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 this week's Hasbro
Star Wars Tri-Weekly 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!
From CollectionStation.com: 1) Recently, Hasbro has updated cockpits on a few OT ships, including the B-wing, TIE Fighter, and A-wing, not to mention the detailed cockpit on the new Millennium Falcon. We understand that the B-wing and A-wing got new detailed cockpits because they had the opportunity from their use as exclusives, but exclusives or not, are there any plans or thoughts about continuing that practice on other ships? The X-wing, Vader's TIE, and Y-wing are all good candidates for new, detailed cockpits, but would the small size of some of those cockpits prevent those upgrades?
2) Now that we're starting to see pictures of actual samples of the new basic figure packaging, it begs the question: what is the thinking behind the significant amount of blank white area behind the figures? It basically looks like a nearly empty bubble that one would see in lesser products, such as last year's Star Wars figure keychains from another company. Especially considering the figures' new pricepoint of $8, doesn't it seem like a particularly poor idea to use packaging that minimizes the visual impact of the amount of product within?
3) Fans are glad to see the Jawa with WED Droid set produced, getting us 1 step closer to a complete "purchase of the droids" scene, but it seems like this pack-in WED droid is a tad on the large size. Comparison images have it around 25% larger than its movie counterpart. Also, the coloring on the toy is significantly different from the Jawa scene's white and red design seen at the droid sale (WED-15-ST68) - the gray and copper droid made into the figure was used in a cut scene by Fixer at Tosche station. So on the WED droid, why the increase in scale, and why the different colors?
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From Galactic Hunter: 1) Is there any chance of a retooled or kitbashed Cade Skywalker without the jacket and with sleeveless arms (similar to the first Quinlon Vos' arms)? We see him like this more in the comic than with his jacket on. And on the subject of Cade Skywalker, is there a possibility of someday getting a version in Sith Armor for when he was being mentored by Darth Krayt?
2) Are we going to get a version of the Tactical Droid seen in the new Clone Wars cartoons, such as TX-20 or TA-175. Several have appeared in episodes with different paint jobs but they all have the same body design. It would be a great candidate for multiple releases with the different paint jobs.
3) Hasbro, in the Q&A from 05/08/09 it was stated that there are new 'tools' (new models) coming out this fall for vintage vehicles that would make the old tools obsolete. It's already assumed that one is the AT-ST (from Endor), and we know two vehicles from Hoth are up for their makeovers. So the question is, does the Hoth vehicle walk or fly?
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From Han's Hideout: 1) Can you clear up for us when that second Ugnaught sculpt is shipping? We thought he was coming with the Phantom Menace Wave, but the case packs don't list him. Is he delayed until the RotJ wave (or later) or has he been cancelled all together as some are claiming?
2) The 'Training on the Falcon' Battle Pack was a great way for you to get some figures and accessories out there to compliment the new Falcon. How about trying it again with an ESB theme this time? Maybe an upgrade to the classic Kenner 'Vehicle Maintenance Energizer' along with a couple of mynocks, Echo Base Han & Chewie and a new Echo Base droid?
3) New info from online shops has revealed a new wave of Galactic Heroes - Ahsoka & Goldie, Thire & IG-86, ARF Trooper & Yoda, and Kit Fisto & Grievous! We’d love to see pics, but if you can’t share them until SDCC can you at least tell us if they are all new sculpts or if some are simple repaints of existing sculpts?
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From Jedi Defender: 1) We've noticed a few of the e-tailers are now soliciting a Ratts/Clegg 2-pack in the Phantom Menace wave cases. Can you please confirm/deny for us if you've been able to work out the tooling cost to give us a Pod Racer 2-pack instead of just a lone Cliegg?
2) Are there any plans to re-use parts of the new Captain Typho figure to help whip up a new version of Captain Panaka or maybe a new generic Naboo Royal Security figure from Episode 1? Those original Episode 1 Naboo Troopers are looking a bit dated and sure could use an upgrade.
3) When designing new figures, what determines whether the head will be cast in flesh-tone plastic or cast in another color and then painted flesh-tone? Is it cost, asthetics or something else that determines which path you choose?
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From Jedi Insider: 1) Have you ever considered doing a Star Wars Holiday themed type battle pack?
2) Will the Clone Wars Y-Wing fighter come with a figure or droid?
3) Have you ever considered making a Bespin Gantry playset from Empire Strikes Back?
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From Jedi Temple Archives: 1) We've been tracking the news of the new Rebel Snowspeeder since your broke that news with JTA in this September 2008 Q&A session. Can you give us an update on when this new Snowspeeder might be coming to market? And with the equally exciting news of an impending Snowspeeder pilot Luke Skywalker, could we also be in store for a new Dack Ralter to man that Snowspeeder with Commander Skywalker?
