Hasbro wants our Questions:

[Lt. Starfox]

Dear Hasbro,  Why the big price increase on the Arc-170 Shadow version?  The last several of these to come out, including the "Store Exclusives" were only $35-40.  A simple repaint should not increase the cost of this ship to double, ie ToysRUs $79.99, Target $64.99.  I understand it may have something to do with the new Y-Wing and keeping shelf space available (which should not matter), but this price hike is down right ridiculous, especially in todays economy.

[jokabofe]

Dear Hasbro, can you please explain to me how some of the online e-tailers like Brian's Toys, BBTS and a host of others always seem to not only get "exclusives" from Toys R Us, Wal Mart and Target, but more often than not they get them before I ever see them in the stores? If these products are supposed to be exclusive to those retailers, why do these internet retailers get them at all?

[chewykingwookie]

Dear Hasbro,

What's up with the clean-shaven Hoth Rebel Trooper?  It was mentioned that according to Hasbro, the clean-shaven trooper is in the Wave 7 AOTC cases, but I've only seen the bearded trooper in those cases.  Will we see this trooper in the fall waves then?

this was supposed to be out just like the other ugnaught or whatever it is called, but they pushed the hoth trooper back to like next year or something and they don't even know if they will release the gray ugnaught.

[chewykingwookie]

dear hasbro what was the main reason to going back to a glue on bubble for the new legends and clone wars figures? was it to try and stop the slash and returns that have been going on since the ROTS line? I applaud the idea of doing this hopefully it will stop all the slash and returns that occurred over the last few yrs, which was part of the reason I stopped collecting very hard to get excited about a figure when you look at it and it isn't what it should be.

[chewykingwookie]

Dear Hasbro,  Why the big price increase on the Arc-170 Shadow version?  The last several of these to come out, including the "Store Exclusives" were only $35-40.  A simple repaint should not increase the cost of this ship to double, ie ToysRUs $79.99, Target $64.99.  I understand it may have something to do with the new Y-Wing and keeping shelf space available (which should not matter), but this price hike is down right ridiculous, especially in todays economy.

I think they said the reason for this was to get the DCPI set for the bigger ships. I could be wrong but I do think that was the reason.

[fishboy_254]

That is such a bull excuse.  What is the BFD with holding down a spot for the bigger ships?  They didnt' raise the price of the Jedi Starfighters to $150 when the BMF came out!

[jokabofe]

Does anybody at Hasbro even realize that EVERY Clone Trooper figure made thus far in the new Animated Series line is wrong? Every Clone has incorrect armor on the forearms and biceps. Did any of the designers even watch the animated series or at least look at reference photos of some sort? Every figure made thus far has the elbow armor extend down from the bicep. That's wrong! In the animated show, the Clone armor elbow armor extends up from the forearm. The only figure to get this right is the awesome General Kenobi and the awful new Mace Windu - and neither of them are Clones, yet somehow you got the armor correct for them.

I'm sure it's futile to ask this, but do you have any plans to correct this mistake in the future? Obviously you already have the tooling from the General Kenobi figure, all you would need to do is to replace the forearms from the Clones with the forearms from Kenobi.

[darthdan]

no new ANSWERS today?

[Darth Spice]

It was in my last post, we didn't send in a set before Comic-Con because quite honestly I felt it was useless.  Looking at some of the responses that came back a month later, was I wrong?

[jokabofe]

Depends on what questions you ask. If you ask all the stupid "Hey Hasbro can you make this figure" questions, you'll get the same bulls**t answers that you always get, no matter when you send them, a week before comic con, a week after, the month after toy fair, doesn't matter.

I like to think that the questions that we send are things that they aren't going to release at shows like comic con. Then again, it doesn't matter what we ask, we get the same bulls**t answers anyway.

[fishboy_254]

I just wonder why on earth they would charge us $17 for the droid factory 2 packs when those were like $9 last year.  They also sat on the clearance isle until they were $2.  Even the Force Unleashed 3 packs were cheaper than these! 

[fishboy_254]

Also why is Toys R Us selling other major retailers "exclusives" and why the higher prices?  Don't they have enough of their own exclusives to worry about?

