Topic: 2014 SDCC Hasbro Q & A

[Tamer]

I want to thank Todd for letting me draft him for this as well as Justin and Joe and the Hasbro Brand Team (William Rawley and Jeff Labovitz) for giving us a few minutes of their time at a very busy convention.



These answers come directly from the Hasbro product development team, William Rawley and Jeff Labovitz. Please note the questions are in yellow and the answers are in orange.

With the success of Marvel Legends build-a-figure packs where each figure in the line includes an additional part that can be combined to create an exclusive figure, any plans on adoptiong that idea for a future series of the Star Wars 6" line?  or the 3 and 3/4 inch line again? or Special mail-in offers (i.e. UPC codes for a figure or accessory pack)?

Build-a-figure packs are a possibility for the 6" Star Wars line, but there are no definite plans for it at this point.  Build-a-figure packs will generally be a higher price point.  While Hasbro has had success with them, there are many new and old characters to celebrate and many still to do before they run out.

Are you going to keep the full articulation lines going or are you eventually phasing out to 5 points of articulation?

Hasbro plans to keep both the full articulation line and the limited articulation line so that there is a good entry level product while giving collectors something to expand into.

We know perhaps your main focus for the foreseeable future is going to rest with Episode VII and perhaps REBELS. We also know that you were given some notice that prequel and EU figures were not to be given much of a priority. So, should Original Trilogy, Prequel, not to mention The Clone Wars Fans who just started into the Star Wars Line hold their breath or resign themselves to the fact that we probably won't see many of these figures for years to come?

There will be less Expanded Universe and Old Republic, with the new characters of Rebels and Episode VII being the focus, but there will always be the classic favorites.

It doesn't seem that the "cheaper" mid size vehicle line really took off like you expected, and we're seeing a more "back to normal" approach with the Rebels vehicles.  Is this the case? Are you done offering scaled down versions of vehicles that most of the market already had more normal sized versions of and will continue to offer more new molds in a more accurate scale, and more previously unmade vehicles?

Vehicles are expected to be offered in a variety of scales and at different price points.

With the upcoming success of the 6" Biker scout with Speederbike pack (and it's fantastic), are their plans on introducing beasts into the line - A dewback (pretty please), a tauntaun, a wampa.....or a Dianoga? Please just even a little hint?

The Black Series Tauntaun is just the beginning!  The larger box now being used will allow for a wider variety of creatures.

With the release of the 6" clone trooper, does this open the doors to variations sporting the various paint markings and different helmets for example Arc Trooppers , phase 2 helmets or individual characters like Commander Cody?

Absolutely!  Commander Cody is on William's short list of characters he'd like to see.  Being able to reuse base parts with different paint schemes allows for move variety, and especially for special exclusives.

We recently saw an awesome video from StarWars.com of JJ Abrams and a new Episode 7 X-Wing. We know mums the word on the new Episode 7 characters, etc. and what you are making, but since they showed us this vehicle can you let us know if you are going to build it? It just looks like a great nod to Ralph McQuarrie and wow would this one cater to new and old collectors alike!

Can't say anything about the Episode VII x-wing  at the moment.

One thing that has been consistent across all of your Star Wars lines recently has been reduced/poorly applied paint masks.  Why has quality dropped in this area and is there any way that it can improve soon?

Both William and Jeff were distressed to hear that the fans thought that the quality of paint mask has dropped.  They are constantly working with their manufacturing facilities to improve quality.

With the announcement of Bossk in upcoming waves of the 6" line, is there a good bet we may eventually have a 6" set of Bounty Hunters as seen in Empire Strikes Back?

Bounty hunters are always highly requested and thus on the short list of upcoming characters.  It is a good possibility.  Zuckuss is not as likely due to all of the soft goods required.

In years past Hasbro has done the Fan's Choice where fans got to choose which figures would be released. Is Hasbro/Disney planning on bringing that back anytime in the future?

This is not something that is currently planned, but it is a possibility worth discussion.  The Star Wars fans have come up with some great ideas in the past!

Are there any more Build A Droid Figures in the works or is the line finished?

There are not any further figures in the Build-a-droid line currently planned.

Folks, I know we had a ton more questions but I want to applaud our question presenter for getting as much in as he did in the ten minutes he had. This was his first time out and I think he did a bang up job. There are definitely some things to be happy about with this report and as always, a few things we wish were answer differently.

[customjedi]

Thanks for that ISY crew. Well done!

[Tamer]

Thanks for that ISY crew. Well done!

I really appreciated reading that. It really is a gargantuan task to coordinate all of this just for the logistics alone and Todd must have caught them at just the right point as they really gave him some good answers. I always feel bad because we can never fit in everyone's questions (I even had a few of my own that I told him to ask last that didn't make it into the mix) but think we moved around pretty good for the different offerings to give folks more insight into what is planned for the Big H.

[darth_sidious]

Glad you were able to ask some questions - wish the news was better.  Seems like what they showed off at SDCC might be the last of the CW characters for awhile which is a huge letdown, though I am happy we're getting that Jedi Temple Guard.

I'm a bit surprised they don't know about the deco issues - I've seen problems in TBS, Legends, Mission Series, etc.  I've also noticed joint / peg issues where they are not lined up properly, and some have mismatched colors.  These factory issues seem to have no end - they need some quality control.

[CHEWIE]

Thanks for putting this together Tamer.  I know it's not an easy task, and it seems harder and harder to get information out of Hasbro each year.  There's always a question or two that I wish could have been included, but it's not like they'd probably give us answers the "right answers" to those questions...

I really wish we could get more info from them on WHY they feel there is not a market for playsets when other companies have found ways to make it work, and also why they are making a 6" Wampa when we really need a new 3.75" scale one (and probe droid too!)

Seems dumb to ignore the popularity of the BAD concept, I don't get why they don't make "droid builder packs" with parts to make a ton of droids.  It seems like a complete no-brainer.  Those are my kids favorite figures!

As for the deco problems, I think they are aware and try to play dumb.  And there's things that are out of the control of these guys.  I do think there are times they are pretty out of touch with the realities of the consumer market though.

 

[Tamer]

I too think they are aware and it is pretty much salt in the wound when they act like that. I guess as long as folks keep buying it why change right?

[darth_sidious]

I think they're insulting our intelligence by saying they aren't aware of certain issues.  I wish they had someone sampling these products at the factory level before they get shipped - they'd be able to correct so many problems before they reached consumers.  Years ago, they would take issues and look into them, not sure they bother to anymore.  At $11 a figure though, we shouldn't have these problems...