JediTricks
07-06-2009, 02:39 PM
The last Q&A before San Diego Comic-Con. It's Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for July 6th, 2009. Thanks again to Hasbro for the answers, to all the folks who sent in questions and especially those who voted on them.
Hasbro Q&A for the week of July 6th
SSG: Understanding that it's still too far away to talk about and that plans could always change, with the upcoming live-action TV show on the horizon to again boost interest in Star Wars collecting, would Hasbro release those figures as their own separate line, or would they be integrated into an overall line such as the Saga series?
Hasbro: We have absolutely no idea what's up with the live action TV show. Most likely we would look at a separate line, as Clone Wars is.
SSG: As the first generation of TLC and Clone Wars packaging nears the end of its run, we are noticing smaller amounts of new waves hitting local stores, and odd case assortments in those waves and their revisions. The ESB wave seems to be trickling in very slowly, with many collectors not having seen it "in the wild". The AOTC wave has appeared online, but still not in stores as of June. Clone Wars wave 5 has appeared in short supply and with a case assortment that still only includes 1 of each new figure, padding shelves with existing figures that aren't in short supply and don't seem to need significant restocking, while ensuring new figures get choked out, and it seems to be continuing for the next few CW and TLC waves (we understand the Hasbro argument about not having enough new product manufacturing volume for a wave, but there seem to be less revisions to address that, and more figures not moving fast enough to make way). While we understand that there is always a retailer reset of the lines with new packaging, a holding of the breath, it seems like this year it's been a longer-term problem and many collectors are growing frustrated with the scarcity of newer figures. Are there other reasons behind the lack of new figures on shelves, is there a remedy for it before the new packaging comes in?
Hasbro: Clone Wars continues to be a monstrous hit with kids, necessitating waves with only 1/case of the new figures and constant repacks of the "greatest hits" to ensure that the most popular characters remain in rotation. The problem has been with Legacy; with sales not where we were expecting them, the new waves are having a harder time getting in to retail since there is still a good amount of previous waves on the shelves. However, there here should be plenty of EpV to go around by now. The challenge will be with the EpII wave - we cut back production on this one and it will be the scarcest of all the Legacy waves, and we needed to give new production over to the red/white waves to make sure they get in to retail approximately late August/early Sept. If folks want to be sure they can get the complete EpII wave, we recommend one of the Internet-based suppliers as they are able to order product directly from us by the specific wave, whereas the brick and mortar retailers do not have that precision and there is no telling which stores will get it. Just as an FYI - there is no hard planogram reset date this year for Star Wars, so the new red/white packaging will flow in right after the previous waves have gone through retail, and will not be the same for all retailers depending upon stock.
SSG: Perhaps a longshot, but does Hasbro have access to the old Kenner Droids line's vehicle molds, the Side Gunner, ATL Interceptor, perhaps even the infamously never released White Witch? Will there be any chance to see these given new life and released under Hasbro one day?
Hasbro: Sadly, we don't have any of these left in our tooling library. We're not sure if the White Witch was ever actually tooled up, but it sure is a good looking vehicle. Unless it gets modern entertainment support it's highly unlikely that we'd go ahead with it.
- - -
And our questions at CollectionStation.com (http://www.collectionstation.com/groups/view/Star-Wars/Official-Hasbro-Star-Wars-Q-A-76_55):
Recently, pictures of the TPM wave surfaced online, and they seem to be of final production samples. We've seen a trend in the last few years of deco work becoming steadily weaker and weaker, with the Gungan Warrior sporting a particularly weak deco. On all previous Gungans, the colored parts of the arms have been detailed and accurate to the film and the different colors on the face have blended together well; on this new version, the paint seems sloppy, with no details on the arms and a stark contrast between the dark and light colors. While we understand that you've cut back on weathering and other details due to cost issues, this Gungan seems a bit much. Will we continue to see increasingly poor paint applications as the line continues, is there too much budget given to articulation at the expense of deco, and if so, what reasons are behind these issues? Will the line's deco get cheaper and more toyetic as the prices increase due to ever-tightening budgetary issues?
Hasbro has had a long history of packing new figures or improved sculpts in various multipacks with re-released figures. This essentially makes longtime collectors choose between re-purchasing figures they may have multiple times already (Vader and Han Solo are notable repeat offenders), or completely miss out on the new figures in the sets. This has, unfortunately, caused many unscrupulous collectors to purchase the sets, remove the figures or accessories they want, replace them with older, less desirable figures, and return them to the store for full credit. Though honest collectors will bring this to the attention of store management, many times the tampered-with items are back on the shelf the next day for whatever reason. Though we understand the business sense behind offering the new with the old, the practice of figure-swapping-to-return theft is steadily on the rise and far less rare than it should be, while employees are less able or diligent to keep that tampered product off their shelves. Isn't there anything you can do to potentially slow the problem, both the initial swapping and the employees re-stocking the tampered items after it's been brought to their attention?
A recent disassembly of your Titanium Series V-19 Starfighter led to the surprising discovery of a detailed cockpit underneath the opaque yellow canopy. Why was this item released with the opaque canopy rather than a transparent one which would have shown off the detailing underneath? You guys are paying to design, sculpt, and tool up that interior, so why hide it? Will this be addressed in some sort of re-release before the line's end?
