Hasbro Q&A
Posted by: Beedo Sookcool 02.06.08 12:01am
Greetings, gang! It's time for another Hasbro Q&A Update! Huzzah! But before we get down to that, Hasbro also sent us a bonus PSA, which you've probably read elsewhere already, but I'm including anyway because it's the polite thing to do. And here it is:

Collectors,

We have previously announced that there would be three waves of our 30th Anniversary basic figures in Spring. That has now been changed - there will be only two. The last wave (on shelf approx. early March) will be The Force Unleashed wave. Due to some last minute delays, the previous third wave has been picked up and moved to the new Fall basic figure line. Nothing will be bumped from the Fall line....these will just be added in. Fans should not worry as all figures will be coming to the shelf, including General Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Saesee Tiin, Clone Scuba Trooper, and more. More details on this assortment will be released at Toy Fair. Similarly, due to production delays, we are pushing back the debut of the next wave of comic packs (including Anakin/Durge and Asaaj/Tol Skorr) until fall as well, but all announced packs *will* be coming out.

Also, previously we announced that the new Obi-Wan and Darth Vader/Anakin figures from our Wave 1 '08 30th Anniversary Wave (now shipping to retail) would not have new articulation. In fact, they do indeed have enhanced hip articulation (ball and socket) and are great upgrades over the original. Collectors should look to these for their increased poseability.

And now, for the actual Q&A part:

CreatureCantina.com: We've heard online about the "Droid Factory" waves of about 30 figures which would come with parts to build a larger droid. If this rumoured series can be executed as well as you'd like, would these parts build several different larger droids, or would they all combine into one ginormous droid? Personally, I don't mind waiting until Toy Fair to see the actual prototypes, but I'm sure we'd all like a hint of what tantalising goodie (or goodies) we can look forward to seeing!

Hasbro: We will be announcing the details of our Fall basic figure lines at Toy Fair. We will say that the name of Assortment does provide a clue based on what we are familiar with from the vintage line. For the actual details, you will need to stay tuned....

CC: The 30th Anniversary Collection seems to have made a marked step in the right direction towards reducing packaging waste on the figures compared with the previous few years. Will this trend continue for the Clone Wars line later in the year? The backing cards already seem to be at about the smallest size possible without being illegible, but might there be any way to introduce an even-smaller standardised bubble for the "normal"-sized characters?

H: We think that we're probably at about the smallest blister size right now to showcase the figure, articulation, and accessories and promote value in package. While we are cognizant of not using too much blister material when not needed, the difference in plastic consumed between a wider or thinner blister is usually very small and just one variable to contain costs and conserve resources. One other variable we watch carefully is the "cube" - the volume each individual package consumes, which has a big effect on other resources such as master cartons and transportation needs and costs.

So there you have it for this edition! Don't forget, if you folks want a better chance at getting your question asked than if you post amidst dozens of other people's submissions in any of those other huge Star Wars forums, send 'em to me! The chances of getting your question asked are slightly better through Creature Cantina, because I'm pretty dadgum lazy (as Bill will doubtlessly tell anyone who will listen) and I would rather send in someone else's idea than waste valuable drinking time trying to think up questions of my own. Catch you next time!

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