Star Wars Rebels - 5 POA Animated Style Figs

[Dave]

Are either Sabine or Hera scheduled to be released as figures anytime soon, either as individually carded figures or as pack-ins?

My daughter is getting in to the show with me and the boys but wants to play with some of the girl characters.

[Nicklab]

Sabine and Hera both come as part of the Mission Series 2-packs.  And each of them is packed with a Stormtrooper.  Sabine and a Stormtrooper are in Mission Series wave 5.  Hera and the Stormtrooper with pauldron are probably in the following wave, but I haven't seen any retail solicitation for that wave yet.

[Dave]

Sabine and Hera both come as part of the Mission Series 2-packs.  And each of them is packed with a Stormtrooper.  Sabine and a Stormtrooper are in Mission Series wave 5.  Hera and the Stormtrooper with pauldron are probably in the following wave, but I haven't seen any retail solicitation for that wave yet.

Thanks. 

That is actually a really smart way to pack these figures in if Hasbro believes they can't sell a female figure.  Pack them with Stormtroopers for $10 and you should get more takers.

[McMetal]

Sabine really needs a removable helmet version. She hardly ever even wears that damn thing on the show.

[Jesse James]

Did it with Ezra, so it's kind of confusing not to do it with Sabine, but I'm guessing it's her hair, the animation style, and the shrinking of her head they'd have to do (or enlarging of the helmet) not looking right, which is keeping them from giving her a removable helmet.  Just my guess right now.  I'd not be shocked to see a helmetless version at some point.

[Nicklab]

Has anyone else seen this article?  EW:  Hasbro thinks 'Star Wars Rebels' has 'plenty' of female figures. No

So... when did Entertainment Weekly get themselves into the business of discussing the Star Wars Action Figure business?  I know who the contributor is who wrote this piece.  She blogs and works (or has worked) for EE.  But has she noticed that there are only TWO female main characters in the show??!?!  And that Sabine only just started shipping within the past few weeks, with Hera on the way, very soon as well?

[P-Siddy]

Has anyone else seen this article?  EW:  Hasbro thinks 'Star Wars Rebels' has 'plenty' of female figures. No

I think JTA asked a similar question at TF and that was the response they got.

[Jeff]

Steve, that article is about the Q&A at JTA. 


The EW piece explains why Hasbro asked Paul/JTA to change their answer...  the JTA Q&A now reads:

Q: Where are the action figures for the female characters from Rebels, like Hera, Sabine, or Maketh Tua? Male characters like Ezra and Kanan have been released multiple times already in many formats and scales, yet the best we've seen on shelves so far is a single Sabine with a non-removable helmet and a yet-to-be-released Hera, both of whom are packed with re-released Stormtroopers. Female characters have always played an integral role in the Star Wars saga, from Leia in the original trilogy to Padme in the prequels to Ahsoka and Asaaj in The Clone Wars and have always been among the first characters released in figure form, yet for this new chapter in the Saga, they've barely been a blip on the radar.

A: Hasbro actually has some great new characters from Rebels hitting shelves now such as Sabine and Hera and have recently been releasing more females within our Black Series and Saga Legends line such as Mara Jade, Toryn Farr, Bastila Shan, Luminara Unduli, Padma Amidala (Geonosis), and a number of great Leia’s such as Ep IV, Endor, and the awesome Boushh disguise that was revealed at NYCC. (Editor's Note: Hasbro has asked to have this answer revised.)

[P-Siddy]

Steve, that article is about the Q&A at JTA. 

I see that... interesting.  So, misquoting or damage control?

[Dave]

Clearly nobody at Hasbro has a five year old daughter who watches Rebels and tries to buy figures at retail.   

I get it that you don't want to pack a Mon Mothma in every case, but not having two of the main characters (and the only females) available for many months after the line launches is pathetic.

There are essentially nine main characters (counting a Stormtrooper as a main character).  They made seven in the first wave of Rebels and Mission Series.  Pretty sad the two they left out were the only female characters.

We're going on four months since the line launched and I'm guessing we're still a couple of months away from being able to get our hands on Hera.  A few have managed to just get Sabine, but I can't imagine your average soccer mom looking for toys for her kids at Target is going to stumble on a Sabine any time soon.

[Nicklab]

I get the frustration over Hera and Sabine getting delayed.  But what about the other 2 main characters from the Ghost's crew?  In the 3.75" action figure line there has been ONE version of Zeb and ONE version of Chopper.  I got my Sabine last week and STILL have not found Chopper.  Talking about "So many Kanans and so many Ezras" is all well and good.  But neglecting to mention that characters like Zeb and Chopper in the context of this conversation, both of whom are on pretty equal footing in the show with Hera and Sabine, is a significant omission.  And you know what?  This whole conversation might have been averted if Hasbro had just offered the Mission Series set with Hera and the Stormtrooper Commander in place of the set with Zeb and the Stormtrooper.

And truth be told?  Both Ezra and Kanan are the main characters of this story.  As such I expect Hasbro to focus primarly on them.

