SSG's Weekly Hasbro Q&A - December 15th

[JediTricks]

The last Q&A of 2006 and my how time flies, it's Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for December 15th, 2006.

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 (http://www.actionfigs.com/index.php?categoryid=12&p2_articleid=162) for their weekly Hasbro Q&A as well (which also got an update today).

This is indeed the last Q&A of the year, due to the holidays Hasbro will not be answering questions again until January 12th, 2007.

Hasbro Q&A for the week of December 15th
Q: Can Hasbro give us an idea of how many waves and figures there will be in '07? And roughly how many from each movie or EU source?
A: I cannot give you as many specifics as you want, simply because we do not want to reveal some surprises we are holding in store. But we will answer your question since we have seen some concern from fans who are afraid that we are abandoning the OTC. That is very far from the case now and in the future! It's been simply a case where a lot of discussion (and excitement) has been expressed about exploring EU in the Q&A so naturally fans have been seeing this. Here's a chance to assuage some concerns. There are nine waves of the 30th Basic Figure line (which I think you are asking about), not including Saga Legends or comic packs which are separate SKUs. There are 60 figures in the 30th figure line, of which 8 are McQuarrie figures. The remaining figures break down as follows: 50% are original trilogy, 25% are prequel, and 25% are from other sources, including some Clones Wars. I cannot give more specifics on this breakdown, in order to save some surprises.
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Q: In an earlier Q&A, Hasbro said they wanted to put larger accessories in the packages such as the Moisture Vaporator and the curved bar section for the cantina. Can you elaborate on some of the other larger accessories we may see?
A: We cannot give details on others right now simply because they would reveal characters. You'll have to stay tuned. ;)
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Q: Was it intentional for the recent Target-exclusive Rogue II Snowspeeder to be without stickers (especially for low-deco areas such as the cockpit), and without the spring-loaded landing gear? The landing leg in previous releases of this vehicle have a spring which held it in the down position when its door was slid open.
A: That was the intention, on both counts.
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(editor's note: And with this, we conclude 2006's Q&A session. On behalf of the staff and readers of SSG, I want to thank Hasbro for making these Q&As possible, and we look forward to next year bringing even more exciting questions and answers. Also, I want to thank everybody who has participated in the questions-choosing process, every reader who sent in a question and every forumite who voted for what they wanted to see asked has made this Q&A more about what the fans really want to know, without their participation we would not have seen over 100 questions asked and answered, each of you truly made it possible. -JT)


And the questions at ActionFigs.com (http://www.actionfigs.com/index.php?categoryid=12&p2_articleid=162):

- What other toy lines do you see as the Star Wars line's chief competition, both in-house and across the market?
- Other than the Comic 2-packs and Battle Packs, will there be any sub-lines for the 3¾" figures (such as Deluxe, Evolutions, Tins, etc.) next year?
- Why were there only 5 Vintage-style figures this year, and why was Empire Strikes Back left out of the line-up when there are such worthy candidates as a Snowtrooper, Bespin Luke, Bespin Han, the Hoth incarnations of Han, Luke, & Leia, and even ESB style Boba Fett waiting to be made? What does the future hold for the Vintage-style line?

[JediTricks]

As far as I know, on question 1, there were no ulterior motives to it, and except for the specifics on the source breakdown (what movie or EU source), they did answer what we were looking for. I fear all the fan sites' questions are making poor Hasbro paranoid. :crazed:

Oh, and yes, they really did include a smilie for question 2.

[dindae]

I'm pretty please with the answers we got this week. while not the most exciting at least the questions were answered. 13 EU figures next or 21 if you count the 8 concept figures. That's quite a bit compared to the past. 13 prequel figures isn't that many since we know of 7 already which only leaves 6 more for the year. But I will be happy to get more OT figs for a while.

JT when do you think you will start the next poll? I have a question and don't know how long I will remember it.

[Rogue II]

Thanks, JT, especially since 3 of the 6 questions are mine. I'm somewhat suprised they gave that much info in the wave breakdown question. 50% of the line will be OT--awesome. Still 60 figures in that line plus how many Legends and they are delaying the line a couple months? Sounds like the waves will come out fast in '07 about 1 per month.

No suprise that they didn't answer the accessory question.

[JediTricks]

dindae, it'll likely be this weekend, but go ahead and post it in here now so you don't forget - that goes for anybody else with a question that they want to add.

[Tycho]

JediTricks did a wonderful job editing and organizing these Q&A sessions and the web round-up reports! Kudos to JT!

[dindae]

Thanks JT, Here it is.

"With the onslaught of Titaniums lately (5 waves from beginning of October to end of November) are there less per wave being produced or are they just moving that fast and will there be refreshes of these waves for those of us that blinked when they were on the shelves?"

Feel free to tweak.

[Tycho]

The precursor for my new question is this from Rebelscum:

Rebelscum: In terms of the Comic Packs, is this going to be the only series of action figures looking solely on the Expanded Universe? Because that leaves a massive hole in everyone's collection. Especially seeing that, apart from Splinter of the Mind's Eye and The Thrawn Trilogy very few, if any, Star Wars books have been made into Comic Series. Do you intend to do a wave of EU figures in next year's or even 2008's series of figures based entirely on figures that couldn't possibly be included in the Comic Packs?

Hasbro: Admittedly, books that do not have visual representation are very low in consideration for us, simply because we can't pack in a story as a way to convey the context for a figure that otherwise the broader audience may not be familiar with. We do not intend to slight the novel fanbase, but we do think we have some figures that will keep them very satisfied over the next couple of years. As we look to the future, we want to evaluate how we can better take advantage of the characters from the novels.

My follow-up is this: There exists The Essential Guide To Characters books which use assumably official Lucas-approved likenesses of characters from the novels that are not in the comics, such as many of the Yuuzhan Vong and the Solo Kids. Will Hasbro consider using this source for the inspiration for future Expanded Universe action figures?

I wish I'd thought of this earlier, but it is a great question that's very meritorious for EU fans.