My talk with Derryl at Celebration VI

[JEDIpartner]

Awesome reporting there, man!!

[Umbra]

Well JT, here's the (now cancelled) Walmart catalogue listing: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Star-Wars-...Squad/19529505 Seems quite detailed and legit to me, but I'll take your word about Walmart's earlier track record in these matters. That's dirty pool.
The other thing is that Hasbro promised a "new tooling for the Fall" in a "special 3-pack" in the SSG Q&A's last winter. I have a hunch that a mention of a TIE Crawler might have gotten us a less bewildered answer, and it's possible the marketing guys didn't tell Derryl et al about the "Shadow Squad" moniker. Is there any chance that you can follow up with this at some point?

I'm missing out on a TIE Defender again?

[JediTricks]

Yep, 'tis strange indeed. Actually, only the TIE Crawler is a new Titanium tooling; the other 2 (TIE and TIE Defender) are repacks or possibly "Shadow Squad" repaints, whatever the hell that is. I'd agree that it's unlikely that Hasbro would offer 2 new toolings when they can trot out a repack instead.

I'd love to find out if the set was produced, and if there's any chance we'll see it wash ashore at HTS or dollar stores. And thanks for following up for us, Titanium Guy.

Hehe, your Walmart's-got-the-football analogy made me think of the Gotham Rogues being swallowed up by the imploding field in TDKR.

Oh yeah, I forgot the TIE Defender came out with its permanent stand. Hopefully by Toy Fair we'll have gotten the chance to ask about this in more detail, now I'm quite curious.

There's no way it was produced though, Brian Merten would have to know that much about it as it's his budget, his signature that authorizes it, and he is the one who would have to take it to Lucaslicensing for approval or at least take it to Derryl for him to do that.

If Bane could destroy the stadium with such precision, why didn't he just destroy key parts of the city? Oh, right, because he's the world's smartest moron.

I'm missing out on a TIE Defender again?

That's sad, especially with such a final-sounding message about Titaniums in Derryl's comments.

[Darth Duranium]

I'm missing out on a TIE Defender again?

I'd better not mention the DeAgostini one that came out last year then. Actually, the Titanium's not too hard to find as it was released a few times.

Oh yeah, I forgot the TIE Defender came out with its permanent stand. Hopefully by Toy Fair we'll have gotten the chance to ask about this in more detail, now I'm quite curious.

There's no way it was produced though, Brian Merten would have to know that much about it as it's his budget, his signature that authorizes it, and he is the one who would have to take it to Lucaslicensing for approval or at least take it to Derryl for him to do that.

Cheers, JT. Yeah, I thought that total bewilderment was not a good sign! But hopefully, it's just a case of sorting the names out. I agree that it was likely not produced under any name, though. No Chinese test shots turned up on eBay, either.
The good news is that we weren't left high and dry: F-Toys and DeAgostini both did nice versions of the TIE Crawler recently.

If Bane could destroy the stadium with such precision, why didn't he just destroy key parts of the city? Oh, right, because he's the world's smartest moron.

Maybe Bane just hated football. Or those horrible SNL cheerleader skits. Actually, I kinda liked his Goldfinger voice and expected a "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!!!". Come to think of it, neither guy had much of a viable plan for world domination.

[JediTricks]

I'd better not mention the DeAgostini one that came out last year then. Actually, the Titanium's not too hard to find as it was released a few times.

I still haven't seen that line in stores around here or at Comic-Con even, so weird.

Cheers, JT. Yeah, I thought that total bewilderment was not a good sign! But hopefully, it's just a case of sorting the names out. I agree that it was likely not produced under any name, though. No Chinese test shots turned up on eBay, either.
The good news is that we weren't left high and dry: F-Toys and DeAgostini both did nice versions of the TIE Crawler recently.

My only solace is that I really don't like the TIE Crawler design at all, it's entirely silly - a TIE fighter that only flies in space and gathers power from wing panels and is propelled via an ion engine that could ONLY work in space since the ion buildup would never be possible against any air resistance but this one is ground-based and has heavy tank treads on its wings? So I'm not hurting that they didn't release it, but it would have been nice to have a new TS mold again.

