Thanks again to Hasbro for the answers, to all the folks who sent in questions and especially those who voted on them. Here come Hasbro's answers, and remember to check out CollectionStation.com for their Hasbro Q&A as well, which got a double helping of answers.

Hasbro Q&A for the week of July 15th, 2010

SSG:  Now that you've made Galactic Heroes figures of Max Rebo and Droopy McCool, there is a hole in the band. Why did Sy Snootles get left out of the set? Might Hasbro consider rounding out the original trio of palace band members by making a Sy Snootles Galactic Heroes figure? She would go great in a 2 pack with any of Jabba's more prominent minions (Tessek, Ephant Mon, or Ree-Yees for instance) or perhaps Oola or cloak-wearing Luke. Seeing as these more obscure Galactic Heroes figures are fan-driven, if you were to make a Sy figure would it be based on her classic "vintage" appearance?

Hasbro:   We have no plans to make a Sy Snootles or some of the other figures. Galactic Heroes seems to be overwhelmingly kid-driven, and aside from a few 2-packs with relatively obscure characters later this year, we'll be sticking to known and recognized characters going forward.

SSG:  Regarding the 2002 Saga Deluxe Speeder Bike, previously you had told us the tooling for it had been misplaced in one of the factories you work with, and since around that time the only Speeder Bike mold released has been the 1983 Kenner version. Yet it's been confirmed in recently-released Hasbro imagery as well as other sources that the new AT-AT comes with that '02 Saga Speeder Bike in Hoth colors, conspicuously around the same time that the bike's '03 Clone Wars remold is getting reused as well as the new deluxe Plo Koon Speeder Bike. Has the '02 Saga Speeder Bike tooling actually been found after years of searching, and if so, what's the story behind that discovery? (We're picturing Derryl swinging through warehouse aisles via whip checking nondescript slab after giant metal slab a la Indiana Jones.) If the tooling really has been found, why has the Hoth Assault battle pack been shown with the old '83 version, why did the recent TRU-exclusive deluxe Speeder Bike set use that '83 mold? And will the newer Speeder Bike finally be used for a screen-accurate ROTJ bike in the near future?

Hasbro:  We can confirm that we did at long last locate the 2002 Saga Deluxe Speeder Bike tooling and it is being used in the AT-AT set. It has not been available for other sets because we use several different vendors (factories) to produce Star Wars toys, in this case different vendors for the TRU set and the AT-AT. We will definitely look to use this bike in future sets. Nice visual there about the tools! We haven't seen pics ourselves but we are confident that our vendor's warehouses are just as you describe.

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Hasbro Q&A for the week of June 28th, 2010

SSG:  Hasbro hasn't really elaborated on your take of the most recent ToyFare Star Wars fans' choice poll finalists, other than to say in a very broad sense that it was clear collectors were most interested in all-new characters over resculpts and that the results would provide a "road map" for future lineups. So specifically, apart from Jocasta Nu and Jaxxon whom you've already addressed, are there any totally unlikely candidates on the list such as the Queen / handmaiden figures? Any choices that really made you wince because you know they would be retail poison? If you want to avoid giving away too much info now by addressing each character individually could you at least tell us how many characters  from each source (i.e. OT, PT and EU) off the finalists list will be turned into figures in the next 18 months or so?

Hasbro:  One way to look at the list is to consider that we will not be able to do all of these figures, or even come close, over the next 3-4 years when we will probably wan tto look at another Fan's Choice poll to reflect the latest wants at that time. As for which ones would be retail poison, we feel we have a strong handle on the "new" floor for even the most obscure figures (like the Willrow Hoods of the world) so we can manage just about the anything. The question is....do we want to? That's why it is better to look at the list as a general guide for hotspots of demand rather than a mandatory list. With that perspective, the figures least likely to have a chance to be done in that time are Queen/handmaiden figures, Jocasta Nu, Jaxxon, and the most obscure movie figures like Tey How. We don't have a lot of EU slots to play with currently, and aside from Jaxxon, these are very good choices but EU in general will likely struggle to get fit in with what is coming up (especially among strong candidates emerging from TFU2 and TOR that need to be put into consideration). Finally, as for how the list has impacted development, here is what is confirmed to come out before the end of 2011 (always subject to change, of course): two Prequel Trilogy figures, four OTC figures, and Bastila Shan. Not a bad start...

