1. Why does Hasbro continue to package figures in strange poses that end up warping the legs and joints so they can't stand up correctly without first being boiled in hot water? The EE Clone Trooper Army Builder set figures are in excellent condition after all these years, but all my TLC Saga Legend Clone Troopers have warped legs so they can't stand neutrally like the EE ones. I understand Hasbro is trying to show off the poseability, but couldn't they just put a sticker on the bubble that says "Super poseable" like they did with the 2003 Clone Wars Super articulated trooper or the ROTS #41 Clone?
--Jimmy

I really wish I had an answer to this, because Hasbro has been making their toys less functional with strangely shaped trays and rubber bands for years now-- particularly G.I. Joes and Star Wars toys. Hasbro is indeed trying to make the figures "come alive" in the packaging, but a fair number of figures are damaged as a result. I guess I don't really have an answer for you other than "demand vintage-style packaging" as it seemed to work wonders for the 2007-2009 "25th Anniversary" G.I. Joe figures, all of which were packed nicely with minimal excess and no real damage to the hands or limbs. And the style is really cool, too.

...a fun aside, I bought four Jurassic Park III 3 3/4-inch figures on clearance in 2002. They stayed packaged until this weekend, as I wanted something new to futz with and these looked good. Guess what? No twisties, no rubber bands. No funky trays to screw up the figures. The figure was held in place by tabs in a smartly-designed tray and everything popped out when I wanted it to. The figure, weapon, and dinosaur stayed in place just fine and you actually got a good chunk of toy for your money. (Granted, I'm of the school that you can make toys with fewer than 14 points of articulation, which I've been informed is heresy these days.) (Oh, and I paid $1 per figure, so I got a really good deal here. Now to buy the other four!)

2. Is everyone as frustrated as I am with not finding new Star Wars product over the past couple months? I have yet to see the entire Phantom Menace wave, nor have I seen the ROTJ wave or the Clone Wars wave with Padme Adventure Gear. And new comic packs - forget it. I just keep seeing re-packed ones from two years ago. Not a hint of the Luke/Lumiya wave. And shouldn't the Walmart-exclusive AT-ST be out by now (not that MY Walmarts will carry it, but I'd like to know when I need to leave town to find one)?
--Greg

With Star Wars this year, it goes back and forth between feast and famine, and depending on your focus it could really be either way today. For example, Hasbro piled on about five waves of The Clone Wars in about a month. Also, since about September, we've had a few waves. Stores are clearly either underordering or Hasbro is underproducing "Legacy"-branded items that aren't Saga Legends and it's really hard to tell which is the reality. Since online stores seem to be having little problem getting these items reordered, I would assume the blame is on the retailers.

The Return of the Jedi wave is about a month old, but I'm a little surprised you haven't seen The Clone Wars Padme if you've been looking. Stores seem a little light on the animated stuff since October, but maybe that'll change now that the big holiday push is almost on us.

As to the AT-ST? Well, never trust the dates Hasbro tells us at Comic-Con. Those are guesstimates, some of which this year have been pretty close to the mark. (I know I poo-poo this because of historical performance, but on some items, they got it right. Kudos.) The AT-ST is hitting right now so go get one today if you have a car and some time to go hunting. Don't miss out, it's pretty rad despite the $44 price tag. More on that waaaaay below.

3. On one of my recent toy runs, I happened to find something that bothered me a little bit. While looking through the figures, I noticed that there were two different Obi-wan figures in the Saga Legends line from Episode III. One of them was a repack of the 2008 TAC figure with the added ball-jointed hips and the other was a repack of the 2005 Pilot Obi-wan, virtually the same figure minus the ball-jointed hips, with the headset and lightsaber hilt included. My question is why would Hasbro include both of these in their Legends line-up? They are nearly identical and it seems like they would be better off to replace one of the two with another high demand figure that hasn't found its way into the line.
--Kyle

These are different figures for different times. The 2005 Pilot figure (plastic cloak, head gear) was indeed repackaged for Saga Legends in the 2007 line with the bonus coins, and the 2008 figure was also indeed repackaged later in 2008 in the "Legacy" packaging with the gun box, which continues to ship today.

Why would Hasbro include both? They sell. Every kid that enters the line will want some of the main characters, and Revenge of the Sith-style versions of the main heroes are particularly popular still. At one point, Hasbro had two different Darth Vaders in circulation on the same cardback to maximize tooling-- believe it or not, they're just trying to get more stuff out with the molds they have. There's no real collectorial (new word?) benefit to doing this, it just simply happens to get more stuff out there.