Hasbro Q&A for the week of July 6th
SSG: Understanding that it's still too far away to talk about and that plans could always change, with the upcoming live-action TV show on the horizon to again boost interest in Star Wars collecting, would Hasbro release those figures as their own separate line, or would they be integrated into an overall line such as the Saga series?
Hasbro: We have absolutely no idea what's up with the live action TV show. Most likely we would look at a separate line, as Clone Wars is.
SSG: As the first generation of TLC and Clone Wars packaging nears the end of its run, we are noticing smaller amounts of new waves hitting local stores, and odd case assortments in those waves and their revisions. The ESB wave seems to be trickling in very slowly, with many collectors not having seen it "in the wild". The AOTC wave has appeared online, but still not in stores as of June. Clone Wars wave 5 has appeared in short supply and with a case assortment that still only includes 1 of each new figure, padding shelves with existing figures that aren't in short supply and don't seem to need significant restocking, while ensuring new figures get choked out, and it seems to be continuing for the next few CW and TLC waves (we understand the Hasbro argument about not having enough new product manufacturing volume for a wave, but there seem to be less revisions to address that, and more figures not moving fast enough to make way). While we understand that there is always a retailer reset of the lines with new packaging, a holding of the breath, it seems like this year it's been a longer-term problem and many collectors are growing frustrated with the scarcity of newer figures. Are there other reasons behind the lack of new figures on shelves, is there a remedy for it before the new packaging comes in?
Hasbro: Clone Wars continues to be a monstrous hit with kids, necessitating waves with only 1/case of the new figures and constant repacks of the "greatest hits" to ensure that the most popular characters remain in rotation. The problem has been with Legacy; with sales not where we were expecting them, the new waves are having a harder time getting in to retail since there is still a good amount of previous waves on the shelves. However, there here should be plenty of EpV to go around by now. The challenge will be with the EpII wave - we cut back production on this one and it will be the scarcest of all the Legacy waves, and we needed to give new production over to the red/white waves to make sure they get in to retail approximately late August/early Sept. If folks want to be sure they can get the complete EpII wave, we recommend one of the Internet-based suppliers as they are able to order product directly from us by the specific wave, whereas the brick and mortar retailers do not have that precision and there is no telling which stores will get it. Just as an FYI - there is no hard planogram reset date this year for Star Wars, so the new red/white packaging will flow in right after the previous waves have gone through retail, and will not be the same for all retailers depending upon stock.
SSG: Perhaps a longshot, but does Hasbro have access to the old Kenner Droids line's vehicle molds, the Side Gunner, ATL Interceptor, perhaps even the infamously never released White Witch? Will there be any chance to see these given new life and released under Hasbro one day?
Hasbro: Sadly, we don't have any of these left in our tooling library. We're not sure if the White Witch was ever actually tooled up, but it sure is a good looking vehicle. Unless it gets modern entertainment support it's highly unlikely that we'd go ahead with it.
- - -
And our questions at CollectionStation.com (http://www.collectionstation.com/groups/view/Star-Wars/Official-Hasbro-Star-Wars-Q-A-76_55):
Recently, pictures of the TPM wave surfaced online, and they seem to be of final production samples. We've seen a trend in the last few years of deco work becoming steadily weaker and weaker, with the Gungan Warrior sporting a particularly weak deco. On all previous Gungans, the colored parts of the arms have been detailed and accurate to the film and the different colors on the face have blended together well; on this new version, the paint seems sloppy, with no details on the arms and a stark contrast between the dark and light colors. While we understand that you've cut back on weathering and other details due to cost issues, this Gungan seems a bit much. Will we continue to see increasingly poor paint applications as the line continues, is there too much budget given to articulation at the expense of deco, and if so, what reasons are behind these issues? Will the line's deco get cheaper and more toyetic as the prices increase due to ever-tightening budgetary issues?
Hasbro has had a long history of packing new figures or improved sculpts in various multipacks with re-released figures. This essentially makes longtime collectors choose between re-purchasing figures they may have multiple times already (Vader and Han Solo are notable repeat offenders), or completely miss out on the new figures in the sets. This has, unfortunately, caused many unscrupulous collectors to purchase the sets, remove the figures or accessories they want, replace them with older, less desirable figures, and return them to the store for full credit. Though honest collectors will bring this to the attention of store management, many times the tampered-with items are back on the shelf the next day for whatever reason. Though we understand the business sense behind offering the new with the old, the practice of figure-swapping-to-return theft is steadily on the rise and far less rare than it should be, while employees are less able or diligent to keep that tampered product off their shelves. Isn't there anything you can do to potentially slow the problem, both the initial swapping and the employees re-stocking the tampered items after it's been brought to their attention?
A recent disassembly of your Titanium Series V-19 Starfighter led to the surprising discovery of a detailed cockpit underneath the opaque yellow canopy. Why was this item released with the opaque canopy rather than a transparent one which would have shown off the detailing underneath? You guys are paying to design, sculpt, and tool up that interior, so why hide it? Will this be addressed in some sort of re-release before the line's end?