C-3PO proves Hasbro's inconsistant about head-swap figures

[Tycho]

Yakface.com: With the most recent release of the TAC #15 Concept Boba Fett, and previously the ROTS #35 Palpatine figure, Hasbro has shown the ability of producing figures with swapable heads. It seems that the next possible step would be to offer the same type of ability to non-descript soldier type characters by offering alternate heads packed with one common body. Take for example the current #13 Death Star Trooper: He includes a head to use with the removable helmet, but what about also including a head with the Officer's Cap molded on? This scenario would work on the Rebel Honor Guard as well. This could provide a way for collector's to bolster the variety of their Imperial and Rebel Alliance ranks without the need for producing running variants, thus saving in packaging costs and it has the potential of freeing up a slot in later case revisions for other characters that would be slated to be packed one per case. Am I on to something here or have I been hitting the "Jawa Juice" too hard?

Hasbro: Ease off the bottle. ; ) What you outline is essentially a new figure. Fans would need a new body to display the new head with, so we're really back to square one. But perhaps the biggest issue is that doing different head sculpts is really introducing new characters in one basic figure card. We (and Lucasfilm) prefer that we concentrate on one character per pack rather the dilute and confuse the story too much, as appealling as it may be to some fans.

Yeah right. Please refer to Saga2 C-3PO. The Protocal Droid body comes with both C-3PO's head and a battle droid's head. With either head on the body, the figure becomes a different character. You'd need a battle droid body with an option for attaching the C-3PO Protocal Droid head on it in order to make C-3PO in battle droid mode. The CPU is in the head. You only get 1 body with this figure. If you want to display both, you need to buy 2 figures - that is both protocal droid body options. You can't even recreate the battle droid body option for the C-3PO character.

And Palpatine? He's either the chancellor or Darth Sidious. You don't get 2 bodies with that figure either.

So what if DSTs or RHGs or RFTs, Bespin Guards, Naboo, etc. came with different heads? It would be useful for us army builders, and we'd still buy multiple figures. But this way, no variation is rare, etc. It's different with the black Endor Rebel, because he'll require different hands as well as head, and they changed the gear up on them a little. But in general, Hasbro is full of it.

[waboritas]

I was thinking the same thing. They want our $$$$$$$$$$!

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I think the difference in your example is that it IS the same character, just in different situations. We see Palpatine before and after the transformation. We see C-3PO's body before and its head was replaced with a battle droid head. I didn't bother to get that carded figure because I had the Saga Deluxe version that had both bodies and both heads.

I think the valid point to make is that they still had to pack in an extra head. So, I guess it comes down to whether they are able to produce multiple head sculpts. With C-3PO and the Battle Droid, they already had heads they could use. With Palpatine, they could potentially reuse both heads on other figures.

[mabudonicus]

HAHAHAHA "rather than dilute and confuse the 'story' too much"

IS there a "story" behind army-builders and generic troops?? I'd like to hear it.

What a load, I'm glad I don't really care about SW toys anymore.
Iso & Baws

Sometimes Hasbro releases statements that make NO actual sense.

[LTBasker]

Yeah..they really didn't make much sense. So what if Generic Trooper #49380435 and #49380436 would be "new" characters? They're just army builders, they're depicting a bunch of people who wore the same uniforms not a specific person. Geesh.

[Kidhuman]

They should pack in swappable heads for army builders like this. I would buy a few of them. I also think people might tend to buy almost twice as many because they would get both heads instead of 1 figure.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I think there was a scene in one of the Dark Forces books where they had put heads on pikes. You could recreate that scene with all of the extra heads!

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

I think them doing this would just be a fairly bad idea. For C-3PO, Palpatine, and Concept Boba, you really only need one of each, and one extra head for each isn't really a bother. However, when you start getting 5-6 of each army builder, then having a bunch of decapitated heads would get a little old. I would just prefer that they keep doing what they do with the Endor guys.

[jedi master sal]

I think them doing this would just be a fairly bad idea. For C-3PO, Palpatine, and Concept Boba, you really only need one of each, and one extra head for each isn't really a bother. However, when you start getting 5-6 of each army builder, then having a bunch of decapitated heads would get a little old.

Yeah, but you could always sell them on ePay to customizers...
J/k here folks....

I wouldn't mind the idea of swappable heads, but Mr.JJL has a point. What to do with the extra heads? Unleass Hasbro were to make all head ball joint sizes the same size, extra heads just don't make sense. If we did get a standard head ball joint size, then great! Lots of customizing opportunities there.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Use the extra heads to make a custom 3-headed ogre from Monty Python & The Holy Grail.