[jokabofe]

The McQuarrie box sets are being listed on StarWarsShop.com for $55.99, and feature 13 different McQuarrie figures - including 3 previous "exclusive" figures that originally sold for $20 each. Why do you keep re-issuing these so-called exclusives a year or so down the road? Why should we, as collectors, continue to pay $20 for a figure that's supposedly exclusive to an event when we can wait a year and get it - plus a dozen other figures - for much less money? The box sets basically breaks down to around $4.30 per figure. That's 75% of the cost of the exclusives originally, and almost 50% of the original retail on the others. Isn't there some sort of agreement that you sign with the events in question for these exclusive figures that should prevent you from re-issuing them down the road?

[cuyvaldar]

I have a blunt question:

WHY does hasbro consider it's customer base retarded?

[jacensolo66]

I have a blunt question:

Was does hasbro consider its customer base retarded?

hmmmmm?

[scalperhunter1]

I have a blunt question:

Was does hasbro consider its customer base retarded?

hmmmmm?

Could it be the boobs they hired from the Asyllum to form their marketing group?

[Trooper31]

I have a blunt question:

Was does hasbro consider its customer base retarded?

I like this one. 

I can't believe Hasbro response about how they can sell clone 2-packs, but they can't sell OT trooper two packs because the general public doesn't really know these unless a main character is packed with them.  How many snowtroopers or stormtroopers do you see hanging on the pegs these days??

[Darth Spice]

It's great to see the all-new salvo to select from here! Keep 'em coming Troops!

[VF]

I have 1 but I doubt it would be asked or even mentioned ever but it's worth a try.

Dear Hasrbro.
I have noticed something in the vehicle part of SW. Why do you reissue the Imperial Shuttle and the AT-AT about every 10yrs give or take some years. With other vehicles you reissue those within no time and even repaint constantly.

[Lt. Starfox]

The McQuarrie box sets are being listed on StarWarsShop.com for $55.99, and feature 13 different McQuarrie figures - including 3 previous "exclusive" figures that originally sold for $20 each. Why do you keep re-issuing these so-called exclusives a year or so down the road? Why should we, as collectors, continue to pay $20 for a figure that's supposedly exclusive to an event when we can wait a year and get it - plus a dozen other figures - for much less money? The box sets basically breaks down to around $4.30 per figure. That's 75% of the cost of the exclusives originally, and almost 50% of the original retail on the others. Isn't there some sort of agreement that you sign with the events in question for these exclusive figures that should prevent you from re-issuing them down the road?

i saw this and thought the same thing, I could buy it now and save all kinds of money

[darthdan]

Imperial shipyards  found out that they are doing the new taun taun for 2010


  Re: Hasbro Q&A
« Reply #232 on: August 10, 2009, 03:08:14 PM » 

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Well no sooner do I talk about em then they deliver:

1. Dear Hasbro, We are all really liking the new Hoth Rebel Soldier from the Legacy Empire Strikes Back wave. Several Shipyards members have noticed a rather wide stance in the leg portion that makes him a no brainer to ride a taun taun. Would there be any likelihood that we will see a new taun taun as a battlepack or multifigure pack in the future, perhaps similar to the gelagrub battlepack  that is coming out?

We did not design the Rebel Soldier with a new Tauntaun in mind.  By now you have seen our update on the Dewback, and we hope that it meets your approval.  We would like to take a similar approach to the Tauntaun and are indeed working on one for 2010.  No details yets on how it willcome out, but odds are that it will be an exclusive.  Stay tuned!
 

[Darth Spice]

The latest:

1) "Dear Hasbro, You have mentioned in the past that media support (i.e. appearances in The Clone Wars TV show) helps drive and determine what toys you will produce for the lines. Can you tell us what designs or ideas you have that are "on the bubble" that you would love to do but are waiting for more media support in order to give you the go ahead?"

A) The examples here would include some of OTC or Prequel ships that wecould not update in the Starfighter assortment ($24.99) or as exclusives at, or near, this price point. We feel pretty confident that we can have success with other vehicles if they are cool, but have less support in these formats (like the Rebublic Attack Tank, for example). If some of the bigger vehicles appeared in the Clone Wars, then it would give us a chance to see if they merited an update. We really don't have any specific ones on the bubble because we wouldn't realy consider them unless they were prominent in Clone Wars or perhaps the live action show.

