1. I was just wondering if you knew if Hasbro was planning on making a stormtrooper from the legacy era, you know, the ones with the slanted eyes? I just got into the Legacy series, and those guys are awsome! Maybe Hasbro could make a comic pack with an imperial knight and a new stortrooper! That would be awsome.
--Armen

While I have seen a lot of requests for toys from Legacy, Hasbro has made no plans known for such a figure (or figures) yet. Personally, I'd be pretty stoked to see things like a Quarren Sith, a Zeltron, an Imperial Knight, or even a Titanium Series release of The Wheel. Right now, your best bet is to keep asking-- Hasbro. Not me. I'll be asking Hasbro too. (We'll have to work together on this one.) If Hasbro's line of Star Wars Comic Packs continues to do well, I'm sure this series is going to come up as a strong possibility soon. While there are mixed reviews about the story, I can't argue with the desire to see the character designs as toys-- pretty much every new person looks like it would make a fun toy.

2. What are, in your opinion, the best and worst modern Star Wars figures by Hasbro, and why do you feel that way?
--Ryan

This brings up an interesting question-- define "modern." Some collectors have started drawing a line in the sand around 2000, saying the POTF2 and Episode I figures (that is, the Kenner stuff from the 1990s and the early Hasbro stuff) is "old" while everything else is "new" or "modern."

These people are wrong.

Most figures, I think, are more or less good for what they aspire to be. Sometimes they aspire to be cheap. Others, they're meant to be action-packed toys for a 5-year-old boy. I don't have the crazy hangup of some fans that if a figure isn't super-articulated and perfect in every way that it's bad, but there are times it looks like Hasbro decided to do a less-than-wonderful job. For example, Snow Padme from this year's Ilum Battle Pack. On one hand, the set is fantastic-- for $20, you get five figures, three of which were never previously available. On another, the C-3PO is wrong (should be AOTC), Padme is a little wonky, and... well, that's all I got. I wouldn't have a problem with that particular Padme if Hasbro intends on doing a new version later, which is sort of sick, really. The soft goods hood is a little too beefy for my liking, and it would be nice to have a figure that was a little more subdued overall-- but hey, for the price? She's pretty good. (Especially as I saw several of the set for under $5. Bless the clearance aisle.)

I would say most good figures are defined by either value or overall awesomeness. The Holographic Leia figure from 2005 isn't awesome, because it cost me like fourteen bucks and it doesn't have any paint or a gun-- if anything, it should have been cheaper. For $5-$7, though, my expectations are pretty low. Looking over the past year, sure, some of the figures were boring because they weren't exactly super-new, but very few newly sculpted figures would I call bad. Although I can nitpick at missed opportunities, like not doing a variant when one makes sense (Han Solo's carbonite in a non-melting color?) but looking over the past two years, I really had to think about the worst figure.

And then I remembered that exploding General Grievous figure from Revenge of the Sith. That's it, the worst figure in the modern line. Any figure that cannot hold itself together and has a crappy action feature that's the root of the problem is just a bad idea. I usually like all figures for different reasons-- even with weak plastic, fragile lightsabers, or stupid mechanisms, I can generally come up with something nice to say about any figure. But this one, as a non-stupid-repaint, as an original sculpt, it's just a bad toy. In a year where they gave us a Grievous with four slashing arms, tons of Jedi with soft goods and awesome articulation, and so much more, it really stuck out as a bad one.

As far as favorites? It's hard to pick favorites, but if I had to name five figures that I think everybody who digs the design should own: Boss Nass (Gungan Sacred Place, Power of the Jedi), Max Rebo (Max Rebo Band Pairs, Power of the Force), Han Solo (Vintage, Original Trilogy Collection), Luke Skywalker (Dark Empire, Expanded Universe), and Myo (Post-Original Trilogy Collection). It's not that other figures aren't necessarily better, it's just that I like these figures so much that when they came out, they made such a good impression on me that I can't say enough nice things about them. Although sure, Hasbro could update Dark Empire Luke, but I'm just amazed that they made one in the first place.

3. Time to ask a question about everybody's favourite subject: the environment!

I'm a toy-opener. The result of this is that my hobby generates an enormous amount of waste, which is something that I am becoming more and more aware of as time goes by, and is directly impacting my willingness to buy toys - if I bought 50 Star Wars figures last year, I'll buy less than half that this year because the environmental impact pushes the whole thing into "not worth it" territory.

