Galactic Hunter: Is the release of KRONOS-327 (Ziro The Hutt's IG Assassin Droid) in the Clone Wars basic line a forerunner for getting Ziro the Hutt itself eventually, perhaps as a retool/repaint of the existing Clone Wars Jabba The Hutt? On a related note, are we ever going to get that really nice Nikto Guard that was cut from the Clone Wars Jabba The Hutt Battle Pack? He has army builder potential if you put him on a basic card. →→→ Shabby Blue (He keeps a spreadsheet of this stuff.)
HASBRO: Ziro has been discussed but currently is not in the lineup for 2010. We would still like to get him into the line, and there is potential for him to come out as a retailer exclusive in early 2011. As for the Nikto Guard, he will indeed come out, with a strong chance at a 2010 release. Right now we don't know if it will be as a basic figure or some other means (Battle Pack or retailer exclusive). His figure is simply too good to not use.
Galactic Hunter: The new "Mini-Rig" line has great potential for small movie-based vehicles, but so far the focus has only been on The Clone Wars animated vehicles. When might we expect something from the Original Trilogy to appear in this line? Maybe some long-overdue retoolings of the classic Return of the Jedi Speeder Bike with more accurate handlebars and a Luke, Leia or Biker Scout pair to ride them? →→→ Shabby Blue (Boy Racer)
[As a side note, is the "Mini-Rig" line actually going to be limited strictly to animation? That seems to be the message we've heard, and older collectors are a little ticked off - possibly because the "Mini-Rig" nickname seemed to indicate some ties to the Original Trilogy.]
HASBRO: The Deluxe Figure/Vehicle line is strictly limited to The Clone Wars Animated line. We will be periodically upgrading OTC vehicles through our exclusives plan, so stay tuned there. A new accurate speeder bike would be a welcome addition to the plan, but so far we have not slotted it in. We will look at this for 2011.
[Editor's Note: After seeing the return of the Desert Sport Skiff, we will be happy to let a new generation enjoy their own "Mini-Rigs".]
Galactic Hunter: Finally (it's 5am as I finish this) with all of the exclusives and wave after wave of figures, do the bean counters realize that we're in a global recession? From what we learn from these Q&A sessions, a lot of insignificant items get "costed out", but is there significant product that is stuck in limbo until things even out economically?
HASBRO: With Star Wars having a huge collector following, we know that the past year has presented challenges in keeping up with the line. Similarly, the line that we showed at Comic-Con has been in development since the end of 2007/beginning of 2008, and long-lead projects and commitments are difficult to change, especially when the efforts are exceptionally good as they have been this year. Right now, everything shown should make it to retail in the U.S. In some of the more collector-targeted lines, like Legacy/Droid Factory basic figures and Comic Packs, some of the waves may not be out until Spring 2010, assuming that the forecasted quantities move through and that we do not see further collector slowdown. If that happens, we'll do our best to see that they do get to retail somehow. It is our intention, going forward, to pull back on the breadth and depth of the offering, somewhat. For instance, we have been working to scale back some on the number of new/refresh figures in the Legacy basic figure lineup (the goal is approximately 40-45 new/refresh figures/year for the basic figure line). We are also re-examining the number of collector-targeted offerings and exclusives to pare down to the scope of the line for the time being.
[Editor's Note: The question was more about product being tied up in limbo waiting out a Hutt-esque economy. Sads.]
