Q&A For November 17, 2003

1. Yesterday I was lucky enough to pick up all 7 figures in wave 15 at my local Target. When I opened the McQuarrie Stormtrooper, I was met with an unpleasant surprise. The right arm had snapped off at the elbow joint. My figure looked like it had come out of a bar fight with a certain Jedi by the name of Kenobi! I e-mailed Hasbro customer service to find out what their policy was on products already damaged when you get them. Today they responded by telling me they had sent me a postage paid envelope to return the figure to them and that they would replace it. However, they also said that if for whatever reason, they didn't have any of the same figure on hand, they would send me a different product of equal or greater value. I was wondering if you had heard of this happening to anyone before and if they actually got a new copy of the same figure. Since distribution has been pretty screwy where I live, and I can't be guaranteed to find the figure again at retail, I don't know if I should send it to them. I'd rather have a superglued figure than not have it at all. What are your thoughts on the matter?
--NAGauthier

This is typical for most toy companies because when you produce hundreds of figures, it's hard to keep samples of them all on hand for just an occasion. Sometimes they have extras, sometimes they don't, but they usually just say they might or might not have it just in case. As such, return at your own risk.

I've had a few figures break and despite the distribution problems of the year, I've seen every 2003 figure on the pegs, more than once, not counting variants. My advice? Break out the glue and buy an extra one.

2. I just picked up the Durge with speederbikeŠ I notice the bike has two rectangular holes on the front of the body on the piece that becomes the front struts. The holes do not appear to be decorative but instead appear to be designed top accommodate something‹do you know what? Is there some future accessory that will snap on here?

Also, Durgešs rifle has a strap with two pegs on the end that appear to be designed to snap into somethingŠ but it is not clear what that is. Do you know the story here as well? Does it connect to the back pack on the loose (non-deluxe) Durge figure maybe?
--yoyoma87

Durge's rifle strap reconnects to itself, creating a loop at the end of the weapon. Hasbro really should have just molded it that way instead of making us do the heavy lifting, but such is the toy biz.

As far as the holes go, I think that's just there for molding purposes, but something looks like it could go there. Since my sample of the individual Durge has yet to arrive, I'm not sure if any of his gadgets fit there or what.

3. Just got my Unleashed Boba Fett! WOW! The pictures do not do it justice! It is quite possibly the greatest figure Hasbro has done yet. And I thought Vader was perfect. I can't imagine it getting any better than this. Down to the tentacle wrapping around his jet pack, every detail is totally unreal. For those collectors who do not open they are really going to miss something spectacular. This is now the standard by which these figures will be measured. I just have one question. Who sculpted this figure, or is there any way to know? I know some smaller toy companies have given their sculptors credit on their packaging recently, and it is something of interest to some collectors. This person needs the recognition that is deserved. The quality is unparalelled. My vote is to have this person do everything Star Wars. Truely the best $15 I ever spent on a toy!
--Chris

Hasbro's policy toward sculptors and engineers is that they don't publicize their names. As such, I won't post the name(s) of Hasbro sculptors here. I agree, though, they did an excellent job on this one.

4. I have a few questions for you. What is the name of the second Imperial Dignitary figure? Is it Gor Kartir or Klen Blista-Vanee? Any idea when we might see pictures of the 5th Fan's Choice winners, General Dodonna & Captain Antilles? Do you if there will be another Fan's Choice Poll and when we might see it? I read on another website that the Super-Articulted Clone will be a 2 pack, but I just the carded picture and it is only one figure. Have you heard anything about a 2 pack?
--Jediblood

Klen is the name of the second Dignitary, and at this time, it seems he's the last one. Here's hoping they remakethe vintage one soon.

Images of 2004 product is expected in 2004. Odds are these will appear around Toy Fair, if not a little before.

The other website that mentioned the two-pack made a bad guess. The person auctioning them off on eBay sold the two samples as a pair and the site made the logical assumption that they were a set. They aren't.

5. you say, that the concept stormie is the first ever Hasbro release of a McQuarrie Concept Art. But what about the Holiday Editions ? ;)
--Kris

Actually, I said this was the first basic figure based on McQuarrie concept art. And it is. The Holiday sets aren't based on concept art, but on the designs from Christmas cards.

6. Long ago, Kenner released the Cantina Band figure with 5 different instruments. At the time, $50 for 5 figure (IIRC) was too much for me, so I only picked up one. Now, fast forward a few years, I can pick up the other figures for about half the cost on ebay and I've found out that there were actually 6 (and 1 who wasn't playing) cantina band members (I would have found out sooner if I paid better attendtion to the 12 inch figures). So, I looked up the instruments of the 12 inch figures (all 6 are different) and through the databank on starwars.com (which states that Ickabel G'ont and Tedn Dahai both play the fanfar) and, I'm still lost. Which instrument should I use twice?
--Eddie

The Fanfar is the one you'll need to use twice... that's the really small flute thing. There was a great site run by Peter Crone that had a wonderful feature breaking down the entire band (and additional members) that seems to have vanished from Cyberspace. (If you're out there Peter, give us a holler, we'd love to post that article!)

