Questions for July 11, 2004
Q&A Archive

1
I'd like to pick your brain regarding the new Unleashed proposal. What the heck is Hasbro thinking here? The Unleashed line is one of, if not the, best line of figures in the Star Wars family. Why in all that's holy and pure would they make these figures 2" tall?! Don't we already have a miniaturized Star Wars line? And a miniaturized game? And the mini bust-ups? I just don't understand the reasoning behind this move. There were tons of other characters that I was practically salivating to see in the 7" Unleashed form. Now all we're going to have are the equivalent of Monopoly tokens. Do you have any insight into why they pulled this stunt? -Ash

and…

For the love of god what is Hasbro thinking! WHY are they getting rid of the UNLEASHED line? I thought it was replacing the 12-inch line, now they are going to two-inch figures! WHY mess with a perfect line? Their sculpts moved so fast that they had to rerun half the line just to keep up with demand! And I still can’t find three of the figures I need. So why would they decide to scrap the whole line? I find the biggest insult to be that they leave it with three resculpts instead of totally new figures. Please make sense of this! I hope the new line fails and they return to the popular favorite. –Scott

As popular as the line has been with collectors, Hasbro apparently feels they can make more money selling 2-inch figure 4-packs than they can the 7-inch figures; I mean, what else could it be…? As incomprehensible as this may be to collectors (I certainly don’t understand it) there are no more Star Wars movies to carry the franchise. Retailers, as shrewd as they can be, are likely already onto “the next big thing.” If retail buyers balked at the Unleashed line (for size and/or price point), and are looking to downsize the shelf space allowed for the Star Wars in general, Hasbro may have had no other choice. It remains to be seen, the information we received is credible, but there’s been no official word as of yet. Who knows, having been faced with loosing the line altogether, perhaps Hasbro thought following the AOME (Armies of Middle Earth) route was worth the risk. One thing is for certain judging by the mail we’ve received so far; the 7-inch line will be missed…


2
I have seen these Battlepacks at my retailer, very [much] liked the clone turbo tank, but it cost 45€, isn’t this a HUGE price for 3 figures, 1 ship and a playset? Is there any chance Hasbro will release some small vehicles/figures packs (like the ones Galoob used to make) (like a clone figure, ARC 170 starfighter and clone turbo tank) -tanotrooper

If you’re looking for Action Fleet, and many collectors seem to be, we haven’t seen or heard of any plans that include this line. Through Target, Hasbro is releasing some smaller Micro Vehicle packs, each featuring two vehicles and two figures. In size these are the same as the Die-Cast or X-Ray range galoob released years ago. There’s also Wal*Mart’s Titanium Series, but that’s about it. Now, there are supposed to be a couple/few 6” Die-Cast vehicles later this year, but little is known about them other than the fact that Hasbro showed the Action Fleet Falcon and Vader’s TIE when speaking about them to a panel at CIII. We hope to find out more on this line next week at Comic Con, other than that it doesn’t look like Hasbro is working any other vehicle sets in the range galoob used to offer.


3
Are the Playskool sabers ever going to be released? I have yet to see them in the stores. -Craig

While I could have sworn we received a report of these being found, I wanna say KB Toys had them, I can’t seem to find that report. I’ve yet to see them at retail, and eBay does not turn up a huge selection. It would appear they are out, in some areas, in limited quantities, but that’s the best I find at the moment. I’ll be sure to ask Hasbro about these at Comic Con, they don’t usually know exactly what the Playskool division is working on, but it won’t hurt.


