SSG's Bi-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - December 21st

[JediTricks]

The last Q&A for this year, it's Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for December 21, 2007. Thanks again to Hasbro for the answers, to all the folks who sent in questions and especially those who voted on them.

Hasbro Q&A for the week of December 21st

Q: With collectors clamoring for playsets the last few years and Hasbro's take being that there's no market for them at this time, might the Ultra Battlepack concept be used to get us a little closer to playsets by including larger environment elements instead of vehicles? We could have Dagobah with Yoda's hut and the tree (where Luke battles his demons); and a Death Star with trash compactor, corridors & doors, and cellblock. So, might the Ultra Battlepack line be purposed for this need?
A: We certainly look a the Ultimate Battle Pack concept as a way to deliver more play features but at the same time not weigh down a product with a massive tooling burden. As has been well-documented, playsets are backbreakers from a tooling and product costing perspective, and their return on investment is still not justified relative to the higher level of interest in figures and vehicles. That's why there were new elements to these sets, but they were not the sole focus of the sets themselves. By using a considerable amount of existing items, we were able to justify some tooling expense, which we spent on the turret and the logs. Surprisingly, the turret did not take up that many tools and was very efficient from that standpoint compared to some of the other suggestions which are more intensive from a tooling and piece price standpoint. The exception might be Yoda's hut, which is a pretty good suggestion and one we should look into. So the sucess of the UBPs (and they have been very successful) does not mean a change of format to more playset-dominated sets, but it does open the door to opportunities that have a similar type of format - i.e. some newness mixed with a good dose of existing to keep our costs down.

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Q: Back in October, Hasbro said that getting a Corran Horn figure in the comics 2packs line was unlikely because he "only appears in one comic series (X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Family Ties) as a security officer, well before his most iconic stores in later novels." However, that's not accurate as he's in the SW:Union mini-series, in at least 3 different outfits - training gear, civilian clothes, and trademark green robes during Luke & Mara's ceremony (which would also be a great way to sneak in a Cilghal figure). Does this up the odds at all for Corran Horn?
A: It still doesn't change our belief that the comic packs might not be the best place to deliver a Corran Horn figure. He's still high on our wish list with some other prominent figures, but we'll have to wait a while longer yet before we can look to do something with him.

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Q: With Commander Neyo from the Treachery on Saleucami set being among the winners of the Saga Legends fan choice poll, would you please pack in a second, generic belt with him the way you're doing with the Gray Clone Commander figure in the Saga Legends line? That way, the Neyo-style troopers could be represented by this same figure (remove the pauldron, swap the belt, voila), leading to more sales of the guy.
A: Excellent suggestion, but too late to impact this figure, which is being built now for shipment soon.

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And the questions at ActionFigs.com:

• We understand your current stance on playsets, but if you go back to making beasts, would you consider a Sarlacc pit? It's got a big gross mouth, tentacles, and the special editions have added a large beak (which, should you make this figure, we'd hope could be a removable aspect), yet this is one Star Wars creature that's always gotten the short end of the merchandising stick despite being a major part of ROTJ. It could be done as a beast pack, maybe an ultimate battle pack, or even part of a boxed set with a Tatooine Skiff.
• A few Battlepacks have featured Jedi, a Clone Commander, and three Clone Troopers. Will we see this concept applied to more sets in the future, perhaps something like Ki-Adi-Mundi, a grittier repaint of Commander Bacara, and three Galactic Marines? What about extending this idea to the other films beyond Ep III?
• In the past, Hasbro's stated that main characters should always be available to casual collectors, which makes sense, and Lucas has stated that the saga is about Darth Vader. That said however, there are currently at least 9 different Vader figures available on shelves - TAC Vader, 2 Saga Legends figures, 2 different battlepacks, the TAC coin album, 2 different comic 2packs, and the McQuarrie Concept version. Out of those, all but the McQuarrie version are pegwarming in many areas; some areas also have older Vader figures from as far back as 2005; and there are more Vader's on the way. Have you considered that such oversaturation may be problematic to the line, as collectors are less likely to buy the same character over and over (especially when most are rereleases of earlier molds) while casual collectors (who might only need 1 or 2 Vaders) might find the sheer number of them confusing?

Also, Hasbro commented on the photos ActionFigs sent in regarding the Luke Jedi cloth vest issue from the Sept 28th Q&A.

[El Chuxter]

All we have to say is that the challenge of making and marketing basically a hole in the ground with teeth is a pretty stiff one indeed. It is a beast, but doesn't look like one. Kids won't get it.

Pretty bold statement there, considering that the Sarlaac would be more playset than beast, and could be a lot of fun if done properly.

In any case, we are not seeing a slowdown at all on any Vader...

Wow. That response leaves me dumbfounded. Are they actually connected with reality anymore?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

In my area, at least, Vader always sells through. None of the current 87 versions have ever pegwarmed (with the possible exception of the Tantive IV Battlepack).

The answer on the Ki-Adi-Mundi Battlepack, which I asked quite a while ago, was surprisingly straightforward. That would be a sweet set.

