JediTricks
09-15-2011, 10:19 PM
Please post your VOTE for up to 2 {two} of the questions provided in this thread, letting us know which ones you most want to see asked on October 21st. Keep in mind that your votes in round 94 do not count in this round, so if your question is still on the list you may want to vote for it again.
Also, feel free to suggest new questions, but please keep in mind that due to the now extra-limited nature of the program, we cannot use every suggestion.
Current questions (vote for up to 2):
- Sgt. Bric's initial cartoon outing turned out to be kind of a bust. The character was an unmemorable jerk and didn't really add anything to his storyline. In fact, if not for the action figure you guys did, he'd be a complete nobody in 2010. And on top of that, the postage on his set when it arrived in Los Angeles was a whopping $5.15, so after the cost of the box and the handling, just getting it out the door probably ate the entire $6.99 right there. Combine that with the fancy packaging and the battle mat, and the fact that he's 100% new tooling with some pricey-looking (for CW) paint, and it seems like Bric's quite an expensive promotional venture for Hasbro to have undertaken... all for a minor jerk of a character. What is it about Bric that made you choose him for a big Clone Wars mail-away promo figure?
- The Force FX lightsabers are targeted at adult collectibles, for a group who generally desire accuracy in their prop collectibles, and yet the latest ROTS Obi-Wan's lightsaber with removable blade suffers a big inaccuracy due to the blade needing to be securely anchored. However, with your removable-blade designs, you've started using dummy parts to fill in the removed blades, and we wonder if you'd consider for future thin-necked lightsabers like Luke ROTJ and Obi-Wan having the removable blade take the entire thick "neck" with it and having a more accurate thin-necked dummy design replace it. That much weight anchoring has been accomplished before in the thick metal coupler for the Maul saber halves that screwed together, on these thin-neck sabers the neck could screw down to the top part of the grip. That would let collectors have their cake and eat it too by giving an accurate hilt prop display with the thin neck, while still having the light-up blade play using the thick neck. So has there been any consideration for that sort of thing, and might it be seen in future Force FX sabers when needed?
- The 2009 Count Dooku with Speeder Bike figure featured a fabric cloak with a sculpted plastic clasp, meaning he had the free range of motion provided by the cloak with the accuracy of the clasp. This year though, instead of a plastic clasp, your TVC General Lando Calrissian figure has a thick elastic strap that doesn't really look anything like the fabric braid the character wore in the film; it seems like that is a case where a plastic clasp would have been preferable. The plastic clasp holding closed a fabric cloak solution could also be a possibility on future Darth Vader figures, or movie-based Count Dooku figures, or other figures where appropriate and the material allows it. Will the plastic-clasp-and-fabric approach be taken more in the future? Why wasn't it with TVC General Lando?
- Since the release of the ROTJ wave last Fall, there really wasn't much product for either line making a big appearance on shelves at any major retailer up until this September. Many waves have come and gone in very small, sporadic, scattered numbers. Your recent answers about some figures slowing things up doesn't fully account for what seems to be extremely-low retailer orders or problematic case assortments that continued even a year after figures were showing problems to continue pushing slow-moving product rather than focusing on newer and more popular stuff. Beyond the slow-moving figures, what is happening with the spotty distribution and case assortment planning for this year so far? You've always told us that you monitor what's selling and adjust future case assortments to address problems, yet we haven't seen that lately, why not slip in Wedge and the Gamorrean and the like, truly sought-after figures, instead of just another pass at recarded figures? (We know Wedge and the Gamorrean are slated for return in 2012, but that's over a year after they were needed.)
- Lucasfilm is all of a sudden talking about the February 2012 cinema release of Episode I in 3D as an experiment, one that, should it not live up to their expectations will end the Saga's re-release train then and there. They've also said that the live-action TV series is on hold a few more years. Should the 3D release not pan out, that would leave only the Blu-Ray release coming up this Fall as major entertainment support for the realistic incarnation of the brand. Granted, Hasbro's Star Wars line has survived plenty of waves without entertainment support, but the state of the toy industry seems more brutal, more dire than before. What is Hasbro looking forward to using as support for the main Star Wars movie line should the 3D movie release not pan out? Hasbro hasn't done any major advertising for the main Star Wars movie line in a while, might there be a renewed push into that realm?
- Most collectors still haven't really gotten a significant experience with the new Vintage Collection waves that do away with theming. Can you touch a little more on how those new non-themed waves are planned out? Is it harder to find a "voice" for creating a wave that way, or is it freeing not to have to come up with a bunch of figures all centered around a single concept that have to be ready to go at the exact same time?
- In the foreseeable future, can we expect to see the Neimoidian Separatist Shuttle released, seeing how it's appeared in three films, and in 12 Clone Wars episodes so far? It has a unique shape and certainly seems as useful as a Mandalorian Shuttle, which is getting a release.
- Concerning the Clone Wars Battle Droid figure, will you ever release a regular infantry version that sports the Firefighter Battle Droid's extra-articulated arms, and the Class 1 Fleet Separatist Speeder Pilot Battle Droid's extra-articulated legs, so that we'll have a more articulated animated Battle Droid?
