. This would also be a great excuse to finally get a nice new Luke ROTJ lightsaber accessory out after 13 years of suffering imitations. So how about it, isn't it time we get a decent Lightsaber Launching R2-D2?
2) In a recent answer, Hasbro revealed that the Spring 2010 EU wave will be the only group of non-Clone Wars new figures until the Fall. Granted, we have seen gaps in the line before - most recently in the break between The Force Unleashed wave in Spring 2008 and the ROTJ wave in July 2008 - but this news has many collectors worried. With the Legacy line apparently in poor shape, is it the wisest idea to put it on hiatus for over 2 quarters this year? Granted, we'll still have The Clone Wars figures to look forward to, but such a pause might cause even more movie-based collectors to walk away and further undermine the line, perhaps into completely folding. Hasbro stated recently "We are working hard to get [collectors who have left the line] back, and we think that what we have lined up next year will be our best attempt." We know full details will be revealed at Toy Fair so we won't ask specifics, but can collectors look forward to some movie-based products in those lean 6 to 8 months while the basic Legacy-style line is on hiatus, enough stuff to hold their interest? And is it too late to get out a repaint wave, perhaps with some of those already-tooled variant figures like the Hoth Trooper, Imperial Scanning Crew, and Utai, perhaps some tooled but canceled Comic Pack figures, maybe even some kitbashes like Han Solo head on an Imperial body, to keep collectors interested during the break?
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From Snowtroopers.ca: 1) In one of the last Q&A sessions it was mentioned that Hasbro would be delivering the complete line of 2009 Clone Wars figures up here to Canada as not to leave us snowbound collectors in the annual lurch of the missing last wave or two. I pretty much did a back-flip when I read that. Well, December is right upon us and we have just received what appears to be Wave 10 with Adventure Padme at all our major retailers (WalMart/Zellers/Toys R Us) and I'm looking forward to seeing Wave 11 in the next few weeks.
Can you sense I'm building up to something?
What happened to Wave 9 with Luminara (who has been very prominent in Season 2) and Argyus? Only a few weeks ago we got Wave 8 but now we've jumped to Wave 10. I live in a major market and I'm very diligent with my scouting habits so I'm pretty certain it never made it here or if it did it was a very small amount. Any ideas where those cases might be or what the chances of seeing Luminara and folk repacked in a different wave assortment?
2) what are the chances of seeing delta squad or omega squad remade with the articulated legs of the new evolution commando? would they ever be released on single card, like scorch?
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From SWCollector.com: 1) Will we be seeing any new figures based on The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition and The Force Unleashed II games?
2) I [recently discovered] the �Lego Digital Designer� where you can design your own set and also the box it comes in, then order them directly from Lego. Could we ever see a �Hasbro Digital Designer� where you could make your custom SW figures and order the parts for them? Preassembled or maybe in Unassembled form to cut down on costs? I do know not all current sculpts and parts are fully compatible but is an idea towards the customizers of the fan base.
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From TheJawa.com:1) 'm wondering what your thoughts are on doing a small subset series in the Clone Wars line, similar to what was done with the concept art figures in the Legacy line. Since there have been lots of renderings of Star Wars characters in animated form over the years, an idea could be to include four figures in the line over the course of a year of characters that have appeared in animated form, but not in The Clone Wars TV series itself. With resources to draw on like the Boba Fett cartoon from the Holiday Special, the Ewoks and Droids cartoons, the original Clone Wars and the Acme animated character keys, there would be no shortage of figure possibilities. By the way, I can't resist putting in a plug for the animated Stormtrooper with force pike from Droids. He looks like he belongs in the Clone Wars line!
2) The new "Resurgence of the Jedi" battlepack has the best Tatooine Luke Skywalker done to date! This figure begs to be carded individually! The same thing goes for the R2D2 from this pack. Any plans to do so?
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From Toy News International: 1) Hasbro Catalog scans of a new AT-AT toy leaked out online a few weeks ago and since then we have heard rumors this toy will be much larger than the old AT-AT toy. Rumors are saying this toy will be almost 3 ft in size, a larger cockpit, come with A AT-AT driver and come with a speeder bike. Can you confirm these specifications, are there any other specification you can provide such as a price point and are there any images you can provide or will this be revealed at Toy Fair next month?
2) While we are on the subject of leaked catalog scans, there was also a scan showing that the Vintage Collection figure will return in 2010 and that for the first time Episode 2 characters will be included. I won't ask for details since I don't want to spoil everything for Toy Fair, but what are the odds we will get to see a Empire Strikes Back Bespin Han Solo figure for this line in the coming year?
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From Yakface.com: 1) As of this writing, new Clone Wars figures have started to hit the shelves and they are shipping with the Nahdar Vebb offer that confirms rumors of the return of the "Vintage" line. Now that you've officially released the line look of the new "Rex" Star Wars packaging, care to give us an exclusive sneak peek at the Vintage line look as a teaser for Toyfair?
2) Last session you confirmed the release of the Cloud Car in the vehicle assortment for later this year. Will their be a new Cloud Car pilot released to man this vehicles then either as a pack-in or on a Vintage-style card?
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NEW: From Yoda's News: 1) I love the OTC figures you've been doing lately, specifically the cantina aliens. Keep up the good work. I display the new stuff and some vintage Kenner stuff as well in my collection. Recently I was comparing my robust collection of modern cantina aliens to the 5 (Blue Snaggletooth) vintage cantina figures and realized how sorry a lot they are. I would love to fill out the old Kenner cantina playset with some more figures. To that end, do you think it would ever be possible to produce new "Kenner" style figures (5 points of articulation) of some different cantina aliens as either a pack in to a battle pack or a mail away figure? I'd love to see your take on what Dr. Evazon or Brainiac would have looked like if they actually were produced in the original Kenner run with some 70's deco. I know that this would mostly be collector focused and that it could be argued that figures like Wuher and Dr. Evazon could already be considered in that style in their current form but they're not really the same. Give it some consideration.
2) The Deena Shan in Imperial uniform disguise variant (with the sculpted hair bun) was pretty difficult to find. While it would seem unlikely to ever be reissued in a comic pack at this point, would it be possible to consider adding this figure when putting together an Imperial troop builder battle pack? Or even just changing the hair color so that we could have this sculpt?
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