QUESTIONS FOR HASBRO at Conventions

[JediTricks]

Hasbro is going to be at conventions this year, and at some of them we're hoping to get one-on-one interview time. The first one coming up is New York Toy Fair on February 9th - with Toy Fair, there's not much chance we'll get any interview time, but just in case, we thought we'd open up the forum to submit questions here. If we don't get Q&A time at Toy Fair, we'll save the questions for the next opportunity which will probably be SDCC in July.

Voting is not needed as the questions will be chosen on an editorial basis, but feel free to voice any support for an existing question.

Unless an item is already confirmed by Hasbro, we definitely won't be asking questions about specific items. Also, please keep in mind that we'll be asking these in person, so keep questions respectful and reasonable.

Go ahead and voice support for these questions, and suggest your own:

1. - The 2012 Naboo Fighter looks like a great piece, unfortunately retailers generally didn't get around to ordering it, so it is extremely rare unless one spends around $100 or more on its case. Is there any chance of seeing that Naboo Fighter re-released, if not mainline then as an exclusive?
2. - Four Movie Heroes figures have been revealed at conventions and released internationally - light-up lightsaber Anakin, rappel-line jetpack Boba, tan exploding Battle Droid, and light-up blaster Sandtrooper - but none have been released in the US. The Sandtrooper and a maroon repaint of the Battle Droid were revealed at Celebration as coming in 2013, but what about the tan droid and the other two figures?
3. - The new Class 2 Fleet vehicles use all new tooling, but what happens to the original Starfighter class toys, is new development there over entirely, what about reissues from the decades-old library of tooling built up there?
4. - The Endor AT-AT has been released internationally, but what is its status in the US? Why was it moved from its announced October date - did TRU already have enough big items between the Millennium Falcon, MTT, and older-yet-still-available big vehicles?
5. - The presumably-still-upcoming Mara Jade figure is wearing the same catsuit that has been made as a figure twice previously - and it looks like a fine figure in and of itself - but the Fans' Choice poll had an image of her wearing her green Jedi outfit, so that look is probably what many fans believed they were picking when they voted. Why was the choice made to make yet another version of this outfit as opposed to the one featured in the poll?
6. - How does the main line expect to hold retailer peg space without an ongoing line for the next 8 months?
7. - Disney has said they are going to do new films that take place after ROTJ, during the same time as pre-existing Expanded Universe material, so assuming that post-ROTJ EU material isn't used in the new films, would those new films lower the likelihood of seeing existing post-ROTJ EU figures?
8. - How long before the official word did you know that Build A Droid 2013 was going to be canceled, both officially and in your gut? What point in the process did it seem like things were going against it? Was there a single event that precipitated the line's cancellation?
9. - Some collectors are worried that the new 6" line will cannibalize resources that otherwise would have gone into making high-quality, super-articulated 3.75" figures. Is that going to be the case, or will collectors who have invested almost 18 years into collecting the 3.75" line and are NOT interested in starting again with a newly scaled line still have something to look forward to?
10. - How long before the public announcement did you know that the 3D re-releases of Episodes II and III weren't going to happen this year? Did that cause you to have to change the line much, or were you already planning on scaling back after Episode I didn't do as well as you hoped?
11. - Why is the eye on the top back of astromech heads almost always being done wrong by hasbro as it is on the 6" R2 figure, so it sticks straight up instead of angled back?
12. - Why do you use that chiffon/gossamer translucent black fabric for Darth Vader figures' cloaks and kama skirts when the Vintage Collection Sidious has a much nicer opaque black fabric for his robes and kama skirt?
13. - With the (surprising) success of the Skylanders franchise, have you begun to explore more interactivity options for Star Wars toys? Might we someday see a video game where our Star Wars figures can be scanned in and become playable characters within that game world?

Thanks for participating!

[El Chuxter]

Does the elephant in the room count, or is it obvious?

"So, uh, what's up with the months without Star Wars figures?"

[JediTricks]

Obviously we're expecting them to address in their presentation what happened with The Legacy Collection 2 and what will be going on in the mainline come fall, so I wouldn't bother even writing questions on that subject.

Right now, I'm thinking about what happens to the Naboo Fighter;
what happens to that classic vehicle size - does it go away, does it continue on as exclusives, that's 5 decades of tooling library to just throw away;
can the brand continue to appeal to kids/casual consumers with figures at $10 a pop;
is Movie Heroes going to keep using inferior molds when there are better kid and collector molds available;
and how does the brand expect to keep existing retailer peg space with only Clone Wars as an active main line (that question is sort of redundant but I'd be curious to hear the thinking);

Those are the sorts of things I'd consider turning into questions I guess.

