16bit.com Presents Adam's Star Wars News Blog

Clone Wars Episode 2: Rising Malevolence

2008-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Originally aired October 3, 2008 on Cartoon Network.

In short: The Republic is out to find Grievous' new super weapon. Plo Koon and a bunch of Jedi are stranded in a life pod after a battle, waiting to see if someone will pick them up. Similar plots were done on other shows (Star Trek: Enterprise comes to mind) to varying degrees of success, and it's unfortunate we're seeing such a common device used so early in the series' run.

In this episode, we see a heck of a lot of action. We get to see Anakin talk down to his new sidekick, we get to see R2-D2 doing R2 things, we see big ships get destroyed, we get to see escape pods, and all sorts of stuff. There's little time for exposition, as it seems the series' writers assume you already know the major players and don't need to introduce them or even name them on screen more than once or twice.

Things move along nicely, as there's a slight panic about a super weapon, there's some resentment of Anakin for going on a rescue mission, and there's more than a little tension in the voices of the two main Jedi heroes. Plo Koon, unfortunately, sounds almost like an old, bored super hero. He's very mellow, and can apparently be out in the vacuum of space for a brief period of time. Further, his dialogue propels the notion that by and large, the Jedi are very dull. A more alien voice saying fewer words could be interesting in a variety of ways, but it turns out after years of speculation, Plo Koon sounds just like any other Jedi might sound. Oh well.

This particular installment seemed more robust than the first, but it's still feeling a little light overall. Thankfully, we have two more weeks (at least) following this storyline and the super weapon: the galaxy's most dangerous ion cannon.

Appearing: 2-1B (or similar medic droid), R2-D2, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Commander Wollfe, Yularen, Clones, Plo Koon, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, General Grievous, Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Battle Droids.

Pros: Mostly great voice acting, good sets, decent story, better pacing-- there's a lot of cuts between the Twilight and a ship wreckage, plus the Malevolence. Cutting away to something else makes everything better.

Cons: The Battle Droids have some very creepy scenes with the life pods, but due to the goofy nature of the characters the threat seems removed despite characters being in very real danger. The concept is a wonderfully eerie one, but the execution didn't work. Also, Plo Koon can breathe in space? Who does he think he is, Batman? Aside from clones, we're seeing few new characters-- this could be a problem.

Clone Wars Episode 1: Ambush

2008-10-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Originally aired October 3, 2008 on Cartoon Network.

In short: Yoda goes to meet the king of the Toydarians (Watto's people) on a moon to join the Republic, but-- oh yes-- Count Dooku sends Asajj Ventress to issue a challenge to Yoda, which Yoda accepts, over the fate of the Toydarians. Of course, the Toydarians didn't have too much say either way but they seem to like the Jedi. It plays out like a mix of a fable, a few episodes of Transformers (which had similar plots), and a PBS kids show in how Yoda treats the clones. Very touchy-feely, and the Clones are put off by this-- which is probably the right thing to do as to not lose older kids.

The pacing was pretty slow, but I think the real problem is that it wasn't so much slow as it was repetitive-- you're on a single planet for a full episode without much variety. If this were a Star Trek, at least you'd cut back to the bridge of the Enterprise, or perhaps multiple away teams could go through different things. Also, Yoda and some clones vs. anything-- it's not only obvious who will win, but it's so uneven that it's a wonder the Clone Wars lasted more than a few weeks. The Jedi are superheroes, and they're fighting the worst droid army in the history of ever-- how come the war took so long to win?

At 23 minutes (minus commercials) I can see why George Lucas insisted the previous series be about 3-4 minutes an episode. Honestly, this story was so light on plot that it could have easily been done in that short amount of time

Appearing: Yoda, Dooku, Asajj Ventress, Lt. Thire (clone), more Clones, Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, Destroyer Droids

Pros: Neat scenery (which Yoda actually comments on), good voice work, good designs.

Cons: No wacky and vaguely culturally insensitive accent for the Toydarians, been-there-done-that plot, entire show takes place on a single planet with very little cutting away to make up for it.

Post-The Force Unleashed

2008-09-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of this past week not blogging, editing, and generally not doing what I should be. My backlog of columns shrank, and I can thank The Force Unleashed on my Xbox 360 for that. I've since finished it.

The game is unusual in that it manages to succeed in something and fail in that very same thing. Some examples:

Properly aging the characters. Bail Organa looks the same as he did in Revenge of the Sith despite a 16-year difference between the stories. Princess Leia, on the other hand, manages to look like a young Carrie Fisher, which is perfect for a story that takes place about 3 years before the original Star Wars.

No ability to skip cut scenes. The first time through, this is a blessing-- you want to see them, they're neat. However, after you've seen them all 2-3 times, sometimes you want to skip them so you can find Holocrons and unlock achievements. Guess what? You can't. You have to watch them every time, and this problem compounds when you want to skip to a new stage-- you have to do so from within a game level, meaning you have to (you guessed it) watch a cut scene for several minutes before regaining control.

Oh, and in the "bad" department...

Interface. The menus are largely well-designed, clear and easy to read. However, the loading time for these mostly text screens is quite significant, and the menus are pretty buggy. I've unpaused the game only to find the level started over, or I'm treated to the beginning of the level cut scene despite being in the middle of a stage.

Controls. Some parts are a little clunky, others are downright confusing-- despite the game telling you exactly which buttons to push, it isn't clear that you're always succeeding.

For what it aspired to do, I think it succeeded. You really do feel (more or less) like you can use the Force, despite some of the characters' equipment feeling less like an in-universe technology and more like an in-game cop-out. Some elements of Star Wars really don't mesh well with a good video game, simply because having super powers that essentially make you a god-like being would remove much of the game's challenge. Also, the very idea of troopers who can disappear just doesn't click for me.

I can nitpick at it, but I'd be lying if I said that the under 10 hour run time wasn't one of the most fun experiences I've had with a Star Wars game in years, and one of the more fun games I've played this year. But I'm extremely biased-- I might not have said the same thing if the setting was ancient Greece or, for example, NBC's Heroes. The final product feels very piecemeal, and there are some inconsistencies within the game itself. The Stormtroopers in the prologue are usually normal Stormtroopers, but in at least one cinema scene they're a hybrid of Stormtroopers and Revenge of the Sith clone troopers. It seems like a lot of it was farmed out to other developers or animators, giving the game a somewhat rough feel. Still, it's a decent Star Wars adventure that really aspires to be an interactive movie, and it seems LucasArts is making a lot of headway toward this goal. It's great to see a decent story in a game that isn't an RPG for a change.

Q&A: Post-The Force Unleashed Edition

2008-09-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

Now that The Force Unleashed is out and (for some of us) completed, let's look at Star Tours toys, Indiana Jones playsets, and yes, even Clone Trooper variations. All this, and much more, await you in this sorta-but-not-really exciting installment of Q&A!

1. Do you know if the Star Tours Droid Pack with R2-D2, C-3PO, WEG-1618, RX-24 ("Rex"), and DL-X2 ever materialized? I haven't been out to Disneyland or Disneyworld, and haven't been able to locate these on eBay.
--Gabriel

Well Gabriel, I have good news and bad news.

The good news? You're a very capable collector, able to do research and look at the best places for this kind of information on your own. For this, I give you applause and a favor if I can fill one for you at some point. Seriously, I appreciate it when people look for answers in the places that can give them immediate feedback-- which isn't something this column can easily do.

The bad news? You're right. It's not out yet. Hopefully it will show up again soon, but for the time being it doesn't seem too likely to be on the way. As Hasbro tends to give absolutely no information out about the products it develops with Disney-- seriously, none of its Star Tours products for the first few waves (or any of them, if memory serves) appeared on their own web site as news items-- searching eBay is your best bet. Well, that and collector sites like this one. (Or, let's be honest, other ones.)

2. Short and sweet: Is the mail-away Captain Rex the same figure/packaging as the new figure hitting stores now?
--DFR

No, but it fits under the "just different enough to make you mad" banner. The figure is from the same mold, but without the battle damage/dirt. The packaging is actually way better with the mail-in version, as it sports a rockin' fold-out diorama. It's so good I actually used a stupid slang word like "rockin'" to describe it-- that should tell you something. I'd suggest getting one just for that, but I've got a sack of UPCs and order forms and I'm not sending in for extras because, well, it's kinda bland overall. It seems a "clean" variant of Rex may be hitting retail stores as well, making the mail-in version merely a package variant and rendering the actual mail-in offer to be one of the more pointless in recent memory.

3. Is the clone trooper in Legacy wave 2 a member of the 501st and can therefore join Commanders Vill and Bow and 501st airborne trooper in my diarama?
--S

In Legacy Wave 2, there's the Heavy Gunner and SCUBA troopers, neither of which are explicitly in the 501st. The Heavy Gunner is part of the Muunilinst 10, a group you absolutely should consider getting a diorama together for.

As the 501st did not yet exist at the time of this cartoon's creation, it's a crapshoot as to if they could eventually be retoconned into the 501st or Obi-Wan's 212th attack battalion. As far as I can tell, this is just a specialized group unto itself.

4. [In a previous] q and a someone asked a question about not being able to get the figures before retail. To avoid this have you ever hidden the figures around toys r us, walmart etc ? do you think its wrong because ive benefited many times?
--Rich

I think it proves that you probably shouldn't be collecting unless you're doing this because you aren't old enough to have a job yet. If I can't afford something, I don't buy it. I actually cheap out on lots of things so I generally don't have to face the "lunch or toys?" question. Ideally, I'd say fans should avoid this kind of behavior simply because it screws up the store-- if a figure is "hidden," that means the store thinks it still has that item in inventory, and the automatic replenishment system won't tell the employees to order more or put more on the shelves. So basically, by doing this, you're throwing a wrench into the gears of that store, potentially preventing new shipments of product and causing other fans a lot of grief that could have been solved by your just putting it on layaway or simply charging it. Or, you know, doing without-- which is what I do when I can't justify buying something.

5. Whatever happened to the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 3 3/4" Lost Temple of Akator Playset? I can no longer find any listings of it anywhere on the internet and wonder if it was pulled from production. Did it ever come out and/or is it still on its way to stores?
--Todd

I have two suggestions.

Unless Hasbro surprises us, it's due out around the DVD release-- Hasbro makes it a point to have a second big "push" for the home video market, as that's when the kids typically see the movie for themselves. I'd expect to see it around that time.

FIN

OK, so I got and played through The Force Unleashed. The good news is that (for me anyway) it was compelling enough to hold my attention to the end... unfortunately, as you may have guessed, the end came quite quickly. I played through it on the second level of difficulty and am wondering if I should have started with the third. But I don't want to spoil the story, so let's just talk toys and the game.

I'd really like to know when the toys were developed against when the in-game character models were finalized. Some of the figures, like Rahm Kota and Starkiller, don't seem to look too much like the actors in the game. The most interesting thing I thought, though, was with the Incinerator Troopers. The red Wal-Mart exclusive figures leaked ages ago and my first thought when seeing how the stripes were painted was that a pauldron was missing-- and in the game, sure enough, they have a pauldron. So basically the figures aren't entirely accurate, meaning Hasbro has an excuse to crank out more. Also, most of the troops have blasters that don't quite match the game, which is unfortunate but it does give another reason to rerelease them with more game-accurate paint.

It's packed with a lot of familiar places (and faces) so if Hasbro wanted to, the game could have been a great excuse to reissue older figures. It's really a shame most of the toys were sold to a market who hadn't had the chance to play the game yet-- odds are Hasbro could have sold a lot more stuff with the game out. With any luck, the game will do well enough to justify additional toys as there seems to be enough good stuff in here for at least a few more figures. (Well, maybe not a ton. But some.) If you haven't had the chance to try the game out, I'd suggest giving it a shot if you have the means.

...also, a number of you wrote in concerning your experiences with GameStop and the Stormtrooper Commander. Some recurring themes:
- Employees were not aware a promotion was taking place
- Employees said "I'll take one or two myself if we get any in"
- Stores were not given enough to go around
- Stores were not informed what to do with them (at least a few readers were simply given one without purchase

Odds are it was a successful promotion from where Hasbro and GameStop stand, but it's basically cemented where I won't be taking my game business from here on out. I know most people who write in to me only let me know about the bad experiences, so I can only assume some of you got the figure like you were supposed to without any trouble. Here's hoping for a Hasbro reissue down the raod, I suppose.

Oh, and my backlog is empty-- I've got one column in the can, and all the questions I've earmarked have either been answered or deleted. So if you've still got one, you know what to do! Email me with "Q&A" somewhere in the subject line and hopefully I'll get to yours in the next column!

Q&A: Animation, Bad Investments, and More!

2008-09-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

This week, we answer another 5 questions! (Big surprise.) Topics include the alleged divide in figure collecting, the 10th anniversary of the prequels, and much more. Also: Why GameStop can suck it. Read on!

1. As you know, 2009 is the 10th anniversary of TPM. Consequently, do you suppose that Star Wars product in the original Episode I packaging will sell better on eBay next year? I'm wondering whether I should hold off my auctions.
--Edward

My initial reaction to this question was that it was someone setting me up for a great joke-- then I realized it's entirely possible that the world does not share my favorite stock answer, which was some variation on "burn them."

The bulk of the line from 1995-present was widely collected-- a number of fans bought one of everything to keep in the package, and many of them bought multiples. Episode I was overproduced to a ridiculous sense, and it's going to be more than 10 years before there will be any interest in it. I'd actually go with "forget it." Not all toys are destined to be collectible in the long run, actually very few are. For every old figure you can sell for a profit, remember that there are Playmates Star Trek figures worth a dollar or three each, years of now virtually worthless McFarlane figures, and piles of G.I. Joes which have outlived the collector attention span. The added problem with Star Wars is that many of the figures have since been reissued, often in superior forms.

The anniversary likely won't help. If you're seriously considering dumping your collection, my honest advice to you is to see if you can break even (or profit on) anything, and unload it. Give the rest to charity-- the $1-$3 per figure you will most likely get, less eBay and PayPal fees, is really not worth your time. The vast majority of recent collectibles based on the Lucas saga took a nose dive in terms of value and I think you'd be better off keeping it (hey, you might have kids some day) or setting fire to it.

...or if you're feeling saucy, hold on to all your vehicles for a while. If history is any indicator, fans will care about vehicles, and 5+ years later, they'll start being interested in the figures. I personally do not believe most modern figures will ever achieve any significant collector interest unless Hasbro stops bringing them out again, and again, and again with a series of improvements. Why should anyone pay you $7 for a Mace Windu from 1999 when Hasbro has a new one with a box of weapons, more articulation, a properly colored lightsaber, and a cloth cloak for $7 in stores now?

If you bought the stuff to get rich, well, breaking even is a really admirable goal. The figures aren't going to skyrocket next year (or likely ever) because so many people put them away 9 years ago that they will simply never be rare.

2. Where are the new build a droids from?any movie or EU? And how many will there be?My favorite astromech is now R7-Z0 with the triangular eye,reminds me of Plankton.
--ABarra9721

SO far, the build-a-droids come from a variety of sources. There are places you'll find the R4 units in the movies, you can look them up on resources like Wookieepedia or fan sites like this one. The R7s are squarely Expanded Universe, and little visual reference exists for them. The RA droids, well, you probably know the deal there.

As of now there is no final tally on how many build-a-droids will be made, as Hasbro has yet to confirm how long The Legacy Collection will be produced. Previous lines say we'll get 40-60 figures in a line, which means we're likely to get something like 10-12 droids-- unless Hasbro decides to keep it going, which we all hope they will.

3. I'm still not a huge fan of, nor will I be collecting in great numbers the animated style toys. I think they are great as a limited tie in with the show and do have a few which I will display in stylized ways, but aside from the vehicles they do not work with my existing collection and I simply can't (or don't want to) spare the room or cash for something that doesn't work with everything else I have.

Do you feel that this is a widespread attitude and will it translate to the line being a limited run not unlike the previous Clone Wars line? Do you think there is much longevity in the animated style figures or will Hasbro eventually merge the characters and give us realistically styled figures of characters in the show? I especially would LOVE to see a realistically styled phase 1 Scout trooper from the movie.
--Joshua

The ridiculous volume of releases since 2005 have basically made collecting Star Wars a nearly full-time job. (Thankfully, my full-time job requires that I pay attention to it.) More than boredom, fatigue, or anything else, we've all spent so much time and bought so much stuff that any deviation from the norm is almost enough to make a lot of fans throw in the towel. I've basically lost interest in the other toy lines I followed just because of the effort required to keep tabs on it all.

The obvious new divide-- animated vs. not-- may or may not be a good thing. A lot of fans said they won't buy any animated, but seem to be gradually warming up to the line. I just don't know where it's going to go. Frankly, I want one big line-- not two competing 3 3/4-inch lines. Seeing how the toony toys are dragging, it seems like a lot of fans probably won't be won over by the new releases because there really aren't any to go get. Being boring is typically what gets me to quit a toy line, a big gap means I stop paying attention and move on to something else.

Despite Hasbro's insisting that there won't be any (or many) realistic versions of cartoon figures, I disagree. Realistic clone repaints sell, and it makes sense that we'll eventually start seeing realistic versions of some of the animated clones. Or rather, it seems like a great, cheap repaint that would help Hasbro's bottom line-- why not do it?

I think they're pretty slick, but if Hasbro ended the cartoony line tomorrow I wouldn't miss it. I might change my tune eventually, but one consistent style is really where I think collectors want the line to go. I don't think that's where the money is, but I don't have access to Hasbro's books.

4. Do you know if the upcoming Ahsoka Tano Clone Wars figure will be smaller and more petite than the other figures in the line,like the more recent Princess Leia figures?
--Daniel

She's pretty dainty, but I have yet to play with a sample up close. I don't know if she'll be quite as small as the recent Leia figures, but she does seem to be smaller than other animated figures from what I saw at Comic-Con.

5. Do yo know of any good database or "pedia" type software for keeping track of your figure collection? I've reached the point I can't remember what I have and don't have anymore.
--Buntz

I have two suggestions.

1. Excel, or your favorite spreadsheet application. Nothing sorts, scales, or is as robust when collecting data. I love it for some things, and it is pretty widespread at offices across the world. You can always work on your collection lists at the office, for example.

2. If you don't know what you want, then you don't need it. No, really. This has worked wonders for me and other collectors. If you don't know what you're missing-- unless you're a variant hound who catalogs every minor change-- I would seriously consider letting those pieces go. Of course, this is coming from someone who has collected toys pretty much non-stop since 1989 and is at a point where he'd rather just enjoy the stuff he has for a while. But that's me.

A large personal investment of time is absolutely necessary to keep track of the line because no book (and as far as I can tell, no website) will ever mesh up with every collector's idea of what constitutes a "collection." Do you need all 3 TIE Bombers? Or the blue and red Battle Droids from Episode II in the deluxe and basic line? Your mileage may vary, and because of this I would suggest doing the research to write up a list of what you have and what you want on your own. If nothing else, you might be able to find some pieces you can skip.

FIN

You can skip this next part. You probably should. Seriously, this is just me being angry.

Man I hate GameStop. I used to love GameStop (and Babbages and its other stores)-- in high school and college, I made it a point to go to one or more locations weekly. I picked up something (a figure, a controller, etc.) pretty much every other time I stopped in, or went with someone who was buying. It's tapered off a little in recent years due to declining customer service... and you can probably guess why I'm pissed at them this week. You may have even had the same experience. I called a store on Saturday and asked if they had any of the Stormtroopers available with preorders. "Let me check," she said. Pause. "Yup, we've got a ton." I respond with "so I can come in today, right now, pre-order the game, and walk out with the figure?" "Yes you can." I informed her I'd be down there in a few minutes-- as I had not yet pre-ordered the game-- and I could get it. It takes me about 25 minutes to get there and park, and the guy behind the counter looks at me like I was insane. "Who did you talk to?" he asks. "Her, I assume" I respond, pointing to the only female employee in the store. He comes back and tells me that no, they don't have any. "She said you did-- and that's why I came here to give you my money." He just shrugs, she walks by and I say "so you don't have any despite my asking about it a few minutes ago?" and she says "nope."

Now that's fantastic customer service. I've been giving my business to other chains in recent years because of more and more incidents like this one. At least make it up to me or explain why you lied to me to get me in your store. Ugh. Well, here's hoping you had better luck getting your Stormtrooper Commander than I did. My guess is I'll be watching eBay until the market gets saturated or people get bored with them. Thanks for nothing, GameStop #3815, but I do appreciate your ensuring Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and/or Toys "R" Us gets my gaming business from here on out. Oh, and by the way, none of your feedback forms work on your web site. Which I assume is intentional. Excellent work there.

Shockingly, though, I managed to find both of the Wal-Mart Force Unleashed Stormtrooper packs last weekend at $15 a pop. I know a lot of people are down on yet more repaints, but as repaints go, these are pretty good. The really interesting thing I noticed about them was that it seems on the packaging, one of the mock-ups of the Incinerator Troopers is a repainted POTJ-era Sandtrooper (or OTC Carry Case Stormtrooper/Saga Imperial Forces Stormtrooper), while one of the Shadow Stormtroopers is a repainted Evolutions Sandtrooper (or Tantive IV Battle Pack Stormtrooper). The actual product is simply repainted VOTC Stormtroopers, which works just fine. If you like these. (And I do.) Here's hoping Hasbro puts them out again in the future, even though the pricing here is about as good as we're likely to get. Supposedly even more Stormtrooper repaints are in the game, which I'm sure would make someone a nice exclusive some day.

I do like these, but then again, I'm easy. And at this time, I've only played the Force Unleashed demo, so for all I know the weapons are all wrong. Still, they're neat figures. I'd love to see more of them, as long as they looked pretty cool, especially if Hasbro started making mini-vehicles to go with them. (Hint, hint Hasbro.)

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!

Q&A: Fan Wars, Droid Construction and Durge

2008-09-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, so before you start working, take a few minutes to read about plastic people! This week's questions include Durge, the never-ending debate on if fans like the new Animated Clone Wars toys, and so much more. I could tell you everything here, but that'd take up a lot of room-- so just click through for this week's column!

1. Given your knowledge of the action-figure retail world, would you hazard a guess to say the animated Clone Wars figures are selling a) better than the 'real' sculpt style, b) about even, or c) worse? I know it's hard to tell at most retail stores because they are all lumped together and stores (at least in my area) seem to have been shipped a *lot* of product (six weeks after the lines came out, you can still pretty much get any figure from Clone Wars line 1, the first two Legacy lines, and the Saga Legends first line; in fact I've seen first day of issue stickers loitering around even this week). Did Hasbro release too much product at once, and has that helped or hurt the Clone Wars line, do you think (I know there's intended support through next year, but then there was for Indiana Jones too and that line has *tanked* at retail)?

[snip]

I'm beginning to wonder if (what I perceive to be) a growing (and wholly asinine) aversion to the prequels isn't the cause. [snip] People are going to like what appeals to them. But it really feels like people are closing their eyes -- and minds -- to prequel stuff merely because it is prequel stuff, which to me seems, well, kind of stupid. SW is a BIG playground now and we all have areas that don't really grab us (I find most of the novels are pretty bad personally), so maybe this is just the whining of someone who thinks he's seeing a backlash against a part of SW lore he really likes (for the record, I really enjoyed Clone Wars and have seen it twice, can't wait for the show).
--Ed

The anti-prequel question is a bit of a doozy. I'm a big believer that most franchises have a sort of magical property about them that causes the real feelings toward one story to be transferred to a later installment. For example, the box office success of The Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean sequels all came from the first strong film. Ditto the merchandise-- the reason POTC2 had such great toys and strong purchases were because of the love for the first picture. In this case, a lot of people hated the prequels but stuck out the movies-- and now that the story of the movies is over, a lot of the indifference or general distaste of the Old Republic is being fueled into The Clone Wars. Which, as far as I can tell, isn't entirely fair given that the cartoony movie didn't strike me as quite as indulgent as parts of the prequels.

I've seen no evidence that Star Wars toys are hurting in any way. LEGO and Hasbro products seem to be doing just fine, but the edition sizes on recent Gentle Giant and Sideshow items (really, over the past year) lead me to wonder what the heck is going on there. It's entirely possible that the success of Star Wars is largely driven by kids, because, let's face it, all we collectors do is complain. We don't typically go on forums and say things like "this new C-3PO figure is entirely wonderful!" And those prequel toys are selling to somebody.

Regarding product availability, what we're seeing here is fairly normal for a "launch." In 1999, with the exception of Darth Maul, those initial Episode I figures were widely available. Ditto 2002's Episode II line's first wave, and much of the first few waves of Episode III in 2005. Sure, some figures were popular, but a very short toy run could usually yield the entire first couple of dozen figures with limited problems. It would seem that the first day of issue stickers-- a really bad piece of marketing in light of the hundreds of dollars of new product, especially given that a sticker does not a "first day of issue" make-- continue to trickle in. I don't know if you pay attention to assortment breakdowns, but no single case has more than 4 first day sticker figures in it. So if anything, there's a certain level of BS/marketing to it, but those terms tend to be pretty swappable. (And I say this as someone in marketing.)

Star Wars was and continues to be a largely kid-driven franchise. It's just that kids grow up-- the reason it's so big today is that the children of what may be referred to as Generation X grew up and came back to it. It's hard to tell what today's kids are going to do, but it's entirely possible they'll grow out of Star Wars (like so many of us did from 1985-1991) and come back some day. Of course, Star Wars went away once, and it hasn't yet done so again. The toy line is consistently successful, the sheer quantity of product each year is gargantuan, and complain as they do, collectors still line up to buy.

I can't say I blame fans for hating on the prequels, or even the TV show, as long as they took the time to see it. The strangest reactions I've seen to the new Clone Wars project are something like this: "Lucas sold out. I'm not going to watch this cartoon crap, I'm just going to buy the toys."

...I'm a firm believer that there's a very large part of the fan base which will buy absolutely anything Hasbro cranks out, without exceptions. This isn't a huge number, but the number that'll buy every basic action figure-- I believe-- is pretty big. Backlash or no, we're in a hobby which survived Hurricane Episode I, several off-years, and countless competitors. No licensed movie figure line has lasted forever, but history shows that a lot of brands will go on even if the fans shift. Someone's going to buy this stuff no matter what we think.

2. How long do you think Hasbro will do the build-a-droid pack Ins? It seems as though continuing a program like that would force people to buy the whole wave, Right? I'm still debating whether it's worth it. I don't know how many times they can get me to buy repacks or repaints of figures i already have. Plus I'm not sure i want to collect figures from comics and other sources besides the movies and TV shows
I was also wondering since Hasbro has stated in recent Q&A's that the animated and legacy figures are going to remain separate (which is fine by me!) Do you think this will spawn 2 types of collectors.
How long before people stop belly-aching about the stylized look of the animated figures? Clone Wars is here to stay and has a long way to go before it ends right? With the release of the cartoon network preview the other night I'm baffled at the lack of excitement for this huge venture Lucusfilm and Hasbro are about to take us all on? I'm Excited are You?
--Chad

Right now the build-a-droid line looks like it's going to have a healthy 12-18 months of production, so right now I'd be surprised if it doesn't last until near the end of 2009. Hasbro might change this depending on sales and new cost factors, but if history tells us anything is that Hasbro won't keep it around forever.

While the Animation and Real/Other lines are separate, I don't know if it will split the collector base too much. I see a lot of people break down and buy into the toon figures because they want to buy something and no new "movie" figures are available, or because they heard some figures like R2-D2 are awesome. (He is, by the by.) As long as Hasbro keeps cartoon characters out of the realistic line, there's a very good chance both could thrive or at the very least co-exist for a while. Collectors seemingly embraced the cartoon line, with only 8 figures out there they seem to be doing just fine.

As far as complaining goes, never. A lot of collectors are pretty focused and anything that isn't what they love is going to be the target of much malice. You'll see the same thing in competing home video formats, video game consoles, and anything else that fans could argue over. Fan interest seems to be a little tepid, but that might have to do with expectations or people going into this not wanting to like it. I'm just a curious fan-- I'll watch something even if (or especially if) someone tells me it's bad. I just finally saw Star Trek Nemesis, for example. It's entirely possible fans will warm up to the show, but I'd be lying if I said I was crazy about the two separate lines-- I'd personally rather just see one, even if it meant shelving the classic movie figures for a while. Do we really need to have cartoony and real clones on the pegs next to one another?

...but to answer your question, I'm all about the TV show. It's a great medium, even if its golden age is behind us, and seeing the saga on TV could be really fun. And if an episode sucks, it's only going to be another 7 days until the next one. As someone who has watched many episodes of Star Trek, I can say that I wouldn't get your hopes too high-- even a beloved franchise can have multiple rotten episodes. That's no reason to knock the entire series, but it is worth mentioning that a 10-20% suck rate shouldn't be a big surprise on a good weekly sci-fi television program. especially if it skews young. (Plus we've had dozens of great [and awful] comics, games, and novels, so I'm expecting a mostly good mixed bag here.)

