HASBRO Q&A SESSION #4

Question #1 Dear Hasbro,
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.
Azazel

HASBRO REPLY:
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.

Question #2 Dear Hasbro,
One figure I still cherish from the vintage days of KENNER of course is Jabba the Hutt. Earlier Versions of this figure from 95 to now aren't up to today's standards you must admit. Hasbro are ALWAYS pushing the boundaries, especially of late, with awesome new sculpts and articulation and even AMAZING paintjobs on figures that you cannot believe until the item is in hand. Is there demand enough to make a similar style Jabba with Dais-which hasn't been done as of yet-maybe even a 2pk with Gardulla??? You must admit the spitting frog and goo, and the poor paint work on this figure past DOESN'T do it justice. Thank you for your time.
Glennfett

HASBRO REPLY:
We agree wholeheartedly. However, the challenge with Jabba is finding the way to get him into the line and cover the tooling costs of a new figure (and, if possible, the dais as you mention). We are looking at ways of making it happen, but do not have the specific package for him yet. It will not be '08 in any case.

Question #3 Dear Hasbro,
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?
Darth Windu

HASBRO REPLY:
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.

clone
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