Hasbro wants our Questions:

[jedimaster_att]

Hasbro,
I have heard rumors about a spaceballs: the animated series which airs this fall.  I have always wanted, no needed a Dark Helmet action figure to stand along side my Darth Vaders.  With the awsome success of the Mcquarrie figures how about a tribute line to star wars, based on spaceballs or other movies with huge star wars tie ins?  All I am saying is give spaceballs a chance!!!

[VadersFist]

Yeah i would love too see muzzle figure cause wow that would be soooooo cool to see as a figure. So why not hasbro just give a chance cause its like tasting a food you hated and now you like it so why not?

[Mithel]

Now that it appears EU figures from the games are in high demand, have you begun to pitch ideas of making figures from Dark Forces II; Jediknight?  You could put the dark jedi in a 7 pack, and the imperials in comic 2 packs.  (I really want the Imperial Commando, Brown Imperial Officer, Repeater Trooper, and Rail Det Trooper)  I really feel that because of the game's success, that it finally deserves figures.  And I would really like a new Katarn as well.   

[TAMER]

Having already made starcases for the regular action figure line, are there any plans to expand these to making protective cases for the new comic two packs which are prone to more card and bubble damage than the regular action figure line?

[Master Frank]

Dear Hasbro,

If Mattel can sell a Diecast car for .99¢ and make them available at most retail and grocery stores, are there any plans to sell smaller scale carded Star Wars figures or ships on card in the same manner?
.99¢ Star Wars figures/ships sounds like a great stategy for the future in keeping Star Wars collecting alive by getting product in the hands of the next generations of young consumers at a great price!

[lordabell]

I am going to give this question one last shot because inquiring minds want to know!

My question:
Is there anything on the horizen for a re-release of the Anakin with Swoop Bike and Darth Tyranus with Geonosian Speeder Bike?  Both of these items never sat upon a shelf when they came out and a lot of people missed out on them.  They are also small and should fit a store's plan-o-gram easily.

[Major fett]

I am going to give this question one last shot because inquiring minds want to know!

My question:
Is there anything on the horizen for a re-release of the Anakin with Swoop Bike and Darth Tyranus with Geonosian Speeder Bike?  Both of these items never sat upon a shelf when they came out and a lot of people missed out on them.  They are also small and should fit a store's plan-o-gram easily.

Maybe you could fit them in with the new CW3D merchandise as repacks next year!
Also do you plan to bring back the deluxe line along the same lines as  2003's CW line with Jedi Army 3-pack and the clone 3-packs I realize the articulation is not that good but they work as background filler.
Thanks

[Homer.fett]

Hey Hasbro

How about some Titanium ships from the Knights of the Old Republic games. The Ebon Hawk would be awesome. I've always wanted a figure of this class little ship. It rates up there with The Millenium Falcon

Thanks

[lordabell]

Hey Hasbro

How about some Titanium ships from the Knights of the Old Republic games. The Ebon Hawk would be awesome. I've always wanted a figure of this class little ship. It rates up there with The Millenium Falcon

Thanks

Maybe we can add a Republic Crusier and Sith Starfighter from the game also.

[VadersFist]

I would like too see a Republic Crusier and Sith Starfighter myself as well.

[Brinn 71]

Hey Hasbro, could you please make a Red Leader figure with his red R5 droid into a pilot 2-pack?  You could do so many different 'pilot 2 -packs' where you have a rebel X-Wing pilot with an astromech droid, or a rebel Snowspeeder pliot with gunner 2-packs.  What do you think?

[darthdan]

Hey Hasbro, could you please make a Red Leader figure with his red R5 droid into a pilot 2-pack?  You could do so many different 'pilot 2 -packs' where you have a rebel X-Wing pilot with an astromech droid, or a rebel Snowspeeder pliot with gunner 2-packs.  What do you think?

awesome question please ask this one eventually.

[VadersFist]

I kind of wished hasbro would re-release the snowspeeder with the pilot since i didnt get one and they was sold under my nose.I mean COME ON HASBRO PLEASE re-release this again cause not everyone got one and you put those out so fast and then took them away so fast not everyone got one and if you want one you will pay a scalpers price which too mean those no good idiot bastard(scalpers)need a good BEAT DOWN i think.

[Darth Spice]

The latest:

1) Do you track secondary market demand/prices for recent/currently shipping action figures to see which ones should be re-released in future waves? I see that the new Wave 3 cases are shipping with 2 Galactic Marines and 1 Airborne Trooper snuck in from Wave 1. They were fairly scarce at the time of the original release, so I think it was a good idea to re-pack them. It would be nice to see the McQuarrie figures (Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, and Chewbacca so far) get another release, since they have been so scarce at retail and are commanding a high premium on ebay and at toy shows, just like the Galactic Marine and Airborne Trooper were at one point.