3. Also, some of the figures I have said first day of issue with the blue foil star wars logo. Will these be rarer than the non foil logo ones? Does it matter?
--Eddie

The intent of those "First Day of Issue" stickers on the first 8 The Clone Wars and first 12 The Legacy Collection figures were to drive sales and create a little extra buzz on an already buzzworthy line. It seems that under 20% of the production of each figure so far has the label, and it might be closer to 10% or less. The real question, which you asked, is if it matters-- I'd say probably not. Typically these "Ultimate Galactic Hunt"-style chase figures do well during slower seasons, but in the midst of a big push, they get lost in the shuffle. Many fans just don't care, and history shows us that this sort of thing doesn't generally have a lot of lasting interest with fans. By the time the next few waves hit, these will likely be forgotten.

If you think they're cool, I'd suggest getting a set. If I was on a budget and I could only pick one or the other, I'd skip the first days so I would be able to have a uniform looking packaged collection-- I'd want a uniform look, but that's me. Since it's just another figure with a sticker on it, it's a great way for the manufacturer to convince you to buy the same product again with minimal changes.

4. I recently picked up the Durge/ Anakin Comic 2 pack and was initially impressed by the Durge figure (not sure why). It sparked in me a desire to go back and pick up the other incarnations of Durge as I have, until the last year or two, been strictly an OT figure collector. I bought the original Clone Wars carded Durge as well as the Deluxe Durge with bike. I haven't had the opportunity to get a good look at the Deluxe (it hasn't arrived yet), but today I received the single carded figure and rushed to do a side-by-side comparison of the two (old and new) versions. At first I thought that the new version borrowed parts from the older version since some of the basic features are pretty similar. I was disappointed by this until I took a closer look and realized that the new version is not only all-new but, sculpt-wise (IMO) not as detailed as the original. The original has more paint apps and added details that the newer Durge is lacking. The 08 Durge is pretty plain in comparison and missing some of the oomph that the older one brings to the table. Sure, the newer figure has some more articulation (although there are no knee joints) but I am a bit surprised at how much cruder the newer version looks compared to the older Durge. I am not an EU guy and have therefore only seen the character in the Cartoon Network Clone Wars series as well as the comic book packaged with the 08 figure. Still, it just seems like the older figure packs a better punch. Is the new one more accurate in all of its ...blandness? Where does the Deluxe figure rate compared to the other two? Your thoughts?
--Dan

The deluxe Durge with his bike is my overall favorite-- best helmet, best articulation, and best accessories. He also holds together nicely. The 2003 basic figure has this weird fleshy patch on his arm, likely meant to be his arm, which doesn't really mesh with the character's appearances in the various comics and cartoons too well. The 2008 figure looks a lot like the 2003 one, but with less detail, a smaller head, and... well, it just doesn't sing. And it should.

Accuracy is tough to read. The character looks different in each incarnation, as artists take liberties with the design. I'd suggest checking out some Internet pages on the character for reference, or if you really don't follow the comics, just pick your favorite. I'm willing to give a little in terms of detail if it's more fun as a toy, which is why I think the deluxe model is the best.

I would agree that the new one is cruder, and it certainly needs something to make it better. Fanboys and girls, hold on to your 2003 figures if you got 'em.

5. So what do you suppose is the deal with [these guys from Asia selling figures by the lot on eBay]? I know you've obliquely
referenced back-door factory sources for toys before, but I'm eager to
talk frankly. I'm not interested in tossing around accusations or
anything, I just think there may be a lot of conversation worthy
information implied by these auctions. I kinda feel like this guy is
getting some sort of unofficial factory output - most likely "off hours"
production runs.

Might it be possible to guess mold usage from such a seller's available
stock?
--John

At one point it seemed pretty telling that these individuals were picking up items from current production runs, but over the years it has been all over the place. They have sold G.I. Joes which never saw an official release, Star Wars figures from several years ago, and even upcoming items. There's no obvious pattern to the items being sold versus what will or won't come out, as these sellers have even sold kitbashed figures of their own designs which were never produced by Hasbro proper.

I honestly don't know what the deal is with them, but I'm wagering a guess that they're done in the off-hours from real Hasbro molds. That, or surplus product made for any of a variety of purposes, such as safety tests or items which were never completed. (For example, there have been cases of toy companies making too much product and not enough boxes, and those toys will end up going somewhere or being ordered destroyed-- and it's possible employees take them rather than have them ground up.)

I know Hasbro's official stance is "it's stolen property" most of the time when prototypes or anything that looks like it came from a factory is concerned, but that simply can't be true. Employees do get this stuff and sometimes sell it off. And if a factory sends Hasbro every piece it ordered and cranks out a few hundred extra for one reason or another, there's definitely some intellectual property rights issues here, but there's no guarantee it's genuinely "stolen" product. It's hard to get information out of these sellers for a variety of reasons, especially given there's often a bit of a language barrier in many cases.

Right now, I'd look at them as merely being interesting to watch for potential new unannounced products or shots at items I've missed-- seeing older molds show up for auction doesn't necessarily mean anything, for all I know someone bought a huge wholesale lot of figures, opened them, and is now selling them at a premium price as an army. (I've seen people pay more per-figure for a lot of unpackaged clones than they would for just one single packaged figure on a regular basis.) I wish I could say that there's something you can read into from the figures they sell beyond the obvious, but right now, I would be unable to see any consistent patterns out of these sellers' inventories.

FIN

Last week was pretty miserable-- thanks for all the kind words, by the way-- but I did manage to stumble on the Ewoks and Droids cartoon DVDs as a mall in Phoenix. It really is a shame these are essentially out of circulation, even though they are oddly edited together with stock footage from other episodes appearing in strange places. No sign yet of the live-action Ewok DVDs any more... but I'm still looking.

You may have seen my post earlier in the week regarding my initial impressions of the Toys "R" Us exclusive Lars Homestead set. My opinions on the topic of its value haven't changed much, but it is fun to mess with it. It's just ridiculously overpriced and has a much lower production quality than I've come to expect from Hasbro which, I suppose, may be my own fault. These little figures aren't all perfect, but I've never seen plastic this flimsy used on any of what I considered to be a collector-grade toy line. Having bought the cardboard sets, which I thought were fine, I found this to be more than a little disappointing. However, I have kept it within arm's reach while at home for a while and have been messing with it here and there. So don't not buy it just because I think it's potentially the worst value of the year outside the $13-$15 individually carded exclusive figures-- you might have fun with it. Just be careful, it's fragile.

I'd also like to add that I can't put down the Tobbi Dala and Fenn Shysa figures. These things are pretty amazingly great for repaints with new heads. That, and they also beg for their own vehicle(s), so here's hoping Hasbro cranks out some fun, angular, 1980s-style space ships with two seats in them. Or three. (And also, I'd like to see a Boba Fett based on the art from those particular issues...)

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!

Star Wars Legacy Comic Packs Wave 2 Impressions

2008-08-29T00:22:00.000-07:00

They'll all be in Figure of the Day soon, but I just got the rest of Wave 2 of the new comic packs. It seems Hasbro is putting more effort into this sub-line than the basic figures in 2008, as it's loaded with clever repaints, excellent retools, and brand new figures on par with your average basic action figure.

Star Wars #68 with Fenn Shysa and Dengar
Not one to rest on their molds, Hasbro took the 2008 Evolutions Jango Fett and gave him a new head. The 2003 Dengar was redecorated as well. As a fairly shameless fanboy for Marvel's Star Wars, I like this set a lot. The weirdly colored Dengar looks like a bootleg, and Fenn... well, I wish I liked Fenn more as a toy. Jango's oddly hanging holsters don't look good here, and Fenn's head feels small. His armor looks great though, very much a product of the 1980s. There are no real surprises in accessories or articulation.

Star Wars #69 with Tobbi Dala and Princess Leia
We have a winner! Princess Leia isn't the winner, but she's good-- it's a 1998 mold with a newly sculpted belt and improved paint. She fits right in witht he comic art, being almost entirely white. The holster isn't very good in that it's squished under her vest, which will also squish her blaster if it is held inside. Also, her right hand is warped and if you remove the rubber band, she may drop the gun. Tobbi Dala is a pile of awesome. Great metallic coloring, wonderful pose, and it's based on the 2008 Evolutions Boba Fett. The figure's poses remind me of the various hip-hop Mandalorians at comic conventions and the bright coloring is very retro. You simply must buy this set.

Star Wars Legacy #2 with Darth Talon and Cade Skywalker
Both are all-new molds. Cade doesn't include a lightsaber (no matter what the art or insert tray may say), but Talon does. Cade is super articulated, has his belt packaged on him backwards, and includes his trademark customized special rifle. His head is also a little funky, but the costume is great. Talon is almost super-articulated (no elbows), but is otherwise wonderful. Her lightsaber is a little rubbery, but she's unique enough to warrant a purchase. The set is a must-buy for fans of the Legacy comics.

Star Wars Legacy #6 with Antares Draco and Ganner Krieg
Both share a body, but it's an all-new body. Pros: wonderful paint, great soft goods, super articulation, good poses. Cons: hoods don't stay up well, lightsabers can't be pegged to belts, clearish white blades look goofy. Ganner's head is pretty good, but Antares is quite striking-- it almost looks like it can come to life and speak to you. Again, this is a must-buy for fans of the series. Draco won't let you down.

As a Star Wars comic fan, I'd rate the entire wave a must-buy... but you likely are not a fan of both comics from 1981 and 2008. As such, you might be put off by the oddly colored Marvel characters, or the distant future generations of Legacy. It's hard to identify a true favorite, but out of this wave I'd say the true highlights are Tobbi Dala and Cade Skywalker. If either character appeals to you on some level, buy the figures.

Q&A: Unleash Your Questions!

2008-08-25T01:08:00.000-07:00

This week, we look at stuff surrounding The Force Unleashed, Indiana Jones, and more Clone Wars stuff. Oh, and there's more-- read on, won't you? (It's not like it's any less fun than working!)

1. Is the Darth Vader with the 2 part helmet a totally new sculpt or just the head portion? Also will the build a droid astromech dome part that he comes with be included with any other figures later on?
--Steve

Basically, it's just a new helmet. The head is molded in the fleshy color rather than painted, and the helmet is now a two-piece sculpted helmet. He comes with the head and foot of R7-Z0, and according to Hasbro's comments on the line will not likely see release elsewhere. So if you want a complete R7-Z0, and you do, choke it up and buy.

2. Don't you think it's about time that Hasbro (or the retailer responsible) announces where we can get that long overdue Force Unleashed Stormtrooper exclusive figure? The game is due to be released in just under a month from now. You'd think that whoever wants us to spend our money in their stores to get the game and exclusive figure would want to make it that much easier on us?
--GalacticHunter

You'd think so, but Hasbro (for some reason or another) keeps a lot of exclusives under wraps until after their release, or never really promotes them at all. This seems to be one of them. It's a GameStop pre-order bonus, but there has yet to be any official announcement despite people actually being given the figure in Canada already. (On that note, does anyone in Canada want to make a very lopsided trade in your favor if you have one or two or three of these?) Generally the delay has to do with the retailer announcing the exclusive on their own, but they rarely do this-- so in this case, it just didn't happen. Like the entire Hasbro Star Tours line.

I did some asking around, but didn't ask if the source would mind me divulging it. So I do have a confirmation from an official source that it will indeed be a GameStop exclusive in the USA, but with an asterisk-- the source didn't say or know how GameStop will distribute it. So I called GameStop to ask, and they answer my questions like I'm insane. So you may wish to pre-order the game, or if you have a friend who works there, ask them and tell me what they tell you. I'm a little shocked they don't know about it if it's a pre-order bonus-- for all I know they'll put it in the stores for $15 because shmucks like me will probably buy it.

It really is obnoxious. As a person who loves toys and video games, you'd think they'd want to attract my business, but no. (Say, does anyone have access to these from Canada and want to get a bunch of Legacy/Clone Wars stuff in a trade wildly unfair in your favor? Email me.)

3. So now that we have an awesome Lancer Droid and an equally awesome Obi-Wan in Clone Armor complete with nifty lances, do you think we might see a battle pack of those two and maybe Durge as well with their swoops?
--Ted

Yes. As in, yes, I think so. I can't say when, of course, but it's a pretty safe bet that this is going to happen at some point in the future. Durge on his Swoop is already out there, and I doubt Hasbro would do more than reissue it. As such, you might want to go ahead and track it down as it is essentially super-articulated (or close enough) and a nice little toy for the money. Although it too has some stability problems... which seems to be a trend these days.

4. Seeing as how we might get a "medical frigate" Luke, it made me think of question I wanted answered since the first time I saw Empire. Vader obviously cuts Luke's hand off at the wrist, so why on the medical frigate does 2-1B replace his forearm as well? Not a toy question, but I thought you might know.
--Chris

Because it looks cooler. I think it's purely so, visually, it was more striking. Subtlety doesn't usually pay off as special effects are concerned, so a lot of things-- like the Carbonite block, for example-- are exaggerated to give it a little more emotion and a little more zing. And, as you can see, it worked.

From the perspective of the story? Well, it's possible they had to goof with his arm a little to get it to function, I suppose. Like if you want a tire on something, you can't just slap a tire on it-- you need to put an axle in there too, and other bits and pieces to allow it to spin properly. Perhaps the assembly needed to be implanted in his arm to make the hand work. But I think mostly it was just the effects department wanting something that, visually, said it all.

5. I usually don't worry about finding non-exclusive figures at retail because I know they will show up eventually but I am starting to get a bad feeling about the Indiana Jones line. All of the stores near me have tons and tons of waves 1 & 2 and seem to be getting more and more of those waves in with no sign of The Last Crusade figures.

How is this line selling (to me it seems very poorly)? I know they have a few more waves lined up but I am beginning to wonder if we're ever going to see those. :(
--Keith

As far as I can tell, Indiana Jones is doing acceptably. It's not doing fantastic business, but people are somewhat interested and the bulk of the interest has certainly faded with the release of the new film. If anything, the line might have done better had it started before the new flick. From where I sit, it seems so much of the stuff is clogging up shelves that it's next to impossible to see anything new, and I found Sean Connery weeks after the rest of the world seemed to. (Well, the wave as a whole-- none of it seems to be making it to shelves.)

It seems that the figures are far enough along that it'll go for a little while longer. The Indiana Jones selling season should last until, at the very least, December or January as people are going to get the DVD and then watch the DVD and then go "man, I'd like a figure of that." So I'd be shocked to not see the line widely available during 2008. But 2009? That's harder to say-- it doesn't seem like the line has a lot of figures that are worth making, and to expect it to have more than 2-3 years worth of life seems... unlikely. But you never know, here we are with Star Wars roughly 1,500 figures later.

FIN

Ah, the post-movie season. The big event has come and gone, and apparently nobody cared-- yet all the figures seem to be selling just fine, which is... uh... kinda freaky. Who knew? I'd be curious to see if Hasbro or LucasFilm made a bigger profit in August 2008.

Now we're moving in to Fall, which I think means this may be one of the most unpleasant years in history for our collective wallets. First, we've got a huge July launch. Then, we've got exclusives and the stuff we missed from the July launch in August, plus another wave of basic figures. And in September, it's going to be a parade of exclusives plus a new video game, with more exclusives pretty much every month from here on out. So instead of giving up something for Lent, I think I'm going to have to give up Transformers and Joes for Q4. And probably beyond if this keeps up, it's just too nutty.

Oh, and did you all check out the Force Unleashed demo? Maybe it's been too long since I played a Star Wars game on a modern-gen console that I genuinely liked, but this seems to be really fantastic. It's weird to be in a position where I've had a dozen figures from a game for almost a half of a year and now I'm eager to see just what their deal is. The graphics are great, the voice acting is OK, and the story seems to be... I'm not sure. Darth Vader's errand boy goes on a fan service parade and kills things? Sounds good to me! I like the fact that the demo is almost exclusively original trilogy stuff, or at least I can appreciate it. (Odds are that's where the money is.) It'll be fun to see how the final product turns out, and here's to there not being another maddening level like Gall from Shadows of the Empire. Speaking of which, I wonder if and/or when we're going to see that ported to the downloadable game services on modern generation consoles. Ah well.

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!

Toys "R" Us Star Wars Galactic Heroes Exclusives Hitting

2008-08-24T22:47:00.001-07:00

Are you looking for the latest Galactic Heroes sets? We spotted one of the two at a Los Angeles Toys "R" Us today, meaning we can vouch for the Kashyyyk set (with Tarfful, Yoda, and some clones with an AT-RT) being out now. The Rancor Pit is also very likely out, we just can't vouch for it. Each set is $24.99.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Xbox Achievements Revealed

2008-08-23T17:56:00.001-07:00

Game site Xbox360Achievements.Org posted a full list of achievements for the Xbox 360 version of the game. Curious what they may be? Click through!

Star Wars Trilogies DVD Sets Coming?

2008-08-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Repackaged DVDs are apparently going to join repackaged action figures on the shelves, if the post at T-bone's Star Wars Universe is right. The site has an illustration for two new trilogy boxed sets featuring the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy. At this time there is no indication that any new content will be made available, and given all six movies can be purchased today, one wonders why yet another repackaging will happen without new content. Granted, it's nice to not want to rebuy the movies again.

Infinities Surprise: White Darth Vader Figure has New Neck

2008-08-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, Hasbro created an armored Darth Vader figure with a ball joint. UPDATE 8/26/08: It turns out the original 2004 figure had this joint too-- it was just never showcased in any photo galleries or, as far as I can tell, discussed by anybody. So I guess the real subject of this post is White Darth Vader is White. Also, he has a new cape with modifications around his neck, as there's no "chain" on my sample. So there you have it.

This mold has been used for the 2004 Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Darth Vader, the 2006-2007 Return of the Jedi Tin Darth Vader, the 2006 Imperial Shuttle Pack-In Vader, the 2008 Assault on Kashyyyk Battle Pack Darth Vader... I could go on.

Open Letter to LucasArts

2008-08-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Dear LucasArts,

I have recently downloaded and played through your demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and am somewhat upset. Over the past decade, we had a deal: you make bad games tied in to the Star Wars saga, and I won't buy them. It worked out really well, and saved me hundreds of dollars which went toward other fun purchases. And now, you make something decent.

Don't get me wrong, we had some good times. The LEGO games? Sure. X-Wing? Absolutely. I even bought all of the games from the 8- and 16-bit generations, quality be damned, and played through Rebel Assault II on the PlayStation back when that sort of thing was considered to be largely impressive. And now you go and release something with polish that's fun to look at and to play? Seriously, what gives, LucasArts?

I've got toys to write about. I simply can't be bothered to spend tens of hours with high-quality software like this. Please do something about it, as it's going to be much harder to make fun of the average licensed Star Wars title if resources and talent go into them and make them good from here on out.

Your pal,

Adam Pawlus

Star Wars LEGO 2009

2008-08-21T22:52:00.001-07:00

Want to see some 2009 previews? Of course you do. Flickr user Corran101 added several shots, as did a generous soul at Brickshelf. Check out the return of pirates (!), a Clone Shuttle (!!), and some classic 1930s cars in a new Temple of Doom set (!!!).

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo Available Now

2008-08-21T22:51:00.001-07:00

Good news, everyone! LucasArts' demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is up and ready to download on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. (Heck, I'm downloading it now.) It's about 900 megabytes, so prepare for a bit of a wait, but I hear it's excellent.

Star Wars Action Figures. Collect all 92!

2008-08-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

File under "Bad Ideas."

The slogan was updated constantly and emblazoned on nearly every Kenner Star Wars product for the better part of a decade. Understanding fans before they knew what was going on, the Ohio-based toy giant encouraged fans to collect them all, and as they grew up and got jobs, a lot of them did exactly that. After all, 92 figures on the final figure cardbacks in 1985, plus a few others which weren't shown, wasn't going to be cheap.

Flash forward to 2008 and Hasbro, after buying Kenner, has done a pretty good job updating the entire line. There's a mix of figure which haven't been made yet, and were made a little inaccurately in the original line. Now that we're almost done updating the figures in name, how about accurately representing them as their 1978-1985 plastic selves-- correct or otherwise?

Make way for a real Vintage collection of modern figures! After the McQuarrie Concept line, I can't think of a better line-within-a-line to appeal to old-school original trilogy fans!

Yak Face
The 1998 figure, while arguably an improvement over the supremely rare original, wears a distinctive and different costume. The original Kenner release didn't have the long duster, and the costume coloring was a little different. Since there hasn't been a Yak Face for sale since 1998, why not go retro next time?

R2-D2 (plain, with Sensorscope, with Pop-up Lightsaber)
The original had a body which was created with a big sticker, a wildly inaccurate head, and a height deficiency. The label wouldn't really look good with the rest of the line, but it might be fun to see Hasbro engineers retool a 21st-century take on the original R2-D2 head on a modern body. The giant saucer eye may have been the stuff a good Hungarian bootleg would be based on, but it's also an iconic part of how an entire generation of kids played with the droid. It's also an excuse to do another R2-D2 without lava reflection paint or ash stains or some other minor deco variant.

Han Solo (Carbonite)
While there have indeed been multiple Han Solo figures with the big metal ice block, none have been made in clear brown plastic. None have been molded with his hands at his sides, either. Since a new mold would be needed to make a Kenner-style block (plus it's quite inaccurate), it seems unlikely Hasbro would want to attempt this design-- but hey, why not? Han sells, and the Carbonite has been out of circulation since 2006. This would be a supremely fun Vintage figure!

Warok (Ewok)
To date, this figure has not been done in any modern capacity.

Imperial Dignitary (Sim Aloo)
Again, the figure has not been done in any modern toy line.

Barada (Kithaba)
Supposedly on the short list from Hasbro, the vintage 1984 figure named "Barada" has been since renamed "Kithaba." He's distinctive from the modern Barada figures because he has a slightly different torso and red pants-- this one could be an easy redeco of Barada, although it might be preferable to see a post-Kenner design of the character as a figure.

Lumat (Ewok)
Initially planned to be released in 2007, apparently Hasbro got cold feet and repainted (and renamed) the figure to "Graak." As such, a satisfactory vintage-style Lumat figure is as simple as repainting an existing mold.

Bib Fortuna
After a few tries, Hasbro nailed the movie version of this character-- but the odd looking Kenner original (and the prototype) haven't been done yet. While the movie character had a black robe, the original had a brown robe, and a prototype had a dark red robe. What's more he was armed with a staff which, to date, seems to have originated with Kenner's designers. (Sideshow remade it for their 12-inch figure recently.) As such, there's another opportunity to do another figure to look more like the Kenner original, but even I doubt they'd consider this one.

Emperor's Royal Guard
While there have been three figures of the movie guard in the modern line, none replicated the elegance of the original. The figure could stand guard, hold a large force pike, and sported a cloth robe. It's so simple, and yet we're not quite there yet-- but we came close in 2005 with the Revenge of the Sith figure. Were Hasbro to retool the arms and give him a new weapon, they could make an update of the Kenner orignal (with accessory) and a movie-perfect version with a shorter pike in one easy release.

Nikto
The modern-era figure from 1999 doesn't match the 1983 original at all. An entirely new sculpt may not be required, but really all that's potentially salvageable is the head. They may as well go for broke and start from scratch here.

Luke Skywalker (Hoth Gear)
Even though there hasn't been an ultimate super-articulated version of the movie version of the costume, the suprisingly different Kenner figure from 1982 hasn't been touched in the modern line yet. The perfect companion to your blue costume Hoth Han Solo figures, a new Kenner version would have dark goggles, dark brown boots, and a red scarf around his hat and neck. Retro-tastic!

Bespin Security Guard (Black, Arguably Asian)
While an acceptable Bespin Guard was released in 2001, it didn't look a thing like the original. It didn't have a moustache, and it wasn't black. It also didn't have his jacket closed. For this reason, there's not one but two opportunities to do old-fashioned versions of this guard, both of which could be made from a single mold except for the head. Two for one here, Hasbro!

Darth Vader (and the same comments apply to Obi-Wan Kenobi)
While seemingly every possible variation on Darth Vader has been done, there's one action feature which has never been touched on-- the telescoping lightsaber built in to the arm. All that would be required here for a "Kenner" style release would be a new arm with a lightsaber inside and, if they were feeling saucy, the strange over-the-shoulders cape. Which is really closer to being a floor-length vest with something resembling a hood. Either way, it's another way to sell Darth Vader and cash in on that oh-so-delicious 1978 Kenner nostalgia all at once.

TIE Fighter Pilot
Not only has Hasbro still not yet delivered a super-articulated version of the pilot, the 1982 Kenner orignal really doesn't look anything like the movie aside from the fact that it was black. It features a misshapen helmet design, black gloves, little bits and pieces on his costume, and he was pretty stocky. When every possible version of the TIE Pilot from the movies has been exhausted-- which, I should add, it hasn't yet been-- here's another way to redo the classic.

Greedo
While sales of the Vintage figure in 2006 may have squashed any hope for a new version, the 1979 release had a strange green jumpsuit with big green boots. The head could be reused, as could the hands and maybe bits of the limbs. A whole new torso might be worth a shot in an attempt to create the Kenner original.

Snaggletooth
Like Greedo, it seems Kenner designed much of the costume on their own. His red costume seems only to share the color and the belt with an on-screen counterpart, and his head qualified as close enough. It's time for Kenner to go back to the well and recreate the barefoot, gloveless, grey-furred shorty from the bar.

Boba Fett
The no-brainer of the year! With different colored right and left gauntlets, a unique jetpack, no cape, and a blue body suit, this might be the best possible candidate for Kenner-ization. The original figure was fairly off-model from the final film figure, and the 12-inch Kenner figure from the same time was also pretty unique. Heck, there's two versions right here.

Imperial Officer
Despite there being dozens of Imperial Officer figures, none of them replicated the look of the 1980s original with its pressed uniform, gloves, and hat. Hasbro could easily recolor Moff Jerjerrod to make a figure that's close enough, and that's what they're doing in late 2008. But will it be enough? (Probably.)

Hoth Rebel Solier
Simply put, none of the modern ones have been great. Six points of articulation, tops, and height problems are part of a large list of grievances. After the perfect movie-authentic version of the figure comes to be, Hasbro might want to do a version with a brown parka like the original. The fans would appreciate it.

Rebel Commander
To go with the soldiers, a new commander might be nice. Essentially Major Derlin with a dark moustache and a one-color costume, this should be an easy figure to recreate as a repaint of Major Derlin. Heck, the 2007 Target exclusive rerelease is quite close as it is.

Death Squad Commander/Star Destroyer Commander
Despite being one of the original 12 figures, he's always getting the short end of the figure stick. A good version was released in 2007, but it had a black jumpsuit-- Kenner's figure was clearly grey. This could be either a simple recolor, or something a little more creative. The 2007 figure's hat fits perfectly on Officer Cass, which could mean Hasbro could crank this one out with little to no effort.

FX-7
The 1980s version and the 2001 version are so different it really isn't funny. While some of the original Kenner figures are unique due to misinformation or conscious choices in style, this one seems to be chalked up to the technology of 1980s toys not being up to snuff. Were Hasbro so inclined, they certainly could make one with fewer arms and a slightly different head like this original release. "Could" being the key word-- it's a big step back, so it probably would never happen.

Walrus Man
While we've received several Ponda Baba figures since 1997, all were based on the same basic mold, and none of them were as weird as the original from 1979. Green skin, swim fins, a blue rubber diver suit, and some sort of an orange garment make this another twisted parody of the real deal. Were this sold in eastern Europe today, it would probably be viewed as an outrageously goofy bootleg, but because it was a Kenner original, it actually has a limited amount of respect from fans. By reusing some G.I. Joe parts, Hasbro could easily crank out the brightly colored version for the 21st century collector.

Hammerhead
Much like Walrus Man and their Cantina pals, ol' Hammerhead looks very little like his movie cousin outside his head and skin color. While the Kenner original was much thinner than the modern figures, Hasbro could easily make the version in the blue garment without too much trouble-- just take and modify the 1997 mold by giving him a new body and new coloring. Presto-- classic Kenner Hammerhead!

Jawa
Two words: cloth robes. The original figure was pretty cool, but covered by a single cloth garment which rendered all the work of the sculptors invisible. Hasbro could go for a double-dip here, including the original plastic cape as well, appealing to figure fans in a whole new (and goofy) way. However, the 2007 version has a brown jacket/vest that may be close enough to the plastic cape to count for even the most critical Kenner fans.

Yoda
The 2004 Vintage release was close, but no cigar. Where's the big goofy grin, the knobby belt, and the neon orange snake? Some new cloth pieces and revised accessories could make this one a reality lickety-split. And I can't imagine Kenner turning down another Yoda variation.