7. anything new about hasbro making the animated cartoon clone figures into 12 inch? what are the newer ones coming besides obi wan,garindan etc?
--Maulandjada

Hasbro won't admit to killing the 12" line but they are starving it down to the minimum... everything for 2003 is out and Hasbro said they had no plans for any 12" Clone Wars toys, but a movie-esque ARC Trooper is rumored as a Kay-Bee 2004 exclusive. A large number of 12" toys have been rumored and we've even seen sculpts for some of them, but for whatever reason Hasbro is holding off. As such, we really don't know much about the future of this oft-maligned sector of our favorite toy line.

8. I'm sure this question has been asked already but I know the blue clone is the luitenet, and the yellow is the commander but what are the green and the red clone troopers?
--Matthewb22

While the ranks are different for ARC Troopers, for the normal clones the color ranks are as follows: red are captains, green are sergeants, blue are lieutenants, white are infantry, and yellow are commanders.

9. Now that we have seen pics of the Unleashed Clone Trooper, you think we will see every color and rank? Or the Super Articulated Clone Trooper? It is cool to a point, but it is also a bit insane. I guess it will not end until we stop buying, huh?
--Christopher

I think a single color variant would make for a nice exclusive, but I doubt Hasbro thinks army building translates to the Unleashed assortments. I'd dig a green one, though, since that seems to be the one color they're neglecting.

10. A cross between a question and a vent for you:

At K-Mart in Peoria AZ on Saturday I discovered the following:

1) Clonetrooper 3 pack: with 2 stormtroopers.
2) Durge with speeder bike: with one Shadows swoop bike pilot and an EU speederbike.
3) Wedding Padme: correct figure, without base, with picture of a horse and a weird metal broach.
4) Clonetrooper with speeder bike: with Imperial Speederbike and stormtrooper.

All had the bubbles resealed with a great degree of care. I raised the issue with the nearest employee, stating that not only was the store getting ripped off by whoever did this, but the consumer is also getting defrauded too. She returned the figures to the customer service desk, where another employee said "yeah, we already know about this" - which seemed to imply they knew about it and then had returned the suspect figures to the toy aisle for Joe Schmo to buy.

In my part of the world this seems to be a consistent problem. I have seen the results of this fraud at 2 Wal-Marts, a TRU and at least 2 Targets. The proximity of the stores to each other suggests, that it may be the work of one individual.

What is the best way to address this problem (besides waiting at the customer service desk with a baseball bat?). I am tempted to write to the area managers of the stores involved, citing their inability to uncover fraud, and unwittingly (or perhaps knowingly in some cases) passing it on to the consumer.

What would you do? Is this something other people see too?
--Terry

I haven't been to that K-Mart myself for a while now, but this is a problem all too common here in Arizona and in the USA. K-Mart seems to usually receive the most ridiculous repackaged figures, with badly customized CORPS figures repainted and recarded where Aurra Sing once stood. I find this amusing because the effort and supplies probably equal the cost of the toy.

I've started pointing them out to employees if I see one, knowing full well they probably don't care. A Massiff with Geonosian (minus the Geonosian) at the Frank Lloyd Wright Target in Scottsdale, AZ has been pointed out to the store once and keeps finding its way back to the toy aisle. I've found stores usually appreciate this being pointed out to them, prefaced with "you probably noticed this, but in case you didn't, some swine took the figures out of this."

I doubt the managers care, but it really is starting to be a big problem. I would keep pointing them out because, frankly, the people at the return desks aren't experts and can't know everything. I would also think this could be one guy going on a theft spree... this isn't clever, this isn't a way of sticking it to Hasbro. It hurts the kid who gets stuck with a bum toy, the collector who won't see new stock show up because this crap will sit unsold, and the store.

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.

Friends of mine in Tucson are putting on a comedy benefit to help the hungry called Haha Food on Friday. Basically, you go, you laugh, you see friends of mine, and someone gets to eat. If you're in Tucson, AZ or in the neighborhood, visit their site for the specific time and location.

Only one Q&A left this year! Get those questions in, people! Also, next week I empty my mailbag-- every question I find appropriate to the column will be answered, and all backlog will be deleted after the column gets posted. New questions for the January 5 update are welcome, though, so please keep 'em coming!

Scored numerous Armada toys at $4/per at Wal-Mart last weekend. The Minicon two-packs were down to that price, as well as the $10 toys. I highly advise you do what I did, and buy one for yourself as well as some for Toys For Tots, Christmas Angels, or your favorite holiday toy drive. Kids can't make toy runs, but you can, and you can make your holiday toy donations stretch further than they could.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action from Joe Dante turned out to be a great movie, very self-aware and full of insider jokes for older audience members. There were a lot of laugh-out-loud gags sure to amuse movie buffs more than Looney Tunes fans, and I thought it was great. Much funnier than Elf, which was also pretty enjoyable for what it was. So get ye to the theaters!

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