there were probably even MORE from the Death Star II

Oh yeah, I think a possible majority got off the DSII before it blew...  They were haulin' butt while Luke was still dragging his old man along the floor.

Mama didn't raise no fools in the Empire...  Not after the 1st batch of fools anyway.

I'd take a Rogue squadron series of some sort...  TV or even a film.  I just dn't know what kind of appeal it may have across the board...

I'd love to see it personally, so long as the story were good, fit well with the films, had a good feel to the classic trilogy, and actually had that "charm" the original movies had but had the flash only 3-D/digital animation can provide...

Here's to hoping we get some cool things SW and non-SW from the new company.

I'm an FPS fanatic, and IMO that (along with a few other game genres) are best played for PC, so obviously I'm ecstatic this is a PC title...

Ewok, I'm not sure about MAC availability, but if they made JO with a MAC port I wouldn't rule this out being made compatible as well.

I cannot download the trailer either Matt, don't feel bad...  QT's given me many an issue in the past as well, and my current QT is outdated I'd say (I just downloaded a blank screen).

I must play this game though...  I'm surprised they're running with a different gaming engine than Jedi Outcast and Academy are using, but that's fine by me as this game isn't going to have the sabre based combat, a nd the completely different engine means we're in for something possibly better than Outcast was...  Maybe not, but hopefully so.

I'm excited for sure, and can't wait!  Plus it was my first news post, whippee.

I just picked up a 1992 Thunderbird SC.

Got it cheap, and it needs work, but it's sweet and to quote my father, "That SOB flies..." which he was commenting to his friends about it...  He opened it up bringing it on back while I was at school a day.

Lots of work ahead, as there's some rust underneath near  the ground effects and one patch ont he body on the right rear fender.

Great car though, and I'm finding very few who are keeping up with me.  

Indeed...  I found that blurb in the insider insulting, both as a consumer of their Star Wars license and as a businessman.

I don't feel the retail industry is 100% innocent either, but Hasbro needs to fess up to their mistakes and make up for them by improving the line to one of the top toy lines in the industry...  Passing the buck by blaming retail COMPLETELY  just looks petty.

I think OCB nailed some really REALLY solid points as to the hows and whys of our current distribution woes...  

I've been in business for years.  I've studied the toy industry independantly, and it was the subject of a report I did just this semester.  OCB really pinpointed some good instances where Hasbro isn't a strong company when it comes to this line.  

#1 Case Assortments

Indeed, and this is a point where Hasbro's 100% responsible for their own actions...  They mix these cases based on their own data, but methinks they need some new marketing analysts over there, because whoever predicted that "Let's only pack one Imperial Officer" in a case needs to be put out on the street with no severance pay.

That's one instance of poor business...  There's many more.  

To use another line's problems that are similar, who over at Toy Biz decided "Yeah, we need more King Theodens" in their case assortments?  

What these companies should do is pack these figures who would/should be weaker sales in fewer #'s...  You should then have enough flexibility within your company to REPACK this figure as necessary, but for this strategy to work one must actually have close contact with, and listen to their fan base...

IE: Ask Andy sections have to be read, and read thoroughly, and other sections of various fan forums must get some reading from the company.

Other companies are capable of this type of "flexible" work within the organization, but Hasbro's more of a traditional company, and that may be an area they need to start restructuring to make their product lines more efficient.  They're more a verticle structure, as opposed to horozontal, and I think that hurts them often.

#2 Over Production coupled with Lack of interest

A-Freakin'-MEN...

Contrary to what we maybe wish, and what some of us believe, Star Wars isn't the end-all-be-all of the toy industry...  Sad to say folks, but Star Wars just simply isn't the hot seller we wish it to be.  As a matter of fact, while Hasbro tried citing high sales of Star Wars product last year, that's inevitable since it was a movie year...  What they  neglected to show during their sales reports was what the damage was at the end of the year.  

Even before X-Mas, the Star Wars line was in a downward spiral that was dragging the year's books down.  As I recall, reports in the early part of the year cited other Hasbro product...  STRONGER Hasbro product, as being the savior that kept them from having a large loss.  

It's a shame to see it, but Star Wars just isn't a top toy anymore.  Its hayday was back sometime around '97 I believe, and it has spikes, but it's like a sluggish stockmarket on a steady decline, if you prefer that analogy.  

