SSG's Bi-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - April 13th

JediTricks · 04-13-2007, 04:12 PM

Friday the 13th unlucky? Not when it's Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for April 13th, 2007.
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 for their weekly Hasbro Q&A as well (which also got an update today).

Hasbro Q&A for the week of April 13th

Q: When Episode II came out, there was a big fuss made about Hasbro using Realscan technology as an advanced guide assisting in the sculpting process - especially for heads and accessories. In the 5 years after, how often has Realscan been used since then, how helpful has it been, what are some of the most common drawbacks when using it for you, and what is the figure or figure's accessory that is closest to the Realscan source data?
A: We have found that while it's a good start in some cases, 3-3/4" figures needed in some cases more expression than the scans provided, so we have gotten into the habit of simply sculpting fresh almost all the time.

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Q: Will the moisture vaporator be available only with this upcoming Luke figure so those who want multiples of this accessory will need to buy multiple Lukes, or will there be other ways to get it in the foreseeable future? (One possibility is to reuse the accessory with Ep 2 Owen Lars, Beru Whitesun, and Cliegg Lars figures.)
A: It's a definite possibility, but for this year at least that's the only way to get this figure.

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Q: There has been some confusion about the upcoming Vintage-style Han Solo in Hoth gear figure, specifically his headgear. Pictures from Toy Fair show a version with a removable hat/goggles combination, but will the figure also be able to wear the hood-up look that covered the hat in the movie, and if so, how will this be achieved? If not, why is the movie-accurate hood-up look not being utilized here? What was it about Vintage-style Han Hoth's hood-up accessory which made Lucasfilm pull approval of that item?
A: Lucasfilm did not think the aesthetics of the hood-up head sculpt were right for the product, so they asked us to pull it out. Given that it was too late to resculpt the accessory, we pulled it from the product rather than rework it and delay Vintage more than it had already been delayed.

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And the questions at ActionFigs.com:

In a future release, would it be possible to re-release Dannik Jerriko with the holes in his face (the ones caused by the removable proboscises) filled in?
Recently, several unique figures and accessories have been released in boxed sets (multi-packs, vehicles) - for example: Zev Senesca, removable-helmet Snowtrooper, white AT-RT Driver, the Geonosian energy binders, etc.. As many collectors who have been with the line for 12 years haven't wanted to purchase (for example) yet another Snowspeeder they already had just to get a new figure, have you given any thought to releasing these figures separately, either carded or as hasbrotoyshop.com exclusives?
In the vintage line, Kenner included a cloak with Bib Fortuna that was made out of a wonderful material that lay down closely to the body of the figure. The modern cloaks leave a lot to be desired, as it appears a number of materials have been tried but all coming up lacking in one way or another. Why not use the material that was in the Bib cloak?

El Chuxter · 04-13-2007, 11:13 PM

Some wonderful non-answers.

bigbarada · 04-14-2007, 12:04 AM

The Hasbro-guy seems to have misunderstood the Moisture Vaporator question.

figrin bran · 04-14-2007, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbarada

The Hasbro-guy seems to have misunderstood the Moisture Vaporator question.

ha! no kidding. as if anyone would actually want that luke figure if not for the vaporator.

2-1B · 04-14-2007, 08:13 AM

What's up with the Hoth Han? I haven't seen a pic of it so I'm not sure what they are talking about?

El Chuxter · 04-14-2007, 09:08 AM

I was planning to build an army of those Luke figures, but don't want all the stupid vaporators. I'm sure he just thinks the same way.

JediTricks · 04-14-2007, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbarada

The Hasbro-guy seems to have misunderstood the Moisture Vaporator question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by figrin bran

ha! no kidding. as if anyone would actually want that luke figure if not for the vaporator.

I believe he just used the wrong term, he knew we wanted the vaporator and referred to the accessory as a "figure".

Caes, this thing: http://photos.sirstevesguide.com/sho...21263&cat=5270
http://photos.sirstevesguide.com/sho...20556&cat=5270

Droid · 04-15-2007, 05:28 PM

They may consider the packaging a convention exclusive, but I'd still like to know if the McQuarrie R2, 3P0, and Luke figures will be available in another format this year. I can't imagine them making those molds for exclusives and having McQuarrie figures all year to have three of the ones people would want most to be exclusive to conventions.

JediTricks · 04-18-2007, 09:09 PM

No, they won't, the figures themselves are exclusives.

Jargo · 04-18-2007, 09:25 PM

Jebus, Ebay will be awash with those godawful Luke figures.

I kinda like that the han figure has a removable cap and goggles. I know it flies against the true vintage feel but at least you still get an option of with or without head gear.

good kick in the nether regions for realscan there too. but there again, if the technology didn't translate down to four inch scale figures it can't be any worse tha some of the recent head sculpts. which I have to say look like a junkie doing cold turkey sculpted them. they got a chimpanzee orphan rehab programme working on the sculpting team?