As part of Hasbro's Q&A session, Rebelscum passed on 2 of your burning questions and now we've got the answers for you.

Rebelscum: So the rumor mill is ripe with stories of massive changes in 2011. With all the news that has come from Celebration V and beyond - particularly the Blu-Ray announcement, and the 3D theatrical releases - impact have they had on the 2011 plans? Since you spent some time and gave us a wonderful timeline of the planning involved in the Star Wars line, we know that the 2011 line would have been set well before either of these blockbuster announcements by Lucasfilm. What impact did those announcements have on 2011? Have the numbers changed (originally was to be 39 releases in six waves)?

And while we're on the topic - and this is a BIG one - if we look at the prospect of a theatrical release of all six films, what impact do you see that having on the line? We had a 30th anniversary this year, and that was marked with a nice big wave of figures and several other supporting releases. Can we expect to see something bigger in 2012 for TPM, and then hopefully each year thereafter should the 3D releases be commercially successful?

We know it's too early, but speculation has already started on what 2012 (or late 2011 depending on the release schedule) might bring. It seems like a good time for two to three waves for TPM figures, knocking off some needed reworks, and wrapping a nice bow around the TPM releases bringing some of the older stuff up to date.

Hasbro: There have indeed been changes to the '11 lineplan, but we would not call them massive. We have done one-for-one subsititutions to keep our total item counts in alignment and the biggest impact has been due to the Blu-Ray releases. Seeing what is planned inspired us to change things up a bit, since by the time we learned of them we still had a little sliver of time get get some figures changed.

The 3-D release of EpI was a little easier to address since we had not yet created the 2012 lineplan at the time that we were given the heads-up that they would be coming. We will be doing some great things for EpI, but with the movie already known and a continuing Clone Wars line, it will be a "movie" year that is more diversified than any we have seen. There will of course be a celebration of EpI, but we want to make sure that we keep the rest of the movies as well.

As for how many figures or vehicles we'll be doing, we'll keep specifics for a later time since we don't yet know the release date for any of the films (we only know that EpI is first) and we'll need to be flexible.

You are right in your expectation that we'll use it as an opportunity to dive a little deeper on the character depth chart than we would normally do (or might otherwise have taken years to do). Similarly, it gives us a chance for some vehicles that we might not otherwise get to. One thing is for sure...it will be amazingly fun to develop the line for the 3-D films and we are keeping fans top of mind as we develop it!

Rebelscum: The latest lineup announced for TVC WAVE 5 is TIRED to say the least! You say this is a "Collector's" line... but where is the "Collector's" love?? Surely you realize "Collectors" own these already (Times 10!) The product seems out of sync with the target.

Everyone I know believes that the Vintage line would fare much better if we finally started seeing NEW CHARACTERS on Vintage Cards!!! Wasn't that the whole point? We need more Cantina Aliens! And more faces that fans should have saw back in 78 / 79 - the slimmest lineup of Vintage backs ever!

Please tell me more unproduced faces from ANH are on the way! Or at least faces new to these card back stylings??? Enough with the re-repacks! We demand FRESH faces on Vintage Cards. C'mon!!! You guys are burning up all the good will fans have towards repacks. We must see NEW CHARACTERS on the CLASSIC black and silver card back!!! And SOON or else this line is DOOMED.

Hasbro: We understand your passion for seeing new figures, but we also have to say that, almost four months into the re-release, that the best decisions we have made are including the highly recognizable repack figures as the anchors of the line. The response has been phenomenal to say the least.

We have to be careful, as always, with how many of the more obscure and non-iconic characters that we do because they, and not the repacks, are the ones that risk "dooming" the line if not properly waved in with the more recognizable characters.

Long-time fans know that Bom Vindin, Weequay Skiff Master, Fi-Ek Skirch, and Bariss Offee (all of whom will be out in several months) owe their existence to the more popular characters that we leverage to keep line productivity at a high level.

If we just focused on new and obscure characters, this line would be dead in a hurry, and we love it too much for that to happen. Patience will be rewarded.


BONUS note from Derryl DePriest:
"Thanks to all our Star Wars sites - we hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Please send this note along to all of your readers:

It's a very exciting time for Star Wars as the extraordinary Target exclusive Vintage 9-pack will be going on sale soon (Nov. 28th). There are two important things to note with this set.

First, this set will be more limited than some of our other recent exclusives. Second, Target (and we) are so excited about the Vintage collection overall and these 3-packs that we have decided to keep this "collection within a collection" idea going at Target.

Another wave of 3 3-packs will be coming in Spring and like these, they follow the Vintage character lineups. We think this an exciting development, and thanks to Target's support, hopefully fans will be treated to even more in this series.

Thanks again for the support and be sure to get to Target soon. Happy Holidays - the Hasbro Star Wars team."


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!