Questions for May 30, 2006
Q&A Archive

1
Since Hasbro is reluctant to do any more ships etc… What are the chances of them doing like they did with the 12" line and letting a premium company take over that part of the line making us all happy with more detailed and realistic vehicles? -zak n sam

I have a very hard time seeing Hasbro part with any portion of their 3¾" Star Wars line, even vehicles. And to be honest, as much as I'd like to see what someone like Master Replicas could do with a "playable" line of ships compatible with the 3¾" figures, I have serious concerns over the prices we'd be asked to pay for such 'toys.' Moving the 12" figures over to Sideshow made a lot of sense for LFL., Sideshow had an established reputation for doing great work in this range, and Hasbro was loosing retail and customer support for their line. Asking a company to come in now and essentially create a range to support a rather narrow market of Star Wars vehicles just begs for failure. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see what anyone other than Hasbro could do with the vehicle line, I just don't see it happening.


2
Do you think Hasbro will ever card the Cantina Band Member? This was an awesome fig. The sculpt is great and it has a ton of articulation. And what about Han Stormtrooper Disguise? There was a rumor awhile back that Hasbro was going to release a carded version. Since I prefer to display carded figs as opposed to loose figs, I would love to see these figs carded. What do you think?

While I have a hard time seeing the Cantina Band Member carded, I could see Hasbro carding a Han in Stormtrooper Disguise. At this point I wouldn't expect to see the General Mills figure packaged, but an alternate version instead; maybe even a Super Articulated version… As for the Cantina Band Bith, it strikes me as more of a window box type figure, maybe a complete Figrin D'an and The Modal Nodes collection, but not something I'd expect to find in the basic figure assortment.


3
I have been visiting this site for quite some time. The most useful information I have found here is the DCPI numbers. I would never have gotten all the Target exclusives without them. I want to know if you have the DPCI for the 5th wave in the Saga collection or know where I can find it?

Unfortunately there is no DPCI# for specific waves of basic figures, they are all lumped into the same inventory category. The best I could suggest would be to the get the actual SKU# of the figure(s) you're looking for and trying your luck at Wal*Mart. Wal*Mart actually keeps track of each individual figure in their system (you'll notice the specific name and number on the register receipt) where Target only tracks the assortment number. I've never tried checking for figures this way at Wal*Mart, but in theory you should have better luck.


4
I have be a collector and fan since I got my early bird set from aunt for Christmas 1977. I have really enjoyed the last ten years of products. Lately though, I have noticed Hasbro reissuing the same vehicles over and over (i.e. tie fighter, x-wing, etc..) Do you think they will ever market the b-wing fighter or skiff again? It seems like a no-brainer. Also, what do you think about the possibility of Hasbro producing replicas of the entire vintage Kenner action figure line? What a great way to reconnect with our generation again. Thanks again for a terrific column. -Mark (New Jersey)

Yes, I do think we'll see both the B-Wing and the Skiff again. No mention of them so far for '06, but it's only a matter of time, probably in 2007. When you say replicas of the vintage line I'm guessing you mean the vintage style VOTC and VTSC figures we saw in 2004 and this year. Yes I do think Hasbro will continue to market this line as long as fans support it. There are already rumors of a second wave for later this year, and I'm going to guess there are plans for even more in 2007.

If you mean reissuing the old vintage figures as they were in the early years, I'm not so sure we'll see that happen. We sort of saw this with the animated Clone Wars line, but having two different styled 3¾" figure lines out there at once kinda confuses the market. Maybe not collectors, but you can sort of see where Mom, Dad, or Gramma might look at each of the styles and wonder which one they should buy… At this point it makes much more sense to stick with the one style, maybe later on it will be a better time to reissue the old figures and maybe even release the Prequel characters in that style as well.


5
Is it my imagination, or are the original four Titanium ships, a Wal-Mart exclusive, being re-released at other stores. I think if this is happening it is pretty much 100% bogus. I mean exclusive means EXCLUSIVE. Then again, with all the bullcrap we collectors have had to endure the past few months it shouldn't surprise anybody. -Bruce C. (Baltimore, Md.)

Technically, I wouldn't say they are being "re-released" since they were barely released the first time around; but yes, the first wave has been showing up in other stores. I think what we're seeing here is Hasbro unloading excess stock from 2005. The first wave of Titanium Series vehicles saw very poor distribution (at least in my area) and I'm guessing Hasbro had a ton left over. Now that the line is everywhere, and getting some pretty good attention, Hasbro must have looked at this as a way to move the first wave out of their warehouse and into our collections. I can't complain since I never found these the first time around, but I can see where some might be little miffed that they are all of a sudden showing up again.

