Toy Bender

Boy oh boy, the nerd train keeps on rolling. This actually came up last week, but I’ve had all kinds of trouble with my internet access and I lost the original version of this post, so this is up a little late. I’m sorry to delay your injection of the best toy related nerdiness that the internet has to offer. Anyway, here’s this month’s round of Star Wars nerd questions to Hasbro:

Let’s open up with a question from FFURG that both comes up all the time now and the one subject matter that seems to bother me the most for some odd reason:

FFURG: Now that we’ve seen the SDCC exclusive Shadow Scout with Speeder Bike, we’ve wondered why it was decided to do with the older bike style from the POTF2 days rather than the Saga/Clonewars one? Granted, the droopy plastic on the Saga one was pretty bad, but the sculpt was far superior, especially the handlebars, seat, and front section. Couldn’t the Saga one be used with a more rigid plastic to give collectors one heck of a figure?

Hasbro: We found that the Speeder looks better with the wider front “fork� and materials selected for the original POTF2 version. We think the aesthetics on that version still hold up extremely well and we were very pleased with the way the set turned out.

I’m glad that Hasbro likes it, but damn it spend some damn money to make a new mold for the Speederbike already. You know you’re going to use it forever once you retire the old one. Okay, I’m done with my rant now.

FFURG also asks:

FFURG: Do you think we’d ever see some sort of “design your own figure� from Hasbro where we can go online, pick out several parts (head, body, helmet) and than have it sent to us like Lego does with their own design a set offering? With figure bases as good as Dutch/Biggs, Zev Senesca, the upcoming A-Wing Pilot, or the OTC Tie Pilot, it seems like it could be a really neat online mail-order system where people could order a figure and a head, it’d be sent via baggie in a white mailer (no carding costs), and the buyer could simply pop the head on. It’d be like production level customizing. This could be a way for collectors to finally get all their Rogue Squadron figures that wouldn’t sell well in the brick-and-mortar chains.

Hasbro: It is very unlikely you will ever see us offer something like this, simply because we are aligned as an organization to manufacturer and distribute bigger volumes of toys through our retail partners, and our factory partners are really geared up for this as well. Even more specialized offerings, such as the base packs and protective clamshells, are relatively smaller offerings in the grand scheme of what we ask our factories to do, but giant compared to what the requests would be for something as specialized a build-a-figure. To even set up this business, we would also probably have to charge an extraordinary amount for any figure - far beyond what the components cost if folks were to get several figures and do their own work. In other words, it’s a great idea to give individual collectors what they want, but as an organization we have to stick to the things we do best and work toward figures that meets the needs of a larger audience.

Um yeah, designing your own Lego figure and designing your own action figure are two completely different things. Have you ever noticed that you can take a Lego figure apart with minimal effort and swap their parts around? That would kind of explain why it’s more feasible for Lego to offer the ability to make your own figure online. I can only imagine how much it would cost to get a figure like the on that was proposed.

Galactic Hunter asked a question about something that was completely off my radar:

Galactic Hunter: At Dragon*Con 2007 this [past] weekend Heath Hammond from Sideshow Collectibles stated (to the audience) that Sideshow and Hasbro are in talks to produce playsets/environments in the 3 ¾� scale. Can we get any sort of official comment from Hasbro on this?

Hasbro: We can confirm that we have had discussions with Sideshow but any public confirmation beyond this is premature.

I think I just shat myself at the prospect of this happening. Now all I have to do is clean myself up and saving my money.

Now on to an awesome Indiana Jones toy question from ActionFigs.com:

ActionFigs.com In regards to the Indiana Jones line, what types of ideas are being considered? Would it be safe to assume that characters like Mola Ram, the giant Thugee guard, Temple of Doom “wear & tear� Indy with torn shirt and missing sleeve, Henry Jones Sr., Willie Scott, and Short Round are good possibilities? After all, they do all seem like logical choices. Will the Star Wars Battle Pack and Comic 2-Pack concepts be used in the Indiana Jones line? How about Indy role-play accessories?

