I didn't know they were going to respond to each sites question. I thought they were going to pick a few good questions and answer them on the site. But they just wrote back with the answers to the 3 questions I submitted last week. So cool! Way to go (grow) Hasbro!

1. If the George-Trooper does well, can we mail-order more Senate pods and weapon packs? --Psychography

** An interesting idea, but perhaps a little too niche for our current promotional plans.


2. What are the chances of seeing more Expanded Universe figures? The two TV series are still a couple of years out. It'd be neat to branch out and cover some of the EU that a lot of fans have been asking for. (The Kir Kanos is a step in the right direction)-- Jeff Cope


** There are a lot of great characters created in the expanded universe and we plan to include some of these in 2007. Stay tuned!



3. Have you considered doing a 6” Marvel Legends-hyper articulated style Star Wars line? Maybe based on the old Marvel Comic since you now have the Marvel license as well? --bluesparrow

** While Dark Horse has been reprinting the Marvel Star Wars comic series for years, there are no plans at this time for us to do a Marvel Legends-style series.

I'll pull 3 more questions from this thread to submit this week and post the answers when we get them.

D.

Will there be more animated style (like Clone wars) figures?

Edit - I respectfully withdraw this question as it was already answered from one of the other sites.

the answer was something like 'We've found collectors prefer the realistic versions and will be doing those.' = No.

Cool! I think throwing in an expanded universe figure into wach wave would awesome and feasible. Particularly the Jedi Knights. I think some of the coolest stuff actually is from the expanded stuff.

Thanks Hasbro, Julius

Yeah I'm really hoping we see more EU stuff in 2007. This year has been a real step in the right direction, but I want to see more. I'd much prefer some of the major EU characters over another version of Tatooine Luke, Cantina Han or some random character that you miss if you blink.

Even if we don't get an NJO wave (I think the time has unfortunatley passed now) an NJO Jacen and Jaina Solo 2-pack as an exclusive would be perfect for me!

Edit: Here's the answers Rebelscum got;

Rebelscum: I combined all questions that asked "will you make __ ?" into the following:
Figures - Quinlan Vos, Padme, Tonnika Sisters, EU characters, Death Star II Luke, Hermi Odle, Animated style, army builder packs
Vehicles - Cloud Car, AT-TE, Sith Infiltrator
Modular Playsets - Tantive IV, Death Star, curved Cantina bar section

Of course there are many more such question. Not sure if you can even answer these, but the bottom line is fans want to see more female figures, EU figures, and new vehicles and diorama/playsets. But you probably knew that.

Hasbro: In response to your question about EU figures -- there are a lot of great characters created in the EU and we plan to include some of these for 2007. And, in regards to playsets/dioramas: as the saying goes, "great minds think alike." There has been a lot of discussion internally on whether this could be successful in today's market. However, we continue to see diminished demand for playsets. If we ever see the landscape changing, it's something we could take a look at in the future.

Rebelscum: Related to the above, but also different. Regarding the VOTC/VTSC line - how are characters chosen for this line? Will it continue?

Hasbro: Not in 2006. We're looking at bringing back a Vintage assortment in Spring of 2007 just like we did this year. We choose characters based on their popularity. There are still many fan favorites to be done in the Vintage style

Rebelscum: All things end eventually, how long will the action figure line continue? Is there an end date?

Hasbro: Hasbro holds the Star Wars license through 2018, so I hope basic figures will continue at least through then!

Rebelscum: Will there ever be a subscription service/one-of-every-figure club/opportunity for fans to purchase convention exclusives, possibly through hasbrotoyshop.com? Whatever happened to the subscription program announced at Celebration III?

Hasbro: The 501st San Diego Comic Con figures will be available on HasbroToyShop.com, but it's not possible at this time to set up the type of large-scale subscription service that I know you're referring to. Maybe down the road.

And Sir Steves Guide;

Q: Are there more new Vintage-Style figures coming, and if so, when can we expect them?

A: Not in 2006, but we're looking at what opportunities might exist for expanding the Vintage figure assortment in 2007.

Q: Will we be seeing more figures from the Expanded Universe, especially characters beyond just clonetrooper repaints?

A: Yes. There are great characters in the Expanded Universe and we plan to include some of these in 2007. Stay tuned!

Q: Have you considered new playset ideas, especially modular playsets so collectors can build larger playsets from smaller sets?

