Topic: General Questions for Hasbro as of July 10th, 2021

[StarAlien70]

Doesn't it concern the company that a lot of Star Wars items, such as TBS and TVC, are becoming hard to find products, due to; excessive exclusives, distribution problems, under packed items, etc. and have created and continue to feed a lucrative secondhand market?

Surely it is not good business practice to create the kind of retail environment where a third party seller makes more profit per item than the company that distributes it. Surely making items easier to get hold of at initial retail point would be better for the company from both a financial and a PR point of view.

I live in the UK and I have no idea which shops are going to stock which products, especially if they are limited to exclusive deals in the US, I think even our local Forbidden Planet has given up. But I've heard that the problem is nearly as bad even in the US.

This has been a long running issue with Hasbro Star Wars, and Hasbro's current business deals seem to be making it worse rather than better.

I want to enjoy buying Star Wars products again!

[Stan]

Plain and Simple:   we need more figures in the Vintage Collection, more than 3 waves a year. Perhaps 5 waves a year would be more effective.

Please Hasbro :  Repacks, less of them more NEW figures.  Aliens and
Droids  have not been represented in this line at all. Example:   8D8 , Ev-9d9,


Please bring back Muti paks:    What better way to fill the barge : 


Skiff:  updated please!

What. Is next year ratio on Orginal Trilogy to new entainment for the vintage collection?   Example: we will we at 10 new figure represented from the Orginal trilogy!

[Tamer]

Wow, thought there might be more takers in here by now. I know it was kind of last minute, but I am gonna have to get these out today so I am gonna add a few:

With the great success of the Barge, when can we expect to hear of the next great HasLab offering?

Speaking of the Barge, is everything going according to plan with this shipping in February?

It has been awhile since we have seen a new large vehicle offering in 3.75" Scale. Any chance you might shed some light on one coming down the pike? AT-M6 perhaps?

We have seen word on a Wal-Mart Exclusive TIE Fighter coming in vintage deco. Any other vehicle offerings you can share coming in the vintage line?

Your 6" Vintage Line is fantastic. What new figures are we going to see get this same treatment we don't know about yet? All of the characters you have released in the Black Series that have had vintage cards before perhaps?

Besides the Sail Barge of course, what new product has you most excited in the coming year?

I am still thinking of a few, but will wait a bit this morning to send these on to Todd.

If you have any questions you need to get em in this morning!

[Tamer]

Plus is anyone like me wondering when the next fan favorites vote will be?

[DarthSinister]

Tamer, I can't speak for anyone but myself... I've been a figure collector since the 70s. As you know I'm one of the old guard, 51 this August. I collected MEGO, Metal Men, Micronauts and Star Wars when I was a kid. Had the Shogun Warriors, Big chap Alien yadda yadda yadda.

I haven't purchased a Star Wars figure to "collect" in a couple of years. I buy em' and chop them up to make something else. The new films just don't speak to me. To my surprise, and especially after TLJ it's as if someone turned off a faucet. I have nearly zero interest in the franchise. I go back to the first three films and that's it.

At 51 years old I have 3 children. Late bloomer. All girls ages 12, 9 and 5. I observe them and their friends and kids now-a-days seem to be uninterested in physical toys. All they seem to want are their devices. That's problem #1 with whats wrong with collecting and distribution these days. My kids are okay with Star Wars, but only IV, V and VI. They're bored during the prequels (as am I) and they can't stand the new stuff. I really tried to get them, and me, into the Disney offerings, but they hate em'. Girl hero power and all... lol. What a bunch of crap.

Luckily along came Marvel. My girls love Marvel and the MCU, and so do I. When I see an MCU film I feel a lot of excitement as I did back when Star Wars was young. It's been a great bonding experience for us. Guardians Of The Galaxy has certainly filled the Star Wars void for me.

Now on to the point. I've been collecting the Marvel Legends. They're better made figures. They're super cool characters who are relatable to boys and girls without forcing (no pun intended) it down our throats. Also, and a big deal, BUILD A FIGURE. I buy Marvel figures I don't even want so I can build that really cool figure in the series. I know some of you guys wan't that vintage packaging. And it sucks if the bubble on the card is too big and all that jazz, but I'm not buying packaging. If 1:18th and 1:12th Star Wars figures packed the quality and build a figure punch like Marvel I think it would help turn things around a little for Star Wars. S#!-, I would have even purchased a Rose figure if there were a fantastic BAF part in the box.   

Question: Dear Hasbro, Why don't you standardize your action figure collections across the board? Cool packaging along with quality figures and BAF parts. Standardized connections for arms, heads and legs. Maybe even make all figures to come apart as easily as the build a figures so kids and adults can tinker with them and make what they want. Is this not a better selling model than what we have now. Can't all departments weather it Star Wars or Marvel work together to offer something innovative and imaginative? Just my thoughts on this subject.

[Tamer]

Ok, I have our questions sent.

[ghostskull18]

My question is Does hasbro have any plans to make darth maul figures based off how he appeared in solo (sorry for the spoiler)

[Darth More]

Guess I'm too late to turn my questions in, now, but I wish you a great time at SDCC 2018, Tamer!
You got some very good quesions in your bag. I'm looking forward to hearing Hasbro's answers to them.

