1. Why is that Hasbro re-releases ships like the new re-release of the "Imperial Tie Fighter" sans figure- but does not offer this figure up as a single carded figure parallel to the vehicles tenure on the store shelves? It's easy to do, there is not even a repaint here- just a straight figure run and this guy has interest for it has been some time since it's last release.

They know in advance that this is going to be sold so why not put this figure forth as part of the planning for the year?

Kenner made a figure like that and kept releasing it till the line ended (yes I know that the entire line had less then 100 figures but nameless faceless soldiers do sell).
--SWrebel76

Well, technically, you can get a pilot Biggs Darklighter out of an Evolutions set right now-- there's an Imperial Pilot.

Having a pilot without a vehicle, or a vehicle without a pilot, is a very common thing in Hasbro (or any) toy lines. We got a Cantina bar in 1997, but no bartender until 2000. We got an AT-ST in 1995, but no AT-ST Driver until 1997. The V-Wing Fighter came out in 2007, but Clone Pilots have been out of circulation for quite a while at that point. It's normal.

This is one of the reasons Hasbro does things like Saga Legends, because it helps keep some figures that need to be in circulation out there. Some, like the Stormtrooper, seem to be forgotten but you won't find many fans having to complain there's no Darth Vader for their TIE Fighters or no Jedi for their Jedi Starfighters. Likewise, I think they should keep generic Imperial troopers in circulation at all times. Clones are great, but Stormtroopers? Way better.

2.Word on the street is that the Indiana Jones line of figures has tanked- will the last wave featuring "Short Round" ever get to the pegs or is that last wave scrapped.
--Steve

As far as I can tell, it's Wave 5 that was scrapped, Wave 4 is still on tap. I do, however, expect Wave 4 to be in shorter supply unless/until it shows up in some massive clearance orgy at some end-of-the-line toy dump.

3. Since you've announced the end of the Indiana Jones line, I was wondering how much you believe Hasbro's at fault for contributing to the death of the line by its nonsensical figure case assortments. While I can understand that there are far fewer IJ collectors as there are for Star Wars and G.I. Joe and that any IJ line would be inherently much more limited in the number of possibilities for figure and vehicle variety, I can't help but think that if Hasbro had laid off the quantities of Mutt and Monkey Man figures and made it easier to find the Last Crusade and upcoming Temple of Doom figures, the line would actually have had a chance to survive.
--Joel

If by "you" you mean "Hasbro"...

I don't blame Hasbro, or necessarily the fans-- what we're seeing here is the same kind of thing that more or less happened with Episode I. Stores ordered too much, Hasbro made too much, and fans weren't nearly as interested as the hype would make you think. Basically, all these factors created a vortex from which there was probably no escape. If Hasbro underproduced, thus making them "collectible," fans would be made and stores would be irritated. However, the line would likely have survived, and kids would never have bought any because they wouldn't even have the chance. (And I see fewer Monkey Man figures here than I do others.)

I really don't think there's a magic bullet that could have kept the line going, save for one: starting earlier. If Hasbro could squeeze six months to a year out of Indy before the movie hit, it might have had some insulation against a retail and fan backlash. The property was the most requested untapped licensed property around for nearly 20 years-- and somehow, the whole thing fizzled out in less than six months. Something went very wrong here, and it seems that unless you're into LEGO, the license doesn't seem to have much of a future. The Indy license is pretty thin in characters anyway-- even if Hasbro did everybody with a significant speaking role, odds are they would be more or less done over the course of 18-24 months. It just ended a little sooner, which, while unfortunate, may open up the door for someone else to get the license in the future should Hasbro decide to wash their hands in it. Indy appeals to a much older audience than Star Wars-- seriously, I've never met kids who were crazy about Indy, and this includes when I was a kid-- so it makes sense to me that the line ran its course fairly quickly.

4. On Sir Steve's site, there was a q&a with Hasbro at ComiCon where they asked about Hasbro bringing back the 12" line. Hasbro said they were happy with Sideshow's figures and the interviewer mentioned that Sideshow said they would not be doing droids or Boba Fett and others because Hasbro had already done them. (I had the full article on my home computer, but it got trashed by Hurricane Ike, so I'm paraphrasing). The Hasbro rep said he wasn't aware of Sideshow's stance and would look into it. My question is do you think this is something Hasbro would seriously consider doing? I like the Sideshow stuff as much as anybody, but paying close to a hundred bucks for a figure is a little much.
--Jonathan

No.

The reasons Sideshow's figures are so expensive are because the quality is much higher than Hasbro's, and the edition sizes are much lower. Back in the 1990s, Hasbro would rarely/never make a figure in less than 20,000 units. (Or so that's what the reports said.) Hasbro simply will not be producing a 12-inch action figure line as long as Sideshow continues theirs, and when that comes to an end, I wouldn't expect Hasbro to start it up again. A lot of Sideshow's edition sizes are around 2,000-5,000 pieces, officially in the "not worth our trouble" zone for Hasbro. When Hasbro says a line won't sell enough to justify production, they don't mean that they can't sell Sideshow or Gentle Giant numbers-- it means they can't sell Hasbro numbers. The company wants to sell a lot of a few things, not a few of a lot of things. They could probably easily do a 12-inch limited edition range, but it really isn't in their business model to do so.

Basically, Sideshow found a way to make it work-- and they pass the anti-savings along to you. It's pretty much that, or nothing. The Japanese market has been paying $100+ for years when it comes to various 12-inch action figures, and given the edition sizes, this is really the norm. It's just that Hasbro's economy of scale and lower production values (not a knock, they just had lower budgets) really made the Hasbro 12-inch figure affordable. Look at the newly released 12-inch Hasbro G.I. Joes... you get what you pay for.

5. With Hasbro's plans to continue with the Saga Legends to get the most out of their already created figure molds money, what are the chances of us seeing another Fans Choice figure anytime soon?
--Paul

Good-- but do you mean a fan's choice reissue, or a fan's choice new figure?

Either way, I'd say it's pretty likely to happen in the next year. The voting, that is, not the release. Hasbro has alluded to expanding Saga Legends in 2009, which hopefully means there will be some fan input for rereleases, like the Stormtrooper Commander, the Jump Trooper, or maybe Darths Revan and Malak. A lot of it is going to boil down to their time, but it's been a while since we got to do this-- so it's bound to happen sooner or later.

FIN

I'm extremely happy to see one of my hunches about The Clone Wars was correct-- that some episodes will suck, and others will be piles of fun. My recorder crapped out right before the end, but Shadow of Malevolence was largely awesome-- and more importantly, largely Star Wars. It was mostly ships flying around and being awesome, we got to see lots of new droids (including the mystery Astromech that Target got last year) and, oh man, awesome new Y-wings.

I loved it-- and now I want a Y-wing Bomber toy. It has everything I could want in a vehicle-- old-school engineering, an astromech socket, room for two figures, and oh yes-- a crazy bubble dome gunner station like in old Y-wing concept art. It is sweet. So how about it, Hasbro? It seems The Clone Wars has the potential to deliver what I expected from the prequels-- back in the 1990s I fully expected Y-wings to appear in one or more of the films, but this never happened. And now? Y-wings. I'm a happy camper, or rather I will be if Hasbro announces this ship in New York next February.

Oh, and I beat Mega Man 9 over the weekend. Man, that's good times. Here's hoping Konami does a similarly retro Castlevania game, or maybe LucasArts will do an all-new X-wing game that's slightly more old school. There's potential here.

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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