Q&A For August 16, 2004

1. I am having a terrible time find the VOTC Luke.Has Hasbro Cancelled this figure for no apperent reason?Does the VOTC Luke Still exist?Thanks.
--chad

Sometimes I can't tell if questions are asked because someone doesn't know or because someone thinks other people don't know. Either way...

Hasbro has two different cases for the first wave of Vintage 4" figures-- one has Luke, one doesn't. The one that doesn't has yet to show up en masse or in some cases, at all. Luke is shipping in later OTC cases, such was wave 2 of ANH and in ESB cases. So, just wait-- he's coming.

2. I was wondering if you knew of ANY type of cases that will fit the animated Clone Wars figures. I have all of my single carded figures in cases, and hate the thought of leaving these out.
--Glen

Due to the unusual bubble shape, right now, there aren't many solutions that are friendly to those figures. With the upcoming Revenge of the Sith series and the desire to make a buck, though, you can be sure someone is currently working on a new case to hold each and every figure you can think of... even if the case is worth more than the figure inside.

3. This doesnt have anything to do with action figures, but i was wondering if you know where Decipher got the Expanded universe images for some of their cards. Like Lonay (Vigo) Guri, Dash Rendar, Xizor, Snoova, Kir Kanos, Thrawn, Pellaeon, . I know where Mara Jade's came from, but who are these other people? Has decipher ever said who the actors were in these costumes?
--Fred

Some of the actors they named, others, they didn't go out of their way to share. Some of the cards are maquettes or models, while others, like Mara Jade, are models and went to a bunch of signing events too. While I know of no definitive list for this, I'd gladly post a link to one if someone knew where to find it or, if demand was there, try to get an article put together on the subject. On the whole, you can thank Photoshop for a lot of these on at least some level.

4. ...okay, they're changing the Spirit of Anakin to be Hayden...but if they're not going to change the helmetless Darth Vader from Sebastian Shaw to Hayden as well, this brings up an interesting snag...

The ghosts f Ben Kenobi and Yoda are as they appeared at Death...you don't see a younger Yoda, and you don't see Ewan as Kenobi, either...you see old Alec as he appeared in other parts of Jedi as a ghost, which is close enough to how he looked at the time of his demise in A New Hope. And Yoda is the crotchety old (and beloved) Muppety version, too.

I don't like change for change's sake, and I sure wish the original versions would become available on DVD. But changes that break continuity are the worst, no?
--production

The question is, do these changes break continuity? Depends on where you're standing. Word on the street has it that George Lucas has some explanation concerning if your Jedi self does or doesn't age in the dark side, and as such, we would see the young 'un. It's also possible he decided it would be easier for audience members to identify the now-dead Anakin with the version of him they saw in two movies rather than a version of him they saw for two minutes... and at that point, he was scarred and bruised and otherwise anemic.

In the 1983 and 1997 versions, he also looks different as a spirit than he does at death-- different outfit, he has hair, etc. So any way you slice it, something's odd here... it's just odd that dying really seems to have taken off the years in the new 2004 cut.

5. Besides the exclusion of the stormtrooper, is there any difference between the Galactic Heroes Millennium Falcon and the first run Playskool Millennium Falcon? And are there any plans to make more of the "chunky style" vehicles in this new line?
--Christen

While we have yet to crack open the new version of the vehicle and compare sound effects, the parts included and the toy appear to be the same. The only thing missing is the Stormtrooper figure, which will be released as a two-pack for Galactic Heroes.

The next Galactic Heroes vehicle will be an electronic upgrade of the X-wing Fighter at some point in late 2004 or early 2005... most likely 2005. Beyond that, nobody knows, but as you know the Galactic Hunter staff has their fingers crossed for the Slave I. And I personally am hoping to see a Snowspeeder or some super-chunky AT-AT or AT-ST.

6. I found the recently released OTC Greedo (#22) today at Target. I noticed that the red Imperial symbol was not in the upper left corner on the front of the card. The name is on a red background, and the back of the card has red... Both of these aspects are in line with the rest of the imperial figures - just no symbol on the front. I thought I had read that Hasbro was assigning figures to one affiliation or the other even if they are neutral such as Jawas and Tusken Raiders... This leads me to three conclustions:

1) Hasbro has decided to leave the card blank for those not associated with either side. 2) It is an error and will not be corrected. 3) It is an error and will be corrected.

Personally, I never understood why the symbol was ever added becase this figure proves how much better the card looks without anything in that corner. Since this is Q&A, I better ask the question... What is your take on this?
--Michael

It's the first one. These aren't Imperial characters so they have no Imperial logo. Props to Hasbro for not over-generalizing here. I think this is more or less a good thing, and I agree the figures look far better with no faction logo in the corner. It's something they should have on TransFormers and G.I. Joe, but Star Wars has so many factions and technicalities-- especially when you get into the Prequels-- that it could get ugly. (But after seeing the packaged Prequel figures on the black packaging, well, we know it doesn't.)

