1. I'm not quite sure what to think of Hasbro nowadays. They insist that collectors have pulled away from buying. True, I think. But their reaction to this is to pull waaaay back on Expanded Universe offerings? This means no more Comic Packs, which is where some excellent EU figures have made their debuts. What did them in? Prince Xixor and Shadows of the Empire Leia. And, as far as I can figure, they weren't on fans' top want lists.

And about that collector pullout? I don't recall it being an EU wave that gummed up the works. It was Gargan and Cantina denizens like Pons Limbic, right?

My real problem here is that I'll never see 'completed' or near-complete mini-collections. No more Comic Packs means no more Star Wars: Legacy offerings. No more Deliah Blue, no Jariah Syn, no Darths Nihl, Maladi, et cetera. Hasbro STILL drags it's feet regarding Knights of the Old Republic(the games, mind you) Yeah, Bastila Shan is coming, but it takes winning the Fan's Vote poll to get her. And speaking of Fan Polls, and to finish...

...I betcha that the overall top ten votegetters will all be from the Expanded Universe. Now, how can Hasbro refute those findings?
--Chris

Fan's Choice is great-- as we go it's less "here's what we want" to "here's the best thing we can think of that's left." The last one couldn't even do that with so many resculpts. Fact is Star Wars has had the bestest run ever and we got pretty much everything. The Expanded Universe will continue in 2011-- I just got confirmation of Nom Anor as coming after Bastilla Shan-- so clearly Hasbro knows we're still interested.

Movie stuff is generally easy pickings. If Hasbro picks the right items, they'll sell. Every year new people buy into it, and timing is everything. Hopefully people will buy into the idea of retro bounty hunters this year, because otherwise it's going to be a very dull year.

As to the "unfinished" EU collections, I look at it more like we got way more than the one-shot I'd have expected. In the vintage line, we got four Cantina aliens. FOUR. Not 24, not resculpts of 4, just 4. If you look at how some of the Legacy products performed, just be thankful we got a whopping 12 figures from a comic series which seems to have made a decent, but not huge, impact on the mythos. We'll get more Expanded Universe stuff-- Hasbro doesn't have that many new movie products to mine. If Hasbro wants to put out those comic pack figures on "vintage" cards, well, I'm game.

2. A Comic Pack question! Yes I know they are on their way out. They've had a good run, but now they are stopping I suppose some might regard the line as having 'failed' at this point. However, my question is this: How successful do you think the line has been in promoting interest in the COMICS themselves? I ask this because I notice that prior to the line I basically ignored the comics but since then I have purchased several of the omnibuses. I attribute this directly to a transference of my love for the action figures to include the comics. Have Hasbro, Dark Horse or Marvel ever given any indication of increased sales, or indeed have any other fans suggested as much? I always thought this was part of the intent of the comic pack line but I don't recall any verification of that.
--Nick

The packs seemed to have some impact on the comics-- for example, the first Purge comic used to command more on eBay, and it dipped when the comic set hit stores. So clearly people are paying attention, but I don't know if people are actually able to go out and buy the collections in question. Sometimes they cross-promote a specific graphic novel or omnibus in the front cover but from this column it doesn't seem people are jumping on board to reading more. Typically there's a "comic person" who gravitates toward that sort of a collectible, and comic books are pretty much out. I've always felt the toy-and-comic was a good combination, but oh well-- hopefully Dark Horse got some good cash out of this deal and some new customers.

3. Is the new vehicle line of Vinatage collection independent of the Clone Wars vehicle line?
--PM

Sort of, but basically no. Much like the previous batch, the "Starfighter"-sized vehicles-- Cloud Car, Snowspeeder, Jedi Starfighters-- will ship under the same SKU. There may be additional larger ships in other assortments, like the AT-AT in its own, but we don't have the full picture.

4. Right before Christmas, WalMart got pallet shippers which contained Wave 11 of BAD. I was a little short at the time and could not get a duplicate set to open. Since that time I don't recall seeing this wave hit again, anywhere. I don't recall seeing this wave at any other store, for that matter. And I know you get a lot of this and say that they probably missed it, but I live in Spokane and I am at the stores every day. I miss a day once a month maybe, but very rarely do I miss anything. And our market is not super hot with collectors. I have not even see the repacks with the YVH-1 parts, so I am confident I haven't missed it. I think the last thing I didn't get at retail was the Qui-Gon w/ Eopie from Episode 1. Do you know if there are any more of this wave in the pipes? I have been seeing Wave 12 quite a bit, but nothing of Wave 11.
--Steve

My guess is you missed it-- at Wal-Mart. Drug stores, Kohl's, and other weird irregular toy places are still open to you, as they have distribution that doesn't quite align with the top three big places. I'd suggest trying anywhere that has a toy aisle you don't normally check, and then keep an eye on the closeout stores. We don't know if something is sitting in some big warehouse waiting to see the light of day just yet.

5. I think the following question is very interesting for everyone who likes the Clone Wars based clone trooper variations. Is the information correctly that Hasbro really plans to make some of the fan's requested realistic style Clone Troopers like Commander Cody (phase I) or the new ARF Trooper for the next line in 2010?
--Philipp

If you want a realistic Rex, just buy the 2007 Comic Pack ARC Trooper Alpha. It's pretty close. Hasbro has dragged their feet on "realistic" figures and I think they should continue to do so-- ditto putting movie figures in animated-- until the character pool has been exhausted. I believe Hasbro said they were going to stay away from "realistic" figures in the movie line, but it wouldn't stun me to see them cave in eventually and do a few. Just don't hold your breath.

FIN

I'm trying a little experiment. I've got a lot of stuff I need to unload for cheap-- as in, not worth the trouble to list on eBay. I've never tried selling toys via Craigslist before, and it seems most people who do are asking obscene prices-- $20 for Saga figures and what have you. If any of you have had any luck, I'd love to hear your stories. I'm just trying to find a few figures a cheap home, and because I don't have all year, well, maybe this'll work.

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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