TheJawa's Q&A Section - Ask Away!

[Rabid Ewok]

1. With oil being so much cheaper of late (under $50 a barrel) will Hasbro forgo it's decision to include only four figures per battlepack and return to including fifth figure?

There are many factors, not just the price of commodities, that affect what we include in packs (labor, packaging, cube size, and pricing are all critical elements).  Suffice it to say Value is an important attribute of Battle Packs, and we try and include as much as possible to be as appealing as possible.

2. Any chance of seeing a figure made of the Droid Commando or any of the other "new" Battle Droids that were recently featured in the Clone Wars series?

Certainly….the Droid Commando and several other cool new droids will be coming in the Clone Wars basic figure lineup next year, in addition to a few other formats as well (Battle Packs, etc).  Stay tuned!

3. The RotS 2-1B figure was one of the most out-of-scale in Hasbro's history: it was far too small and I noticed a few collectors saying that they would only buy it when it went on clearance because the tiny size didn't justify buying it at regular retail price (I skipped it entirely). What happened here?  You've mentioned in the past that sometimes a figure turns out smaller due to issues with the material or the tooling, but this one seemed too tiny for it to be just error.  Was it cost-saving due to higher plastic costs?  And can you promise us that an eventual TESB 2-1B will be correctly scaled?

It might appear small because of the vintage one we all know and love, but it's actually accurate. We designed 2-1B to the height standards for the 2-1B series droids relative to all other figures, or roughly about the same size as Leia and shorter than Luke.

[General Grievous]

Are you going to be releasing figures of the Super Battle Droid Commander with the cannon arm and the Firefighter Battle Droid in the Clone Wars 3D line?

[Napseeker]

What?  I'm not sure I believe their answer about 2-1B... I watched RotS and he did not seem to be as small as Leia. 

[Major fett]

What?  I'm not sure I believe their answer about 2-1B... I watched RotS and he did not seem to be as small as Leia. 

You do have to consider that POTF figures were really out of scale with one another, also the 2-1B's of an earlier time may have been slightly shorter for some reason. I think it's a very cool figure and I bought it, I think the scale with clones and their various sizes is more pressing issue.

[JediTray]

Indeed.  I don't remember reading anywhere that Clones were being churned out in different sizes.  That's just nuts.

[Napseeker]

I agree about the clones... I won't be army building Kashyyyk troopers until Hasbro does enough of a retool to at least make him a bit taller. Even then, that guy should've been as "thick" as the VTSC Biker Scout.

But Hasbro will redo clones over and over again, I doubt they'll redo 2-1B ever which is what makes it a total disappointment about this one.  Is the TESB 2-1B supposed to be the "same size as Leia"?  Here's a pic:

http://img233.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=02884_21bleia1_122_126lo.jpg

He could be standing on some kind of platform, but I'd need to find a full size pic of him (with another SW character standing next to him for comparison) to believe he's as short as Leia. 

I'm still of the opinion that Hasbro got the RotS 2-1B wrong regardless. The scale was a cost-saving measure (along with the Kashyyyk trooper I'd suspect). If nothing else, the real 2-1B is wider than the figure we got, if not taller. In RotS he is standing over Anakin and he does not look as tiny in comparison as if you were to take the two action figures and put them in the same poses.

[Napseeker]

update: added 2 more questions

Q. It's great to see Hasbro finally release a 501st Legion trooper using the #41 RotS mold. However, I bought a few and noticed a problem: the helmet's blue stripe is incorrect!  The stripe should be continuous but instead we have a gap between the black rim and the visor. Also the stripe is too wide and should instead narrow from the top of the helmet to the chin.  Please see the paintjob that was done for your TSC Commander Appo figure which was done correctly (although on Appo, he had too much dirt and his chest stripe didn't reach all the way to the neck). Can Hasbro please correct the problem for a future Legends release, I'd love to army build dozens more but only if it's accurately done.

Q. The black RA-7 Build-A-Droid looks great, but isn't the color of the eyes incorrect?  The BaD has gold/bronze eye lenses, but in ANH it seems as if it has silver eyes (and even Hasbro's PotF2 figure used silver eyes).  If this is a mistake, can Hasbro consider including a corrected head in a future Legacy wave so we can actually get a proper version of this character?