Hasbro: Right now it is still too early to talk about the breadth and depth of Indy….that will probably come next around Toy Fair. We we will say that we are doing both a mix of classic (previous three films) and figures from the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The figures you named are all strong classic figures, so there’s a good chance most or all of them will be in the line at some point.

Okay, while they didn’t say that we will be getting a Short Round figure, they didn’t single him out as not being an iconic character that doesn’t have a good chance of being made. Yeah, I realize I’m pathetic, but I needs me a Short Round.

Normally, I’d give ActionFigs.com a hard time for a question like this. However, it doesn’t veer too terribly into the realm of the Ultra Geeky and they do have a bit of a valid point:

Actionfigs.com: While the last Jabba we got (Saga Ultra) looked nice, his limited articulation and hard plastic body don’t lend him to many alternate poses, so he’s a bit boring. What about the idea of doing a new Jabba with an internal skeleton/under-frame for more articulation underneath a rubber skin similar to the Jabba Glob Ep I figure which had a decent look and much more mobility? It seems a shame that action figures of Jabba - who is such a major character - can never be able to move his mouth, arms, and tail at least somewhat like he does in the film. (It could even be released in a special battle pack, or in the $20 vehicles wave, with a full throne and more, even possibly a resculpted sitting Slave Leia.)

Hasbro: Getting more poseability out of a Jabba figure is a great idea, and if/when we do another one we will look to something that can work for our costing parameters. What you suggest would be relatively expensive Jabba, but it doesn’t mean there are other ways to do what you suggest.

Boba’s Bounty asks about doing something like Kenner used to do with the old school points system you’d get with figures.

Boba’s Bounty: Speaking of mail-in offers….is there any current talk about ANY kind of mail in offer using proof of purchases or the “points� from toys? One of my favorite memories as a kid was saving up those circles and getting the Boba Fett figure, Admiral Ackbar, a figure stand, whatever.

Hasbro: We are still struggling with the whole mess from the fallout of the Jedi Master points issue and whether we could ever do something with them without angering the folks who were told to (and did) throw their points away. I think we can say that if we do more mail-ins, it will probably not involve older points but specific (not generic) stickers or UPC codes the way we have been doing it with Vintage offers.

By the way, I’d like to throw out a past, “Screw you Hasbro� for messing that up so badly. I hadn’t had an outlet for my anger back then, so it’s got to be aired now, sorry. I think a points system could work, if they started from scratch now with a particular goal in mind instead of the horrible way it was handled previously.

Our German friends at 4-Inches.de asked a pretty interesting question about a vehicle that I’d like to see:

4-Inches.de: How do you judge the chances for an Imperial Landing Craft Vehicle from the Tatooine-scene from ANH? If there are chances what would be a realistic time period for such a vehicle? It would be a cool extension for the Imperial Fleet.

Hasbro: It is definitely a cool vehicle. We do not rule out the possibility of one day doing this vehicle, but it is not high on our priority list as the new vehicles we are looking at are either for the Starfighter Vehicle assortment or for Clone Wars. If this vehicle shows up in future entertainment then there will be a higher chance.

SWCollector.com whips out a nice and nerdy question:

SWCollector: In the upcoming EE set of Mandalorians & Clones, there’s a female Mando called Rav Bralor based on this art by Tom Hodges. However, Hodges named the character Vonte Tervho. Any chance we could see a single-carded version eventually, using that name?

Hasbro: We take our character names from Lucasfilm’s direction, as they establish canon. A character name like Vonte Tervho would be a different character from Rav Bralor, which is not an issue, but that character would need to be officially endorsed by Lucasfilm before we would consider it for any future offerings.

Hasbro’s real answer: Do you really care that much? And why?

SWCollector hits another one out of the park with this question:

SWCollector: Will there be any way to get a complete set of collector’s coins without having to buy each figure? Perhaps something through HasbroToyShop.com?

Hasbro: We elected not to pursue this, instead leaving the complete sets of coins a treasure for the fans who have worked hard to chase down all of the versions needed.

Wouldn’t being able to buy them online defeat the entire purpose of having to purchase all the figures for them? You know, Hasbro set it up this way for a reason: to make money. Why on Earth would they even consider something like this?