Power Droid
While similar to the 1997 version, the 1979 release had a blue body and a lot more color. There's no reason Hasbro couldn't replicate the original Power Droid just by using the original mold and some paint. It's so easy, it's almost frightening that it didn't come out with a Jawa four years ago.

BONUS ROUND: Kenner Accessories!

A lot of figures have been released, but lack the unique, original, and/or wacky accessories of the originals. While some have found their way in other figure releases (like the grey Biker Scout pistol), others have never seen a modern update. Here's a quick list of what would still be fun to see.

Paploo's staff
Imperial Gunner's gun (also A-Wing Pilot, Endor Leia, etc.)
Bib Fortuna's staff
Emperor's Royal Guard's staff
Boushh's rifle (with handle)
Squid Head's grey blaster
Nien Nunb's block black blaster
Ree-Yees' gold rifle
2-1B's sharp grey probe
Bossk's gun
Admiral Ackbar's staff
Luke Skywalker's yellow lighsabers

So there you have it! Appealing to old toy collectors has never been easier-- just market the mistakes from the old days. I'm only partially kidding here-- I really do think there's a market for several of these figures, and if there was a burst on the packaging boasting "ORIGINAL KENNER-STYLE WEAPONS!" I'd be excited enough to pay up for some new versions of old figures.

...if any of these happen, well, please accept my apologies or a sarcastic "You're welcome!" in advance. As you can see, there really is no end to the ways Hasbro can go back to the well just for the original trilogy. And if they go back to the well to update barely adequate modern figures like Paploo, Nien Nunb, and so forth, this could go on forever.

The Force Unleashed Demo Coming This Week

2008-08-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

Hey, here's some good news! Even though the full title won't be out until September, Lucasarts is going to give fans a playable demo of its Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game this week. So far, they have confirmed demos for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, both of which should be available Thursday, August 21.

Q&A: We Came, We Saw, We Cloned

2008-08-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Like a someone waking up after a long unpleasant blackout, it's time for Q&A! The Clone Wars' box office take was lower than that of Star Trek: Nemesis. What the heck happened? Just how good are the previously released Star Wars Playsets from 1999-2005? And what's going on with the build-a-droids and how they're paired with various figures? All of this and a chance to match the stars in this week's Q&A '76!

1. In anticipating of the [recent] Clone Wars release, I do not see much marketing geared towards informing general audiences (i.e. non-SW fans) of Lucas' latest efforts-what gives? Granted I do not watch much television, but I would have expected to see more hype with the movie less than two weeks away. Am I a victim of my own aversion to non-interactive mass media or am I on to something here?
--Steve

I think they're doing exactly what they want to do... from a certain point of view. The marketing machine has been cranked up to fairly under-the-radar levels, but the question is what exactly are we promoting here? That, I'm not so sure of. The film managed to boost the living daylights out of toy sales, so that was a decent success. I assume. It could just as easily have been that the market was starved for so long.

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about the lack of posters and billboards, and I'd say there's two possibilities. One, that Lucasfilm has indeed dropped the ball and underpromoted this film. (Especially in light of this weekend's box office numbers.) Remember that this "movie" is actually just a glorified television pilot-- the original plan was to air a Clone Wars TV series, and the movie was crafted as a way to kick it off. So what I think may be going on here is that they're probably using the film to promote the television series, and the film itself doesn't necessarily need to make a splash (but anything it does make is gravy) and if it promotes the toys and awareness of the TV show and licensed merchandise, all the better. Lucas' camp seemed less concerned about their DVD trilogy releases, for example, than they were about their Lucasarts game sales. It's also possible it was a huge flop. As I do not sit in the Lucasfilm marketing meetings, it's tough to say-- if the movie really did only cost $10 million to make, the limited marketing and $15 box office gross is probably a good place to be.

If anything it seems like all the "movie without a movie" campaigns we've seen like Clone Wars (2003), Shadows of the Empire (1996), and the aborted Jedi Quest have proven is that you can make a big splash in sales, but you need a movie to make a huge splash. If I'm right, that means The Clone Wars doesn't need marketing, it is the marketing for the entire Star Wars brand in 2008 and 2009.

As far as the actual marketing-for-the-movie goes, I've seen a fair amount of PR-- which is marketing, but free, and that you get someone else to do for you-- surrounding the toy launch. Which generally gets the news to talk up the movie, but that doesn't seem to be the case this time. I've also seen a few TV spots and a very limited poster campaign here in Los Angeles. (Like, I've seen one poster in one mall.)

It's strange to see a Star Wars movie greeted by such total indifference. If you want an idea how little people care, take this into consideration-- Star Trek Nemesis had an $18.5 million opening. That's right-- there's more Trek fans out there who will support their favorite franchise than there are Star Wars fans. This is further driven home by the fact that Nemesis' box office was in 2002 dollars.

2. My question, briefly; have you discovered any way to reliably make either of the animated Grievous figures stand? Sure, Hasbro has given us other wobbly people in the past, but at least all of them can use a base -- not an option here. I'm getting tired of picking one -- or the other, the holo is no better -- up. Any hints?
--Oshram

Basically, you (and by you, I mean all of you, and me) are currently out of luck. It's always possible Hasbro will retool him with foot holes (it happened before with other figures) but who wants to re-buy Grievous? It seems to me your best bet is to prop him up or lean him against something. It isn't a solution so much as it is acceptance of a poor design, or at least a design that doesn't work too well as a figure which can stand up.

3. Hi. This might be a little odd, but I was going through RebelScum's archives to see what kind of holes there were in my collection, and I was wondering if I could get your opinion on a few older items:
-The Theed playsets; How much do they suck? Is there a price so low that they're worth it? Even a little?
-Episode I R2-D2 Carrying Case; Was that Destroyer Droid released in anything else?
-Episode I Flash Cannon; As far as I know, this is not seen in the movie. Is there something you know that I don't?
-Episode I Battle Bags; I was looking at these, and some of them are smaller creatures (pikobis, nunas, the fish), and I thought they were kinda neat. But I can't find anything on how big they are to judge if they're anywhere near figure-scale. Do you know how big they are?
-Mustafar Playset; Kinda the same question as the Theed ones. Suck/not suck?
--Brian

Oy. Well, a good rule of thumb I tend to tell people is that if you don't feel an absence in your collection, there's no need to fill it-- there are thousands of dollars worth of goodies coming in the next 18 months, so unless you're itching to buy something you can save yourself some real money by not looking back.

The Theed Playsets aren't especially good-- they're somewhat flimsy, and the exclusive figures aren't so great. I actually put off getting the larger of the two for years. The smaller one is pretty neat as a way to display a Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan, but they aren't really all that fun. I certainly wouldn't miss them if I never purchased them, but if I had to pick I'd buy only the smaller one.

The R2-D2 Carry Case is one of Hasbro's finer items. I'd actually say it's the absolutely best carry case created for the modern line that wasn't a vintage reissue, too. The little adjustable compartments act like a tackle box for storing figures, and the environment is pretty cool. Figure or no, I'd still suggest getting it. A slightly different ball Destroyer Droid was issued in a Clone Wars set with a "launcher." It's almost a shame Hasbro never reissued it, it's so good I'd like to suggest more fans get one.

The Flash Cannon... yeah, you can skip that. This is a big gun with a red light in it, and Hasbro thought it was worth $10. Is there any doubt as to why the accessory packs all tanked? There's a Gungan Catapult as well, and it's not so great either. Save yourself some money and pass on it. If you can get it for a buck or two, it's amusing enough, but I'd suggest you pick up a Flash Speeder instead. Unless you want to write a column where you examine and/or make fun of toys, it really doesn't serve much of a purpose.

Battle Bags may be neat, depending on what floats your boat. They're tiny, about the size of the 2006 bonus holographic figures. Because I'm enamored with fish and dinosaur toys, I saw these and picked them up on extreme clearance in 2000. There's no articulation and they're about as fun as those little figures you can use as cake decorations. I'd suggest getting them if you can enjoy a nice collectible figure that isn't a 3 3/4-inch scale item... although the fish come pretty close.

Hasbro's 2005 Mustafar Playset kind of sucks-- probably mostly due to safety restrictions and the kind of plastic Hasbro uses these days. One of the things playsets usually have going for them is play value, and this one is built around a single duel and a bunch of armored guys with buckets. You can connect some Battle Arenas and the Deluxe Darth Vader with Medical Table to it, but by itself it's just an OK toy. It's an OK toy, but I would be lying if I said I had a lot of fun with it. The giant pylons that stick out of it tend to fall off thanks to heat and gravity, so I can say you're probably better off without it unless you want to rig up some fishing wire to prop up two of its larger pieces. I personally think it's inexcusable to design a toy that, if left alone on a shelf, will actually fall apart over the course of a week or two. And that's exactly what this set does.

4. Did you get these new vehicles and put them together yet? I was very disappointed, for the cost, that these were not sturdier than they are. I had a heck of a time to get the legs/feet of the AT-TE to stay on the vehicle..everytime I move it one just falls off. Then I got to putting together the Millennium Falcon and one of the landing struts wont stay on. I tried it in different locations without success. All the others stay in the slots I put them in. Do you know if Hasbro would consider sending me a new strut to replace the one that wont stay in?
--Orbles

I did indeed get both, and with both, in the first day, I did suffer some issues of pieces falling off. However, after that, it really hasn't been a problem. If you do have a damaged piece, the good news is that Hasbro tends to be pretty great about replacement parts if requested through their customer service web site at Hasbro.com.

With my AT-TE, I found the middle legs falling off pretty constantly the day I got it. I pick it up, it falls off. I walk up the stairs, it falls off. However since then, I've taken it down the stairs, outside, shot a bunch of video of it, took it back in, put it on a shelf, moved it around some more, and had no problems. The legs are designed to come off so they won't snap (basically, we're seeing fallout of the infamous "drop test" that toys go through) and it seems like some units are more sturdy than others. Also, to employ an old joke, "Doctor, my leg falls off when I do this." "So don't do that." In the past few years we've seen Hasbro try to do more ambitious pieces, but the result is our having to be more careful. Two-piece lightsabers are prone to breakage. Additional articulation means small pegs which can cause arms to fall off. Big toys mean some pieces will have to fall off if certain levels of pressure are applied. It isn't 1983 anymore, and the things you can and can't do with a toy are largely dictated by those horrible parents and their congressfolk who deny us awesome toys because their stupid kid choked on a missile. (IT'S CALLED SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, PEOPLE!)

Oh wait, where was I?

5. Is there a rhyme or reason to which figures go together to form the [build-a-droid] figures? For instance, when I look at the ROTJ wave, it seems that maybe Hasbro has a pattern. Luke, Han, Chewie, and the Ewoks go together. Those four from the wave seem to be kid-friendly (not that there aren't collector friendly as well). The other four, Bane, Yarna, Ak-Rev, and the Removable Helmet Vader seemed to be geared towards collectors (although Vader is a kid favourite, collectors have been asking for such a Vader for a while now). Is this a possible pattern for upcoming astromech waves or am I just reading into this too much.

Also, could you speculate on where Hasbro seems to be going with the 2009 Battle Packs. Are we (hopefully) going to see more "Mini-Rigs" with three figure Packs?
--Damian

The entire build-a-figure concept is done largely to encourage fans to buy deep into the line, and to keep collectors buying them all. As such, I'm sure much of the distribution of who gets what is done to maximize purchasing. I don't necessarily see a pattern-- Luke, Han, Chewie, and the Ewoks are more an example of "one of these things is not like the other." I'm not sure kids are really interested in Ewoks any more than they would be in Bane, as he's a weird looking guy and the others are angry little teddy bears. If anything, I'd say Hasbro may be doing this somewhat randomly, or in such a way that it might get fans to buy one figure that they wouldn't otherwise just to complete the droid. (Or would give them a piece of droid so that they would be likely to seek out the rest.)

With the Battle Packs, it seems Hasbro has decided that this is a great avenue for bigger pieces-- scenery, Deluxe figure reissues, and so forth. The new footprint certainly allows for it, and at Comic-Con they made it known that they feel this is the best way to pack out smaller vehicles. (I can see that. I'd rather have 2 bikes with pilots for $20 than 1 for $13-$15.) I don't know how many mini-rigs we'll see, but we're certainly going to see more in the way of movie vehicles and probably cartoon vehicles too. Here's hoping for some of the Rebel speeders from Marvel's Star Wars #55 and any of those vehicles we saw on the Droids show.

Currently, the plan calls for one of the Rebel transportation units from Yavin IV in the original Star Wars and a lot of Speeder Bikes. Beyond that, nobody's quite sure yet. Market forces tell us that Hasbro can package a Clone Trooper with pretty much anything and see decent sales, so I'd be surprised if Hasbro doesn't crank out new, small clone vehicles as time goes on.

FIN

What the heck happened to Star Wars? Did everybody have plans this weekend? Was the non-marketing machine too weak? Was it the typically slow August box office? By now, you've no doubt heard that not only did The Clone Wars not do too well this weekend, it came in at #3. Apparently more secrecy, very little hype, and no billboards aren't a good way to market a movie that the critics decided was worse than The Phantom Menace, which is something I have a hard time agreeing with. With a $15 million take, that means you can probably estimate that between 1.5 and 3 million people paid for admission to the film. (I'm part of the problem, someone gave me a free ticket to see it last Tuesday.)

The previous three prequels had massive hype surrounding their trailers, giant conventions surrounding their launches, and a pretty decent marketing campaign-- nothing huge, but something. This time around, it seems the only thing we got was another inane midnight toy launch. (Have you guessed I'm sick of those?) It really is amazing what a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago this month, we were all just starting to see leaked, unpainted test shots of Darth Maul. About seven years ago, some people leaked several storyboards for Attack of the Clones to some FTP site and I went through them like a crazy person. For Revenge of the Sith, even though we knew of the climax since 1983's Return of the Jedi novelization, we still looked for tidbits and hints before the film's release. I think that the leaked trailer from Poland was the only non-sanctioned leaked information we saw from this project, and that was greeted by nearly deafening silence.

The reaction to The Clone Wars, minus the midnight stuff, seems to be about on par with the 1985 cartoons and the first Ewok flick. Some of the hardcore are interested but ultimately it seems nobody really cares. I wonder what this means to Hasbro, given almost all their licensed movie toys have flicks which do $100 million or more at the box office, and I'll be amazed-- like, I'm almost willing to make a bet-level of amazed-- if this movie can pass $30 million at the domestic box office. I'm even seeing a lot of fans on the forums say stuff like "eh, I'll wait for the DVD." Wha? I'll wait for the DVD? This is the same fanbase that gave the Star Wars: Special Edition $100 million back in January 1997. This is the fanbase that made huge deals about seeing movies at the theaters and what an important even it is to go see it with your fellow fans. This is the same fanbase that, for reasons I didn't get then and still don't get now, camped out in front of movie theaters for crying out loud. I've often said Star Wars fans are somewhat unpredictable, and I have to say in a way it's good to be reminded of that from time to 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!

Free The Clone Wars Backpack at Toys "R" Us

2008-08-17T18:19:00.001-07:00

If you spend $30 on Star Wars toys this week, the fine folks at Toys "R" Us will give you a free The Clone Wars backpack. Not a bad deal! Check your local store for availability.

Star Wars Wal-Mart DVD Deal

2008-08-17T18:18:00.002-07:00

If you're one of the two people out there who don't yet have them, many Wal-Mart stores have all six theatrical Star Wars films on widescreen DVD for $13 even, each. As Episodes I and II were out of print for a little while, this might be an ideal time to complete your collection.

The Clone Wars Box Office

2008-08-17T18:18:00.001-07:00

If the Force is with anyone this weekend, it's certainly lacking with The Clone Wars. Maybe because the DVD is already expected in the Fall, but the CG-animated picture came in third this weekend with a somewhat pathetic estimated gross of $15 million. Click through to read all about it at Box Office Mojo.

Review: Star Wars The Clone Wars (Theatrical Pilot)

2008-08-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Episode: Pilot/Feature
Airdate: August 15, 2008

While my reaction to this film is positive-- as it generally is with any new form of Star Wars fiction, as my expectations are pretty low-- other people I know and read are all over the place. If the reports are true, this film is a $10 million afterthought built on the inertia provided by the as-of-yet unaired television show. As such, the movie isn't so much a movie but the pilot for the 2008-2010 Star Wars marketing engine, a way to put out a reminder that Star Wars is indeed very much alive and available at a toy store and on a TV screen near you.

It's a little unfair to compare this to the 2003-2005 Clone Wars series because the creative limitations imposed on the show turned out to be a creative boon like no other. Reduced to 3 minutes, Star Wars is always good. Don't believe me? Think back to 1998, when you first saw the Episode I teaser. Pretty awesome, wasn't it? Cartoon Network's series was jam-packed full of goodness simply because there was no other option. In three minutes, you don't have time for a lot of dialogue and you certainly aren't going to squander it on words like "trade route negotiations" or a character introduction that lasts longer than 14 seconds. Oh, and in 2003? A lot of people hated the show. It's amazing what time can do.

As far as the new film is concerned, the format really does dictate the plot, and word has it that the movie was 3 or 4 episodes of the show rejiggered to make a 95-minute movie. That can screw things up when the directors intended for the story to be told in 22-minute chunks with commercial breaks, and the resulting picture does very much feel like a series which has been edited for the big screen. Asking someone to sit between Ahsoka and Anakin bickering this frequently for the full length of the movie may be a bit much, but on a half-hour series it's something you have to bring back to remind people of their relationship from week to week. So, like so many things, a little more editing would have changed the feel of the film quite a bit. For example, Padme wasn't introduced until about the final 30 minutes. On television, this would make sense-- having her appear to say "hi!" for a scene early on wouldn't make a whole lot of sense when her action would appear two episodes later. The directors would have been well-served to edit her in earlier on, bringing her into the story so her abrupt appearance at the end would have at least been a little less jarring. Even in Attack of the Clones, George Lucas was smart enough to at least refer to Count Dooku a few times prior to his introduction at the end of the film.

While the plot has seen much abuse, I have a hard time bagging on it. Not because I'm simple, but because I've digested a lot of the Star Wars stories beyond the movies. I've read the entire Marvel and Dark Horse Comics run. I've seen every episode of Droids and Ewoks and even the holiday special. I've even read a few novels and played a few games. I'm not saying this to brag, but to bring home the point: most of this stuff is OK at best. On top of that, this new movie takes place between two movies, more specifically, between the first and second halves of Episode 21 of the orignial Clone Wars series, which means the entire CG opus has to take place in a 9-month time frame in which most major characters cannot be killed or altered in any significant way. It's not like Obi-Wan is going to fall to the dark side, or Anakin is going to hook up with some other girl.

Much like the prequels, The Clone Wars is for a more limited audience. The movie's story brings little new to the table, but it's fun to watch and there's a few neat things to see if you're a Star Wars fan. The movie isn't going to advance animation as an art form and is unlikely to be anyone's favorite Star Wars film, but I certainly enjoyed it more than Episode I and its brisk pacing made for a fun night at the movies. I'm sure I'll be watching the weekly series alone when it airs, but I also watched all of Transformers Animated and can appreciate a decent, if silly at times, cartoon like The Clone Wars.

INTRODUCTIONS
New characters include Ahsoka Tano, Ziro the Hutt, Rotta the Hutt, a bunch of unnamed dead bounty hunters, Clones Rex and Fox, General Loathsom (no really), a few new droids, and surprisingly little else. Most new Star Wars movies have many more new characters, in part (I assume) to sell a few more toys.

HIGH POINTS
- The star cruiser Twighlight that Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rotta used to go back to Tatooine was a great little boxy design, the likes of which I would prefer to see more of.
- The voice acting was largely great, especially Matt Manter's Anakin Skywalker.
- R2-KT, a pink redecorated R2-D2, had her first appearance. The character has some significance to fans, but I'll let you research that on your own.

QUESTIONABLE POINTS
- Ziro the Hutt seems to simultaneously be the camp/cult hit from the film and the next Jar Jar Binks. I have just as many people asking when they can buy a talking one as I do people demanding his head on a platter.
- Obi-Wan and General Loathsom's negotiations of surrender could have come out of an argument between Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and Buggs Bunny. Granted, with the Warner characters, it may have been funnier.

LOW POINTS
- C-3PO's line of something to the effect of "This is not my kind of neighborhood!", meant as a gay joke or not, was surprising.
- R2-D2's beeps and whistles seem to be entirely taken from the existing films. Since that's his speech, making a few new sound effects (or perhaps going into the archives for unused stuff) would have made sense.
- The Battle Droid army's wacky one-liners grew tiring as they were a little close together. Much of Star Wars' humor pre-1999 is subtle, this is not.

MERCHANDISING POINTS
- The Clone Troopers having increasingly specialized hair, scars, armor, and other features must be a dream come true for Hasbro, the action figure manufacturer. It's going to be incredibly cheap to make dozens if not hundreds of "new" figures from the movie and subsequent series.
- Surprisingly few new vehicles were introduced, and the toy line focuses largely on existing items trotted back out for this new movie.
- Despite being a Wave 1 action figure, General Grievous does not appear in this movie.
- Like a TV show, few new characters seem to be introduced here compared to any given prequel or sequel.

Q&A: Guns, Fromms, AT-TEs

2008-08-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

It's time for Q&A! You wanted to know how the Clone Wars line turned out. You wanted to know what kind of guns you aren't seeing in Saga Legends. And you wanted to know a lot of other stuff-- and I decided I wanted to talk about the Droids animated series, too. (I love old cartoons.) Surely you'll want to read all about it! Read on!

1. I just bought the new SAGA Legends Plo Koon. I love the way Hasbro has answered collector's requests to provide extra Clone Weapons! My CLONE GEAR locker included a Repeater Pistol, DC-15 Blaster, DC-17 Blaster Rifle, EMP Launcher & Droid Blaster(Battlefront II Multipack), and a Blaster Rifle(ROTS Jet Pack Trooper Deluxe Figure). I remember reading in a Hasbro Q & A that weapons from Battlefront II were going to be packed in with SAGA LEGENDS. Do you know what other Battlefront II specific blasters are supposed to be included? I would love to get an extra Chaingun or Merr-Sonn PLX Rocket Launcher. Are all CLONE GEAR Lockers going to have the same assortment of weapons with every figure or will different ones be packed randomly?
--Jason

As of today, every single one includes the same assortment of weapons-- no changes. What you see is exactly what you're going to get in every pack. It's entirely possible they will refresh which weapons are included as molds wear out or as they need to increase sales somehow, but for now, that's it.

2. Any chance we will see a re-release of the plain white clone trooper animated with a long rifle?
I'm kind of shocked that it wasn't packed as an extra in the first place! I feel a little cheated since the figure had all three weapons when it was first pictured at Toy Fair. If there is anything you can do to convince them that this is a big mistake on the companies part, considering the image on the card is holding the longer rifle. The rifle is at very least the most recognizable gun that they carry. Maybe even a special offer to buy a pack of the animated version of this rifles online or something?
--Chad

It's possible-- the basic white Clone is a little dirty, so as the line goes forward (assuming the animated style sticks) it's likely we'll see exactly that in the long run. Hasbro frequently changes the product from early images and the packaging images, so really, there's not much you can do here. I wouldn't expect extras unless they eventually find their way into a refreshed weapons locker, or are packed with another clone figure in the future. Which, I'd say, is probably the most likely thing.

3. What are your impressions of the new figures? I have found the Clone Wars series to be somewhat disappointing excepting that awesome R2 and pretty much any of the clones. Grevious is well-named for grevious error. I can't keep mine standing for more than 5 minutes at a time. The Jedi figures are all better than I expected, but the cream of the crop for me are the "realistic" Clone Wars figures. Clone armor Obi-Wan is my favorite, but all of them are great. I personally feel that Hasbro hit it out of the park on that 2nd wave of Legacy. So, what are your general thoughts?
--Paul

I'd say you pretty much nailed it. Those "realistic" Clone Wars figure in The Legacy Collection are so good, it's almost like a point where they should just call the line quits and go out on a high note. (And looking at waves 3 and 4 this year... yeah.) They're all pretty excellent, and any faults I find in them are minor quibbles. The SCUBA Trooper turned out amazingly well, and Obi-Wan is wonderful. I don't think I could ask for much more out of that wave, except maybe knees on the Quarren and Mon Calamari figures.

The animated line is all over the place. Hasbro said they tried to merge the CG style with realistic proportions, and I think the end result looks pretty good. I'll write them all up in Figure of the Day soon (probably sooner than later), but here's the short version.
Clone Trooper: great sculpt, good design, longer than needed legs, but lots of fun.
Captain Rex: see above.
R2-D2: possibly one of the best figures Hasbro has ever made with the Star Wars license. By not owning it, you are part of the problem. Buy two, they're so good you'll want one to play with at school or work too.
General Grievous: Can't stand well, has no foot holes. Legs aren't positioned well. Great weapons, love the swappable arms.
Battle Droid: looks like it's wooden. Head's too small. Can't stand very well.
Yoda: good enough, I guess. More a statue than a toy, not groundbreaking, but cute enough. Should be a great seller.
Anakin Skywalker: Good sculpt, the knee joints are notably absent. Love the rappel line accessory and extras. The head sculpt is pretty great.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: see above, only more so. Why not just reuse the clone legs? The fact that it's an alternate head instead of a removable helmet is pretty slick. Not sure I like the head sculpt all that much.

Overall, for a new line, I give it a B. Which is good, really, as Grievous is actually pretty iffy. I wish Hasbro stuck with the realistic style just because the ones they just put out are so incredibly awesome and fun that I can't put them down. Hasbro says they have big plans for the line in this style, but it seems very slow out the gate and I gotta say I'd almost rather see 2-3 waves of "toon" figures per year with the lion's share of them being in realistic style in the Legacy line. There's really no reason they couldn't do an R2-D2 as good as this in the realistic style, and yet another armored Obi-Wan figure would probably sell well. Heck, I'm a little antsy that I don't have a "Season 3"-style realistic Anakin with his robes and armor yet. Right now I'm viewing the line in animated form as a great curiosity, like another Droids or Ewoks, as I don't think I can maintain the enthusiasm for it after several waves, or for that matter, years.

4. Do you think that Hasbro and, by extension, Lucasfilm, gets irritated that when they spend all this time & money putting together their booth & presentation for ComicCon 2008, they, not only not show us no more then 10% new product, but most of what was there was confirmed up to 2 months prior to the date via their Q & A's? Is it just a matter if time before they stop going to ComicCon 2008 and other conventions and just release all new products via their websites as they see fit? Hasbro must be a big enough company where Wal-Mart/Target/other vendors can go to THEM, vs. they have to showcase for the retailers?
--Jeremiah

Ultimately, I think whatever causes buzz and sales makes both Hasbro and Lucasfilm very happy. Comic-Con showed us a lot of new stuff, like scores of Battle Packs, lots of new figures (many of which would have been debuted had it not been for Celebration Japan), and of course, those giant $50 Battle Packs.

Lucasfilm and Hasbro exploit all of their channels to capture interest in various places. For example, in New York Toy Fair, Hasbro wants the media to come by and get people talking about their stuff on the news and, of course, online. (It used to be a retailer show for them, today, not so much.) Comic-Con exists as a major public showcase, and most people who walk through Hasbro's booth in San Diego aren't the die-hard collectors that read Q&A columns like this one (and to a lesser extent, so says the traffic, Hasbro's.) 100,000 people buy tickets to the show, and that's nothing to sneeze at-- based on sales figures I've managed to finagle through various channels (thanks, Target!) I can tell you there aren't that many collectors buying the line. That booth, with G.I. Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony, Marvel, Indiana Jones, and everything else, is one of the biggest advertisements they have. People can walk up and see new toys they would never hear of otherwise, because very few buyers are actively interested in the goings-on of the fan community. Were it not for that show, a lot of people wouldn't know what to ask for when their birthdays roll around, and a lot of magazines wouldn't have anything to talk about that month. It's a very unique kind of specialty marketing.

Even if Hasbro revealed 100% of the line prior to Comic-Con, it's an important (and increasingly necessary) avenue of promotion and a way to distribute warm fuzzies via free posters and exclusive products. It serves a function, and that's to get fans excited and talking. If every collector was hardcore-- and if you read this column and the questions it gets, I can assure you, they're not-- this would be a different matter. There are maybe a few thousand fans who would fit the "hardcore" bill (as in, knowing what's coming out and keeping tabs on everything) at best-- so Comic-Con is a great way to make sure fans (and yes, even some retail buyers like myself) can see what's new. (This may surprise you, but a lot of business gets done on the Comic-Con show floor.)

As to how Hasbro actually showcases its wares to vendors... I'll save that for a chapter or two in the coffee table book that nobody wants me to write just yet.

