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) A few years ago, it seemed a number of special cases were sold online with figures assorted evenly-- usually 2 each of the new figures. This was pretty awesome, and seemed to make collecting select waves of the 30th Anniversary Collection and some waves of Legacy a breeze. Might this be brought back for Vintage?
2) With increasingly diverse shapes compared to the vintage Kenner line of old, it seems the Clone Wars figures dislike being displayed outside their packages. Have you considered offering slightly different stands or altering articulation on certain figures? For example, the display stands packaged with the likes of the Aqua Droid and the living and undead versions of the Geonosian can't hold up to gravity and time. After a few days, these figures sag and, frequently, topple over. Knocking over other figures. Figures with spring-loaded rockets that fire into other displays which, if I understand movies, could actually bring about the end of days in 2012. So we can all avoid the world as we know it coming to an end, what are Hasbro engineers doing to ensure figures won't topple over on our shelves?
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From Action Figure Insider:1) With the cancellation of the Galactic Heroes line– what is the status of the AT-ST (Kohl’s Exclusive) in the States? I know it was released in Europe, but will we still get our chance on this side of the pond? Or will this be like the similiar situation with the superhero squad packs that were only released over there as well.
2) I was VERY excited about the prospect of a gigantic Sand Crawler a la the Falcon and AT-AT. Then I learned it was apparently just a rumor or trial balloon. We need a massive vehicle for the 30th year of ROTJ, and I think the Crawler is an excellent option as the first third of the film takes place on Tatooine. Is this a possibility?
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NEW: Action Figure News:1) On June 21st the 20th Anniversary Edition of the novel Heir to the Empire is being released. I am wondering if Hasbro has considered doing a special edition toy or two to mark this occasion.
I realize it’s likely now too late to include something with the novel itself, but what I'm wondering is, if it was an idea Hasbro considered, or if Hasbro would consider something similar for significant future special dates from the Star Wars EU?
2) At last years Fan Expo Canada Convention in Toronto various exclusives from other large conventions were made available to the attendees for purchase by Hasbro. Star Wars exclusives available were Darth/Maul & Owen Lars, Camie & Fixer as well as 4-Lom & Zuckuss. Is there a possibility that Hasbro will once again make some of these hard to get exclusives available at Fan Expo or any other large Canadian Convention or was this a one time deal that is unlikely to happen again?
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NEW: From Echo Base Forums: 1) Can you tell us if there are any new mid-size vehicles or battlepacks planned for the Clone Wars line this year? (Beyond the Jedi Turbo Speeder and Army of the Republic BP) Toy Fair did not have much on display...thanks!
2) Many collectors are excited about the upcoming Raiders of the Lost Ark action figure set that is planned as a San Diego Comic Con 2011 exclusive. Should fans and collectors expect a sufficient quantity of the sets to be available online thru Hasbro Toy Shop after the convention, or will the set be extremely limited like some past G.I. Joe and Marvel convention exclusives?
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From Jedi Defender:1) We've run our Wishlist Polls at Jedi Defender now for many years, and for the past 7 years in a row Cliegg Lars has won the Attack of the Clones round of the voting. That's quite a showing among the collecting community, and we're curious how far up the ladder this character is to getting out of the parking lot, and onto store pegs? It'd be great to see this character from one of Anakin's darker moments soon!
2) Speaking of past polls... The ToyFare Magazine Polls became a pretty deep chart of what collectors wanted to see in the line. While the 2006 poll saw most of its figures come out in some form or another, the 2009 poll seemed to not get the same love. There was a shift away from the EU in the line of course, but where do the rest of the movie figures from the 2009 poll stand in the infamous parking lot? We included a list of these figures that we've kept track of, to help out!
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From Jedi Insider:1) Are there any details you can provide us about special plans Hasbro might be working on for the release of the Star Wars movies on Blu-ray or the 3D versions coming to theaters. It seems like the next few years will open a large window with retailers to be able to really start pushing movie stuff again as opposed to just the cartoon merchandise.
2) We were curious if there was any more plans to do vintage vehicles in vintage packaging variants like the recent AT-AT, Snowspeeder and Tie-Fighter or even re-releasing ep 1-3 vehicles in vintage style variant packaging like you have been doing with the figures?
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From JediNews.co.uk:1) The Gamorrean Guard from the elusive Wave 3 is probably one of the most popular and hard to find figures in recent years. We are seeing some of the Wave 3 figures being repacked in later Waves plus some are also coming in the Revenge of the Sith line and we also appreciate that Wave 3 will ship again soon with Wedge (Assortment 11). However, the Gamorrean Guard is still only packed one per case and we all want more of them! What's the chances of reissuing this figure in a later wave but in greater numbers? Also, will the UK ever see Wave 3 released (still not had it)?