7. Do you know if the Battlefront Scout Trooper is only going to be available with copies of the Lucasarts game in the USA, or will it also be available overseas?
--Darkbill

Well, everything's available on eBay, and frankly, you might be better off getting it there-- the game costs US$49.99, and odds are the figure alone will probably go for less than that. (I daresay as little as $20-$30.) Also, the Fan Club has expressed interest about selling this figure, and odds are the Star Wars Shop may as well-- so, patience pays unless you really want a USA copy of Battlefront, in which case I advise you contact a fan in the USA to buy it for you and send it your way.

8. Also, with the announcement of OTC Naboo and Coruscant themes does that mean we will only see the figures announced at Comic Con in those waves. The planet waves that started with Hoth, Tattooine etc seem to have been whittled down to fewer and fewer figures in each wave. Three for Bespin, and now only two for Naboo. Weren't there supposed to be Ultra figures to accompany all of these waves? I mean the re-released Kamino Ultra figures didn't even have link to a Kamino wave of basic figures? Do you think the sudden rush to get figures re-released for the DVD release has had an impact on these plans? It looked that Hasbro had a good gameplan for the release of 'new' basic figures in the planet 'themes' - all the Jabba's Palace figures were great - but now that seems to have been put on the backburner?
--Findlay

I believe Hasbro originally said that for the Saga part of the line in 2004, they planned to do about 7 Ultra figures to tie in to each planet. Obviously, this didn't quite work as the C-3PO Escape Pod figure shipped alongside Hoth, and there was no Kamino wave for Fett and Kenobi to tie in with, so it's possible their plans changed or they just wanted to end Ultra early. We really don't know. I wouldn't doubt that the DVD releases had an impact because, if what I'm inferring is right, they found out about it right after Comic Con 2003.

What this could mean to us is that there's a bundle of cool msotly-done figure concepts ready to go, so here's hoping it means that 2005 will get awesome as it winds down. That, or the "final" figures on the OTC packaging from the prequels are some of the remaining "lost" Saga figures.

9. Once again I am baffled by Hasbro's "improvements." The Vintage figures are supposed to be the best versions ever, yet they keep dropping the ball. That R2 is so disappointing. For twice the price of a regular figure, we're once again getting an R2 with no retractable 3rd leg. Heck, to me it looks like none of the ankles are articulated. No sensorscope. How come Hasbro keeps messing this up, even after they've gotten it right on other astromech figures?

My second complaint is a similar one: how come they couldn't give Lando a patterned cape like they did with the POTJ version? Another step back, in my opinion.

Last one isn't a complaint, but how articulated is the VOTC C3PO supposed to be? The website says neck, shoulders and hips, but I would hope that his knees, waist, and ankles are also movable. Any word on this?
--Michael

One thing we have to remember is that Hasbro isn't nearly as anal as we are about these things and as such, we need to remember they will forget stuff here and there. R2-D2 has no retractable third leg... but he does have a removable one. And a sensorscope. And I'm not entirely sure about ankle articulation. (Not a big fan of the vac metal dome, but whatever, he looks godo therwise.) Most of what you're paying for is presentation, anyway.

As far as Lando goes, well, mistakes are made... as are running changes. For all we know the figure might be altered between what we see now and what hits the store shelves, like the early boxed blue 12" Boba Fetts. Altering the fabric isn't a huge deal, and could probably be changed quickly. (Keep in mind Lando and C-3PO are in the second wave of ESB figures, so it's not impossible to think we could see a few minor changes.)

As far as C-3PO goes, It hink we're seeing reduced articulation because it's probably hard to make super-posable vac-metalized figures due to the plastic becoming increasingly brittle through the process. But, again, we don't have a finished sample to play with and complain about yet, so as always... wait and see. I haven't been that disappointed with Hasbro this year outside the Obi-Wan Kenobi vintage figure, and frankly, if all I have to deal with is a couple of stinkers, I'd say that's a pretty good year.

10. Is there anything unique about the figure that comes with the Red Leader X-Wing? If I lined him up against the other rebel pilots would he clearly be different?
--Paul

Not really. Basically, he's POTJ/OTC X-wing Luke's body with the POTF2 Y-Wing Pilot's head. A figure with similar decoration but the same construction will be sold with the OTC Y-Wing fighter instead of just repacking in the Saga Dutch Vander figure, making a rare instance that Hasbro decides to use a significantly inferior figure as a pack-in.

FIN

Still hammering away at this OTC list for you guys... and apartment hunting, and trying not to get sick. So, thanks for yer patience, and see you in seven! Keep those questions rolling in, and who knows-- maybe we could go back to two Q&A columns a week again.

That's all for this week. So get those questions in for next week, and if you could put "Q&A" in the subject line, that would greatly help my email filters find your message. Just email me with your inquiry, and we'll see what we can do.