Galactic Hunter.com's Star Wars Q&A with Adam Pawlus
January 16, 2006

1. the new mini holographic figures from the saga collection, are they pieces from a chess game or something; their poses and the symbols on the bottom of each suggest they may be?
--Jared

While the stamp-like symbols on the bases and total lack of copyright information make these seem like there might be more to them, it seems that there really isn't. The character selection, abundance of Lightsabers, and pawnlike poses for the Troopers does seem suspicious, but it does not appear that this was the intent. Still, I guess it's one step closer to having Star Wars holographic game pieces. Just not the ones I want. (Cough cough Mantellian Savrip cough.)

2. I don't know if anyone has raised this point, in the detailed list of questions we get every month...

...but have any of the Wise People at Lucasfilm given any plausible explanation as to why technology in trooper firearms and armour seems to be going backwards instead of forwards from the Clone Wars to the Original Trilogy?

For example, clone troopers in AOTC and the animated series wield repeater rifles that fire significantly faster than anything we've seen a stormtrooper handle in films IV-VI.

In addition, why would any self-respecting Empire go from camouflaged green trooper armour (used on Kashyyyk) to glaring white "sitting duck" armour for scout troopers on Endor?

Lucasfilm seems to find explanations for almost any discrepancy between the two trilogies these days...so have they commented on this one?
--John

It's a similar scenario to Trek's evolving designs for the Borg and Klingons from the TV shows to the movies to more modern TV shows, really. I don't believe there is (or will be) an in-Universe explanation as to why as it basically boils down to "we didn't think of this 20 years ago."

As far as I know, we've never really seen an in-depth treatise from Lucasfilm on the Trilogy Military uniforms, their purposes, etc. For all I know white might be ceremonial at this point, or "the cheap stuff" and what was used when they aren't expecting to meet a lot of resistance, or it doesn't matter. (White seemed perfectly fine for the Tantive IV, Could City, Hoth, and the deserts of Tatooine. Endor is where it gets weird.) Could it be an issue of army vs. navy vs. other? Reduced budgets from Coruscant's Pentagon? Or the fact that they had white armor on the shelf and the Emperor set up Endor to be some "oh aren't we clever for discovering this" thing for the Rebels anyway?

At work, there's been people chatting about how they think George will revisit Star Wars as a whole again and pepper the originals with new Stormtrooper designs. I dunno. Basically, trying to find a fictional answer to explain why two generations of filmed space warfare are different is tough to do, and frankly I'm fine with the answer I usually heard about the Klingons: yes, they're different, let's move on shall we?

3. I was wondering if you could offer a little background/history on vintage star wars repo weapons. I have recently begun to collect vintage star wars figures and I hear a lot about repo weapons. Are these weapons of good quality? If they are should I be concerned? I even noticed you can buy vinyl capes for jawa's which seems like a great economical way to get that figure at a reduced price. After all, it's only a plastic cape! What are your thoughts on this?
--Chris

As a rule, repro vintage weapons tend to be more brittle than the orginals. I assume if you handled a lot of original weapons in your day, you'd be able to tell the difference-- the few repro items I've seen and knew were repros felt and looked pretty obvious.

Of course, as a collector who's been at this since I was a kid, I don't like repro parts. I don't believe everyone is entitled to mint, complete, perfect figures at rock-bottom prices because too many collectors are a) too uninformed and b) too unethical to appropriately identify reproduction items as such. Sticker sheets, well, I'm a hypocrite there-- I think repro sticker sheets are OK, as they're usually pretty obvious. But parts? I'd rather not see them. If you really want to collect Vintage over modern, prepare to get what you pay for. With people making reproduction 12-back figures and fake POTF coin carded figures, this is the kind of thing that really ticks me off. While some don't care (and this is me speaking as a loose collector), there's something special about knowing you have an original, cool toy from 10, 20, or 30 years ago that's exactly as it came off the production line. That's why people pay a premium for it-- the toy itself is basically crap, it's the fact it's something old, special, and in some cases, rare that makes it interesting.

4. I was just wondering what your thoughts were on new figures of deleted characters(Bigg's(with cape), Windy, etc, Lando at end of empire(falcon cockpit), Leia at end of Empire (medical frigate), white dressed imperial admiral (Death star)etc.... They could all be repaints for crying out loud, instead of even new sculps of old figures with same costumes. Hasbro how about something truly different in the 3.5 line instead of just new packaging???? Pretty soon it will be only the true obsessed completist that will be buying the stuff when the little boy has moved on to something trendy and sophisticated and we're really only talking about boys here too?
--Rob

What is it with people and repaints? Paint can't give someone a new head sculpt or the right costume. Repaints are good for Clones and Droids and really that's about it.

