SSG's Bi-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - March 20th

[JediTricks]

What's a day early and dyed in bright colors for Easter? It's Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for March 20th, 2008. 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 March 20th

SSG: Should Hasbro ever decide to revisit the Ishi Tib species with a new figure, would you be more inclined to do one from Jabba's palace first, the prequels, or would you want to update the figure from 1998 of the unnamed rebel?
Hasbro: We would probably go with an OTC version. While an Ishi Tib is not in any planend waves for the next couple of years, it is a good candidate for eventually updating since there is also a vintage precedent.

SSG: With the upcoming Comic Pack figure of Cade Skywalker, you seem to have nailed his look, but he doesn't seem to be coming with his green lightsaber. Might that be rectified in time for the figure's release since it's unlikely we'll be seeing another Cade Skywalker figure for a while? Cade's even holding the hilt on the cover of Legacy #2, and after all, your figure of Quinlan Vos wasn't entirely accurate to the issue he came with, instead opting for his more popular look, so why not give Cade his saber?
Hasbro: Originally, it was planned that Cade would have a saber hilt. However, the hard copy was misplaced and by the time the mistake was discovered, it could not be included. We decided to release as is (since he has his blaster rifle).

SSG: While it's our site policy to avoid rumors, our readers have been wound up a bit on this one so they demanded we ask.... It seems like there was a lot of hype and rumor about a new Millennium Falcon vehicle for the main line, including the leak of a Target DCPI number that came with the AT-TE - which Hasbro is indeed materializing. There was a lot of expectation that Hasbro would unveil both the AT-TE and this new Millennium Falcon at Toy Fair, and while the former appeared, the latter did not, so might you comment on these Falcon rumors at all? If nothing else, a simple confirmation or denial would ease a lot of collector tension.
Hasbro: We have no comment on anything to do with a Millenium Falcon item, other than to say that it is not our policy to comment on certain rumors especially as they pertain to items that may appear in the Target (or any other retailer's) computers. Often, there is a reason for this secrecy because some items may be part of that retailers promotional tactics such as the Ultimate Battle Packs at Target. Whether or not there is another such concept in development will not be commented upon for this reason.

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And the questions at ActionFigs.com:

• Would Hasbro ever consider doing a figure of a "classic style" Sy Snootles from before the Special Editions? That's the one including the feather hat, tusks, more realistic eyes, a microphone, and can still be seen in the current version on the sail barge.
• Does Nippet the Wokling come out of his basket? If so, might you be able to share a picture of this?
• Although Hasbro's been releasing more and more Battle Droid designs lately, one that's been overlooked so far has been the Geonosis Battle Droid Commander, the one that has the OOM-9-style yellow markings on a maroon body. Moreover, the last Battle Droid Commander you released had a regular Battle Droid's backpack, which is inaccurate, the commander droids have no backpack, only a small antenna array as seen on your Ep 1 OOM-9 figure. Might this design be considered for the next time we see Battle Droid figures, perhaps even in a Geonosis Arena battle pack with the unreleased Geonosian Cannon accessory that was originally shown with the Arena playset?

[Kidhuman]

Nocomment from Hasbro usually means it is in the works. They will flat out deny stuff, but are shaky on confirming it.

[JediTricks]

That is how I took it as well, but they've never done a new mold of this size for an exclusive before. However, if it were a retailer to get one, it'd be Target, Hasbro did them the 12" Biker Scout on Speederbike exclusive back in the day, that was a lot of new mold. Of course, this may not even be a new mold but a super-ultimate BP with the previous retooling of the Kenner Falcon, but I'm hoping new and big.

Honestly, that "no comment" was the bright spot in my Q&A editing today, these were some uninspiring Qs and As for me even though AF had 2 positive results. The thing about Cade is a real downer because nobody wins there, collectors don't get what they're after all the way and Hasbro tried to do it but couldn't deliver.

[El Chuxter]

You have to admit, their answers (aside from the Falcon) were far more straightforward than usual. And the Nippet pic! Awww, (s)he's so cute!

[bigbarada]

A vintage precedent for Ishi Tib? Since when did POTF2 count as vintage.

[Dark Marble]

I will be holding out hope for a new Falcon, and dream that it is something worth all the secrecy. But, I am all about seeing as believing and would almost find it hard to believe that a newly sculpted Falcon would be an exclusive. Does any one still have the DCPI of the rumored Falcon?

[Droid]

We would probably go with an OTC version. While an Ishi Tib is not in any planend waves for the next couple of years, it is a good candidate for eventually updating since there is also a vintage precedent.

I would prefer they would have answered whether or not it would be a Jabba's Palace or a Rebel Ishi Tibb, but I guess the real answer is "We have no plans to do an Ishi Tibb so we'll figure it out later."

And I think they mean an "original trilogy" version, not a "original trilogy collection" version.

[Jedi_Kal-El]

Originally Posted by Kidhuman

Nocomment from Hasbro usually means it is in the works. They will flat out deny stuff, but are shaky on confirming it.

That's pretty much always been my take on it as well. Practically everything they "no comment" on ends up being released. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up showing it off at Comic-Con.

[jedi master sal]

Originally Posted by bigbarada

A vintage precedent for Ishi Tib? Since when did POTF2 count as vintage.

That's what I was wondering. Maybe they are considering it that since it was Kenner at the time and not yet Hasbro. That's the only thing that makes any sense to me.

[Battle Droid]

I hope that Battle Droid Commander is a new SA sculpt!