Q&A For November 10, 2003

1. While Hasbro is on this kick to reissue previously released figures, what are the odds of bringing back some of the earlier Unleashed figures? I kick myself for passing on several and am discouraged over some of the current prices on Ebay and at toy shows. Just one or two that were harder to get and maybe with the new awesome package design. I think it would really help those of us who got on the boat a little late. It would also really influence my decisions on purchasing future releases and get me to fork out the extra cash on the secondary market for a few pieces I would normally pass on.
--Chris

Right now, Unleashed is intended to be a low-run collector line. Cases are made to whomever orders them, and what you see is it. Obviously, they're not beyond revising a toy and reissuing it, like Darth Vader, or doing a new version, like Luke.

The eBay prices are nutty, but this could be a temporary thing. Plus new ones have yet to hit the stores, while the Luke/Obi-Wan/Sidious series still shows up in my neck of the woods, as recently as this week. As such, reissues are something I think Hasbro might be wary of... after all, those first three series of these things didn't exactly fly off the shelves. My advice to you? Trade.

2. i was wondering ih hasbro has any plans of producing a special 400th edition action , like what was done with boba fett back in 2000 as the 300th figure produced. i was also wondering if hasbro has hit the 400 mark yet as far as action figures?
--Bill

While Hasbro has hit the 400 mark, they told me they have no plans to do a figure for the 400 mark. Although 500 is a possibility. Since your average good SW figure in 2003 is as good as or better than the 300th Fett, I'd really like to see them go all-out and give us a toy for the ages. Or a toy that'll be the awesomest thing until 2006.

3. Is the Clone Wars Mace Windu (#'03-48) the last '03 figure? Also, do you know if the Ultra figures like Rieeken and the Wampa will be numbered along with the regular figures, or even numbered at all? Thanks
--Brian

I've seen no evidence of the Ultra figures being numbered. Also, it's really hard to tell how Hasbro's numbering system works at times, since the reissued figures on 2002 packaging (Teebo, etc.) came out in 2003 after we saw images of the 2003 figures on 2003 packaging, if I recall. As such, no idea. I would presume other Clone Wars figures coming in 2003 would be numbered as 2003 figures, but that's not definite and thing seem to be getting pushed back.

4. Just curious, was there ever any intent by Hasbro to include an Imperial Probe Droid with the Imperial Pack? I ask this because of the info on the backside of the packaging. I think that we all know that the Imperial Interrogator Droid seduces information from it's victims. But according to it's info on the packaging it "Relentlessly searches the galaxy for evidence of Rebel presence." Sounds more like a Probe Droid to me.

In my opinion, the Probe Droid is definately a figure that needs to be revisited. More posable limbs, no giant hole for a rocket that doesn't even exsist. This would be a great addition to the Hoth Wave. Imagine a big piece of plastic in the shape of the snowy crater with pieces of the droid's pod in it. A lever that you can stick in the bottom of your Probe Droid and push on the outside to give it the "Floating" out of the crater effect. We can dream can't we?
--Joseph

You never know who's responsible for those brief summaries. It certainly does sound like they made a mistake here, and I agree, this is a figure that tends to get the short end of the stick. After all, it was a packaged with a playset in two scales in the vintage line, and was a merely adequate Deluxe figure in 1997 that sold quite poorly. (I mean, didn't everybody buy at least one for $2-$3?) It would have made an excellent addition to the Ultra line, but given the sales of the last one, I'm glad they decided on what they produced instead... for now. Here's hoping the Probot appears in the last movie, maybe then we can get a good toy.

5. As we've all seen, there have many figures in the past year or so, such as Secret Ceremony Amidala, Geonosian War Room 3-packs, Coleman Trebor, etc, that seem to cater to a more "collector oriented" market. I can't see a 10 year old boy running to his mother with a Secret Ceremony Amidala screaming, "It's Padme in a wedding dress! Just what I wanted!!!!" Don't get me wrong, I love all the obscure characters and costumes tons more that 15 Darth Mauls and 20 Tatooine Lukes, but it seems like Hasbro, in this non-movie year, is taking an approach that's more "niche market". Can we expect the depth and diversity like the Hoth and Jabba waves of late 2003 and early 2004 to continue well into 2004 with several more waves? I'd love to see more unique "collector type" characters like General Madine, Chief Bast, a revised General Lando, etc. without the angst and agony of sitting through another Hasbro "Fan's Choice" while watching "Pod Racer #56" beat out a classic Trilogy character.
--Delaton

