Questions for March 28, 2005
Q&A Archive

Stepping out from behind the camera, I wanted to fire off a few answers before it got to be too long between updates. With everything that’s supposed to hit the fan next weekend, I hope to cover another round of questions in the next couple days so stay tuned!

On with the show:

1
You never have returned to the issue of Marmits; is it dead? -matt

Yes, from the looks of it, the line is definitely dead. That’s not to say it couldn’t be revisited somewhere down the road, but as far as I know nothing new has been announced, and nothing new has shipped for quite some time. I think you’ll see the Real Action Heroes line filling this void, which is nice because it’s not limited to masked figures only.


2
I attended the Star Wars Galaxies Fan Fest last summer and Gentle Giant had a small presence there and at the end of the show [they] gave out a bunch of artist proof mini busts. My friend got a Blue Clone Trooper and a Padmé. Myself I got a Mace Windu and a SWShop.com Clone Trooper. The Clone Trooper was not an artist proof though. On the bottom it says "PROMO". Do you know anything about this? How many they make and what they use them for? -Jack

A “PROMO” piece is generally something they do for shows, to have on hand for people to look at. Depending on the piece and or the number of shows I would guess there could be as many as ten or as few as one for each character. I would assume they probably have a few back-up pieces in case one is broken, and then they just hand them all out at the last show of the season. I’ll ask next time I have a chance, I don’t think they’ve ever really gone into numbers for these pieces, but maybe they’ll share a little more info.


3
Are the ROTS Clone Trooper multi packs a for sure thing or still only a rumor? If they going to be made will they be more like the Clone Wars multi packs or the current articulated ones?

Another thing I noticed are all the pictures of General Grievous' preview figure have ball joints for his knees while the actual figures knees are unmovable. Was this a money decision or something Hasbro decided not to do?

Finally is there going to be a time when all the ROTS figures and items will be officially revealed? Also in the Wal*Mart mock up I saw Pepsi and Lays displays are they going to have promotions similar to the ones they had for TPM? -Cory

Yes, they are a “for sure” thing and will be the Super Articulated version. At this point it’s a shame they won’t be the new Episode III Clones, but at least it’s something.

Probably a little bit of both… Considering the number of Grievous figures due this year, Hasbro might have pulled back on the Preview version a bit. It’s also possible that Hasbro used different versions of the Grievous figure to composite what the Sneak Peek toy would look like. All in all you can probably just chalk it up to the old saying, subject to change without notice.

Lately Hasbro has tended not to put “everything” out there in list form. Instead they kinda show a little here, show a little there… I think we probably know about the bulk of the line at this point, but I expect Hasbro has a few surprises up their sleeve that we’ll find out about along the way. And yes, it Pepsi and Lays will have promotional tie-ins with Episode III.


4
I’ve received three Welcome kits from the Star Wars Fan Club during the last year. The first just prior to Lucasfilm taking the club in-house and two more since- the most recent just this week. Any idea what gives? They don’t seem to be too organized. -Phil in Ann Arbor

Ummm… yeah. We’ve been hearing similar reports off and on for a while now. I’d say they’re still trying to get all the bugs worked out over there. Hard to say for sure, but I’d guess it had to do with how membership was tied in with Hyperspace. It was all very confusing, existing members were having to sign up in order to get the new benefits; I can see where that may have turned into a real birds nest. I completely bailed out on my membership and I still got a kit, about six months later… imagine that.


5
With the huge demand for Master Replicas, have you heard of any plans to do Boba Fett’s blaster rifle, or Chewie’s bowcaster? I’m sure these would sell regardless of the price tag. I think the customer demand is there, what do you think?

I think I ask them about these every time I see them at a show, which isn’t very often, but so far no news to report. Honestly, like many of the other high-end licensees, I think MR keeps a careful eye on how much money they’re asking from collectors each year. As such they probably try to limit the number of big-ticket items like this in light of everything else they have to offer. Last year they rolled out their AT-AT, this year they an extensive Revenge of the Sith focus; a good time to offer these pieces just hasn’t presented itself yet. I agree though, now that a lot of the saber replicas have been covered, and MR has turned their attention to blasters, Chewbacca’s and Fett’s stand out as two MUST MAKE additions to their line. I think we’ll see them eventually, but timing is totally up in the air right now.

