Galactic Hunter.com - Q&A with Adam Pawlus


	Q&A For March 1, 2004 1. What is the purpose of the lever on the POTJ security battle droids back? And will the new starwarshop.com sell and ship outside the U.S? --Andreas The lever is quite possibly the first failed Hasbro action feature. On some samples, it raises and lowers the gun, allowing him to aim at things. On others, it doesn't quite work. As far as the new shop, all this and more can be answered in my pal Adam May's new feature [Web] Master of the Force. Right now it looks like the plan is to ship every product everywhere unless there are some restrictions. For example, due to international distribution deals, there were some Star Wars t-shirts you couldn't ship outside the USA. And no, I'm not making this up. 2. Išm a major collector of all things Darth Vader and as far as action figures goes Išve racked my brain and canšt seem to imagine a mold that theyšve missed except for one. Is there any plan to make a holographic Vader, either as its own figure or (and this may already by) as a tiny little hologram in the style of Princess Leia (w/ R2) or Sidious (with whoever that was with)? --John I think Hasbro has started to see the light, or just ran out of ideas, when it came to holographic figures. During Episode I, we got a bunch and since then, not so many. Spirit of- and Holograph of- figures are the kind of thing I would have expected more in the 1990s, what with all the clear and glow in the dark variants indie toymakers cranked out of a million now-forgotten comic heroines. I have little doubt that Vader is on the drawing board at Hasbro, but I don't know if he'll be out soon. If and when Hasbro remakes General Veers, though, that would be a great opportunity to revisit him in a clear gummi format. 3. Im a huge fan of all three star wars films but I guess Return of the Jediis my favourite , So Ive been longing to know....Will they be re releasing the blue carded saga figures still , if so, Do you know if characters such as OOLA , BIB FORTUNA , 8D8 , REE YEES , SALACIOUS CRUMB , TESSEK , THE MAX REEBO BAND , PABLOO , CHIEF CHIRPA OR EV 9D9 will be re released , I love all of these characters and any information on them would be greatly appreciated...thanks --Michael Well, some of those figures are pretty cheap on the secondary market still, selling at prices at or below what they cost on initial release. For example, the fan club two-pack of Oola and Salacious Crumb sells for $5-$10 on eBay, and you can either vote for Ree-Yees in the current rerelease poll at Hasbro or pay about $7-$10 on eBay. The other guys can be had fairly cheaply, except for the band. Others, like Chief Chirpa, have yet to be remade in POTF2. Paploo was made as a POTF2 figure but was packaged with an AT-ST and Speederbike, so he might cost you a little bit more... but none of this stuff is out of the price range of a fan who can save a few birthday checks from grandma. As far as specific blue carded versions, no. There will be no more blue or blue with gold stripe Saga figures after this summer, when we move over to the classic style packaging that has been dubbed "OTC" even though the Original Trilogy Collection sticker will only appear on original trilogy product. Any prequel items will be in black boxes... but I digress. Any reissues from now forward will be on whatever new packaging Hasbro is using, and for now, it's the vintage-esque black-and-silver package with the photo in the background. And since Ree-Yees is in the next Hasbro poll, he could be rereleased, if you vote for him. 4. Hello, Adam. Are the 12" vintage figures to be released in the fall original, transitional, or new sculpts? Also, have there ever been plans to release a 12" scale EV9D9, 8D8, power droid, ugnaught, or Jabba? --Gary There will be three open-stock 12" figures released in 2004, Luke, Stormtrooper, Boba Fett. That's it. No more in 2004. The Stormtrooper looked like a tweaked sculpt from what we had before, Luke seems all-new, and as far as I can tell they have yet to reveal the new Boba Fett. There have been rumors of many other large-scale figures, some of which even got sculpted, but there are no known plans to release them in 2004. 5. I was a little annoyed to see that Hasbo added the Scanning Crew figure to their poll after I voted. It is one of the very few figures I don't have and would've picked it over Han, who I actually voted for. Plus, several other people I know have expressed the same complaint. Will Hasbro take the late entry into consideration if it's a close call at the end? I know they don't have to do this sort of thing at all, but this was screwy. --nagauthier Hasbro will probably rerelease all of these figures unless they get a very low tally... I mean, the molds are ready, they just want to see who we want first. They know these are by no means scientific but they do present a good idea of what we want. As such, Hasbro often releases the losing characters from previous Fan's Choice polls, so I fully expect a close call figure to be rereleased as well. Thing is, the scanning technician sucks. It's a tweaked 1997 AT-ST Driver. Had they stuck an Imperial Officer head on the Han Solo AT-ST Driver body, I'd be a happy guy though... I