Q&A: It Never Ends
Monday, May 26, 2008
This week's menu: Mighty Muggs, Indiana Jones, G.I. Joe, movie-style figures, upcoming 2008 releases, and so much more. I gotta be somewhere, so just read on!
1. Is there any word on if Hasbro is going to go back to the presses on the first two series of Mighty Muggs? Series 1 and 2 sold out ridiculously fast before I even knew if I wanted to collect the line, and Muggs like the Stormtrooper are already sky-high on ebay! How can Hasbro expect this line to be successful if people who weren't sure if they wanted to collect it or not in the first few weeks are doomed to never get Stormtroopers, Vader, or Boba Fett?
--David
It's entirely possible. Hasbro is rotating its Marvel Mighty Muggs in and out of revision assortments all the time, so far we haven't seen much of this with Star Wars. Sometimes a line's success comes from people being unable to get certain characters-- it keeps interest high in future series if there are items that are "worth something" which serve as an example of what other figures may do. It's not my favorite business model, but I have seen it proven effective.
I just looked on eBay and see them closing at $15-$25, which, to me, seems somewhat reasonable. (SRP is $10-$12, factor in eBay fees, a box, and all that, it's not a terrible price.) Odds are Hasbro will bring them back at some point, but as to when, we presently have no evidence.
...also don't forget that repaints are always, always possible. Battle-damaged Stormtroopers, ESB-armor Boba Fett, and some deco tweaks on Darth Vader would be easy to do. And probably a smart move. A lot of collectible items have value only because of the "see-this-you-can't-have-it" factor, which, when removed, causes interest in the line to collapse. It's possible that's what's happening here.
2. About the Indiana Jones figures, is there any reason why Hasbro has focused their efforts into the Kingdom figures. Old Indy looks just like Harison Ford, but the Temple Indy looks like Bob the unknown. I mean he really doesn't look like Harison Ford at all.it escapes me who he does though. And I seem to be in the majority of Indy collectors that have left the Mutt figures to ROT on the shelves. That kid ruined Transformers and I hope he doesn't ruin Indy 4.
--Scott
Hasbro focuses their money on where the marketing dollars are going. In a "movie year," we tend to see a large amount of Hasbro's product development and marketing budget going toward items related to the big push-- in 2005, it was all about Revenge of the Sith. Given Hasbro sat on Indiana Jones until just now, we're probably fairly lucky to be seeing figures from other movies mixed in so soon. Wave 1 was Raiders, wave 3 is Last Crusade, it seems to me they're being pretty fair with the entire series as to toy creation.
As to Mutt? Well, it's early. The movie is just opening and some people actually really liked him in Transformers, and are buying this figure as a result of that film. If people warm up to him, he might be a big seller. If not, well, maybe we'll get Toht all the sooner.
3. [Regarding] Gi Joe figures, It seems that they are pretty scarce as of late, every thing is really. But I have seen the pics from the new movie and are they seriously going to put them all in these black power suits? What happened to the individuality each Joe had? Will the new movie sport figures based on this outfit and further, will the figures be compatible with the 25th line? I'm worried that Hasbro will put the new Joe Movie in the same scale as Iron Man and we will lose compatibility.
--Scott
Hasbro has confirmed the figures will be the same 3 3/4-inch scale we're enjoying with the 25th Anniversary line. With the relative success of Indy and of course Star Wars, plus Mattel's upcoming 3 3/4-inch DC Universe Infinite Heroes line, I think it's more likely we'll see more, and not fewer, figure lines in this scale.
As to individuality, and I say this as someone who likes G.I. Joe, they're not all that big on personality. Sure, some had accents and special skills, but if you swapped out one guy for another, you probably wouldn't see much of an impact in the storytelling. Sigma 6 showed us a crew of characters that all wore similar suits, and well, that didn't do too well. I expect characters from the movie to sport multiple costumes, plus it wouldn't surprise me to see a number of Hasbro-originated toy-only designs. If you look at the Transformers movie in 2007, there were 5 Autobots and 6 Decepticons. Toy toy line was massive, incorporating repaints of nearly every major character and tons of new paint jobs, original characters, and characters from the movie. Even if the entire cast of good guys dresses the same, it's a pretty safe bet we'll see the most popular characters in a number of military-style outfits. If there's room in Transformers for 1970s Bumblebee, 2000s Bumblebee, Stealth Bumblebee, Premium Bumblebee, and a red repaint of Cliffjumper in addition to battle-damaged and other deco variants, I'm sure Hasbro can come up with some amazing ways to keep the Joe movie line just as fresh-- if not fresher-- than the 25th Anniversary range.
...if you ask me, it seems Hasbro is intent on phasing out larger figures. At least with Marvel, they seem to be handling the line in such a way as to downplay the popular Marvel Legends scale.
4. What the low down on the Clone Wars figures with the Lancer droid,Quad Cannon Trooper,Scuba trooper to name a few.These were suppose to be wave 3.When do you think we can except these to hit?
--Chad
Most documentation I have seen points to a later Summer (August or later) or early Fall release for these... which are supposedly wave 2 of the new Legacy Collection line. I'm not sure what else there is as far as information goes, we'll know more as Hasbro gives information to online stores to put out there for preorders, or if they just plain show up on an Asian auction site.
5. Like many "old school" SW collectors I do not follow much of the EU stuff and tend to be mainly geared towards the classic trilogy stuff. There are exceptions for though and I would LOVE to see figures of the Timothy Zahn trilogy. I figures they have released in the past and intend to release later this year, however, are based on the comic adaptation (which I understand and do not fault Hasbro in anyway). I would be plenty interested in more "movie realistic" versions of Thrawn Jordus C'booth and others on single carded packages, even though these characters have never really appeared as "movie realistic". What do you think and what do you think the chances are?