Do you know what the recyclability of the current blister card bubbles is? I'm having a lot of trouble tracking an answer down on that. And in terms of spitballing, do you think modern toy companies could ever be petitioned into using less impactful materials in their packaging? A Pirates of the Caribbean figure package, for example, comes apart into so many clamshells, bubbles, twist-ties, and other pieces of plastic that you could almost build a small house out of the parts. :)

I realize it's just not an issue for most collectors, but it's on my mind lately and I'm interested in your thoughts.
--Matt

As I'm keen on saying, if you really care about the environment, odds are this is not a good hobby for you. Consumer products in general have loads of wasteful packaging, and our favorite toy line is no different.

The packaging itself is recyclable, so says the little logos and emblems on the cardback. (The little green and blue symbols actually do have meanings for various organizations-- the green one has to do with, I'm told by my boss, companies paying some sort of fee and recycling stuff. I can say that I'm not exactly green enough to know all the ins and outs.) I believe these are designed to be accepted by recycling plants but because of how so few of us sort our garbage and how so many of us seem to leave empty packages in the parking lot (seriously, Toys "R" Us customers, knock it off) it seems that the end consumer doesn't care-- and rightly so, as the target consumer is about 6.

The vintage 1978-1985 packaging is probably the best for the environment. One piece of cardbard, one piece of tape, a plastic bubble, and that's it-- if Hasbro went back to that, sure, it could be a little better. Better still is the Battle Pack, because there's a lot of wasted space on a basic figure package. (Look at the Battle Droids 2-pack-- you can put two figures on there easily.) Things like presentation at retail are very important to Hasbro, though, as that's how you market the toy to kids and parents who didn't make the decision to buy the toy six months before it was first sighted in a store.

If Hasbro really wants to save the economy-- and boost profits-- I'd like to suggest a price increase, and a value proposition. G.I. Joe ran from 2000 to 2005 by selling figure two-packs, which drastically cut down on the amount of packaging needed at retail, reduced shelf space, increased the cost of the product, but gave us more for our money. (What's better-- $5 for one figure, or $6 for two?) So Hasbro, I say to you bring back the two-pack. That second figure can be an army builder, so you can use the same mold time and again-- putting Battle Droids, Stormtroopers, and other such figures would be one heck of a nice pack-in bonus, and I'd be happy to drop a few extra bucks per wave to get more figures and have less overall packaging be generated in the process. Comic Packs are a great start, let's make the whole line like that-- the amount of cardboard that will be saved alone will be huge.

That or, you know, put them in glass bottles. Or start requiring a deposit on consumer product packaging like they do on bottles of water/soda/whatever here in California.

Let's see that happen for the Clone Wars line from the TV show. Every figure should be packaged with a Clone or Trade Federation Droid of some sort, anyway. "Complete the play pattern" or what have you.

4. Budgeting question: I foresee the upcoming need to temporarily cut back on how much I spend on my, uhhh, habit...you know, the 3 3/4 inch habit? And I was wondering if you thought that if in a year or two when I try to play catch up, if it would be wiser in general to haved passed on the vehicles or on the less popular action figures (sculpts that are either just tweaked or even newer versions of some of the more commonly done characters...Han, Vader, etc.). I'm guessing there isn't a simple answer to this. I'm guessing that I should just use my best judgement and buy only what I really really like and can't live without. But sometimes that's hard when you would really really like EVERYTHING Hasbro churns out and feel you can't live without one of each and you find yourself telling yourself you need to get it now before it disappears and goes for 10 times that amount on ebay!! So if you had to generalize, and I had to try to be coldly calculating about this for the time being, do you think that it's harder to get the vehicles on the secondary market down the road, both in terms of availability and increased cost...and that I should spend that money now to save money later and pass on more of the figures? Or just keep buying the new figure waves by the case, works out to be a bit cheaper per figure, and skip the vehicles? I'm thinking you're going to tell me to try to use my experience and judge what the secondary market is likely to see as hot and buy that now, regardless of whether it a vehicle or a figure, but in your own experience, do you think I could generalize somewhat to be able to approach it more rationally in this time of budgetary contraint?
--Robert

I think budgets are a bad thing in a collecting hobby-- it's usually better just to streamline what you do (or don't) buy. That and it's hard to say what today's clearance fodder will be worth tomorrow-- I mean, sure, I got some Ambush on Ilum packs for $4.24 each, but I don't think I'll see them for that ever again down the road.

When it comes to 3 3/4-inch stuff, I eventually get it all-- the few items I passed on (or couldn't find) are still on my wish list are, thankfully, cheap-- but some aren't. For example, if you wanted Meena Tills with the "cream" colored face, it'd cost you. If you wanted an AT-ST in 1995, they were super-common, and most fans wanted to see them go away forever. (Thus starting the proud collector tradition, which is "as soon as I get mine, take the damn thing off the market.") Then it shot up to like $60. And now? $24.