You seem to have tuned in to my ramblings to my friends when we go on our toy runs. Hasbro, thankfully, has figured this out and is going to try to fill the void with its case of nothing but core characters in 2004. If I were a kid today, I might get lucky and see the likes of the repackaged CommTech Han in stores, or the wonderful Secret Ceremony Anakin. But if want a Darth Vader, a Luke Skywalker, or even a prequel Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'd be pretty much out of luck. There's no Mauls, no Jangos, no Dookus, no Emperors... this isn't a well-balanced line of figures, but at the same time, it isn't top dog anymore, either. The sea of SW we used to see around the Special Editions is gone, so now all Hasbro can do is offer newer, more compelling assortments of toys and hopefully kids will bite.

Heck, I can guarantee you that if they started offering a Vader in every case, sales would pick up a little. As a kid, I wanted one of each of all the main guys first... and THEN I got into aliens and droids and stuff. Han and Chewie are prerequisites for a good toy box.

6. A few years ago, Kenner released an Imperial Scanning Crew figure with the Millenium Falcon carrying case. Was this figure a repaint with a new head? Did it borrow parts from other figures? Or was it a 100% new figure (which, knowing the toy industry, is something that I would doubt).?

Do you still plan on doing a feature on the figures Kenner and Hasbro have made that weren't in the vintage line?
--Eddie

The Scanning Crew figure was a revised AT-ST driver with altered arms and a new head. An enterprising customizer can probably just swap the Imperial Officer's head with an AT-ST Driver's head and end up with a pretty good approxamation of what that figure was. As it was a fairly crappy figure, you might as well do that.

An article on Classic Trilogy characters that did not appear in the vintage line is in the works, as it was next on my plate after Fan's Choice as far as questions went. As such, feel free to send in what kind of questions you might all have about this subject, and expect an article in the coming months. (Since it involves a lot of picture taking and a bit of research, I have no ETA on it at this time.)

7. I am an avid Star Wars collector in my mid-30s. I often read, and am a bit weary of, the complaints from other collectors about what Hasbro can't, won't, or doesn't do. While Star Wars is my only collecting focus, I know it's not Hasbro's only production focus. I don't love all the Star Wars stuff they put out (and if I don't love it, I just don't buy it) but I'm amazed at the volume of product they are releasing--availability issues notwithstanding. I am also delighted at the number of items they are still making from the original trilogy! I'm not trying to be a Hasbro apologist or anything, I'm just trying to keep things in perspective. All that being said, do you have any idea what percentage of Hasbro's overall output Star Wars merchandise comprises?
--Philip

Honestly? I have no idea. I know Beyblade is their top boy's line and TransFormers Armada is #3. I'm scratching my head to think what #2 may be, because Star Wars, Zoids, and G.I. Joe are really their only other big boys lines and Zoids isn't exactly huge for them as far as I know. If anyone out there does have access to this information, please do let us know!

8. So I had this idea. It's kinda way out there and something I think is not within the realm of possibility. And maybe it's even been mentioned before. What if Hasbro made a few prequel figures in the vintage Kenner style? An Anakin, Obi-wan, Padme, Clone Trooper, Darth Maul and Dooku. Even package them in similar vintage style packaging. I'm sure there are more than a few people out there who would dig the idea. The new stuff is great, and has been for years now, but I look at my vintage collection and think how cool it would be to have a few more figs in the same style to cover the entire saga. It would not be as extreme as reproducing vintage figs and I don't think it would really affect the value of existing vintage figures. Of course Hasbro makes a superior figure compared to the original Kenner ones. But it's not all about the exact translation of a character to plastic or real scan technology when it comes to collecting. I think it would really show how far these toys have come over many years. Besides, if it wasn't for those vintage figs back then we might not be getting Ephant Mon today. You think this could ever happen? Am I the only one that thinks this would be cool?
--Christopher

This is something Hasbro was thinking about in 2000, but obviously never happened. I question the genuine collector interest in it... if they made them in a low run with vintage style packaging at a fair price ($5 per), I think they could sell a few. But if you stop and think about it, do collectors want flatter versions of their favorite characters? Would making a figure with less paint, fewer accessories, and a less authentic look be a desirable thing to do? I'm thinking no. We've come so far in sculpting that it might be difficult for them to, well, "dumb it down" to look like a figure from 1984. Plus there's the whole matter of fan complaints... what if Hasbro made them too good? Fans would cry "this isn't lame enough! Curse you, Hasbro!"