2) Fans of the both the vintage and modern figure lines were excited with the news that the Ewok Warok (one of the few remaining vintage Ewoks) would be part of an upcoming battle pack. And it's always a great topic of conversation amongst collectors to see which figures from the vintage line have yet to be produced in the modern era. So when planning out the Basic Figure line, how much of a consideration is making modern resculpts of those vintage line stragglers? And which of those might be next on the list for their modern line rendition after Warok?
3) One of the single most anticipated figures in the basic figure line is undoubtedly the RETURN OF THE JEDI throne room duel Luke Skywalker. Collectors seem to have been waiting for years for this one! And more than a few were a little bummed to see that it wasn't shown in the recent Star Wars Insider article. How much of a challenge has it been to design and produce this particular figure, especially considering the great expectations from the collecting community?
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From MouseDroid.com: 1) I've read recently that you made a comment in regards to the "Legacy Collection not selling well" That may be true, from a certain point of view, but I don't think you guys have the full picture. One of the major problems I have noticed (especially in recent times) is that retail continues to restock with older assortments. My local Target-Australia store has been without new Legacy (and Clone Wars figures) for some months now and yesterday they finally had something on the pegs - turned out to be Legacy Wave #1 and Clone Wars Wave #1 - again! This is happening at a number of stores.
On the same day Coles-Australia put out a fresh case of TAC Wave 4/5 remix (Holiday Boba, Jedi Luke, Stormtrooper etc) and now the people who already bought these figures, have to wait until these are all sold, which could take some time. The last few months have seen Big W-Australia restock, but with TLC Waves #3 and #4, preventing Wave #5 from getting through at many retailers.
How are we expected to support the line, if retailers aren't educated on what is new, what is old and what is last years collection? How can we truly support the line, if there is nothing new to collect?
2) Why do we need to have "exclusive" action figures, such as the ones sold on starwarsshop.com or hasbrotoyshop.com? Wouldn't it be easier to simply relegate these releases to the basic line? Then collectors wouldn't have to worry about the (exorbitant) shipping costs from sws.com or the fact that hasbrotoyshop.com does not ship outside the US.
3) Is there any chance that the following figures will receive upgrades in the next two or three years - Grand Moff Tarkin, Gamorrean Guard, Yak Face, Artoo Pop Up Saber, EV-9D9, Anakin Skywalker (Shaw), Rebel Commando, Rebel Fleet Trooper, Ishi Tibb, Dash Rendar, Anakin Skywalker (Lloyd), See Threepio (TPM and AOTC), Jar Jar (TPM) or what about Chewie as Snoova from SOTE?
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From Sandtroopers.com: 1) Hey Hasbro - What's UP? Why haven't the stores in my area seen any new figures since early February? Are you planning on ramming 56 new figures down my throat in a 6 week span sometime soon?
2) Today, I picked up the new Star Trek Bridge playset at Target. I am not a big Trek fan and I am not a Trek collector but I thought the playset would be a good way to display some vintage figures from other lines (Black Hole, Battlestar Gallactica, Buck Rogers, etc.) in one spot. The playset is a fairly simple piece (actually, a group of pieces) but is very well done (it actually reminds me somewhat of Palpatine's office in Ep. II and III). Because of its simplicity, it doesn't appear as if it would be overly costly to produce. In addition, the playset can be significantly expanded by buying separate packs of 'galaxy packs' that include chairs, consoles, and figures. Clearly, the galaxy packs are meant to help minimize the actual cost of the original playset while still offering consumers the chance to complete the environment. They also help increase the viability of production by "encouraging" fans to purchase the additional sets, which are mostly composed of re-paints and re-packs of previously released items. Is this an approach that Hasbro would consider for playsets? I can envision similar approaches to several Star Wars environments; the Emperor's Throne Room in ROTJ, Palpatine's Office in AOTC and ROTS, the Mos Eisley Cantina, various Death Star areas, the Hoth base, Yavin, Bespin, etc., etc.
3) In the final part of Season One of the Clone Wars, the Ryloth story arc featured Republic AT-TE's with a different color scheme (Grey with green accent) than the AT-TE's featured in Episodes 2 and 3 (grey with red/maroon accent). Will we see a re-issued AT-TE with this new paint scheme at some point in the future or at the very least a re-release of the AT-TE with grey+red/maroon coloring?
