1. It doesn't seem like there are any new action figures for a Han Solo fan like myself. Have you heard of any? I just got the McQuarrie Han Solo---very fired up about the purchase. Doesn't seem like there will be any other cool Han Solo figures for a while. Am I right?
--Jim

In the short term, it certainly seems that way. In 2007, there were virtually no Princess Leia figures, and I was pretty shocked that no Han or Luke figures made it into Saga Legends. 2008 seems to be a unique year in which Hasbro, so far, has decided to really mix things up a bit by focusing on what's been selling to kids and most collector-types (namely, prequel stuff and clones) and a freaking ton of Expanded Universe stuff. On the bright side, it looks like fans are going to get more video game, comic book, and other obscure figures than ever before. On the not-so-bright side, there's really nothing for old-school fans in the first few months of the year aside from that Wal-Mart Boba Fett & Sandcrawler Droid comic pack. And that's a stretch depending on your tastes.

Right now, the only spiffy new Han Solo product hitting the market is the just-released figure from Hasbro's Mighty Muggs line. This, of course, is not a 3 3/4-inch figure. After getting the Torture Rack Han Solo, the (I believe) third version of a Star Wars Han Solo with Pilot Gloves, McQuarrie Concept Han Solo, blue and brown vintage Han Solo figures, and the Endor Han in the Target set, it seems like Hasbro is briefly giving the character a break. (Personally, I feel they should keep at least one version of all major characters in circulation constantly-- but that's me.) So, it does indeed seem like you're out of luck for Han Solo. So what do you do? Speculate.

Harrison Ford figure fans will, of course, be treated to a lavish Indiana Jones line in just a few months, so for *some* fans of Han Solo, the goodwill and the dollars might transfer to the other film series. For the die-hard Star Wars fans, well, it's time to take stock of what we have and what's left to do from the movies. From the original Star Wars, there's still the matter of a Medal Ceremony Han Solo, which Hasbro has yet to make. Kenner too for that matter. A new Stormtrooper Han Solo specific to the movie designs might be nice too but given the comic pack one is still in circulation, I have my doubts. From here on out, all that's really left are variations on existing products, like an all-new super-articulated Bespin Han, a Han Solo in Carbonite that's ESB-specific rather than ROTJ-specific, and maybe a Hoth Han with his hood up. After that, all that's left is the Expanded Universe and most depictions of Han Solo show the smuggler in some variation of his existing clothing-- there's usually a vest, maybe the shirt color changes, and that's about it. So maybe we'll see a Marvel Comics flavored Han with a yellow or blue shirt some day, but it seems that aside from treading old ground, the days of really exciting Han Solo figures may well be behind us.

2. What do you think of the new Hayden-Anakin Spirit figure? The "controversy" over sticking Christensen's head on Shaw's body notwithstanding, the figure is certainly... interesting. It's just an odd assembly of strange decisions. I still can't decide if I like it or not. I may be in the minority, I'm not sure, but I kinda like the translucent plastic and iridescent blue they used for this and a couple older figures. But the soft goods just have me saying, "huh?" I mean, in the movie, he just stands there. I have no idea if soft goods affect the cost or tooling of a figure all that much, but it seems like a waste. The "skirt bit" (is there a better name for that?) looks kinda okay, but man, I find it hard to justify that robe. It's a weird color, and really, really sheer. Does anyone really think it looks okay?
--Brian

One of the most important things Hasbro needs to do for the figure line is to innovate. Sometimes it's going to be new articulation, other times it's going to be new materials. The Star Wars line, without new movies, risks growing stale every day Hasbro doesn't come up with a new take on an old figure. And sometimes the results are, well, not what you'd expect.

My main beefs with this figure are a) that it didn't have the "Shaw" head after Hasbro implied that would such a figure get made that it probably would [which I would speculate is Lucasfilm involvement], and b) that it has a lightsaber. He's dead. He doesn't need a lightsaber.