Vote now, and suggest new questions too. Thanks for participating.
Also, feel free to suggest new questions, but please keep in mind that due to the now extra-limited nature of the program, we cannot use every suggestion.
Current questions (vote for up to 2):
- Sgt. Bric's initial cartoon outing turned out to be kind of a bust. The character was an unmemorable jerk and didn't really add anything to his storyline. In fact, if not for the action figure you guys did, he'd be a complete nobody in 2010. And on top of that, the postage on his set when it arrived in Los Angeles was a whopping $5.15, so after the cost of the box and the handling, just getting it out the door probably ate the entire $6.99 right there. Combine that with the fancy packaging and the battle mat, and the fact that he's 100% new tooling with some pricey-looking (for CW) paint, and it seems like Bric's quite an expensive promotional venture for Hasbro to have undertaken... all for a minor jerk of a character. What is it about Bric that made you choose him for a big Clone Wars mail-away promo figure?
- The Force FX lightsabers are targeted at adult collectibles, for a group who generally desire accuracy in their prop collectibles, and yet the latest ROTS Obi-Wan's lightsaber with removable blade suffers a big inaccuracy due to the blade needing to be securely anchored. However, with your removable-blade designs, you've started using dummy parts to fill in the removed blades, and we wonder if you'd consider for future thin-necked lightsabers like Luke ROTJ and Obi-Wan having the removable blade take the entire thick "neck" with it and having a more accurate thin-necked dummy design replace it. That much weight anchoring has been accomplished before in the thick metal coupler for the Maul saber halves that screwed together, on these thin-neck sabers the neck could screw down to the top part of the grip. That would let collectors have their cake and eat it too by giving an accurate hilt prop display with the thin neck, while still having the light-up blade play using the thick neck. So has there been any consideration for that sort of thing, and might it be seen in future Force FX sabers when needed?
- The 2009 Count Dooku with Speeder Bike figure featured a fabric cloak with a sculpted plastic clasp, meaning he had the free range of motion provided by the cloak with the accuracy of the clasp. This year though, instead of a plastic clasp, your TVC General Lando Calrissian figure has a thick elastic strap that doesn't really look anything like the fabric braid the character wore in the film; it seems like that is a case where a plastic clasp would have been preferable. The plastic clasp holding closed a fabric cloak solution could also be a possibility on future Darth Vader figures, or movie-based Count Dooku figures, or other figures where appropriate and the material allows it. Will the plastic-clasp-and-fabric approach be taken more in the future? Why wasn't it with TVC General Lando?
- Since the release of the ROTJ wave last Fall, there really wasn't much product for either line making a big appearance on shelves at any major retailer up until this September. Many waves have come and gone in very small, sporadic, scattered numbers. Your recent answers about some figures slowing things up doesn't fully account for what seems to be extremely-low retailer orders or problematic case assortments that continued even a year after figures were showing problems to continue pushing slow-moving product rather than focusing on newer and more popular stuff. Beyond the slow-moving figures, what is happening with the spotty distribution and case assortment planning for this year so far? You've always told us that you monitor what's selling and adjust future case assortments to address problems, yet we haven't seen that lately, why not slip in Wedge and the Gamorrean and the like, truly sought-after figures, instead of just another pass at recarded figures? (We know Wedge and the Gamorrean are slated for return in 2012, but that's over a year after they were needed.)
- Lucasfilm is all of a sudden talking about the February 2012 cinema release of Episode I in 3D as an experiment, one that, should it not live up to their expectations will end the Saga's re-release train then and there. They've also said that the live-action TV series is on hold a few more years. Should the 3D release not pan out, that would leave only the Blu-Ray release coming up this Fall as major entertainment support for the realistic incarnation of the brand. Granted, Hasbro's Star Wars line has survived plenty of waves without entertainment support, but the state of the toy industry seems more brutal, more dire than before. What is Hasbro looking forward to using as support for the main Star Wars movie line should the 3D movie release not pan out? Hasbro hasn't done any major advertising for the main Star Wars movie line in a while, might there be a renewed push into that realm?
- Most collectors still haven't really gotten a significant experience with the new Vintage Collection waves that do away with theming. Can you touch a little more on how those new non-themed waves are planned out? Is it harder to find a "voice" for creating a wave that way, or is it freeing not to have to come up with a bunch of figures all centered around a single concept that have to be ready to go at the exact same time?
- In the foreseeable future, can we expect to see the Neimoidian Separatist Shuttle released, seeing how it's appeared in three films, and in 12 Clone Wars episodes so far? It has a unique shape and certainly seems as useful as a Mandalorian Shuttle, which is getting a release.
- Concerning the Clone Wars Battle Droid figure, will you ever release a regular infantry version that sports the Firefighter Battle Droid's extra-articulated arms, and the Class 1 Fleet Separatist Speeder Pilot Battle Droid's extra-articulated legs, so that we'll have a more articulated animated Battle Droid?
Vote now, and suggest new questions too. Thanks for participating.