As you said, considering everything we've been put through already this year, this shouldn't really be a big surprise.


6
UGHHHHHHH is right!!! Do you have any more info on when or if more of these UGH figures will be released in future waves. I pre-ordered 5 boxes from Entertainment Earth hoping to get some of these elusive figures. I have been checking the stores EVERY single day and keep missing them. Now EE e-mailed me and said my orders have been canceled because Hasbro canceled the next waves.

I am a completeist to a degree. In other words, I want to get every UGH and hopefully at least one of every silver holo figure. Please tell me Hasbro is going to send more of these UGH out on other waves. This stinks. I do have some of them but still am missing a few. Let me know what you find out. UGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I hate these chase promos. Because of eBay, scalpers are really hitting the hard to find figures. UGH and Lucas Stormtrooper seemed like a good idea but for a loyal collector like me, it has been a nightmare. -Matt V. (Bloomington, IL)

As much as I'd love to be able to ask Hasbro about this, they're not exactly answering our questions these days. I will try to get to the bottom of this at Comic Con, but from the info I've been able to scrape together it sounds like the UGH basic figure promotion is over. While it originally sounded as if these figures would be available throughout year, the promotion has since been described as a "Spring Promo." It doesn't sound to me like any more of these figures will ship, which is a mixed blessing. Clearly, tracking these figures down was a real pain in the backside, but like you I'm still missing more than a few of them. We'll see what Hasbro has to say in a few weeks, but for I'm not expecting to find any of these figures at retail any time soon.


7
Now that we have a Kotobukiya Slave Leia around the corner is it possible to see a giant Kotobukiya figure of Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb? It would be the ultimate Koto figure. -Gus

I suppose anything is possible, the Koto line just keeps getting more and more attention from collectors, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a large scale Jabba at some point down the line. However, I haven't heard any mention of such a set just yet; we'll just have to wait and see…


8
I got my five vintage figures earlier this week courtesy of Legends, and they are all heat-sealed, so getting the POP tags will be a chore. I don't want to make any noticeable damage to the clamshell, so I'm not in a big rush to take the exacto knife to them. However, I would be inclined to do so if Hasbro made an offer to replace the clamshells (heck, I'd be a few bucks for five new ones). Then again, besides the second market monetary value, is the George Lucas really worth having? It doesn't look like the coolest figure ever by any stretch of the imagination. The whole program stinks to be honest. Anyhow, what are my chances of finding clamshells again? - d

Is the Lucas Trooper figure worth destroying the clamshells on the other five vintage style figures? No, but if you're like me you have to have one (or two) anyway. I have not heard that Hasbro plans to release or replace any of the vintage style clamshells so it appears as if we're all pretty much stuck. If you want a mint set of vintage Saga figures and the Lucas Trooper, you're looking at buying at least two sets; three if you want a loose Lucas trooper as well.

On the other hand, given recent developments on the stolen POP problem, there is an option open to you, but it's not an option I can endorse.


9
I seem to be having a problem finding any new Attacktix stuff. It's been a couple months since I've seen anything at all. So far I've only found one series 2 booster pack. I'm a big fan of the line and was wandering if anyone else is experiencing this? -Cory

There was quite an Attacktix drought there for a while; months passed with hardly a new booster pack to be found. However, in the last few weeks that has changed and now I see plenty of Series 3 booster packs nearly everywhere (except for Wal*Mart, who has the best price at $6.96…). Depending on where you're located, and where you are shopping, you could still be in the drought. Hopefully more product will show up soon, or you might want to try hitting a Target or Toys 'R' Us to see if you have better luck, or try looking on-line.

10
I'm very impressed with the exclusive Astromech Packs from Entertainment Earth and wonder if there's a reasonable chance we'll see a similar pack of protocol droids released? There have been a few 3POs made by Hasbro but there are still a number of them who appeared in the movies but don't yet have figures. It would be great to see a pack of 5. -Brett

I talked to a friend at EE about the kinds of things they'd be looking at in the future, and I didn't get a very good feeling about the chances for set of protocol droids. Not that they wouldn't do it, just that they had other things in mind. If they, or anyone else, did follow up with a protocol droid set, two things I'd like to see would be a chrome/silver version of the Death Star Droid (like the vintage figure), and a pristine K-3PO (Hoth) without the big blast mark on his chest. Other than that I guess it's all gravy; unlike the astromechs there's just not a whole lot you can do with a protocol droid.


Until next time...

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