[Jeff]

I agree, Nick.  Chopper is still hard to find for a lot of people.  And if they had flipped Hera and Zeb, there'd be people upset about not getting Zeb yet.

Maybe Hasbro could have saved themselves the headache and done a single wave of mission series packs = Hera/Kanan, Ezra/Sabine, Zeb/Chopper, Inquisitor/Stormtrooper, Kallus/AT-DP Driver and then just called it a day with the Rebels line...

[Scockery]

I'd say it's a fair bet that what's been released and seen previewed is all there is to the Rebels toy line. Or at least until next year.

[Darby]

I imagine there's a bit of damage control in Hasbro's revised statement. It was a glib answer to a somewhat glib question. In fairness to Hasbro, the SW line has been historically representative of female characters. Especially in contrast to other traditionally boy centric toy lines. Absolutely there's a valid critique in the number of female characters in SW in general, but that's a problem at the source of the material. The 'late' releases of Sabine and Hera is a fair question but it's clear this isn't a case where Hasbro suddenly remembered to do them. They were in the cards from the start and if not for some of the distribution issues I think we might have seen them in stores sooner. In any case we're due to see them both here together fast.

This next bit goes to my comments in the Toy Fair thread about reactions to the show in general. Since the JTA Q&A was referenced in the blog post specifically, it's fair to mention that some of what concerned me originated there. Paul by his own admission in the comments mentioned the rapid-fire nature of his interview, which was stressful for him (it doesn't need to be! This is supposed to be fun!) yielded little info and cranky responses from a Hasbro rep who I felt clearly bristled at a long, long line of negative questioning. As I said before, the basic tenor of some comments I've seen - not just about Toy Fair and absolutely not just from the commenters on JTA - goes like this: I can't stand Hasbro, everything Hasbro is doing is wrong, but what is Hasbro doing next?

The SSG Q&A stands in stark contrast. Here's a fairly positive interview that still asks some tough questions and yielded what is probably the only real news out of Toy Fair - the possibility we may see the Ghost. After I shot down the idea of it like five minutes before I saw the Q&A, I'm pretty convinced now we'll see it. The nature of the discussion on the Ghost Steve had with Jeff Labovitz is basically the same as when Daryl DePriest 'confirmed' the MTT to me at NYCC 2011. I was glad to see in the JTA comments that Paul is thinking he won't go with reader questions in the future. Not because reader questions aren't important, but because there didn't seem to be a great deal of filtering. There were numerous questions he didn't relay to Hasbro and for very good reason. I enjoy my hobby. I'm tired of the negativity and the shade throwing and snark. Collectors in general should all have the enthusiasm people like Paul Harrison has for our hobby. Be passionate. Don't be hateful though. If you don't like it, don't buy it. They'll figure it out quick and if they don't, then someone else someday will get a shot at it. They're toys. Have fun!

[Muftak]

Here here, Darby. Good points all around.

I'm not much of a presence around here anymore because there are, like 8 figures left that I want Hasbro to make to finish my collection and I'll be done. I pop in to see if they're coming, but the rest of what's going on really doesn't concern me anymore. My 5-year old son loves watching Rebels with me, though, and has started buying the Rebels figures, so these days I am advocating for him, filtered through my own experiences with this hobby. I had my fun, now it's his turn, and I feel I am in a good position to guide him on his journey.

My son was looking at my figures and when I told him they made ones of the Rebels characters now, he wanted to get some to play with. He went to the store with Christmas money and we found that all that were available were the Zeb/Stormie 2-pack, Artoo and Threepio, and the Kanan/Ezra/Obi-Wan pack at TRU. None of the places we have been have had any of the single figures, and I suspect we nearly missed the Sabine/Stormie 2-pack (we saw Wicket and the Scout Trooper on the pegs.) Since then we have looked for more to no avail. We have also found no Rebels vehicles on the shelves...he is a big walker fan and wants one of those as well as the Phantom.

Last week he caved and bought a Bespin Luke/Darth Vader 2-pack just to add some more characters to his toybox (and he was excited about a pack with two lightsabers for instant dueling possibilities.) Routinely his figures play in and around my BMF which I get down for him and he uses it to substitute for the Ghost.

His favorite characters on the show are Chopper and Sabine, and he has been sad that he hasn't been able to find them yet. I promised him they're coming, as are the Inquisitor and other bad guys. I am happy with what we have been shown as in the pipeline, and I have to hold out hope that this stuff will show up somewhere soon in quantities that will allow him to get what he wants. I would be crushed for him if he missed his only chance at getting a Chopper or Inquisitor at the store last year.

I love that Sabine, Zeb and Hera all come with Stormtroopers. I wish there was an option to get Chopper, Kanan and Ezra that way, too, so he could build up a squad to fight. He is having fun dipping his toe into collecting figures, and so far the frustration of not being able to find what he wants hasn't stopped him since it is so early for him. Time will tell if things work out well for his collection. I feel so blessed to have a young Star Wars fan in the family.