I'm pretty happy to see that the end result isn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be from early photos and samples, although since I was actually expecting this to be the least interesting new figure of the year, it's not hard to wow me. The end result is pretty good-- the cloak material, while practically transparent, is quite good at holding its shape and it's just stiff enough. I daresay it's actually better in terms of holding a shape than any of Hasbro's other cloth cloaks, so kudos to them for trying something new. I'm fairly convinced the soft goods were an act of foresight, as Hasbro tends to reuse a lot of molds and there's no reason they couldn't reuse this body mold for another figure in the future. It costs a lot of money to sculpt a new release, so it wouldn't surprise me if they made this with the idea of swapping the head and making it another character in the future. I'm not saying that it was the best possible design decision, but having actually been involved in the action figure manufacturing process I can definitely tell you that you don't always know what the end product will look like.

I personally really wish it would have had the Sebastian Shaw head, but such is life. Maybe we'll see an Anakin & Yoda spirit set some day with a variant Anakin head on it-- I can hope, right? They appeared in the Marvel comic series a few times, so hey, it could happen.

3. I loved the Galoob Micro Machines line. Loved it. I got a ton of them for Christmas '97 and thought they were divine creations.

Fast forward to 2007-2008. About a month ago, my collection consisted of a 'Shadows Of The Empire' Outrider, a lone Darth Vader, and Jar-Jar Binks. I've had to resort to eBay to re-start my collection because I've found out that the Titanium Series ships aren't in scale with MM.

The downside to eBay is that quite a few products are VERY expensive, such as the latter 3 Epic Collection sets, which fetch up to $200 a pack. On top of that, there's a bunch of eBay sellers who raise the price of INDIVIDUAL figures and ships to over $3. $3 for something that's no bigger than an American coin!

I'm hoping that somewhere down the line Hasbro releases past and future Micro Machines assortments. Do you think there's any chance Hasbro will make any returns to this line?

Also, if Hasbro ever wants to re-release the Action Fleet E-Wing or TIE Defender in the Titanium line, I say go for it. I'd much rather pay $16 for a metal version with sculpted pilots than $100 for a loose plastic one without any figures.
--Connor

For a variety of reasons (most of which I'd blame on a product glut in 1999), the Micro lines have more or less been on the backburner since Episode II. Action Fleet got a brief revival, the MicroMachines brand was briefly resurrected in name only, and now Galoob's die-cast line is back with Titanium Series. For whatever reason, the MicroMachines vehicles that started it all never came back-- which is a pity because up until Titanium, that was the best vehicle line ever created. (Although perhaps the Minis Vehicles might eclipse it someday soon.)

Galoob's Micro Line wasn't very interested in scale, so perhaps you might not want to worry about it too much. I mean, the Executor was the same size as a regular Star Destroyer... it was a wacky line. The idea of small plastic ships was tried by Hasbro as recently as 2005 as a Target exclusive, but the molds were closer in size to the Titanium Series line (or more specifically, the X-Ray Fleet collection.)

The Titanium Series Ultra line is dead. Super-dead. The final ships were released as Toys "R" Us exclusives and are on clearance at your local store right now from anywhere as low as $6 to as high as $16. I've seen prices at both ends here in Californee. I would not expect to see Ultra-sized TIE Defenders or E-Wings ever, but perhaps in the normal smaller line. Galoob's line was fantastic, but unfortunately, it really had a rough patch near the end and a lot of the 1998 product from the trilogy is just super-rare. I was in communication with the company at the time and one of the reasons I heard the final Action Fleet wave was so tough to get was due to a lack of available packaging. Who'd have guessed?

4. why is Hasbro being so secretive about their 2008 toy lineup? We only know of the first two basic figure waves (ROTS and TFU), one more Comic Pack wave (the one with Lt. Jundland and Lt. Shan), and two Titanium waves. I'm sure they'll show us a lot at ToyFair in February, but it seems we should know about more than that at this point.
--GR

In most years, Hasbro plays the first quarter of the year pretty close to the vest. We tend to get a glimpse at Wave 1 the previous July at Comic-Con, but all the vehicles, basic figures, Vintage figures, and what have you get held for a Toy Fair reveal. I expect to see Wave 3 officially leaked just before Toy Fair, and Wave 4 (and probably 5) shown in New York. Hasbro really likes to be able to show off and make a big deal about their new stuff, and rightly so-- although I'm feeling pretty punchy not seeing official chatter on new basic figures myself.