Jedi Insider asked a great question about the vintage Death Star playset:

Jedi Insider: If you had the opportunity to re-design the Death Star playset toy from scratch, what is one thing you would want to incorporate that was not on the original toy?

Hasbro: A working ion cannon! Seriously, that was a great playset. The only thing that can really be added would be..space. The ability to arrange figures in more key scenes and capture the scale of the Death Star corridors and rooms.

How true… Hey, wait! I’ve got an idea! Make a new one!

Sand Troopers.com had a great question about a new vehicle:

Sand Troopers: Also, any chance that we would ever see an updated Imperial Troop transport. It wouldn’t have to have sounds but opening troop holders on the sides would be cool and maybe without the sounds, there could be a deeper prisoner compartment!

Hasbro: We have thought about something like this, and it would be cool. However, there are a bunch of other things ahead of it. It probably wouldn’t be for a few years if we did get to it.

So basically, Hasbro is too busy repainting Jedi Starfighters and re-releasing the same five molds Kenner was using since the 70s on the vintage line.

The Ultra-Geeky Award^TM

This month didn’t see a lot of incredibly geeky questions, but for the few that there were this was a hard fought battle for the chance to hold the title as the Ultra-Geek. This time I’ll show the two contenders and then announce the winner. It’s more dramatic this way… or something.

The first question comes from none other than ActionFigs.com, last week’s winner of the coveted trophy:

ActionFigs.com: At Comic-Con, you showed off ‘08 basic wave 1 and in it was the Octuptarra Droid. However, what was shown actually had the details of the much larger Tri-Droid - another ROTS droid that was an upsized, remodeled version of the smaller Octuptarra Droid - so the feet, guns, and eyes on what you showed are from the wrong design. Will these details be corrected so that it truly is the Octuptarra Droid?

Hasbro: We found out about the differences in the two after we were already down the path. So the figure will be coming out as shown. We couldn’t really do it any bigger than we are doing now anyway, at least on a basic figure card, so until we have the opportunity to do a larger one, fans will hopefully appreciate the coolness of this one.

There’s nothing more geeky than caring this much about an error and bitching about it, especially when it’s something most people don’t give a crap about. (Yeah, I’m ignoring my issues with the Speederbike, but I’m in charge here).

And here’s the geek juggernaut Sir Steve’s Guide’s entry:

Sir Steve’s Guide: The Titanium Series 3″ Star Wars vehicle collection is growing larger and larger. When counted against the Galoob’s Star Wars Micro Machines line (the expansive original, not their die-cast), the math shows that there were 87 Micro Machines covering the OT, EU, and Episode I, if we subtract the reissues like battle-damaged, speederbikes with new characters, etc., there were 72 unique vehicles. Meanwhile, Hasbro’s Titanium line has 101 Star Wars vehicles including single packs, exclusives, and 5-packs (but not gold or silver versions) counting up to 2007 wave 4. However, if we subtract reissues like repaints, there are just 48 unique Titanium vehicles - and 19 of those are reissues from the old Galoob Die Cast line. While we are thankful just to have any line of small Star Wars vehicles, one does wonder if 53 repaints out of 101 may have a negative impact. What does Hasbro think about this issue?

Hasbro: Repaints are an inevitability for a line like Titanium, and thanfully the range of on- and off-screen opportunities that have presented themselves over the years give us the confidence to commission new tools knowing that we will be able to get multiple decos out of them. We will say that we are going to be judicious about which ones that we are going to be repainting, and going more toward the fleet approach when it makes sense (Red Squadron, Gold Squadron, EU squadrons even) and less toward the pewter/battle-damage route.

Here’s my math equation: Expending the effort compiling a list of vehicles from two different toy lines + Way much time on your hands x actually caring this much to ask Hasbro about it = Ultra Geeky Award. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Steve’s Guide takes back the crown!!

Other Nerd Questions:

Nerd Questions, G.I. Joe Style
The First ToyBender Nerd Question Coverage

toy, toy collecting, action figure, Hasbro, star wars