Q. The shirtless Evolutions Darth Maul looks great but if Hasbro ever re-releases this sculpt again, say... as part of a 2pack with a Sith training droid from the Darth Maul comic, could you use a brighter shade of red paint?  It was disappointing that the Evo Maul had such a muddy red look whereas in previous action figure incarnations, Hasbro used a much more intense red that really made him stand out.  And any chance of including a softgoods outfit with a re-release?

Q. I was disappointed to see that the upcoming Dark Empire Luke has this extremely wide leg pose (which severely limits posability and prevents him from easily sitting in vehicles). I do however love the sculpt and would be happy to own this figure if a more neutrally-posed version is released. At some future date, would Hasbro consider kitbashing him with more neutral limbs and add a softgoods cloak?  It'd be great to see a Dark Empire Luke released in one of the EU slots on basic card.

Q. 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.

Q. 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?

Q. 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).

[DarthWormie]

Last call for questions scavengers!!!

[CHEWIE34]

Maybe I'm missing something - but where are the latest set of answers?  The last set I see is from December?

 

[CommanderNaruto]

Dear Hasbro
since you guys are looking into bringing back figs from certain games like shaak-ti from the recent Force Unleashed games into your EU wave, what do you have planned for new figures from older games like KOTOR or republic commando. One figure that stands out to me would be the Trandoshan Mercenaries from the Republic commando game. the sight of those guys and their heavy equipment was always a challenge to ol' Scorch and his Delta pals. Thanks

[Darth Spice]

Sorry guys, I guess their little lights have shorted out in their eyes or something! There was a set returned but I'm not sure if the next round made the new "deadline" which really sucks. For some reason you have to send the next set before you can see what the replies were that took a month to get. I don't know what to say other than we're lucky they do this at all? 

[Rabid Ewok]

1) If Evolutions are going away, what's the chance of seeing a return to deluxe or Ultra figures?

We will have an announcement at Toy Fair regarding the return of "Deluxe" aligned to the Clone Wars series.  There will be no Deluxe-type offering for the Legacy collection.

2) I was disappointed to see that the upcoming Dark Empire Luke has this extremely wide leg pose (which severely limits posability and prevents him from easily sitting in vehicles). I do however love the sculpt and would be happy to own this figure if a more neutrally-posed version is released. At some future date, would Hasbro consider kitbashing him with more neutral limbs and add a softgoods cloak?  It'd be great to see a Dark Empire Luke released in one of the EU slots on basic card.

We are very unlikely to do another version of this figure any time soon. It would be a great candidate for release on a basic figure card someday, but we'd likely repack the comic version.

3. Since you're pumping out all those ARC Troopers there is one left to do who would be very cool IMO, Alpha-66 (Muzzle) from the Aurodium Sword Mercenary group, any plans to release a figure of this guy? http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Alpha-66

There are no plans right now, but thanks for reminding us of that Underworld article.  Definitely a great read.

[Napseeker]

I am guessing that after the failure of the Deluxe Indy line, that probably put the nail in the coffin for any Deluxe in SW Legacy.  They've said it over and over again, they'd rather do that in battlepacks/ultra battlepacks, which is lousy for Canadians given that the best ones seem to usually be Target exclusives (we don't have any Targets up here).

No big shock about Empire Luke, which means I'll either have to skip it or think hard about how to kitbash a better one than the version being offered

[Major fett]

That does suck about deluxe for legacy there are several candidates that would fit that niche perfectly, at least it sounds like Muzzle is on their radar hopefully sometime very soon he could even be in a BP with an updated Snoova a real Ubese figure instead of the leia in diguise version and a few other Mercenary's!

[philippi]

Dear Hasbro,
I'm glad to hear that the 'build-a-droid' series will be continuing on into 2010 and that you are using it as a chance to put some obscure droids into the figure lineup that might not otherwise make it. I hope there are lots more to come! On that note, have you given any consideration to two of my most wanted droids, Boba Fett's droid BL-17 from the Droids cartoon and Z-X3 from Marvel Star Wars 47?

[CHEWIE34]

I am guessing that after the failure of the Deluxe Indy line, that probably put the nail in the coffin for any Deluxe in SW Legacy. 

You could be right, but then again, the whole Indy line tanked. 

Since they're going to be offering more deluxe figures for the CW line, I don't think it's a bias against deluxe stuff... hopefully they'll reconsider this for the Legacy line when they feel the time is right?