5. My town (Morgantown, WV) has experienced a severe lack of TAC figures all year long, but is absolutely swimming in Saga Legends figures (you wouldn't believe all the Biker Scouts, Sandtroopers, white Clone Troopers, etc.), not to mention Wave I of the TAC figures still warming pegs. I am only looking for four figures from this line (thanks to buying a lot from hasbrotoyshop.com), but two of those are from Wave 5, which I have yet to see in stores. I have only seen four figures from Wave 4, and have seen 1 figure from Wave 5, most of Wave 6 (some I've only seen out of town), 1 figure from Wave 7, most of Wave 7.5, and all but one figure from Wave 8 (only seen one in town, though). My question is: will Wave 5 still be shipping, if my area has never received shipments of it? I go to my local stores at least once a week, sometimes twice, so it's not like I'm not our there looking for stuff. The figures I'm looking for are the Pre-Cyborg Grievous and McQuarrie Starkiller Hero, and I'm also looking for the Spirit of Anakin figure and the Holo Darth Vader figure. It's no use to ask store managers for help, because they do not order the toys, and they look at the pegs and see them full (not caring if they are almost all Saga Legends and Wave 1 of the TAC). Is anyone else not finding Waves 4-8 very easily? They should have been in stores a long time ago, at least Waves 4-6 or 7 should have been. I hope this year is better for finding toys, but it's usually even harder to find them in the early part of the year.
--Greg

The first rule of Star Wars collecting: no matter where you live, it sucks. I live in Los Angeles and there are twenty-seven billion people here, which are served by about four Wal-Marts. Obviously, this leads to problems, and I would bet Morgantown probably has similar problems. Even when I lived in Phoenix, the only reason I found most things I was looking for was not because I had a good store with a decent manager, but because I collected like an insane person. There were a number of items I saw only once or twice, and in an average week I would have to hit up about 4-8 Wal-Marts, 2-3 Kmarts, 5-7 Toys "R" Us stores, lots of other small places, and more Targets than you could shake a stick at-- and then, and only then, was I likely to find everything in the wild. If you live in a community with fewer than 2-3 of each major store, you're basically going to be screwed.

Versions of Wave 5 are still available as at least one online store (cough) still has them up for order. Wave 5 turned out to be very popular and there's a lot of speculation that the numbers on this wave might have been a little lower than your average series. I have a hard time believing this because let me tell you, there's no shortage of C-3PO, Roron Corobb, or in many stores, even Hermi Odle. (The KOTOR figures, well, good luck.)

Wave 4 hit hard and fast in September, and seems to be gone from most normal retail establishments. I suggest you expand your search to Wal-Marts (as mine seem to still be getting older figures which come and go in a matter of days) and oddball stores which aren't known for their toy aisles-- grocery stores, drug stores, and so on. Waves 6, 7, 8, and 9 still are coming in slowly but surely. After the holidays, I hit up a few Toys "R" Us stores that each had no less than 12 Black Leather Padme figures. That means a lot of other figures were there, it's just, well, nobody wanted Padme. This doesn't bode well.

Store managers are essentially worthless. Actually, store employees as a whole aren't generally helpful when you're looking for specific figures unless they happen to really like you. Thankfully we still have more shipments coming, and if they don't show up, thankfully Hasbro's Saga Legends line allowed for reruns of popular figures. I just cross my fingers and hope that they don't discontinue this line any time soon because I think we're going to need it for a few more figures in the not too distant future.

6. I have read many of Hasbro's Q and A and but for a few, haven't missed many of yours and I still have not seen an answer to this question, why was there no Princess Leia in the basic figure assortment for the 30th Anniv. Collection? Save for the vintage.. we would have had no coin for Leia. Seems a no brainer to me that, what with it being the 30th anniv. for A New Hope, we would have surely ended up with at least one Leia. And, that saga legends leia was a bust!!!! I mean, it wasn't a bad figure it's just that there was no specific coin and it wasn't even her image on the card!! Here we have a Luke, Anakin, Padme' and NO LEIA. UGH!! and I don't mean Ultimate Galactic Hunt either!!! Somebody was asleep at the switch on that one. I can't imagine that with all the planning meetings they would have had that no one suggested Leia.. even a re-pack would have been fine.. just to have her on that card with a coin and in that nice artwork.... sheesh. So, I am asking you cause you seem to be very "in the know", what gives?
--Spirityoda

The issue of what Hasbro makes and why is still a bit of a mystery. Also, the issue of what fans think "need" to be made and why doesn't align with what Hasbro's needs are for the action figure line.

