Hasbro Star Wars Q&A

From the Hasbro Star Wars Team:

It's a very exciting time for Star Wars as the extraordinary Target exclusive Vintage 9-pack will be going on sale soon (Nov. 28th). There are two important things to note with this set.

First, this set will be more limited than some of our other recent exclusives.
Second, Target (and we) are so excited about the Vintage collection overall and these 3-packs that we have decided to keep this "collection within a collection" idea going at Target. Another wave of 3 3-packs will be coming in Spring and like these, they follow the Vintage character lineups.

We think this an exciting development, and thanks to Target's support, hopefully fans will be treated to even more in this series.

Thanks again for the support and be sure to get to Target soon.

Happy Holidays -

the Hasbro Star Wars team.

Q&A Answers, November 2010

Thank you so much for releasing the Target exclusive Attack and Defense of Hoth ultra battle packs, they are fantastic!! I was wondering what the AT-ST figure in the Attack On Hoth set is based on. We never saw this character in The Empire Strikes Back, and the ones seen in Jedi don't seem to have a harness. Is this figure based on behind the scenes photos for ESB or did I miss him in Jedi?

The harness is actually seen on-screen on Endor in EpVI, along with reference we have available from Lucasfilm. You will have to look again carefully (hey, who doesn't need an excuse to watch any of the films again?). We're glad you enjoy this new take on a troop builder along with the sets. They did come out great and we're scrambling to get more ourselves for our own battle building.

AT-ST Driver database entry

We've gotten a lot of great Empire Strikes Back figures/vehicles this year, and the vintage packaging is the icing on the cake! I was wondering when we'll see the first vehicles based on the original Star Wars movie in vintage packaging? And can you give us a hint as to what vehicle it might be?

This year gave us a good opportunity to show that vehicles in Vintage packaging could do well in addition to figures. Based on the apparent response, we are planning to continue this in future years. It's too early to reveal what those vehicles might be - or what packaging they might appear in. We are likely to have updates around Comic Con timing next year.

Q&A Answers, October 2010

Why did you make one of the most asked for OT resculpts (Jabba The Hutt) a Wal-Mart exclusive? The demand for this piece is high and has been for years. So why did you opt for a one store exclusive instead of making it widely available?

Great question. The reason is that we do not have an assortment above the $24.99 Starfighter Vehicles, so there was no "home" for him. Next you might ask "Well, why not just do him as a stand-alone item?" At that point, the volume expectations go way, way up since it's expected that any item we do has to hit a certain level of volume and stay on the shelves close to 12 months. As cool as Jabba is, he cannot sustain the productivity of an assortment like this, and there was no other great things that we could complement him with to make it an assortment. The only way to bring it to retail at all was as an exclusive, and Wal-Mart was a very willing partner.

We noticed that there are still figures being released, which have differently colored ankle joints from the actual outfit/boots. Like the most recent vintage ROTS Obi-Wan, or the Toys'R'Us exclusive cadet Boba Fett from the Slave 1 Ultimate Battlepack. There you have two fantastic figures, with great head sculpts and fantastic likeness to the actual characters, but then you look at the ankles/boots, and it just looks off. Boba almost looks like as if he's wearing red socks. Is this something that Team Hasbro is aware of and is looking into correcting, or is this something we'll have to live with?

In order to control our tooling budgets, our vendors often decide which parts are tooled with which others for economy. As a result, it may mean the pins have different colors or needed to be painted to match molded parts, which can be tricky. It's something we're aware of, but we need to tolerate on occasion to get everything done the way we need it to be to hit targets.

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Q&A Answers, September 2010

Are we still getting a ROTJ Sandstorm Leia to go along with Han, Luke and Chewie? If yes, when?

Yes; a Sandstorm Leia figure will be out at the end of 2011.

What was it that you got away with from SDCC and Celebration V that people wanted you to release the most? And what complaints did you hear the most?

Both shows were outstanding this year, as enthusiasm is running high for the 30th Anniversary of Empire Strikes Back, the return of Vintage, the AT-AT, and a new season of Clone Wars. It's a great time to be a Star Wars fan and a fan of Star Wars toys! As to some specifics, fans seemed very excited about video game figures, especially those from The Force Unleashed II and The Old Republic. As for complaints, there weren't a lot but some people were sad to see the Droid Factory figures wind down, which many folks seem to feel was one of our strongest pack-ins ever. We were especially thrilled to see the sheer number of fans who came and traded parts with us to complete their droids, and kids who shared some of their kit-bashed droids using various parts. That is exactly the spirit that excited us about concepts like that, and our gears are turning on ways to bring back some aspect of Droid Factory in the future.

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Q&A Answers, July 2010

Could you explain the rationale behind having cartoon Captain Rex on every Star Wars item including non-animated-style figures and vehicles (except single carded TVC)? We understand that you are trying to have all SW toys under "one big banner", but don't you think that this will confuse customers as to what style of toy (animated vs. regular) they are buying?

The packaging direction (for all licensees, not just Hasbro) was determined by Lucasfilm, and it was driven by a need to have uniformity across the line. There is no one solution that would have worked well for everything. Since the line has a greater contingent of Clone Wars-related toys than movie-related toys, and many other licensees focus exclusively on the Clone Wars, it makes sense to pick a Clone Wars icon as the face of the entire line. As for customers getting confused, we think that that is a valid point and may cause consumers to have to spend a little bit more when faced with a choice at the shelf to make sure that they are getting the right thing for their kids.

Cantina aliens and Jabba's Palace denizens are gradually being released, but how about characters from the Outlander Club from Episode 2? Are any in the pipeline for release in 2011?

There are none in the pipeline. This scene just doesn't have the gravitas that either the EpIV Cantina scene of EpVI Jabba Palace/skiff scene seem to have. When faced with deciding how to best fill our precious few slots devoted to some of the more obscure aliens, we will be sticking to the OTC for the foreseeable future.

Q&A Answers, June 2010

What are your plans for KOTOR figures besides Bastila Shan?

We don't have any plans for more KotOR figures beyond Bastila Shan at this time. While we did a great number of EU figures from 2006-2009, right now there are fewer spots in the line for EU figures.

It's been asked a few times, but it's been a while and I thought I follow up and see if your position has changed about re-doing and releasing a new Rebel Transport in the next few years?

Our position has not changed. We will not be re-doing or re-releasing a Rebel Transport.

Q&A Answers, April 2010

Will Jedi Luke be re-released on a vintage card, and if so, will you make any changes to the figure?

There are indeed plans for a new Jedi Luke in the Vintage format, that addresses the issues that folks have had with the proportions of the chest among other tweaks. Look for him later this year, with the figure available for preview at Comic Con.

Can you share a picture with us, what a prequel character (Grievous? Qui-Gon?) looks like on a vintage card?

Sorry - there are no in-pack images to share yet. As soon as we have some, we will send one out to you.