We do not monitor secondary market prices. Instead, we monitor sell-through (provided directly by retailers) to gauge which figures continue to run at high-demand.  In the case of Airborne and Galactic Marine, we knew ahead of time they would be popualr and designed re-releases into the line early. With the McQuarries, popularity has exceeded our forecasts, so it's taken a while to catch up, but we will be keeping more re-releases coming throughout the year as we can slot them in.

2) Why can't there be any kind of consistency with the amount of new figures per wave? I see from the casepacks at Entertainment Earth that one upcoming wave has 7 new figures in it, the next has 10, and the wave after that only has 4? Can't we get it down to a point where each case of 12 figures contains 2 each of 6 new figures with no repacks? And then if you want to do the revised cases that EE seems to have an abundance of listings for, you can toss in a few figures that seem to be selling well, or some extra army builders. Making each case pack of 12 contain 2 each of 6 new figures would help out collectors like myself who order from EE and just want 2 of each figure.

The simple answer is not all characters are created equally, so they are not packed out evenly over the course of the year. What you have suggested might work for the first shipment of the year, but then it quickly unreveals as we remix Vaders, core characters, troopers, and the like to bring each figure release up to its potential.  Additionally, we try and stick to themed waves, and we balance it out by wave and not every theme will get the exact same treatment.  We really like the way the EU wave was developing this year, for example, so we put more figure slots into it...we felt that 6 (for example) just wasn't enough for some of the ideas that were developing).  We do provide a type of case pack you suggested to Internet retailers, which consist of more even packing of the new figures (known within Hasbro as an 022 suffix designation).  This was designed to allow collectors to avoid the repacks they don't want.  In cases where there are more than 6 figures, the additional case pack slots are filled with army builders.  Check with your preferred online retailer and make sure to ask for this 022 ratio if it works for you.

3) Do you have plans on releasing a repaint of the Gunship Pilot to match his color scheme from the Clone Wars series?  He had blue marking and was flying the ARC troopers Gunship while attacking Muunlinst.

This is something that we are looking at for the next time we release a Clone Wars Pilot.  While he isn't slotted in yet, there's a strong likelihood he will come out at some point.

[Lt. Starfox]

022 ratio....now that is some interesting news I've never heard of before

[darthdan]

Over at scum someone asked about the new future Gree and hasbro confirmed a removable helmet. Yessss!!

[Master Frank]

Good potential news on the Clone Wars Gunship pilot!

[VadersFist]

I do like this news ALOT and when it does come out i will be SURE too get 2 of them AT LEAST cause i paid out the nose for the 02' AOTC pilot.

Good potential news on the Clone Wars Gunship pilot!

[Major fett]

Good potential news on the Clone Wars Gunship pilot!

I already have two don't really need anymore since I've only got one Gunship.

Q&A From jediinsider
JI: If you had the opportunity to re-design the Millenium Falcon toy from scratch, what is one thing you would want to incorporate that was not on the original toy?

Hasbro: Hah - that's a great question. While there were a variety of responses from our team when questioned, the #1 answer seems to be room in the cockpit to fit four figures and actual smuggling compartments. Sorry, that's two things, but we can always dream, can't we?

I wouldn't mind if they made the cockpit bigger!

[Hothchad]

Heres a question, Hasbro why is it that the comic packs are selling for $10 for 2 figures and a comic and the basic figures are selling for $7 each?  It doesn't seem that the packing whould be any cheaper and for the most part the comic packs are all new figures and not repacks like most of the basic carded figures.  So why is the price so out on line when you look at it from this point of view?

[Bloodant]

Good potential news on the Clone Wars Gunship pilot!

I already have two don't really need anymore since I've only got one Gunship.

Q&A From jediinsider
JI: If you had the opportunity to re-design the Millenium Falcon toy from scratch, what is one thing you would want to incorporate that was not on the original toy?

Hasbro: Hah - that's a great question. While there were a variety of responses from our team when questioned, the #1 answer seems to be room in the cockpit to fit four figures and actual smuggling compartments. Sorry, that's two things, but we can always dream, can't we?

I wouldn't mind if they made the cockpit bigger!

A four seat cockpit would be awesome. Do we petition to get this made since they already know about it?
 A Falcon with a sleeker design more true to the movie would awesome as well.


Darth Spice has issued order ....022............... go to EE and order it now............