What it really boils down to is patience and effort. I personally think that if I took a year off, I'd quit. With over 200 figures in stores in 2007 alone (between exclusives and everything), it would be damn near impossible to keep everything straight-- is one Qui-Gon different from another? Do I already have that Darth Vader? It's ridiculous.

As I'm trying to write about figures as part of my hobby (which is buying figures), I want to get everything. But why should you? If you're on a budget, things like food, gas, rent, and other things are probably better uses of your funds. That, and most things go on eBay for less, not more, than their original price. Even with a few "rare" figures vehicles, I'm sure you could get a complete set of toys from 1995-present, piece by piece, for about half of what it cost at Toys "R" Us and so forth. (Some guy on eBay sold a lot of the POTF2 Falcon, Landpseeder, AT-ST, Speeder Bike, Skyhopper, and TIE Fighter for $56. In stores, that would have cost you about $130.)

If a $7 figure-- or 60 $7 figures-- are bad for your budget, this is not necessarily the best time to buy. You never know what will or won't be popular, but there's one thing I do know-- odds are nothing will be really valuable until we get to that "final series" whenever that is, and figures get really bad distribution, like Asia and Canadian Kay-bees only or something.

I guess I don't know what your goal is. It seems almost any figure that comes out today will come out again tomorrow, only better or cheaper. If you missed Labria and Nabrun Leids in 1998, Wal-Mart just got better ones a few months ago. If you missed Boba Fett in 1996, well, they made one a kajillion times better, and as of this Summer, it'll even come with a coin.

If I were you, and I assume what you are is cheap (not in an insulting way), do this. 1. haunt clearance racks. 2. wait for sales. 3. when the clearance rack is hot and sales are good, buy lots of goodies and trade for what you need. I waited to get in to Transformers Armada, for example, until there were a lot of "buy X get Y" sales. I even waited to get some Cybertron toys until they were 75% off because, well, sometimes I can't justify buying something unless the deal is there. Given that the secondary market seems to be largely a non-issue these days, there's probably little to no harm in waiting a year or two and just getting older stuff on eBay super cheap, or just live without it. Enjoy the $10 Celebration III Darth Vaders, but skip the $71-$110 Clone Wars Anakin Jedi Starfighters. If you don't collect them all, but just buy the really good (and cheap) stuff, you can build quite a healthy sized collection by being picky.

...but still, don't be stupid if you know something is good. If you're a big fan of Knights of the Old Republic, go out and buy those figures when you see them to show your support for the brand. If they don't do well, and those are the only two that get made, I can almost guarantee you they'll be joining Anakin's Clone Wars Jedi Starfighter in the Halls Of Stuff That Costs Too Much.

5. What is your initial impression of the upcoming 'G.I. Joe: A real American hero 25th anniversary' line (From what we've seen so far)? I noticed that the 25th anniversary 'ARAH' figures have an MSRP of $6.00, while Hasbro's similarly themed 'Star Wars' VOTC/VTSC figures retail for $10-12. Is that price discrepancy due to the VOTC/VTSC figures having clamshells? The fact that Hasbro licenses 'Star Wars' whereas they created (I think) G.I. Joe? Both? Neither?
--Anthony

Well, I like them enough to waste the valuable time of a few thousand of you who read this. I've preordered the first batch of them and am quite eager to get my paws on them and the Pimp Daddy Destro they're making for Comic-Con. It looks very promising, from the packaging to the toys, even though I probably own all of those characters from the G.I. Joe comic packs sold a few years ago.

So, why is Hasbro charging more for the Vintage figures? Because you'll pay for it. It's the same reason the "Lava Reflection" figures were $13. We're suckers, Hasbro realizes this-- sure, the figures cost a twinge more than some basic figures, but the price of a clamshell is virtually negligible. What you're paying for is presentation and hype, the vintage figures aren't really that much more expensive than a normal basic figure. ("Vintage" C-3PO has less articulation than any C-3PO from 1995 and beyond. Deluxe figures sometimes come with a freaking vehicle for the same price point.) Basically, the "Vintage" product is a collector's line, and is marketed and priced accordingly. Sure, some kids will get it, but you're paying for nostalgia. If fans balked at $6.99-$7.99 for basic figures, odds are those would be cheaper too.