A: A scaling playset is a great idea. There has been a lot of discussion internally on whether this could be successful in today's market. However, we continue to see diminished demand for playsets. If we ever see the landscape changing, it's something we could take a look at in the future.

ActionFigs answers;

Will there be more Evolutions figure sets?
"In a movie year, Evolutions was a way for us to include figures with premium articulation in our line. This year, we're doing more of this style figure in the basic assortment, so we did not see the need for a separate line."

Will we be seeing more Beast/Creature assortments in the foreseeable future?
"Though we understand that beast/creature assortments are desirable, at this time it appears that new vehicle assortments are in higher demand. Vehicles will play an integral part in our future line releases."

What are you doing to remedy case assortment problems such as egwarmers like Yoda and Poggle and Bren Derlin, as well as hard to find figures like 1-per-case Scorch and Commander Cody?
"We are constantly updating our case packs to meet the needs of our total audience - both kids and collectors. What you may be seeing on a local store level is not necessarily an indicator of what is going on at a national level."

Anyone else found anymore Q+A answers?

Ok summary post fo the answers given to AFI, Rebelscum, Sir Steves and ActionFigs.

No plans for mail away weapons packs or accessories like senate pods

More EU figures will be in the line for 2007

No plans for a Marvel Legends 6" style line

No playsets in the forseeable future, but this would change if market indicated it would support them

No plans for more VOTC/VTSC in 2006, but likely for Spring 2007. Character choices based on popular characters (an SA Jedi Luke seems likely for this line given his appearance on the ToyFare Top 25)

Hope to be making figures till at least 2018, so plenty of time for EU and background characters to get made!

The SDCC 501st Stormtrooper will be offered via Hasbro's web shop (hope they'll ship to the UK!) but no plans for a "1 of every figure" club

No plans for more Evolutions sets as this style figure is now more common place within the main line

No plans for beast/creatures right now, but are plans for vehicles

Case assortments are constantly updated to try and meet both collector and child market needs, though this is on a national scale and may not be reflected at a local level

Hope that helps you pick the next 3 Julius!

Personally I think we need to get more specific to get answers about favourite characters.

Here's the Q&A from YakFace:



Q&A from Jedi Defender:



Q&A from TNI:



Galactic Hunter should have some Q&A, too, but they haven't posted it yet.

Thanks Ham, some more interesting answers.

I think we need to keep a list of answered questions (maybe as another stickied post?) so people can check against it when asking their questions?

The questions all seem very vague/not specific and the answers are the same. I think we need to risk something specific like "is character X planned for release in the near future/2007?" Fair enough it would take months to get through everyone's wants, but it's the only way to learn how specific Hasbro will be in their answers, and if they just give a generic answer (like we will do some EU figures to a question specifically about Quinlan Vos) then at least we know not to do it again.

Edit: I just posted a summary post of all the info from Hasbro's answers.

And here's Galactic Hunter's answers;

GH: Collectors have been very enthusiastic about the Battle Pack Assortment. Would Hasbro consider including canceled figures like the Trophy Edition Obi-Wan Kenobi and Trophy Edition OOM-9, or hard-to-find figures like Sio Bibble, TC-14, and the Comm-Tech Princess Leia (Hood Up) figures in these assortments?

HASBRO: Each Battle Pack tells a story. We approach each one individually, taking a close look at which characters make the most sense for the scenario we're looking to recreate. If any of these characters would fit into a future scene we want to do, we'd consider them.

GH: With the pressure of the 'movie years' now past us, are we more or less likely to see Hasbro produce any playsets for the Star Wars action figure line?

HASBRO: The demand for playsets just hasn't been there. Instead we've put our focus behind vehicles. Vehicles and figures are more popular play patterns for the kid audience than playsets.

GH: With the upcoming television series, will we see Hasbro and its retail partners rolling out a vast line of toys similar to the movie launches, or will the scope of the line be more modest?

HASBRO: With the television series slated for 2008, it's too far off to speak to with any accuracy. You'll just have to stay tuned!

Okay, I'm gonna stir the pot here a bit... I've had contact with Hasbro people from the G.I.Joe line in the early 90s to the Star Wars crew at the last Celebration and they NEVER want to answer specific questions on what's coming if it hasn't already been announced. Honestly, I think Hasbro was hoping for more of a "why was this done this way?" line of questioning than "are we gonna get ____?" questions. I'm not saying we shouldn't ask about specific characters or items because it is a way to let them know that there is an interest, but don't expect more than a "we're looking at it"/"possibly in the future" kind of answer from them.

