Hasbro Q&A

[Tamer]

First here is a message from Derryl DePriest (VP at Hasbro and a bang up guy to meet in person)

Thanks to all our Star Wars sites - we hope you have a great Thanksgiving.  Please send this note along to all of your readers:

It's a very exciting time for Star Wars as the extraordinary Target exclusive Vintage 9-pack will be going on sale soon (Nov. 28th).  There are two important things to note with this set.  First, this set will be more limited than some of our other recent exclusives. Second, Target (and we) are so excited about the Vintage collection overall and these 3-packs that we have decided to keep this "collection within a collection" idea going at Target.  Another wave of 3 3-packs will be coming in Spring and like these, they follow the Vintage character lineups.  We think this an exciting development, and thanks to Target's support, hopefully fans will be treated to even more in this series.  Thanks again for the support and be sure to get to Target soon.  Happy Holidays - the Hasbro Star Wars team.

I was just at Wal-Mart, and there is about 75% Saga Legends, 25% Vintage/Clone wars. I looked through the "legends"....yeah right. The General Grievous is just a repack of the Sneak-Peak Grievous that was so 5 years ago. How many times are the Shocktroopers and 501st troopers going to be legends in a row? Then all the same stuff: Yoda with wookie gun, C3PO w/Ewok throne, and Obi-Wan. If they aren't going to give us something new with Legends, maybe they could stop flooding the shelfs with them?

Many people assume that Saga Legends are targeted toward collectors.  That is not the case.  Saga Legends are targeted toward a kid audience and have been for a number of years.  While we have done Saga Legends fans' votes, most notably in the 2007-08 30th Anniversary line, the large majority of figures are designed to keep the most popular characters out there in circulation.  Kids are much less concerned about articulation or how old a figure is; in fact, the more articulation a figure has the harder it is for young kids to manipulate, which is why we select the figures we do.  Another fallacy we are happy to address:  that we keep forcing figures out to retailers instead of figure segments that sell better.  Saga Legends has been a hot segment since the release of the new packaging with the Galactic Battle Game, and we have been trying to keep up with the demand.

Recently you have told another Website that a Republic Commando pack would imdeed be coming out. Then at Celebration V we seen none other than RC-1138 and the boys in several videos. So my question is this; how far in advance does Hasbro get told by the Clone Wars Producers of characters to produce? and is there any sneaky little numbers waiting in the wings?

Unfortunately, our schedules are much farther out than that of the Clone Wars productions team.  It usually takes 12-18 months to produce figures and vehicles, and while the Clone Wars team usually knows the stories it will be telling more than a year in advance, we aren't usually able to get final, locked-down artwork until much later.  As a result, we are usually a good six months out from the debut of a show and the time we can get anything out to take advantage of a new character.  There are rare exceptions of course, and we can usually get refreshed characters (i.e. Sgt. Bric) out on a shorter time frame.  The less complicated a figure is, it improves the chances of getting out quicker, like Galactic Heroes vs. a more complicated 3-3/4" figure.
  

[Clonehead]

interesting news on the target sets.

Dear Hasbro, I know it's far fetched but what would the chances be of a battle pack release in the future comprised entirely of ewoks or astromechs? I know that there are collectors of both specific types of characters who would be thrilled with this prospect.

[CloneSniper78]

I think their answer on articulation is bull..... The tcw clones have a lot of articulation and I'm sure the kids aren't complaining. I know when I was a kid (1980's) I wished my Star Wars figures had the same articulation as my G.I.Joes

[artilarytrooper321]

Dear hasbro,
will there be a re-release in the ROTS combat engineer, or AT-AT gunner. that would make a great 2 pack

[jtrooper]

Hello Hasbro

Just wanted to tell you if you didn't know this already is that my boys are 10 and 12 and they are not interested in Legends. They are interested in the Clone wars animated and so are other kids. I've gone to Toys Rus and many parents are looking for the new Clone wars figures and I been directing them not TR Us but Walmart and Target, But you know this already. I like the legends series myself not a collector but a completest I like to get all of the Legends that I do not have. Again Store are trying to give a sale on this we do not want if  they were a dollar I might buy just for the price. And differently not now during the economy. Just to tell you CLONE WARS ARE WHAT THE KIDS WANT. It would be neat to see legends as animated wow did I say that. That would be a awesome market. Re due the Star Wars 4, 5  & 6 in  animation. Oh my gosh I would buy like crazy again.

Thank you
Jtrooper

[beige-4]

dear hasbro
first things first . can you fire your market guideline man , because he's a liar . how can kids not like articulation ? my kid loves articulated toy's. whenever my son and i are looking for custom fodder i always offer him a toy for himself if i point to a saga legends toy he'll just say " no. they don't move " . now what does that tell you ?
harry dixon

[jtrooper]

Hey Hasbro

Jtrooper articulation is the answer to all Star Wars figure my boys just got the Mando Police officer and thought it was lame because his knees didn't move and they will not buy another until it does. So fire who ever gives you your info and hire me or my kids to play with the toys.

[Psyclone]

Edited because of silly rant.  

[Tamer]

LOL! Why don't you guys tell Hasbro how you feel about their articulation answer.

I don't have the updated Q and A schedule yet, but if one of you wants to combine all the articulation questions into one good coherent question I will be sure to submit it for our first round of the next go when they give me the schedule!