Toy Bender

Another month brings us another round of nerd questions from across the vast expanse of the internets. Not much has changed since the last few times. I share the questions and offer my priceless insights on both the answers and the questions.

ActionFigs.com asks the usual question about limited figure availability:

ActionFigs.com: Why are the fans’ choice figures so often hard to find? One would think that as a poll winner determined by the fans, it should be packed more than one per case and in multiple waves - especially an army-builder like the current Saga Legends winner, the Darktrooper. Darth Revan, the Darktrooper, the original Saga McQuarrie Stormtrooper, the OTC Imperial Scanning Crew Trooper, and of course Ephant Mon have all been overly difficult to find. So why isn’t more done to get the fans’ choice figures into the hands of the fans?

Hasbro: In the case of the recent Fans’ Choice figures, like Revan and Darktrooper, you will find that over the course of time we will release these over and over and they should be relatively easier to find (we can point to last year’s Cody and Scorch, and this year’s McQuarrie Boba Fett, Galactic Marine, and Airborne Trooper as figures that have been continuously released). The reasons for 1/case pack is not due to percieved demand, but, as we have answered many times over in the Q&As, due to how many can be manufactured in a given amount of time. When figure demand runs high, we need to produce a *lot* of figures and can only produce so many in a given time with the tooling we have available. As figures prove popular, we will continue to release them as we can.

Basically the answer is that when there is a kick ass figure, Hasbro doesn’t make enough of them to satisfy demand or at least to offset the purchases of greedy bastard scalpers.

ActionFigs.com asks the inevitable question that seems to pop up every third round:

ActionFigs.com: In this day and age, more and more people are becoming aware of the need to recycle. As collectors, we generate a lot of trash with all the packaging and would feel better about it if we knew it weren’t just sitting in a landfill for the next thousand years. What is the recyclability of the materials uses in the packaging, especially the plastic bubbles and trays for the action figures? Has Hasbro ever considered marking the components of their packaging (not just SW but all Hasbro packaging) with recycling symbols?

Hasbro: The PVC vacuform blisters and trays are not recyclable everywhere, so we don’t indicate them as such. It’s an important issue to us, and we are constantly looking at way of minimizing the amount of packaging each product uses. One area in which we have made progress, for instance, is in the use of wire ties, by going to the less resource intensive, clear bands among other initiatives.

Hmmm…. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a better argument for mint on card collecting. If you didn’t have to open your toys, then you wouldn’t have to produce any garbage…

Jedi Defender gets down to brass tacks:

Jedi Defender: The Target Ultimate Battle of Hoth Pack (and these are out now, so none of that “no comment” stuff ) seems to be the more popular of the two sets among collectors due to the new Gun Tower. Any chance that tower is going to make its way out to retail again by itself? A new Super Articulated Hoth Rebel Soldier would be a welcome pack-in to go with it!

Hasbro: We are glad that fans like the new turret - we are very glad we could bring it out as a nice surprise at the end of year like that. Both sets are packed with tons of play value, and both seem to be selling well (hey, who doesn’t love Ewoks?!). We do not have any plans at this time to offer the turret by itself - for now, and probably far into the future, the only place to find it will be the Ultimate Battle Pack.

Damn it. I really liked that turret, but my empty wallet and no room in my apartment made the decision not to buy the fifty dollar battlepack for it. Sigh…

I like questions that talk about what Hasbro would like to do, but can’t.

Jedi Defender: Are there any figures that you’ve wanted to do, but just couldn’t make them work for one reason or another? You’ve mentioned scrapping a folding/rolling Destroyer Droid in the past, were there any other characters/creatures that you’ve wanted to do but just cannot find a way/means to do it?

Hasbro: Sure. There are a few other figures that for one reason or another fall out of the line, either because there aren’t enough slots to do everything that our team wants to do, or because of costing, or even timing reasons. All good ideas eventually find their way back in one way or another, even if in another format than they were originally proposed. For instance, one such idea, details of which we aren’t releasing yet, that “fell out” of the basic figure line this year due to costing will be coming out as our Comic Con exclusive next year.

Everyone on the team, too, has their “favorites” that they try and get into the line every year. For instance, it has become sort of a joke that one team member has really championed Fozec, from Jabba’s Palace, for three years in a row now. Each year Fozec has just missed the cut or been replaced by another character that for one reason or another we felt we needed to do first. Some day, the team member will get his revenge…errr….his wish and Fozec will make the cut. Until then, he remains one of those “high on the list” candidates that is an example of a figure we just couldn’t work into the line.

I think it would have been hilarious if Hasbro had just stopped at, “Sure.” Anyway, in one of the rare moments where I actually gave a shit about finding out what obscure character they are talking about here, I looked up this Fozec fellow up and got this from Wookiepedia:

Fozec was one of the many Human guards kept around Jabba’s Palace. Like most of the others, he was secretly plotting to kill the Hutt. Unlike the others, Fozec was a spy planted by the Galactic Empire.