4
I wanted to know where I should go on for vacation that has to do with Star Wars -Chad

Well, that all depends on how adventurous you’re willing to be… Lucas has shot in several real world locations, ranging from the most civilized to the most inhospitable. If you’re looking for something mainstream, Spain’s Plaza de España in Seville, Lake Como and Caserta in Italy all served as Naboo locations in Episodes I and II. Elstree. Pinewood. Shepperton. and Leavesden studios in England were all used in filming various Episodes. There’s probably nothing left to see, but if you find yourself in the area… For more adventurous travelers a number of sites in Tunisia served at the home world of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker. Our own Jeremy Beckett has written a book on the subject, a rare find but well worth the read if you plan to visit. Other than that Lucas filmed some of the Endor scenes from Return of the Jedi at Smith River, in Northern California. Also in California, Death Valley set the stage for an adventurous R2 unit, and Yuma, Arizona served at the Dune Sea in ROTJ. Star Wars Insider #48 featured a great article outlining some of these sites, if you can find the back issue, be sure to take notes.


5
Is there any chance that Hasbro will release another X-wing based on the FX/Dagobah/Red Leader mold? Even when I was a little kid I couldn't stand the stubby look of the vintage model, which has been the version re-used for most of the modern releases. Like a fool I "waited for the price to go down" on the FX/Dagobah/Red Leader versions, and now I don't want to pay inflated eBay prices.

There have been rumors of an X-wing with Wedge Antilles due later this year; I imagine that will include the Power F/X version (without electronics of course…). Sure would be nice if Hasbro offered the vehicle with lights, a few sound effects, and customizable decals (so you could build your own fleet), but I guess that’s a little too much to expect.


6
So I've never had much luck finding exclusive vehicles. The only ones I've ever seen and bought were Wal-Mart Snowspeeder and TIE Bomber. I just got the green Jedi Starfighter off of Amazon since I've never seen it in stores. There's a lot of pre-ROTS exclusives that I never even saw in stores, such as the POTF2 and OTC Y-Wings, B-Wing, TIE Interceptor, and Red Leader's X-Wing. So are there any chance we'll see these again in the future, or have I missed my only shot at these? Sounds like a good Comic-Con question to me....Thanks a bunch! -Adam

Well, it sure looks like the chances of seeing these offered again are far greater than seeing new vehicles offered. While no plans have been announced, it’s certainly something we can probably look forward to.


7
I was wondering if you ever think Hermi Odle will ever become a figure? This is one henchman in Jabba`s palace that has slipped through the cracks since `83. Your thoughts? Have you heard a demand for this guy?

From what I gather, Hasbro knows this figure is on the collector hot list. I have a pretty good feeling we will see it released eventually though I certainly haven’t heard any plan to that effect. With 2006 being a “collector” year, it’s entirely possible Hasbro has this in the works already; hopefully we get some indication of that soon. One thing’s for sure, if Hasbro really wanted to impress collectors, this would be one figure to make.


8
Is Hasbro going to re-release the original 12 [VOTC] again or make more or is that it? The 9.99 figures were hard to find and I need two more.

Hasbro has a tendency to re-release a lot of things, while I wouldn’t expect them to show up in the same packaging, we may well see these figures again before the ‘end.’ However, if you’re looking to complete your VOTC collection, I would not expect to find new cases at retail. Your best bet to wrap up this exceptional line at this point is probably going to be eBay, or one of the on-line specialty sites.


9
For god's sake when is Hasbro going to make a Chief Chirpa and some more ewoks...? -Jason

Not soon enough if you ask me. With all the army building going on you’d think they could come out with a generic Ewok four pack, use existing molds in different colors and repaint accessories… Seems like a no brainer. Chirpa certainly deserves Hasbro’s attention, and while they’re at it I’d like to see them take a better crack at Wicket. The POTF2 version just isn’t right, and it’s about time they fixed this. Again, with 2006 being a collector year anything is possible, but we haven’t heard anything that points to more Ewoks on the orizon.

