Q&A For July 18, 2005

1. I'm a big fan of Plo Koon, and I got to thinking about his final scene in Episode III. It may be a little far-fetched, but I thought that he might have survived the clones' attack. Sure we see a shot of him lurching forward in his cockpit with fire behind him, but maybe he ejected right then. He was definitely close enough to the city to have landed.

Anyway, I just read starwars.com's databank update on the whole Order 66 sequence and I noticed something else. In Plo Koon's updated information, it doesn't say that he died, only that his ship spun out of control and crashed. Sure this is nitpicking, but in each of the other Jedi bios it explicitly says that they were killed (see Stass, Aayla, Ki-Adi, Zett). Could Master Koon have survived?
--Scott

The final fate of Plo Koon and a lot of characters will depending on Lucasfilm Licensing and Lucasfilm Publishing. Are they needed for the TV show? Does anyone want to write a book about them? How about a comic? There's enough outs so that anyone can be revived, almost. When your intergalactic space ships goes out of control and crashes, it's a safe bet you didn't make it-- but Jedi are tough bunch, so who knows?

2. You mentioned in your recent column that you still want to see characters from all six films except for Empire, but there are two I'd really like to see:

1. Han w/ Torture Rack

2. "Dinner" Vader -- you know, the "CD-ROM" figure that was never released that came with a nifty blaster block accessory

Some might mention Lando's "smuggler" outfit, or Luke in robes and/or Leia's staring-off-into-space-at-the-end-of-the-movie outfit, but they don't seem too exciting to me. I also recall a petition for "Ice Cream Maker Guy," but I don't care to comment on that one.

What ever happened to #2? I recall an unpainted proto being sold on ebay once, but that was the last I saw or heard of it. Seems like now is as good a time as any to get new Vader figures...
--Andrew

I more or less stand by what I said. New versions of Han and Darth Vader aren't high on my wish list, nor are the Ice Cream Maker guy or Lando in Han's clothes. There are dozens of more exciting aliens, droids, troopers, and dare I say it, Expanded Universe characters.

The final fate of the CD-ROM Luke and Darth Vader (along with numerous MIA Episode I figures) remains to be seen-- there's evidence the molds still exist, but no figures in stores. It's possible Hasbro will crank these out again going forward to fill in gaps in the product line without having to create a new figure, frankly I'd be fine with that.

As far as Han with a torture rack goes, it's make for a great figure or multipack if it included some Stormtroopers and a Darth Vader. But I'm not optimistic-- the rumblings for 2006 don't indicate anything about new "Ultra" figures. Yet.

3. I've been following the questions and your comments about the death of the 12" line. Sideshow is currently running a survey/contest on their website, and one of the questions asks what license we'd love for them to produce. Any chance that if we bombard them with "12-inch Star Wars" they'd consider negotiating with Hasbro for that line?
--Annmarie

The master toy license for Star Wars was held by Hasbro, and as you no doubt now know, Sideshow got to sublet it for a few years. As such, buy their product like crazy when it hits and you'll be very glad you did.

4. I wanted to know if you think there is any chance a Hermi Odle figure could be finally made? If Djas Phur got a fig, why not this yucky background henchman in Jabba`s palace? Ever heard people wanting this guy? Seems like this guy has slipped through the cracks since `83.
--JO

Despite his well-known and ugly face, Hermi Odle is not presently rumored as a figure for 2006. The Cantina as a whole gets more respect than Jabba's Palace, so Djas Puhr probably came out of that. Also, Hermi Odle would cost more to make-- he's a larger figure, has more paint operations, would likely require more articulation, and needs special packaging. He wouldn't probably work as a "basic" figure, so he'd have to be part of a boxed set, some sort of deluxe item, or, you guessed it, an exclusive.

5. why doesn't Hasbro use "Real Scan" techonology similar to what Jakks uses on their WWE figures? Some of Hasbro face sculpts are horrible!!!
--Brett

Some of Jakks Pacific's face sculpts are horrible, too-- access to a real scan of someone's face isn't everything. Hasbro did use it for Episode II and I'm not sure if they still make use of these scans as nobody's talked about it recently. Hasbro's interesting ability to make good head sculpts (Evolutions ROTS Anakin) and crappy ones (Evolutions AOTC Anakin) at the same time is nothing short of staggering, but it can be blamed on things like paint being just a little bit off. Unpainted head sculpts usually look pretty good-- if the paint aps are bad, well, that's it, it ruins the figure. On the whole, though, there's not a lot of room to work when you're dealing with a head that small, and given the hundreds of figures I have a hard time finding too much fault in most of their recent figures in terms of face sculpt quality. Except that Evolutions Anakin from Episode II realy, really sucks.