Deleted scene figures are something I'm sure we'll see more of as there are some, but not tons, of great designs in the non-movie arena. We've gotten a few every few months and we're getting the first-ever Luke-with-poncho from Tatooine in a few months, so there's a precedent this year.

As far as not appealing to kids, it's not just kids. Or completists. You have to sell to everybody. I just got my hands on the first wave of Saga and I think on the whole they did it-- typically when Hasbro did a set of 4 or 5 new sculpts in a wave, fans complained about two of them and went nuts over the rest, and usually the ones we liked were bad sellers. Hasbro hasn't sold a basic carded Luke figure since the first months of 2005, and a new one won't be available until, at the earliest, May or June. Kids also really like the prequels and I'll be damned if I can find any prequel figures at most stores these days, so here's hoping they get more of those out there too.

Obscure characters are what we need to stay interested. I have no doubt about that. But there's still people out there who are just getting into collecting, or kids who just want a dozen or so figures to play with and that'll be that. I personally think Hasbro is doing exactly what it needs to be doing with the slight exception of not enough NEW aliens. With 5 waves revealed so far, there are very few 100% new never-before-an-action-figure figures, and that kinda worries me. But just watch, Hem Dazon will be a poor seller.

Main characters are usually good sellers and a good safety net for Hasbro. There will always be kids that want a Luke or a Han or a Vader, or adults. So if push comes to shove, you can clearance out those figures and they will be bought. Ellors Madak and Ketwol proved that obscure aliens, no matter how cool looking, can't move if forced at gunpoint if nobody but us cares.

5. Hello, my local Targets have received the 2006 wave 1 figs. I am tired of the rehashing of old figs, but that's another story. The main question I have is--Are these twelve holograms all they will do? and how many waves are they doing these through. I mainly wanted to know if I need to pick all 12 up now or can I wait for waves two and three to stretch out the 12. For example with wave one I would need two of each fig to get all 12. Just wondering.
--JOE

Right now the plans that I've heard say there will be 12 holographic figures in 2006, and that's it. So if you can wait for future waves, you'll likely be fine-- just as long as people don't steal them. (The first 2006 figureI saw at at retail had someone ripped off the holo bonus figure. It was a Bib Fortuna at a Wal-Mart.)

6. Hey I was wondering about somethings I recently found in my attic. I found the 1977 Star wars comics # 1-5 i also found raiders of the lost ark #2 and 3 i guess what my question is how much do you think these are worth? they are in mint condition brand new in plastic cases.
--Mike

Not much, old comics aren't exactly in high demand as they've been reprinted quite a bit. Check eBay as it's the best price guide available these days.

7. I was wondering if you could touch upon the mentality of a select group within the Star Wars collecting community, the Òrotten apple,Ó with some commentary in hopes we can tone it down some. The Òrotten appleÓ is basically the person who goes out of his way to scalp, hoard, damage merchandise, or switch the items in the packaging and return them. I recently came across the Carkoon saga wave at a Wal-Mart and someone went out of their way to crumple and rip the packaging on the packages that contained either the Darth Vader, Boba Fett, or Darth Maul holographic figure, the rest was pretty standard MOC. It didnÕt bother me in the aspect of me purchasing the figures because I open my figures up, but it bugged me slightly to see that people keep this type of immature behavior going, and sometimes itÕs the 30-40+ year old collectors out there. YouÕd think people would invest all of this time and energy being more productive and profitable?
--Adam

It's toy collectors in general, as there's a lot of "entitlement" feelings out there where people think it's OK to buy a multi-pack and return it with 1 (or 6) different figures because "no one will know." Theft is theft, and those little bonus figures, about two waves in, are going to be things you throw in with trades because you'll have too many. If you buy 1 of every 2006 figure, and all there are will be 12 holo figures, and you open them all, you're going to get like 50-60 (or possibly many more, more info at Toy Fair) and likely that means you'll get at least 2 or 3 sets if you're at least trying. So when it's all said and done, these people are stealing things they'll likely want to be giving away later, unless they have a need for tiny holographic Darth Maul armies.

I think the main kick these people get is that they're screwing the store or Hasbro. Hasbro already got their money, and the store has a budget for "shrink" and damaged products. What's most likely to happen is a kid will get a figure missing pieces or a collector won't be able to get a figure they wanted. The store employees don't look for damaged items the same way we do, they won't even notice swap-outs unless we tell them-- so to those who do it, my middle finger goes up to you. Unsold damaged product helps nobody.