10
At Celebration III, Hasbro was offering a deal for all the 2005 3¾ figures as well as a couple of other things. You registered at the convention and they were supposed to get back to you in 4-6 weeks. I have not heard back from them. Do you know anything about this offer, and if it is still being offered? -Doug

Well that makes me feel better; I was starting to think they just didn’t like me… Yeah, they were supposed to get back to us, I signed up as well and have heard nothing, and caught no reports about the status of the offer at Hasbro’s site. It’s possible they are reconsidering when to actually begin the program; one thing that came up in the CIII Q&A was the fact that they were proposing to send out many of the figure we had already picked up on April 2nd. It certainly makes far more sense to start the program with the 2006 collection, but we don’t know for sure yet whether Hasbro has figured that out. It’s on the list for Comic Con; hope to have more info on this Wednesday night.

11
This week I picked up the ROTS Ask Aak and am quite impressed with it. Now that Hasbro has released a new Gran is it possible they might release Mawhonic or Aks Moe or Ainlee Teem or even another Ree-Yees? -Brett

It’s always possible, Mawhonic would be pretty cool to see, but there’s been no word yet. As far as Ree-Yees, I sure would appreciate an updated version with a little more articulation, but how will they explain the difference in the characters hands? It’s another one of those little disconnects, but between the Trilogy and the Prequels the species hands changed quite a bit…

12
We know Lucas will never let the Star Wars Christmas Special see the light of day. Is there any chance portions of it could be released, such as Boba Fett's animated sequence? It would be a nice bonus feature on a future Droids or Clone Wars DVD. -Rob

If (and it’s a big IF) we were to ever see that piece of animation again, I would think adding it to a volume of the Droids series would be where we’d see it. If I remember correctly Fett played a part in that series, if they released a DVD of those episodes, that’s the most likely place we’ll see the short added. Other than that I suspect the next most likely place would be on some future release of The Empire Strikes Back. Fett’s appearance in the Holiday Special was a clear precursor to his appearance in Empire, adding it to say the 30th anniversary edition would make perfect sense as well.

13
I'm so frustrated!! I go out to 15 different stores looking for the new Unleashed figures, and all I find is the old Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar ones. I also noticed that NONE of the stores have anything newer than those Neimodian Warrior action figures. I have NEVER seen anything in the Tarkin series or anything newer than that around here. I wanna get them so bad but I'm not going to shell out the clams on eBay for them only to pay outrageous shipping prices. I was wondering if I was in a place in the country where, say, you don't sell a heck of a lot of these action figures, are they ever going to be getting the newer stuff? How does this system work? Please enlighten me. -Steve

New stuff will come in eventually; the problem now appears to be that retail is satisfied to sit on current/slow moving stock (hoping for it to sell through) before rushing new cases to the floor. You have to guess that a lot of stuff shipped in preparation for the big April toy release and movie debut. Now that we’re nearly two months past the premier, and with several other summer blockbuster toy lines to push, the Star Wars line is loosing shelf space and retail interest. It’s just not a priority anymore. With the Summer clearance sales starting to kick in we may see a little relief soon, once toy departments have cleared out some of their slow stock we could start to see new toys hit the pegs again. I doubt the problem is inherent to one particular place, from what I see and hear it sounds like there’s at least a little bit of this going on all over.

14
I recall in a previous QM (which I can’t find) you saying that the Episode 1 Mace Windu figure was so far the best of him. Just wondering if you meant the normal E1 figure or the preview figure? -Adam

Both actually. For a non-action version of the Jedi Master the preview version works best, but the carded Mace Windu with cloak ‘shell’ is still a pretty good runner-up.

15
In the ROTS graphic novel, the voice of Qui-Gon says that, "a shaman of the Whills discovered the secret" (to immortality). Now I’ve heard rumors that Yoda is a Whill, if this is true does that mean that the shaman Qui-Gon refers to is Yaddle, being that she was of the circle of Jedi healers? Any clarification would be a big help. -Pete N.

