The Sack Randy from Hasbro thread

[Jargo]

Randy is the guy who adds the gimmicks to our toys:

StarWarsKids.com: What is your name and your role at Hasbro?

My name is Randy and my role at Hasbro is developing the entire line of Hasbro Star Wars toys each year, from initial concept through the toys being shipped to stores.

Padawan Adi-Mia: Is it fun working with Star Wars toys? Do you get to play with the toys as part of your job?

Working on Star Wars toys is a dream come true. The best part of the job is being able to play with the toys and striving to make them even more fun and more realistic each year, like enhancing the basic figures with cool features such as lightsaber battling action, and designing the fully operational R2-D2 droid. That was a total blast!

Padawan Zell_42856: How do you decide the toys' poses?

Figure poses are based on or inspired by action scenes from the movie. We've developed some really cool poses for our figures. For example, Luminara Unduli is shown here in a Jedi fighting stance inspired by the Battle of Geonosis. Another example is Darth Vader, Bespin Duel. In addition to having a lightsaber slashing attack action that allows him to "cut" a walkway into two, he is posed from the battle scene with Luke Skywalker where he reaches his hand out to Luke, trying to lure him to the dark side. For other figures that come with their own vehicles, we design a more conservative pose to ensure they fit into the vehicle. We try to offer a variety of poses that look good in and out of their packages and enhance the way you can play with them.

Hasbro, please sack randy and stop him from getting anywhere near the design stage of the toys. Okay, i hold him personally responsible for ruining countless figures in 2002 with action features and gimmicks. Please Hasbro, grant me a Christmas wish and remove this person from your staff to a far flung outpost deep in the realms of nowhere where he can no longer interfere with and screw up the production of star wars action figures. Thank you.

Lots of love and a happy Christmas and new year

Emperor Jargo

[El Chuxter]

Y'know, when I first saw the name of this thread, I was thinking, "This doesn't sound like a 'Dear Hasbro' thread." However, I think there's something to Jargo's idea. This guy doesn't seem to be in touch with reality. First of all, he thinks the gimmicks are "cool." Collectors don't think they're cool, since they add strange buttons to our figures and limit their articulation. Kids think they don't work and therefore aren't cool.

Then, after announcing he's responsible for the gimmicks, he has no qualms about giving his name. The guy obvious has a death wish. He isn't properly balanced to be in such a position of authority.

Bottom line: if you want the line to outlive Episode III, you have to can the gimmicks. Already myself and several other long-time rabid SW fans are far less excited about the Saga line than with Mattel's Masters of the Universe or Toybiz's Marvel Legends. Look at those lines, and learn. That's what we want. Oh, and kids must want it, too. I see far more kids anxiously hunting for "the little funny flying guy from He-Man" or picking up the latest Skeletor resculpt than even glancing at the SW section.

Please, correct these problems before it's too late.

[LTBasker]

Geez..just from that last paragraph he contradicts himself.

For other figures that come with their own vehicles, we design a more conservative pose to ensure they fit into the vehicle. We try to offer a variety of poses that look good in and out of their packages and enhance the way you can play with them.

With the first Saga figure to come with a vehicle being the Speederbike Clone. Not only that, but what Zam, Anakin and Obi go in the speeders? Can't be ones that were released, they must've been one of a kind prototypes that he kept. Heck, poor Typho doesn't even have an AOTC release ship to fly, making him..obsolete. Sure Pilot; Obi, Clone and Jango can go in their ships, but they were released seperately and not even at the same time as their ship counterparts when Pilot Jango should've been a definite pack-in. They certainly made him to the low expectations of a pack-in figure!

[stillakid]

I just lit my torch and picked up my pickfork. When do we go?

[rherk]

I don't know this "randy" and I cant say for sure if he is responsible for the crap toys Hasbro has been making. However, if he is I support this thread to get rid of him because damn it Hasbro! You are totally loosing me! I've about had it. Why should I keep this collection going when half the figures I'm getting are so disappointing. Why do you insist on destroying your product? And don't say it's what the kids want because that's a bunch a bull. Look at other toy lines on the shelf today. Many have no need for these action features, silly poses and constipated expressions on their faces.

The bottom line here is I'm totally putting all of this on the line for the Luke Jedi figure and when I say "all This" I mean all the amounts of time, money and energy I spend on collecting Star Wars figures. If Luke jedi isn't the king of all Star Wars toys like he should be I'll focus on another line like the new MOTU or Lord of the Rings or Marvel Legends. Now those are consistantly good toy lines. Whew. that felt good.

[Jargo]

I'd like to know who the rest of the Hasbro star wars team are. I see names like Andy Espenshade and mark Bordereaux (SP?) and some marketing guy with pop in his name but just who are the designers and sculptors? What exactly do all these people actually do on a daily basis? Who do we really have to blame for the gimmicks and gizmos that riddle the Saga line? I think it's time hasbro did a meet and greet in a virtual way on their website and showed us the team so we can see the faces and learn the names of the people we rant and rail against when things don't go well on a particular product. not in a vindictive way, this isn't a request aimed at starting a hate campaign, I've been wondering about this for a long long time. I would just like to know who's who and what they do.

[Banthaholic]

Emperor Jargo this has to be one of the funnier threads I've read in some time, awesome!!!
...and for Randy, please rethink the cool action figures. Newsflash, they aren't cool for most fans. Stick the $$$ saved from the action features into better sculpts, and better error catching.

[jedihunter25]

Hasbro, do us the fans and yourself a favor- FIRE THIS IDIOT RANDY!!!!!

[Jon]

Well, it if this guy is responsible for the basic line. He is directly responsible for me no longer buying the 3 3/4" figures. I have seen the death of our Star Wars line. I was at Toys R' Us today, a mere 4 shopping days before Christmas and there was a ton of Star Wars toys untouched and even ignored by everyone in the store. I counted 17 different figures I don't have and for the first time in about 7 years it is by choice. And I'm not alone. GI Joe, Transformers, He Man, and countless other toy lines were picked over and only the overproduced leftovers remained. Even Unleashed Padme, Anakin & Tyrannus were sitting there next to the TRU exclusive Landspeeder. There was a time that these would have a shelf life of 10 seconds, now they are collecting dust. YOU have disenfranchised many collectors, Hasbro. Power of the Jedi was real close to perfect, this stuff you are passing now is real close to CRAP. If Randy is responsilbe he needs to go as well as any supervisor or board that agrees with his ideas. It isn't only him I am sure.

[eyEdeaD JEDI]

even though his gimmicks suck, he's done well with the poses, lets not go back to the dark days of POTF 2 when they all had the same boring pose ---> as if they're standing to attention