[Cane_Adiss]

I was a little shocked by Hasbro's complete downer answer to the Sarlacc question. It would be a perfect fit inside one of their Ultra Battle Packs, and I think It would do well if released in that format as it's a creature that was NEVER made into a toy. Plus bendy tentacles and an articulated beak head thingy would give it some play value. I believe tho that the fact that a bunch of websites asked about this will make them seriously consider doing the Sarlacc at some point.

Corran Horn is a character I'm not too familiar with as I'm not really an EU buff. So he's not really on my personal wish list.

Neyo. Geez, I've had enough clones. I was very disappointed that not ONE alien character was voted as a Saga Legend and that ALL the ones for next year were troopers. Not interested.

I wasn't suprised at all by answers to the Ki-Adi-Mundi or Darth Vader questions, but it was nice to see Hasbro being straightforward about something for a change. Not big into the battle packs tho unless they offer something truly new.

Vader is actually selling through better this year than he did last year. Its actually all the Obi Wan's, R2-D2s, Sandtroopers and clones that are hogging peg space the most in my area. Almost all of the figures shipped to my stores anymore seem to be Saga Legends.

[jedi master sal]

Hey! My Neyo question was posted and answered! Cool.

It's cool they liked the suggestion, bummer they can't deliver on it. This was one reason I wanted that question posed earlier, so there would have been a better chance to make it happen. Oh well, maybe in a battle pack in the future.

Looks like I'll have to cut down the shoulder armor/belt accessory to just a belt. Easy enough to do, I just didn't want to permanantly change the accessory.

[Kidhuman]

Originally Posted by Cane_Adiss

I was a little shocked by Hasbro's complete downer answer to the Sarlacc question. It would be a perfect fit inside one of their Ultra Battle Packs, and I think It would do well if released in that format as it's a creature that was NEVER made into a toy. Plus bendy tentacles and an articulated beak head thingy would give it some play value. I believe tho that the fact that a bunch of websites asked about this will make them seriously consider doing the Sarlacc at some point.

When I read tat answer I thought of it like this. Ultimate Battle pack with a Sarlacc base, Skiff with Luke, Boba, Han Chewie, Weequay Pote and Lando. tat would be enough for me to buy it.

Originally Posted by jedi master sal

Hey! My Neyo question was posted and answered! Cool.

It's cool they liked the suggestion, bummer they can't deliver on it. This was one reason I wanted that question posed earlier, so there would have been a better chance to make it happen. Oh well, maybe in a battle pack in the future.

Looks like I'll have to cut down the shoulder armor/belt accessory to just a belt. Easy enough to do, I just didn't want to permanantly change the accessory.

too bad it didnt get asked earlier or it might have been able to get corrected.

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

I found this one from sandtroopers.com to be interesting:

1) Looking at some of the figures of minor characters that were made years ago, I started to think about how cool they could be if some of them were brought up to today's standards. Some examples that come to mind are Boshek, Tessek, Adi Gallia, Takeel, Dr. Evazan, Prune Face and Ree-Yees. Most of these figures looked nice in their day, but they just don't hold up to today's standards anymore. I understand that remakes of minor background characters can't happen very often, but I'm wondering who, if any, is one minor character that the Hasbro team would really like to have another shot at?

Great question. As we have produced "definitive" versions of many such backgrounders lately and added them to our shelf displays, we, like you, have noticed that many of these old-timers, while great in their day, do look a little soft around the edges. We would say that of the seven figures you single out, we have plans to update three of them over the next couple of years, and will probably get to a couple more of them as well before too much longer. Of the remaining ones, it's unlikely that we'll update Boshek or Takeel for a looong time, if ever, since we would be more likely to spend that "slot" in the lineup on a new Cantina figure.

They said that three of them will updated soon, but Boshek and Takeel are not the ones, leaving Tessek, Adi Gallia, Dr. Evazan, Prune Face, and Ree-Yees. I hope they do Adi, Evazan, and a different (non-Orrimaarko) Prune Face, though Ree-Yees could be good too. Tessek is already great.

[El Chuxter]

I don't think Ree Yees really needs an update, either. He's still among the best. Takeel and Tessek certainly don't. Even BoShek is pretty close to greatness; there's not a whole lot more that could be done with him.

[Sinscia Fat'o]

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

I don't think Ree Yees really needs an update, either. He's still among the best. Takeel and Tessek certainly don't. Even BoShek is pretty close to greatness; there's not a whole lot more that could be done with him.

Boshek is one of the better POTJ figures, he'e decent articulation, a removeable helmet, decent sculpt...not much they could do for him, knee joints? Takeel? Why? Ree Yees would be a good resculpt, i would be all for it, just because he was impossiable to find in the POTF2 days. Tessek is a awesome figure, if he had a soft goods cloak he would be close to perfect. Adi Galla, please resculpt her...looks like Micheal Jackson as a cross dresser. Prune Face and the good DR both need a new sculpt espically the DR, though i agree that Prune Face should be a different character not the guy who was at Endor, i think there was another of his species in Jabba's court, so that would be a better character to do, then do a battle pack for endor in 09 and retool the new Prune Face with a Rebel commando's body add a cloak and we got an all new Endor Rebel Prune Face...Good to hear that some characters will be getting updates though.

[Droid]

The two versions of Evazan are some of the worst sculpts Hasbro has EVER done. And with a significant character too.

Uncle Owen and Red Leader seriously need resculpts too.