I think the Star Whores/Disney sale might have taken the Tonnikas off the table, but I often wonder if the sisters would show up in the Mandoverse as something cool/different than what that "joke" picture that someone did in the 70s, would that change their mind? 

I know there was hope that when VW was doing Star Wars themed adds and included "Tonnika Sisters-like" people included that would create an opportunity to do something like this. 

Are you saying the factory was just taking orders directly from EE?

Thanks for the history lesson, Jeff.  I've heard some of this stuff, but some regarding the cantina set, I hadn't.  I think the Star Whores/Disney sale might have taken the Tonnikas off the table, but I often wonder if the sisters would show up in the Mandoverse as something cool/different than what that "joke" picture that someone did in the 70s, would that change their mind?  No idea, but I think if we get a cantina Haslab, this will be the time we get them.  If not, I don't think we'll never getting them.

It's weird to think that we got Oola, Hutt Slayer Leia, Slave Owner Watto, and drug dealer Elan Sleazbaggano once upon a time, but that was before Disney took over.

Years ago I asked one of them about it T some convention and she said she love to have an action figure made of her.  The other one had already died I think. 

The one you asked is the one who died in 2007 - Christine Hewett.  At C3, she was more than happy to tell everyone that she wanted a figure.  From our old 2005 topic on the Tonnika sisters:

Quote from: Kneel Before Zod on April 25, 2005, 02:25 PM

I asked the actress that was signing autographs what the deal was with the rights and all that stuff.

She said that it was never true for her, but that the OTHER actress was witholding rights to the likeness.  She also said that she'd gone to the Hasbro guys the day before to let them know that they had permission to make the figure in her likeness.  She implied that they all but told her that they were going to go ahead and try to make ONE figure - then everyone could buy two.

Is there an echo in here, Rob?!   

As for the bar, yeah, the Hasbro rep I chatted with at their booth confirmed that the U-shaped portion will be coming (as part of an overall 3-piece Cantina set), and that the distillery would definitely be included too, which was great to hear.  He said the sets were essentially ready to go, and that they were just waiting for a retailer to pick them up as an exclusive.  They wouldn't elaborate on any of the figure choices for inclusion though, and made it sound like that part of the set may still be up in the air right now.  I obviously pointed out that the Tonnika sister would be an obvious choice, since that where she was standing in the movie.  Though I'd prefer it if she was single carded instead.

One staff member from another site said that his friend had already seen these items back in Asia, so it sounds like they're very much already finished, and just sitting around waiting...

That would also seem to mesh timing-wise with what the Hasbro guys told me last year at Comic Con, which was that the rest of the bar was definitely on the way at some point soon...  So just a question of being patient and waiting it out.

I also pushed the obvious Hem Dazon/Arcona idea on them, and they said that it was indeed an obvious choice, and would unquestionably be coming sooner or later.  So no worries on that figure either, other than your patience level. 

I have never been able to find all of the pieces of the puzzle, but here is my best guess after putting together all the parts to which we have access (and finally willing to disclose some things I promised to keep quiet almost 20 years ago at C3).

Hasbro looked into making Tonnika Sisters figures in the early 2000s.  I believe they were going to be part of the Cantina Bar piece sets at first.  During the approval process for those sets, that's when it was discovered that for some reason (oversight, lost paperwork, something) LFL did not have licensing/merchandising release paperwork for them.  The sisters were put into the parking lot on hold.  At Hasbro's urging, LFL went to work trying to secure the paperwork they needed to approve the figures. One of the sisters (Christine Hewett) signed off on the new paperwork.  Everyone figured it was just a matter of time to get the other one (Angela Staines) to sign off.

So then we get to 2005.  Celebration 3.  JediMAC and I were in the Hasbro booth pestering Derryl DePriest about obscure background figures we wanted (this was the height of the quest for ICMG).  Derryl basically told us off the record that the Sisters were finally coming.  Most likely with the Central Distillery bar piece that we needed to finish off those Saga/OTC Cantina bar piece sets.  You can see Matt being coy with his post above.  I was not so coy with mine...

in private at the booth they sure did a LOT of hinting that the Tonnkia Twins may have something to do with the upcoming Distillery and U-Shaped bar pieces... 

And then, nothing.  No distillery.  No Sisters.  No updates.  Eventually Hasbro said 'don't bother voting for them, we can't make them' when it came to fan polls.  Over the years, it became clear that even though Hasbro was ready to make them at multiple points in the 2000s, LFL stopped it.  The licensing/merchandising paperwork looked like the primary thing to blame.  We knew they got one sister to sign off, but the other was status unknown.

Eventually Victoria from Victoria's Cantina dug a little further.  According to her interview in 2017 with the unsigned sister (Angle Staines), it wasn't "millions of dollars" that was the sticking point it was ONE FIGURE.  $5.

"Angela confirmed some of the rumors, including that Lucasfilm lost the paperwork they needed to create merchandise in her likeness, and that when given the opportunity to sign again, she questioned the benefit she would receive in doing so. She was disappointed that after signing the release, she would still need to pay for her own figure. She explained that she thought it would be fair for them to send her a sample, and ultimately refused to sign. Since Lucasfilm could not get her to sign the new release, Hasbro could not create a figure of the character. The other actress who portrayed the other sister, Christine Hewett, sadly passed away in 2007. She did sign the new release Lucasfilm provided her shortly before her passing, yet a figure of that Tonnika Sister has not been released either."

So, because LFL didn't want to change their boiler-plate release form to ensure Angela got a free figure in the early 2000s, she never signed.   

Victoria met with Angela again in 2018 and claimed that Angela started to understand what it meant to fans and would sign now if given the opportunity.  Victoria took the news to Hasbro in 2019 who said they'd tell LFL.  But, it sounds like it went nowhere.

The elephant in the room is of course a LOT has happened in the world between then and now.  The biggest being Disney buying Star Wars/LFL.  There are so many rumors about Disney/LFL shutting the door on figures for any SW characters that make women out to be sexual objects (All the Slave Leia stuff and then most recently the talk of no Oola with the BS6" Rancor for example).  The sisters with the "Star Whores" history are definitely starting out on the wrong foot if those rumors are true.

I'm not saying it'll never happen, but it sure looks likely that our best chance to get them has come and gone.  Maybe this HasLab will surprise me though.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk on the history of the Tonnika Sisters.

Here is a weird one - EE is once again taking pre-orders for the original Walmart exclusive version of the VC231 Stormtrooper at the original $15 price.

So you can get the VC231 original card (with warning on the Hildebrandt logo) for $14.99 each -> https://ee.toys/GSYLT0



Or the new cardback with the relocated warning box for $16.99 each -> https://ee.toys/H60ZR2



The shipping dates are not even that different (June vs July of 2024).  If you're looking to bulk purchase Stormtroopers, free shipping starts at 6 of the $15 version at EE.

EE just canceled my order for these, they said the manufacturer has informed them they won't be producing them.

So I guess not...