2005 Toy Fair!

[Pete_Fett]

If you meant Anakin (figure III-28), I apologize, when I saw the #2, I just assumed you meant Anakin (figure III-2) from the first wave of Collection 1.

If you meant figure III-28, if you check out this picture from GH, you'll see that this one comes with a separate lightsaber as an accessory and no hand with lightsaber molded into it... http://www.galactichunter.com/absolutenm/articlefiles/3940-anakinskywalker.jpg

Sorry if I caused any confusion....

[Brian]

Thanks for the great pics and coverage jokabofe and Nicklab.  I always enjoy this time of the year, just going over the various pictures and seeing what is coming up.  Granted, not too much new (due to all the leaks the past few weeks), but still nice to see the figures in a different perspective and everything.  I personally think the ARC 170 fighter looks pretty spiffy, and I'm really looking forward to it.  The figures that we saw (and have seen) all look pretty great too, and there were even a few surprises with the new "Jedi Force" figures.  I'm wondering if we'll see any reports from talking with the Hasbro reps about what is coming later in the year, whether we'll see any OT product at all, and things like that.  I see that it is possible we might be getting further Animated Clone Wars figures, if the report over at TheJawa.com is true.  I was kind of hoping we might get a peek at the rumored "500th Vader", but I guess we have been spoiled the past few weeks with all the pics and information already .  Thanks again for the work guys, much appreciated.

[Brian]

I was just kind of noticing that some of the figures seen in Hasbro's official "preview" shot (basic figures), weren't seen in the actual coverage (like they were taken out, some figures rearranged):



Such as...the Clone Commander (Commander Bly), the Tank Gunner Clone, and the cloaked Grievous, to name a few.  I wonder why that is?  Maybe they will show them later in the Fair.  No big deal, since we have seen pics of them anyways, but just curious.

[Pete_Fett]

I was just kind of noticing that some of the figures seen in Hasbro's official "preview" shot (basic figures), weren't seen in the actual coverage (like they were taken out, some figures rearranged):

Such as...the Clone Commander (Commander Bly), the Tank Gunner Clone, and the cloaked Grievous, to name a few.  I wonder why that is?  Maybe they will show them later in the Fair.  No big deal, since we have seen pics of them anyways, but just curious.

My first instinct was that release dates had something to do with it, but then they left figures like Vader's medical droid (III-37) and the Polis Massan medic (III-39), which are higher in number than the Clone Commander (III-33). They also removed Mas Amedda (III-40) from the display. If they had also taken Vader's Medical Droid and the Polis Massan then the highest numbered figure on display would be Aayla Secura (III-32).

[Brian]

Yeah, that is sort of what I was thinking at first too.  It just seems strange to me that the Hasbro reps would even bring those figures along, let alone set them up at first, only to take them down before any outlets photographed them.  I would think they would be more organized than that, to show up and say "oops, we weren't supposed to bring these figures, better hide them".  Then again, you never know .

[Pete_Fett]

Yeah, that is sort of what I was thinking at first too.  It just seems strange to me that the Hasbro reps would even bring those figures along, let alone set them up at first, only to take them down before any outlets photographed them.  I would think they would be more organized than that, to show up and say "oops, we weren't supposed to bring these figures, better hide them".  Then again, you never know .

The one thing to keep in mind is that there are two audiences for Toy Fair - the press (like our intrepid JediDefender reporters) and major chain toy purchasers. The second group is the group Toy Fair is REALLY all about. This is where Hasbro makes sure that every major retail outlet is going to have PLENTY of this stuff come April 2nd and the display is to show those toy buyers what they're getting and how cool the stuff is and how well kids will respond to it, etc....So stuff shown to the press could be (slightly) different to the stuff shown to the reps from the major retailers.

Another possibility could simply be that the toy buyer for a chain like Walmart came through after the StarWars.com pics were taken but BEFORE the press came through and before the Walmart toy buyer left, they said "Hey - can I have a couple of those?" and the Hasbro rep gave him a couple of figures but didn't let him take any main characters.

I know, I know - sounds a little too much like a conspiracy theory - but the Hasbro reps are salesmen/women and they're going to do whatever it takes to keep the guy/gal from WalMart happy. Anything is possible, you just never know...

[Vator]

So I suppose there were no questions asked of Hasbro this go around? Kinda disapointing, I always have liked that.

[CHEWIE]

Hmmm... when the hell are they making the Sail Barge.   

 

[Darby]

Or... where is Dorme?   

[Jesse James]

Toy Fair tends to not have the best Q&A's come out of it...  Not a lot of "new" stuff generally, even the toys displayed aren't all that new to most people anymore...  A lot of the people working are more or less sales people rather than actually involved in R&D within the license itself...  SDCC's been much more fruitful as far as information over the last couple years.

TF was a bust for a lot of companies as far as really generating interest I thought.  The big news was the Press Kit Vader/Anakin.  Funny how the exclusive always gets the bright lights.