Q&A For September 6, 2004

1. This is the first time Ive emailed you, but been reading your article for a long time! I heard a great rumor that maybe you can shed some light on... I've heard that the 500th figure is Vader in the chamber, BUT... as an extra, when you push his chest plate, the figure plays vaders breathing sound. This feature would be a lot like the R2D2 dagobah. Have you heard anything on this?
--Jason

The fun thing with rumors is anyone can start one. For example, I heard a rumor that Ralph Nader is a big Star Wars collector. I could have just made that up-- but did I?

The 500th Vader figure has been tossed around for months, and as of yet Hasbro has not confirmed that it will happen and no prototypes have leaked. While that would be a neat feature, I have my doubts-- mostly because as a keepsake figure, I don't think Hasbro would want to risk battery leakage.

2. Iıve been waiting anxiously in my area (Seattle, WA) for the re-release of the OTC figures on the new black cards. Iıve seen tons of VOTC figures, the new Falcon, Tie Fighters and Lightsabers with the new packaging, but no basic figures. Even more confusing is that Iım at Target one day and see the pegs empty, but the next day theyıve restocked with all of the older card figures! Iıve heard from other collectors around the country that they see similar situations. Iım willing to be patient, but Iım a bit worried that Iıve completely missed the first wave of OTC figures. Will future OTC cases contain figures from older OTC waves? Or should I not be worried at all? Is Hasbro pumping out enough of the OTC figures that I should be able to get the entire line with a decent amount of effort?
--Tim

Because I've seen pegs go from filled with OTC to completely vacant in less than 24 hours, I'd start to be a little concerned. If nothing else, I'd widen my search at this point and probably hit everywhere in the phone book, as these things come and go very quickly to the point where there are some figures it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't see much of again. While future cases will include old waves, you never know which cases your stores will or won't get-- some stores, like my local Toys "R" Us stores, are getting vintage, but I'm not seeing much in the way of basic OTC there yet. As such, I'd start doing some serious hunting. And remember, K-Mart is even getting these.

3. I think its safe to say that the Clone Trooper 3 packs were a great success. These thing flew off of the shelves within minutes every morning after my local TRU opened. I'm sure Hasbro noticed this quick seller, my question is do you think Hasbro will make Clone Trooper 3 packs for the ROTS line, I would love to see them revisit this idea rather than make more lame deluxe figures.
--BarbThomas1

While there are numerous rumors about new clone troopers from Episodes II and III, there are no indications that Hasbro would bring back the Clone Wars style three-packs just yet. Which is a shame, everybody seemed to like those.

4. What are the chances of an all-new Throne Room Luke figure? One not in such a limited action pose. There have been two, if memory serves. The first one from the Cinema Scenes 3-pack and the second one with the hunched back and angry expression on his face. Both of those figures are great, but there isn't a lot you can do with them besides duel. I'd love to do an Endor diorama with Vader and Luke (being escorted by Stormtroopers and an Imperial officer). Will we ever get a regular posable Throne Room Luke?
--Jeffrey

Well, here's the funny thing. If memory serves, when I watched ROJ last I was watching for the scene in which he no longer has his vest from the beginning of the movie... and he has it right up through when he meets with Darth Vader on Endor. As such, the Saga/OTC Luke Jedi Knight should do it for most scenes if you color his right hand black with a sharpie or something.

For the throne room Luke, well, never say never, but Hasbro did just do one last year. So I won't count on 2004 or 2005, but 2006 isn't that far away, and frankly I'd love to see Hasbro do an Endor diorama. Think about it-- some two- or three- figure sets... with Vader, an Imperial Officer, a Luke, and two Stormtroopers. Can ya get much better than that?

5. Is it possible that we have already seen our first Episode III sneak preview figure, and in fact have for over a year now? What I'm alluding to is the fact that the Unleashed Darth Sidious figure was made with Force lightning jetting from his fingertips, an action that, although clearly used by Emperor Palpatine in ROTJ, has not been seen YET from the character when referred to as "Darth Sidious". Since there have been many hints suggesting that we will see Palpatine in full Sith battle mode in ROTS, could this possibly be (if only inadvertently) our first Episode III sneak preview figure?
--RWTin2005

A lot of people, when confronted with a situation, might say in a somewhat wacky voice "ha ha, you have way too much time on your hands!" I hate that expression. But it does apply here.

I actually asked Hasbro a similar question last year because we had not once see Darth Sidious as an aged, torn-clothed, lightning-shooting madman. I said "so shouldn't this just be the Emperor?" And I was given a laugh and was told "eh, it's Darth Sidious." Seeing as how ROTS shooting did not begin when this figure was completed by Hasbro, no, it's not from the final film-- but we're all expecting something like this, aren't we?

