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| Friday, 2nd October 2009 |
| Hasbro Star Wars QnA: The Answers |
| Reported By - Pete - 23:59:12 (GMT) |
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You asked the questions and we shipped them off to Hasbro to answer, and here are those answers...
Q1. With next year being the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, can we expect more figures, vehicles and multipacks from the film and if so is there anything you can share with us as to what we can expect to see? Maybe a new card design to reflect the anniversary?
A1. Yes, there will be some things next year that will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Empire Strikes Back. For the most part, this will be "in assortment" using the mainline assortments, but there will be a few extra exclusives next year to celebrate as well. However, there won't be any specific packaging for the anniversary.
Q2. When looking at my collection from '95 onwards, there is a huge change in the design, detail, articulation of the action figures. Slowly new sculpts are being done of some figures, and much improved they are, so can we expect that you will remake many more of the early bulky inaccurate and poorly articulated figures to bring them more inline with the newer ones?
A2. Generally, the design aesthetic that has been employed in the line since approximately 1998 reflects an emphasis on realistically-proportioned
figures, accurate sculpting (realistic likeness for the film and EU-based figures), and articulation over built-in features. Since 2004, there has generally been any movement toward releasing characters with a higher degree of articulation, with the apex being a level typified by the modern Vintage line. While not every figure can have this same degree of articulation, this has generally been the sculpting direction when figuring costing permits.
With so many previous figures with excellent sculpts that have been done since 1998, even if they lack a high degree of articulation, we do not want to commit to updating every figure. Instead, it is our desire to complement, and occasionally upgrade some of the figures as determined by popularity (either within the Hasbro team or inspired by fans via requests or polls), and continue to devote a good selection of the line to delivering new never-before-done characters to continue to expand the horizons of the line.
Q3. Back in August you answered a question sent in by our friends at Snowtroopers.ca... and I quote...
"Is it possible to set up some kind of information feed that would inform Canadian collectors of exactly what is coming to Canadian retail? As things get finalized you could let us know. For example, if a retailer steps up for the Scramble at Yavin battle pack assortment, you could let us know when this happens. Or once retailers place an order for a certain wave, you could automatically confirm this for us. This would save us from asking every Q&A "Is x vehicle or wave coming to Canada"? It would also benefit retailers because we would then not resort to ordering things from the US for fear of them never arriving at retail here. It would basically act as product announcements like Hasbro USA does when revealing new products, but be Canada specific.
And speaking of Canadian retail and SW toys, the distribution of TLC this year has been terrible, with constant reloading (and clogging) of the pegs with wave 1 and barely a trickle of waves 3 and 4 (and obviously the absence of the last two waves completely). So given that Hasbro at SDCC has stated it will ship four waves in only 2 months(!) will ALL of these waves actually be coming to Canada? And what about existing announced blue-white packaged items like: Scramble on Yavin, CW Jabba, AT-TE Assault Squad, Ambush on the Vulture’s Claw, Rancor w/Luke which was said in a previous Q&A to be headed to “smaller accounts” Spring 2009 comic packs These answers are exactly what we hope an information feed would tell us, since this year Canadian customers have been left feeling as if we are fumbling in the dark and no idea of what we can or cannot buy. It loses money for Hasbro and obviously makes collecting incredibly, incredibly frustrating.
A3) That is a good idea for a list to advise Canadian collectors. We will work that up and use it for periodic updates as different toys ship. As for the ones you cite, none of them will be released in Canada as the blue and white line look is finished. Unfortunately, the retail support for the Rancor fell through at the last minute and we ended up not releasing it. A pity, but we tried hard to get it placed."
I know that UK collectors would relish something like this for the UK so they can plan ahead what they are getting from where and when, avoiding over priced importers and so supporting the UK's retailers big and small.
A3. Thanks for the suggestion; we'll touch base with our UK team to see if we can get a more detailed update for our UK collectors.
Thanks to the Hasbro and Hunter PR team for answering our readers questions yet again. Regarding the last question and the response, we'll keep you informed of what comes of that as soon as we hear anything.
Don't forget, despite TPU being a general sci-fi site, we still after 11 years have Star Wars at heart and continue to put UK Star Wars fans first.
Keep those questions coming in!
Unfortunately due to my daughter having a seizure last night the latest questions were not sent off in time for the deadline today. I apologise for this, but am sure you understand that my daughter's health came first. |
| SOURCE: Hasbro |
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