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From Sir Steve's Guide: 1) In a recent answer, you said unless you could find a way to market Titaniums to kids, there were slim chances for a re-launch. Ok. However, in the Titanium brand's history, there hasn't been any focus on in-package co-play, that is, vehicle vs vehicle battle excitement, a "battle in a box". That has long been a feature of the micro-vehicles expression since Galoob's first foray into Star Wars 15 years ago, and over the past 5 years has been a growing portion of Hasbro's 3.75" action figure brand with stuff like multipacks and battle packs. But Titanium hasn't enjoyed such marketing, there haven't been battle packs recreating the Death Star trench run, there haven't been 2-packs of Jedi Starfighters vs Vulture Droids or AT-TEs vs Hailfire Droids. Why hasn't that been explored, get the kid market into battles right from the package, and thus start their Titaniums interest? Might the concept be worth testing out for a holiday retailer exclusive? Relatives are likely to buy kids an X-wing vs TIE Fighter, Snowspeeder vs AT-ST, Slave 1 vs Falcon, and other recognizable 2-packs for Christmas, especially if they have dynamic "in battle" packaging, don't you think?
2) With the drop in sales of the Legacy Collection, might it be time to rethink the stance on realistic versions of the Clone Wars characters? We know you have said many times "no plans for that", but the original Clone Wars animated line couldn't survive at market with a realistic-styled version out as well, it just seems like 1 popular figure line is always destined to cannibalize the other line's sales. Having realistic-styled CW figs would slow the hemorrhaging of casual collectors away from the core brand, unifying some of the fractured collector community. It also allows interactivity between the lines for the more fickle kids and collectors. So while Hasbro has no plans currently in place for the format change, might Hasbro ask Lucasfilm to rethink their stance for the protection of the realistic line, perhaps at least a single figure exclusive to gauge support for that realistic CW format?
3) Hasbro has confirmed that the 2009 Return of the Jedi assortment will include a new sculpt of Malakili, the Rancor Keeper. Given that virtually nobody was asking for a revisited Malakili, and that the '97 figure is one of the biggest pegwarmers of all time, certainly the most notorious one, why did you choose him over so many seemingly more deserving (and requested) Return of the Jedi characters? If there was a Hasbro desire to revisit him, wouldn't it have made far more sense to include him with the Target exclusive Rancor instead? With figures like Bane Malar, Breha Organa, and other not-really-thought-about collector-focused figures being released to less-than-enthusiastic sales, isn't Malakili an even bigger risk? Will there be a conscious effort to limit this figure's production and/or release rate to stem pegwarming concerns? Could you explain to collectors what the thinking was behind this release?
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NEW: From Snowtroopers.ca: 1) The lack of recent Legacy figures appearing at Canadian retail is disconcerting. Can we expect to see waves 5 and later of the Legacy in greater numbers at regular Canadian retail or has ordering & production switched to the new line of figures (in the new packaging) slated for later this year? And is this current lack of Canadian Legacy figures due to a slowdown in the Star Wars brand or are the retailers taking a step back due to the economics in the world?
2) I wanted to echo a previous Q&A in saying how great I think the Spacetrooper helmet is compared to all the other removable Stormtrooper helmets tooled so far. Now that we have a great helmet mold, could Hasbro perhaps look at redoing the stormtrooper blaster rifle? If you look at your own artwork on the card for Stormtrooper Han (showing him holding up a blaster), it's a somewhat larger weapon than the current Hasbro mold (especially heightwise). The same actually goes for the clonetrooper short rifle as well, which has always seemed a bit smaller than the movie (look at when the 501st points his rifle at Bail Organa, it looks far bigger/menacing than the rifle that we currently get with our clones).
3) The ESB Evo Emperor with a plastic hood looks great, finally solving the problem of soft goods hoods not having the necessary "weight" to drape downward on the head. And better, the plastic hood isn't too oversized like the previous attempt at the RotJ Emperor's hood. Can we now also get plastic hooded versions of old Ben (using your fantastic ANH Ben sculpt) for a proper ANH Duel with Vader, and of ANH Leia for her scene with R2 in the Tantive corridor? Also can you add footholes to the feet of your next incarnation of ANH Leia (the current ESB one doesn't have them, making it harder to stand her up).
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NEW: From Star Wars Action News: 1) In past Q&A's Hasbro has stated that certain segments of the line have suffered due to a shrinking of the collector base. Hasbro has also stated that they have changed some plans due to this downturn (canceled EU wave, etc). With no new theatrical pushes anytime soon for Star Wars, does Hasbro expect the collector base to grow again at some point and/or what will Hasbro try to do to attract the collector base back?
