Toy Bender

It’s hard to believe that the next round of Star Wars Nerd questions is here. Really. It only seems like yesterday that we were assaulted by massive social retardation and yet here we are again. This round was particularly interesting because it seems like most sites pumped up their nerdery by a factor of ten. Are they competing for the coveted Ultra Geeky Award^TM? Most likely not, because no one has sent me an angry email over it yet. Let’s see how long I can go before it all blows up!

Galactic Hunter opens up with a question about an upcoming special figure I somehow missed:

Galactic Hunter: Now that the cat is out of the bag about Darth Vader’s Transmission (Comic Con Exclusive), which version of the Emperor’s floating head will we get? The recut version? The crazy monkey eyes (pre-DVD) version? Or might there be a variant?

Hasbro: The Emperor is from the Empire Strikes Back - Special Edition, rather than the monkey-eyes version. However, there may be a future Emperor figure himself down the road that has those primal primate eyes. Stay tuned…!

Sounds like a neat idea, combining a bust or whatever with an action figure. And bah to a monkey-eyed Emperor. I love the Emperor and all, but if you have one decent figure of him you pretty much have them all. Hell, the vintage one pretty much does it for me. It’s not like he does much aside from hunch and look evil.

Jedi Defender again asks about the thing of which I had no idea existed previously to this round of nerd questions.

Jedi Defender: There appears to be some confusion on the SDCC exclusive that you announced at the Toy Fair collector event. The “Executor Meditation Chamber” exclusive is not really a “playset” per se, just a new Holo Emperor and Darth Vader figure set, correct? And will the figures be new sculpts or repacks?

Hasbro: The “Disturbance in the Force,” the HasbroToyShop.com exclusive for San Diego Comic Con consists of an existing Vader, a newly tooled base with lights and sounds, and a new holographic Emperor bust. When the medallion in the center of the base is pressed, the hologram and light in the middle of the medallion light up, and a loooong sequence of movie dialogue is started. This is one cool exclusive, and it will also be available online after the Convention starts.

ActionFigs.com decides it’s time to nail Hasbro to the wall!

ActionFigs.com: You’ve said in the past that you were done with animated figures, that your testing had shown the realistic style to be far preferred over animated, yet the new Clone Wars show’s figures are based on its animation rather than the realistic style. What was the thinking behind going animated-style with these rather than realistic?

Hasbro: We said that we were done with pre-posed figures done in an exaggerated style. The new animated figures are grounded in an animation style, but they are not based on the exact silhouettes of the animated characters. Instead, they are a step toward the realistic style, and designed with a high degree of articulation as needed. We felt that it was important to pick up some of the style cues from the animation to best match the toys to the entertainment, but to design as much as possible with the collector in mind and draw them closer to the realistic style.

You know, if people cared as much as they do about the state of the world as they did about some stupid pieces of plastic we might be living in a better place. Or maybe toys are a great distraction for all the stupid people (except for me and the people that enjoy Toy Bender of course) to keep them away from important things. Look, Hasbro said those things because that’s what they thought was going to happen at the time. Business plans change. Deal with it.

This question actually came up a few times… and you can tell it was getting to Hasbro by the time they answered it from MouseDroid.com. Yes, the first sentence was actually bolded on MousDroid’s site:

MouseDroid: In previous Q&A sessions, you said that the ‘Clone Wars’ figures would be both in the ‘realistic’ style and wouldn’t contain many - if any - action features. Now we’ve seen from Toy Fair that both of these are false. Taking into account the lead time required to both design and produce the figures leading to the products shown at Toy Fair, why were collectors mislead regarding these products?

Hasbro: We never stated that the Clone Wars figures would be produced in a realistic style. We said that they would not be produced in an exaggerated, pre-posed style as the earlier cartoon-style figures were.

In fact, the figures have been designed so they are one step closer to their realistic counterparts in terms of proportions and style rather than exact matches to the on-screen silhouettes. Regarding features, there is only one figure (Yoda) in the line-up that has a dedicated feature (a launching feature in his sleeve). All of the rest of the features are snap-on launchers and may be removed easily.

So again you have it. They aren’t making animated figures that are tiny little statues with limited poseability. Hasbro will probably later release figures from the Clone Wars that are “realistic” style that they haven’t already made later down the road. They did it before and they’ll do it again. They are trying to capture some extra kid dollars. Is that so bad?

Yakface.com asks a question that I didn’t even know I had!

Yakface: In the press photos distributed by Hasbro, the V-19 Clone Fighter is displayed with it’s wings folded up (for landing) and down (for flight) it was displayed this way in your booth at Toyfair as well, but in both instances the center wing was in the same position. Does this wing, in fact, fold under the main fuselage as shown in the Clone Wars cartoon and will there be any sort of weathering paint treatment this vehicle?