--Jeff
Hasbro's Expanded Universe figures are largely "movie style," despite taking a cue from the comic books. Grand Admiral Thrawn has been very much designed in a "realistic" style, or as realistic as you can get for a blue-skinned, red-eyed humanoid. While it does take design cues from the comics, that's because Hasbro has elected to go with that as reference and not the book covers. (Which, really, don't offer much in the way of reference.) As such, what you're going to see are likely only in the comic packs-- if you don't like those, it might be another decade before Hasbro gives Thrawn another go. For a dead character who already had an action figure, it's pretty cool Hasbro is willing to give him another shot.
Single carded novel figures are not very likely, by Hasbro's own admission in their own columns. Very few Expanded Universe figures are made on individual packages per year, and the chances of any specific character are slim. Joruus C'boath, while a memorable character, doesn't get much love in the fan request department. We can only hope Hasbro makes him some day, and when they do I'd be willing to bet good money it's going to be in a comic pack.
6. Why doesn't Hasbro do a saga legends themed line for their titanium vehicles? It would be nice to see them rerelease some of the ships they've made in years past like the first version of the turbo tank, or some of the other republic gunships they've done before. I would really like to see them rerelease the first version they made of the turbo tank. It has always seemed like the titanium vehicles have done quite well, so it doesn't make sense to me why they do not keep some of the same ships on the shelves.
--Kris
It's entirely possible they might some day, but their assortments have really shifted since their 2005 debut. After their release in 2006, the assortments had a constant mix of new and old ships, much like the action figures. For the past several waves, each case has 2 sets of 6 each-- and any "old" ship would be repainted as part of one of those sets. Most likely, Hasbro is pushing these to be collectible, which would discourage reissues and making them reasonably easy to get. In short, I'd say any conspiracy theories you may have about Hot Wheels may apply to Titanium Series in at least some limited sense.
7. About a year ago, a website surfaced that contained some still shots of what looked an original trilogy cartoon made in the style of the upcoming clone wars cartoon. Nothing was ever said about it and I have never heard anything since. Any info that?
--David
I'm not sure if the intent was ever confirmed, but the product was a fan-made film which was actually in the style of the 2003 Clone Wars show and Gentle Giant's animated maquettes. It's absolutely not a Lucasfilm project, it's most likely just something fun made by some animation students at best or, at worst, an elaborate hoax to anger fans during last year's Star Wars Celebration, as it came out around that time. It was a neat idea, but was totally not a legit project.
8. I have been to all the major department chain stores: Target, Walmart, Kmart, KBToys, and Toys'urs, and the sections devoted to Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Hulk, and Batman are small in terms of actions figures, playsets, and vehicles. Do you think that the department stores will devote a bigger section for the new Star Wars movie?
--Ric
Traditionally, retail has supported Star Wars with larger sections of toys during a movie year. There's no reason to assume they won't, especially with a number of exclusives on the way, giant vehicles, and probably 100 or so figures which will hit over a short period of time. I expect to see a lot of stuff in stores, but maybe not as much as you saw for Revenge of the Sith. At least, not yet-- as the TV show progresses, the demand for more stuff might increase.
9. Lets say that the new computer anamation Star Wars movie and tv series was not coming out for a couple of years, and Hasbro decided to discontinue the Star Wars toy line this year. Do you think that the line was complete in terms of the new characters, rescuplted figures, and vechicles that are produced?
--CC
Absolutely. Opinions will vary from fan to fan, and you (or the rest of the fandom) may disagree, but the way I see it Star Wars is the biggest action figure line based on a movie license ever made. It's entirely possible it's the biggest action figure line, period. As such, despite any nagging character or two we never got, it's still the best action figure line out there in terms of variety and longevity. No Star Trek line ever made it to this size, nor did the Joes, TMNTs, Transformers, and so on. They're all great in their own rights-- Joe is one of the best toy lines ever conceived-- but as far as media-based toys go, nothing will ever be what Star Wars is today.
While we can all rattle off a dozen or two characters we'd like to see made, Hasbro did a bang-up job picking the most popular ones to translate into toys. During the 1990s, we saw fan-requested characters from the old days like Slave Leia, Tarkin, Wedge, and even a new version of Yak Face. Since then, Hasbro has been pretty good about making most of the significant characters from the new films within a year or so, plus more new obscure figures fans love.
To complain about the line if it ended tomorrow would be a pretty pointless endeavor. If it ended tomorrow, I'd be just as happy if it kept going. If it stops, I'll have time to go back and enjoy the collection I've built up over the past 13 years. If it keeps going, well, more droids for me! I couldn't have asked for a better run at this point.
10. I'm still looking for the reissue of the McQuarrie concept Rebel Trooper w/stand pack-in. I have seen a few on ebay so I know they are available on some level. What assortment is this figure shipping in and when should I expect to see it at retail? Thanks!
--Jeff
I've had mine for a while now. It's shipping in only one assortment as far as I know. If you absolutely positively need to have one, I'd suggest considering to pay up as the case won't be in circulation for too much longer, what with the reboot and all. Actually, trading would be the best way to go.
If you've seen R2-B1, Voolvif Monn, or Padme with stands, they all come from the same case. If you haven't, well, it might be time to start officially haunting your store's toy aisle.
FIN
I'd write more, but I had to crank this out a few days early in the middle of the night. More next time!
Got questions? I bet you do. Email me with "Q&A" somewhere in the subject line and hopefully I'll get to yours in the next column!
Posted byAdam16bit at 10:48 AM
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