Questions for June 2, 2005
Q&A Archive

1
We know that Anakin is knighted in the first episode of the second Clone Wars season, but when is Obi-Wan promoted to master and inducted to the Council? I mean, is this narrated in any of the novels or comic books?

As for the Clone Troopers, when and why do they change armor? They appear wearing the new outfit in the second Clone Wars season, so I guess this is described in a novel. Do you know which one? -Oscar Islas (Mexico City)

Apparently he was invited to sit on the council prior to the events in the book Labyrinth of Evil, but his actual induction (as far as I know) has not been written/penned yet. As for the Clone Troopers, I'm sure their armor evolved as the Clone Wars progressed and intensified, but I haven't seen this documented anywhere, book or comic.


2
Will they do a correct version of Palpatine #35 with Sidious' lightsaber hilt? I have the "corrected" version with the red saber, but the hilt looks like Vader's, so it is incorrect as well. I haven't opened my figure yet, in case they will be releasing one with the correct hilt. Barring that, do you know if the "alternate hand with lightsaber" that comes with the deluxe Palpatine figure would work with this figure? I have the deluxe figure and have him posed with the lightning, so I could use his alternate hand with Palpatine #35, IF it is compatible.

I would also be in favor of a V-Wing fighter, although I don't remember seeing it in the film. Would the current Clone Pilot not work with that vehicle, were it to be released? I figured the pilots all looked the same, but does the V-Wing pilot look different than the ARC-170 pilot? I bought one of the pilots hoping that it would work for a possible V-Wing, but if they're a different design then I'll take that figure back (and I don't like the "Caucasian" paint job on the Clone Pilots - what gives???).

Do you know if retail stores will continue to stock "Unleashed" figures for the next wave and beyond, or will I have to start buying them online again?

Will there be any more of the Red Royal Guards shipping? I've seen exactly two, and bought them both, but would like two more. -Greg Romine

Well, depending on your point of view the version with Anakin's hilt may actually be correct - sort of. I haven't been able to confirm this yet (gotta go see the movie again…) but one reader wrote in saying Palpatine can be seen in the movie dueling with Anakin's saber (hilt that is). He said it could be seen in a couple quick shots, but that it was definitely there. As it appears the scene was indeed reworked/reshot during pick-ups last fall, it wouldn't surprise me to learn this was true, nor would it surprise me that Hasbro originally designed and created the tooling (molds) for the toy based on the initial footage. Again, when it takes upwards of a year to design and produce a toy, and mere hours to reshoot or edit a scene, these things happen. Anyway, at this point if a second change was going to be made I would have thought we would've seen it by now. It's curious that the image on the back of the card depicts Palpatine with the correct saber, but there's still no corrected version on the shelf. My guess is they used the saber/hand from the Battle Arena figure for product shots (cardback and poster) but left the production figure as is. I haven't tried the saber from the Deluxe figure yet, but from what I recall the plug portion on it is too large for the Palpatine #35 arm socket. A closer match, as I mentioned, would probably be the saber from the Battle Arena figure if you have that one handy.

The V-wing could be seen escorting Palpatine's Shuttle to the landing platform on Coruscant, and as the 'Star Destroyers' approach the Death Star construction site. In one of the trailers it can be seen flanking the shuttle on its approach to Mustafar. It's a cool ship; sort of a cross between the Episode II Jedi Starfighter and an A-Wing, and in my opinion would make a nice addition to the line… While I'm sure the Clone Pilot figure could work with such a vehicle if made, the Attacktix V-Wing Pilot figure is quite different, closer in design to a TIE Fighter pilot. Not that the V-wing Pilot was ever shown in the movie, but I assume this style figure would be more appropriate with that toy.

Not quite sure what the deal is with the Clone Pilot paint job, I guess someone at Hasbro thought it was close enough…

I imagine retail will continue to stock the Unleashed line for as long as they have it in their layouts. Depending on the store and their plans for the line following Episode III, we'll know more about the best places to shop for those figures, but there's a good chance at least some retailers will drop the line from their display.

According to Hasbro the Royal Guard will ship again in their A002 case pack in August. I can only assume there will be a mix of both red and blue guards, but at least it looks like they'll be out there again.


3
Why is LucasArts totally ignoring the Nintendo Gamecube? Their Rogue Squadron games have become instant classics, yet Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, Lego Star Wars, and Episode III are all examples of Gamecube owners getting hosed as far as new games are concerned. What's the big deal? -Dan V.

Well, just because they LucasArts doesn't currently have anything for Gamecube it doesn't mean they'll never develop anything for the Nintendo platforms again. At this point the games they have out now were more appropriate for the consoles they're available on. If I were you, I'd suggest letting the folks at Nintendo and LucasArts know you'd like more Star Wars titles. If you can make it to Comic Con this year I understand LucasArts will have a rather large booth, I'm sure someone there will listen.


4
Okay, I gotta ask. At C3 one of the Tonnika Sisters was signing autographs. Did anyone approach her to ask her if she would ever sign her likeness agreement so we can have a figure made?

"Word on the street" has it that Hasbro took advantage of the opportunity Official Pix afforded them and indeed spoke with Christine Hewitt, one of the Tonnika Sisters from ANH, at Celebration III. While nothing has been announced, much less confirmed, there's a strong feeling that the result of that talk will be the release of one of the long awaited Tonnika Sister action figures. Interesting to say the least, but at this point only time will tell.