agree sticking the figure on after the vote started was a bad move on their part. Not that it'll make a huge difference, but as fans, we tend to pour over every little thing, and as far as every little thing goes, this is a pretty big thing from where we sit. 6. About Robert's question last time regarding to whom to disclose our collecting hobby, some friends and I are able to bring it, albeit discreetly, into our workplaces. Students and colleagues like to come into my office and play with the toys that I have strategically placed among my bookshelves, and I'm also really lucky to have an administrator who has now brought part of his collection to work as well--we'll talk about courses or students or whatever, and then we'll talk articulation, paint apps and case assortments. If you're aisle sniping and find something your boss needs, it's a plus. Don't come on full bore right away, but if you see a Darth Maul in a colleague's workspace, start with a "Psst, hey...." --Annmarie Toys can be a great icebreaker, especially if people know what it is they're talking about. You raise many good points-- it's important to know who you're dealing with first. I just work in an environment where it seems the people don't get it and don't want to get it, so I try to keep it (relatively) on the down low. As the kids say these days. 7. This question has two parts. With the second season of the Clone Wars starting in March is there any chance Hasbro will ship more of the figures? Around here (New york City Area) I saw tons of the first wave, none of the second wave, and only 3 cases of the third wave. The Clone troopers didn't even get to the pegs they were scooped up right out of the box. Is it just me or is this typical of Hasbro to ship large quantities of the first wave and then slow down on the later ones? --Ben It seems like most places saw a huge glut of waves 1 and 2 for a brief period, and when those quickly vanished, wave 3 came and went in a blink. I still see new stock show up on very rare sightings, but on the whole it seems they have yet to hit it big. As such, I'd keep my eyes online for stores getting them and for reports that someone like Kay-bee got a few cases... they have to end up somewhere. I've never seen these Clones in stores myself, so here's hoping. 8. Hey, I saw the newest Q&A and I have to agree with the Unleashed Ewoks. I've been thinking of something like that as well. I also think it would be cool if Hasbro did an ultimate figure sort of like McFarlane does with his stuff. I don't know if Hasbro could price it as well though. If not do figures that combine, like a ROTJ Vader (made similar to the Emperor's Wrath 3 3/4" figure with the lightning and transparency) that would combine with an Emperor figure, to show the scene of Vader chucking him down the hole. --Jason Hasbro did a few scenes in 2002 to somewhat lukewarm response, but in all fairness they were particularly boring choices that in some cases cough, Han were inferior to previous offerings. There's definitely still a market for this sort of thing, although it might be easier to just go the DIY route and do it yourself. But hey, Star Wars turns 30 in a few years, maybe Hasbro will crank out a few more of these and do something just like this. 9. I am a big fan of army builders and I was wondering why are all the army builder figs white? I would love to see Rebel Troopers and Pilots of different races. Do you think this is a possibility? --sam I think anything we see on-screen is possible. In the first Star Wars movie, it seems pretty much all white, so humans from that flick probably will always be that color. They got a little more diverse with the later flicks, most notably Return of the Jedi, so I'd say it could happen. G.I. Joe fans may have seen Hasbro's recent Cobra Army set, where it seems every figure is a different color. Talk about a nice way to make new army builders! 10. Where is the red ARC Trooper? Do you think it is worth paying over 20 bucks for it online yet? Have you heard anything about Han with the brown vest being found anywhere at retail yet? --Christian There are talks and rumors of the Red ARC Trooper showing up again, but the question is, is it worth waiting? It might be... and it might not be. This is the gamble of the hobby. I saw red ARCs on two separate sightings, and that was it. (Should have bought a few more, but oh well.) Brown jacket Han-- I assume you mean the brown jacketed Hoth Han-- has been shipping in great quantities in the past couple of weeks as the assortment with that figure, Boba Fett, Luke, Vader, and more has been showing up at Targets and Wal-Marts all over my neck of the woods. Go check your local stores and odds are you'll get lucky. FIN Some people have said "hey Adam, what are you going to do with Fan's Choice? Who did you vote for? Are you going to add the new poll to your article?" Well, I didn't vote. Not yet, anyway. And Hasbro has basically come out and said that this isn't Fan's Choice, just a general rerelease poll to let us get some input on the future of what we'll be rebuying if we collect carded figures. That's all for this week. So get those questions in for next week. Just email me with your inquiry, and we'll see what we can do.