[El Chuxter]

Something that came up in conversation when a friend mentioned finding "some EU guy" who turned out to be Nom Anor:

It's been 14 years (as of this summer) since the New Jedi Order series began. In that time, we've gotten six NJO figures (with the rumored Jedi Master Mara Jade being a seventh). Two of these were the Solo twins, who were in the TRU exclusive wave and impossible to find. One was a rather forgettable "old Luke" from an Evolutions set. Only two Yuuzhan Vong figures have ever been released; one being the hard-to-find Nom Anor, and one being a generic soldier from a two-pack with the NJO Kyle Katarn resculpt.

So, any chance we might get another Vong or two at some point?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

*Four Movie Heroes figures have been revealed at conventions and released internationally - light-up lightsaber Anakin, rappel-line jetpack Boba, tan exploding Battle Droid, and light-up blaster Sandtrooper - but none have been released in the US. The Sandtrooper and a maroon repaint of the Battle Droid were revealed at Celebration as coming in 2013, but what about the tan droid and the other two figures?

*The Endor AT-AT has been released internationally, but what is its status in the US? Why was it moved from its announced October date - did TRU already have enough big items between the Millennium Falcon, MTT, and older-yet-still-available big vehicles?

*The presumably-still-upcoming Mara Jade figure is wearing the same catsuit that has been made as a figure twice previously - and it looks like a fine figure in and of itself - but the Fans' Choice poll had an image of her wearing her green Jedi outfit, so that look is probably what many fans believed they were picking when they voted. Why was the choice made to make yet another version of this outfit as opposed to the one featured in the poll?

*With the new trilogy of films likely taking place in the same time as pre-existing EU material, do you foresee that post-ROTJ EU figures will become less likely (perhaps as a mandate from Lucasfilm/Disney, similar to how they wanted to focus on the CGI Clone Wars series as opposed to the 2D microseries)?

[JediTricks]

"How long before the official word did you know that Build A Droid 2013 was going to be canceled, both officially and in your gut?"

Is that too rough, or is that a fair question?

*The presumably-still-upcoming Mara Jade figure is wearing the same catsuit that has been made as a figure twice previously - and it looks like a fine figure in and of itself - but the Fans' Choice poll had an image of her wearing her green Jedi outfit, so that look is probably what many fans believed they were picking when they voted. Why was the choice made to make yet another version of this outfit as opposed to the one featured in the poll?

Didn't they say they were going to do both?

Something that came up in conversation when a friend mentioned finding "some EU guy" who turned out to be Nom Anor:

It's been 14 years (as of this summer) since the New Jedi Order series began. In that time, we've gotten six NJO figures (with the rumored Jedi Master Mara Jade being a seventh). Two of these were the Solo twins, who were in the TRU exclusive wave and impossible to find. One was a rather forgettable "old Luke" from an Evolutions set. Only two Yuuzhan Vong figures have ever been released; one being the hard-to-find Nom Anor, and one being a generic soldier from a two-pack with the NJO Kyle Katarn resculpt.

So, any chance we might get another Vong or two at some point?

Question about this one, why should they be focusing on more NJO figures? What makes it more important to do now than, say, the Thrawn trilogy, or Legacy, or SOTE, or any other EU series? Is there a reason that would make this more important to do now?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Didn't they say they were going to do both?

No, and that was my confusion during the show. Derryl told the Curto-Burns podcast that this version was meant to combine both the Emperor's Hand and Jedi versions and hopefully satisfy fans; I misheard and thought he said they were doing both, but only realized the truth later upon re-listening.

The BAD question isn't, well, bad. But do we need to gain that knowledge, or would it just come off like we're harping on their failures? I'm leaning towards the latter.

[JediTricks]

No, and that was my confusion during the show. Derryl told the Curto-Burns podcast that this version was meant to combine both the Emperor's Hand and Jedi versions and hopefully satisfy fans; I misheard and thought he said they were doing both, but only realized the truth later upon re-listening.

The BAD question isn't, well, bad. But do we need to gain that knowledge, or would it just come off like we're harping on their failures? I'm leaning towards the latter.

Oh, ok, that's obviously no good then, thanks for the correction.

I'm curious as to what point in the process they knew that TLC2 was going off the rails, maybe even what event precipitated it. I'll take your comment under advisement to rework the question though, I'm not trying to harp on the failure, but explore the chain of events.

[bigbarada]

Are we going to see any kind of recognition of the 30th anniversary of ROTJ in 2013? It seems like Hasbro has forgotten about it completely.

[Snowtrooper]

Maybe they've already answered this, but since they've released scaled down versions of older vehicles, is this going to be the norm going forward?