June 22, 2006
Story and Photos by Chris Rhoads (dustrho)

Hasbro took over the designing and manufacturing of Star Wars toys several years ago, and since then they have manufactured hundreds if not thousands of different action figures, vehicles and more. Something most Star Wars collectors have noticed is that the figures that come out of the Hasbro manufacturing plant are primarily of the same characters. It’s sort of in a looping mode, where you have one character (i.e. Han Solo) that is made and will be re-made several times over so that after one year has passed you may end up with four different carded Han Solo figures. Of course there may be some slight differences between all four, but usually it’s just the card that is different and nothing more than that.

Star Wars collectors all across the galaxy were informed not too long ago about Hasbro’s newest wave of basic action figures that will be coming out soon. The newest wave has been given the title of “The Episode III Greatest Battles.” If you think you’re going to see any new figures in this wave that have never been done before, think again. Hasbro has followed through with their predictable ways of rehashing figures that we’ve already seen before.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
Most Star Wars collectors have recognized this trend, and have been quite fed up with it to the point of collecting other Star Wars items other than those made by Hasbro. So what can we do to help stop this trend? I had come up with the decision several months ago to create an online petition to stop this “rehashing” trend, and we have received a large number of legitimate complaints/concerns regarding Hasbro’s practice. We have also learned that most people are not happy about the way Hasbro runs their operation. Two separate threads were created discussing this entire topic, which can be viewed by clicking one of the URLs below.

• 2005 Transitional Figures
• Hasbro Petition

The rehashing of figures is not something entirely new for Hasbro, as they’ve been doing this for quite some time now. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it needs to continue this way. If we all stand together on this, perhaps someone at Hasbro will listen to our needs and concerns, so that we can start seeing brand new figures of characters that have yet to be created.

WHY HASBRO, WHY?
I’ll be perfectly honest with you in that it frustrates me that Hasbro is doing this. There are so many characters that haven’t been done before. There are many sculpts that could drastically be improved. But, for whatever reason, they have chosen to rehash figures that are more than likely already in our collection. The only major difference is that the cardback is different and it has a nice new label on it.

Hasbro has the licensing rights until 2018, and I can only imagine that at some point between now and 2018 we’ll see newer toys come out. I think the problem is that I am impatient and want to see new toys instead of ones that we’ve seen several times over. It truly sickens me to see the same figure sitting in the same area in a given toy section (i.e. Darth Vader), where the only difference between the two is either different cardbacks or a slightly different sculpt. More than likely it’s not a new sculpt, but one that we have seen time and time again.

I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
If we, Star Wars collectors, are not happy with how Hasbro is running their business, you might be asking yourself the following questions:

• “What can I do about this?”
• “Is there anything I do or say to make things better?”
• “Will Hasbro actually listen to me?”

I’m sure many of you have asked yourself those questions before. Even though it may be hard to believe, you do have some power in what Hasbro chooses to do with their Star Wars line. For one, you could simply stop buying their toys if it upsets you enough. I have dramatically slowed down my shopping habits, as I don’t buy every single figure that I used to buy. I now only buy figures that I don’t have, or I will buy rehashed figures if they have been placed on a very well done cardback (that has an exciting background image on it). I might be an army-builder but I don’t need an army of Han Solo figures.

You can also change your collecting focus, so that instead of only buying Star Wars toys that are manufactured by Hasbro, you start putting your money into other areas such as Kotobukiya, Gentle Giant, Sideshow Collectibles, Master Replicas, CODE3 and more. Those companies make figurines, statues, busts and replicas so they will cost much more than the toys you can get on store shelves. But, it’s another way to show the love and passion you have for Star Wars. Since some of those companies started selling high-ticket items, I have slowly been purchasing items from them. Since these are made for the diehard collectors, they put much more emphasis of detail and accuracy into each and every one of their products. This is one of the many reasons why I have started collecting these in the first place, and I will continue adding those types of items to my collection.

The other thing that you could do is to share your thoughts, comments and/or suggestions to us (Sandtroopers.com), and we will present those to our Hasbro representative. By giving them lists of collectors’ concerns and desires, we hope that they will listen just enough to make a difference. It doesn’t have to be a night and day difference, but it would be nice if we were to see some of those turn into reality between now and 2018 (the sooner the better, of course).

QUESTIONS I’D ASK HASBRO
Below are some of the questions I would like to ask Hasbro, and I would love to hear what their responses would be to these questions.