Here's my question to be considered for summission for next week's session: Is there anyway that the questions/answers from all of the participating websites could be posted together at each site or at starwars.hasbro.com with credits to the submitting site for each question? I think this could cut down on multiples of the same question from being submitted and it would keep fans from having to search multiple sites for the responses.

Here are the answers given to http://www.jeditemplearchives.com:



...nice selection of questions that weren't typical of the ones asked that other sites...

Updated the Hasbro Answers thread with answers from Figures.com, The Jawa and Yoda's News.

Basically here's what's new;

Older figures are sometimes repacked instead of newer ones (eg 1997 Bossk rather than 2004 Bossk in the Bounty Hunter set) as Hasbro try to use the most current figure available to them, but at the time of putting the sets/waves together that isn't always the newest version of the character

Both EU and vehicles will be important parts of the 2007 line

There will be new vehicles in 2007 and popular old ones will be re-released this Fall

Boba Fett is one of the Unleashed characters being re-released this Fall

They are planning something to tie-in with the 30th anniversary, details will come in a few months (maybe at Comic Con?)

HasbroToyShop.com will soon offer a selection of exclusives (501st Stormtrooper, Titanium Gold TIE Advanced X1 and new action figure cases)

When deciding what gets made (new vehicles, new lines etc.) Hasbro looks at what offers the greatest return on their investment. Vehicles and figures are more popular with kids than playsets. Lines like Force Battlers and Galactic Choppers are aimed only at kids

Sorry for the double post, but I didn't want these two topics to get confused.

I think what we have now (through out this thread and summarised in the other thread) is pretty much a complete list of answers from the first week of Q+A.

So based on that, let's get some questions for Week 3's Q+A.

1) You said we're getting more EU figures in 2007. Are Quinlan Vos and NJO Jacen and Jaina Solo part of these plans, as they're popular EU characters.

2) You said VOTC/VTSC figures are based on fan popularity. Does this mean that an SA Jedi Luke (with removable soft goods cloak and grey tunic) is a good bet for this line? His popularity with fans is obvious since he made the Top 25 in the poll.

3)More VOTC/VTSC in 2007 is great news. Is there any chance of a similar premium style line based on the prequel trilogy?

I'm getting more specific with my questions for now as, even if Hasbro can't/won't give a definite answer it shows that there is demand for the product. Like I'm sure the amount of times they answered the playset question shows that there is collector demand for those items even though they're not doing them.

Hasbro won't be too specific, no company would show their hand on the message boards. I think they gave good answers and am psyched that VOTC will continue into 2007 and we will see more EU characters. If Hasbro is doing this Q&A with us they see us as a good market and most of us asked about EU and VOTC so I think we can be sure to see more of these in the future. I really like the Evolution sets however and regardless of what they said, no way do the recent Saga waves match the quality of Evolution, so they have some work to do.

Here are our 3 answers from our pals at Hasbro for this week:


1. Is there any way to offer previous pack-in characters as singles or mailaways? Bespin guard, Rebel pilots, etc.-
Not at this time. There are a lot of great figures that have yet to be made available in the 6x9 format and that's probably where we'll look first to re-introduce some characters. We'd like to try and guage which figures fans would like to see come back into the 6x9 format....let us know via message boards or come by and see us if you'll be in San Diego for Comic Con.

2. Will we be seeing less action feature and more articulation i.e. ROTS pilot Obi-wan?
It depends on the figure. If they come with a signifciant accessory (say a curved Cantina bar section) we may have to make a choice on the number of point so articulation to deliver the accessory.

3. Any plans for Galactic Heroes passed in the upcoming line (Wedge, Stormy Luke, Stormy Han) -- including Galactic Heroes vehicles or playsets?
Galactic Heroes has been very succesful, and these guys will defintely be continuing for the foreseaable future, with a mix of fan favorite characters and new scuplts in the mix. However, the GH line has proven itself to be figure-driven and the vehicles have struggled, so we're just concentrating on figures at scale. But there are some great concepts coming for this series....stay tuned for details.

What does 6x9 mean?

I think that means the basic figure assortment; the card's dimensions are usually 6" x 9".

But I'm just guessing.