QUESTIONS FOR HASBRO - round 57

[JediTricks]

Please post your VOTE for up to 6 {six} of the questions provided in this thread, letting us know which ones you most want to see asked on September 12th. Keep in mind that your votes in round 56 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 post new questions. For reference, here are Hasbro's answers to previous SSG questions; to ActionFigs.com's questions; and from other sites. The questions we asked last round can be found here.

Current questions (vote for up to 6):

1. - Twice during the prequels, a vehicle toy's MSRP was dropped significantly without any changes to its mold - the first being the Episode I Naboo Royal Starship which went from $100 to $50, and the second being the Republic Gunship which in the Saga line was $40 but subsequent releases were $30. What were the causes of these price drops? Why hasn't this happened with other vehicles in similar high pricepoints?
2. - What are the requirements that a retailer must go meet to get a Star Wars exclusive, do they have to be a certain size company, make a certain number of Hasbro orders a month, etc.? Is there some sort of process that a retailer has to go through to get an exclusive, do they work with Hasbro on what item to produce or is it out of their hands?
3. - Some fans have noticed that the white paint on the goggles accessory from the Droid Factory Han Solo Hoth exclusive 2pack is flaking off at an alarming rate. This obviously would be a disappointment for fans eager to get this version of Han Solo. What is the cause for this, was a new technique for painting used, was it a new paint altogether, perhaps the clear plastic for the goggles different and not taking paint, something even simpler like too much mold-release oil?
4. - There are a lot of different clones from ROTS being done in the CW line in the phase 1 (AOTC-style) armor such as the 501st Legion and 212th Battallion to name a few. Is there any chance that these clones will eventually get released in the realistic-syle phase 1 armor as well as animated-style?
5. - Since we're getting a phase I Odd Ball figure in the animated line, and a new super-articulated ROTS phase II armor Clone Pilot in the Imperial Pilots Evolutions set in Captain Jag colors, can we expect to see Odd Ball in his ROTS armor as a realistic basic figure, and if so, when? Should be easy, as it's just a helmet repaint.
6. - Why has Commander Faie been included as part of the upcoming ROTS wave when the character never actually appeared in the movie?
7. - In Hasbro's awesome Comic-Packs line, we've been treated to Marvel Star Wars issues 1-4, and Dark Horse Revenge of the Sith issues 1, 3, and 4. Any chance we could get comic packs of the missing Marvel SW #5 and 6, and Dark Horse ROTS #2, to complete their respective tales? (Just spitballing ideas: we could certainly do with a Leia/3PO pack for MSW#5 and perhaps a Rebel/Imperial Pilot set for #6, and ROTS #2 could use Grievous and a new deco Clone.) And what about Comic Packs for the other movie adaptation comics like Marvel ESB and ROTJ, or Dark Horse TPM and AOTC?
8. - The Comic Packs are great since the addition of the comic books give these characters much-needed context, as the average kid and collector who mainly know the movies will likely not know these characters without seeing them in some sort of action. That said, there are still several other expanded universe products that have no context other than the small bio on their packaging. Would it be possible for comic books to also be included in EU multi-figure sets or vehicles as well? For instance, fans of Crimson Empire are liking the look of the upcoming Crucible set, while those who are unfamiliar with the work think it looks more like a cross between Star Wars and Power Rangers.
9. - Will we be getting any Battle Droid variants in the Clone Wars line, like Commander, Security, Pilot, etc.? Would it matter if the design didn't show up right away in the cartoon? After all, we know what the markings of a Commander droid look like already. And what about a Clone Wars Battle Droid figure that can hold its rifle 2-handed?
10. - On Mighty Muggs, understanding that you're not likely to do new bodies for the line any time soon, will fans ever be getting Battle Droid, Super Battle Droid, and maybe even an IG-100 Magnaguard Mighty Muggs figures? You did the spindly General Grievous as a Mugg already after all. Also, what Hasbro team does the designs for the Muggs and their packaging? Does each team - for example, Star Wars, Marvel, and Transformers - design their own Muggs, or is it centralized?
11. - The Star Wars product poster Hasbro gave out at Comic-Con had new figures on 1 side while the other featured Titanium Series vehicles in 3 battles. We haven't heard of any upcoming Titanium multipacks, themed waves, battle-packs, or exclusives that use these concepts though. Does Hasbro have anything special planned for Star Wars Titanium Series?
12. - In Hasbro's GI Joe line's comic packs, they have moved beyond mere reprints to also feature entirely new stand-alone comics. Given that Dark Horse has released similar Star Wars comics to retailers in the past, have you considered working with them to commission new stand-alone Star Wars comics that feature highly-requested EU characters that otherwise don't appear in the comics and therefore have a lot less chance of being released as figures?
13. - With Sideshow having released a smashing diorama of the "Look Sir, Droids" scene, what are the chances of Hasbro doing a similar battle pack? It could include the escape pod (perhaps with the proper top hatch openable, or maybe the whole thing upsized) and an assortment of Sandroopers with a variety of pauldrons and accessories. Heck, if you threw in an updated dewback, you'd have quite the nifty ultimate battle pack. Any chance of that?
