Hope Remains For Cancelled Comic 2-Packs

If you've been hitting the collecting trail recently, you may have seen a number of new comic 2-packs gracing the pegs. Those include the following:

Hasbro revealed late in the fall of 2009 that this wave of 5 comic 2-packs would be the final mainline offerings in the Expanded Universe comic 2-pack line. Other packs had been unveiled at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, but due to lackluster sales of the comic 2-pack line those offerings were to be cancelled.

However, there was an interesting development with a wave of WalMart exclusive comic 2-packs. One of the three comic 2-packs was cancelled due to an onjection over content considerations in the issue of X-Wing Rogue Squadron #1 that was included with Plour Ilo and Dllr Nep. However, online retailer Entertainment Earth stepped in and picked up that particular 2-pack which is now available here.

But what about the cancelled comic 2-packs? At 2009's San Diego Comic Con Hasbro unveiled two more comic 2-packs in the preview portion of their presentation. Those included:

Knights Of The Old Republic #6 - Jarael & Rohlan Dyre
Star Wars Legacy # 7 - Deliah Blue & Darth Nihl

Additionally, there was one more comic 2-pack which was NOT seen at San Diego Comic Con, but was featured in a Galactic Hunter posting. In April of 2009 this image was posted by Galactic Hunter which showed package sampling that featured a Noghri warrior and the Wookiee Ralrracheen from an issue of Dark Horse comics adaptation of Heir To The Empire.

Additionally, there have recently been some online retail listings for at least three more comic 2-packs that came to light last month. Those include:

Baron Fel & Ysanne Isard
Jaster Mareel & Montross
Luke Skywalker & Han Solo

Initially it seemed that all of these comic 2-packs may not see the light of day. But then came the events of April 8th's Hasbro Star Wars Q&A. It started with a question from Jedi Temple Archives about the sets that had been unveiled at 2009's San Diego Comic Con:

QUESTION: Expanded Universe fans must be having some mixed feelings right now. We've seen about 3 years worth of solid EU releases. But the cancellation of the Expanded Universe comic 2-packs has been a disappointment for a lot of people. Still, there are comic 2-packs that were revealed to fans through some cardback art, hard samples at the Comic Con booth and more at the Star Wars presentation. And there were also some recent listings for previously unmentioned comic 2-packs posted by a UK e-tailer that included Ysanne Isard, Baron Fel, Montross and Jaster Mareel.

However, the overall message from Toy Fair also seems clear: that we can expect a strong focus on the movies and specifically EMPIRE, with EU taking a hiatus. But in the past there have been statements from Hasbro to the effect that if a toy or figure gets shown to collectors that there is a strong motivation to eventually release those items. Given the fact that collectors have seen the following comic 2-packs in either prototype form or Hasbro imagery:

Knights Of The Old Republic #6 - Jarael & Rohlan Dyre
Legacy # 7 - Deliah Blue & Darth Nihl
Heir to the Empire #TBD - Noghri Warrior & Ralrracheen

...how likely are we to see these offered as exclusives, or potentially split out into the Basic Figure line?

ANSWER: You are right; once we have progressed far down the design path, in some cases even having completed tooling for some of the figures in question, the intention is to try and eventually find a home for those figures. We are hopeful that over the next few years all of them will be produced in one form or another so fans can enjoy them too.


This topic was not visited upon by JTA alone. Canadian collecting site Action Figure News also asked Hasbro a similar question. Here's what transpired in that exchange:

QUESTION: A few sites on the net have preorders up for some of the cancelled comic packs, more specifically Jaster Mereel and Montross. Now, considering Entertainment Earth scooped up the previously cancelled comic pack, will we be seeing this set at some point, either in the stores or through some sort of online retailer like Entertainment Earth, or even as single figures, or will this comic pack never see the light of day?

ANSWER: We are making one last attempt to try and get these released, and we are talking to Entertainment Earth. However, it's not a slam dunk as we have to meet our factory minimums. If they are not released as Comic Packs, the wait for them as single figures or in another format will be very long and they might never see a release.

Jedi Temple Archives has reached out to Entertainment Earth for comment on this story. But at this time Entertainment Earth is not able to offer a comment on the potential for them to carry the cancelled comic 2-packs.

But what does this all mean for collectors and EU fans? If you want these other comic 2-packs to come to market, the current Dllr Nep & Plour Ilo comic 2-pack exclusive that EE and other online retailers are currently offering will need to find significant support. So if you have not ordered it yet, do it soon! You can also show your support for these comic 2-packs by contacting your favorite online retailers and asking when you can preorder them! If the online retailers see that there is strong fan interest, they will be much more likely to order them from Hasbro so that they can be offered as online exclusives.

Keep checking back for more news on the comic 2-pack line as JTA continues to follow this story!

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