2) In the last Q&A, you said that if the sales on the CW Y-Wing were good this might open up things for a new line of "midsize" vehicles.  Would that then include a new OT-era Y-Wing by any chance?  I've never bought a Y-Wing previously because there were just too many small dislikes about the old mold (too small, the pilot cannot sit without leaning back in his seat, R2 unit cannot be removed, landing gear seemed too weak, wing plastic was too bendy, etc).  After the spectacular job that was done on the BMF and AT-TE, I'd snap up an OT-Y-Wing in a heartbeat done with the same care and quality!  How about it?

A) We would not do a whole new Y-Wing in this format, but we do intend to deliver a significant update to the current tool next year that will address many, if not all of your issues (and at a lower price point than the Deluxe format, similar to last year's Y-Wing). Stay tuned!

3) Do you think you'll ever get to a point where you will stop re-making and "improving" the same characters that have been done over and over before? Will you ever get to the point where you make a Luke Skywalker Tatooine figure and say "AHHH! It's perfect, we will never have to create another Luke Skywalker Tatooine again!"? There really doesn't seem to be any shortage of characters in the Star Wars Universe that haven't been realized in plastic, yet it seems like every year we are "treated" to another Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Ben Kenobi, etc. etc. I do understand that you want to be able to attract newer, younger fans and consumers by making popular characters available at all times - or at least as often as possible - but why not just use the Legends line for this purpose? Instead it seems like the Legends line is used to reissue figures that are still sitting on pegs in their original release cardbacks, that haven't sold the first time you sent them to stores - what's the purpose of sending MORE of the same figures? How is a figure that was released 2 months ago considered a "Legend" so soon?


A) You are right, in that we are getting to some definitive characters that we do not feel a need to update, but will keep in the lineup as "carryforward" figures in new packages.  This will be seen both in the current, and 2010 Saga Legends line, as well as the Legacy line - these are important characters for us to carryforward as they provide "anchors" for waves and we can devote our slots a little more to as-yet-unproduced (1st appearance) characters or updgrades for other characters.  By the way, we are wondering where you are seeing the same Saga Legends characters in their original-release cardbacks - that seems a little odd to us as many of these figures are several years old and have been selected based on their popularity and sales data.  The Legends line is drawn from our best-selling characters, complemented by a few select characters to augment our Clone Wars lineup (hence the inclusion of characaters like Plo Koon).  Can you have the reader who asked this question help us out with better descriptions of what they have seen and store numbers so we can check it out?

[Lt. Starfox]

Answer to question #3:

Every Walmart and Target in Killeen, Texas and the surrounding area!

[CHEWIE34]

Basically every Wal-Mart, TRU and Target in the St. Louis area have an overload of SAGA Legends Saesee Tiin and Plo Koon.  It's quite sickening.

 

[Napseeker]

I really wonder what they intend to do with the Y-Wing mold?  I'd rather they do a whole new tool for it, but if they fix half the issues mentioned, it'd have to be virtually a whole new mold anyway!?!

[darthdan]

I really wonder what they intend to do with the Y-Wing mold?  I'd rather they do a whole new tool for it, but if they fix half the issues mentioned, it'd have to be virtually a whole new mold anyway!?!

maybe they'll resculpt the engine struts so they don't break so easy

[Darth Zombius]

Hey is that new film Ignorant Bastards about Hasbro's Star Wars Team?

[VF]

By golly I think your on to something here. 

Hey is that new film Ignorant Bastards about Hasbro's Star Wars Team?

[pshorrock72]

Hasbro, why would the ATST be released as a Wal-Mart exclusive? Their distribution is questionable at best. What was the thinking behind this as any retailer would have jumped at the opportunity for such a popular and toy that needed to be upgraded?

Regards,
Peter Shorrock

[Commander Ando]

New question:

"Dear Hasbro,

Will the SA Phase I clone pilot included in the Geonosis Assault Battle Pack be single carded at some point so that kids+collectors will be able to have (non animated style) pilots for their V-19's, V Wings, and ARC 170's"