2) Certain other toy companies seem to have found some level of success with a line of action figures aimed squarely at collectors available as online only exclusives ordered directly from them (Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics). Instead of having overflowing pegs of Yarna and Wilrows, collectors could just get them on line. Is this a business model Hasbro might employ to distribute figures that might be collector focused but would otherwise languish on store shelves?
3) Recently we have noticed that Hasbro Toy Shop has been selling AFA graded figures. What were the reasons behind this decision to sell AFA graded figures and will we see this AFA trend continue with Hasbro exclusive figures in the Star Wars license or others?
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NEW: From SWCollector.com: 1) I really like how you keep adding a few new cantina aliens to the lineup every year. The accessories that some of them have come with are great too! What I am wondering is if a similar yearly focus on Jabba's Palace aliens could be successful as well, or is there a fear that collectors would not support that kind of a theme as well as they have the cantina denizens? There are still a lot of great palace characters that have yet to be made such as Wam Lufba (Yuzzum), Geezum, Loje Nella and many more.
2) You have said in the past that if the vintage style cardbacks ever return, they would also be used for prequel and EU figures. Do you think that these will ever become a reality? Have any concepts ever been created of what a vintage style card for a prequel film character would look like? If so, would you be able to share a picture?
3) I've heard that Malakili is on the drawing board as an upcoming figure. While I look forward to being able to buy a companion for the upcoming Rancor, was any consideration given instead to do any of the other rancor keepers present in Jabba's dungeon that have never been previously released?
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NEW: From TheJawa.com:1) With talk that Hasbro might reuse the Ten Numb/Keyan Farlander sculpt again in 2009, can you fix the tendency for this figure to lean over to his left side? While the problem is not as bad on Keyan, on Ten he leans over quite conspicuously. I wouldn't want to end up with a small squad of B-Wing pilots that all lean over to one side as Hasbro uses this sculpt for future pilot figures.
2) The only really disappointing aspect about both the TAC Mace Windu and now the TLC Stass Allie is the use of rigid plastic for the Jedi skirt. Hasbro took a big step in the right direction with the elasticized skirts and partial soft goods for the rear when they re-did both Obi-Wan and Anakin for TAC so they could easily sit and pose their legs in more dynamic action poses. That can't be said for Mace or Stass though and it's frustrating that I can't sit them either in Jedi starfighters or in my Jedi Council set from a few years ago. Could Hasbro please try to design future Jedi figures similar to the Obi and Anakin for better overall playability and poseability?
3) For the other rebel ground crewman that was dropped from the Scramble battlepack, can Hasbro include him in a way that makes it easy to army build? For those of us who want to recreate the Yavin ceremony, there are dozens of these crewmen in the audience. Hasbro may love it if we buy a dozen battlepacks to get more of this guy, but our wallets sure wouldn't. And what about making it easier to swap heads with future rebel figures so that we can try to diversify the looks of the crewmen (they aren't clones after all).
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NEW: From The Private Universe:1) I find the Clone Wars figures hit or miss. I realise they are designed for kids but some are amazing and others not so much. Are you going to go back and redo or variations of some you have already released at all? For example a fully articulated Anakin and Obi-Wan would be most welcome.
The 1st versions were hampered by the robes and not able to do much below the waist.
2) My 6 years old daughter is becoming a big Star Wars fan, but there aren't any girl orientated toys for her. Are there any plans to fill this collector group? Maybe a Barbie style of doll with interchangeable clothes would be a direction to take.
3) You have made bigger scale X-Wings, Tie Fighters and Millennium Falcon, is there any chance of there being bigger scale Slave 1? With Boba Fett being such a popular character I am sure that a bigger Slave 1 would be welcomed by collectors.
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From Yakface.com: 1) Dear Hasbro, recently collectors have been noticing a shift in the color of the B.A.D. parts for U-3PO from the bright silver in their initial release to a more subdued champagne/platinum hue. Was this variation produced intentionally to correct an initial molding error or are the new colored parts just something that happens in production?
2) The new Magnaguard fighter is starting to hit shelves around the country and I was lucky enough to pick one up the other day and it is one awesome vehicle. High praise to the designer(s) that had the foresight to incorporate the storage hatches for the Magnaguard's electrostaff in each wing. I did notice something quite curious about the fighter though. What is the intended purpose of the hexgonal hole on the top of aft section of the fuselage? The only use I can see for it is to stow the CW Magnaguard figure's rocket launcher. Am I close in guessing what this is for or is there some other function for it that I'm not seeing?
3) Dear Hasbro, it's been a while since we've heard anything about the progress of Willrow Hood, can we expect to see a finished version of him on display at SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con)? If not*, would it be possible for you to share a teaser photo with us of the prototype (or final figure) to see how this fan fav's sculpt is coming along?
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