Hasbro: Yes, the center wing will be able to be folded down under the fuselage. This is truly an amazing vehicle if we do say so ourselves! As for weathering, it will be pretty much in the paint scheme shown at Toy Fair. For this guy, the money is definitely tied up in the vehicle tooling, and not necessarily the deco.

Damn, I thought something was off when I saw the pictures of this thing but I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time. I guess I’m not quite the observant hideous geek that I thought I was.

CreatureCantina.com has a good question about internet distribution for larger vehicles:

CreatureCantina.com: It is something of an obvious statement that there are millions of Star Wars fans all over the world, the majority of whom are indubitably hooked up to the internet. Now, even if all the outlet retail chains in the U.S.A. were to pass up on such big-ticket items as the AT-TE and Big Honkin’ Millennium Falcon we’ve heard about (and I actually hope they don’t), would it not still be possible to turn a profit by selling them over the internet, considering the large numbers of good e-tailers across the globe?

- Beedo Sookcool, staff writer and wizard-level masseur

Hasbro: Beedo - While the Internet is a great business model, it would not be enough to sustain large tooling-intensive vehicles such as the AT-TE (it is barely enough to sustain some exclusive runs!). A large majority of the Star Wars collecting audience still enjoys shopping at retail (“the thrill of the hunt�) and that is where we will keep our focus with the vast majority of Star Wars offerings.

Enjoy or have no other choice? There’s a clear difference there Hasbro.

And Beedo… do we really need to know about your wizard rub downs?

I’m only including this question from Yoda’s News because Poe Ghoastal is a huge Kyle Katarn fan. In fact he loves him so much he wants to marry him. BURN!!!

Yoda’s News: There have never been figures based on the later jedi knights games! Seeing as there have recently been figures based on the battlefront, force unleashed, kotor and republic commando games, is there any chance that figures like Desan, Tavion, the reborn and a new KYLE KATARN could be incorporated into the line sometime in the future as a 2 packs or carded figures?

Hasbro: There is a very good chance that Kyle Katarn will become a figure at some point. Whether or not he is based on the Jedi Knights games is TBD. The odds are longer on the others.

Jedi News delves into Hasbro’s possible plans for the 10th anniversary of The Phantom Menace:

Jedi News: You’ve confirmed that there’s no Episode I wave in The Legacy Collection this year but there will be in 2009; was this a conscious choice because next year is the 10th anniversary of Episode I? If this is the case, will you be doing anything special to commemorate it? Talking of anniversaries, this year is the 25th anniversary of Episode VI, consequently will we be seeing anything special to celebrate this – Jabba on Throne maybe or perhaps you have something else up your sleeves… If so, can you share it with us?

Hasbro: We skipped this year for an EpI wave because, compared to the other waves in the lineup, we felt that we had some stronger waves elsewhere. While next year is the 10th Anniv of EpI, we don’t plan on necessarily celebrating in any big way (the same goes for EpVI). We might do something to acknlowdge the 10th Annv., but it might be more subtle. That’s not to say we don’t see growing interest and potential for EpI; we feel that the years ahead will see continued growth in the collector ranks of folks interested in EpI and plan to definitely meet that demand as it unfolds longer-term.

I feel slightly comforted by the fact that The Phantom Menace is so reviled that even after 10 years Hasbro doesn’t feel the need to recognize it in any significant manner. Sadly, this will change as kid’s who were unfortunate to grow up during it’s release will start to feel nostalgic about this turd.

Imperial Shipyards asked about scenery:

Imperial Shipyards: Hasbro, would you ever entertain the idea of making furniture and set pieces that correspond to particular movie scenes and planets? I would have loved to see the actual table and chairs packed with that bespin bp that just came out. Or make a Hoth bp and pack it with tactical screens and computer stations perhaps?

Hasbro: We have, in fact, done the tactical screen from Hoth in our 2004 Ultra series. Unfortunately, these diorama pieces prove to be less popular than figures or vehicles, and as a result it has not been the best investment of our resources (tooling especially). However, we do know that there is fan interest there in these set pieces, and we are looking at opportunities to get them in here or there (much like we have done with Cantina pieces in the past, or even the Jedi Council from the Cinema Scene series).

I can certainly understand Hasbro’s point on this, but couldn’t they just make some pieces for online sale only or something? That way the obsessive types and I could get a few computer consoles or something? I didn’t buy the Bespin Battlepack mostly because I didn’t want/need any of the figures in it. If it would have come with some of the chairs or the table? I would have bought it in a second.

Now this next question from 4inches.de didn’t win the Ultra Geek award, it strays into qualification territory:

4inches.de: At Toy Fair you introduced the new Rebellion Pilots Legacy evolution pack. Ten Nunb again comes with a white B-Wing pilot gear while this character doesn’t have any screentime (cut scene). There is a sullustian pilot figure seen several times on screen in Episode VI but that guy does have a red B-Wing pilot gear. Why didn’t you decided to release that guy within the evolution pack, he would slot very well into the evolution pack better than the white guy I think. And with your statement that there wouldn’t be a sullustian pilot with the next B-Wing fighter chances seems to be quite small to get a red sullustian B-Wing pilot figure anytime and that would be very disappointing. Would you please think about that point and perhaps recolor the sullustian B-Wing pilot for the upcoming evolution set?