 

[Napseeker]

Is there a Deluxe CW line?  I don't recall (although I'm not buying anything other than 3PO from CW and that's it, so I'm not following it closely) - unless you mean those 2pack Hero and Droid as deluxe... but those are just repacks of existing figures and costs Hasbro nothing.   I don't think there is an actual Deluxe CW and by that, I mean where Hasbro has to create tooling for some new giant accessory or totally new figure sculpt... they won't go that route me thinks, not during a recession. They'll stick with the battlepacks most likely as they've stated time and again to my annoyance.

[darthdan]

yeah there is going to be a clonewars deluxe line, one of them is anakin witha can- cell ( giant dragonfly thing)

[jokabofe]

Quick question on the animated line of figures. In the cartoons, the clone trooper armor has the elbow pad armor attached to the forearm section. However, the only figure that has this part correctly sculpted is the Obi-Wan figure - every clone figure is wrong! All of the clones have the elbow armor attached to the bicep section, like the realistic style figures. Is there any reason why the clones were created wrong while Obi-Wan was created correctly? And do you have any plans to correct this in the future?

[Napseeker]

yeah there is going to be a clonewars deluxe line, one of them is anakin witha can- cell ( giant dragonfly thing)

Yeah I just saw the RScum posting. It looks like I am correct though... seems to be just repaints and reuse of existing molds like the cancell, BARC speeder and crab droid. Even that "mini-tank" sounds suspiciously like the old eps1 mold of the mini-AAT.  Hasbro isn't really making any new tooling for this so-called "Deluxe" line.  If they can do a reasonably reastically painted crab droid, I'd probably pick it up however.

[CommanderNaruto]

yeah there is going to be a clonewars deluxe line, one of them is anakin witha can- cell ( giant dragonfly thing)

Yeah I just saw the RScum posting. It looks like I am correct though... seems to be just repaints and reuse of existing molds like the cancell, BARC speeder and crab droid. Even that "mini-tank" sounds suspiciously like the old eps1 mold of the mini-AAT.  Hasbro isn't really making any new tooling for this so-called "Deluxe" line.  If they can do a reasonably reastically painted crab droid, I'd probably pick it up however.

repack, repaint, thats thier specialty

[Napseeker]

Updated and added two more new questions at the end...

Q. It's great to see Hasbro finally release a 501st Legion trooper using the #41 RotS mold. However, I bought a few and noticed a problem: the helmet's blue stripe is incorrect!  The stripe should be continuous but instead we have a gap between the black rim and the visor. Also the stripe is too wide and should instead narrow from the top of the helmet to the chin.  Please see the paintjob that was done for your TSC Commander Appo figure which was done correctly (although on Appo, he had too much dirt and his chest stripe didn't reach all the way to the neck). Can Hasbro please correct the problem for a future Legends release, I'd love to army build dozens more but only if it's accurately done.

Q. The black RA-7 Build-A-Droid looks great, but isn't the color of the eyes incorrect?  The BaD has gold/bronze eye lenses, but in ANH it seems as if it has silver eyes (and even Hasbro's PotF2 figure used silver eyes).  If this is a mistake, can Hasbro consider including a corrected head in a future Legacy wave so we can actually get a proper version of this character?

Q. The shirtless Evolutions Darth Maul looks great but if Hasbro ever re-releases this sculpt again, say... as part of a 2pack with a Sith training droid from the Darth Maul comic, could you use a brighter shade of red paint?  It was disappointing that the Evo Maul had such a muddy red look whereas in previous action figure incarnations, Hasbro used a much more intense red that really made him stand out.  And any chance of including a softgoods outfit with a re-release?

Q. 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.

Q. 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?

Q. 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).

Q. Could Hasbro make it a point to include the ladder with all of your future X-Wing releases?  Or to include the ladder again with another Yavin hangar battlepack so collectors can pick up a few spares to go with their existing X-Wings?

Q. Will the Amanin that's in the upcoming comic pack ever be released on single card as an official denizen of Jabba's court?  This would give us a chance to army build him as well in order to recreate the Empire vs Amanin battle (and without ending up with dozens of dirty Sunbers).

[Napseeker]

Still no answers from Hasbro here?  How come theJawa answers always take so long before they show up after the Sandtroopers ones?

[DarthWormie]

Still no answers from Hasbro here?  How come theJawa answers always take so long before they show up after the Sandtroopers ones?

Long story short, there were no questions submitted from the Jawa this round. Chalk it up to the work involved with the Toy Fair coverage.

We will be submitting questions this go-around though, so be sure to keep asking those questions and check back in a few weeks for the answers!

[Napseeker]

Updated and added one more new question at the end...