6. Well as an army builder I'm more than happy to see the enormous amount of clones available this year. It seem's that Hasbro finally caught on that Clones sell. Why did it take them so long to figure out what all of us already knew?
--Barbara

Hasbro knew full well there's a market for Clones-- they just didn't exploit it properly, at all. In 2002, they sold a Clone pilot, a red Clone, the deluxe Clone Bike, and a sneak preview Clone. In 2003, there were 5 flavors of a 3-pack, two flavors of ARC troopers, the second deluxe Clone Bike, and the first super-posable Clone. And then they missed the boat in 2004. It seems that, on the whole, they're still figuring this one out-- frankly, I think they still don't get how fans want to buy clones because otherwise they'd have never granted Target an exclusive limited individually carded Clone Trooper. Hasbro should make fans buy 2, 3, or even 4 Clones if you're going to give someone an exclusive-- there's more money to be made for the stores and for Hasbro, scalpers are less likely to plonk down $20-$35 on an item, and fans are very very happy to get a big box of Clones. Let's face it-- honestly-- who out there is buying just one of every Clone Trooper? Sure, there's some of you, but odds are more of you are buying by the pound. There's nothing wrong with a good multipack.

Hasbro is still figuring out Clones, but they never really figured out Stormtroopers either. Army building seems to remain a bit of a mystery-- or something they want to do as a special, limited run item so you always jump when they have something for you to buy. All I can say is that I'm glad they're starting to realize what we will buy.

7. I am a collector that likes to buy at least two of everything so I can keep one in the package and open the other to look at and enjoy. On a recent hunt at my nearest Toys R Us, I found an Unleashed Stormtrooper. Since I found only one, I want to keep it in the package until I am able to find another one. While I was looking at my Stormtrooper, I noticed that I could see his bare chin under the rim of his helmet. Observing the rest of his head area I noticed that there was other places that skin could be seen and it looks as if you can take the helmet off. My question is, can the helmet be removed or do all Unleashed Stormtroopers have that detail just for looks? It really looks as if the helmet can be taken off. I haven't been able to see detailed pictures of an open Unleashed Stormtrooper figure so I don't know if they all look like that. I don't want to have to open my figure to see just to be disappointed that it is stuck on there and I opened a hard to find Unleashed figure. I made that mistake with IG-88 and haven't found another one.
--John

The first Stormtrooper unleashed figure does not have a "removable" helmet. The Han Solo Stormtrooper appears to have either a removable helmet or an alternate head-- we aren't sure yet.

8. First question -- You've mentioned knowing some of the unannounced exclusives for the holidays... any hope that we might still see a Padme Evolutions set? Or might we see any Padme figures this fall? I continue to be shocked that this major female character (with so many outfits) gets so little attention in the plastic universe. I'm also surprised that -- as beautiful as Natalie Portman is and as advanced as the scanning technology is -- the Padme figures that actually have been produced are not very attractive. Except for the first Monkeyface Leia figure, every Leia figure has been much nicer and much better painted than any of the Padmes. My daughter loves Star Wars but even she's noticed that Hasbro hasn't really captured Natalie's likeness. Anyway, sorry for the long rant -- we just want to see some new Padme figures!

Second question -- do you think we'll see the return of Cinema Scenes next year? We loved the CS -- great packaging and some cool figures that might not have been made if they had had to stand on their own. Would love to see them come back!

Third question -- with the HUGE success of ROTS worldwide, do you think Hasbro is scrambling to bring us some cool figures from ROTS that didn't make the first cut, but now look like they should be produced? (For example -- Owen and Beru with Luke & Leia, more clones in all the variations, more Wookies, the Separatists, more freaking Padmes, holographic Ki Adi Mundi, Quinlan Vos, green Kashyyk clones, etc.) I would have liked to see this entire year dedicated to ROTS, before switching to a mixture of all 6 SW films next year. I think the figures so far have been great... but it still feels like ROTS is getting a bit shortchanged.
--Guy

I know of absolutely no figures based on the likes of Natalie Portman or similar looking actresses for the purpose of handmaiden figures. There's some debate on your opinions there, but as of now, no, don't expect a Padme just yet. An Evolutions set would be awesome, but I don't even know if Hasbro wants to carry Evolutions forward just yet.

Cinema Scenes as of how they were in 1997-2000 seem to be over and done with, and while there are new special multipacks representing scenes of the saga, they aren't necessarily going to offer new figures.