[philippi]

In the pictures from Comic Con it looks like the Evolution of the Fetts set comes with quite a few accessories. Do the Jedi and Sith sets come with any other accessories that were not pictured? One more thing: when is the approximate release date for these sets?

[Major fett]

Heres a question, Hasbro why is it that the comic packs are selling for $10 for 2 figures and a comic and the basic figures are selling for $7 each?  It doesn't seem that the packing whould be any cheaper and for the most part the comic packs are all new figures and not repacks like most of the basic carded figures.  So why is the price so out on line when you look at it from this point of view?

Look at some of the figure's articulation compared to the basic line and you'll have your answer.
Dark Woman = Pathetic 5 POA Vs. Mace Windu 14 POA
That's just an example some figures vary.

[Wayne]

That's exactly the answer they gave when thet question was asked a while ago, they don't put the amount of engineering into the comics packfigures in general as they do to the single cards to keep costs of production down. Remember it could be worse ala the clone 3 packs

[dtityus]

I would like to see a new skiff that would be big enough to pick r2d2 AND C3P0!
COME ON HASBRO YOU COULD DO IT!

[darth kleiny]

Will any future releases of the Sandtrooper be released with a rifle similar to the evolutions version? It's nice to get different weathered paint apps but you should add the rifle in there too along with the standard blaster.

Also, any chance that we would ever see an updated Imperial Troop transport. It wouldn't have to have sounds but opening troop holders on the sides would be cool and maybe without the sounds, there could be a deeper prisoner compartment!

One more - It sounds like Vintage is at a crossroads. Some think that the line should be opened to the whole saga and some think it should stay true to the original Kenner line. I think it can be the latter for a while and then opened to the whole saga. There are still a lot of compelling characters to do like Hoth Rebel Soldier, Dengar, Zuckuss, Luke Stormtrooper, Luke Hoth, and Walrus Man (Ponda Paba) and plenty beyond that. I think that the next wave should have no special offer so that people aren't tempted to rip open the packages for the PoPs and then return them to the store and then we can get back to taped clamshells that are part of the $10 value. I really resent destroying the shells because some rotten apples have spoiled it for the bunch and the shells are heat sealed.

[Major fett]

One more - It sounds like Vintage is at a crossroads. Some think that the line should be opened to the whole saga and some think it should stay true to the original Kenner line. I think it can be the latter for a while and then opened to the whole saga. There are still a lot of compelling characters to do like Hoth Rebel Soldier, Dengar, Zuckuss, Luke Stormtrooper, Luke Hoth, and Walrus Man (Ponda Paba) and plenty beyond that. I think that the next wave should have no special offer so that people aren't tempted to rip open the packages for the PoPs and then return them to the store and then we can get back to taped clamshells that are part of the $10 value. I really resent destroying the shells because some rotten apples have spoiled it for the bunch and the shells are heat sealed.

I understand your desire to have these here is some of the problem with your choices, Dengar, Hoth Rebel Soldier, Hoth Luke, Hoth Leia would fit perfect in this line and I wouldn't mind buying them however I'd rather have them at $7 because I open and the rest is tossed out. Second Walrus Man (Ponda Paba) and Zuckuss were nicknames and a missnamed figure there are copyright matters that prevent these to be released that way on Vintage design. I think Vintage should end and the resouces put into making better basic figures!

[bikerscout]

"With the McQuarries, popularity has exceeded our forecasts,"  translates to:  "We knew what we were doing shortpacking these, thereby drumming up demand" (and enticing scalpers to go hogwild and make it very difficult to obtain these figures.)  Hasbro always knows more than they let on.  They knew many wanted these figures to be made for a while.     

[darth kleiny]

I understand your desire to have these here is some of the problem with your choices, Dengar, Hoth Rebel Soldier, Hoth Luke, Hoth Leia would fit perfect in this line and I wouldn't mind buying them however I'd rather have them at $7 because I open and the rest is tossed out. Second Walrus Man (Ponda Paba) and Zuckuss were nicknames and a missnamed figure there are copyright matters that prevent these to be released that way on Vintage design. I think Vintage should end and the resouces put into making better basic figures!

You raise a good point. I too would rather have them at $7, heck how about $5, but I still think in general, Hasbro does a better job asthetically (if not in articulation) than they do on most basic figures. Granted the new 4-LOM looks great, but I don't think we would have seen a new Snowtrooper that was that good for a while if not for Vintage. Also, the Death Star Trooper probably would not have those knobby knees and the Death Star Gunner may have been SA if they were vintage style. Maybe there are a few good waves left for OT vintage and then that's it. The line would benefit greatly if it were opened to the whole Saga.

[darthdan]

Are we getting a batch of these this week?