14. - Not long ago, we asked which EU figures were their personal favorites and wishlist entries, but none of the ones listed were from the Marvel series. With the upcoming Lumiya figure (and by the way, who will she be coming with in that comic 2pack? Issue #96 suggests Luke from the duel, but perhaps someone else maybe?), what other Marvel figures might be on the team members' EU wishlists?
15. - Last year, Hasbro released the R2-KT figure while making a charitable donation to ensure that the spirit of a figure for the Katie Johnson charity was fully met before any were sold. With R2-KT appearing in the Clone Wars movie, is there a chance we could get animated R2-KT as a repainted animated R2-D2 figure in a similar charity-type release?
16. - While we'd always prefer a worn paint deco on vehicles and droids, we understand sometimes the budget just can't do it. The next time you do a vehicle with a white deco where the budget prohibits additional weathering paint, could you please not use the clean-white color of plastic that you've used on the Clone Wars V-19 or the TLC Dagger Squadron B-wing? This white plastic is just too clean, it screams for weathering as it hides every sculpted line and gives an unwelcome plasticky toy look, while the slightly off-white colors of plastic seem to bring out the lines and look a little weathered better than clean.
17. - Will there be more droid repaints in the Clone Wars line? The molds already exist, so they shouldn't be too difficult to achieve. For instance, will there be TC-70 based on the C-3PO mold, R4-P17 based on the R2-D2 mold, or KRONOS-327 based on the IG-86 mold? TC-70 obviously would be a good companion piece to the upcoming animated Jabba you're developing, and Obi-Wan needs a droid to fit in his Jedi Starfighter's droid slot.
18. - In the Clone Wars line, a few scale issues have come up. Obi-Wan and Anakin figures stand pretty short compared to their non-animated figure counterparts, while Clone Troopers stand unusually tall compared to their non-animated counterparts, and obviously this means CW Obi-Wan and Anakin stand pretty short compared to the Clones. What gives here? Was this an intentional choice, and if so, why?
19. - Any chance Hasbro will be producing a Republic Attack Shuttle (aka a "Nu-class shuttle"), either for the figure line or Titaniums? This is the vehicle in The Clone Wars that delivered Ashoka to Anakin and Obi-Wan on Teth, and LEGO is producing one.
20. - Understanding that schedules are subject to change on these sorts of things, could Hasbro give us an idea of how many waves and figures are scheduled for the '09 line, and roughly how many figures are from each source?
21. - Might Hasbro look into extending the range of motion on the ball-hinged elbows and knees? The current range is only around 90 degrees, while in the movies the elbows are often seen very closed holding weapons close to the chest or face, so the joint often should go around 135-150 degrees to represent that. With the inclusion of ball-hinged wrists and ankles, and now even hips on a few nifty Jedi, the amount of expression that these figures can produce is bordering on truly realistic, so isn't it time that the elbows and knees go there too?
22. - Might you be willing to give us some of the lowdown on what will be coming up from the Greatest Hits sub-line? With the Saga Legends line (we're aware this is different from GH) reusing last year's Yoda on Kybuck, fans would like to see if Greatest Hits might find some figures from that TAC EU wave which were hard to get, such as Darth Revan, Darth Malak, Pre-Cyborg Grievous. And it's not like the main lines where everything's a secret until development's done, Greatest Hits is made up of existing figures, so could we know what to expect in the sub-line?
23. - With the Indy line, when Hasbro says that that Mutt Williams in jacket is very popular with the kids, how is that determined, is that based on what retailers order? Because both basic Mutt Williams figures seem to be the by far the most over-abundant figures left on the Indy pegs usually, sometimes in the dozens. While empirical and anecdotal evidence is not fully scientific, when consistent enough it does paint a very particular picture to collectors, in this case that Mutt Williams is a major pegwarmer doing his best to choke the line to death, even with his snazzy jacket. Obviously there is disparity between Hasbro's take and collectors' take on this, and if collectors are right, then Hasbro's focus on Mutt would bury the line up to its neck in quicksand, so any thoughts where that disparity comes from?
24. - When collectors ask for the same stuff over and over again such as certain vehicles like the Cloud Car, large accessories like Jabba's dais, playsets and dioramas of scenes that are not action- or main-character-themed which Hasbro says they aren't likely to do because those areas are not seen as profitable in today's market, are there any NEW ideas swimming around the Star Wars team with an OT collector focus? Not talking about merely new figures or resculpts of unmade vintage figures, but something new in the 3.75" format that would excite collectors, especially OT-focused ones. Stuff like the nifty new Scramble on Yavin battle pack gets collectors jazzed up.
25. - With the '09 Indiana Jones figures, you say that their future is the hands of how the line does over the upcoming holiday season. Assuming that the '09 line does not make it to retail, what would become of those figures, would they become exclusives perhaps through HasbroToyShop, or not produced at all? That has come up with canceled Star Wars items too, where the question is the same: if those molds were not to be run at all, how would not running the molds make a return on the investments of whatever finished but unused tooling exists? Wouldn't making part of its money back on a smaller run of product be more help defray those already-spent tooling costs better than ensuring no possible return on the toolings' costs?

