SSG's Bi-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - April 27th

[JediTricks]

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Hasbro Q&A? Find out in Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for April 27th, 2007. 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 ActionFigs.com for their weekly Hasbro Q&A as well (which also got an update today).

Hasbro Q&A for the week of April 27th

Q: In the Toys R Us-exclusive Bantha with Tusken Raiders boxed set, the Bantha's pelt appears inaccurate with curly fur and the eyeholes not cut or attached correctly, compared to the movie character and the original POTF2 Bantha that this toy is based upon. What is the reason for the unattractive visible eyeholes and bizarre curly fur? Also, if boxed Star Wars items sell better the closer they are to $20, why turn the Bantha into a larger $45 set?
A: We do not set retail pricing for our items, that is decided by our retail partners. In any case, soft goods are generally expensive and we could not get the bantha to cost out where we wanted. Knowing this, we went with the direction of adding more Tusekns to justify a higher price point, and to make it more like a complete Tusken clan set. On the fur, we wanted something different and more like the movie banthas with a matted look. We did the best job we could wih the fur available on the market in the time we had for completion of the set.

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Q: As this is the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars' release and your line this year is called the "30th Anniversary Collection", now seems the best time to ask this one: what are the chances that we'll be getting a figure of the very first person ever seen in all of Star Wars (that's not a droid), the white-haired Rebel Fleet Trooper who shows worry and then steadies to hold off the Stormtroopers for control of the Tantive IV? For clarification, the Decipher CCG named this guy "Lt. Pello Scrambas" - though nobody seems entirely in love with that name so feel free to NOT use it . This would also be a great chance to do a new, better-articulated Rebel Fleet Trooper body.
A: We have not considered doing this figure, but it makes sense for a down-the-road variant of the Rebel Fleet Trooper -- at least for the head. We probaly won't update the Rebel Fleet Trooper body for a long time, as it is, it does pretty much everything you could ask of these poor doomed corridor fighters. (ed note: we at SSG would respectfully disagree as the Rebel Fleet Trooper could also use elbow, waist, and better shoulder articulation. -JT)

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Q: With the Titanium Series 3" Star Wars vehicle line, there's been a growing problem on the pegs consistently reported from all across the nation. At each of the 3 major retailers (TRU, Target, Wal-mart), the Titanium 3" Transformers figures - even though they ship in separate cases under unique assortment numbers meant for separate spots in stores planograms - often end up getting placed on the Star Wars Titaniums' pegs by employees because the packaging is the same unique shape and both lines sport the "Titanium Series" badge at the top; and now this is happening with the Spider-Man 3 Titanium 3" figures as well. That ends up mixing several dissimilar lines together, burying and even choking off pegspace for the Star Wars Titaniums while likely also slowing sales for the Transformers Titaniums. Your current solutions mentioned above (asst #s, planograms) don't seem to be enough at the retail level to ensure a separation of product which often means no pegspace for Star Wars Titaniums so they don't get put on shelves as often -- can you do something else to ensure that Star Wars Titaniums aren't overwhelmed at the pegs by Transformers and Spider-Man Titaniums?
A: There is little we can do to correct this this year, but a solution is in the works for 2008. Since the shelf tags are labeled and the product is separated by branding and visible product differentiation, it is up to the retail personnel to reset them to their right areas. This may or may not be happening due to the individual store. What is certain is that is SW Titanoum continues to sell down, it will continue to flow back in to that retailer. Typically there is not a lot of backstock on SW Titanium so the stores put it out as soon as they get it; it won't get in the way of getting new product out there.
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And the questions at ActionFigs.com:

• ** (this one not yet answered) ** Now that we've seen photos of the new Jedi Luke figure with cloth vest, what can you tell us about him? Is it an all new sculpt? Is his Death Star 2 costume on underneath the vest, is the vest and outer belt removable? What accessories will he have? What are the chances of seeing him repacked without the vest?
• Will we be getting a new Hoth Rebel Trooper in the foreseeable future? We've got a new, high-quality Snowtrooper coming finally but the Rebel side of the battle hasn't been well-represented in quite a while. The last version was in the 2004 Saga line and was very short (shorter than the protocol droid R-3PO from the same wave even), had little usable articulation, was overly-preposed, and had an odd face. It seems like most of the other OT troopers have gotten decent figures in the past few years except the Hoth Rebel Trooper, the Hoth battle scenes are very 1-sided over this, when will it be his time?
• In a recent question about the new Vintage-style clamshells, you were quoted as answering "The clamshells will be sealed, like the majority of last year's run." However, the heat-sealed Vintage-style Saga Collection clamshells were generally rendered unusably damaged once the seals were opened, thus defeating the main purpose of the supposedly-reusable clamshell packaging that is part of the significantly increased Vintage-style pricepoint. So will that issue be taken into account, or are collectors going to have to damage the clamshells to access the contents within? If the latter, why?

[Battle Droid]

Huh????????

[Kidhuman]

JT, dont make me lock it for spamming, this isnt the test area.

[JediTricks]

Huh????????

Makes more sense now, eh?

JT, dont make me lock it for spamming, this isnt the test area.

The thread was corrected before you even made this post, so there, nyeah


I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to see question 1 for ActionFigs.com not get answered after being held back a month. I mean, there's 1 Jedi Luke coming out this year, Hasbro even brought a carded sample to Toy Fair in February, I didn't think we had to be THAT specific for them to get it.

[Kidhuman]

What is a variant for the Rebel Trooper? That is bogus. HE should have his own figure since he has a name and is singled out in the movie shots.

I dunno about the Jedi Luke. That is bogus.

[LTBasker]

Makes more sense now, eh?
I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to see question 1 for ActionFigs.com not get answered after being held back a month. I mean, there's 1 Jedi Luke coming out this year, Hasbro even brought a carded sample to Toy Fair in February, I didn't think we had to be THAT specific for them to get it.

Not just that but was typing in caps really necessary? Hasbro has gone forum troll!

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Gee, they must've gotten confused, seeing as how there are so many Luke figures this year that have vests.

[JediTricks]

Not just that but was typing in caps really necessary? Hasbro has gone forum troll!

I wondered if I should change that all-caps thing. I suspect they wanted it to be clear to me that they needed feedback to answer the question, they wanted it to stand out. But I then figured that the published answer should stand out just the same and left it.

Them not knowing about this Luke thing is weird, maybe it's not a cloth vest then, maybe he's wearing a black towel around his neck... yeah, maybe not.

[Jargo]

you know it bothers me when hasbro reps say "we wanted to do something different" it's not about them it's about us the consumers. if they want a different bantha let them rip off the fur from a POTF one and redo it we as the consumers were asking for a re-release of the POTF version not a shaggy wigged faux bantha. I want to curse hasbro here quite loudly. the temptation to swear and use profane language is strong within me.........

[figrin bran]

wow, i don't know whether to be more bothered by the all caps or the ignorance on the part of mr. hasbro answer man.