5. I purchased an AT-TE at midnight madness. I waited a few days before I opened it. Tonight I opened it and to my dismay discovered that the legs are unable to support the weight of the body and simply pop off. I have yet to get the thing to even stand on all six legs. Once the first leg pops off, three or four more follow. It is completely useless. I spent half an hour trying to get all six legs on at the same time. I went on the web and found that there are numerous other complaints of exactly the same thing happening. Some people have said that they have contacted Hasbro customer service and been told that their product is defective. How many reports of this have you been hearing? For a 100 dollar toy to not even be able to stand and support its own weight goes beyond the pale. I am going to return the [freaking] thing and never buy another vehicle again.
--David

If you're actually going to return it and never buy another one again, why are you asking me? Your mind's already made up.

I get very few positive reports of any kind. People only write me to complain. Because of this I'd say it's hard to tell what the real defect rate is. Easily a few fans are upset, but in the grand scheme of things, that's not many. I've had some problems with the center legs coming off, but I have to say after the first week it hasn't happened again, and I can't even be sure why.

As to why these things break apart, you can thank your legislators. The toy industry is held to a number of standards, some of which are great for everybody (no lead paint) and others are just annoying (minimum projectile lengths, "the drop test.") What we're seeing here is most likely due to "the drop test," which I've just recently had the pleasure of praising after an earthquake. The idea of the "drop test" is that, when dropped, a toy has pieces pop off rather than shatter or break other parts of the toy. This prevents jagged pieces of plastic from coming into being, thus helping little Billy from experiencing shrapnel at too young an age. A few toys, notably the giant Transformers release Brave Maximus, were denied sales in the USA because of this test. I had a Unicron toy fly off a shelf a couple of weeks back, and when I came home, just a couple of bits fell off-- the toy itself was intact and not permanently damaged. If the AT-TE's legs were too securely fastened, it is possible (or so I'm told) it could tear off a chunk of the hull, which would be bad.

Of course, this isn't to say there isn't another mechanism for fastening the legs which would have been better, but I think you can thank the designers at ILM for giving us a fantastic design which probably wouldn't hold up too well during a real battle.

My advice to you would be to just return it, and hold off for one later on. If you thought it was good enough. (I'm still not convinced it was, it's neat enough, but it's not as much fun as the Royal Starship from 1999.) Hasbro sometimes tweaks the molds as the line goes on, so here's hoping it gets better.

FIN

Last week, some wonderful soul posted what appears to be the entire run of Droids to YouTube. While I'm not a big advocate of piracy, I'm a huge advocate of watching things I want to see. (And Lucasfilm, I've got money if you've got DVDs with the Fromms in them.) I haven't seen the Trigon episodes in years, and I stayed up late watching a couple of them with a big dumb grin on my face. I'm not sure what this says about me, but based on how much people seem to trash 1980s Star Wars television projects, these still seem about as good as I remember them. I should also point out I own a complete collection of the original Transformers season box sets, so maybe I'm not the pickiest person when it comes to reliving my childhood through television.

I will say, though, that it irks me these episodes aren't available on home video, and none of the episodes are available with the original music in the half-hour episode format. There's probably a decent audience out there, especially if an exclusive figure can be packaged with the discs. (Hey, I'd buy it.)

If you have the time, I suggest you check these out before they're all pulled and it's another 20 years before you can see them again. It isn't brilliant TV, but it is what it is-- Star Wars for kids who not 30 minutes earlier were probably watching episodes of The Snorks and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. If you can appreciate these old shows for what they are, rather than trash them for what they aren't, you may be in for a wonderful time. Especially the first four-- you'll see Boba Fett's protocol droid, a lightsaber, gangsters, Imperial Shuttles, and a bunch of other goodies.

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!

First Impressions: Millennium Falcon 2008 (BMF)

2008-08-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

As of today, I got my hands on Hasbro's new $150-$200 Millennium Falcon and some time to assemble it. I must say, it's huge-- the front mandibles snap-on and a few bits and pieces fit into place. I'll do a full review later, but here are some quick notes on it:

PROS:
- The size and heft are impressive
- The scout ship/escape pod seems to be designed to fit tall and wide figures
- While small, the seats work well
- Loads of sound effects and lights
- Removable floorboards hide a great way to store weapons
- Opening doors reveal a storage bay or brig, you decide

CONS
- Is not so great that it couldn't be done even bigger and better
- Costs the same as 3 of the 1995 release
- Storage doors don't close snuggly
- Labels don't seem particularly sticky (may be unique to my sample)
- Does not seem to have gone above and beyond what could be done for 40-50% of the price

In short, it's the victim of its own hype-- but it's still something you're going to want. I'll post a heck of a lot more pictures, impressions, feature breakdowns, and a video as time permits over the coming week(s).

Star Wars: Is there anything Hasbro won't do?

2008-08-05T22:40:00.001-07:00

Over the years, there have been quite a few figures produced by Kenner and Hasbro that didn't quite sell according to expectations. At the same time, a few figures were deemed too obscure or questionable to make, yet a lot of them have happened. One of the slower sellers of the 1990s was Malakili, the Rancor Keeper. Flash forward to August 2008, and Hasbro confirmed a new version of the formerly terrible selling figure was actually in the works for an upcoming assortment. Kenner also said that poor sales of Han Solo (Hoth) and Luke Skywalker (Dagobah) meant new versions were pretty much off the table, yet here we are, with two more Dagobah Lukes and probably close to a half dozen Hoth Hans.

We've also seen Hasbro relax their stance on non-movie and concept-based figures, large vehicles, and environments. Just like a man with focus hitting on the hot receptionist at work, fans have managed to wear Hasbro down. That's why we have Imperial Shuttles, Wuher, and, for some reason or another, BoShek. Just two or three years ago, Hasbro said they didn't want to make a figure of Yarna d'al' Gargan as the character amounted to little more than a space prostitute-- yet here we are, and we've all seen her in stores now. So, after nearly 13 years, what kind of things won't Hasbro do?

5. Klaatu (1983 Kenner costume)
While called Klaatu in 1983, the character now known as Wooof is one of very few figures which have not been made in the 1995-present figure line. (Others include the 1984 Imperial Dignitary Sim Aloo, the 1984 Ewok named Warok, the 1983 Ewok named Lumat, and the original deco of the Power Droid.) For one reason or another, Hasbro has been pretty dodgy about making this one, giving the standard "no plans at this time" response. I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but at this point it seems the only reason to not remake the figure is to always make sure there's a few figures on the modern to-do list, or for spite. Could be either way, actually... but it's been so long that it seems unlikely we're going to get one in the short term.

4. Ackmena (Bea Arthur)
The 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is a touchy subject. Some aspects of the CBS television program have wormed their way into the Expanded Universe, like Boba Fett's original design returning in 1985 for the Droids animated series, or Chewbacca's family appearing in the Wookiee Storybook and an issue of Marvel's Star Wars comic series. Other aspects were immediately chucked down the sewer, like all of the musical and comedy talent who appeared on the show. Bea Arthur played Ackmena, the night bartender at the Mos Eisley watering hole from the original film. She sang, she looked like she could kick some butt, but she was one of the goofier aspects of the show. Today, fans have started lobbying for an action figure of her, which Hasbro seems to be laughing off as something of a joke. As such, it could be some time if the company ever decides to do it, but as we've seen "never" generally means "not right now."

3. Owen and Beru Lars (corpses)
Despite dead bodies having some great costumes, Hasbro has been pretty good at maintaining that an inactive body doesn't make for a great figure. With three characters seeing release as Jedi Spirits (Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker) it seems that the term "dead" is relative-- these three are pretty lively for the recently departed. There have also been decapitated figures like a Tusken Raider and Jango Fett as well as the bisectable Darth Maul. The charred remains of Luke Skywalker's guardians have been requested by fans for years, but Hasbro keeps skipping out on them. With the recently released Attack on the Lars Homestead gift set, it seems increasingly unlikely that these will ever appear in plastic. Really, there was no better opportunity to do it.

2. Jar Jar Binks (Episode III costume or Super-Articulated Episode I costume)
Fun fact: Hasbro has not released a new Jar Jar Binks action figure since 2002. Even more surprising, no Jar Jar action figures of any kind have been made by Hasbro since 2002. Aside from a Galactic Heroes figure, the character is pretty much completely off the radar of merchandisers, although who knows if this will change with The Clone Wars. Aside from an oddly statue-ish figure, Hasbro hasn't bothered to make any action figures for this space klutz after Episode I's merchandising juggernaut ended. He hasn't even appeared in Battle Packs or exclusive sets. As such, it would almost seem like the perfect time to release a new one, but since 2002, Hasbro has only released a tiny handful of new products from the first prequel. A new sculpt of Jar Jar seems almost unthinkable, but as mentioned above, we're getting a new Rancor Keeper, so it has to be just a matter of time.

1. Brea and Senni Tonnika (or the Tonnika Sisters)
In the original Star Wars, there are two girls with green spandex costumes and beehive hairdos. In the 1990s, Galoob Toys actually made one of them as a miniature figure in their Action Fleet line, but the figure was removed as the line progressed and Kenner (and later Hasbro) never made a full-size action figure. Having been told "the official story" from actual official sources numerous times, I will say that the stories aren't too consistent, but it seems the big deal is one of the actresses simply won't allow it to happen. It might be a financial block, or just a personal decision to not want a figure made, but apparently it has to do with a likeness rights issue. (An issue, I should add, that has been resolved for all subsequent films.) It's unfortunate, as these characters have actually been highly requested by fans for over a decade now and were frequently made as custom figures back when the line first started. Maybe some day things will work out, as having a figure made means you can sign it, meaning you can get free vacations to sci-fi conventions and fees to sign at said conventions. It's an opportunity in the making!

Based on Hasbro's various denials and about-faces on items, I'm going to say it's a safe bet one or more of these will be in collector hands by the year 2010. Any predictions for the collectors of tomorrow? Leave a comment!

Q&A: Getting Your Clone Legacy On

2008-08-04T00:00:00.001-07:00

Convention season is over, and the launch has come and gone. Tons of new items are hitting stores every day, so let's look in to those, shall we?

1. Now that Joker Squad has been reveald, can you tell us if Jes Gistang is a different sculpt from her squad-mates? From the photos it looks like her midsection is lengthened, but what about her, um, 'upper torso'? Any other differences? Thanks!!
--Soja Rinn

As far as I can tell, the arms and torso are the new body parts-- the legs seem to be the same, and, of course, the head is new. Any other differences are likely to be a surprise to me as much as you at this point.

2. The four astromechs that came in the Wal-Mart exclusive Build-A-Droid 2 packs all had background stories (at least a sentence) on their packaging. The four astromechs that were in the Legacy Collection Waves 1 and 2 don't come with backgrounds. Wookieepedia.com doesn't help either with entries like (for R7-Z0):

R7-Z0 was an R7-series astromech droid which was primarily colored white with a black dome and yellow trim.

Do you know the background stories for the four new astromechs?
--David

One of the problems with the droids is after a while, there really isn't a backstory beyond "this was a prop in a popular movie from George Lucas." Anything more than a sentence or two tends to be a stretch, but there are a few tidbits here to share.

R4-D6 is going to be the source of limited fan arguing for a while. According to a lot of sources, the bluish R4 droid is actually R4-I9-- and Hasbro/Lucas got the names wrong. Maybe. It's tough to tell, because official Lucas reference material often conflicts with other Lucas reference material, one of the more recent examples being R2-D1 and R2-D3 who were eventually renamed R2-M5 and R2-C4. So here, you don't have a backstory so much as you do a potential argument.

Meanwhile, R4-J1 really does have a backstory on Wookieepedia, although I haven't actually picked up the book which features him. If anyone wants to sell me your old worthless RPG books for my reference library to check such things, drop me a note.

Meanwhile, R7 droids have very little backstory as of yet. R7-T1 appeared (by name, at least) in a novel. So he was assigned to Luke, and sports quasi R2-D2ish coloring. As far as I can tell, there's no concrete official information on R7-T0.

3. Has Hasbro ever thought of doing an exclusive 4-pack (using some existing sculpts) to create a "denizens of..." series? This [snip] could have 4 random folk from Tatooine or Coruscant or Bespin or Nar Shadda. These would be nameless bystanders/creatures/locals that would fill out some of our diaramas. Maybe there could be a contest where you come up with a story for the individuals. As an avid collector (mostly of the original trilogy) I dream of looking up at my version of Mos Eisley and not knowing a few things about some of those background folk. A little mystery is nice.
--James

I'm told by numerous licensors that an important thing that Lucas' camp considers during the approvals of a product is the story. If you can't put a paragraph on the packaging explaining just who or what it is, they're disinclined to produce it. There are exceptions, as seen in the above question, but this element of story is pretty important. Otherwise, it'd just be any old toy, and not something uniquely Star Wars.

This is sort of why random people from Nar Shaddaa might be a tough sell. What you're asking for is random people from a random planet which many (I dare say most) fans wouldn't recognize as being Star Wars unless you told them. Diorama makers and army builders do buy a lot of figures, but not enough to warrant something this obscure just yet. With The Force Unleashed, Hasbro showed it could throw a bunch of figures at fans with little to no name recognition (and in the case of the apprentice, no name) and still see strong sales. Perhaps it's a compelling design, or the promise of the story to come-- but there were some great designs in there. Where was I?

I wouldn't mind seeing some pop in to sets here and there, as a boxed set, it might be a tough sell. The production size on Hasbro's products don't tend to be as small as, say, Sideshow's, and as such convincing fans to actually buy a box of nameless shlubs is something of a challenge. Obviously there's a decent amount of collectors who will buy anything and everything, but it's not a sizable enough market to justify a set. BoShek may be about as close as we're going to get for a while, but as you can see, Hasbro's focus changes as each tier of characters gets fully exploited. They're going to need new figure fodder some day soon, and this may be a future avenue for toy production. Although I have to say that as a fan, I get kinda depressed to think that my hobby is now being viewed solely as an avenue for someone to crank out new figures that I personally cannot identify or name. I'd like to be able to have some name recognition for these guys.

4. Now that the animated collection is out do you foresee this being a movie thing similar to the Indy stuff or do you see it becoming as large as the legacy or realistic collection is? For me I feel it has a long way to go and I can't wait to see how much of this animated stuff they will produce.

On not such a positive note: I'm having a ton of trouble keeping my animated Grievous standing and ideas other then gluing him to the stand to keep him upright? I actually customized mine to have a peg in one of his feet even stuck to a stand he falls over, any tips would be greatly appreciated
--Chad

Television is (and for a while, was) the go-to place for licensed products. Having a weekly show on the TV is like a commercial that people make an appointment to watch-- if the sales are there, I expect animated and TV-based figures to be equal to or surpass movie product eventually. It may be impossible to reach the size of the "realistic" collection, especially given the amount of molds they have to work with-- unlike the movies, Hasbro is starting from scratch here. We'll be lucky to get 30-40 new molds a year, really.

Animated Grievous doesn't stand very easily-- basically, you're on your own here, with any luck Hasbro will retool the figure with foot holes or more stand-friendly designs.

5. Ref your Q&A comments from the last batch - I agree that the Sarlacc Pit playset is both a build up and a let down. It's nice to see the pit and the skiff, but yea they could have done something else with the figures. Especially since the new collection focuses on ROTJ. Maybe some new guards, at least 1 or 2 to pad the already-released figures.
On the other hand, it is a "playset" of sorts, like people have been begging for for years now. You get the elusive skiff, and the Sarlacc! The same with the Lars' set. You get the homestead playset (sort of) finally. IMHO it's better than nothing, since we've gotten nothing for so long.
Anyway, is this a new direction Hasbro is going to start going, are they testing the waters for an actual full-blown playset someday?
Also what is going to be the price of these things? The Lars set only comes with 3 figures, if I'm correct? The skiff set comes with 5 figures and a vehicle of sorts.
--VirdenBoy69

I don't know if "playset" is really a good term. It's an environment, and it's a set, but I'm not seeing a lot of "play" in there. The line as it stands this year seems have a certain air of experimentation within the 3 3/4-inch brand. Hasbro has developed Unleashed and Transformers to the point where they're happy, but Choppers and other lines went away-- so they have to find other products for collector and fan dollars. Some fans want a $8 figure, and others want big, $50 items. This year, we're getting over $600 worth of what I consider "high end" action figure items-- that is, vehicles and sets priced at $35 or more.

I don't necessarily see an item as "better than nothing." Nothing is OK. We've spent thousands of dollars collecting this stuff, I personally don't mind if they skip a few things here and there. I have little doubt they're testing the waters, but for what, I don't know. A $100-$200 Death Star seems like the grand finale of such a program, but that's going to depend greatly on the reception fans end up giving the high-dollar items this holiday season.

These two new environment packs are going to be about $50-$60 each-- and yeah, the Lars set only has 3 figures and a creature. It's really expensive unless there's something cool hidden under the house, which is entirely possible.

FIN

First up: Figure of the Day. Some said "hey, you missed Saturday and Sunday!" Actually, after nearly 3 years of doing this 7 days a week, I decided to scale back just because it's starting to kill me. This is sort of my after-job job (and doesn't pay well), so I figured a 28% reduction in workload would be a good thing. So for now, it's going to be 5 days a week, so you'll have something to read at work every day. I'm also going to focus on more new stuff, as that has been requested a lot. Why not? May as well make it easy to decide what's worth picking up, after all. So for now, I'll be cranking out 5 FOTDs, 1 Q&A, and who knows what else. Thanks for reading!

Oh, what else is new... oh! I found out that Lucasfilm quietly discontinued pretty much their entire TV catalog of Star Wars titles, and like an idiot, I didn't buy them all at launch. So the Ewok live action films? Out of print. Clone Wars? Gone. Ewoks & Droids are still out there, but are definitely harder to find. I attempted to order Clone Wars Volume 2 and the Ewok adventures from Kmart's web site over the weekend, and let me tell you, that's not a site set up to take your business. I'll keep you posted if anything actually shows up in the mail.

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!

Wal-Mart Exclusive Clone Wars 501st Trooper Out Early

2008-08-03T14:21:00.001-07:00

If you can't get enough of the hunt, you may be in luck this weekend. Wal-Mart stores here in California are already selling their exclusive Clone Wars 501st Legion Clone Trooper. We found them mixed in on the pegs with other figures for under $7 a pop, a great price-- unlike another retailer who upcharges for exclusives who shall remain nameless. More pics and impressions to come!

For those keeping track, Hasbro gave a release date of August 15, 2008.

Weekend Sales Round-Up: Star Wars Discounts

2008-08-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

With The Clone Wars and The Legacy Collection, a lot of stores are running a lot of deals. Here's what you should look out for.

GENERAL
Numerous stores are actually in something of a price war-- the basic figure line started off around $7.99 and a lot of stores are now charging $6.99 or less. Your mileage may vary, but this sort of thing happened during Revenge of the Sith quite a bit.

BEST BUY
No Star Wars deals this week, but a Starship Troopers "Trilogy" DVD set includes an action figure, which may interest all one of the readers of this blog.

ENTERTAINMENT EARTH
Summer blow out sale, just under 90 items on some level of clearance. Includes Republic Elite Forces for $65, Titanium Cylon, Luke, and Darth Maul for $11.55, and other stuff.

KMART
Nothing this week.

TARGET
"Gigantic savings on Star Wars." $16.99 for Galactic Heroes scenes, basic vehicles. $24.99 for the Clone Wars Ultimate Lightsaber. $49.99 for the LEGO Torrent Starfighter. $24.99 for the Clone Trooper Voice Changer. $16.99 for the electronic roleplay blasters. $19.99 Leapster 2 Clone Wars Math game.

TOYS "R" US
Nothing this week.

WAL-MART
Nothing this week.

Star Wars Build-A-Droid Wave 2: R4-T1 & R7-J1

2008-08-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I looked at the first Legacy collection build-a-droid figures, and how you could switch around all the parts and everything. The second wave is very much like the first, except these have been painted differently and come with different figures.

So far, here's the breakdown as to who comes with which parts. As I've noticed with wave 1, this may change-- Hasbro made it a point so that every case has enough to build 3 astromech droids (or, when the time comes, 2 protocol droids). This means that some figures may come with either of multiple pieces, in addition to multiple figures coming with the same piece. Confused yet? We'll work on a chart to explain it at some point soon.

Here's the current breakdown with the first shipment of these figures:

R4-J1 (the green one)
Dome & center leg: Clone SCUBA Trooper #BD10
Body: IG Lancer Droid #BD13
Left leg: Obi-Wan Kenobi #BD9
Right leg: Clone Trooper #BD16

Packaging real estate being at a premium, Hasbro opted to leave off any information as to who these droids are. The green R4-J1 is one I'm not quite familiar with, although Wookieepedia claims it is some sort of scavenger droid. I guess that works!

R7-T1 (the blue one)
Dome & center leg: Quarren Soldier #BD15
Body: Mon Calamari Warrior #BD14
Left leg: Padme Amidala #BD12
Right leg: Saesee Tiin #BD11

According to the Expanded Universe lore, R7-T1 was assigned to Luke Skywalker at some point after Return of the Jedi to replace his aging R2 unit. Luke was also given a new vehicle, and in the end he went back to R2-D2 and his X-wing. So what you have here is a toy which Luke got, played with, and got bored with.

As with before, each figure is designed with four "sockets" on the sides of his body, two on each side. The upper pair is for where the legs normall go, and the lower pair allow you to have some fun by adding additional limbs of your choosing. The sockets are designed to be fully swappable, so if you're an army builder and you end up with a sack of extra parts, you should be able to come up with something rather than just end up with a bag of busted machinery.

They're a lot of fun to mess with, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for the whole wave (and especially R7-T1.) To assemble these droids, you'll need to pick up characters from the original Clone Wars series, which is like saying you'll have to eat all your dessert if you want your dessert. I can't say I see a problem with this.

Click here for more exciting images of what kind of parts-swapping you can do with these figures.

New Star Wars Galactic Heroes Scenes Out Early

2008-08-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

While Hasbro said they wouldn't be out until September at their panel, it appears their data was wrong-- things are coming out early! Fortunate fans can expect to see the following at retail right now (as we spotted them at a Target): Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, Escape from Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter, and the Geonosis Arena. (No sign yet of the Skiff or Dagobah sets.) Happy hunting!

Star Wars: The Legacy Collection's Saesee Tiin's Lack of a Cape

2008-08-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

In the past week, fans have been gifted with a few dozen figures. Between build-a-droids and new sculpts, there's really something for everyone. I was particularly excited about the Clone Wars-themed Legacy Collection wave, based largely on the 2003-2005 animated series. Each figure has a lot of nice little touches, but a few things were left out. Notably missing is Saesee Tiin's cape.

If you want a cape, you've got a few options. For starters, you could make your own-- but if you're anything like me, you can't, because you're not very good at such things. So what I did was ape one from Mandalore, the ancient Mandalorian leader from the Tales of the Jedi comics and the recently rereleased Fett Legacy "Evolutions" pack. It just pops right off, and is close to a perfect fit. (It's a little long, actually.)

But there you go-- that's what Saesee Tiin would look like if Hasbro sprang the extra penny and included a cape with the figure. I rather like it, and while it's not a perfect match, it's better than what I had before. Which is nothing.

You might be asking "Adam, why didn't you just use a spare Obi-Wan Kenobi cape from the new clone armor release?" Good question. Due to how the cape attaches to the figure, it wouldn't work-- there are two loops which fit around little nubs on Obi-Wan's sculpted torso. The Mandalore cape is just a piece of elastic which fits around the neck. There aren't a lot of brown capes in this figure line, so I would say that, as of today, this is your best bet. I'd also say I fully expect a rerelease of Saesee Tiin in a Battle Pack in the next two years which will include an official, better cape... but I'm just not that patient.

Found: Star Wars Legacy Collection Comic Packs

2008-07-31T23:58:00.001-07:00

While Hasbro indicated these wouldn't be available until later, I spotted new Comic Packs at Target this evening. Enjoy hunting for Tol Skorr & Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker & Durge, and Anakin Skywalker & Assassin Droid. (The latter of which is a repackaged release.) Happy hunting!

Ad: Entertainment Earth Blow Out Sale

2008-07-31T21:13:00.001-07:00

Ad: It's that time again! Entertainment Earth slashed prices on over 900 action figures, gifts, and collectibles, and over 80 Star Wars items remain. Choose from exclusive action figures, statues, busts, costumes, and more. Click through for pricing and availability, but hurry-- the sale ends soon!

Q&A: Post-Clone-Con Edition

2008-07-28T03:29:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, so let's answer some questions! This week we look at shiny metal droids, more Battlefront figures, and of course, big ships. Read all about these and more in this week's Q&A!

1. Hey, after looking at the new Hasbro Clone Wars/Legacy figure poster I was curious as to which movie you think the Imperial Engineer is from. Is this the ANH version of the Imperial Gunner, or another ROTJ version w/ a new sculpt? I know in the past you made reference to a difference in the Imperial Gunner from ANH and the one from ROTJ. Thanks!
--Jeff

It's my understanding-- and it's entirely possible I'm not 100% correct here-- that the Imperial Gunners of Star Wars don't wear the armor, or gloves. However, Return of the Jedi Gunners do wear the gloves, and don't always wear the armor-- actually, all publicity shots I could find were armor-free. So it's possible they wear armor in Star Wars too-- it's hard to tell, now that I can't seem to find the evidence.

The upcoming Imperial Engineer action figure appears to be based on the 2006 The Saga Collection Gunner-- but it's not from any movie, it's from the Battlefront game series. It may or may not include new accessories. (At press time, they have not been revealed.) I sincerely hope they put something awesome extra in there, because otherwise, the fact that the "repaint" wave now consists of a figure I own with nothing more than a new name-- especially as it has a build-a-droid piece I want-- is annoying to say the least. I don't advocate in-store theft, but if I did, I'd be advocating it here.

2. Any idea why Hasbro has never made Rebel pilot Grizz Frix? I feel like he had more screen time than some of the other pilots they have made.
--Brian

I'm not going to sit and watch Return of the Jedi with a stopwatch to confirm this, but I can say that a lot of pilots are made for a lot of reasons. I personally can't figure out why I'm now the owner of a Kesin Ommis figure-- I didn't even know who he was until I got him-- but I think a lot of fans will say the same thing about any Rebel pilot who isn't Biggs, Luke, or Wedge. The film Return of the Jedi made no effort to give any significant lines or characterization to the Rebels in the Death Star battle, so anything you felt about them was probably a result from Expanded Universe materials or that fanboy gene that makes people think that Random Guy #2 is the most awesome thing ever.

One of the issues with Rebel Pilots is that they're mostly all very similar. There are some unique helmets, and a few new colors out there, but basically it's a guy with an orange jumpsuit, a new head, and possibly a repainted helmet. Since Hasbro has yet to make a truly great Wedge Antilles figure (the last one recycled a 1998 head sculpt), I personally won't be lobbying for any Rebel except, maybe, Ten Numb as he appears in ROTJ-- in a red costume during the Endor celebration sequence.

Grizz Frix fans, maybe there's going to be a chance for another Rebel Pilots Evolutions set some day. But I wouldn't be hopeful given we're getting two at the same time, plus a new Rebel Pilot in the A-Wing Fighter (Wal-Mart) and B-Wing Fighter (Toys "R" Us) vehicles. With a whopping 8 new pilots this year, well, anything else would be astounding. Odds are we'll start seeing Rebel Pilots treated more like Imperial Officers in that we'll get 1 or 2 token releases a year, now that Hasbro has invested in so many body olds from which to create even more pilots.

3. With the release of the BMF Falcon just a few weeks away, I am wondering...would it be wise to purchase this Falcon now, or should I risk it and wait later in hopes they might re-release it around Christmas time? I have heard from a friend who works at a big box store that they only got 10 in on their display and it was a non replenishable item, meaning what they got is all they'll get and they won't be getting anymore.
--Jeff

It's my understanding this item will be sold throughout 2008. I could be wrong, and your local stores may not necessarily all carry it at all or all year. If it's anything like the Butterscotch Pony, it should be sold for months. But since this has a much larger adult collector following than FurReal Friends, it may be tough to get, so I'd just suggest getting it when you see it if you want it. A lot of non-replenishable items sometimes find their way back to the store, be it in an exclusive repackaging, or just because the store's system may have had a hiccup. And if you can't get it, it's a pretty safe bet online stores will be selling it for as long as they can possibly get inventory. This isn't going to be a limited edition piece, its development costs weren't cheap and Hasbro has to make their money back.

I should also note (this paragraph was written on 7/27) that on my drive back from San Diego, we made a few stops, each of which had several Millennium Falcon vehicles waiting to be bought. As in, no shortage. Basic figures were long gone, and lots of other items sold through-- like most places had no AT-TEs-- but the Falcon was in ample supply. Does this mean Hasbro actually made enough, or that fans don't care/don't care to pay that? Time will tell.