Maybe Bane just hated football. Or those horrible SNL cheerleader skits. Actually, I kinda liked his Goldfinger voice and expected a "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!!!". Come to think of it, neither guy had much of a viable plan for world domination.

His voice still reminds me of Henry Kissinger, but I do see what you mean about it being a lower version of Goldfinger if he was trapped down a well. Goldfinger's plan wasn't for world domination, it was to up-value his personal supply of gold by making the material significantly rarer (by destroying the entire US supply of gold), and it wasn't a bad plan actually aside from the global economic instability that it would have caused.

[Darth Duranium]

I still haven't seen that line in stores around here or at Comic-Con even, so weird.

The TFAW store in Universal City CA had all of them in stock, I'm told.
I don't think they were authorized for N. America and were brought in grey market, so I'm not surprised they weren't at US Cons. I think the same will be true of that new Eaglemoss Trek line.

My only solace is that I really don't like the TIE Crawler design at all, it's entirely silly - a TIE fighter that only flies in space and gathers power from wing panels and is propelled via an ion engine that could ONLY work in space since the ion buildup would never be possible against any air resistance but this one is ground-based and has heavy tank treads on its wings? So I'm not hurting that they didn't release it, but it would have been nice to have a new TS mold again.

Agreed on all points, JT. But I'm a sucker for a TIE variant even if it's a bit silly, gotta say.

His voice still reminds me of Henry Kissinger, but I do see what you mean about it being a lower version of Goldfinger if he was trapped down a well. Goldfinger's plan wasn't for world domination, it was to up-value his personal supply of gold by making the material significantly rarer (by destroying the entire US supply of gold), and it wasn't a bad plan actually aside from the global economic instability that it would have caused.

Kissinger, that's funny.
Well, Goldfinger was a SPECTRE operative so his cat-fancier boss would've gotten around to world domination eventually. Mwa-ha-ha!
The only problem with Goldfinger's plan is that most large gold trades don't involve physically moving the gold itself, it just sits there. I was in the gold vault of a major bank once (palettes of the stuff!) and they just move markers around to show ownership. Mind you, the vault employees would need rad suits for 57 years.
I would've liked to win that solid 24k gold MM ISD from Galoob. At 6.6 oz, the gold alone is worth almost $11K... that's gotta be a record for a toy starship.

[JediTricks]

The TFAW store in Universal City CA had all of them in stock, I'm told.
I don't think they were authorized for N. America and were brought in grey market, so I'm not surprised they weren't at US Cons. I think the same will be true of that new Eaglemoss Trek line.

This area and the cons in this area generally have a lot of gray market, but I thought the SW line was being imported and distributed by Diamond.

Agreed on all points, JT. But I'm a sucker for a TIE variant even if it's a bit silly, gotta say.

Even... the Ugly? http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ugly

Kissinger, that's funny.
Well, Goldfinger was a SPECTRE operative so his cat-fancier boss would've gotten around to world domination eventually. Mwa-ha-ha!
The only problem with Goldfinger's plan is that most large gold trades don't involve physically moving the gold itself, it just sits there. I was in the gold vault of a major bank once (palettes of the stuff!) and they just move markers around to show ownership. Mind you, the vault employees would need rad suits for 57 years.
I would've liked to win that solid 24k gold MM ISD from Galoob. At 6.6 oz, the gold alone is worth almost $11K... that's gotta be a record for a toy starship.

Goldfinger wasn't SPECTRE, he was working with the Chinese. You are right that if the gold wasn't evaporated in Fort Knox that it'd still be there, but it'd still be treated as unusable on the global market.

[bigbarada]

Anyway, we got to do a dedicated 10-minute interview, the transcript of which will be up sometime soon.

Has this transcript been posted yet? Or is it somewhere really obvious and I completely overlooked it?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Has this transcript been posted yet? Or is it somewhere really obvious and I completely overlooked it?

It went up on the front page, but it went down pretty quickly amid all the CVI coverage. (On a related note, when I click to go to older pages of news, it just refreshes the first page instead.)

[El Chuxter]

Even... the Ugly? http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ugly

I thought the Uglies were a cool idea, but the notion that there was enough homogeny among them to give them type names was ludicrous.