5
I notice that there are the basic ships on the checklist. Including the third Republic Gunship. I love these new star fighters and all, but what I'm wondering is will Hasbro plan on making some of these tanks that we've seen in the last 2 movies. They are so cool, and I'd gladly have given up 1 or 2 of those gunships for a Tank. I mean those tanks would look much better on a shelf than that gunship. What gives?

PS: I love Padme's new ship. It's way smaller than that huge thing from episode1 and is essential to an Anakin vs. Ob1 show down scene. I'd love to have Ob1 standing at the top of the ramp for a few months, then changing it to a circling stare down scene. Heck the only Padmé they sell is the one from this confrontation scene on Mustafar. Well, what I'm asking is, are there any plans for this ship either? And if Hasbro is reading this, I want a HUGE RAMP! -Antonio

It all comes down to cost issues. Hasbro can repaint the Gunship several times over and it won't come anywhere near the cost of developing a "new" toy. It's a shame really; the Prequels have given us some great Star Wars vehicle designs yet the toy industry isn't anywhere near healthy enough for a company to invest the time and money to produce them.

No word yet on Padmé's Naboo Cruiser, and given Hasbro's tone at C3 I wouldn't hold out much hope. It is a nice design to be sure, but put quite simply, it's not in the budget.


6
Regarding the Red and Blue Imperial Guard figures- are the colors used for the action figures correct? I've seen ROS in a regular theater and in a digital theater (the only the way to go BTW) and in both versions the colors were much darker than the action figures. The blue guard looked nearly black and red guard looked a deep crimson.

Have you received any complaints about the binding on recent issues of the Star Wars Insider Magazine? My most recent issue starting falling apart while I was reading the first article. -Phil in Ann Arbor

No, the colors are not correct, not even close, but on a toy this is what worked best for Hasbro. As you noticed, in both cases the costume colors are much darker. Why Hasbro didn't replicate those colors on the toy is anyone's guess, but it likely came down to what looked like a more appealing toy rather than which was movie accurate.

Nope, no complaints so far, but your question alone may generate a few. If I hear anything more I'll alert the folks at the Insider, if not then most likely you just ended up with a bad copy.


7
Is there any word that LEGO will release other Episode III sets? I would certainly like to see some playsets like Kashyyyk or duel with Dooku or something... Lots of space with lots of minifigs... -Gaetano

Typically LEGO puts everything out for the year and then moves on. There may be a few high-end sets between now and the end of the year, but they probably won't focus on Episode III. My guess is we may see more Revenge of the Sith sets mixed in with sets from other movies in 2006, but it's anyone's guess at this point what they'll be.


8
Okay Okay, I know I should be looking at the big picture... EPIII is finally out, and I honestly have no complaints about. It was done amazingly in my opinion... Now the only problem I do have is with Orn Free Taa... The scene where Yoda and Palpatine have it out, (great fight) Well Orn Free Taa just up and leaves... Where the hell does he go? Sorry if this seems like a stupid thought but it's really beginning to bother me. -Billy K.

Well, actually you're thinking of Mas Amedda, and most likely he took a look at what Yoda did to the two Royal Guards and decided it was time to go to the little alien's room. Yeah, it did seem like an odd transition, why even have him there at all, but there's always the chance he had some lines that were cut or some other dialog with Palpatine that was left out. I imagine Palpatine probably dismissed him much in the same way he sent Sly Moore and gang packin' at the theater, but I haven't seen or heard anything to corroborate that. He does show up again after the battle is over, as they're searching for Yoda, so I guess that at least keeps him in the loop. Don't let it bother you though, there are a lot of little disconnects throughout the Star Wars movies, if you let them get to you they'll only end up ruining the fun.


9
I have a question.. you show me those M&M star wars-figures at Rebelscum... they are great.....but ...are they going to be for sale or something in Europe?... or is it an America exclusive? -Roland

As far as I know these are not exclusive to America, though whether European distributors decide to pick them up or not remains to be seen. One way or another though, odds are these little guys will find their way into the European market. Be patient, these aren't even out in the U.S. yet, I'm sure with a little time the picture will become much clearer.

10
Two questions- with regard to the Blue Royal Guard #23, do you know if it was released in the UK? No surprise that pretty much all of the ROTS figures are "unreleased in the UK" according to unscrupulous eBayers, but this claim seems to be true enough as I can't find it in stock anywhere!

Also, I read somewhere that Hasbro is thinking of going back to the OTC style cardbacks when the 56 figures for 2005 have run- surely not?? Am I the only one fed up of seeing this idea flogged to death? Why not finally put it to bed and come up with something original? - Dave

I ran this one by Jeremy; apparently Hasbro UK took a pass on this figure and has not included it with what they're offering from the ROTS line. A few 'alternate' suppliers had limited stock on these a few weeks ago, but so far that's about it. If demand stays steady I would assume more could come in, but I wouldn't look for them through standard retail channels. The best chance to grab these will likely be through specialty shops that deal with U.S. or Hong Kong distributors.

It's fairly obvious given the success of the OTC line that Hasbro will revert back to some form of it once the Revenge of the Sith line runs its course. I wouldn't expect the design to be exactly like the 2004 package, but similar in many respects. Frankly the sooner we can get away from these 'taped' bubbles the better; I'm not looking forward to what my collection is going to look like once that adhesive dries out… I'm sure whatever Hasbro does come up with for '06 it will be original enough. As they say packaging is half the battle, I doubt Hasbro would be caught dead putting the Star Wars line back in 2004 wrappings.


Until next time...


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