4. As an employee of EE who [works with] exclusives, have you ever considered creating "new" vintage figures? I think that the way SW is heading (Clone Wars TV, Video Games, Live Action show coming) the OT is getting lost in the shuffle, and it seems that many long time fans have little to get excited for. I think that if EE created 3 new vintage figures, (Grand Moff Tarkin, Rebel Fleet Trooper and a Sandtrooper) packaged them in the VOTC clamshells, and sold them for 12-15 a pop, people would go nuts. The hardest part would be keeping the sculptors and painters form making them too detailed. The production wouldn't be too expensive, as they would only have the standard 5 points of articulation, and the packaging already exists. If this were successful, follow-up waves could be limitless.
--Mike

I've asked Hasbro if they would consider such a line, and ultimately, the answer was no. I think it could be cool for some collectors, but I also don't think the market for "new" vintage figures truly exists. A giant step backward in aesthetics seems hard to manufacture, inauthentic nostalgia just seems kinda weird. Getting someone to sculpt a 1980s-style Tarkin figure would be odd. "OK, start working on it, but don't do a very good job, and don't give it any articulation." A lot of the "style" we saw in the old Kenner line was a result of the time's technology, not because people in 1984 were crappy sculptors. The packaging most certainly doesn't exist, and in case you didn't know, sculpting a new figure costs a lot of money. There's a reason that shared tooling or repaints are frequently employed in exclusive action figure production, just because something is primitive doesn't mean it's going to be any cheaper.

Getting an individual figure exclusive at $12-$15 may be tricky. The fan club's have been closer to $17 as of late. As such, I wouldn't expect an item like this to be particularly cheap, and as it has limited appeal, it'd be a dangerous exclusive to do unless it had tremendous fan support and, I hate to say it, support at regular retail as well. They'd need mass exposure to hit the right audiences, a lot of hardcore vintage fans don't read up on the new stuff and may never hear about it.

It wouldn't shock me to see Hasbro create fake "vintage" figures down the road as we really start to see them run out of potentially good ideas, maybe as a "chase" figure 1 per case, but I hope it doesn't come to that. Let's leave the past in the past, we have two new TV series and an entire Universe to explore.

5. Regarding the build-a-droid campaign, do you know if all of the various droid parts are interchangeable? Are the attachment pegs all the same so that, for example, C-3PX's torso could be used with another protocal droid's limbs? I ask because as with most waves of figures, there are some that I don't really want and don't plan to buy, so I won't be able to build all of the complete droids. However, I would be totally okay with building some frankendroids from mismatched parts, so I hope that will work. Put a few of those outside a sandcrawler with some Jawas, and you got a pretty nifty display IMO.

Are any of the upcoming astromechs (either complete figures or as build-a-droids) the same as the ones released in the EE sets a while ago? I'm thinking not, but it's hard to tell since the names aren't always consistent with those guys.

Any insight on the supposed vac-metal R-3P0 from the Wal-Mart sets? I see the one you got is regular paint, is a running change planned?
--John

OK, let's start...

You can switch some droid parts. So far, it appears C-3PX's arms can fit into the sockets on the sides of the Astromech bodies-- at least, the ones I have. The Astromech limbs did not easily fit into C-3PX's body, nor did the C-3PX legs fit on an astromech body particularly well. I don't know yet what kind of sockets the RA-7 droids will sport.

Right now, only a few build-a-droids have been revealed, and none of them were previously sold as Entertainment Earth exclusives. R4-D6 and R4-I9 are very similar to the point of R4-I9 seemingly actually being the right name for R4-D6, and the figure we know as R4-I9 might be the result of bad photography. That, and Hasbro has said that they don't plan on rereleasing exclusives while the original exclusive partner still has stock of an exclusive, and as of today, Entertainment Earth still has a few sets of droids left.

Finally, Hasbro confirmed the vac-metal R-3PO was basically a test thing and not currently planned for mass production. There ya go!

FIN

I went to San Diego's Midnight Madness event with Mike (from the site). We got there at 11:30, and were allowed in the door at 2:00 AM. A lot of the basic figures were gone, but there was no shortage in the $100+ items, which is a curious sign. The reaction from the fans regarding the large vehicles seems to be "that's great, I've got nowhere to put it," making me wonder if we're going to see a lot of collectors hold off for a sale, or if the sheer girth of the line and year after year of 50-75 basic carded figures has finally got to a point where fans really and truly no longer can make just a little more room. The AT-TE seems to be selling better than the Falcon if bare shelves are a legit indicator of sales, and I'm not entirely clear if they are.

I also went to Comic-Con, and it was fairly grueling. For the first time, we left on Saturday and it wasn't a day too soon. Here are my pictures, which as I write this, are still uploading. Many are still missing descriptions and names... but hey, there were a few hundred of them.

www.flickr.com

There was quite a bit to see. It was an interesting mix of amazing newness and dreadful sameness. "New" toys are far and few between as the line gets bigger and bigger, and we're seeing dozens of new figures with maybe one or two out of every ten being something other than a twist on something one already has. The awe-inspiring Pit of Carkoon set is simultaneously amazing and one of Habsro's least inspired sets. Sure, you get the Skiff. Yes, you get the pit, finally, for the first time ever. But it's packaged with 5 figures which were already packaged together in a Battle Pack a few years ago, none of which collectors were particularly clamoring for. As such, it's a triple-dip and I can't say that's entirely welcomed. I know certain things have to be done to maintain tooling costs, but c'mon, we just bought this set.

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!

Q&A: Street Dates, More Street Dates, and 7/26

2008-07-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

Dejarik! Street Dates! Launches! We've got a one-track mind this week, with a few diversions to other tracks. With so much stuff hitting stores and selling, our attention naturally goes to the whole 7/26 launch and how it is-- and isn't-- working. Click through to read the whole article!

1. While stopping by Walmart today to see if they had finally decided to restock their Star Wars pegs, I was taken by surprise when I saw a slew of new figures; Vader with the cool 2-piece mask, the new Ewoks, the whole "sand storm scene" bunch, Yarna, and many more in the new "clone face" packaging!

I was very excited to be seconds away from purchasing them, just because I haven't seen "new" figures in a while, and I was pretty thrilled about the build-a-droid concept too! (Finally, a useful pack-in!) BUT, to my dismay, as I presented them to the cashier (who at least was courteous & sympathetic to my situation), the scanner simply said "Do not sell".

I thought it must have been some sort of joke! They finally put out new figures, but wouldn't sell them to me! The lady tried, and tried to scan them, but no price appeared, only "do not sell"!

Has this happened to anyone else? I have already wrote-off Target for raising their prices, now Walmart is playing tricks on me. I'm very discouraged now.

Even if they were put out before the release date, which I've found stuff ahead of time in the past, but I've never seen a "do not sell" come up.

Is this something new Hasbro has created to ensure stores comply with release dates? It just feels so unfair to be "toyed" with like that!
--BJ

This does indeed happen-- I've even had a similar problem with a Transformers exclusive a few years ago. I read it's available at a specific store on a Transformers forum, and after work, I go there to get it. There's a big sign for it, a price thing for it, and piles of them. And they refuse to sell it, despite the fact someone bought one earlier and shared the receipt with the world. So what can you do?

I personally feel that if something is on the shelf on the floor, that's an offer to sell it. The average consumer is unaware of things like toy street dates, and if you stumbled on a DVD or game early, you can be damned sure that they'd sell it to you. Unless, of course, there's been a recall, or the item has a clear warning on it like "This is alcohol, and you are not 21." I don't like to be a hassle for toy store employees, but when it comes to stuff like this, I have no problem being a total pain in the ass. Once the item is made available to you, you need to be allowed to buy it-- period. If they don't sell it to you, they need to make it up to you. These are outcomes to this experience which I have personally experienced or have had relayed to me over the past nine years of writing this column:
1. Befuddled employee looks at you and says "how much is this supposed to be?", rings it up, and lets you have it.
2. Store refuses to sell item and won't explain why. Customer moans and demands to see the manager until satisfied, which may result in a free in-store gift card, being allowed to get the item to shut them up, or nothing at all.
3. Once item is scanned at price scanner, an employee rushes out of nowhere and immediately begins dumping stuff in cart as if some alarm went off somewhere so nobody else gets it.

When it comes to getting items out of the back, I can understand why stores have their policies to not root through cases until they find the figure(s) I want. But once it's on the store? You don't have to take any crap from anybody. It's not your problem, it's an offer to sell you a product-- and if nothing else, I would say you need to demand a gift card or sale of the product.

Of course, I have an agenda-- I think street dates for toys are a load of crap and need to be done away with. Stores will always-- ALWAYS-- make a mistake and items will get out. Movie, book, music, and video game release dates have been consistent for years-- new stuff is typically put out on Tuesday. Toy release dates happen, generally, no more than once or twice a year. And I can also say that a lot of the cases for these products are not marked with any date restrictions. How is an employee supposed to know he can't sell me Wave 2 Titaniums if, nowhere on the box, does it indicate they shouldn't be sold?

I know some of you have told me you like release dates. You're in the wrong here. This whole thing is a PR stunt so people can write stories about it for the paper or local news and we can be used as part of the marketing for our own hobby. These sort of things place a level of importance on this sort of consumer product which, frankly, it doesn't deserve. It's also worth noting I went to 3 Targets on my drive home on Friday, 2 of which had nearly complete Clone Wars displays set up and filled with product. Not everything, but a lot of things. This is yet another reason why street dates do not work.

2. im just kind of concerned about getting the at te and falcon on july 26th the reason is , i gave the dpcis for target and now they say the street date for there stores are 8/3/08 which kind of shocks me because i thought all major retail was suppose to get them on7/26. I believe toysrus midnight madness might be alright to track them down but i dont know why Ma and Nh targets are saying thats when the'll be put out i dont know if thats the same everywhere or is just target stores. Do you know anything about this? Im hoping toysrus in manchester Ct will have them both. I spoke with a employee and over the phone and said there suppose to have the falcon that event.
--Paul

The Millennium Falcon started being sold by Toys "R" Us Canada a month ago, and I found AT-TEs in a Wal-Mart on July 9. It's possible some stores may not have all the toys on 7/26 (lord knows this always happens) so you may need to stop at multiple locations of a store or multiple stores to find everything you need on 7/26. Some employees will make up a date to screw with fans. As such, go to the store anyway and if they refuse to sell it to you, let them know that Wal-Mart and other stores will be happy to take your money.

3. Any idea why there's so much stuff getting repacked for the 7/26 Clone Wars launch? I can't remember this ever happening with the line debuts for the other movies. In fact, unless I'm compeltely mistaken, I don't think there were ANY repacks for the prequel midnight madness events.
--R. J.

There were very few. For Episode I, Hasbro repackaged the STAP in new packaging-- the line itself was a complete reboot and no new Original Trilogy products were sold for several months. The Attack of the Clones/Saga relaunch was also a total reboot, and the repacks didn't come for a while-- but a few items, like the Jedi Starfighter, were still available. Revenge of the Sith had a lot of retools and repaints, but very few repacks.

This time around, it seems Hasbro was blindsided by the theatrical release of The Clone Wars as it came a little late in the development cycle. Much like the Original Trilogy Collection of 2004, it seems (key word: seems, I haven't confirmed this with Hasbro) that the company was in a rush to put together an entire line for a summer release date and this is what they came up with. Given Legacy Wave 2 was delayed from this Spring, and we saw no new products released for months, this seems to be what happened here.

It is extremely baffling as to why they want to include Legacy as part of a launch event for a new film. Considering the press and hype for the Falcon, I can get why that one item is getting special attention. But Luke in a scarf? Really? It would seem that while it makes no sense to us, it has to do with trying to keep things simple for retail-- just hold back everything, and that way, stuff from the new project won't get out early.

Unfortunately, it's always-- ALWAYS-- possible to get this stuff early if you try. For Saga, I was driving around a month before the release and picked up several figures early. For Revenge of the Sith, numerous Wal-Marts just put the stuff out and don't care. This time around, I'm seeing scores of items at Wal-Mart and Fry's Electronics, of all places. While I personally agree with the idea that repacks make the line look bigger, and it's great to give the new people coming in a shot at some of this stuff, it's a safe bet a lot of it is going to clog pegs quickly.

...well, maybe not. I mean, the Saga Legends line does OK, and the 4 repacks in the build-a-droid waves-- Battle Damaged Vader, the EVO Trooper, Commander Gree, and the Kashyyyk Trooper-- all have been consistent sellers around my neck of the woods. I'm sure it'll probably be just fine, for now at least. In short, it all boils down to kids not knowing what half this stuff is and it's all new to them, and the fair-weathered collectors who only collect at these Midnight Madness things because they have no idea there's more new stuff to come. I've been in stores and heard people ecstatic that they were finally making Star Wars figures for the first time in years... uh... what?

4. You know what would be awesome? A wave of figures based on the Dejarik holochess creatures. Or beast packs, whatever... The could be designed as actual characters in the same scale and style as regular figures. Hasbro could even include (or reissue as a repaint) a version that was translucent so you could make your own actual size holochess set. Good idea, huh? Tell them to do it.
--Antoine

Well, I've been lobbying for this for a while-- at this point I'm going to need fans to assist me so they won't think it's just the ravings of a single madman hoping to get his favorite figures made again. So step up, fanboys and fangirls, be sure to mention the Dejarik monsters-- specifically the Mantellian Savrip-- every chance you get.

5. After a long drought of Padme figures, there is a good number of them coming out this year, with a few more rumored to be on the way. But in a recent Hasbro Q&A, Hasbro stated that they are want to get out one per year from now on. I think that if Obi-Wan, who has one costume, gets 3 or more figures a year, Padme, with almost 40 costumes, deserves the same number if not more. What do you think about Padme? Does she deserve more figures, and if so which costumes would you like first?
--luedersb

From a fan perspective, it always makes sense that a company go and make every unique outfit. From a production perspective, sales are king-- and it makes sense to follow the dollars. Despite being pretty much all the same, Hasbro has managed to crank out multiple versions of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the exact same costumes year after year, and they are consistently big sellers. Kids know Obi-Wan, as do fans, and will shell out the money to get him. Padme, on the other hand, tends to not do as well but it's hard to say entirely if this is customer's fault or Hasbro's fault. When faced with poorer sales, Hasbro would say "well, people aren't buying up Padme figures, so we better not make as many per year."

Problem is, very few have been made as of late and it's hard to say if that's really an issue of "the market has spoken" or Hasbro just not making enough great products. By my count, we had preggers Padme in 2005 (which didn't sell all that great and was brought back in 2006 and can still be bought today), and this pretty much ruined things. The much more colorful, eye-catching costumes haven't been around in ages and one of the things Transformers designers always go on about is the importance of color. Kids see a figure and say "I want the green one" or "I want the blue one" a lot of the time. If the only individually carded Padme figure available over the past three years was a pregnant, oddly painted, earth-toned release, it seems we're dealing with one of those fancy-pants self-fulfillng prophecies. To make things worse, this year's only confirmed Padme figure is a resculpt of a Target exclusive that went on such extreme clearance that I could have bought dozens of the entire Battle Pack she came in for under $5. Sadly, it seems less like Hasbro is ignoring fan requests, but is ignoring the fact that their choices for figures aren't exactly the best possible ones to inspire sales of the character.

To armchair-quarterback things, I'd say Hasbro should crank out at least 1 or 2 "gown/dress" Padme figures to see how those do before putting her in the one-per-year category. It seemed to me the Amidala figures from Power of the Jedi did well, and were quite distinctive. The weird make-up, unique dresses, and (somewhat) interesting colors made these figures really stand out, especially the super-cool Theed one which I still hold as one of my all-time favorite action figures. If Hasbro wanted to do well with Padme as a character, they would need to be slightly better about which outfits get released, and how they get released. As it is, it seems that this year's selections may very well continue the character's position as a poorly selling release. Which is unfortunate.

FIN

It seems a lot of stores have thrown up their arms over the street dates issue-- stuff is selling, and briskly. Wal-Marts and Targets here in Los Angeles are putting stuff out, as are Fry's Electronics. Everybody-- and I mean everybody-- put out Transformers Animated early as well, so maybe we're seeing stores basically say "screw it" and move on. (I will say, too, that some cases are not stamped with 7/26 markings-- I've seen at least a few Titanium assortments with no such restrictions.) I just want people to sell stuff, period. Of course, this probably means I've already missed the 7/26 exclusives, and since I'll be at Comic-Con, odds are if I ever get Commander Fox or Holo Grievous, it'll be down the road after fan interest-- and prices-- are reduced greatly. Ah well.

Speaking of new stuff, I spent about three or four hours Saturday trying to get one of my toy display areas in order. I haven't really done a good job keeping on top of it since 2005, and we're about due for a cyclone of new stuff to hit. So, with any luck, I'll have it more or less in good shape soon. I won't, but it makes me feel good to think I will.

I spent a chunk of the weekend getting ready for next week. As the only regular poster on Galactic Hunter at Comic-Con, uh, well, I don't know what to tell you to expect in the way of coverage. Odds are I'll do some bits and pieces for you but I'm going to be in a lot of meetings and doing podcasts for work (you see, as someone who works in the industry, I don't get to go to shows to cover/enjoy them except as an afterthought). So you might be seeing more up-to-the-moment coverage elsewhere, but if you want to know what I saw and why I hate it, be sure to check this very site over the coming weeks.

I also spent a lot of time looking for more tackle boxes. I found another brand I like, finally, and it's priced right too. So yeah, wasn't easy, it seems someone is beating me to the stores and cleaning most of them out before I buy them all. (If you weren't aware, nothing is better for storing action figures than a clear plastic tackle box-- if you can find the right make and model. I thank/blame current/former? SW fan Ryan Silva for this knowledge.)

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!

Star Wars Galactic Heroes Exclusives Return, No Longer Exclusive

2008-07-20T17:21:00.001-07:00

Since stores are ignoring street dates, we're getting an advance glimpse of the returning Galactic Heroes "scene" sets. We've spotted two former Target exclusives at Wal-Mart and, of course, Target. One includes Jabba the Hutt and his palace, with Bib Fortuna, a new Luke figure, and all the other guys you had a chance to buy late last year. The other features the X-wing Fighter as well as Luke, R2-D2, Leia, and Biggs-- which is just Wedge with a moustache. If you missed these, stop paying a premium for them on eBay because they'll be in a store near you this week. Unless you live somewhere Hasbro hates, in which case, good luck.

Blank Mighty Muggs figure from Hasbro

2008-07-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Mighty Muggs fans, take note: Hasbro is now selling what they so eloquently call a MIGHTY MUGGS Blank White. For $9.99, it's blank, it's white, and presumably, you can use it to make any character your talent allows. Neat!

Variation Watch: Evolutions Boba Fett

2008-07-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, Hasbro informed us that The Fett Legacy action figures would return later, in new packaging, with a fixed paint job for Boba. The missing chest logo was to be restored, which it was-- sort of. While I have a corrected one in my collection right now, I saw at least two with the original, incorrect, missing logo at Target this evening. As such, be sure to examine any The Legacy Collection Mandalorian-based sets before making a purchase if this variant matters to you. Happy hunting!

Eyes On Target: The Clone Wars

2008-07-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Target stores, surprise surprise, are ignoring the big 7/26 street dates. I've seen Commander Fox dress-up kits, entirely full endcap displays, and tons of figures, vehicles, blasters, evolutions packs, and more. If you want stuff, and were going to wait until next weekend, don't-- start hunting now!

Padme Amidala Legacy has Weird Garment

2008-07-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

Do you know what this is? I sure don't.

I lucked out and got a Padme Amidala Legacy set in the Evolutions line tonight. I like it-- it's pretty nice. It includes a pre-Senate Gown figure (shown holding the garment), a dressing gown figure with one of the best Padme head sculpts ever, and a pretty awesome remake of the white jumpsuit from Attack of the Clones. But the thing is, I can't figure out what this cloth bit is for. It's a little small and seems hard to put on any of the figures. Is it supposed to be a hospital gown? Am I supposed to use this to recreate Padme in labor from Revenge of the Sith? I really have no idea, and the packaging is of little help. I don't even know which side is the front, to show you how astute I can be when shown a new figure. It doesn't fit them easily and I'm not even sure who it's supposed to go with.

Anyway, the set is pretty cool, but dang if I know what to do with this thing. Junk drawer, ahoy!

EDIT: Apparently it is the ROTS hospital gown, but it doesn't really fit at all. Well, how wonderful.

Star Wars Legacy Collection Poster Revealed

2008-07-17T19:44:00.001-07:00

Site StarWars.sg just posted a poster showing all of The Legacy Collection through what seems to be wave 4. New confirmations (which we've seen leaked) include:
Clone Trooper (Coruscant)
Yaddle & Even Piell
Jodo Kast
Saleucami Clone Trooper (repackaged Commander Neyo)
Holographic Count Dooku
Imperial Engineer (repackaged Death Star Gunner)
Stass Allie
Commander Faie
General Grievous
Bail Organa
Breha Organa
FX-6

Click here to see it.

Hasbro The Clone Wars: Revealed!

2008-07-16T19:29:00.001-07:00

No, really! This isn't stuff you've already seen at retail! (OK, so a lot of it is-- but there's new stuff too!) It may even be vaguely spoilerish as it reveals new characters appearing in The Clone Wars, so click through to starwars.hasbro.com at your own peril. The whole site has been redesigned, and there's information on some new exclusives. Trust me, that part, you're going to want to see. (But again, beware spoilers.)

Diamond Exclusive Star Wars Crimson Empire Action Figure Set Exists

2008-07-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Color me surprised! But just be sure to color me. Diamond has posted word of a new exclusive gift set, this time focusing on the Crimson Empire flashback scene in which we see Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax in training. Click through for a look at this item at Entertainment Earth, who has posted pictures, pricing, and availabilit.

Q&A: Droids, Mighty Muggs, and More!

2008-07-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

So you like Mighty Muggs-- is Hasbro in danger of running out of A-grade characters for the line? Did you make a mistake by not buying Force Unleashed Figures now that they're all on sale? And is it true that vintage figures are a ripoff? (Answer: yes.) All this and more awaits you in today's Q&A!

1. I like the Mighty Muggs. I've collected the core characters from the OT and they make a nice little niche collection. Once there is a classic Obi-wan and possibly an Artoo mold I don't see myself collecting the line any longer. This is a problem for Hasbro! What can they do keep me buying Muggs??? The answer is Mini Muggs! These would be half the size, half the price, and possibly blind packed. The possibilities are endless for chase figures and variants! I don't have the space nor desire to collect all of the Star Wars universe in Mighty Mugg form, but if they were mini I would love a Bossk, Wicket, Ponda Baba, and many more. I think this is a great idea for Hasbro to exploit us! (If you use this idea, Hasbro, you owe me a case or two!)
--Rob

Mighty Muggs as a concept seems to be a way to bridge the whole Urban Vinyl craze with pushing people who aren't normally toy buyers to buy into toys. As such, Hasbro's key here is to focus on major characters from all of its licenses, or even new ones. It's a great low-cost product to develop, as many of the figures use no new tooling and rely on new paint from release to release.

I admit these turned out to be much more popular than I expected, and turned out a lot nicer too. Minor characters would be great, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Admiral Ackbar act as a test for more minor characters. Additional bounty hunters seem like a sure thing for a future exclusive, if not the regular line. I'd expect to see the line go at least another year or three, but hopefully they'll slow down a little and keep the majors in circulation because really, why the heck not sell more Darth Vaders? Ponda Baba might be a tough sell, but I don't think I'd pass up a chance to buy, say, a Jawa. There's a lot of opportunity here and I sincerely doubt Hasbro is going to ignore it. (But blind packed? Mini figures? Man, I hope not.) Size isn't a huge factor to cost, but deco, tooling, articulation, accessories, things like that can add a lot to a figure. You can make a 24-inch rotocast figure and retail it for about the same price as a 6-inch convention exclusive. While volume can have an effect on freight costs, the size of a figure doesn't have a huge impact on the price of the figure, but the little complex bits of it certainly do. I think a $10 Mighty Mugg is a good fit, a "mini mugg" would probably cost $7-$8 and be significantly more irritating to collect.

2. So I haven't bought any of The Force Unleashed figures (except the rancor) on the off chance I don't like the game. Are these going to be available in later waves around the time the game is released?
--Nils

First of all, run, don't walk, to Target. Numerous stores (but not all of them) have basic figures for 30%-50% off, and this includes a number of the Force Unleashed basic line. You won't get a lower price on these, so you should track them down today. Seriously, as figures go, they're pretty cool-- and for four bucks, you can always throw them at a sibling if you decide you made a bad buy.

It's possible Hasbro will release more in the future, but so far we've only seen Darth Vader (damaged) and the Evo Trooper in Legacy Collection packaging. It doesn't mean we can't expect more-- frankly, I'd be shocked if they didn't double-dip the Secret Apprentice-- but it's hard to say what will ship. As Hasbro is not officially releasing that information just yet.

3. In reading the most recent Hasbro Q&A, Hasbro states we are well over a 1000 figures and as such it is too late for a 1000th figure. Is it possible, and even more importantly appropriate, we could get an 1138th figure?
--DARKPOWERS

Depending on how you count-- and Hasbro's counts have been very inconsistent-- we're long past 1,400. Sometimes Hasbro included multi-packs, and sometimes not. It's something Hasbro could celebrate, but I think as the numbers go up it isn't in Hasbro's best interests to remind people just how big the line is. Saying to collectors "buy this to celebrate the 2,000 other figures you've bought" seems like a recipe for disaster. 300 isn't bad, neither is 500... but saying "oh yeah, you've got 1,000 of these" seems like it might remind fans how much money and space is going to their hobby, which may cause them to rethink their hobby. I think it'd have been cool to do, but a 1138th figure is very in-jokey. Granted, it's a big in-joke which most fans get, but since Hasbro sells tens or hundreds of thousands of these things, it may not be the best move for their budgets.

4. I'd really like to collect the VOTC figures to display in their carded and cased glory but some of the first releases were so poor I cannot bring myself to really get going on it (Obi-Wan, Tatooine Luke.) Do you think it's possible that Hasbro would just do a mulligan on those, ignore they were ever made, and make better ones and release as replacements with the same card and all?

Also, regarding the VOTC figures, I find that the warning sticker right on the insider front of the case about small parts and what not ruins the aesthetic of displaying these and unfortunately the only way to peel them off is to bust into the case, probably destroying any value the figures might have if in 20 years I feel like selling them. Do you know what possessed Hasbro to put these in such a conspicuous spot?
--Phil

The vintage line was a scam. Charging $10 for a $7 figure-- and in some cases (C-3PO) the figure isn't even good enough to justify $7-- just goes to show that Hasbro can dress things up and we'll line up and fork over the cash. Seeing as we got Wal-Mart exclusives of Hoth Han (the vintage figure, with an extra droid and droid parth) and X-Wing Luke (ditto, plus superior paint on the costume), I really hope fans agree that they are a rotten deal. That said...

The 2006 and 2007 Vintage lines didn't do so great. I can still buy figures from both around my rounds, and I live in a fairly populous area. The line is a terrible value, especially when compared to the Evolutions pack or the $7 basic figure, and a lot of fans figured this out. The whole jewel-case-with-overpriced-figure-thing seems to have not worked, and it's my hope that retailers demanded they not bring them back. There's practically no long-term value here due to the hoarding and the fact that they shipped in mostly even cases, so it's not like any were really all that hard to get. Sales didn't warrant a 2008 line-- Hasbro rarely "rests" concepts that are a license to print money-- so I wouldn't expect much from Vintage in the near future unless the entire line took on a "vintage" look, like the spiffy 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe packaging. Which rocks, and is cheap.

If you're really that concerned about mucking up your existing figures for display, buy another set. They're really not that expensive on eBay these days. I can appreciate not wanting to damage a carded figure to present it in a pleasing way, but there's really not much you can do without slicing the tape/cutting the seals and going from there. I think Hasbro wanted to be sure to design the packaging so that fans wouldn't confuse it for a genuine 1980s product, but who knows. I'm glad the tray is there to distinguish them in a blink of an eye.