Vote now, and suggest new questions too. Thanks for participating!

[JediTricks]

Please note that due to the change in the program which we received yesterday, a number of questions have been cut this round due to editorial reasons. With Q&A now happening only once every 3 weeks, the standards by which questions are vetted for our list have become a little more stringent. Please feel free when your questions are passed up to continue making impassioned arguments for your causes as long as you truly believe in them, but also try to keep in mind that the editorial choices made here are meant to serve the collecting community as a whole. As well, please make sure your question hasn't already been answered previously and isn't merely a personal wishlist.

[Kidhuman]

15, 17, 1 for now

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

5, 12, 17, 18 for now.

[Battle Droid]

9 and 10 for now.

[Umbra]

8 and 18 for now, thank you

[Sinscia Fat'o]

12 and 14 for now.

[Bib Un-Fortuna]

Voting for 5 6 9 15 17

Any a question for Hasbro (possibly) or for anyone here - its been asked before I believe, but I was looking for a more recent answer:

Since the Legacy/Build-a-Droid line came out 1 month ago, I have noticed a severe increase in the amount of figure-swapping going on, and have read several reports on various message boards about this problem, including: an Ewok from the old Complete Galaxy for a Leektar, an abused Vintage R2-D2 (with no sticker!!) in a Droid Factory set, and much Clone swapping, and all with the BaD parts missing

I love the to-the edge bubble for its looks, but the tape on the back just begs this kind of dishonest behavior. Has there been any discussion of changing back to a glued bubble - simply taking the current bubble and attaching it to the card with glue as it is, or a slightly different bubble?

Feel free to add or edit. Thanks

[Cane_Adiss]

New question:

Recently, I've discovered a new way to store figures in my collection. The Stack-on company makes plastic storage cabinets that fit most Star Wars 3-3/4" figures perfectly. These cabinets aren't expensive and the largest size they have available has 60 drawers which can hold at least that many figures. The drawers are also designed in such a way that you can fit two smaller figures (i.e. astromechs) in a drawer nicely. They even come with "drawer dividers". So what I'm trying to ask is, would Hasbro ever consider developing a Star Wars themed action figure storage cabinet similar to these being offered by Stack-on? Perhaps you could release one everytime you start a new collection, give it that collection's theme, and maybe label the drawers for each figure in that collection. That would be sweet!

Has every single one of my questions been cut from the list? Or have any of them been voted to be sent to Hasbro? I'd like to know what "standards" any of my future questions will need to meet to even be considered. It seems lately people can't ask about what really interests them and that's frustrating. The whole voting concept seems pointless when every proposed question has to go through a screening tribunal before it can be voted on. I understand sometimes it's necessary, but if a question is well thought out and well worded (and has not been specifically answered before) I think it should be given a chance no matter what changes Hasbro makes to the feature. The votes will show what the fans really want feedback on.

[cookiemonster]

I agree with Cane, about how the questions are asked. But I really am new here so I will give it time and see how they develop, but going through a screening seems a little strange, seeing everyother site just picks the best three or combinations to ask.

Anyhow my choice #9, 14, 15 for now.

On question number 8, I think people are'nt liking them that are actually familiair with the comics as well, they just look like a bad power rangers knock off - I can hear it in Hasbros office now "So we did the Star Wars and Transformers crossover toys, we give them Star Wars and Power Rangers, whats next Smithers" - Smithers reply "Well sir here at Hasbro HQ's we have been working on a new toy we all know how they like EU, so we are going to give them Star Wars and My Little Pony".