No, I doubt that. If Yaddle, being on the Jedi Council, had known that secret I imagine all the Jedi would have learned it. The way I understood it was that the secret originated outside of the Order, with someone aware of the Force but not necessarily a practitioner. It’s hard to say exactly what was intended here; we still don’t have an official species type for Yoda, and what appears outside of the films is always suspect. At best this is little more than an intriguing reference to some of the early work Lucas did on the Trilogy. The Journal of the Whills is one of those areas fans would like to see explored, but so far it just hasn’t developed. For now, it remains a mystery.

16
My six year old and I are anxiously awaiting the new series of Attacktix. Are there any pre-release pictures of them anywhere? We've searched all over your site and haven't seen any. -Ray

From what we understand Series 2 will be on display at Comic Con, and should be on the shelf around September. Be sure to come back Wednesday for our Preview Night coverage!

17
Is Hasbro still sending older case assortments of ROTS figures to stores, or do they try to keep everything new? I guess this leads to my next question. Is there any chance that we will see basic figures such as Kit Fisto again? He is not scheduled to be packed in any remaining wave or case assortment. -Dan (PalpsRocks)

I doubt Hasbro is currently sending any older cases out; I believe they have actually sold through their inventory of the earliest assortments. What’s out there now is in the hands of various retail chains, there could be some older assortments in various warehouses and such, but that’s about it. I don’t recall seeing Fisto on any upcoming lists either, but there’s always the chance he’ll be included in an as yet un-announced assortment. Keep checking back, as we continue to get more information in about the second half of the year we may find out more about this figure. If it’s important to your collection though, you may want to look for a decent price on-line, or through eBay, just to be on the safe side…

18
I got a #6 Clone Trooper around launch time and it came with the usual little unfolding piece of paper/pamphlet with other figures to collect on it, and recently I bought 4 more #6's and 3 came with the little pamphlet and an Attacktix sticker. My question is: are the ones with the Attacktix sticker going to be considered some sort of package variation? -Noizey

If anything added to or left out of the packaging will constitute a packaging variation. The next question then becomes, is the sticker visible from the outside of the package, or have date stamps been determined to note the change? If it’s a change that is easily recognizable it may be a worthwhile variation to have. If not, it would most likely end up as a minor footnote in some price guide.

19
Will the 500th Vader and the Evolution sets be available at other retailers? -chad

As far as we know both these items will be carried at all major retail chains; we’ve heard nothing that indicates these will be exclusive anywhere.

20
Does Hasbro not pay attention or are the SW films so closely guarded that they only get preview (and subject to change) shots? Why is the Stasis Allie figure on the wrong bike? In the film she is riding a ROTJ bike not one of the BARC speeders, was Hasbro unaware of this? I can understand (well not really) Anakin being packaged with the wrong shaped red saber, but being called Anakin of the packaging of subsequent releases, when the eyeliner obviously signifies he is now Vader. Surely some of these figures, and previous ones, are no more than Expanded Universe stuff. I.E Mon Mothma, the Senators, white Clone Troopers... in the film they might have been, but a fleeting appearance of the back of their heads doesn't justify an "action" figure. Not when the pau'uans, clone commanders, and others have speaking lines and much more of a shot. Is there any real market (apart from obsessive OOEC, like myself) for static action figures, with no action, pose or screen time? For me they sit on a shelf gathering dust, for my kids they are nothing more than boring cannon fodder. -Jak Warpig

Because Hasbro begins work on the line anywhere from a year to a year and a half before the film is finished, they often times have to guess at what will be hot and what will not. Figures that seem obvious now, maybe didn’t seem so last year, or possibly weren’t even developed yet. Lucas in particular likes to tinker with his movies right up to the very end, which makes it impossible for a manufacturer to create a comprehensive toy line. Hasbro basically has to work with what’s on the drawing board and in some cases cross their fingers. Based on the figures that they did produce, they did pretty well picking characters that have Trilogy counterparts. In doing this, while some of the characters may not have been scene-stealers, at least there’s a familiarity that should appeal to both new and long time fans. The time to pick up some of these other figures will be in the years that follow, once they have a better idea of what’s hot and what’s not.


Until next time...


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