5. What do you think our chances are of Hasbro making a super articulated Episode 3 Darth Vader? I'm talking of course of the iron lung Vader. I know I'm in the minority of people that want this version (probably), but I really like the look of the suit used in Episode 3 and we have yet to get a screen accurate Episode 3 Vader with super articulation. I also know that we've been flooded with Vaders and most are more than excellent, but I know I'm not alone in my Vader obsession(Lucas could have told me the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker with sock puppets and I would have been pleased!!!). I just really want a Vader to display proudly on my Episode 3 shelf instead of the sub par version with the stupid action feature. You think the Big H will ever get around to this?
--Frank

Without a doubt, it's something we will one day see. Hasbro is really hard up for new Vader concepts, and seems to be milking its current tooling library to its fullest extent. Since 2004, we've seen a few molds milked nicely. The Vintage mold from 2004 has been reused at least 4 more times, the 500th Vader mold has been reused for no less than 4 more uses, the Evolutions Vader has been repackaged and tweaked many times, including the 2008 basic carded release. Eventually, Hasbro is going to have to do a new mold, and since those three basically cover the original trilogy we're going to need to see a super-cool Prequel Vader eventually. It's going to happen, but I don't know when they'll get to it.

FIN

I got some new droids. Perhaps you'd like to see them.

I must say, I really like these little buggers and hope they crank them out for a while. Providing, of course, they can cycle in new and old pieces so people can actually build all the droids. The most surprising thing to me were the extra sockets on the astromech body. Not only are there a pair for the normal attachment of the legs, but there's an extra set, so you can give the barrel-shaped body arms AND legs for a change. What's more, C-3PX arms will fit onto the body, which now means I kinda hope I can find some of those $5 Wal-Mart Droid Factory sets the kids are talking about for those extra arms.

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!

Price Increase Looming for Star Wars Figures

2008-07-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

If you weren't already aware, there's a price increase coming to most if not all stores for the upcoming Legacy and Clone Wars collections. Target stores, for example, will be upping the price to $7.99 each. It's entirely possible a price war may come up again like with Revenge of the Sith to drive prices down, but I'm not hopeful.

Target Clone Wars Commander Fox Exclusive Figure

2008-07-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

What do you need to know about the new Commander Fox action figure?

1. This Target Exclusive action figure is expected to hit on or shortly after July 26, 2008 as a $12.99 Target exclusive.
2. Several pictures can be seen here.
3. The figure is seemingly the first animated kitbash. The head is the helmet head from Obi-Wan Kenobi*. The body is that of Captain Rex. The deco is, of course, unique to this figure.

*- Obi-Wan Kenobi from The Clone Wars does not have a removable helmet. Rather, he has a human head and a helmet head which can be swapped. The neck post is the same size on Captain Rex which should allow for easy customizing.

Q&A: Star Wars Legacy Collection Wave 1 Build-A-Droid

2008-07-10T23:40:00.000-07:00

After lots of speculation and questions as to who comes with what, I present to you the list. Each of Hasbro's new Legacy Collection Build-A-Droid action figures contain one part which allows you to build your very own astromech droid action figure. In future waves, protocol droids will be introduced. You've had a lot of questions, so let's answer them!

Q: Which droid parts come with which figures?

R4-D6
Dome & center leg: Battle-Damaged Darth Vader #GH3, Chewbacca #BD3
Body: Imperial Evo Trooper #GH4, Leektar & Nippet #BD4
Left leg: Han Solo #BD1, Commander Gree #GH1
Right leg: Kashyyyk Trooper #GH2, Luke Skywalker #BD2

R7-Z0
Dome & center leg: Darth Vader #BD8
Body: Bane Malar #BD7
Left leg: Ak-Rev #BD5
Right leg: Yarna D'al' Gargan #BD6

NOTE: So far all "first day of issue" foil variants I've seen correspond to the above list as well.

Q: Can I use parts from one droid to make another "frankendroid?"

Yes you can! Each limb is totally swappable, as is the dome. I also noticed additional holes which are big enough to fit protocol droid legs, and the "shoulder" sockets look like they can hold C-3PX' limbs. As such, if you wanted to build a protocol droid with an astromech center, that seems completely doable. Oh, and you can also add extra astromech droid to those lower holes I mentioned before, allowing the droid to stand taller, or walk on "all fours." There's a lot of potential for fun with this design.

Q: Do the build-a-droid figures hold together well or will they fall apart easily?

From the samples I've played with, they seem to hold together nicely. I can't say for sure if they will continue to do so after lots of plugging and unplugging, but so far they fit nicely.

Q: Is it true that Hasbro will be phasing out the droids after each wave?

Based on their Q&A answers which they send to fan sites, it seems that way. This would probably help push out pegwarmers, and would mean really popular figures could potentially come with a half dozen different pieces over the course of the line. I'm not particularly fond of this because, frankly, I wouldn't mind having lots of spare R7 domes to add to R4 bodies to make even more droids.

Q: What comes in a case?

So far it seems enough pieces to build three complete droids. It's unknown if this will change as time goes on, or as case ratios change. Hasbro's Q&A indicated it wanted to ship enough pieces for several complete droids, but it's possible if extra Darth Vaders ship in a case, there may be extra domes. Oh, and in case you didn't notice above, in wave 1, 2 of the 3 domes come with a Darth Vader figure.

Q: How are the droid pieces packaged?

Almost exactly like the 2006 The Saga Collection holographic bonus figures-- there's a little white tray on the back of the card, plus some tape and two tabs holding it in. This makes it harder to rip open and steal the piece without causing a scene, and it's not supremely easy to slice it open. Hopefully this will discourage in-store pilferage.

Q: Am I going to want the droids?

If you went ga-ga over Wal-Mart's recent repaints, yes, very much so. If droids are boring to you, you can save your money. I think most collectors are going to enjoy them, especially the colorful ones appearing in wave 2 later this year.

Ad: FX Lightsaber In Stock, Halo 3 Wave 2 Available, & More!

2008-07-09T21:06:00.001-07:00

Ad: Lots of new goodies are at Entertainment Earth! Order the new Diamond exclusive TIE Fighter, and EE's own Mystery Figures! Don't miss the FX Lightsaber Construction Set! And just arriving now are Halo 3 Series 2 and coming soon are action figures of Barack Obama and John McCain! Click through for pricing, images, and availability. (And don't forget the new G.I. Joes!)

Clone Watch: AT-TE & More!

2008-07-09T19:56:00.001-07:00

In today's toy run news, I spotted the AT-TE, electronic blasters, $20 vehicles, Galactic Heroes, and more at a Los Angeles-area Wal-Mart on retail shelves. What kind of broken street date finds are you seeing? Let us know!

Q&A: The Clone Wars, Pack-Ins, Clones Galore!

2008-07-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

How long until Hasbro runs out of Clone ideas? Which new vehicles' pack-in figures are unique? And will Hasbro make enough clones to stuff your AT-TE? All this and more in this week's Q&A!

1. Can you possibly tell me which of the following figures, to the best of your knowledge, are either straight repacks, retooled, kitbashed, or repainted in any way:
1) Darth Vader from the SDCC Disturbance in the Force exclusive set
2) Clone Trooper pack-in(from the AT-TE)
3) Han Solo and Chewbacca(from the BMF Millenium Falcon)
--Chris

Why yes, yes I can!

Long-time fans will recognize the Darth Vader as having been sold in 2004 as the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection version of the character. And again in 2006 as the version in the collector tin. And again, also in 2006, with Target's exclusive Imperial Shuttle. Oh, and in 2008, with the Attack on Kashyyyk Battle Pack. In short, you probably have this one.

The AT-TE Clone Trooper is, as far as I can tell, a slight redeco from the normal animated style Clone Wars release in that it has an extra few marks on his side. I haven't got a really good look at it in person yet, but from the pictures I can tell that there seems to be something on it. Which, of course, may change.

Han Solo and Chewbacca from the new Millennium Falcon are each repacks. Han is based on his 2007 carded release, while Chewie is the 2005 Early Bird Kit version.

2A. Looking at the photo of the CW gunship, it appears to have closed up sides, without the big bay openings that all the other releases have had. Could Hasbro be adding a couple of pieces on each side, to close up the ship for this release? From an in-universe perspective, I would guess this version could be used outside the atmosphere, dropping from an orbiting star destroyer (or whatever the Republic called them). Pure conjecture, but I bet the new sides would likely be pop-in/pop-out and be molded to serve as side ramps when removed. Just a thought.
--Georgia Jedhead

2B. What are the chances that the newly announced Gunship exclusive to Walmart will be available online through their page? I get the feeling I know the answer to this one, yet I am hopeful. I just HATE going there (and out of principle have stopped purchasing anything Star Wars related there).
--Jorge

So far, only the packaging has been revealed, and that has a computer generated illustration on the front of the box. Since the 30th Anniversary Collection, Hasbro has taken a shining to using altered images of the toys, or digital models loosely based on the toys on the front of the box. This lead to much speculation that the 2007 releases of the Darth Vader's TIE Fighter and the various Jedi Starfighters would be new molds or retooled, and this was not the case. You'll also notice that the Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator vehicle doesn't have all the moving bits and mechanisms on the illustration on the front, either. So at this time, it seems extremely unlikely that we will see new tooling used on the upcoming exclusive Wal-Mart Republic Gunship.

As to the website, that remains to be seen. Wal-Mart has taken a pretty scattered approach to what exclusives get sold online, but I think what you really need to do is remember that in the store or online, or even from a scalper, Wal-Mart is still ultimately getting your money. If you have one in your area, and you want it, suck it up and shop there-- if you buy it from a scalper, or from their web site, you're still ultimately shopping Wal-Mart and giving them the money.

3. Alright, I think Hasbro's love affair with the Clones has finally reached the
point of ridiculous. I came to this realization after seeing the new pics over
at JediDefender. The Commander Fox figure is fine; we've at least got some new
troopers (with interesting designs) for him. However, the pictures of the 212th
and 501st trooper actually made me laugh. The 212th clone is semi-excusable,
since we haven't gotten a Phase-I clone with orange paint. The 501st trooper, on
the other hand, is nothing short of ridiculous. I'd personally just save myself
the money and scrape the blue dots off of a clone lieutenant figure. What do you
think of all this? And how many clones is too many?
--Jake

Fans have been saying this for years, and so far, the free market says that fans love them. True or not, you've spoken with your dollars, and every Clone you buy says to Hasbro "yes, please, sell me more!" As long as they're new and interesting, and Hasbro's way to cash in and recoup costs while developing other, more interesting figures with new sculpts, I think they can probably safely crank them out for a while. Fans can rationalize them as different enough up to a point, although if it weren't for the transition to this new animated style, we might be starting to run out of ideas. Of course, the problem here is that it's a safe bet that anything that comes out in the cartoon style will be asked for, if not outright demanded, in movie style.

The whole thing is goofy. The Clone Wars' 212th and 501st Clones are orange and blue, respectively, and have the "incorrect" stripe-- you'll note that the action figures and Galactic Heroes of both are lacking the color on the foreheads. Interesting, no?

I'd expect to see Clones in a number of colors, as we haven't seen multiple shades of green, a black-striped trooper, or anything like that yet. Hasbro has a long way to go before it even has to come up with a new stripe pattern for the armor.

4. Do you think The Clone Wars is finally the avenue we need to get a full case of plan white clones?
If not how many times do you think they with reissue this figure, it looks great? I would think that if they say the new ATTE holds 30 figures then they certainly better make 30 of them available to buy right!

Here's a movie question for you, Why do you suppose this animated movie looks more like the classic Star Wars yet the prequels pale in comparison. What did this guy Dave say to George to convince him to, in my opinion make it look way better and a little bit more familiar to us old guys?
--Chad

It's extremely unlikely Hasbro will ever do a solid packed case of an army builder for the reason that depending on who you ask, it's likely to sit around in many markets. I'm sure in major cities with millions of people, it'd do OK, but a lot of the Stormtroopers and Clones sat in some smaller markets and are now reaching clearance, if those of you who write to me and tell me things are to be believed. As such, it isn't necessarily in Hasbro's best interests to sell them by the case, but given the ubiquitous nature of the trooper, it would make sense to sell more of them. Also, for those people willing to spend that much to fill the AT-TE, I have no doubt that Hasbro plans on collectors already having 30 Clone Troopers of some flavor around the house. (And I think it's 20, actually.)

As to the movie, uh, what? I respectfully disagree. Some of the designs are just as goofy as anything else you'll see in the saga, from the Wolfman at the bar in the original film to the army of teddy bears to Ben Quadrinaros. So far, everything we see looks fantastic, but you may recall everybody was really jazzed about the Phantom Menace teaser from 1998, which basically only showed really cool stuff too. Who knows what we aren't seeing yet? Maybe it'll be awesome. Maybe it'll suck. The good thing about TV is that as long as there's more good than bad, it'll still basically be good because there's always a new episode just around the corner.

...also, perhaps you've just gotten used to prequel designs. Most of the stuff I've seen so far seems to tie in much more closely to the most recent three movies, with the bulk of the characters coming straight from the last two flicks. The Jabba the Hutt tie-in is a nice touch, of course, but many of the vehicles come straight from the prequels or the previous Clone Wars series.

5. What do you think the chances are of Hasbro extending the Comic Pack line to novels? I really want an Admiral Daala figure and I'm thinking that although she was in five books, she never appeared in a comic and we won't get one.
--Keith

So far, Hasbro has been pretty set on the idea of Comic Packs including Comics-- not novels, not short stories, not DVDs with old cartoons or commercials or games, or anything else. It's two figures and a comic book for-- if my snooping around Target is correct-- about $13 these days. I would say if she appeared in more comics, Admiral Daala would be a pretty good candidate, but the performance of Deena Shan and Juno Eclipse have me thinking that we may have been quite lucky to get these two and future figures might be a tougher sell. But who knows what someone might get in a future exclusive, or in a new assortment, or as a character on a new TV show.

So I think novel 2-packs seems unlikely, unless Hasbro decides to some day drop the comic pack-in and just makes them some sort of figure 2-packs, which could happen some day. But I think the entire point is two figures and a comic, giving a visual representation of the character, and anything less wouldn't be quite as cool. Doesn't mean Hasbro can't ask Dark Horse to do up a comic with the characters of their choosing, though.

FIN

I did a lot of toy running this weekend (mostly as a result of a late-night "let's make video game characters out of LEGO session) and lo and behold, I found Clone Wars. Apparently lots of people are. I spotted Clone Trooper helmets at Wal-Mart and one or more cases worth of the new Galactic Heroes at Fry's Electronics. So once more, another stupid release date goes ignored by American shopkeepers with, frankly, other things to worry about. What kind of stuff are you guys finding? Any luck on the exclusive Clones? (Those are making me nervous.)

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!

Legacy/Clone Wars Galactic Heroes Available

2008-07-06T17:53:00.000-07:00

Broken street dates, ahoy! Popular electronics chain Fry's Electronics has the new white packaged figures like Jar Jar Binks & Destroyer Droid, Slave Leia & R2-D2, and Anakin Skywalker & Clone Trooper in at least some of its retail stores right now for a mere $7.99 a pop. Continued happy hunting to you!

The Clone Wars Clone Trooper Voice Changer Hits Early

2008-07-05T17:21:00.001-07:00

In my afternoon toy run, I spotted several Hasbro Clone Wars Clone Trooper Voice Changer Helmet toys at retail. Is it possible the 7/26 date is going to be ignored? The item had several phrases, all of which were activated by tiny, almost invisible buttons on the side of the helmet. It's shaping up to be an excellent toy!

Japanese Star Wars Nintendo Famicom Article

2008-07-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

The guys over at Nintendo Wii Fanboy posted a once-over of Namcot's (er, Namco) Star Wars game in their Virtually Overlooked feature. A few screen shots and box art await you, as well as a litany of complaints as to the game's design. But what you really want to see is the Darth Vader scorpion. Check it out!

Toys "R" Us Launches Blog with News, Midnight Madness, and Non-News

2008-07-01T23:08:00.001-07:00

In a move lots of people expected, Toys "R" Us posted a link to the few stores participating in the been there, done that "Midnight Madness" sale. In a move nobody saw coming, they posted it to a new blog which we figure will be abandoned in six to eight weeks. Click through for news on new LEGO exclusives, Hasbro exclusives they're claiming are new but are in fact available today, and a list of the stores doing the midnight thing.

Q&A: July's Almost Here!

2008-06-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

It seems Indy mania has subsided slightly, probably because we're all excited about next month's huge, ridiculous push for new toys and statues and stuff. We look at the Droid Factory, more exclusives, and yes, because you asked, realistic versions of Clone Wars characters. Read on, gosh darn it!

1. The EE Exclusive Astromech packs are amazing. Do you think you could get another set or two made because the first two sold so well? (well the first set is still in stock at Entertainment Earth, but set 2 is only available from Ebay and a few other e-tailers). Now Hasbro could use the R5-D4 mold to get us Red Leader's red and black astromech from ANH and even the R1-G4 mold or the build-a-droid R7. [edited for space] Which droids would you like to see in a new Astromech set?
--Mister XX.XX

As stated before, it's extremely unlikely that we'll revisit the Astromech packs concept-- for one thing, other stores are getting lots more droids, so it seems a sure thing that if there's an easy repaint to do, it will get done eventually. Also, you may notice that the item is still more or less available-- so while the demand was great and it sold well, it's still around. And it came out in 2006.

I've got a wish list for multiple droids I wanted to do back when this set was initially proposed, and many of them are already in production-- for example, I just got R2-T0 from Wal-Mart, which I never would have assumed Hasbro would make. My top choice-- and one I wanted to do for those boxed sets-- is R3-01, so hopefully we'll see that announced this year at some point. Thankfully Hasbro didn't do it, because now we might see a new, better mold used to make it than the R3-T7 mold which would have been used in 2006.

2. As Hasbro is set to unveil its Clone Wars line of figures based on the animated movie, do you anticipate realistic versions of the new animated characters like Captain Rex or Shaak ti like female jedi?
--David

In the short term, no. In the long term, perhaps-- if the figures show up as "real" in the comics, I think it'd be a safe bet. As Hasbro needs to make new figures in the basic line, it's entirely possible. But I wouldn't expect anything just yet, as putting out "realistic" and "cartoony" versions of anyone but top-top-top tier characters all at the same time would probably be bad at retail.

3. In your opinion, based on the SW figures that have been available for purchase since the line was re-introduced in 1995, which figure (or figures) and vehicle (or vehicles) have become the hardest to find since their initial release?
--Sean

While some variants are tough to get, and some exclusives like the 2002 Silver Darth Vader from Toy Fair New York are tough to get, really, nothing is all that scarce. Hasbro made these things in the thousands (or tens, or hundreds of thousands) and there are plenty to be had on eBay, Brian's Toys, flea markets, comic shops, conventions, and so forth. I mean, time helps-- people get bored and realize the "rare" figures they've been hoarding are being hoarded by hundreds of other fans, especially when they show up on clearance or at a dollar store. Prices change with demand, but honestly, in the digital age (if you have some money) there's virtually no such thing as a rare modern figure.

Patience-- but mostly short attention spans-- help "rare" and/or "valuable" figures to gradually become more available with time.

4. Do you think we will ever see Comic Packs that include figures such as Jorus C'Boath, Dash Rendar and Leebo or possibly a Guri or Noghri figure? I love the Comic Packs however there are two coming out this year with Fett-esque figures that look exactly the same! Am I the only person that wants a Admiral Daala or Splinter of the Minds Eye figures?
--psnitkin

I certainly hope so-- and depending on what the market demands in the next year, I think it's a safe bet that these will eventually make an appearance. Most comic packs that are more than just plain ol' humans do fairly well, so it stands to reason that major characters or weird looking individuals might sell well, depending on how Hasbro does it. I'd expect to see Fishing Vest Luke if we ever saw some of the Shadows characters you mentioned, but it's hard to say what Hasbro will dole out in the coming months.

5. With the build a figure concept being on tap for Star Wars this year, is there a possibility for the old droid factory playset to be released in the near future? It certainly goes along with the theme.
--DD

The name? Yes. The theme? Eh, kinda. The original playset is a real winner of a toy, but lacks a Star Wars-y feel by today's standards, as those other creations don't match anything we've seen in the saga all that closely. I do hope we see a droid factory, or something as the line continues because it might be fun and adaptable to a few scenarios. My guess is that the old tooling is shot by now, or lost to the ages, plus it's packed with choke-hazard parts that could be a problem. Don't hold your breath, but maybe we'll get lucky and some droid part-specific environment or accessories could come down the road. (But in all seriousness, no, we're not going to see a Droid Factory unless it appears on TV.)

FIN

That's all for now! Thanks for all your questions-- bonus editions of Q&A are likely to start popping up soon. I've got a lot of plates a-spinnin', so I can't say for sure if it'll be this week or in the future, but stay tuned for that. Lots of nifty new items showed up over the weekend, and I've got basically no idea if they're going to be exclusives or what. Isn't it fun? With the launch of an entirely new line less than a month away, I'd say this is about as much in the dark as we've ever been. Hopefully, if nothing else, we'll get some idea of who's going to have exclusives in July, and what they are. How else am I supposed to know which stores to beg my friends to stalk while I'm working at Comic-Con so I can make sure to get my junk?

(It'd be funnier if I was kidding.) Oh, and I spent a good chunk of Sunday looking for the new comic packs at Wal-Mart-- no luck there-- and then seeing Wall-E and playing Ticket to Ride as it was released this week. Good stuff, on those last two.

More next week. Or during the next week. I'm trying to get something special ready for you all on Friday.

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!

More Tokyo Toy Show Coverage

2008-06-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Site JapanStarWars.com has a lot of nifty new pictures up, including Hasbro's new Millennium Falcon, both USB hubs, and a Gentle Giant exclusive Spirit of Qui-Gon (or holographic Qui-Gon) mini bust too.

...and there's a Celebration Japan Blackhole Stormtrooper set of Chubby figures, but they're somewhat hard to see.

New The Clone Wars Action Figure Battle Packs

2008-06-29T09:39:00.001-07:00

Previously unannounced Battle Packs have been revealed at the Jedi Insider, featuring Obi-Wan and Yoda specific Clone Trooper squads based on the new animated series. Each features a Jedi and four troopers. There is no specific information confirming these are (or aren't) exclusives, and the clones have unique, previously unseen squad markings.

2008 Mexico Convention Hasbro Action Figure Exclusive

2008-06-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

The POTF2 Forums are showing of the Mexico-exclusive Coleccionistas III Clone Trooper set, limited to a paltry 350 pieces. That's the bad news-- the good news is that it's made up of the Airborne Trooper and Commander Bow figures from the 2007 Target exclusive Order 66 sets. Click through for more.

Revealed: Hasbro Legacy Evolutions Action Figure Packaging

2008-06-29T09:33:00.001-07:00

In a sign of what probably will be available on 7/26, site Yoda's News posted packaged shots of the new Padme Amidala Legacy set as well as repackaged Sith Legacy and Fett Legacy sets. Of note, Boba's chest logo has been restored.

Target Clearances: Exclusives and More

2008-06-28T09:27:00.001-07:00

It's worth noting that while Target stores are seemingly putting a lot of 30th Anniversary product on sale, the discount varies widely by location. We've been told of 50% and 75% discounts on the Battle Rancor, Order 66 sets, and basic figures, but have only seen a 30% discount at the most. Some stores have no discount at all yet. As such, happy hunting on Target's Funko and Hasbro Star Wars products!

Amazon Confirms New Action Figures?

2008-06-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

It would seem so! Amazon.co.uk has posted a number of as-of-yet unannounced figures, and Rebelscum has the lowdown and the links. As these line up with numerous rumor lists and confirmations, it seems we've got a safe bet at what we'll be seeing between now and the Fall.

Wal-Mart to get Clone Wars Republic Gunship Vehicle

2008-06-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

A packaged sample of what seems to be a repainted Republic Gunship for the Clone Wars line has shown up. It has a Wal-Mart exclusive sticker on it, which probably means pain and suffering for any who dare track it down. Check it out, yo.

R2-D2, Darth Vader USB Hubs

2008-06-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Not content with your boring old box? It seems that computer users can get a new R2-D2 USB Hub in Japan soon, and a Darth Vader version is coming as well. No word yet on when or if they're coming to the USA, but I'll post more as I find out.

Q&A: Shiny, Heavy Metal

2008-06-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Indiana Jones is still on everybody's mind, as are the hard-to-find recent final wave of Saga Legends. And what's the deal with the Droid Factory stuff hitting-- is there really a vac-metal R-3PO making the rounds? Read on!

1. There's been a photo of a vac-metal R-3PO floating around the web that supposedly is a variant in the Walmart Droid Factory 2-packs. Is it genuine?
--Mister XX.XX

Right now, there's no firm answer. As not one single fan has said they've found this in a 2-pack, and not one single fan has given up a picture (even a fake one) of a packaged sample, it's going to be tough to tell. It's possible to fake such a thing, and it's also possible it could be one of the infamous "lunchtime specials" out of the factory. That is, an item made by production line workers or management during "down time" for one reason or another that ends up funding their rent for a year when they sell it on eBay. Until Hasbro comes out and tells us what it is, or we see a packaged sample, it's going to be difficult to tell if it's legit. As I just got my R-3PO from Wal-Mart, as many others have, it seems unlikely to me that it's going to be shiny metal at some point soon.

Hasbro's recent Q&A implied the first protocol droids we would see would be based on the Death Star Droid frames, but these things could change-- it's possible this R-3PO could be a build-a-figure, or another character entirely released as an exclusive, a gift-with-purchase, or in some other way. We're just going to have to wait and see!

2. Due to aliens, robots, and the rainbow coalition fashion designer for clones, there appears to be an almost infinite number of action figures that Hasbro can make from the Star Wars franchise. What type of longevity do you think the Indiana Jones line will have in comparison? How many grubby Germans, Russians, or local thugs can Hasbro make?
--David

Depending on the rate at which Hasbro cranks out figures, it could be months or years. With repaints and repacks, we see 200 or more Star Wars figures in a year, but if Hasbro cranks out 50 or so Indy figures, it might get exhausted quickly. I'm sure the line will continue as long as fans throw down the cash, but that's the real trick-- will the brand thrive without the marketing push for a new movie?

I figure it's got 18 months essentially on credit. We'll probably see the line last through late 2009 without too much difficulty, but "Guy in Suit" figures are probably going to start becoming the most-requested figures, which will alienate kids, which is going to get old fast. The line still has lots of opportunity for growth, and I can see Hasbro wanting to keep doing it-- and the Joes, and everything else in 3 3/4-inch-- just to build up a ginormous mold library it can borrow from to make figures until the end of time. I mean, if you make a few decent guy-in-suit figures, that can be adapted to other properties Hasbro has, or will have in the future.

So in short, it's all up to you, and Hasbro's ability to properly determine the production run of each and every local thug and German and Russian. Make too many, you risk poisoning the line at retail, which kills it off real quick. Seeing where we're at as of Wave 3, it seems the core, quality figures could be done before we get to 2009.

3. Only wondering... it seems that the Targets in the OC area have not restocked with anything since I've been here. I'd been frequenting the closer locations at least once a day, sometimes at opening time, but have come out dry. In fact, in the three weeks that I've been here I've not purchased anything at Target except for the Kir Kanos/Carnor Jax Comic Pack (which I should have purchased from EE since these clear visors are awful- I thought about eBay but it's usually expensive and it seems the sellers don't typically indicate or know which version they have). Vehicles, Evolutions, and electronic lightsabers no longer have DCPI or item numbers on the shelves. I know Hasbro said that stores would begin phasing out the 30th Anniversary Collection this month, but like with most lines, this last Saga Legends wave has been an absolute nightmare for me to find. I found a single Shadow Stormtrooper before I left Texas, and I found one Utapau Shadow Trooper hidden under a shelf at a nearby Wal-Mart. (This Wal-Mart seems to have ROTS product that occasionally appears out of the blue... I saw a couple Jedi Starfighters and my boyfriend found a Boga with Obi-Wan under that same shelf recently.) Other than that, Toys 'R' Us seems to be the only store with a flowing stock of figures, but even then they haven't seemed to be restocking the more recent waves. As for my question... is there any information that points to these final Legends figures being re-issued in some capacity when the line reboots with The Legacy Collection/Clone Wars/Saga Legends? I still need to get my mittens on a Covert Ops trooper to go with my Mace Windu squadron, as well as Commander Neyo and a couple more Shadow Stormtroopers to protect my UV-ray-exposed Carnor Jax. If not, well, I guess I'll have to wait them out on eBay.
--Victoria

The final Saga Legends are a bit of a pain-- they ship at (mostly) one-per-case and a number of stores are backed up with older figures and aren't reordering the new ones. As such, there's a very good chance that they're "in the system" waiting to get dumped somewhere, like a Kay-Bee Toys or a TJ Maxx on clearance at some point in the future. I see them on occasion, but if you're hitting only one store every day, I would suggest widening your search. There are advantages to stalking a single store, but generally only in addition to checking out a few others. At one per case, these figures can be gobbled up by a single collector before you make it to the toy aisle-- if luck isn't on your side, at least checking out multiple stores can improve your odds, help you learn your new surroundings better, and potentially stumble on some great clearance finds.