SSG:  One of your answers from the April 8th round said that, as we expected, due to the troubles with running changes, there will be no more of those running-change figures. The statement is clear, running changes from wave to wave didn't work out too well during the TLC line, but it leaves open the question of whether simultaneous, planned production variations could be released concurrently within the same wave. The line has done so before, similar to the way the TSC line's Endor Rebel Troopers were released, or some Saga Legends troopers, the Imperial Officer head variants, the Clone Wars Micro Series clones; and the GI Joe line has more recently had success with concurrently-released chase figures as well. While concurrent variants do make specifics a little tougher to get, it provides a lot more flexibility for army-building troops without waiting years to release a variant. So would those sorts of simultaneous-production, same-wave variant figures still be a possibility, or do these go down in flames along with the running change figures?

Hasbro:  There is no difference - all of the examples you cite were running change figures executed against the exact same item number, and that is exactly what is taboo. The only way to do variants would be to plan two item numbers and make releases against each. This would burn one of our precious items. We are under strict item count lockdown each year, so ding this would occupy a slot that otherwise might have gone to an all new or very differentiated figure. Since that is not a good tradeoff, we are retiring the notion of any kind of running change or slightly differentiated release for good. Instead, we'll have to pick up variants in others ways, like multi-packs and exclusives.

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Hasbro Q&A for the week of June 2nd, 2010

SSG:  At Toy Fair, you revealed a Boba Fett figure for the Vintage Collection. There is some confusion about this figure though. The carded sample shows the Evolutions ESB version, while the in-booth display shows the 2004 vintage-style ROTJ figure. In a recent Q&A answer, Boba was left off of your list of Greatest Hits repacks, which would lead one to believe he has been updated in some way similarly to how the Vader figure is not on the Greatest Hits list because it has been changed a little. Has this TVC Boba Fett indeed been changed, and if so, how? If not, then which version will see release?

Hasbro: The sculpt is the same ESB sculpt from the Evolutions pack, but we have improved the deco to match our recent fact-finding visit to the Lucasfilm Archives. While it is not a new tool, we should have really considered it a "Greatest Hits" when we made that list because we don't consider relatively small deco changes alone enough to consider a figure a must-have, all new purchase. Sorry about that. For the Fett-ishists among the fans, we hope that this one is an improvement in detail over previous versions.

SSG:  As you now know, the recent Commander Cody figure has left the factory with his belt upside-down, an occurrence which has proved far too common over the last 5 years of ROTS phase 2 trooper armor figures. This is a relatively small thing, but common enough that it warrants asking about. Would it be possible for you to redesign the trooper belt system so that there was some sort of offset notch or directional block which forces assembly on the belts to work only in the proper orientation? That way, the factory workers wouldn't need to see the visual minutiae that defines the belt as right-side-up or not. On a similar note, many later uses of the R4-G9 tooling (such as R2-T0 and the recent battle pack R2-D2) seem to be assembled asymmetrically so the center foot rests at too shallow an angle thus incapable of standing flat, perhaps caused by a very slight mismatch or variance cavity to cavity. Could something be redesigned in the foot to ensure the correct angle and range of travel for the center ankle joint?

Hasbro: We did not know about the Commander Cody issue - thanks for bringing it to our attention. Your suggestions are good to improve both the belt issue as well as the R4-G9 issue. These are small details, but we agree they can be niggling. Thanks for the thoughts and bringing our attention to the Cody issue.