The license has something to do with it, but a 25th Anniversary Joe is about $6 and a Vintage SW figure is about $10-$12. The figures from Star Wars certainly aren't twice as good as far as articulation goes, and if/when they are released in the basic assortments, they cost $6.99. So yeah, the vintage figures do cost a little more than the Joes, but not that much more.

6. I bought the Wave 2 Comic Packs - Obi Wan and Arc Trooper early last week and tried the helmet on this Arc Troopers. You were right the head of the Arc Trooper comes off easily as you pull of the helmet. It seems the problem is either the head balljoint is too small or the hollow part of the head is too big. Anyway, I got around it by swapping the head from TAC Airborne Trooper.

Here are the cool results:
- the head of TAC Airborne Trp. fits perfectly on this Arc Trooper and now, if the helmet base is carefully pulled off then the head will not come off at all so it grips stronger than the original Arc Trp. head. Also the head of TAC Airborne Trp. has slightly orangy/red eyes so I really like to have this on the ARC Trp.and suits his character in the Comic.

- the head of this Arc Trp. also fits perfectly on TAC Airborne Trp. and I kinda like it having one of my TAC Airborne Troopers with a slight face variation (slightly scarred). The helmet of Airborne Trp. might be a bit loose but it still well grips onto the head.
--Chris

Thanks for the suggestion, Chris! I'll have to go and try this.

7. I have a question about Star Wars 3 3/4" Action Figures distribution. I live in Hawaii and I know the drill about us being a little behind the mainland in receiving the latest waves of figures. I have noticed that K B Toys hasn't been getting a lot of new stuff coming in. By my estimation each store gets ONE new box of figures every 3 WEEKS! None of the K B Toy stores have received new Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica Titaniums in several months! My question is, why aren't they getting more new stuff? Does Hasbro decide how much to give each store or does each K B Toy store order what it thinks it can sell?
--Jason

Distribution is largely determined by The Corporate Overlords. It's a mix between Hasbro and the stores, if you want to know who to blame. Some stores ask for tons and tons of stuff, but Hasbro send what they want to when they feel like it, plus the store Corporate Overlords dictate which store gets how many of something. Your neighborhood Target isn't able to go directly to Hasbro and say "I need five cases of this 30th Anniversary Wave 2," they can just put in a request for corporate that says "We need more Star Wars" and corporate will probably ignore the request.

Also, I don't know your neighborhood, but depending on where you live, it's often very unlikely that nothing new has shipped in months. Here in LA, I can tell you that if you don't go to the store every couple of days, you're going to miss stuff-- it was there, it's just when you have something like Titanium where all the Battlestar Galactica ships are one-per-case, all it takes is one collector to buy out an entire store. As much as we like to think we're unique, we aren't-- there are tens of thousands of toy fans, scalpers, dealers, and gift givers out there who are looking for the exact same stuff you are, and if there aren't many stores in your area, it wouldn't surprise me at all if some of these items never even make it out to the store floor.

It's a very imperfect system, but it's also worth noting that most Kay-Bee stores kinda suck anyway-- Kay-Bee and Kmart are the two worst of the "top five" toy chains in the USA, the others being Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us. Since moving to LA, I've crossed off the accursed K stores off my weekly hunting list because even when I hit them several times a week, usually I don't find what I want or if I do, it costs a lot more. But that's another issue. For your issue, I have an ugly four letter solution for you: eBay.

8. I'm sure you've seen the Vader inspired japanese armor. The armor and helmet are completely amazing and I'm sure a lot of people would love to get their hands on this but that's pretty unlikely considering how expensive it is. What do you think the odds are of the design getting put into a 3 3/4" or 12" figure? With the McQuarrie figures hitting stores now it would seem to fit in with them fairly well. I'm not sure what the legal wranglings are for that specific design (is this idea even possible?) and Hasbro has announced a lot of their stuff for this year so I wouldn't expect it anytime soon, but what do you think? I could very easily see it as an online exclusive through shop.starwars.com or some other e-tailer. This design, to me, seems to be screaming for a figure with some real fancy packaging. Getting it as a custom figure seems the most likely way to go, however.
--Dan

I've got a question for you all-- is this something you really want?

Back in 1995, everybody was kidding around that in this day and age, we'd see Ninja Luke, Neon Pink Leias, and Samurai Vader. Lucas has been really good about saying "no" to a lot of wacky ideas, but lately they've been a little more receptive to the truly unusual. After all, McQuarrie Concept figures? Black Stormtroopers? Purple Elseworlds Jedi Trainee Leia? We're getting all of this stuff these days, so it seems the walls of the truly outlandish have been torn down.

