1. Who actually decides what characters get made? Not looking for a name or names, but is it a committee? Is it like, one person at Hasbro, one at Lucasfilm, one at Disney that all have to agree? Some of the character choices are just bizarre, particularly relative to what other figures do get made in one scale versus another.
--Brad

The answer right now is... a bit of a mystery. Before Disney took over, usually Hasbro came up with a list of things they wanted to do, debated it, made lists, and usually some version of "Lucasfilm said go for it" happened once they brought a menu of things they wanted to do to the table. Occasionally we'd hear stories of rejection, but I can't remember many other than in the 1990s. Darth Vader Removable Helmet was punted from 1996 to 1998 because they wanted to keep that "mystery" a few more years, and they killed Attack C-3PO and Attack R2-D2 figures, the latter of which became the rocket-firing R5-D4. Or so the legends say. Meanwhile, Disney has charts and data and surveys of who they think is the most popular, and wouldn't ya know it, it's never anybody who isn't on the poster.

A few years ago I was talking with someone at a trade show who was telling me Lucasfilm, under Disney, really puts its thumb on the scale now saying which figures they want, at which price points, and other details. A lot of sculpting is also not necessarily done at Hasbro anymore - allegedly. You can see some examples of this in Star Wars: Rebels where Jakks Pacific and Hasbro have figures that seem to share the same digital assets for their respective action figures. How accurate is this? I'm not 100% sure as I don't get a lot of direct responses about it all, but it would explain a lot of the bizarre choices in bringing back pegwarmers and some of the higher-priced deluxe figures that seem unappetizing for the price. I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro was also maximizing its tooling in some cases too, but the direction of the line being made by people who aren't toy people would explain quite a bit.

I've heard other stories from people outside Hasbro that seem to indicate this sort of thing is not uncommon at other companies in recent years, and if Hasbro is relying on Disney for its line plan it does explain why something seems to be missing in the last decade in some of its lines. But I have no idea how accurate this is - and Disney does seem to be playing for very wide acceptance (lots of main characters to sell to everybody, not 50,000 adults buying everything) and not the weird collector figures (Cantina aliens, etc.) And of course, this information may be wrong, out of date, or exaggerated as I've pulled it from a lot of people who have worked with Lucafilm, not for Lucasfilm.

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2. Question - will more Rotj retro 6 packs be restocked / released? Frustrated I didn't get doubles to open, at least of Mon Mothma.
--Todd

I was told the run wasn't huge, and that some units were sold through theme parks. It's possible the parks (or the stores that sell excess theme park merchandise/scratch and dents) might have some. I don't think you're going to see any of the Yak Face/Mon Mothma The Retro Collection set online at full price ever again from what I hear.

It's my hope that they start a program to cycle real Kenner figure remakes in and out of stores more, because in the past five years we've only had one non-exclusive wave of Kenner reproductions. It seems like a good product for a mainstream audience - particularly dads and new grandparents in addition to people who still read articles about toys instead of YouTube countdowns.

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FIN

It's that time again! If you enjoy reading this Q&A feature, which I've been writing for more than 25 years, thank you for reading! If you really love it, I would like to ask you a couple of favors. Only one of which involves money.

First, the most important - keep reading and tell a friend if you like it! Text is old-school, and I've resisted the urge to, as the tech world may say, pivot to video. You guys keep it going with your questions and your eyeballs... and I'm not going to lie, the eyeballs have decreased a bit lately. Thanks for your continued queries!

Second, got any spare change? If so, I have a Patreon that I use to keep the lights on. I use to pay for things like hosting, the domain registrations, and at some point I need to replace my 2015 iMac and slowly disintegrating light box. (I keep putting it off.) If a few readers contribute $1 a month, that would help a lot. (I don't get paid to do this site - it's basically all a few bucks in affiliate revenue and the Patreon. Unless you count the sponsorships, it's indie media.)

And if you're still reading, I am writing this just after opening the Epic Hero Series The Mandalorian figure - that's the one you see at Walmart on the yellow cardback. He's pretty much the same exact height as The Vintage Collection figure, and I can confirm he easily fits in the Razor Crest seat from The Vintage Collection and is a tight fit in the N-1 Fighter, but he fits and looks great. The figure has much shinier, brighter silver Beskar armor than most of the other releases. He also doesn't have a blue knee pad or painted ammunition belts on his legs, but he stands with no problems and easily grips his weapons. His chest is a tiny bit more bulky, and he's posed like a 1990s-era Kenner The Power of the Force figure - he looks good. He's sturdy, he stands, and he's fun for ten bucks. I assume most of you have several Mando figures by now, but if you want one more, this is a pretty good one. He'll be in Figure of the Day soon, but I didn't feel like making you wait to know that Hasbro did a good job. So if you don't have a dollar for me, go buy yourself a Mando.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.

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