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Hasbro Q&A for the week of April 27th, 2010

SSG:  In past answers, you've said you have no foreseeable plans to re-release any of the Build-a-Droid existing droid characters again. However, for various reasons natural to collecting, many collectors found themselves with the problems of having too many of some droid parts, and more often, too few of others. Short production runs are an especially big problem for completing certain droids. The bottom line is that there are a lot of incomplete droids around, and some of the droids are army-buildable including the hard-to-get YVH-1, so even after working to complete 1, some collectors want several more. And the upcoming BG-J38 wave looks like it will be no picnic to complete either what with exclusivity and a very short production run. Aside from the notion of collectors coming back to the line spurring a Droid Factory playset with the possibility of using some of these parts, would you reconsider alternate methods to distributing these parts or whole droids, perhaps offering individual parts on HasbroToyShop, or bagged complete but unassembled droids in simple white box packaging, or perhaps some other method that lets collectors complete their build-a-droids?

Hasbro:  We will not be offering any of the previously released Droid Factory figures or parts. Since each droid part for any droid was produced in the exact same quantity, parts do exist to complete any droid, but it will take fans getting together to swap parts for completion. Army builders will likely have an abundance of mismatched parts, which are likely in demand for folks who need these parts. Maybe some smart fans will be able to figure out a solution to allow folks to trade their droid parts via message boards, or live and in person at CV

SSG:  Don't think we haven't noticed that some of your exclusives are playing a color-scheme war. Target, whose company logo is a big red bulls-eye, gets a red-accented TIE Fighter vehicle; Wal-mart, whose logo has been blue lettering for decades, gets a blue Octuptarra Droid vehicle. Wal-mart gets a blue 501st role-play helmet; Target gets a red Clone Trooper helmet with flashlight. Target gets Commander Fox, a red-hued Clone figure; Wal-mart gets the 501st Clone Trooper, a blue-accented figure. Confess! You're creating some of these exclusives with coloring themed to its specific retailer, aren't you? "Payola!" they'll all yell to the heavens as they learn of such treachery. Busted! So, are you guys doing this on purpose, and if so, how did it come up? Do your retail partners know that they're getting specially-tailored exclusives as are their rivals, and what do they think of it?

Hasbro: It started out as a deliberate attempt to match the retailer and their ownable branding to the specific product (the red dot Clone Trooper in 2005 was the precursor to many of the items you saw). Retailers did embrace the strategy, but the more it was used the less special it became (the Clone helmets being the biggest and most overt example of this). We have since have gone away from this for the most part. The TIE Interceptor and Octuptarra were purely coincidental; we had not even noticed that they followed the pattern until you pointed it out. 

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Hasbro Q&A for the week of April 8th, 2010

SSG: With the reveal of the Vintage Collection cardbacks using the classic Kenner styling, there's one oddity which doesn't fit with modern retail. The previous Vintage-style cardbacks came in clamshells that had J-hooks, but this new line has no clamshells and the samples you've shown have no J-hooks, only punch-through hanger holes with plastic reinforcement on the back. Isn't this a risky gamble, making it harder for consumers to get to product and for employees trying to restock? Was this considered, and if so, why was the decision made to stay with the old-style hangers?

Hasbro: It was not without discussion that we decided to do this, since we know that it could make getting at a figure on a peg behind several other figures somewhat tedious, and a potential risk for consumers pulling them off pegs forcefully. The decision was made to stay with the old-style punched because we feel the cards look best and most true to Vintage that way. They have been reinforced with a custom plastic tab to ensure that they won't be easily damaged by being pulled off pegs, but we still have the issue of impatient consumers not willing to take figures off to get to the one they want as well as for employees restocking.

SSG: Snowspeeder Luke is an amazing figure, but collectors have numerous issues and are wondering if they might be addressed on a future re-release. Issues including the awkward hand poses, the wrong saber hilt (again), no lit lightsaber, no way to plug the saber hilt into the belt, no way to hook the grappling gun onto the belt, the thermal cap on the head that disappears and reappears throughout the character wearing this costume on Hoth and Dagobah, the raised helmet visor in the AT-AT attack, and even Luke not wearing his gloves in the costume on Dagobah. Let me state again, fans love this figure overall, it's just that they love it so much they've taken a hard look and see the issues as they stand. So, will any or all of those issues be addressed on a future re-release of this figure?