6. i realize you are probably fed up about the number of people asking about rereleases, but how possible is it that hasbro would re release Jorg Sacul as possibly another exclusive. I really want this figure (with all his current accessories). and i find its impossible to get him within the 10 to 15 dollar price range im willing to shell out for him. Ephant Mon was the same way but i bent and dropped 25 bucks for him, but anyway...
--lowtek

Well, one of the fun things about collecting is that you aren't entitled to get anything at the price you want. If you wanted Jorg Sacul for $10, you should have gone to Indianapolis in 2002. (Of course, your travel, hotel, and excess dining expenses would undoubtedly make the figure much more expensive.) Hasbro specifically stated that they will not ever produce more of this figure due to their agreement with the people that put on Celebration II. They wanted to make more figures, but that was the order size and therefore, that's what exists.

Ol' Jorg's price has dropped a lot this year, and instead of always being around $60 he's around $30. For a low-run figure that was available for three days, $30 isn't bad. I'd gladly pay $30 for an exclusive toy from a convention I didn't want to waste my vacation time and money on.

Right now, we're in a stage in the hobby where some items are worth a lot of money (i.e., the bonus Pit Droids I still am constantly hunting for) and others aren't (POTF2 from 1995-2000.) People are complaining "rare" figures like Admiral Motti are too expensive and they sell for about $10. The thing is, that's what it's worth-- and it might go down, and it might not. Four years ago, I might say "eh, wait and see what Jorg Sacul is at this point next year." But as I now have a day job, I'd say "it's $35, eat a PB&J for lunch instead of going out a few times" or tell that this is what you I'd for Christmas. (But for the record, I have one. What I want for Christmas are Pit Droids.)

7. I've been a loose collector since Episode I, so never really cared much about packaging, but the VOTC and OTC releases have changed that. I've now jumped on the carded bandwagon--at least to some extent. What I'm wondering is whether or not the prequel trilogy figures will ever receive a similar treatment.
--Sprry75

In 2005, all figures after the initial ROTS push will be on that volcanic Vader cardback. Right now, Hasbro is talking like Trilogy product in 2005 will be minimal-- nothing solid, but there have been rumblings of giving the line a rest for a bit. I don't know if it's a gag or what, but next year may be a very light year for all Trilogy fans. (Except for the ROTS Vaders you're all sure to buy.)

8. What's up with these new Ewoks and Droids DVDs? They talk like they are doing us the hugest favor by packing TWO episodes on each DVD. A DVD holds 4.7 GB of data. They should pack the entire series as a multi-disk set, just like everybody else (e.g. Simpsons Season 1, The A-Team Series 1, Knight Rider Series 1). If they do two episodes per disk each time, it will cost us a fortune to buy them all.
--Steve

Actually, it isn't quite two episodes per DVD. It's far worse.

Instead of individual episodes, Lucasfilm made two "movies" for each series by editing 4 or 5 old episodes together and taking out all of the original music. So you aren't getting a complete series, you aren't even getting a single complete episode. Why they're afraid of season boxes, which frankly are the only way I'll buy TV on DVD, is beyond me and frankly ticks me off because I have a bad feeling these will be the only releases we see.

9. Now that it looks like we'll be seeing those second wave glass and figure sets after all, do you think it means that Hasbro will also give us an Ep III glass so that we can at least have a complete "Set" of prequel glasses?
--Anthony

Right now the future of the line is in doubt-- packaged samples don't necessarily mean anything. There were packaged samples of the second wave of Ewoks and Droids figures as well as that second wave of Cantina figures.

A couple of our non-official sources have hinted that the Episode III cup will be Darth Vader. Keep in mind we haven't confirmed that the line will even continue this long-- so while this would be nice and make sense, it doesn't mean anything yet. Although it would explain the huge gapaing hole in the cup series that is the absence of Darth Vader.

10. I've determined that my last act as a Star Wars toy collector will be assembling a complete set on MONMC OTC figures. I've seen the Stormtrooper, ROTJ Vader and Biker Scout on several occasions, but never on a decent card. Now the new assortments don't include those figures. Will these figure ship again in future assortments?
--Chris

These figures are shipping in multiple assortments, and let me tell you, I've seen a few Scout Troopers in my day on perfect cards. So keep hunting, you'll find them very, very soon!

FIN

Good questions this week. It seems the OTC toys are hitting in big numbers now, but are selling so quickly you don't even know they were there if you don't go to the same store a few days in a row. Which is good for Hasbro, and good for the store, but not so good for us. Looks like Hasbro has an insanely popular sub-line here and it's all set to end all too quickly. It's a real shame, as it seems fans are really gobbling these up despite the line being filled with repaints and repackaged figures. Presentation is everything after all!

Speaking of tangents, I decided to forward all my mail from to a Gmail account a friend of mine hooked me up with (thanks, Dan!) to see if it would weed out all my spam problems. And so far, it has-- I had two messages get through the filter so far, and no real email has been caught in the web. It appears to be a delightful service thus far, you know, until Google turns evil and takes over the world via its army of Linux servers.

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.