4. Although I found the Geo assault Battle pack(Gun turrets),why is it necessary for Hasbro repack Battle packs that didn't do great the first time around?I mean our stores have been getting in nothing but the Jedi Vs Sidious,Dagobah training and Endor Shield Generator assault pack packs.At one Target I saw 5 of the Jedi vs Sidious packs.This is really getting out of had with these.I was really luck to find the gun turret packs but it looks like trying to find the Risi Outpost pack is going to be next to impossible with the way Hasbro is case packing the Battle packs.
--Chad

The theory is that they still sell, and in some markets, they do. The problem is that sometimes older items stack up after a few years, as the Jedi vs. Darth Sidious set which has been in circulation in multiple packages for quite some time. A few years ago, I saw the Tantive IV Battle Packs stacking up at a bunch of stores which, I have to admit, surprised me. It's just sort of the luck of the draw, Target, Toys "R" Us, and Wal-Mart don't specify specific assortment breakdowns-- for their business model, they don't care-- and they get the assortments Hasbro sends them. Basically, the store goes "we need more Battle Packs" and Hasbro says "OK, here's what we got."

Some new items are still too new to be easily found. For example, at the time you sent me this question, I have not yet seen the Rishi Outpost in the wold, nor have most of the people I know ever seen one at all. (Although the turrets have been around for a while now, as it was released much earlier.) Remember, the turrets started shipping in blue boxes, and the Rishi Outpost is one of the ones debuting in the red box.

As always, the plan for Hasbro is to put out stuff that will sell. While Jedi vs. Sidious has got its money back for its tooling many times over, the theory is that kids want a big box of Jedi. The problem is that a lot of kids don't like Sidious, and I've seen more than a few kids turn up their noses at gift sets because while 4 out of the 5 were great, they disliked the one character so much that they didn't want to buy the set. So that can be a problem for this format at times. But the real problem is that the same thing has been in circulation since what, 2006 or 2007? That's a long time, and hopefully these will be snapped up in the gifting season.

5. Towards the end of every year, I always start to get very curious and excited to find out which new classic trilogy figures will be announced and previewed at Toyfair the following year.Would you mind telling me your best guesses of,let's say,three characters each from New Hope,Empire and Jedi that you think will be out in 2010?
--Eric

While there used to be a time when guessing what Hasbro may introduce was fun, the sport is basically gone now that all bets are off and Hasbro has essentially proven that virtually nothing is off the table. Depending on the year, Hasbro sometimes shows off precious few new figures at Toy Fair, and given that they haven't really announced their line plan for 2010 yet it does leave some to speculate what may (or may not) be happening.

Hasbro has been posting hints (or outright confirmations) of figures in development as part of their own Q&A program, which I really do suggest you comb over. New versions of figures like Ponda Baba are in the works, which is kinda exciting? I guess? When it comes to the Original Trilogy, Hasbro has mined it so well that other than background characters from Return of the Jedi or a token resculpt of significant quality, it's really hard for me to say the movies have much left that I think is worth getting excited about. Sure, Star Wars has a few pilots, droids, and cantina aliens which Hasbro will crank out at a rate of 1-2 per year. And yes, Return of the Jedi has dozens of Ewoks, pilots, and guards left to do. But The Empire Strikes Back? You're reaching. Sure, there are some Imperials, but they're going to be similar to toys which have been made. As far as Hoth Rebels go, I'm pretty satisfied with what we have, and while there are a few cool Bespin Guards and Cloud City citizens which may be decent figures, well, eh. That's one movie where there's little left to do for the very first time.

At this point, I'm mostly excited for new territory, like characters from the Star Wars: Legacy and original Marvel comics as well as the many new and old television projects. There's a lot "new" there as toys are concerned, so that could be very exciting. Unfortunately, after being pretty hardcore collecting this stuff for so long, there's little that I would actively campaign for-- I'm fine with the wait-and-see approach, which may be boring for columns like this but unless Hasbro has Vlix or Kiro on tap I can't say there's a lot of old-school characters that would make me jump out of my seat with glee. (And I'll wager about half of you don't know who those are and might not care if you did.)

FIN

It's hunting season. Not the good fun kind either-- you're competing with gift-givers, parents, and the kind of people who buy toys for children now. As such, exclusives that sell quickly will sell even faster, particularly if they're good. Case in point: my Wal-Marts got AT-STs. And a day later? Gone. All of 'em. If you are not trudging down the aisles of your Wal-Mart every other day, this is just a pre-minder not to email me when you wonder, a month from now, why your store hasn't got any AT-STs yet. (They did, and you missed them.) Wal-Mart customers shop without mercy. Remember, this is not only a $44 exclusive, but the last AT-ST was $49 and came with 2 Speeder Bikes and 8 additional figures. And struggled to sell. Don't miss it if you want one, there's still hope for some of you.

Also if you haven't got a Dewback, remember Wal-Mart.com is offering them for $30 with free site-to-store shipping. While in the case of AT-STs, you may be a victim of bad luck-- but I think this means I can openly mock anyone that lives next to a Wal-Mart if they miss a Dewback now. RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT. Seriously, I'm trying to help you out here. This is tough love. Short of your waffling, there is no reason for you to miss this piece. Don't be one of those "eh, I'll just keep hunting the store until it shows up" people if you think you might complain later. You know who you are.

Also, it appears The Clone Wars season 1 on DVD (and especially Blu-Ray) is exceedingly popular and selling through right now. So it looks like I'll be taking my own advice on that front, too.

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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