Can’t there be one character in the whole friggen Star Wars Expanded Universe that doesn’t have some intricate plot revolving around him!? ARGH!!!! For once I’d like to look up a character and have it say, “One of Jabba’s guards. Because he failed vocational school and drank too much, he could only find employment as a henchman/guard for Jabba the Hutt. He kind of sucked at his job as evidenced by the fact that Jabba was killed by a small coke-head in a bikini.”

Jedi Temple Archives asks an Ewok related question. Yub Yub.

JediTempleArchives: Ewoks seem to be on something of an upsurge as far as figures go. We got Chief Chirpa last year, the Ewok 2-pack this year and another 2 Ewoks in the Battle of Endor Ultra Battle Pack. Is it possible that we’ll see the remainder of the vintage Ewoks, namely Lumat and Warrok, produced in the not too distant future?

Hasbro: We would like that too, but it probably won’t be as simple as that. We do have other Ewok plans, but it may take a little while longer for revised versions of these two to find their way into the line.

Remember the time when everyone hated Ewoks? It was called pre-Jar Jar. Back then the Ewoks were the silliest thing in the Star Wars Universe. Now they don’t look so bad.

Private Universe dares asks what is behind the walls of Hasbro Castle:

Private Universe: So - what’s it like working at Hasbro ? Are the walls lined with case-fresh, mint-on-card figures ? Is there a giant vault somewhere containing one of each item from the Star Wars line - past and present ? Does the coffee lounge have a giant toybox where you can test the products ? C’mon - it’s got to be a dream job for a fan - right?

Hasbro: It’s not quite the abundant vintage paradise that one might imagine, but toys do explode like popcorn kernels out of every nook and cranny. Actually, a lot of the stuff in offices and common spaces is mostly the “unglamorous” part of toy design - rough models, pre-production samples for debugging, competitive products, and the like. Definitely more a functional space than a workplace museum.

Space is pretty open in the Boys area, and that’s part of the fun; people get to see what other people are working on and that fuels a cool cross-pollination among the teams. As far as office decor goes, recent products are mostly what is displayed since wall space is always a sought-after commodity, and upcoming or recent releases (TAC) tend to be the most exciting and get the prized space. While there are indeed Hasbro/Kenner archives that do boast some case-fresh gems, the archive is only partially complete. We have been there on a couple of occasions for “research” purposes…yeah, that’s it….research.

This is why I don’t like to learn what goes on at Hasbro Castle: 1. It ruins my childlike impression that its like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory except with toys and less obnoxious and out of place singing. 2. It makes me hate my own life and job even more.

Jedi Insider has a couple of good questions. The first one is on many a Star Wars fan’s mind:

Jedi Insider: Can you tell us when toys based on the new Clone Wars animated series are due out?

Hasbro: They will be out for Fall 2008. The exact on-shelf date is still being worked out, but detailed information and images of the figure direction will be revealed in February at Toy Fair.

I don’t think I’ll be going to ToyFair this year. Unless I find myself a Big Daddy Warbucks willing to speed up the harvest and get me off this rock and on a plane headed toward New York.

I was a little disappointed in this round of questions as the fan sites have seemed to tempered themselves for whatever reason. This question from Yoda’s News almost qualifies for an Ultra Geeky Award^TM, but it being the holiday season I’m going to let it slide:

Yoda’s News: YN: The comic 2-pks have went over real well apparently this year, and it looks like you have many more planned for next year. Hints and rumors of upcoming characters are exciting many collectors. But many also feel that the attempt to keep them at a $9.99 price point causes a problem with the quality of these exciting but half-done figures that won’t get better versions down the road more than likely. I understand that every figure cannot be vintage quality, but the majority of these figures are well below basic figure quality. So would you consider raising the price on them to say $14.99 to be able to offer better made figures or are you bent on keeping the $9.99 price point at all cost?

Hasbro: Neither, actually. We will be raising our pricing (and suggested price to $11.99 SRP) in 2008 in an effort to be able to provide some more articulation. However, we won’t always be able to make each figure super-articulated. We don’t in the basic line, either - because of the very high cost related to tooling, deco, and assembly, Vintage-style articulation cannot be the goal for everything. We do hope to be able to continue to offer quality of sculpting and articulation, and a solid value for the 2-pack. This is doubly important since kids have also been big fans of the comic 2-packs in addition to collectors. By maintaining that attainable price point, we keep both audiences engaged and can continue to put forth good batch of new sculpts with each wave.

Really? You’d like to pay more for the two packs? Please, don’t give Hasbro any ideas.