Why was there no Leia in the basic line? It just didn't work out-- releasing a Leia figure just to get a coin in circulation would have been a bad move on Hasbro's part, but I agree it would have been nice to see them wedge in a new Leia figure in one of the many assortments. (Perhaps a super-articulated Hoth Leia in Wave 6 would have been cool.) Unfortunately, the 30th Anniversary Collection was a marketing term-- not an indication or a promise to you from Hasbro that this would be the ultimate one-year collection. A lot of people seemed miffed that they missed out on a Leia in the basic figure line, but if the line was here to celebrate three decades of the saga, where were the original trilogy vehicles like the Falcon or X-Wing? Why wasn't there a decent Jabba in circulation?

It seems to basically boil down to the fact that Hasbro didn't have a Leia figure they wanted to do up in 2007, which is unfortunate, but it also sort of makes sense. Leia figures were in circulation during the 30th Anniversary Line as a Jedi Knight (comic packs), her traditional classic white outfit (tins), her Endor dress (tins), and her Endor poncho (Vintage) making sure that four Leias were in circulation in addition to the repackaged Boushh Leia. In short, Hasbro already had at least five Leia action figures in circulation in 2007 when the number of Luke figures in 30th Anniversary Collection packaging across the board was around the same number. Hasbro seemed to have enough Leia product on the market, and while it's unfortunate no carded figure with a coin was available, it's just as well really.

This isn't to say we won't still see a Leia in 30th-style packaging in 2008. Saga Legends isn't officially dead yet, nor is the carded line with display stands-- or for that matter, exclusives. We don't know what Hasbro has in store for us between now and the reboot for the TV show, so here's hoping for the best. And if we don't get one, it's not like they won't do another newer, better style of packaging in the next couple of years that we'd all rather have anyway. (Back in 2004, the Original Trilogy Collection was considered to be the best and finest packaged figures we would ever see. And I still think they are, but obviously, some like the newer models. And some will like whatever comes next. That's the nature of things.)

7. Hey, I was just wondering what the big difference is with the "evolutions" sandtrooper, more ball joints? Better helmet sculpt? I'm not concerned about how dirty he is or pauldon color, just wondering what the sculpt difference is.
--Vanessa

The main difference is that the "Evolutions" sculpt is unique and different than the regular sculpt used for the first few Saga Legends releases. The main thing you'll notice is the waist joint-- namely, the Evolutions figure doesn't have one. While the Evolutions Trooper does have a removable belt and a great pose, he's a statue at the waist-- and otherwise awesome. The helmet sculpt is a little different and there are tons of changes from one figure mold to the next, so side by side you'd totally notice a big difference. If you have two identical deco Sandtroopers-- one Saga Legends mold, one Evolutions mold-- you'd absolutely notice a difference in their personalities as given off by their poses. And if you can't tell the difference, my advice to you is to save your money for other figures.

8. I thought I had read somewhere that if a particular retail store has a very large number of pegwarming Star Wars figures(so-called Greatest Hits Padme and last year's Saga Endor Throne Threepio) that one could contact Hasbro and let them know that there is a problem. I mean, of this particular store's eight Basic Star Wars pegs(a Wal-Mart), four are dedicated to Padme and Threepio. I know, because I counted. I contacted Hasbro about this, and they basically told me that I was going to receive some kind of coupon in the mail. No mention or acknowledement of the real problem however. I also saw the local Hasbro rep in that store a few days later, and told her about it. She said that she could tell Hasbro about the two figures, and maybe they would "come and take them back". What to do?
--Chris

Aside from a general "Let us know," Hasbro never really gave more specific instructions. My advice to you is to post about it on the forums (include ZIP/address, be specific) and consider writing a letter, a real letter, to both (name of chain) HQ and Hasbro as well, explaining that there are still abundant action figures from 2006 in 2006 packaging and that this is a problem. What's shocking to me is how many stores I frequent daily (or every other day) that keep finding new old stock. I swear I'm not lying to you when I say I have seen, in a Wal-Mart, figures from 1997, 1999, and 2004 all in the past month and a half. I have to assume someone is cleaning out someone's storage locker, but if you told me I'd see a near-mint 1999 carded Mace Windu in Wal-Mart last year, I'd call you a filthy liar.