Hasbro: We are glad to hear that you and many of the fans like the figure. Currently we do not have a plan to release another new Hoth Luke in the immediate future but we do plan on doing other Luke figures. We can look to address the lightsaber hilt issue. We do appreciate all the comments and feedback which helps us to improve our products and when we do revise the Hoth figure in the future we will definitely look at making some if not all the improvements you suggest.

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Hasbro Q&A for the week of March 17th, 2010

SSG: It's awesome that we're getting an update of Ponda Baba in 2011, but this does bring up two burning questions. Will he be sold under the name "Walrusman" on the card just like in the vintage days, or will that be updated to the modern "Ponda Baba"? Also, since the character is seen in the film with flipper-hands but every modern version of the figure has been sculpted with the more human, furry hands (as shown amputated by Obi-Wan), are we finally going to get a screen-accurate "flipper-hand" version of Ponda Baba? If not, would you consider packing him with interchangeable hands so collectors can choose which version they want to display?

Hasbro: We haven't gotten to the stage where we have drawn these up yet, so no decision has been made. That is a very interesting suggestion you make and a good way to solve an interesting problem. We'll make sure the design team takes a good look at it. Thanks. As for the name on the package, we'd love to see Walrusman ourselves, if not in the pill then as a secondary name.


SSG: Although the Cruisemissile Trooper vehicle has its share of detractors, including those at Hasbro, the concept and design have some fun and interesting toy merits, though not fully realized. Perhaps the original design could be embellished and resized to fit into either the current Deluxe Figure & Vehicle pricepoint or a Battle Pack or other another medium (maybe even a Starfighter pricepoint perhaps). And of course, this time around it could have a removable pilot and cooler features to make it a fun new vehicle with unique Star Wars credibility. Would Hasbro ever consider making an update to this vehicle with design and features befitting the modern line? With the Deluxe Figure & Vehicle line seemingly doing well and taking other weird risks like the Desert Sport Skiff, would you think that the right place for it?

Hasbro: Right now there are no plans for an update, but the idea of a small, streamlined, heavily armed one-man craft is still intriguing. If we did it again, it would be great to have a removable figure. It's unknown if it could fit into the Figure & Vehicle (Deluxe) assortment given the size and detail needed; it might be more of a Starfighter-style craft. If we get to the point where we need more ideas along these lines, it's an interesting one to consider. FYI, due to the niche nature of the vehicle, we are going to go very light on our release of the Anakin / Desert Sports Skiff. In hindsight, it doesn't pack the firepower or gravity as a vehicle as the other sets in the line.

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Hasbro Q&A for the week of February 23rd, 2010

SSG: While we know that the readership of ToyFare Magazine and its parent company, Wizard, are not chiefly a Star Wars collecting-oriented group which can give weird results like the 2006 EU-centric Fans Choice poll, it seems like the most recent Fans Choice poll results are arousing even more raised eyebrows and suspicions among the collecting community. Certain characters seem to have come out of nowhere to claim top spots, and the website which ToyFare ran the poll seemed to have no obvious safeguards against ballot-stuffing. To quell fans suspicions on this, where there safeguards in place to prevent overzealous fans from flooding the poll with votes? We know it's just a toy line, but obviously collectors take it seriously, so what can you tell fans to satisfy their concerns about the poll's veracity, that this is truly all of their choices, and not just the choices of a few unscrupulous fanatics?

Hasbro: We were vigilant to make sure the poll ran smoothly, and we can verify that Wizard World counted only one vote per IP-address (despite what appeared to be glitches that allowed multiple votes). Overall, the votes were surprisingly evenly distributed. The final results were interesting in the sense that there was a burst of EU characters at the top of the charts, followed by a long stretch of film characters. This tells us that there is demand still for a few higher-profile and interesting EU characters. This poll provides a good roadmap for the next few years just as the previous poll did. The 2006 results were very prophetic; many of the characters from that list that inspired development turned out to be some of our most popular from the last few years. While we won't have the widened EU scope over the next few years that we have had recently, we are still passionate about bringing great characters from other media into the lineup.

