1. Regarding the 2009 Saga Legends (SL17) Han Solo (Mynock Hunt), do you know whether the alternate version of him without the jacket is, in fact, coming out?
--Edward

Every now and again, factory errors make it to Hasbro's product photographer-- this is one of those times. As far as I know, these have not been made as an actual figure/variation, but may exist as an error. (The cases I've seen with Saga Legends Chewie with the Sandstorm mold did not sport the jacketless Han Solo.) In short, they may be out there, but it's very likely they could be faked or were genuine errors. Like a figure without a head.

2. Do you think chances are good at seeing the new Dark Trooper again in the future? He is my favorite trooper and I was ridiculously excited to see him coming out, until I realized he was a BAD. The $17 x 5 cost and retail exclusivity make it difficult to justify the purchase even if I found the sets. I'm definitely not too interested in anything but him.
--Nike

Rumors fly about for a $10 markdown on this year's Droid Factory sets, I have not seen any at this price personally but do keep it in mind when you go to the store. Scanning products is a good idea.

While another Dark Trooper is 100% confirmed for the next Expanded Universe wave (December/January), it's a Phase 1 figure, which is about as wonky as they get. The build-a-droid figure simply doesn't fit on the basic cardbacks, so for one to happen, it would likely be in a gift set. But to be more accurate, this figure isn't going to be repackaged by himself in the short term, so if you want one I suggest you buck up and pay up either for a completed figure on eBay or at Wal-Mart. Currently, the going rate of a loose, complete Dark Trooper is $40, so I suggest you watch for sales or be patient until 2010 or 2011 when people will have lost interest and prices drop accordingly.

3. I love astromechs, but don't understand why everyone is pestering Hasbro with questions about when we're going to see a CW R4-P17. A reissue of the AOTC one is coming out this fall in a BP, which seems good enough, especially when you consider how many really cool looking new droids have been seen in CW, such as Ahsoka's R7-A7 or Kit's R6-H5, which are both very prominent in the series, and would make good companions for the upcoming ships.
--greenalfonzo

For me personally, I'd like an animated astromech to go with my animated Jedi Starfighter. I'm quite interested in the cartoon line, so the fact that a vehicle exists and one of the key figures for it does not bothers me. (I was the same way in 1995 when we had an AT-ST and TIE Fighter but no corresponding pilot figures.)

As to those other droids being "prominent," this goes with the whole drinking game that should exist any time someone writes in using words like "iconic." No, they're obscure. Obi-Wan's astromech gets some screen time in the animated movie, and while both Kit's and Ahsoka's droids are pretty neat (and would both make great toys some day), the fact is Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter has been in stores for months, and his astromech droid is not. That's why it's suddenly an item of great interest. A movie droid will not fill the proper hole left by the release of the ship. If it did, I'd suggest you pick up the 2008 Wal-Mart exclusive version of Kit Fisto's droid which, clearly, is not the same thing.

4. Can you tell if the four new Target exclusive remote control droids are perfectly in scale with the regular 3 3/4 inch line droids or are they slightly larger in size? Some sites have claimed they are the same size and some say they are larger. These were reported to be larger in scale when they were originally released by Tomy so I never picked them up.
--Bruce

They're what I call "close enough." It's important to remember that Luke figures are not necessarily in scale with other Luke figures. Scale/height consistency issues are a pretty big problem in this line, so if something's a little bit off, that's actually quite normal.

The Tomy/Hasbro ones-- they're the same molds-- are a few millimeters taller than their non-radio control American action figure counterparts. Unless they're side by side, you wouldn't notice much of a difference in their height, which is slightly exaggerated by the angle of this picture. Keep in mind the large wheels on the bottom of the RC figures also make them appear taller.

5. I've read a few times about the list of characters that will never be made into figures, such as the Tonnika sisters, anything from the Holiday Special and the wookiee Jedi. I know the stories on the Tonnikas and the special, but what is the issue with the wookiee?
--Mike

It's my understanding-- and this comes second-hand, so take it with a big ol' grain of salt-- that the likes of Tyvokka and Lowbacca are no longer considered fair game because George Lucas (not "some dude at Lucasfilm", but the dude at Lucasfilm) decided Wookiees cannot be Jedi. The Wookiee race seems particularly near and dear to Lucas' heart, and the early drafts of the trilogy showed that the Wookiees were basically brutes, but intelligent brutes. Being a Jedi doesn't necessarily mesh with the image, considering that the giant walking Kashyyyk natives are essentially berserkers with a keen understanding of family, honor, and mechanical bits and pieces. They'd probably be closer to Sith if anything, and really, if this whole thing has spared us from seeing red-and-black dyed Hot Topic Sith Wookiees, thanks George for heading that one off.

As to the Holiday Special, I'm not quite clear on the definitions of what is and isn't fair game. After all Chewbacca's family has appeared in a few other stories, including issue #91 of the original Star Wars Marvel Comics, The Wookiee Storybook, and a few novels. These stories show Chewbacca as a mighty warrior rather than something of an average to smaller specimen, and also include elements like Wookiee telepathy. For all I know, George wants to move beyond Chewie's family because, honestly, if he's got a wife and a kid the various adventures he goes on proves that he's a really crappy dad.

FIN

I was going to write an article but I figured you might actually read it if I posted it here. So I'll make this short-- you know Jabba's Palace?

After seeing the Fan's Choice stuff roll in I noticed that while there were tons of resculpt requests, very few were for Return of the Jedi Jabba's Palace aliens. This seems to be in line with Hasbro's strategy since 1997-- We've seen one resculpt of a Jabba's Palace alien, two if you count Salacious Crumb. That's it. There were 6 basic carded aliens in Legacy, 2 in 30th Anniversary, 4 in Saga, 1 in Power of the Jedi, and 6 in Power of the Force. (Plus repaints and gift sets.) In these 19 carded figures, and even in all the gift sets, the only character to get an entirely new sculpt after its initial release was Bib Fortuna. The Gamorrean has only been repainted, the new Nikto is a different character, and the various Barada repaints... eh. At least they got better as they went along. Additional figures were available in gift sets-- 3 Skiff Guards, 3 Dancers, Oola, B'Omarr monks, and so on.

I also sorted through my Cantina figures, and put in the Mos Eisley guys too. Hasbro and Kenner combined have made 30 unique characters (assuming a Bith band member is 1 character and each Snivvian is a unique character). And man, do they remake the snot out of those. Counting all the repaints and resculpts, plus the band variants (assuming each band member is unique for 10 total), there are over 53 Cantina characters. (2 Wuhers, 5 Greedos, 3 Hammerheads, 2 Labria, etc.) It's interesting to see how different the approaches were to Jabba's Palace and the Cantina just in terms of covering new ground.

What's really interesting is that while very few Jabba's Palace aliens got revisted, numerous Cantina characters were resculpted multiple times. There are 3 Momaw Nadons, 3 Greedo sculpts, 3 Ponda Babas, 2 Garindans, 2 Dr. Evazans, 2 Wuhers (admittedly, they're close), plus a ton of repaints. I thought it seemed the Cantina got more attention... but wow. I really never thought about how Jabba's Palace has basically been one-and-done as most figures go. Maybe that's why it seems a little less chaotic.

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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