Hasbro is scrambling to bring more figures from Revenge of the Sith to market-- it's my understanding that the final batch was a wee bit rushed. Some of your requests are about as likely as free money raining from the sky (no Vos, no way) but more have to come out. Revenge totally got shortchanged, but look at history. Phantom Menace figures sat around a long time and caused the entire line to need to reboot after a six month absence from stores. Attack of the Clones figures are still in retail channels at clearance prices. This is a conservative move on Hasbro's part and likely a smart one-- I'm seeing people buying a lot of boring figures (Mas Amedda) that I would never have expected to fly in a movie year because the market is hungry for new figures. So I think they know what they're doing, and of course we'll see more figures from all the movies as we go.

9. Is there any hope for a release of ROTS vinyl figures like were made in the mid to late 90s by Applause and then for ep2 by Hasbro? I loved that line and I hate the idea of only having figures for 5/6 movies.
--grinbast

There are no known plans for hollow vinyl figures from Revenge of the Sith. Dakin/In Character made some from the original trilogy in the 1990s, Applause made some from the Trilogy and Episode I from about 1995 through 1999, and Hasbro imported four of them for Attack of the Clones in 2002-- and that's been about it. I find it very unlikely that anyone has plans for more of these barring a surprise announcement from Hasbro.

10. I saw a listing on amazon.com for a star wars carrying case with figures for 24.99 due aug 15, with no pictures. Do you know anything about this?
--Roy

Nothing yet-- could be anything?

FIN

I got back to LA at about 1 AM, a big shout-out to Donald for the lift home and to Shaun and Victoria for watching the guinea pigs. And now, the news.

The next Entertainment Earth exclusive was announced and a botched version of the article I wrote explaining all about it was uploaded, but this has since been corrected. To see the FINISHED article on the Droid 5-packs, check out the appropriate section of this article. The short of it: there will be 10 new Astromech droids split across 2 packs of 5 figures each. They will be packed like and priced like the Clone Trooper sets. There will be no battle damage. Only one of these ten figures, to my knowledge, has ever been made as a toy, and that's R2-A6, which was made as a 12-inch figure for Episode I. All your other questions should be answered in this article. A full big article with pictures should be in the next full-color 100-page Entertainment Earth catalog, which you can get free with an order or get via subscription. I'm writing it and it'll have full bios of the droids as best I can find them, pictures, and all that stuff... as well as a product catalog which, well, may or may not interest you. I expect the article to be reprinted online, though, but if you get the next edition of the catalog, please do check out the droid article before placing it in the circular file.

Being an exhibitor at San Diego Comic Con is interesting. I got to see some interesting people I've wanted to meet for years (David Willis, the guy that draws Shortpacked), and I got to see Gene Simmons walk through our booth-- through it, he didn't stop, he just went out of his way to step in it for a while and then ignore anyone saying hello. I also got to meet a few of you guys-- as always, thanks for the kind words, and for those of you who have less than kind words, thanks for muttering them to yourselves and not taking time out of my working.

A number of vendors came up to me to show me new things to sell at Entertainment Earth, which is actually part of my job. Some people brought really neat concepts from overseas that involve licensed properties I'm quite excited about, and others, well, others had card games. Zzzzz. Others also tried to sell us cases of their exclusives at full price which, well, that doesn't work if you want to pass the item along to the customer at a fair price. I won't name names or anything, but it was quite enlightening to see a convention from the other side of the booth.

Additional shout outs go to: Shawn Crosby. The guy that did the H-Wing car dropped his card, modeled after a 1970s Star Wars Topps card, at our booth and I got it. I have no idea if it was meant for someone else, but I got it and I totally dig it. Another goes to Matt Doughty, a toy customizer and comic dude I stumbled on while walking the show floor looking for neat new products. Unfortunately his creations weren't actually preproduction samples, but he does good work if you're a fan of things like Microman/Micronauts and Stikfas. His "Microshow" booklet has a lot of awesome customs that I kinda wish were part of an upcoming toy line, but hey, these two talented guys need to be discovered by and hired by (and well-paid by) someone who can put their talents to work. And if they already have great jobs, I wish upon them far higher paying ones. Another shout out to the boys of the 501st, you cats are great sports.

While Titanium still bores me to tears, Hasbro did show a concept of possibly updating the Micro Collection, which is the reason I got into collecting-- as a kid, I had the whole Hoth set, and went to garage sales trying to find the rest of them. I eventually did and I'd totally love to see all-new versions, which is to say, I am not at all interested in reruns. My main gripe with Titanium is I've seen the molds before, and while Hasbro insists that the bigger Die Cast ones aren't Action Fleet, well, I'm not stupid-- I can recognize the odd design quirks in the Action Fleet X-Wing, like longer engines on the top, and these were carried over to the new toy. Only Galoob did that, as far as I know, so it kinda sticks out like a sore thumb.

For next week, just email me with your question and I'll put it in queue. (If you do not put "Q&A" in the subject line I cannot guarantee it will get through due to the high volume of spam these accounts get.)

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