2) With new figures in both The Vintage Collection and The Clone Wars only shipping one per case it is getting frustratingly hard to get each and every new figure. Surely it would make sense to pack all new figures two per case therefore ensuring that more people get access to these new figures and then leaving the remaining slots in the cases for the more popular figures from previous waves? It seems brick and mortar shops are ordering fewer cases and by making this switch you'll allow a greater number of collectors and kids to get the new figures they want and stop the problems we're currently encountering whereby all we're finding at retail are huge quantities of Clone Troopers and Sandtroopers (that's probably stopping the retailers from ordering more product - it’s seems like a vicious circle!).
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From Lichtgeschwindigkeit.de1) As we all know, distribution is a major problem around the world. Some countries are months behind or do not see product at all. Even worse some dealers do not pick up certain case assortments because of so many figures forwarded in the next wave that end up clogging up the pegs in some stores. Characters in demand are short packed or not distributed widely, essentially putting money into the hands of scalpers and the secondary market but not into Hasbro’s pockets. Furthermore army building is almost impossible with 12 different figures in a case. May we suggest that you add solid cases of figures in demand to your order sheets as well, so the retailer can decide to buy a case of main characters (12 different figures) and buy extra cases of army building figures or figures in high demand if he decides so. (12 Stormtroopers a case, or 6 Stormtrooper/ 6 Sandtroopers a case, 4 Death Star gunners/ 4 Stormtrooper / 4 Sandtroopers and so on, combinations are possible for so many figures during a years time). By doing so we think you would essentially sell more, and not leave money on the table or to others specializing in selling that way. Are you open for this suggestion? And can we expect to see a change for the better soon? So many dealers and collectors would love this concept. There is no need to sell/order figures individually at wholesale level, but solid cases of one or 2 figures would improve sales and customer satisfaction for sure. We are not asking to drop the current wave assortments, but ADD the army building assortments.
2) Some information was “found” lately in the UK about an upcoming Y-Wing for the Vintage line, would you mind sharing some info about it? Is it a repack? A larger scale Y-wing maybe? Do we have to wait for SDCC?
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From Mouse Droid1) While we all appreciate the love the Cantina scene from A New Hope gets in 3.75" figure form, is there any chance that you might visit characters from either of the two entertainment hotspots in the prequel trilogy - the Outlander Club (from AOTC) and the Coruscant Opera House (from ROTS)? Both have been severely under-represented thus far despite having roughly similar amounts of screen time and no shortage of interesting looking characters such as Nyrat Agira, Hayde Gofai, Jynne Celwick, Koyi Mateil, Opula Deget, Delva Racine and the Mon Calamari dancers who always seem to be on a lot of people's wish-lists.
Thanks in advance and keep up the good work!
2) We have seen the Nom Anor figure and i LOVE it!!!Congratulations on what looks to be a pretty cool figure from the EU of Star Wars....is there any chance Rallra the Wookiee and the Noghri Warrior from Tim Zahns Heir To The Empire novels might possibly be made as single carded figures now that they have earlier been reported as cut from the last of the comic 2pks?
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From Raving Toy Mainac1) The Clone Wars "Citadel" trilogy introduced many new characters to the series that would make extremely exciting action figures, including Even Piell, Tarkin, OOM-10 and R2-D2's Battle Droid Squad, ARC Troopers Echo & Fives, and more. Can collectors look forward to seeing any of these great characters captured as "Clone Wars" figures in 2011?
2) The upcoming Star Tours Star Speeder looks amazing. Are the upcoming theme park exclusive figure packs (ambush and pilot packs) and speeder the only 3 3/4 toys planned or will we see a return of the Star Tours carded figure line?
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From Sandtroopers.com1) Are we ever going to get Dooku's solar sailer or a ship for Assaj Ventress (there are a few to choose from here)? These are key characters in the Clone Wars and both have had their ships featured in various episodes. The bad guys need their rides for the kiddies to play with too, and collectors would eat these up too. And well were at it when is my Clone Wars Anakin going to get his Twilight to fly? These are all main character ships, that I am truly suprised haven't been made yet.
2) We had some very good success with Star Wars fans with small scale Galactic Battle Game Tournaments at theSandtroopers.com Battle Station. Is there any chance Hasbro would OFFICIALLY consider doing a large scale event at Comic-Con or better a Star Wars Celebration event? It would be a great way to show people how much fun they can have with their action figures and give collectors a way to see where their skills rank among thousands of competitors.
