Here's the video so you can get a feel for the light and sound effects.

Quote from: Jayson on July 24, 2009, 11:07 PM

A mere cost savings tactic. We'll get OWK, Anakin and Rex in Cold Weather Gear on individual cards.

Yeah - except that those Obi-Wan and Anakin figures won't fit in the speeder!

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that you'll be right on this?

A dissenting view to yours, Adam.  At least from someone who was reporting from SDCC and saw the piece in person, along with the electronics demo.  Personally I think I presented both the pros and cons of the piece, which is probably the more intellectually honest angle on Funeral Pyre Vader.

I think presenting even the NOTION that this piece would be taking away any kind of mainline product offering is dishonest.  This is not a case of Hasbro asking the collecting community "Should we make the 'Duel on Mustafar' battle pack?" whatsoever.  This piece is much more akin to the Holo Emporer with Vader from last year than almost anything else we've seen in the past 2-3 years.

Would it be pricey?  Yes, compared to other 2-packs it would be relatively pricey.  But I think that given the size of the added electronic accessory this offering is more akin to a three pack than a 2-pack.  And if we're in the $30 ballpark that would bring the average to about $10 per item.

I'm happy to present a dissenting opinion on this piece.  Especially since I helped break the story on this piece.  I think the piece really needs to be seen in person to be appreciated.  It's not just Vader on a woodpile and Luke with a torch.  Hasbro has built in some interactive features with this set, much like they did with last year's SDCC exclusive Holographic Emporer with Darth Vader.

Hasbro made a point of displaying this piece in a shadow box with speakers to show off the features.  You press a button on the pyre base causing it to light up and emit audio of flames crackling (we'll have video of that posted soon at JTA).

Now is this an overly exciting, action driven piece?  No, it's not.  But if we look at the breadth of the Star Wars Saga as conceived by George Lucas, it is the story of Anakin Skywalker.  And this piece commemorates his redeemed, dignified end much like that of many mythological heroes.  It would be geared almost entirely to collectors, most likely as some kind of exclusive.  I cannot see this as a mass market offering.  So by no means do I see this offering taking the place of something with more play value in the main line.  But it would make for a very cool display piece, especially with collectors who have a Vader focus.  A $30 pricepoint would not be that difficult a pill to swallow in the current climate.  Especially when we're seeing prices climb on items like battle packs.

As for any morbid considerations?  Personally I've been against the Funeral Padme figure.  But it has ranked in Hasbro's Fan Choice Polls.  And Hasbro made a point of kidding us all with a possible Funeral Pyre Vader in an SDCC presentation a few years ago only to get some negative backlash for that.  But overall, based on interest beforehand and feedback since it was unveiled at SDCC, I think the interest is there among the collector base for a Funeral Pyre Vader.  And I think the upcoming Fan's Choice Poll is a good way to express that interest.

Most of the talk on the 2009 numbering & 2009 repacks over there was taken from this post at JTA, though unfortunately they didn't feel like giving much credit to JTA for the list.

The otheR site never likes to give us credit.  Whatever.  You guys are much cooler like that.

The list we published came directly from Hasbro and was given to me at SDCC.  Though much of the info was out there because of the poster that was handed out at the Hasbro booth.  We just filled in the blank entries which are acknowledged by Hasbro on the poster as reissues.

The Hasbro guys were actually surprised by the recent Rick McCallum quote regarding the live action series.  McCallum was quoted recently as saying Boba Fett will be a player in the live action show.  But Hasbro knew nothing about that, and hasn't seen anything about the series in general.  And actor Daniel Logan (who played Boba in AOTC) didn't know anything either.

Hasbro did say that if Boba's a player in the new show, then it gives a new Slave I a big chance for a refit.  But it's a big if, rather than when.

Jesse, regarding the Snowspeeder - Hasbro has confirmed it multiple times in the Q&A.  And it should be ready to be unveiled in time for Toy Fair.

I'm going to go ahead and guess that Hasbro knows what happened with Yarna and that they're going to reduce the quantities of Willrow accordingly.

That is precisely what I heard from Hasbro in their booth.  They are painfully aware of the Yarna situation and are taking measures so that we don't have another such situation again with a collector targetted figure.

Production numbers for Yarna were determined around January of 2008, which was a full 6 months before the economy began to tank.  When that happened, collector demand diminished in a big way, and that in part led to so many Yarna's becoming such pegwarmers.

I think he is just the one stinker in the wave. Maybe some Jawa attack version, on the VOTC mold with a dirty paintjob.

That's exactly the way I read that R2.  It's from the scene where the Jawa's hit him with the Ion blaster and disable him.  It's an attempt at a new take on a classic character.  Kids like R2, and Hasbro needs to boost sales of the Legacy line.

The same thing could totally be said about headset Chewbacca that's being said about R2-D2.