Hasbro: Ten Numb was drawn from Lucasfilm archive reference. We knew that we were going to be doing two Evolution Pilot packs, and wanted to mix it up as much as possible within the packs, as some of the body tooling will be shared. To this end, we selected Kayan Farlander (a human pilot) for the second pack, in his red outfit and it made sense to provide an upgrade over the previous Ten Numb. We really like the Rebel Pilots, and can guarantee that not too far down the road there will be a red-suited Sullustan pilot. As for the rumored TRU B-Wing, you will have to wait a little longer for news on that. We will say that it is not tied to the OTC, but, in fact, something else is brewing in the Expanded Universe that we do not want to announce just yet.

I will always find it amazing that people care about this kind of stuff.

Speaking of qualifying, MouseDroid.com has really been gunning to become the number one obsessive and annoying question asking fan site on the internet. This one isn’t as bad as some of the other ones I’ve seen, but I had an automatic douschechill when I saw the word “dire” and I had an even bigger one when I saw the “funny” nerd threat:

Mousedroid: Over the last few years you have been very kind to collectors of Imperial and Republic forces, with great-quality releases of Death Star Gunners, Death Star Troopers, AT-AT Drivers, Vintage and Evolution Sand/Snow/Scout/Storm troopers, not to mention two different decorated clones for every color of the rainbow.

I’m wondering if there are any near-term plans to give their rebel brethren some love? The Endor Rebels from Saga06 and the recent Vanguard Trooper were decent but suffered from their origins as kit bashes of the ‘02 Endor Rebel. Are there any plans to refresh the Endor troops with a new torso sculpt that will bring them up to the standards of the Empire?

The situation for Hoth on the other hand can only be described as dire. The ‘04 version looks quite rough even by the standards of the other ‘04 figures, and really doesn’t stand up to today’s figures in terms of either sculpt or articulation. We now have Major Derlin, General Rieekan, VTAC Han and even Gen. McQuarrie but no-one in the infantry that deserves to be led by them. Are there any plans to rectify this situation? If not, Hoth might be overrun by the Empire! …and we wouldn’t want that to happen.

Hasbro: Give us some time, and we think you will be very pleased with the way the Rebel forces are shaping up, including numerous pilots this Fall in mainline and exclusive sets (and don’t forget - we recently had a great Yavin Sentry and A-Wing pilot, too!). Specifically, to your question of a super-articulated Rebel Commando, he is on the “short list” to do the next time we draw up a RotJ wave.

Good guys are never as interesting looking as the bad guys, so that’s why they get more attention.

The Ultra-Geeky Award^TM

And now it’s the time to award The Ultra-Geeky Award! This next question comes from Sandtroopers.com“>Sandtroopers.com because I stopped reading the question 16 letters in. There’s an impenatrable nerd shield that surrounds this thing and for the life of me I can’t get past it.

Sandtroopers: I realize that Hasbro has previously said “no” to the idea of a single universal neck peg for all of the basic figures and that the needs of a particular sculpt would dictate the peg size. However would Hasbro please consider the idea at least of a common-sized neck peg on most human characters? For example, there were many complaints about the face sculpts for last year’s Moisture Farmer Luke and Yavin Ceremony Luke. They really didn’t resemble Mark Hamill even remotely and most of us searched around for an alternate Luke head to put on these figures to improve the overall look. For example, when I used the VTSC X-Wing Luke head on my Yavin Luke, I was astonished at how much I suddenly loved this figure - although to make the head not wobble, I had to insert some extra tissue paper inside. Having the option of swapping heads vastly improved my appreciation of this figure and I even went out and bought a second Yavin Luke for another head swap. When Hasbro sometimes gives us a figure with a “pinhead” like the VTSC Endor Han, or the comic 2-pack Jedi Leia, again, we collectors would at least be able to find another larger head to fix the problem. Or if we’re not happy with Hasbro’s version of X-Wing Biggs (because of the Dutch Vander mold) we’d have the ability to make our own X-Wing Biggs by taking the head from the Tatooine Biggs and putting it on a 2008 SA generic X-Wing pilot body (hint). Please don’t underestimate the value that having a common neck peg size for at least the human characters has for we collectors to fix perceived problems. The ability to make minor customizations to a figure to suit our own taste has tremendous value and would probably help Hasbro to sell a few more figures for “body parts” or “extra heads”.

Hasbro: We do try to use a standard neck size whenever possible. Sometimes, the factory makes changes to the neck without notifying us. Usually, by the time we see production samples it is too late to make changes and we just run with it.

Was it a good one, people? I kind of go blind whenever I look at that string of text.