Hasbro Q&A Sessions

[Jeff]

The latest Hasbro QnA has been posted...

- Details on the 2007 30AC Bespin Han Solo!
- IG-88's articulation?
- Why can't Mace sit down?

Consider this Han Solo fanboy very pleased to hear that we are, in fact, getting an improved Bespin Han Solo.   

[Jesse James]

"New Upper Legs" really says this figure might have leg articulation beyond the hips.  That's pretty great news to me...  Curious how the rest of him will shape up.  I'm excited...  IG-88's great news too.  Damn slick articulation on a figure with swizzle sticks for limbs.

[Daigo-Bah]

Interesting how they have been forthcoming with news on that Torture rack Han considering that there are several waves ahead of it that we still know little details about.

[Jesse James]

That's all Jeff's sweet talkin'.

And oh man...  Some good questions got out this week but again some real meh stuff too.  Am I mistaken or did SSG ask not only about Action Fleet, but also a reworded question on playsets?  Sheesh! 

I liked the UGH coin question too since that was actually information that's already out there in most forum's Coin thread.  I thought that the gold coins were old hat since Toy Fair anyway.

[AmanaMatt]

I love the Q&As, thanks for the hard work on these, everyone. I cannot wait for that new Ig-88.

[Jesse James]

Head to the Q&A area of the forums a few sections below the 30th to put your own questions in, AmanaMatt.  It's always good to get more into the mix, especially as this has gotten spaced out a bit now.  Q's sometimes get answered in the interim it seems.

[Darth_Anton]

The Han description kills me. New upper legs, arms, torso and headsculpt. That means from the knees down he'd pure rehash crap.

[Nicklab]

Hey, from the knees down it could be a VOTC Han Solo. 

[JangoTat]

if they say  the upper legs are new doesnt that mean it must be ball jointed?

[Paul]

Not to be negative, but could it not also mean ball jointed knees on a one piece torso-upper leg piece.  I mean in Hasbro's mind...that part didn't move while he was on the rack...why not just make it all one piece.

I am only pessimistic because I want a new Bespin Han SA....

[Brian]

Great job on the questions here at JD as always guys, and there were some pretty good answers this week it seemed.  I'm really hoping that this "Han with torture rack" ends up being a super-articulated "ultimate" version of Bespin Han, but I'm guessing that might be saved for a future VOTC lineup.  We'll see though, we have got some pretty spiffy figures in the basic line lately.  I can see some sort of grimacing face sculpt, or that the "new arms" are molded so that he fits in the torture rack in a certain way.  We'll see I guess.

I also see they confirmed that the VTAC Snowtrooper does have a removable helmet, the C-3PO with Salicious Crumb has 3PO with his eye dangling and Salicious is supposed to be "new".  It sounds like there are more good things on the way in the Star Wars line this year.  I'm looking forward to it.

[evenflow]

Lets hope for a sitting Salacious Crumb.

[Since1978]

We also discovered that Camie, Fixer and other Anchorhead figures were actually seriously being considered - not any time soon, but that they were at least "on the radar" - just shows the depths they're looking into as far as future figures are concerned.

'78

[Since1978]

Also more on the topic of the last waves of 2007, and moving FU...

From swCollector.com

"ANSWER: The Force Unleashed figures will be moved out to Spring 2008 and will not come out this calendar year. As a result we are arranging our waves so there is continuous flow of new figures through the holidays and Spring 2008. It's too early to tell whether they will have the 30th Anniversary line look, but they will probably not have coins as they are likely to come after we have completed the 60 basic figure coins."

Let's set the table like this:

Wave 8 was to be the Jango/Padme "AOTC" wave
Wave 9 was to be the Force Unleashed wave

Original conjecture was that we were moving from a wave release schedule that looked like:

1-7,9,8

to:

1-7,8,9 - moving FU back to later in order to move them closer to the release of the game.

Now we get confirmation that it's all the way to SPRING 2008, so now we have a BIG gap from the 30AC waves 1-8 to FU in Spring 2008.

The answer, as always, is very vague -

"We are rearranging our waves" which waves? - Just 8 & 9 as they mentioned before? Something from 2008? A re-paint/re-hash wave?

Then there's the comment about coins -

"...they are likely to come after we have completed the 60 basic figure coins."

They - FU, or They, the waves you're rearranging?

If they means FU, then there's nine more figures coming with coins in the late 2007/early 2008 time frame.

It's also worth noting that there was a question about a 2007 "continuation" re-paint/re-hash wave, and a vague answer about it being "hazy."

So about the only thing that's clear right now is that without FU there are only 53 figures for the coin series this year.

Lots of ways this can unfold, I'm interested to see how people's perception of the end of 2007 have changed since this answer.

Lots to learn at the upcoming cons!

'78

[Matt]

I usually don't bother with adding Arnie and Marjorie's Star Wars Action News podcast to the ol' Q & A compendium (too much of a hassle), but after seeing that they submitted a question about a new Jabba, I was compelled to do a bit of transcribin':

---

What would be the chance of seeing a Jabba the Hutt battle pack? I am thinking something along the lines of re-releasing the Ultra Jabba the Hutt from a few years back complete with hookah. This would be a good opportunity to repack figures like Bib Fortuna, Slave Leia, or any of the various figures that have relevance to Jabba. What would also be nice is a retooling of the dais that could be included in such a battle pack. With a dais, while not necessarily a playset, I think it would lend itself to the diorama type collectors, give us a dais which we have had since vintage days, and could have enough play elements to appeal to kids. Given the price point and the nature of the battle packs, as well as how battle packs have been evolving lately, this is something that seems like a good fit. (SWAN, 3/30/07) (direct link to MP3)

When, and it's not a matter of if, but of when, in the next couple of years that we do a new Jabba, we'll need to look to the price and format it makes sense in which to deliver him.  It may or may not be the battle pack format that is the one we choose.

---

Now, I'm not a huge fan of how Hasbro has worked the beasts into the battle pack assortment so far (in terms of both execution and price point), but I am glad to see they're attempting something with them, because I think they're potentially laying the groundwork for a new Jabba with Dais battle pack set.  How cool would that be?  Maybe a new Jabba, definitely a new dais, with a few other Jabba-centric characters thrown in for good measure (Oola, Leia, Salacious, Bib, Threepio--take your pick). . .  Put it all in a big battle pack box like the Bantha, add a nice cardboard backdrop, and you'd have one hell of a set.  What a nice presentation that would be--so much better than what we've gotten for the other four Jabbas in the modern line (all in window-less boxes or unattractive blister cards).  Release it next year, to tie it in with Jedi's 25th, price it at $30 (or even $40, maybe), and they'd fly out the door.