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From Sir Steve's Guide1) We understand the need to anchor the Vintage line with core characters in order to preserve the longevity of the toy line, but what about at least changing up the cardback images to give the longtime collectors something to get excited about? For instance, we know we don't have to twist your arm very hard to get you to rerelease a Darth Vader figure; but would you consider repacking the current TVC figure on a Star Wars card or, even better, on a ROTJ card with a Sebastian Shaw 'Vader Unmasked' reference photo (the figure could be packed in the bubble with his helmet off)? We know you're doing this with the Luke Jedi figure, but that's more a case of expressing the right version of the character to match that figure; this would serve the dual purpose of keeping the core characters in circulation for the casual collectors while giving the hardcore collectors something else to look forward to. Package variations existed back in the original line with different backs, and under different movie lines, and a few even had different pictures, so there is classic justification for it.
2) With themed waves going away, what will be the general method for planning new waves? It used to be a school of thought that said "1 army builder, 1 alien, 1 main character" et cetera, but that was when the choices for that wave were merely from a single movie scene rather than the entirety of Star Wars. What aspects will upcoming wave planning keep from the last 3 years, and what will change?
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NEW: From Snowtroopers.ca: 1) With the pegs being clogged by a mountain of TVC Zuckuss/4LOMs and Dengars, there's been a lot of concern that Canadian retail stores are falling behind the US waves and that as many as 2 waves have already been dropped entirely. First off, can Hasbro not pull these pegwarmers off the pegs since even sales don't seem to be moving these figures out of the stores AND more importantly, can you please tell us what figures (or waves) and vehicles/deluxe packs from the Star Wars line are definitely not coming to Canada so we can make other arrangements? We've heard that wave5 may be coming in September but we've no idea if this is wave5 as started from 2010 or if it means wave 5 of 2011.
2) We have heard the upcoming Republic Attack Shuttle for Canadian and European markets will not have voice phrases like the non-vintage BAT-AT released for Canada and Europe which led to an unpleasant surprise for some collectors.
In a Q&A answer a possibility of including a switch to change between English and non-English modes for future large vehicles was mentioned. Was there no time for this to be implemented or has this idea been scrapped? Some Canadian collectors will not buy a Canadian retail version large vehicle if they know the voice phrases will be missing. If the Canadian and European version has dropped the voice phrases will they be replaced with other sound effects? Is there a possibility for a single retailer to bring in the US version, like TRU did with the Vintage packed BAT-AT?
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NEW: From Star Wars Action News: 1) I think an issue on everyone's mind lately is figure distribution, especially for the Vintage collection. I have to say as a collector since Hasbro's 3.75" return to Star Wars in '95 I haven't seen such a widespread lack of new figures, and our listeners are reporting this coast to coast so I know it's not an isolated incident. Anything past Wave 2 of Vintage has not met demand, with many people never having seen waves 4, 5, and 6. Can you give us some insight into the cause of these distribution issues, and what is being done to fix them?
2) Is there a reason that you have been using EU names on vintage figure cards? I can see this for figures that were never made in the kenner era, but figures with vintage counterparts should be left as is (example Klaatu became Wooof).
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From SWCollector.com1) After finding "The Clones Wars" line's R7-A7, I'm wondering why its dome isn't white, as seen in the TV series and on the cardback?
2) Now that you've had a chance to gage the response to the Vintage Collection's rocket-firing Boba Fett mail-in offer, have you considered offering other unproduced figures in the vintage Kenner style from the '70s and '80s as mail-in premiums?
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From Yakface.com1) A few months back now we were told that we’d be seeing a re-issue of the 2010 EU Spacetrooper (originally available in the exclusive EU wave sold through Toys”R”Us) in the Saga Legends line. Recently (3/9/2011), you released images of this new wave of SL figures but the solicitation imagery showed the DARK TROOPER instead (although it was shown with the proper “Spacetrooper” Galactic Battle Game card). Can you clarify as to which figure we will actually be getting? Troop builders want to know!!!
2) Over a year ago (Feb 2010), you stated in a QnA we could expect a re-issue of Luke’s Landspeeder sometime in 2011. Now that we are into the second quarter, has a more definitive time and method of release (general or exclusive) been determined? Will we see this available in the gorgeous “Vintage” style packaging as well? Sounds like a perfect holiday release item to me!
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From Yoda's News1) When and how will collectors have another chance to buy (at retail prices, in brick and mortar stores) the EU Universe line that included Shaak Ti, Jaina / Jacen Solo, etc?
2) Seeing as it was featured prominently in the season 3 Clone Wars premier and looks to be in season 4 is there any chance we will see Asaj Ventress' Trident Drill Squid ship made?
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