The real issue here is that figures don't make Wal-Mart too much money unless they turn over, and if they don't turn over, well, who cares? If all they get are one complaint every other month, they're not going to notice or care. If they get lots of complaints from people going on about how, because Target had the figures and Wal-Mart didn't, that Target got their toilet paper/toothpaste/etc. money, well, I'm sure we'll see Wal-Mart start caring a little more sooner or later. Of course, figures were super-hot in late 2007 so part of the issue is that your stores are getting new product, they just sell immediately. One collector can buy an entire case of product and you'd be none the wiser that it was ever there, so that can be a problem as well.

9. I am trying like hell to track down a Endor Target Exclusive Battle Pack. Do you know where to find one out your way or do you have an extra you might want to trade or sell? I didnŐt have enough scratch around Christmas time to get one and I canŐt find any more here. If you can help or lead me in the right direction that would be great. Ebay wants an arm and a leg already for it. Ugh!
--Curt

This is one of the reasons I advocate not waiting for clearance on anything you'd be mad if you missed it later. I actually am in a similar situation, except I bought one-of-each at launch and wanted to buy a second of each one on sale, but since I snoozed, I losed. (Wait, that's not a word is it? Well, let's say it is for today.) My local stores sold out before I ever saw a single unit on clearance, and many of my local stores also sold out of the rest of the Target exclusives from 2007. I guess either they got snapped up in a hurry or someone beat me to the clearance aisles, but wowie zowie-- Target probably did some amazing Star Wars business last year, and I'm sure they'll do more this year.

FIN

That's all for this week! Why just 9? That's all the questions in the mailbag that haven't been answered to death already. If you had an awesome question that got missed, or if I responded privately and you really wanted it in the column, do let me know. Also, please get all submissions in for next week's column before Wednesday of this week, otherwise I might have to take off next week. (Got some stuff going down over the weekend.)

Word on the street has it that the new comic packs from Wal-Mart have hit. I have not seen these despite hitting one specific Wal-Mart every work day and the other ones several times a week. Have you? If you live in the valley in LA, I'd be quite curious to hear if they just got snatched up or if they're just not here yet. I took some extended drives on the weekend to go looking in the outer places (which, as I had lost my voice, was a hoot) and came up empty thus far. (Yes, I know they just now hit, but I'm not what you would call patient given the Wal-Mart exclusive track record in California.)

I think the comic packs as a part of the regular line was probably the single greatest addition to the line in 2007. For $10, you get two figures and a $3 comic book. That's pretty ridiculously great. The only thing they could do to make them better was to toss in a couple of display stands and maybe boost the articulation on some of the figures, but even then, it seems we're totally getting our money's worth. It almost makes the Evolutions sets depressing by comparison because there, you get 3 figures for $20 and no comic-- and they seem almost as good overall in terms of figure quality.

2008 is looking pretty good overall. It seems The Force Unleashed is a natural extension of the Clone Wars concept, with more Jedi and troopers. The only thing it seems to be missing thus far is a new Big Baddie. They gave us Prince Xizor for Shadows of the Empire and Durge and Asajj Ventress for the Clone Wars, so now what? Rogue Jedi aren't really villains, and if you're playing a Sith-in-training, the hero as a villain is sort of weak. Plus Darth Vader basically stopped being evil around Episode I, so where's the new evil force to be reckoned with? Aside from that though, it seems to be a pretty solid line touches on almost every aspect of what makes Star Wars great. It's just totally lacking in the alien and droid departments so far.

Here's hoping for greatness. 2007 will be a tough act to follow-- we got awesome animated maquettes from Gentle Giant, Wave 5 from Hasbro, a ton of high-end Sideshow items, scores of props from Master Replicas, a great line of bobbles from Funko, more wonderful comics from Dark Horse, some novels, another strong year of LEGO goodies, and a bunch of other releases. I don't even know if it's possible for the merchandise for The Clone Wars to be as compelling as what we've already bought for our collections, but hey, here's hoping. I really look forward to the possibilities presented by Star Wars on TV every week.

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!

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