SSG: Regarding the head on the Cloud City Wing Guard figure, the cardback bio suggests this is supposed to be Sgt. Edian, yet while the coloring is a black person's and Edian is a black man, the sculpt is clearly that of a white guy. Everything about the head sculpt, even the part in the hair, is a different guy given a dark brown deco. While it could be seen technically as an update to the vintage black Bespin Security Guard on skin tone alone, the features and cardback on that Kenner figure were clearly Edian and were differentiated from the other Kenner white Bespin Guard figure. In fact, there is some similarity to another guard, Sgt. Merril, an older white man. Was the original idea to produce a Merril figure and that looked too similar to the planned Utris M'Toc so his ethnicity was changed? Why was this new Edian figure given a white guy's face sculpt? Any chance we'll see this head sculpt again as Sgt. Merril, and a new, more accurate Sgt. Edian sculpt in the future?

Hasbro: The Bespin Security figure sculpt reference was based on Sgt. Edian. While it was not our intent, we see how you might think the sculpt does have some resemblance to Sgt. Merril. That was not the intent, in any case.

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SSG: Lightsaber Launching R2-D2, one of the little guy's coolest moments. The most recent figure wasn't very good, and was 11 years ago. We understand that safety regulations prohibit a spring-loaded projectile from being under 3 inches, so how about a few compromises instead? How about an R2 that can have a removable panel and can hold just the ROTJ Luke saber hilt (in the film it's facing upwards anyway so the blade would be sticking out the top), and if you still must have the gimmick, it can be replaced with a full-length Luke saber with blade that goes all the way through the body and a hole out the bottom and fires that way. R2 wasn't using his middle leg in the scene but kids will hold the figure during play so it doesn't matter that the blade goes past his feet. This would also be a great excuse to finally get a nice new Luke ROTJ lightsaber accessory out after 13 years of suffering imitations. So how about it, isn't it time we get a decent Lightsaber Launching R2-D2?

Hasbro: We agree and intend to take a new approach to an EpVI R2-D2 soon. However, because of the limitations you outline, he won't be a lightsaber-launching figure but instead have a hilt that can be hidden inside his dome.


SSG: In a recent answer, Hasbro revealed that the Spring 2010 EU wave will be the only group of non-Clone Wars new figures until the Fall. Granted, we have seen gaps in the line before - most recently in the break between The Force Unleashed wave in Spring 2008 and the ROTJ wave in July 2008 - but this news has many collectors worried. With the Legacy line apparently in poor shape, is it the wisest idea to put it on hiatus for over 2 quarters this year? Granted, we'll still have The Clone Wars figures to look forward to, but such a pause might cause even more movie-based collectors to walk away and further undermine the line, perhaps into completely folding. Hasbro stated recently "We are working hard to get [collectors who have left the line] back, and we think that what we have lined up next year will be our best attempt." We know full details will be revealed at Toy Fair so we won't ask specifics, but can collectors look forward to some movie-based products in those lean 6 to 8 months while the basic Legacy-style line is on hiatus, enough stuff to hold their interest? And is it too late to get out a repaint wave, perhaps with some of those already-tooled variant figures like the Hoth Trooper, Imperial Scanning Crew, and Utai, perhaps some tooled but canceled Comic Pack figures, maybe even some kitbashes like Han Solo head on an Imperial body, to keep collectors interested during the break?

Hasbro: There is literally nothing that can be done to get more figures to retail sooner. It's not the way we want it; ideally, new waves would flow in to retail every 6-8 weeks like clockwork. We originally set out to have more figures after the EU wave, but it became apparent that we would never get to them so they became the Toys 'R Us exclusive multi-packs. Legacy sales have been so far off the mark - and retails have enough inventory - that even the EU wave has become a Toys 'R Us exclusive in May, with some online retailers having access to the last of the run in June. Once we start fresh with Vintage, we will be able to manage the line to the new collector baseline and make tight releases to keep waves flowing regularly.

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