That said, there's currently zero word of anything like this coming out. If fan rumbling and demand is high, you could someday see a figure inspired by these designs-- but you never know what or when. Maybe Medicom will look at this and go "oh man, we should totally crank one of these things out for like $150 a whack."

As far as exclusives go, well, let me give you a mini-lecture here. Online exclusives, especially ones with new molds, are expensive to make and require the store to commit to many many many thousands of units. There aren't nearly as many fans who will buy absolutely anything these days, so one has to be cautious when it comes to a smaller store (like Shop.Starwars.com) taking on a weirder exclusive. If Wal-Mart took it and it failed, it wouldn't matter to their bottom line. If a little guy took it, it'd be a pretty big deal.

Personally, I see Samurai Darth Vader as a slippery slope-- the very notion of introducing Earth-y elements into the line makes me squeamish and reminds me of Baseball Spider-Man and other horrible releases from Toy Biz. Maybe one would be cool-- it's a neat design. But what will come around the corner if the line has run out of steam and imagination to the point where there's nothing new and exciting left to do from the films, comics, or concepts? Still, if you want to see it, pester Hasbro. They're all ears when it comes to new versions of core characters, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if this Q&A column or you (or someone) bugging them at a convention actually sparked something like this to happen.

9. Does Hasbro have any plans to do anything with the ROTS #6 Quick Draw Clone mold anytime soon? I think that's a great and under used mold and would be great in a battle pack or something.
--sithlord

Hasbro has made no plans known to use this mold again. I agree, it's a good one, far better than it's given credit-- after all, this figure can sit down without warping the legs (let's see you do that, Mr. Fancy Super Poseable Mold!) If new Battle Packs continue to surface, I'd expect to see it again. But on a basic card? Hasbro seems afraid to go back to it.

10. I [snip] am no longer a figure-collecting completist. How many Vaders, Anakins, Obi-Wans, Lukes and Hans does a guy need? Now I only go for obvious upgrades or costume changes per film, and I'm a loose figure collector. I take all my stuff out of the box eventually, and I dig setting up displays. Who doesn't, right?

So last week I was setting up the Coruscant speeder chase scenario, and I could not for the life of me find an AOTC Obi-Wan and Anakin (in the correct costume) that could sit in their yellow "cab" speeder (who remembers all these vehicle names?). Ditto that for finding a decent Zam Wessel that will "sit" in her speeder.

I ended up settling for AOTC "Coruscant Chase" Obi-Wan, and the AOTC "Tatooine Attack" Anakin, both of which have their legs spread too far apart to sit in the vehicle together (but you can have Obi-Wan straddling both seats, while Anakin is starting his leap out). Are there other AOTC versions of these characters that were released that I may have missed that have the correct costumes for the scene and which can actually sit in the vehicle?? For Zam, I have (the only?) two versions of her, and since there really isn't a "seat" for her, either one seems to work just as clumsily well.
--Jim

What you buy and why you buy it is really up to the collector-- for example, I buy everything. If it's different, I buy it-- variations included. Yes, I do need every version of these figures-- but I do it so I can answer questions like yours, write Figure of the Day, and have something to play with while I'm watching TV and I get bored.

The Speeders suck. That's the first thing you need to know. Hasbro totally wasted their development budget on those two vehicles because NO FIGURE can fit in Zam's Speeder properly, or perhaps I'm just too stupid to figure it out. Anakin's Speeder seems designed for the vintage figures from 1982 or perhaps G.I. Joes. If you're really interested in completing this scene, I suggest Evolutions/Tin AOTC Anakin and ROTS Obi-Wan (Pilot), but with Obi-Wan, swap the head from the recently released comic book pack (the one with ARC Trooper Alpha).

What you really need to do is just realize that the Speeders are the two single worst "toys" Hasbro has made in the modern line. They were not designed to be played with action figures. They look OK, and the yellow Anakin Speeder is a nice vehicle to look at on a shelf. They're just rotten, horrible playthings and this sort of thing didn't seem to happen at all with Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, or other toy lines in the 1980s. Why companies have started to have the play factor take a back seat to how it looks or what it costs really ticks me off, because if you can't have a figure pilot a vehicle, why design the vehicle with a seat anyway?

FIN

I'm having what we in the business call "a bad day." As such, I'll leave you at this and hope that my future doesn't eat me alive before the long con weekend, where it looks like I'll be doing remote coverage (as in, I probably won't be able to get there) from the home office.

But hey, Starcraft II. Eh? Eh???

Got questions? I bet you do. Email me with "Q&A" somewhere in the subject line and hopefully I'll get to yours in the next column!

Click here to read the previous installment of Galactic Hunter Q&A!