4. The fine folk at Hasbro have stated again and again that there would be no "big" vehicle toys in the line unless they were featured in the upcoming "Clone Wars" animated series / cross-marketing orgy. The AT-TE appears in the trailer and "viola", we've got a sweet AT-TE coming our way to incinerate Barbie's® Dream House under the Christmas tree this year.

As there seem to rumblings of more big hunks of plastic coming our way AND seeing how Jabba's sail barge does appear in the new series (I spotted it in the latest trailer). Could we finally see Jabba's boss ride on the shelves of the local TRU? I've been patiently waiting since 1983 and it's not like there's any shortage of produced action figures to populate the thing (Heck, toss a recycled Slave Leia and bartender R2 in there, I won't complain).
--Todd

Based on its Return of the Jedi appearance, the Sail Barge had about 10 minutes of screen time, at the end of which it blew up. In sharp contrast, the Millennium Falcon had prominent appearances in three big movies, hundreds of comic books, dozens of video games, several novels, and so on and so forth. That, and what do we see the Sail Barge do? It's basically a set piece-- it hovers, and there are a few guns on it. As a toy, it's really, really, really unexciting once you get past the "OMG JABBA HAS A SHIP DROOOL" phase, which I'm still on, frankly.

So for the Sail Barge to be viable, it would probably need to have some action scenes and a lot more screen time. If the market for big, $100+ vehicles explodes this year and Hasbro has to come up with new items to sell us, there's a safe bet this could be on a list of new ships to consider. I like the design, I like the characters that use the vehicle, but we have to really consider that as a toy, pretty much anything a large slab of cardboard could do would be what the Barge could do. That, and there's the whole cost thing-- if Hasbro makes a big ship, it's a really ridiculous investment in R&D, tooling, approvals, and so forth. It would have to be an item that could be sold and re-sold for years, and had some level of kid appeal to drive sales, and unless The Clone Wars changes everything, I don't see this as an option you'll see considered for the high-end treatment.

5. Obviously the entire community of collectors is simply thrilled to be
getting the AT-TE and the BMF, and Hasbro has strongly intimated that
their production of further large vehicles depends heavily on how well
these first two sell.

As such, which retail store do you think collectors should purchase
these two from in order to make sure that they sell through? At
Christmas time Toys'r'Us is inundated with parents desperate to get
their kids something so I reckon TRU should be taken care of by them
so collectors should avoid getting theirs there. KayBee's will charge
more than the others for theirs so should we bite the bullet to make
sure they sell through? Target has a habit of losing patience and
putting things on clearance, which would be a complete disaster.

Thoughts? I want a Tantive IV!!!
--Phil

Basically, just buy it when you see it, or order it online. The important thing to do is make sure you're buying it, and helping stores to realize they should re-order and insist on carrying more, similarly sized items in the future. While I also want a Tantive IV I'm not too hopeful mostly due to the fact I can't see fans absorbing multiple huge ships, not just from a financial perspective, but after seeing some shots of the Falcon in a collector's room, space is a real concern. I'm not sure where or how to display it myself right now.

But yeah, buy buy buy. Hopefully you can find it!

FIN

I was lucky enough to find the Droid Factory sets over the weekend, but not Wal-Mart's new comic packs. Based on how the comic packs look, I might be OK with this. I must say the droids are excellent though, and for ten bucks a set these are one of the better exclusives in recent memory. And to think, I was figuring we wouldn't see much of anything fun before July 26 aside from leaks. It's almost a shame that the bulk of the astromech droids are only exclusives, as some of these could have made for some great figures. Although I gotta say Plo Koon's astromech might be a tough sell, it's still quite nice.

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!

Droid Factory Action Figures: The Whole Series, With Pictures

2008-06-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

To introduce American Star Wars fans to the build-a-figure concept which we've been asking for, Hasbro gave Wal-Mart a slick assortment of figure two-packs with a bonus part which builds C-3PX.

These sets are a mix of repaints, retooled figures, and reissues. So how are they, and can I write this up really quick so I can meet a friend for lunch? Let's find out.

#1: Plo Koon with R4-F5 (Revenge of the Sith-inspired)
Two repaints and a new limb. Plo Koon is based on the 2005 figure, but now includes a one-piece lightsaber and is painted differently. It's not better or worse, it's just different and a little more subtle. His sidekick, R4-F5, is inspired by the dome of the droid that appeared in his Jedi Starfighter in Revenge of the Sith and is based on the vintage R2-D2 mold. In case you were keeping track, the light-up eyeport is blackened, the pop-up sensorscope still works, the third leg is removable, and the panels are glued down. In short, it's a pretty great set for the money, even if you feel like a sucker for buying yet another Plo Koon.

#2: Darth Vader with K-3PX (Marvel Comics-inspired)
One repack, one retool, one new limb. Darth Vader, not surprisingly, is the 2005 basic figure released once again with no immediately obivous changes-- he still has eight points of articulation, a lightsaber, and a cloth cape, making him a prime figure to pilot your vehicles. His sidekick cames from a post-Empire Strikes Back issue of Star Wars from Marvel Comics, and sports an all-new torso and head with recycled limbs from the 2007 4-LOM figure. Overall, it's worth getting primarily for this unique Imperial protocol droid, which I believe is the very first new character to see a toy that originated from Marvel comics.

#3: Han Solo with R-3PO (from The Empire Strikes Back)
One retool, one repaint, and one new piece. Han Solo takes the 2007 "vintage" figure and paints it up to look awesome, with snow and added glove detail. There's a new head with his hood up, plus a removable visor which can be placed on his forehead or over his eyes. The figure is a significant improvement over the 2007 releases, and this is somewhat depressing as the set with the bonus figure and extra part retail for $0.03 less than that release. His droid companion is a candy red R-3PO based on the 2006 C-3PO Endor Throne mold. The bright red color seems more in line with the shots from the movie, but the 2003 R-3PO had a really killer paint job and top-notch sculpt which makes it seem even better than this release. So while it's worth getting just as another different-ish droid, the older one seems better.

#4: Kit Fisto with R4-H5 (Vehicle-inspired)
One repaint with an added cloak accessory, one redeco, one new piece. Kit Fisto has one of those new wire-enhanced Jedi robes that let you wrap the cloth garment around the figure or pose it in the wind, which is a nice bonus. The third release of this particular mold, Kit finally gets a much-needed deco enhancement because Hasbro painted him green instead of a fairly hideous brown with green highlights which always suggested to me that he was drying out and/or dying. So this is the best version yet of the mold, and is worth getting if you don't have any of the others. (And even if you do, it's still nice.) The Jedi's robot pal is R4-H5, inspired by the design of the dome on the 2006 Target exclusive Kit Fisto Jedi Starfighter vehicle. The original design is pretty gritty and is colored to look like a plate of vegetables-- a nice departure. Our new droid friend also gets a light coat of dust which does a lot to make him look a little more lively, and he's based on the same mold as R4-F5.

#5: Watto with R2-T0 (from The Phantom Menace)
Two repaints, one new piece. Watto takes the 1999 mold and improves on it several times over by decorating it to better match the film. There's not much to say other than Hasbro totally did it right and this kicks the tail of your older Watto. The figure has five points of articulation, and his wings are easily removed. Joining him from his junkyard is R2-T0, a filthy green and seemingly element-battered redeco of R4-G9 (which has been used as the basis for over a dozen other droids.) While he doesn't have the opened panels on his chassis as seen in the movie, the coloring is right and he still looks pretty great. As far as paint jobs go, this may be my absolutely favorite Astromech out of Hasbro to date. It's just really neat to look at, and it seems like it would be right at home in a pile of junk rotting in the desert, which is pretty much the point.

#6: Luke Skywalker with R2-D2 (from A New Hope)
One repaint, one remold, one new piece. Luke Skywalker is based largely on the 2006 release of the figure with a few changes. Yes, he still includes Darth Vader's lightsaber hilt, but on the bright side the ugly oddly grinning face seen in the pre-release photos was dropped in favor of the same head mold used a few years ago. This is a good thing. His grey straps are now silver, the "map" on his sleeve is painted, and there are a few other minor deco changes from the original, although it's worth noting the helmet is still bizarrely clean. Some weathering would have been really nice, and overall this figure looks better than the Vintage release from 2006 which actually cost $0.03 more. Odd, no? He's joined be a newly remolded R2-D2 based on the R4-G9 mold. His dome and body have exposed wires, opened panels, and blasted-off bits and pieces which make this look like a nonfunctioning droid. (Again, this is the point.) The paint job isn't as good as it could have been, as these damaged elements could really have benefitted from a little extra color here and there. Also, R2-D2's blue pieces are a little bit closer to a purple or indigo color, but it's not a dealbreaker. This is a stunning figure and yes, it's worth getting even if you don't care about the Luke it comes with. Get one, you won't be sorry.

Build-A-Figure C-3PX (from Droids comics)
One new figure from six sets. If you get the entire collection, you'll have enough spare bits to build your very own C-3PX, a protocol droid bounty hunter from Dark Horse's early Droids series. The figure has lots of guns on his person, and has the most articulation of any C-3PO-style droid to come out of Hasbro-- he's got ankles, wrists, the works. The figure is still a little clunky as the arms are made in such a way that movement is slightly hindered-- but it's better than it's been-- and the figure is colored in a flat gold color rather than the shiny gold we're typically given for his non-evil doppleganger. If you liked the old comics, it's worth collecting all these figures to get this oddball droid, but I'm curious if we'll some day see a vac-metal repaint. Probably not, given how many little parts are involved, but stranger things have happened.

Overall
If you bought and loved Target's Order 66 collections, you need Droid Factory. If it seems like a waste to you, let me assure you that the new droids and revised figures are largely worth it-- I consider the Darth Vader to be totally disposable, and Luke is a minor upgrade to the point where I don't think I could convincingly say it's worth getting to the level of your being able to toss out your old one. Ditto with Plo Koon. However, the six companion droids, Han Solo, Kit Fisto, and Watto figures are all completely worth owning, and I personally really dig C-3PX. So if you buy the collection for just under $60, you'll get one figure you probably don't want or need, another you could probably use, and another that's basically a variation. So that's three iffy figures to 10 great ones, meaning you're paying about $6 per figure for the good stuff, which I would say is worth your time and effort to track down.

Droid Factory Action Figures: Watto & R2-T0

2008-06-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

When it comes to exclusives, it's rare that one comes along that totally wows fans. Usually you get two or three neat items, along with another one or two you could do without, or worse, already own. Seeing as reducing costs and increasing value may also hurt the wow-wee factor of a new product, it's rare that Hasbro manages to make something really cool that's merely an old toy with new paint that is also awesome.

"Watto sells used droids and mechanical parts in his shop on Tatooine. One of the droids for sale is R2-T0" (From back of packaging.)

Fan reaction toward Watto was mixed on his debut in 1999, as it was a wonderfully designed character, a decent digital performance, and one of the more interesting looking new aliens of the then-new movie The Phantom Menace. This figure uses the same mold as the 1999 action figure, with a sculpt allegedly by Art Asylum. Back in 1999, the paint job was based on pre-release illustrations, so we never really got one that matched the movie until this new exclusive version. He's got the same articulation (head, arms, legs) and pop-off wings, but his appearance is so much improved that I'd suggest fans track it down, even if you have one, two, or all three previously released Watto action figures. His accessory is the same view screen from the original release.

Full Photo Set on Flickr

Watto's companion caught the eye of many fans when behind-the-scenes photos began making the rounds, and today we actually have an R2-T0 of our very own. Based on the mold used for R4-G9 in 2005 (and other droids since then), it's a shoo-in for fan love. The deco is dirty and awesome, the articulation is great, and this robot has everything we saw in the movie except for the exposed and opened panels. The paint job seems to be one of Hasbro's best, as the toy looks like it was left out in the sun and wasn't a highly-prized part of Watto's scrap heap. If you have any taste at all, you're going to want to get this one.

PROS: Droid shows amazing deco. Watto also has amazing deco. The entire package is a great illustration of what Hasbro can do with a little paint at a low price.

CONS: Distribution expected to be limited. Watto still has some problems standing up, and his wings pop off easily.

VALUE: Insanely great. You're getting Watto, who sold for $7 with an inferior paint job in 1999. You're getting the head of C-3PX, which you probably want, and if you don't another collector will happily take it off your hands. You're also getting R2-T0, a fantastic repaint that rivals anything Hasbro has done in the size. And it's all $9.96.

OVERALL RATING: *****
This is one of few items I would advise collectors to buy, and for parents to get for their kids. If you have a kid who thought Watto was neat, this is the best Watto money can buy. The droid is awesome, and kids should love it just as much if not more than collectors. I can't gush enough about this set-- as a repaint, it's about as good as you can ever hope to get. If you have the means and opportunity, get this set.

I got this at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles for $9.96, on June 19, 2008.

Wal-Mart Droid Factory Action Figures Now Available

2008-06-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Wal-Mart exclusive "Droid Factory" assortment is now available. I found mine in Los Angeles, and they were on a PDQ display on an endcap. I assume this is how you will also find them. They're $9.96 each, and are as follows:
#1: Plo Koon with R4-F5 (Revenge of the Sith-inspired)
#2: Darth Vader with K-3PX (Marvel Comics-inspired)
#3: Han Solo with R-3PO (from The Empire Strikes Back)
#4: Kit Fisto with R4-H5 (Vehicle-inspired)
#5: Watto with R2-T0 (from The Phantom Menace)
#6: Luke Skywalker with R2-D2 (from A New Hope)

Pictures and Flickr and all the impressiony things to follow. I'll post some shots of the display as well, stay tuned!

A-Wing Revealed!

2008-06-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Transformers super-site Fan2Fan went to the Tokyo Toy Show and shot loads of new exciting robots in disguise, but also revealed some new Hasbro items! Take a look at the new A-Wing Fighter-- it's just one of several items you gotta see when you click through.

LEGO Announces Bestest Death Star Ever

2008-06-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

Over at Eurobricks, a new Death Star has been revealed. It has 21 figures and a kajillion bricks and will probably cost more than you pay on your car payments, but it's one of the most impressive toys you'll ever see. Click through and start saving, because it's possible you now have a third super-expensive toy to buy this year!

Droid Factory R2-D2 Preview

2008-06-18T00:35:00.001-07:00

Rebelscum posted some preview shots of the new damaged R2-D2 from Wal-Mart's Droid Factory 2-packs which should start appearing any day now. It looks great, but the post mentions reduced play action. Still, sounds great.

Ad: Entertainment Earth has New Hasbro Exclusives

2008-06-16T22:51:00.001-07:00

Ad: New exclusives are at Entertainment Earth! You can pre-order new releases like the Star Wars Mighty Muggs Admiral Ackbar & Shadow Trooper Set, the Star Wars Exclusive TIE Fighter Vehicle with Hobbie Klivian, and even the newly announced Star Wars Exclusive Commander Gree Bobble Head. There are more items available, plus some warehouse finds, so click through for pricing and availability.

Q&A: Sooprsized with Vehicle Questions

2008-06-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Luke was a little short for a Stormtrooper, and this week's entry is a little short for a Q&A column. Due to a variety of factors, including an influx of a lot of the same question, this week's column is shorter, but it has questions on new guns, small vehicles, and of course, cardboard. Because everybody loves cardboard. Read on!

1. Hi Adam, given Clone Wars is to be another big media push similar to the past movie years, do you know if Hasbro has any intention of reintroducing the Battle Vehicles assortment (which, if I recall correctly, was last seen during the Revenge of the Sith line)? Of course, Hasbro is generally bound by what characters and vehicles actually appear in the Clone Wars movie and subsequent television series, but it would seem to be the perfect time to repack low-cost vehicles like the AT-RT and Clone Wars-era speeder bikes (with new CW Clone Troopers). Or have the Battle Packs replaced the Battle Vehicle assortment?

Personally, I would *love* to see Hasbro try their hand at creating "off-screen" toys for Republic and Seperatist vehicles at this low price point, based upon unused concepts or even their own design ideas.
--FFN

Hasbro's love for smaller vehicles has apparently waned, as for the future the only known plans for them are in Battle Packs. It seems the $10-$15 price point is more or less dead.

2. I've been looking around but haven't managed to find out exactly which droid parts will come with which figures in Hasbro's new TLC BAF line (I'm talking about the basic figures here, not the WalMart Droid Factory 2-packs). Have you caught any word about, or do you happen to be able to dig up via your sources, what we can expect to find packed in with each figure in the first assortments of the TLC line please? I'm not a completist collector, but I do like the look of some of those new BAF astromechs, so I am curious to know who I will have to pick up to get the parts I need and what I'll have to be swapping for – eg: which part of which droid do I get when I buy Yarna for instance? Does that kind of info exist for the first wave or two of TLC yet?
--Daniel

Well, I've got bad news and worse news for you. The bad news is that there is no list yet. The worse news is that it's going to get complicated. Hasbro confirmed that the pieces a figure comes with may change from wave to wave, so if you were to buy a case, that case would have enough pieces to build a (or more than a) figure. So when wave 1 ships, they have two droids. When wave 2 ships, this may change.

The packaging is designed so that the droid part can be easily changed out-- the droid description on the cardbacks I've seen so far are stickers, meaning either I saw something weird and/or special, or the bits and pieces will rotate. This means a checklist isn't going to be enough, we're going to need more of a chart. I'll be happy to maintain said chart as soon as I start seeing stuff up close and personal, but that could be a few weeks.

3. I just remembered that in the Hasbro Q&A, they mentioned that for the Clone gear lockers they would be using the spare weapons from the Battlefront 2 Clone pack, though not all of them. This is an odd statement to make, because as far as I can tell, there were only three new weapons introduced with that set anyway, the chaingun that they've already reused on one of the Order 66 packs, the EMP launcher with the jet trooper and the PLX rocket launcher. Not counting the Droid blaster that came with the Clone engineer, the rest of the weapons would be the two types of DC-15 rifles that all Clone Troopers already be carrying.

Am I right or have I gone insane?
--CP

You do indeed seem to be right-- so it's possible they will just include two of the three new guns. Sadly, nobody has cracked open a weapons locker yet so the precise contents are still unknown.

4. 7/26 Is a Saturday - Is the Clone Wars Launch going to be Friday at midnight like they did for ROTS & AOTC? I recall them saying at the ROTS midnight launch at one of the local area Wal-Mart's that they were not going to put out all of the merchandise. In your opinion which store would be the best of "the big three" to obtain the most stuff minus the specific exclusives?
--Chad

Hasbro's plans do not call for a big midnight roll-out, but there very well may be one-- it's going to be up to local stores and the chains. My guess is that the way various products leak these days, you might be best served to start hunting in the coming weeks and not wait for the end of July. Stuff gets out, you may as well be vigilant and forget this whole launch thing, except for exclusives, which we don't even know for sure what they are yet.

5. Since the price of oil is going up why doesn't HASBRO revisit the idea of cardboard or chip-board play sets? They would be cheaper than a plastic play set AND they could make it a mail-away for collectors?
--Jon

Hasbro has been asked. Repeatedly. By me. They just don't want to do it right now, for whatever reason, and my guess it has something to do with sales projections. I would personally be very pleased to see 3-4 cardboard playsets over a year or two, but I don't know how many other fans would jump at the chance. Probably enough to make it worthwhile for your average smaller toy company, but Hasbro deals more in volume, and it can be tough to satisfy stockholders when you have a product that doesn't sell in the kajillions of pieces.

FIN

That's all for now! Yes, it's down to 5 questions. Why 5? That's how many weren't duplicates of questions asked in the past month, and the number I wanted to cut it down to. The plan for future columns is still to do 5 questions a week-- this is, of course, depending on what you send in-- and I'll do "bonus" columns depending on what else comes in. If I get 20 good questions, you're going to see more installments-- but if there's 5, that's going to be it. I want to start putting more time into other features I can write, plus Figure of the Day is actually surprisingly time- and will-to-live-consuming. So yeah, less is less, but for me, less is more.

After the first Millennium Falcon found in Canada, it seems like there's a very good chance that it won't be Hasbro, but the fan community at large who assembles the "release list" for July 26-- which, I might add, is the most frequently asked question. Every week, no less than 4 people write in asking if a list for the big July launch has been generated yet, and the answer is still no. With all the packaged samples surfacing around the web, it's unclear if these will all be 7/26 items,

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!

Saga Legends Weapons Locker Revealed

2008-06-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Over at Jedi Defender, there are images of what appears to be the weapons locker which will come with all new "Saga Legends" figures later this year. In it are six unique blasters, including a Battle Droid blaster, the standard rifle, the typical pistol, one of the smaller twin blasters which fit in the holsters in select clone commanders, the grenade launcher (as seen in Battlefront II), and a rifle which was packaged with the Revenge of the Sith deluxe Clone with jetpack. It's a pretty great mix, actually, and should help arm any figures which have lost their weapons over the years.

Here's hoping for more in the future!

Previews Exclusive Mighty Muggs Admiral Ackbar

2008-06-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

Assuming it's no hoax, an eBay seller has Admiral Ackbar in fully packaged Mighty Muggs form. According to the box, it's a Diamond/Previews exclusive, meaning it should be in ample supply. Will there be others? We don't know yet. The seller also has other neat items, like as-of-yet unannounced (as far as we know) Hulk Marvel Legends.

Imperial Pilots Legacy Revealed

2008-06-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Proving once more you can't keep stuff under wraps in the digital age, Jedi Insider posted packaged photos of the Imperial Pilots Legacy set. This new Evolutions pack has new versions of two Clone Trooper pilots as well as Biggs Darklighter from the Empire comic book series. Not bad! Were I a betting man, I'd say you'll see this in stores in the next two or three months.

Millennium Falcon Lands in Canada Early

2008-06-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Apparently a lucky collector hit the right Toys "R" Us this week! Snowtroopers.ca's forums are jumping because someone managed to snag this ship at retail over a full month before its target release date. What does this mean for the rest of the line? We should all probably start keeping an eye out for absolutely everything at this point.

Rebelscum Presents New Legacy Rumor List

2008-06-11T21:42:00.001-07:00

While it seems anything past wave 1 of The Clone Wars is a closely guarded secret, yet another list of figure and vehicle rumors for The Legacy Collection is making the rounds at Rebelscum. Highlights include another wave of Revenge of the Sith figures and a new batch of A New Hope characters which actually don't sound half bad. Click through for more!

New The Clone Wars Theatrical Trailer Posted

2008-06-11T21:37:00.001-07:00

The theatrical pilot has been posted to Yahoo movies and can be seen in HD, were you so inclined. What's notable are several new vehicles and voiceovers. It's hard to be certain but many fans believe they hear the voice of Christopher Lee-- as Lucasfilm has been quiet on voice actors, it's going to be interesting to see the cast list when the time comes!

Exclusive List Incoming

2008-06-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

As we try to offer you the most useful news and info, we added a quickie list of recently released and upcoming exclusives to the blog! Currently appearing on the bottom of our page, these items should be showing up soon if they aren't already. We'll be going through our notes and adding more, but we hope you find this feature useful.

Q&A: Clones, Ships, Coins, and Indy

2008-06-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, the things you ask about. It seems most fans are going ga-ga over Indiana Jones, especially in light of the total lack of new Star Wars at most stores. You're curious about The Clone Wars launch, and rightly so! We're still in the dark for most of it. And what's with the sudden "buy the stuff or the redeco won't come" messages? Well, that's hard to pinpoint, but we do our best to make heads and tails of it all in this week's Q&A!

1. It's great not to be an Indiana Jones figure collector. I picked up two (just two) from the basic figure line, just because I had one of the vintage Indy figures when I was a kid. The two figures are the basic Indiana Jones Figures with and without Jacket. Both have revolver and whip. Both suck. One sucks tremendously and the other has a single fatal flaw.

[snip]

How can a company that has as long a history as Hasbro continually repeat past mistakes? How can an otherwise good Indy figure have peg holes in the feet that are at most 2 millimeters deep? Has the company never actually looked at their own damn stands? As for the truly horrible figure, how in the name of all that good and holy can they revisit the horror of the widespread stance with no leg articulation? The legs of this Indy are in almost precisely the same rigid pose as the legs of Ponda Baba from the "Cantina Showdown" 3-pack of 1997. I kid you not. Hasn't the POTF line from 1997 been completely panned? How can these legs resurface in 2008? The only way they could have made this figure worse is if they made him as buff as POTF Han Solo. All I can say is, "Thank God there is no maniacal addiction driving me to collect Indiana Jones figures."
--David

One of the amazing things about this column is the frequent influx of Indy questions. As such, I'll keep answering them.

In the case of Indy, Hasbro's company line is that they're using a new factory who is still figuring out the ropes, basically. (So says the various Q&A sessions they've done.) Having dealt with factories overseas, I can say I believe it-- this sort of thing is hard to get right when dealing with a language barrier and a new production facility. I agree it should have been caught before going out, but some things-- like deadlines-- trump quality control. If you have a new movie coming, sometimes it makes more sense to release a pretty good product rather than miss the sales window. As a collector, this is heresy, but for business it makes sense. But peg holes, well, that baffles me-- Kenner got them right on every figure from 1978 to 1985, why is it a problem now? My guess is the sheer volume of product coming out of Hasbro makes it harder for someone to check off some of these details, but I don't know for sure.

I don't think the figures are as bad as you're saying, but they could definitely be better toys. Sometimes the stances are done to make the figure look appealing in the package, sometimes it's to enable an action feature to work properly, and other times, it's just the way that someone wanted to do it. It happens. Thankfully, as you say, it's not hard to skip on a bad figure.

2. What is with Sideshow's choice of characters for their 12" line? We are years into their license, and still we have not gotten 12" versions of such standards as C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Stormtrooper, Classic Vader, even cool stuff like Biker Scout, Sandperson, Snowtrooper or the bounty hunters (the Boba they sold was Medicom RAH, and like all RAH's, a tad too short to be in scale with Sideshow figs.)

Some of these characters are tough to pull off for sure, but that was the reason for the excitement over Sideshow acquiring the license - if someone could pull it off, it was them.

But who decided to do Praji before a stormtrooper? An Endor Rebel before a Biker Scout? Luke in Yavin outfit before a Hoth or X-Wing outfit version?

Was this all a ploy to do head swaps on their Sideshow bodies and drape them in yet another jedi robe outfit?

There have been a few other issues here and there - sculpts very hit and miss, monkey arms problems, a "make up" look to the face paint - but the choices of characters is what's emerging as the biggest problem. They - and we - are running out of time on this license.

Jabba was an act of inspired genius - but this is one of the few bullseyes of this line. With Hasbro's half-ways decent job on the Indy 12" - at a $20 price point (!) - I'm actually at this point beginning to hope Hasbro gets back into the 12" Star Wars business.

--Duncan

Much of Sideshow's decisions supposedly had a lot to do with tooling costs. Figures with mostly cloth outfits (or a new head or a helmet) are much cheaper to make than a fully armored trooper, and apparently Sideshow intended on saving those-- the sweetest plums, really-- for after the initial hype of the line wore off. Also, there's a lot of competing products (Medicom) and collectors have versions of many of those figures. While Hasbro's Scout Trooper 12-inch figure isn't perfect, it's really good. Sideshow has to up the ante considerably in order to make a compelling product.

As to the human faces, well, those are tricky. Can't say much there.

Hasbro will likely not get back into the 12-inch business any time soon, not because of any contracts, but because it's not their business model. Hasbro is a company that sells mind-bogglingly large numbers of several items to stores, while Sideshow is in the business of selling a few thousand figures direct to consumer. Simply put, it's not in Hasbro's interests to sell a low-volume line like the 12-inch line was. I'm sure the numbers are such that any of a number of companies would be beyond thrilled with it, but Hasbro wants to sell tons of items, using the economy of scale whatnots to bring down prices.

Simply put, Sideshow will take the time and energy to try some unique things (12-inch Jabba) because it wouldn't hurt them to try. If Hasbro sold items by the low thousands, it'd probably hurt them a great deal. That, and I'd also say that I think the 12-inch Indiana Jones line is barely acceptable-- a lot of those faces are just horrible. The costumes are nice, and the accessories are good, but there's really no reason they can't make a wonderful head in 2008 when they were doing a fine job in 1979.

I'll be curious to see if Hasbro and Sideshow continue the relationship. With the recent announcement of G.I. Joe in their stable, I think it's a safe bet it's going to continue for a while. I mean, if you think about it, it's truly baffling for Hasbro to license out the 12-inch G.I. Joe line considering that the entire invention was theirs, but it seems Hasbro is starting to be more in the business of character portfolios, and if someone is willing to pay them to put a ninja toy out that they would never produce, well, it makes sense.

Overall, I was a little happier with Hasbro's $20 12-inch figures due to lower expectations. (The first 12-inch figures out of Kenner in 1996 or so were pretty bad.) Odds are it won't make a lot of sense for Hasbro to do them unless they do an "indie film"-esque toy division that is genuinely interested in lower run items, but I wouldn't expect that any time soon.