8. Well in my area, there are no more Star Wars figures, except one Target has the first Saga wave. Is ROTS done shipping? I had to go easy on the toy runs the last couple months due to lack of disposable income, and it looks like I completely missed out on the last 4 figures. I also noticed Entertainment Earth has cancelled several waves. So what's the word?
--Brian

It's a weird answer, but I do have an answer. One thing I've learned lately is that how much, as a collector, we really don't know-- so read on!

Several waves are indeed sold out at Hasbro. I think I heard there's absolutely no Collection 2 from ROTS of any kind available to order on a retail level. (It is, however, possible that closeouts could exist somewhere-- unlikely, though.) Collection 1, I'm not entirely sure about.

The Big 5 (Target, Kay-Bee, etc.) are no longer ordering it. The SKU is dead to them, but smaller stores and closeout stores are still interested, so things may still be in the pipeline. Also, there's a chance that there's still stuff in back rooms being put out. I never saw a single Tactical Ops Clone in a store until just last week at Target when it was on clearance for $2. Which, for me, works just fine.

Now the question remains, will they release them again in new packaging? I think that as the year goes on, that's not something we should ignore as a possibility. In 2003 (or was it 2004?), Hasbro released a "Hall of Fame" assortment. Hasbro has also repackaged a lot of figures that were popular for OTC-- remember how hard to get Madine, General Lando, and AT-ST Han were to get before then?

I hope Hasbro cranks out a few more Revenge repacks because there are some I never once saw in a regular store, and I hunt like a freak most of the year. (For the record, I never saw the Shock Trooper, Holo Aayla, Holo Plo Koon, the repaint Grievous Bodyguard, or the Wookiee Heavy Gunner at retail.) There's still a lot of demand out there for these, so if you missed them, start complaining to Hasbro and on forums and elsewhere. (Or look at eBay-- the going rates of some of these guys is still actually somewhat low, while your mileage may vary I consider anything sub-$10 for a figure I missed to be acceptable.)

But back to the question at hand, in the 2005-style packaging, Revenge of the Sith is over except for freak finds and clearance specials.

9. The BARC speeder comes with both Stass Allie and the BARC Trooper (Ripcord Action!). Which BARC speeder is more movie accurate? I'm not an opener so I've not seen them in full glory.
--Campbell

Well, in the movie, it had no wheel and no ripcord. And in the shots I remember, I never saw a BARC trooper driving it unless it was in the background. So I'd go with the cheaper and more clearanced Stass Allie speeder.

10. I recently saw 4 of the Carkoon wave at my local Target, and even though it's this close still after the Holidays and my money is runnin a bit thin, I almost picked them up - until I saw the price tag. Target was selling them for $6.99 a figure. The ROTS figures were $4.79 almost all year long. Is this 2 dollar a figure increase a trend you think we'll see in all stores? If that's the case, Kmart will have them for $8.99 (the ROTS are 6.99 in my area) as well as KB Toys. I have yet to see even any empty pegs at my Wal-mart yet so I can't say how their pricing is gonna go..I know we get those new mini-holograms now, but still...do you think this is a fair price, considering most of these figures have been released at some time or another (yes I know several of them are re-sculpts, and I will probably pick up a few, but I'm gonna have to be picky about which ones now with the new price tags).
--Heath

This is typical for a non-movie year. Sometimes, like during POTJ, Hasbro lowered the price but the stores all raised the prices. Last year, most stores were selling for below cost, and this year, we're seeing a "correction." Wal-Mart is charging $6, Target is $7, (EE is $6.67), and I might take a barcode around with me to see what I see elsewhere.

Is it a fair price? Does it matter? The question is, do you think they're worth the price. If not, wait for a sale or a price drop-- the market corrects itself. Or buy figures from someone who does price them in a way you deem acceptable. The going rate this year is $6-$7, though, so if that doesn't float your boat, start cutting corners or move on to some other collecting arena.

FIN

So I got Wave 1 of the Saga Collection last week and am going through those to write a review for the entire wave for, I think, Wednesday. (You can get a set from Entertainment Earth as they're in stock now and play the home game.) So far I've seen these at EE, two Targets, and a Wal-Mart. The first sighting was a Bib Fortuna with a stolen holo, the rest, so far, have been minty-fresh. (Although I must note I've only seen the first wave and have yet to see Boushh, Chewbacca, and Boba Fett outside a sealed case.) I'm biased toward original trilogy products, but I'm quite fond of these and they fit in nicely with figures like the 2004 Skiff Lando.

So for next time, 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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