While I would love to see something like that just because it sounds neat, I don't know if it'd work well. Still, if Hasbro made like no more than 8 of the things as exclusives for someone, it could be really slick...

9. In a perfect world, would you have prefered the many variations of each figure we have now, or one figure with a lot of accessories?

For example, THe recent Obi Wan Acklay Battle is the, more or less, the same figure as Obi Wan pilot and Obi Wan Corescant Chase etc. Since Obi really doesn't change during the movie, wouldn't it be better to have one figure with all the applicable accesories? A battle staff, ligtsaber, pilot headgear, robe et. al.?

Same with Padme in her white outfit etc. etc.

Granted, costume changes warrent new figures. But like you said in your review of Obi Wan Acklay "In short, you don't need this."
--Evan

Well, for Hasbro, they need to be able to convince people to buy, re-buy, and buy their favorite characters yet again. Let's face it, Vaders sell, and we've all got several.

Now, I'm not one to complain about a new version of a figure if it works nicely. When Floppy Hat Luke came out, I made the jokes about the "new hat" and all of that stuff, but it was an improved figure with new joints and accessories and, for all intents and purposes, as a better figure than the Blast Shield Luke that preceeded it. Also, each and every Darth Vader (except for the Throne Room Duel) seems to have had something neat and new introduced that made it compelling enough for me to go "hey, I want one of those."

Prequel Obi-Wan Kenobi figures, on the whole, have rarely gotten better as time goes on. I personally like the POTJ Episode I version the best, but he doesn't have articulation that's as good as the figure from May 1999. For Episode II, the first Obi-Wan was a great, all-purpose Kenobi for the ages. The Pilot was iffy, and the Acklay Battle version is pretty much just a statue. If the Acklay Battle version was super-posable, so maybe those handcuffs could serve a purpose or he could assume more than one battle stance, I'd deem him at least a slight improvement... but even his head was painted in an inferior manner.

I would absoluetly love it if Hasbro just made each and every figure perfect the first time, or just kept bringing back old figures if they feel they did them well enough on the first go-round. I think the key word I'm getting at here is "improvement," and Acklay Obi-Wan wasn't one. Conversely, Secret Ceremony Anakin was a great figure, and it only took four or five attempts on the Basic price point to get it right.

Do we need a new figure every time they assume new weapons or a cloak? No. But sometimes the figure is made in a pose that would make you want a new figure. Hasbro isn't known for making figures that can fit in their vehicles especially well, so there are times a retooled figure is a requirement. But if Hasbro could just give me a single figure with roughly G.I. Joe levels of articulation and all the weapons I'd need in one package, I'd be a much happier collector. I mean, 10% of the figures made as of 2001 were Lukes. How sick is that?

10. Any possibility the animated Clone Wars figs will expand to other retailers beyond wave 2 if the Target exclusives do well? Ever meet any buyers for any of the retailers? I just wonder how many really are into this stuff. Cause I really wonder about the decisions most retailers make at times. I understand a lot of factors go into deciding what a store is going to carry. But I really see them as having a great deal of influence on collecting and nobody ever really seems to talk about that.

--Terry

As far as Clone Wars toon toys, anything is possible, but you never know what will happen. It's not uncommon for an exclusive to turn up elsewhere later, even if slightly changed. I have never met a buyer for a store, although I have talked to a couple online, and from what I gather it's the smaller stores that have the bigger fans. You're quite right that the buyers make all the difference on what we see-- combined, TRU and Wal-Mart represent about 35%-40% of toys sold in the USA. That's a lot. So if one of them gives the thumbs-down to a popular toy line, it's possible it could go away. That's what happened to ALIENS vs. Predator, G.I. Joe (in the 1990s), and could well end up happening to Masters of the Universe in the next year.

FIN

A good week for questions? Yes, I'd say it was. Keep it up, guys and gals, you asked some great ones this week.

Only two Q&A features left before the big break! As of the starting of the busiest shopping season of the year, I'll be taking a break from Q&A to focus on other things, namely hunting down whatever Energon or Snakemen toys show up in stores between now and year's end. We'll be back in January, but for December... it's war. Plastic hunting war.

Anyway, get those questions in for next week. Just email me with your inquiry, and we'll see what we can do.