• Will we see new characters developed instead of ones that have already been done on a repetitive basis? I think it’s fair to say that we have seen enough Han Solo, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker figures, but we would rather see new figures that have never been done before, or at least ones that are a much more detailed and accurate sculpt than previous versions.
• Would it be possible to make army-building figure sets so that those who do army-build can create a large army without having to buy soldiers in individual packages?
• Instead of using cheap plastics to prevent children from hurting themselves, could you possibly make figures with higher quality plastic for the more mature Star Wars collectors out there?
• As far as exclusive figures are concerned, could we keep them to a minimum? There were way too many Target exclusive in recent years, and the silver action figure exclusives went on for far too long.

Now, these are just some examples of questions that I would like to present to Hasbro. Granted these aren’t the best questions, nor are they the final four questions that I would like them to read. However, it does show you that these are probably the kind of questions that will be most asked.

ANY NEW VEHICLES?
Hasbro has not made any announcements regarding the development of future Star Wars vehicles, so we can only hope that they stop rehashing those as well. How many Millennium Falcons can one possibly have? There has to be more than four different boxed versions of it that have been done in the last couple of years, and I’m sick of seeing these things sitting on store floors and lower shelves. Republic gunships have been done a lot as well, but those are ships that we absolutely love and can have multiples of because they can be used for army-building. Each time those are released they at least have a fresh paintjob done to them, making each release unique.

Here are some vehicles that many Star Wars fans would like to see made some day:

• AT-TE
• Clone Turbo Tank
• Corporate Alliance Tank Droid
• Imperial Theta-class Shuttle
• Neimoidian Shuttle
• P-38 Starfighter
• Swamp Speeder
• V-Wing Starfighter

I’m more than certain that most of those vehicles will never be made. The AT-TE is one vehicle that really should be made. If the LEGO company can make the Ultimate Collectors Series sets that cost several hundred dollars, then why can’t Hasbro do the same for collectors who collect the 3.75” line? If Hasbro were to make something that was fairly close to scale in an AT-TE, I know I would buy it without even thinking about it. I’m not sure how much money I would be willing to unload on it, but I would really have to talk myself out of it to not purchase it.

FROM CONCEPT TO DESIGN
The one thing that I would really enjoy learning is the entire process that is used when an action figure is made at Hasbro. What I’m referring to is how a figure is mentioned in the design phase, drawn on sketch boards, voted on to see if it will be made or not, and then the overall process of how it is made. I do not believe I’ve seen a thorough narrative online that goes into detail about that, but it is something I would like to learn more about. Perhaps Star Wars collectors could become more involved in the process when characters are voted on.

Hasbro has done the “Fan Choice” polls before and they seem to have been successful, but why not go to the collectors more frequently instead of just once a year? If we’re the ones buying them, shouldn’t we have a say in what figures they make? I’m not saying that we should be deciding each and every figure that is manufactured, but I do believe we should be able to express our opinions as to what they choose to make.

IT’S NOT WHAT IT SEEMS
I do want to clearly point out that I do not hate Hasbro in any way, shape or form. If I did I wouldn’t be buying anything from them. I wouldn’t have all of their toys sitting on white shelves in my basement. Just like almost every Star Wars collector out there, I do have some frustrations with them. I have frustrations with other Star Wars manufacturers, but since Hasbro is the biggest of them all and keeps pumping out toy after toy it’s easier to comment about their practices.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting one of their representatives at Wizard World Chicago, and I was able to do a one-on-one interview for them (while working at another site). He was one of the nicest guys I met at one of the many conventions I have gone to, and he seemed very responsive to the questions I had asked him. He made it loud and clear to me that Hasbro does listen to their customers, and it’s obvious because some of the things that have been brought to them have been done (i.e. more Expanded Universe figures, clone trooper army packs, etc). I wish that Hasbro had more employees like the one I met that one summer day back in 2003.

CONCLUSION
Even though collecting Star Wars toys is a hobby for most, that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be a lot of fun. It can be frustrating at times, but for the most part it is a very rewarding hobby. For the most part it’s fun because it brings back so many childhood memories for me. Seeing the figures on shelves, bringing them home for the first time, opening them up (whenever I do decide to open up something), and seeing them displayed in my bunker brings much happiness to me.

No matter what we say, no matter what we do, Hasbro will always have the final say in how they choose to run their business. There isn’t a single company on this planet where everyone is 100% satisfied with their products and their processes, so why do we expect Hasbro to be so perfect? Should we really have more say in what they choose to manufacture when it comes to Star Wars toys? I think so, but as I said it doesn’t matter what I say. All we can hope for is that someone at Hasbro listens to us, and takes us all seriously with all the questions that we end up presenting to them. A lot of us have made valid points and have brought up well thought out questions, but until they listen to us nothing will change.

I find it to be somewhat rewarding in the fact that they will be listening to us. I don’t know of too many companies out there that will open up like Hasbro is doing, so this can only be beneficial to us.

When might we see results from this? Only time will tell.