Here’s a question for you though, which Fett blaster would you want?


6
I was just wondering how the old cantina set pieces work (if at all) with the new Kmart Cantina sets that are out? If you have one or two of the individual ones can they attach to the new sets? Are there any pictures of these? -Mike Gallagher

The bases are all the same; both old and new are compatible. We have images of both Wal*Mart and K-Mart sets in our Archives.


7
Now that Entertainment Earth has scored one for us fanboys is Hasbro going to follow through on their initiative. For example are all the clone builder sets going to come with the same blaster or are they going to add in some rifles as well? Also are they all going to be painted wrong? The earlier Saga version of the clone captain has the red stripe all the way up the helmet the way it should be, why change it now? You would think they would spend more attention to detail, but they never learn. Oh, how I wish McFarlane toys will get the rights for Star Wars! And any chance for a super-articulated ARC Trooper, Jango Fett and Biker Scout? -Chris

Unfortunately, until these sets are in our hands there’s no telling what we’ll actually end up with. At this point it doesn’t look like rifles will be included with the EE sets, just blasters. As for the paint deco; I’m sure what’s been shown so far are samples, the final deco may be different. Still, even at this price point, I would not expect Hasbro to go into too much detail with these troopers. There’s a definite pattern of Hasbro putting as little effort as possible into their exclusives, I don’t imagine these sets will be treated any differently. Regarding the chance for additional sets; I wouldn’t expect “new” figure sets like these at all, but the chance that Hasbro would do a similar exclusive next year with something like the Episode III Clone Commander (III-33) is always possible. Other troopers would be nice to have, but these sets aren’t really the format for brand new sculpts. As for more Super Articulated figures I think the chances are good, but who knows at this point what will come next…


8
I read your posted news back on January 5, 2005 on Gentle Giant Press Chat and one of the first questions asked was:

"Question: I've noticed a paint error on the Clone Wars ARC Trooper maquette, what is being done about it?"

Can you please tell if you can what the minor paint error is on the Clone Wars ARC Trooper maquette. Any information you have is greatly appreciated. -Hiro - AKA - fallenjediorih

Compared to the images on the box, the production ARC Trooper is missing the red paint on the chin portion of his helmet. You can see the difference in our Archive entry here. Hope that clears things up.


9
Where can I find clamshells for my carded figures without going on eBay?

I’ve had some luck finding these at several comic and collectible shops near me. Try thumbing through your local yellow pages, you may find a store in your area. If that doesn’t pan out, you may be able to find them at a local collector show or swap meet.

10
What's with the EPIII Sneak Peak Wookiee Warrior?!

Rant follows: He looks like a cartoon character; he's a little taller than Chewbacca, but twice as wide!; his proportions are nowhere near Chewie or even Yarua (who looks like he dropped a load in his Wookiee costume. The fur detail is nowhere near the quality it should be. His head looks like the Grimace. And look at those feet - if Chewbacca was a size 12 foot - this guy is a friggin' 20! I guess, there's no real question here just disappointment at what could be a defining moment in the line. Oh one other thing...did you ever notice that Chewbacca has no butt (neither did Yarua)...well this one does! Check out that crack, baby!

What can I say; obviously Chewbacca isn’t your typical Wookiee… As a preview figure, and a none-chore character, I think we got about all we should expect from Hasbro with the Wookiee Warrior. I also believe Hasbro probably stayed fairly true to what Lucas has put on the screen, so size and all I imagine Wookies are going to look pretty much like this in the movie. Is it what fans were expecting, probably not, but there’s little to be done about that now. As surprising as the figure may appear, it’s probably best to wait until we’ve seen the Episode III before passing judgment on the toy line.


Until next time...


Got Questions?