Q. It's great to see Hasbro finally release a 501st Legion trooper using the #41 RotS mold. However, I bought a few and noticed a problem: the helmet's blue stripe is incorrect!  The stripe should be continuous but instead we have a gap between the black rim and the visor. Also the stripe is too wide and should instead narrow from the top of the helmet to the chin.  Please see the paintjob that was done for your TSC Commander Appo figure which was done correctly (although on Appo, he had too much dirt and his chest stripe didn't reach all the way to the neck). Can Hasbro please correct the problem for a future Legends release, I'd love to army build dozens more but only if it's accurately done.

Q. The black RA-7 Build-A-Droid looks great, but isn't the color of the eyes incorrect?  The BaD has gold/bronze eye lenses, but in ANH it seems as if it has silver eyes (and even Hasbro's PotF2 figure used silver eyes).  If this is a mistake, can Hasbro consider including a corrected head in a future Legacy wave so we can actually get a proper version of this character?

Q. The shirtless Evolutions Darth Maul looks great but if Hasbro ever re-releases this sculpt again, say... as part of a 2pack with a Sith training droid from the Darth Maul comic, could you use a brighter shade of red paint?  It was disappointing that the Evo Maul had such a muddy red look whereas in previous action figure incarnations, Hasbro used a much more intense red that really made him stand out.  And any chance of including a softgoods outfit with a re-release?

Q. 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.

Q. 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?

Q. 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).

Q. Could Hasbro make it a point to include the ladder with all of your future X-Wing releases?  Or to include the ladder again with another Yavin hangar battlepack so collectors can pick up a few spares to go with their existing X-Wings?

Q. Will the Amanin that's in the upcoming comic pack ever be released on single card as an official denizen of Jabba's court?  This would give us a chance to army build him as well in order to recreate the Empire vs Amanin battle (and without ending up with dozens of dirty Sunbers).

Q. Now that we're getting an excellent eps2 Obi-Wan at last, perhaps Hasbro would consider a battlepack that would feature this Obi with a spear, the Evo eps2 Anakin with a better likeness, and the Evo eps2 Padme (with torn shirt) included alongside the 3 pillars from the Geonosis Arena?  Folks have already had the chance to get the 3 beasts in an earlier arena BP, but the missing part to the scene would be the accurately scaled pillars to chain our 3 heroes to.   Even if the pillars don't match the real scale (which admittedly would be quite tall), it'd be great to have something to complete the scene. Is there any chance of this happening?

[DarthWormie]

Questions were submitted last week. You can keep them coming, but you'll have to wait until the next round to have them answered.

[jokabofe]

And we're working on what... every 6 months we send 3 new questions in now? 

[DarthWormie]

And we're working on what... every 6 months we send 3 new questions in now? 

Pretty close. I think right now were somewhere between 3-4 weeks per round? In other words, by the time they have answered our questions, we already know the answers to most of them.

[darthdan]

so I'm confused where is this weeks jawa questions from hasbro, it says they are there on the sandtroopers front page, but I don't see them here?

[DarthWormie]

Patience my young friend 

1) Will the Amanin that's in the upcoming comic pack ever be released on Amanin battle (and without ending up with dozens of dirty Sunbers).

There are no plans right now to release the Amanin on a basic figure card, but it's an interesting idea.  We're thrilled that folks like this guy - he's quickly become one of our favorite figures!

2) I'm glad to hear that the 'build-a-droid' series will be continuing on into 2010 and that you are using it as a chance to put some obscure droids into the figure lineup that might not otherwise make it. I hope there are lots more to come! On that note, have you given any consideration to two of my most wanted droids, Boba Fett's droid BL-17 from the Droids cartoon and Z-X3 from Marvel Star Wars 47?

We are glad you like the Droid Factory concept.  You might have missed our Toy Fair presentation where we announced that BL-17 will indeed be coming out in the Wal-Mart Droid Factory 2-pack assortment that will feature the Dark Trooper buildable figure (look for that in July).  Z-X3 was on our short list but did not make the cut.  It is possible that we could do him
as a future comic pack someday - that chest blaster is pretty wild.

3) Could Hasbro make it a point to include the ladder with all of your future X-Wing releases? Or to include the ladder again with another Yavin hangar battlepack so collectors can pick up a few spares to go with their existing X-Wings?

If/when we release more X-Wings, that would indeed be a good accessory to include. Right now there are no plans for more Yavin hangar packs, but if we do any more we'll keep your suggestion in mind.