#3 More competition and Price Point

Something I've preached for some time, but what others have argued with me...  Competition DOES exist for Hasbro...

Hasbro's constantly competing for the child's $ everytime that a kid is in a toy aisle, and they just don't have a line that has a broad appeal to kids.

We love it...  Some kids love it...  Sadly, we're not their main focus (As we should be no matter what the year), and what's more sad is that kids have BETTER choices out there in the toy aisle.  

A kid has so many "new" things pulling at his/her increasingly fickle personality, that they are going to go for the best of the best...  A kid's gonna buy the figure that has that fun appeal, and while it took Hasbro a year, they finally grasped it that Action Features don't mean their product suddenly rivals the poseable accessory laden Power Ranger.  

It's the same reason G.I. Joe is getting MORE focus this year than Star Wars...  Hasbro rode that movie wave last year, and didn't exactly capitalize on it as they could've, and yet G.I. Joe had a strong enough year that they're not gonna sink more $ into that strong brand.  

Kids love G.I. Joe...  He's got it all...  Star Wars figures are mini statues with lame features, and few accessories, with even fewer vehicles or playsets.  

I think Hasbro's pricepoint is accurate for the general scale of the product they offer ($4.99 for 1:18/3.75" figures), but what they don't really see is that for around $4.99 you can get a simply more FUN figure in G.I. Joe, or 21st's X-Treme Detail...  

I don't even personally LIKE the new G.I. Joes, but from what I gathered during my research for my paper last semester, the Joe line is one of Hasbro's goldmines, and that's a TRUE line they're going to impress both kids and adults with (Just not me, though the line is impressive from my business standpoint).

So in short, yeah Hasbro has super competition working against them, and Star Wars is NOT immune to that competition...  Sure Hasbro COLLECTORS will buy up new stuff, but what Hasbro wants is to attract "casual" buyers and children...  Neither of which they're EVER capable of doing with the Star Wars line...  

That's a big issue they need to work on.

#4 Lack of Quality

Anyone who knows anything about me knows I agree with this...

I sort of touched on it above.  Hasbro doesn't compete... Their Star Wars line is of the same scale as multiple lines, but yet it's laughably poor in comparison.  The funny thing is that Hasbro shows amazing glimmers of being the dominant toy company...

For instance, their sculpts...  Hasbro has some misses, but they have solid sculptors at their company that rival the work of supposed Industry Leaders like MacFarlane Toys.  Anyone who owns Ephant Mon knows what I'm talking about...

Sculpt is an area that Hasbro went from being weak in to actually being rather dominant.  They are inconsistent in other areas though.

I've yet to see Hasbro do true justice to ANY figure in the department of articulation...  And that's a big problem when you're literally in the toy aisle competing with lines such as Lord of the Rings, X-Treme Detail 1:18, G.I. Joe, etc...  

Like I said though, Hasbro has these little glimpses that they can do SO much better with these figures...  When you see a Commtech Stormtrooper or a Cantina Han, you have to wonder why can't t hey all be AT LEAST that good or a little better?  Other toys are, and other toys are having stronger sales...  

BBi's 1:18 military line is ready to take off in the aisles of major retailers this year supposedly.  We're talking about one HELL of a small company here who did 1:18 stuff on a whim to see if they could compete directly with 21st Century toys...  Guess what, their $4.99 masterpieces flew of the shelves for the most part, and that line's set to expand not only in what they offer but also in the outlets by which they are sold.  

And when it boils down to it, these figures are going to be just one more kid on the block that's of "higher quality" and for a similar price to the Star Wars figures...  I bet they do well, and I know for sure they're taking some of my collecting $ with them already.  Who else's shall they take?  What kid is gonna say "Forget that Anakin figure, I want that Marine like the guy I saw on TV"?

Owning a license to a toy line doesn't mean you have a monopoly on it...  Hasbro can profit off Star Wars, sure...  But for them to make this line something that everyone wants, they need to make changes...

Instead, they issue statements that essentially are saying "It's not our fault, retailers aren't interested" when they really should be honest and say retailers aren't interested because their product doesn't move for a myriad of reasons that they need to work on...

Losing action features was a start, and hopefully not the end either.

***Stands and flexes like Spaceghost***