3. I am aware of both your opinion and Hasbro's on playsets. But it seems to me if they ever made more playsets instead of trying to think up new ideas wouldn't it be easier to just use those Micro Worlds from the 80's as a template only increasing the size to fit 3 3/4 inch figures considering that they could make different sizes and multiple sets that would connect together into one giant world. What are your thoughts on this?

At Toy Fair, they said that 23 figures from the new Clone Wars line would be released in 2008. We have seen Wave One and the holographic Grievous. Of the remaining 14 figures, I am wondering if any have been leaked & will we see any at the San Diego Comic Con?
--Chad

First: there will be leaks. There are always leaks. Just this week, I found scores of Transformers: Animated toys at retail-- their street date isn't for a while, I hear. But yet, I found them. Stores are unable to keep a leash on their stockers and it's really somewhat difficult to try to keep the genie in the bottle for so long, especially given Comic-Con is during the Clone Wars launch. Which is just ridiculous.

Aside from some Clone Trooper redeco test shots, Hasbro has been exceedingly quiet on what these first waves will be. I fully expect the traditional stuff like C-3PO and more Troopers and Droids, but honestly, nothing has been announced or leaked yet. But as product ships to stores in this era of cell phone cameras, even if they don't leak from China, it's unthinkable that we won't see them early. I figure we'll see most if not all of the stuff by July 4.

4. I've been collecting the new Indiana Jones line. Poor paint application (especially to the faces) aside, I like the figures and it makes a neat side shelf to my Star Wars collections. I just recently picked up the German Motorcycle soldier and it's pretty slick IMO. I was most interested in collecting the figures from the original trilogy but I thought it would be cool to get some of the new figures from the new movie. . . before the movie came out. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I for one did not like the new movie at all. It had its moments, but overall it left a poor taste in my mouth. I'll keep the figures from the new movie as they ARE part of the collection but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to get anymore that aren't part of the original 3. Here's where I ran into a problem: the mini relics that come with each. Some of these are pretty lame (a fake arrowhead? Seriously?!) but some are fantastic, and as I discovered, some of the movie relics do not necessarily come with the figures from the movie. Without giving away some of the mystery of what relic comes with what figure, I'll just say that one of the new movie figures [AP note: Dovchenko] came with a highly detailed Goblet of Kali (the skull mug that held the blood of Kali that Indy was forced to drink in ToD); and it's just freakin' cool! My question is, do you know if any of the other new movie figures come with any cool relics; especially the movie relics? If so, would you mind sharing which new figures I should buy to get the relics? Thanks!
--Ryan

A lot of figures have decent relics, but really what you need to do is research who has what and buy accordingly. What's cool varies from fan to fan, and I'd hate to steer you wrong. I mean, I think the Chachapoyan Temple Carving with that Raiders Indy is super cool, but you might not. This sort of haphazard blind-ish packaging of relics is sure to drive fans online to research who has what, and encourage purchases of figures fans don't want just for the artifacts. Ridiculous, I know, but effective.

I'll see if I can crank out an artifact list for you all soon.

5. When Vintage Han Hoth was shown at Toy Fair last year, a hood up alternate head was shown with it. And it was really pretty cool - hood up, hood down. Then the hood up head was quickly pulled from the Toy Fair display. Hasbro said that Lucasfilm didn't approve it due to something like quality issues. So vintage Han shipped with no swappable head.

Then along comes the new Droid Factory and (upcoming) battle pack versions. I pulled a close up image of that Toy Fair head and it's the exact same sculpt (and oversize goggles) used for the new sets. What gives? It's a quality issue last year, not this year?

It would have been a great addition to that vintage figure, instead we got that dorky scarf/visor/goggles thing.

It's just that I paid over ten bucks for that vintage figure, and now I get to buy it again (this time in sets!) with the head that was designed to be included with that vintage figure? So did Lucasfilm change their mind? Or did Hasbro tell a little white lie to ensure another figure could be made of the same thing?
--rbdk

It's my understanding that Hasbro's words were something like "the hood-up version was not approved." This can mean lots of things-- it wasn't approved to be shown, it wasn't approved for production, or it wasn't approved for this particular line because they wanted to use it later. It's in Hasbro's best interest to milk these sculpts for all they're worth, and well, we're seeing exactly that.

6. I want to be sure that I have a complete set of the TAC coins (which are every bit as cool as the old POTF coins, but I digress). How many different black coins were made, and which figures accompanied the coins?
--Robert

There are 60 "basic figure" coins with 59 basic figures and 1 coin album. These, you should find easily, and there's also 10 variant gold coins to track down for Boba Fett (McQuarrie and Animated), Darth Vader (ANH), Stormtrooper (McQuarrie), Han Solo (Gunner), Luke Skywalker (Ceremonial), Chewbacca (McQuarrie), Mace Windu, R2-D2, Galactic Marine, Airborne Trooper, and Biggs Darklighter (Pilot). There are 8 Saga Legends coins-- one for each movie, and gold and black Expanded Universe coins. There are seven mail-in figure coins (including the New York Toy Fair coin and 6 vintage figures), the Comic-Con coin, the Celebration IV coin, the Celebration Europe coin, and then there's US and Europe versions of the McQuarrie Luke coin, the McQuarrie Droids coin, and just the US version of Concept Grievous' coin. Oh, and there's a gold Indiana Jones coin from Comic-Con. And I think that's pretty much the lot of it.

So you have...
60 basic coins
12 gold coins (Ultimate Galactic Hunt)
8 Saga Legends coins
3 "Convention coins" (4 if you count New York Toy Fair)
7 Vintage Mail-in coins (6 if you don't count the Toy Fair coin in the set)
5 Convention figure coins
1 Indiana Jones coin

So there's a lot. The black Expanded Universe coin comes with the Shadow Stormtrooper and Utapau Shadow Trooper.

7. Do you think we will see a re-release of the republic gunship this fall? My son is begging for one and there is no way I am going to pay the obscene second market prices. I think it would be a big dumb mistake not to release this highly demanded ship that is such a centerpiece in the Clone Wars at the time of its premiere. Don't you?

--Wendy

There will be at least one new Gunship in July (or around July) but Hasbro has yet to show it-- odds are it will match the movie/TV show but it's hard to know for certain.

8. how long will the Rancor thing be on the shelf. My son also went ga ga for it. Is it grab it quick or it'll be there at Christmas.
--Rich

Knowing Target? It'll be gone before Christmas. I'd say get it now, as it seems to be selling fast, but keep in mind it's in 30th Anniversary Packaging and Hasbro said they want to phase that out for July 26-- and knowing Target's turnover on exclusives, I'd say it should be on markdown on or around that time. Don't expect to see this item in stores past July or August, and that's being generous. A new Rancor may replace it, though. If your kid really wants it, buy it and hide it somewhere. That, or prepare for eBay purchases, which could be higher or lower than the $39.99 asking price today.

9. I opened my han R-3PO set this morning and the leg to c-3px has ankle articulation. Do any of the c-3po molds have this?? I can't think of any!
--George

No previously released C-3PO has an ankle joint in the 3 3/4-inch scale-- so if this one has it, it's the first!

10. It seems to me like Hasbro is changing their approach toward us, and in fact it almost seems like they are threatening us, "buy our merchandise or we may not make any more!" Let me explain:

Recently they made it a point to notify many, or all, of the various Star Wars figure sites to tell them, "hey, you better not wait for the Order 66 sets to go on clearance, because they're not going to. So you better buy them. Now." I suppose on the one hand this could actually be a helpful tip. But reading between the lines, it seems like they're saying: "Hey, you better buy these now, because we told Target that they would be big sellers, unlike the ones from last year that blew out at $2.50 a pop, so just to let you know Target's not going to mark these down, so go buy them. Now." And yet, interestingly enough, some Targets did mark them down. Hmmm. Granted the various stores have some discretion when it comes to markdowns, but if it was a company wide mandate to not mark them down, it wasn't enforced.

The thing is, Target has kind of trained us to wait for clearance. Personally, I buy stuff right away because I may never see it again, and worry about the clearance later if it happens. But in general, Target clearances stuff out FAST! So we get used to that, and now Hasbro is blaming us for that.

And the thing that really irks me, especially because I really am looking forward to it, is the ROTJ Rancor that was supposed to come out this year using the new mold. In one of the Q&As I read, I don't recall offhand which one it was, Hasbro flat out said, when someone asked about the ROTJ version, that due to scheduling issues, the Rancor was bumped, and as a matter of fact, if the TFU Rancor doesn't sell well, there's a chance the ROTJ version might not come out. Really? Threats to buy their merchandise? What gives?

They put the cost into a new mold for the new Rancor, and Hasbro is always quick to tell us how expensive molds are and that's why we don't get a lot of the stuff we want, so they're telling me that if I don't buy this version, which I don't care for as I don't buy EU stuff, they might not do the ROTJ one? Really? Huh. I was kind of under the impression that in order to recoup the cost of a new mold they have to repackage something several times.

So what gives? Is there a shift in attitude over at Hasbro? Is there someone new in charge? Are they not making enough money, or what?
--Charlie

The same guy-- Derryl DePriest-- is still in charge of most of the stuff on Hasbro's Star Wars team. He's a nice guy, and in the past couple of years he and the rest of the team are starting to pay much closer attention to the stuff we all post on forums, news sites, and yes, columns like this one. With numerous vocal fans taking the attitude of "I'll just wait for clearance," fans and the guys at Hasbro are both trying to get the message out of how the free market economy works-- that is, what you buy sends a message. While Target's clearances are insane, it does make a big difference. Not only does Hasbro and Target have to design product with the big red retailer's incredibly short attention span in mind, but they have to make things that fans will want to buy, regardless of age. This is a tricky prospect, especially when Target rarely gives any one exclusive more than two months.

Regarding the Rancor, putting out two Rancors in one year seemed odd-- so in a way, I'm glad Hasbro decided to push it back. I just got this one, and it's probably for the best to let some demand build up before releasing another one, especially at $40. (Or wait for a big Jabba's Palace push.) I don't think it was a threat so much as it was "we're not doing it now, yeah we know you know we were considering it, please buy the one that's available." As you pointed out, it's a safe bet that it's probably chatter. Today, it may seem like they're saying "oh, well, sales may make us not produce this item" but the reality is that if someone begs for an exclusive, and there's a mold sitting around, and a repaint would be easy to do, it's a safe bet that it'll happen eventually. But if sales and demand don't warrant it, "eventually" could be 2014.

And yes, if the Force Unleashed Battle Rancor doesn't sell well at all, it would probably be a safe bet Hasbro wouldn't want to make another version of the creature for quite some time. I don't know if you got one, but as it is, it's basically a normal ROTJ Rancor with a saddle, no chains, and some extra blue paint. Other than the pack-in figures and leaving off a paint app, the other version really isn't all that different, and I'm sure if a kid got this one and a new one came out for Christmas, it'd be a hard sell to parents. "Didn't you just get that?" or "How many of those do you have?" are the kind of thing I'd expect to hear. (Sort of like what I hear when I bought another Starscream last weekend.)

FIN

Who says you can't burn the candle at both ends? I'm still a smidgen swamped, so as always, please get your questions in ASAP. I'm considering revamping the column and how it works in order to provide more frequent and smaller installments-- is that something you guys would like, or do you prefer it weekly? Just curious.

It was yet another slow week for Star Wars, but boy howdy, it was a great week for Transformers. I found me a Ratchet at Wal-Mart on Saturday, which pretty much made my week. A few of you are probably watching Transformers Animated on Cartoon Network, which so far seems to be the best overall series based on the toy line. The voice actors are great. The guests are even better. Brian Posehn? Fred Willard? "Weird Al" Yankovic? It's just incredible. If they could find a way to shoehorn in Alice Cooper, Patton Oswalt, or Sarah Vowell, they'd probably have the best voice cast for a Saturday morning show ever. If you watched and dug Beast Wars, this is probably worth your while. If you remember liking the original 1980s show, you'll probably like this too.

Right now, I'm getting nervous for The Clone Wars. I'm both very excited and very skittish-- you see, someone decided to launch the entire toy line the same weekend as San Diego Comic-Con, so hardcore fans are presumably expected to be in two places at once. Seeing as how there will be exclusives at Comic-Con, Target, Toys "R" Us, and Wal-Mart, I'm not precisely clear on how any fan is supposed to complete their collection without calling in numerous favors. Although maybe the store exclusives will suck, so I won't have to care. But it's just really inconvenient.

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!

Rebelscum Gets Gallery of New Droid Factory Set

2008-06-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

The talented folks at Rebelscum posted a nice gallery of the first Droid Factory to see release, which you can order from Wal-Mart's web site. (It's an exclusive, you see.) The set in question sports a Vintage Hoth Han Solo with his hood up and a new R-3PO figure, based on a previously released C-3PO mold. The set also features 1/6 of the build-a-figure C-3PX droid, a bounty hunter from the Dark Horse Droids comic series. Whew! Go take a look.

Ad: Entertainment Earth Reveals New Hasbro Exclusive

2008-06-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

...sort of. Online merchant Entertainment Earth posted a sneak peek of its new 2008 Hasbro action figure exclusive. There are six shadowy figures, but it isn't clear which is actually part of the set. Click through to see if you can determine what they are, or pre-order the box of 6 for $35.99.

Q&A: New Exclusives, Classic Clone Wars, Greeting Cards

2008-06-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

So what's the deal with the new old Clone Wars cartoon characters we haven't seen made yet? And what's going on with all these mail-in offers lately? And the exclusives-- there's so many of them! What's going on there? All this and more in this somewhat hastily written Q&A!

1. I have heard rumors that the Battle Rancor and the Large Wing White Tie Fighter are going to be in very short supply and basically what is on the shelves now is what we are going to get. I was able to pick up my Battle Rancor, but the White Tie Fighter has been super elusive here and now my Local TRU is saying they haven't had it in weeks. Have you heard or know if there is any truth to these exclusives being on a short run?
--Christen

People like to make up stuff all the time to make themselves feel important. There has been no indication that any exclusive will be a short run, and if you look at pretty much every non-Wal-Mart exclusive in the past few years, most of them were made in incredible numbers. You'll keep seeing these, I'm sure, until the clearances start.

2. The jig is up; with the release of the EE Summer catalog, we now know that there will be a new EE exclusive with 6 "new" figures. I know that you can’t tell us who or what these figures are (and your definition of "new" is often times different from other peoples definition of new), but can you tell us if the "silhouettes" in the ad are indicative of what figures are in the set; or is it like last time where there were random figures that made up the silhouettes for the print ads.
--Damon

For the record, I do work at Entertainment Earth and I do have a lot to say about the marketing. More than a few decisions are made for various reasons, including Hasbro's requirements for product announcements, Entertainment Earth's needs for marketing momentum, and my own desire to shake up the ant farm that is the online fanbase. For example, in 2006, we announced a "Mystery Figure" Comic Pack with Kir Kanos and a figure that would eventually be revealed to be Carnor Jax. We put a silhouette of Han Solo in our marketing materials to stand in for the mystery figure, in part because the Star Wars Insider did the same thing to promote their Cantina Band Member in the shadows in their magazine. It made sense to me, so we ran with it.

That said, one of the six figures is indeed the shadowy representation of one figure from the set. (In my opinion, not the best figure in the set.) Some of the other figures would have totally made it easy to guess the nature of the set, which will be revealed in full at Comic-Con 2008.

I will say that a lot of the things I've said in here about exclusives holds true. It's not Knights of the Old Republic. It's not a boxed set of existing figures, McQuarrie or otherwise. It also hasn't had any "leaked" figures pop up online anywhere yet, but that could change. (And if it does-- or doesn't-- I'm in no position to comment further at this time.) I did have a hand in this one's development, so I'm pretty pleased with it. I hope you will be as well. If you liked the sets Entertainment Earth made in the past, you should like this one too.

3. Do you think its feesable t say that now the original clone wars characters have been produced we will get a Mutant Nelvaanian warrior (theose massive blue retarded guys from clone wars 22-25)? Also for those people who arn't collecting the new animated figures would it be wise to begin requesting all the cartoon made figures to be realesed in realistic styling eg ashoka?
--StarWarsSims101

The market and its need for new product generally move Hasbro's hand in ways our begging never could. We got a cartoony Yavin Anakin Skywalker, and then a short time later, they cranked out a "movie"-style one because they wanted to sell another version of our Jedi hero.

As to the future, well, frankly you're going to have to help here. Make a fuss online, and be sure to point out that if you didn't buy her, that you would were she "realistic." The future of the line is always in motion and it's entirely possible that by next year, Hasbro may put more emphasis on this animated style if it succeeds, or switch to "movie" if it doesn't. Right now it's still far too early to know for certain, as with most things in life odds are Hasbro will simply follow the money.

Other Clone Wars characters could see production, as we're seeing later this year. It never hurts for fans to demand the figures, because you never know who might hear it and ask for an exclusive, or put it in the regular line, or fast track its release.

4. I bought a bunch of Indiana Jones figures and want to keep them for display, yet I also want to remove the mail-in sticker without damaging the bubble & card to get my exclusive. Yet when I removed the tiny mail-in form, the sticker is nowhere to be found. Is it in the "hidden relic" box? It has to be somewhere in the bubble, because I watched the stock girl open the case and the figure shows no sign of tampering. Has anyone reported stickers being left out? Any help would be appreciated.
--Chris

The stickers are indeed in the little artifact boxes. As such, it's not going to be easy to get those things out without a fight.

5. greetings from down under. i am sure you have been asked this before but can you rate the modern vader figures? i am streamlining muy collection and want to get your thoughts on your favourites and not so favourites?
--craig

First, get rid of anything you can't see a reason to keep. That is the easiest way to go. If you have 28 Darth Vaders and don't see a reason to keep 20 of them, do yourself a favor and unload them.

I would personally suggest getting rid of any figure that isn't unique (Battle-Damaged Darth Vader, for example), super articulated (2007's basic Vader), or can sit in a ship (2005 Revenge of the Sith Vader). There are so many, I don't want to take the time to rate them-- but I can say that it's always a good thing to get rid of figures you can't find a reason to keep for the rest of your days. Your requirements for keeping a figure may differ, so this is really something only you can decide.

6. Recently I purchased a Sterilite 7-drawer cart system ( http://www.sterilite.com/ProductDetail.html?ProductId=408&Section=Storage ) and was wondering if it was OK to store figures in it (i.e. damaging). I heard that they have bad chemicals, but I'm not sure. If they do, would wrapping the figures in plastic store bags (i.e. Shaws, Wal*Mart, Target, Toys R Us, etc.) and putting them in the drawers that way be OK? Thanks for your help.
--Mr. Yuck
I've had a few fans write in and tell me they love this thing-- but it's quite difficult to tell the long-term effects of figure storage in any environment. The storage device is just one part of the equation, as light, heat, humidity, and other factors (like the kinds of paint Hasbro uses) could each pose a potential threat.

Depending on who you ask, everything has bad chemicals in it. I'd suggest making sure the figures are stored in such a manner where they can't be bent out of shape, where they don't touch one another, and where they aren't "suffocating." Plastic bags with no air holes may lead to moisture build-up, and that can be bad. A few small holes can help this a little bit, but since nobody does tests on the long-term effects of ziploc bags on small plastic men, well, it's going to be tough to really understand how it will work in the long run. I prefer cheap paper lunch bags for a variety of reasons, but that might not work for you.

7. I am in the process of whittling down my collection & I ran across a set of the WalMart exclusive [2004 OTC] DVD 3 packs. Since these are made up of existing figures they seem perfect for getting rid of. However I know that Hasbro will often use a really good figure, like say a Vintage Han, in something like this. So before I throw them up on eBay I was wondering if you knew what figures made up these 3 packs. Knowing which figures are in there would help know A) if I have them already or not & B) if I want to get rid of the 3 packs or the carded version. Also your opinion on the 3packs would be helpful as well.
--Mikk

These figures are absolutely 100% recycled from previous releases-- if you have another figure in your collection that looks like them, then you're covered. I'd suggest selling them off if anyone is willing to pay you actual money for them. If you have a complete set of basic regular carded figures, you probably have these guys. If not, well, maybe you do and maybe you don't. I've never seen your collection. Of note, the Darth Vader from the Return of the Jedi set was previously released as a Toys "R" Us exclusive in the Imperial Forces Saga set-- if you didn't get that, then you might want to hang on to this one.

8. I remember reading somewhere that the landing gear on the 2007 TRU Y-wing wasn't the greatest. While looking at mine this week, I noticed that the back right landing pad was not locking into place. Any suggestions to remedy this problem?
--Mike

I've heard two solutions for the Y-Wing Landing Gear Problem, which has plagued the line since the first POTF2 Y-Wing many moons ago.

One, you can get a junker vintage Y-Wing (the 1983 one) and swap out the internal workings. They were made of a much stronger material that did not sag after a short period of time.

Two, you can prop it up. I suggest putting some LEGO bricks or other small pieces under it to prop it up so the gear doesn't sag. You might say "but Adam, doesn't that mean Hasbro made a questionable product? Shouldn't we be complaining to them?" Yes and no. I figure there's no real way to do anything about it at this point, so all you can do is try to fix what you've already got-- propping it up makes for the easiest solution, even though it may not look so great.

9. Hey, do you know exactly what we can expect July 26th? It looks like at least 8 of the CW figs and maybe wave 1 of Legacy. Is there any comic 2 packs hitting then too? The Walmart C-3px 2 packs are hitting July 1st, right?
--George

With few to no packaged samples appearing, no pre-orders, and no official information out of Hasbro, it's hard to say. The entire line is essentially going to be relaunched on that date, but it's unclear if everything will be available, or if it will be available widely. We're going to have to see what else pops up, but it's pretty likely you'll see a few waves of basic figures and Legacy figures. As to the droid exclusives, that remains to be seen. I hope so, I really want to get those.

10. last year at Celebration 4 Hallmark had a booth with some interesting Star Wars cards. There were two cards that moved and played music. one the cantina and the other Yoda on Dagobah. The man at the booth said that these were supposed to come out at Easter but I never saw them at any Hallmark shop or heard of them released online. So what's the deal with them? Are they still slated to be released? I have seen several other Hallmark cards that used the same technology.
--Craigboyse

I've got no idea-- so I pose it to you readers. Can you help Craig out here?

FIN

The last few weeks have been nuts-- and this next week is going to be nuts too. And next week. It's a bit much. I'd write more but I actually have to get working on another project, so if you could all help me out and just send your questions in early, that'd be swell.

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!

Hasbro Releasing The Clone Wars Early?

2008-05-31T18:11:00.001-07:00

Despite the launch date being two months away, the first packaged Hasbro items from The Clone Wars are starting to arrive in stores. Today at a Target in Los Angeles, I saw the otherwise dull basic lightsabers in the new movie-themed dress, so it's entirely possible things might start showing up very, very soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

Packaged The Clone Wars Holo Grievous Found

2008-05-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

The guys over at Jedi Insider posted some front- and back-of-package shots of what is apparently now confirmed to be Toys "R" Us' exclusive holographic General Grievous. All signs point to this being available very soon, most likely as part of the initial 7/26 release window. (For the record, sometimes these holographic exclusives showed up a smidge after the initial date.)

Hasbro Reveals AT-TE from The Clone Wars

2008-05-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

The fine folks over at Hasbro added four pictures and a lot of tidbits on their new AT-TE vehicle, due in stores this July. This $100-ish behemoth has gun racks, space for 20 figures, electronic sounds, and all sorts of stuff to make you mad you weren't a child when this was released. Still, fans of all ages are likely to get a kick out of this one. Odds are you should click through and read all about it.

Q&A: It Never Ends

2008-05-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

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!

Toys "R" Us Hoth Patrol Battle Pack Found

2008-05-24T00:53:00.000-07:00

After much searching, I found the Toys "R" Us exclusive Hoth Patrol Battle Pack. For $24.99, you get Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear (based on 2006 tin release, blood-free face), a Wampa (redecorated 2004 release), and a Tauntaun. The Tauntaun is the new piece, more or less. The torso does not feature a split-open belly, nor does the leg "running" mechanism seem to be present.

UPDATE: Adding images to our wonderful Flickr account. Check these out as we add them.

Mighty Muggs Wave 4 Hitting

2008-05-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hot off the heels of wave 3's release (and wave 5's announcement), wave 4 of the Mighty Muggs are starting to be found. (I got mine!) The case includes one each of Yoda, the cyborg General Grievous, a battle-worn version of Luke Skywalker as seen on Cloud City, and a spiffy Emperor Palpatine. The packaging continues to be some of the best I've ever seen, if you like that sort of thing. Keep an eye out for these!

Hasbro.com Millennium Falcon Announcement

2008-05-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

The big, official, with-pictures announcemnt for the big giant Millennium Falcon has been posted at Hasbro. If you've been following the rumblings and leaks, you've probably heard all about the two bonus figures, the added mini-starfighter vehicle, the enhanced smuggling compartments, and all the lights and sounds. If you haven't, then you need to go read this.

Comic Book Review: Star Wars Dark Times #10

2008-05-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

Script: Mick Harrison
Art: David Ross
Colors: Alex Wald
Cover art: Zach Howard
Publication date: April 16, 2008

In what would seem to have been one of the most exciting concepts in Star Wars original fiction, the series Dark Times focuses on-- you guessed it-- the rarely chronicled dark ages before the events of the original Star Wars film. Building off a single line by Obi-Wan Kenobi, fans had visions of an era where intergalactic totalitarianism reigned supreme and genocide was something that very likely could happen to you. Dark Horse's comic based on the summary does indeed remind one of pain and suffering, but it mostly comes from the story's slow nature and fairly uninteresting premise.

The "Parallels" arc followed two stories. As the name implies, these similar tales follow the slowly crumbling relationships a galaxy apart-- a single mother separated from her padawan son has joined a crew of rogues, while the kid is stranded on a planet with fan favorite character K'Kruhk and an entire ship of kids. All of these people are being pursued by space pirates of some sort, with the bulk of the characters originating in previous comic series or are fairly uninspired aliens you've seen with nose piercings or, perhaps, new hats.

The Jedi hero of the previous arc, Dass Jennir, is nowhere to be seen. His dinosaur-like sidekick takes a more central role here, and there's a lot of fighting, explosions, and other obligatory let's-wrap-up-the-story elements here. In short, this is a comic written for its upcoming trade paperback, and as a result the story isn't much fun. Were this the 1980s, each story would probably be on its own and take one, perhaps two issues at the most. Due to the modern comics business model, which relies heavily on those collected books, we're being given stories which go on much longer than necessary only to give us fairly hollow tales.

K'Kruhk's post-Order 66 adventures are the reason to pick up this book, and the arc as a whole. If you enjoyed him over the past decade's worth of prequel-era comics, you will probably want to see him here-- but he's pretty lifeless compared to previous outings, and really the primary Star Wars-y component of the story. Aside from borrowing numerous character and vehicle designs from the movies, there story and events really don't expand the universe in any meaningful way. There's a lot of treading water here, which is a shame.

The Dark Times book has also been tormented with incredible delays. Issue #1 hit in November 2006, and was the start of what I believe was initially solicited as a monthly series. Obviously, that didn't work out too well.

Next time in Dark Times #11: The Vector crossover hits the post-prequel era, and the covers promise more of Darth Vader doing stuff. Will it be cool?

Star Wars Customizable FX Lightsaber

2008-05-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

As part of my day job, I do some wacky low-budget videos. Here's another one.

It's for the Master Replicas (who no longer has the Star Wars license, by the way) Star Wars Force FX Lightsaber Construction Set I just got. Well, I, we, whatever. I have one, and it's in the video. It's a lot like the regular FX Lightsabers, although the light-up sequence is slightly different, the handle is customizable and made of metal and plastic bits, and you can switch up the colors.

The item was originally sold at Radio Shacks, but in my neck of the woods they're long gone. And rightly so, this is a really fun big item. It's not quite as heavy as the regular versions, and it does lack the ice-cold all-metal feel of the other releases, but it's a fair trade-off for the blade's color changing abilities. That alone makes this far more entertaining than it should be. If I had the means, I'd buy one of these for pretty much everybody I know. It's just a weird fun item to own.

Hasbro recently confirmed they would be reintroducing some of the FX lightsabers later this year, but did not give any information on if this would be one of the ones remade. It's a fine item, and it makes Hasbro's customizable lightsaber a whole lot less exciting-- the big H will have a new one out this July with parts of various Clone Wars and Force Unleashed characters' weapons.

Entertainment Earth Spring Sale ends Thursday Night

2008-05-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ad: The Entertainment Earth Spring Sale is almost over! Save big on hundreds of items from Gentle Giant, Hasbro, Kotobukiya, Master Replicas, Code 3 Collectibles, and more. Click through for pricing and availability.