- Philipp

[Tamer]

I am looking forward to the answers too!

[Tamer]

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/isysdcc2018.m4a

Here you go, the download link for the Q and A with Hasbro.

I have an audio player on the front page if you do not want to download!

[Tamer]

Well sad to say I haven't been more active here, but I just talked with our SDCC Reporter Todd who is rearing to go for us again this year  so if you have any questions for Hasbro post em here and we will try to get as many answered in the ten minute time frame they give us (thats what they normally do).

Here is one I have been thinking of:

I think we can all say that the Hasbro Lab Khetanna was one huge success. Can we assume Hasbro Lab is going to continue? Any chance you can give us a hint of the next project or perhaps the line it will focus on or will this always be a go to Star Wars Project?

[JDeck]

I was wondering if they were still doing these Q&As. I don't have any real intelligent questions, there's no need beating a dead horse about distribution. I am curious about TVC and it's future.

Is there a timetable for TVC, or is it indefinite, play it by ear?

Will there be 40th anniversary of ESB next year like ANH, in both 6" and TVC?

Will there be any more playsets for the future, like the Jabbas palace adventure set?

Will you continue the Jabba trend, if so any hints as to what we can expect?

That's about it for now. Those are just the ones off the top of my head.  Feel free to reword or combine with other questions.

[Darth More]

A big shoutout to Todd for attending Hasbro‘s panel at SDCC for the Shipyards! Thanks Tamer for giving us the chance to gather some questions.
I think distribution is still an issue, but I hope Hasbro are aware of it by now.
In fact JD nailed the questions I had in mind:

The question how long The Vintage Collection will last, burns on my mind the most. I hope there’s is no date of expiration, yet.
I would appreciate more figures per year. But the pace is okay and saving our wallets.
A dedication to the 40th Anniversary of TESB would be awesome! I got many ideas in mind. More Playsets as JD already mentioned  would go along perfectly with this occasion. Also a repack of the Hoth AT-ST and some of the Rebel Hoth Turrets from the SOTDS Multipacks are just a few of them. What about the SOTDS Bespin Cloud Car in TVC packaging?
We also need a new Lobot in The Vintage Collection! A Bespin Playset (Carbon Freeze Chamber) would be nice, too!
I’ll think of a top ten list of characters for the Anniversary of TESB.

Also an old question, but are we going to see more characters of the Expanded Universe in the Vintage Collection like we did during the first run (Darth Malgus, Shae Viszla, Republic Trooper, Starkiller etc.)? I’m thinking of Satele Shan!

Is there any chance to change the release of Darth Revan? Instead of a straight repack, it would be way more attractive (and fair to 3.75“ collectors) to see the TBS Darth Revan scaled down on a TVC card.
The TAC Darth Revan could still be repacked in a TVC Special Action Figure Set along with a new/or retooled Darth Malak and a straight repack of HK-47 - another highly sought after figure. The Doctor Aphra Set was a huge success already, so please make it happen Hasbro!

The Jedi Temple Guard from 2015 reaches prices of $50 and more on the secondary market even though it’s a 5POA figure. How are the chances to get the license for a second release as SA version for The Vintage Collection?

We saw Starkiller of The Force Unleashed II on a Vintage Card (VC ) and fortunately he was repacked in The Black Series. But we only saw a single release of Galen Marek of the original title of the videogame just once in an Evolution Pack in 2008. How are the chances to see this figure on a Vintage Card? All versions of this character go for $30-40 loose on the secondary market by now.

How are the chances for cancelled characters of TLC and TLC 2 to eventually see the light of day such as the Ugnaught II (maybe as part of a Playset?), Utai II, Bespin Guard, Captain Rex Phase I, A-Wing Pilot etc.

Talking about A-Wings: How are the chances to finally see an all new A-Wing in The Vintage Collection after we got an X-, B- and Y-Wing already?


The new VC140 Stormtrooper is an absolutely fantastic figure! Please re-release him over and over again! How are the chances to see the Stormtrooer on a Star Wars card? Or even in different versions e.g. as Shadow Stormtrooper, Shock Trooper and Sandtrooper?

I got so many more, but since the time frame is very limited for Todd on SDCC, I’ll leave it at that. These are my most important ones. Please, let me know if you consider them important enough to take to San Diego.

[JDeck]

I'm wondering if they have any plans to complete the original 92 figures in the Vintage Collection. Well there's more than 92, but let's not get greedy. Lol. There are still a lot of figures that haven't been updated, since then, or at best POTF2 era.  I do have to give them credit since "TVC2" started over a year ago, they have filled in some gaps, albeit they're mostly TBS repacks, but that's alright. Yakface was a good call. I would consider Stormtrooper and Death Star Gunner as original, even though they're Rogue One.

[ghostskull18]

 Im wondering if there will be anymore darth maul figures in 6 inch scale, like spider maul, maul from rebels or solo, or even a chance of a mother talzin figure in 6inch