Q&A With JTA: Our Second Column!

1. Why are the Tonnika sisters off limits as action figures? I remember seeing a Micro figure of one of the Tonnikas in the old Action-Fleet line and recently in the Clone Wars cartoon one of the Tonnikas was shown in a "Wanted Poster" on the Jedi Archives computer. (Brandon)

What is the story behind Hasbro refusing to talk about the Tonnika sisters, and why is there comment always they will never be made into action figures. What is the real story? (Eric)

Will we ever get a Tonikka Sisters 2 pack?? (Aaron)

JTA: Before we answer your questions, let us first throw one out to you. Do you want the Tonnika Sisters as action figures because you genuinely want them, or is it because you know that Hasbro will never be able to make them because they're off limits? Collectors (including us) typically want things they can't have and our insatiable desire to get our paws on them interferes with the ability to thoroughly listen to what answers Hasbro (and other licenses) are giving us. It is in our nature to want things that are either hard to come by or just not available (or ever being made). And it probably puts Hasbro in an awkward position when we continue to badger them about it. They can only say "no" so many times/ways yet we think by asking again that their position may have changed. Hasbro knows we want these figures and if some miracle does happen by which they can design them and release as toys, you can bet Hasbro will cherish the moment when they are able to share the great news that the Tonnika sisters are coming. We will all be the first to know, rest assured.

The quick and real answer to your question is NEVER EVER. They will not be made....period.

We will quote Hasbro for you. In August 2009 Hasbro said "the [Tonnika Sisters] question does get a little tedious and a waste of a good Q&A spot if you ask us, since the answer (or non-answer) is likely to never change" and Derryl DePriest specifically commented "the sisters are on a list of figures that cannot be produced for unspecified reasons." In May 2007 Rebelscum asked why Hasbro can't make the Tonnika Sisters and they responded "we cannot comment on the Tonnika sisters, period." But the most important thing to note is that the answers to these questions have not changed.

Christine Thompson was at CIII. Did anyone who went to the convention ask her why an action figure can't be made of her? She may be the one link that can answer this question unless she is under contract to keep this quiet by Lucasfilm. That would have been the ideal chance to get to the bottom of this mystery. But until it gets officially announced, no, we will NEVER see the Tonnika sisters in the basic figure line, multipack, et. al.

It is true that a Micro Machines version of Brea Tonnika did squeak by Lucasfilm, Ltd. in the late 1990s, probably due to the extremely small size of her and since it was part of a set, maybe Galoob didn't provde a complete list of characters included in it. Things are much more micro-managed today of course. Also, there wasn't quite the same level of collectors being "in the know" like we are today. If you have this figure, count yourselves lucky. It will likely be the only toy version of her you will ever be able to add into your collections.

2. [I have a question] on the [The Vintage Collection's] General Grievous, I purchased one with silver foil on the card. Do all of the Vintage Grevious's have a foil card, or are these just some chase figures? The reason I'm asking is because I put one up in my son's room because he is a General Grievous fan, and I was going to get another one on a regular card for him to open if there were some made on regular cards without the silver foil. (Jason)

How many of the vintage 37 figures from 2010 will have the foil UGH matte? (Jeremiah)

JTA: The particular General Grievous you found is the [UGH] foil card variant. General Grievous did ship without the foil highlights. But it appears this year that these "chase" variants are about as prevalent (and in some cases more readily available) as their regular counterparts. In fact, it took us quite some time to find a non-foil version of Clone Commander Cody! Go figure!

There will only be 12 figures from The Vintage Collection that will also see release in the foil variation format. (And they have all been released in wave 2 already.) These figures include Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) and Han Solo (Echo Base Outfit) all from wave 1 as well as all eight (8) figures from wave 2 including General Grievous, Clone Commander Cody, Clone Trooper, MagnaGuard, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker [Darth Vader], Darth Sidious and Sandtrooper. Our hope is that Hasbro doesn't do this for next year's figures and just abandons these in general. A much better idea would give "chase" figures a variant picture on the card just like Kenner did for the original vintage figures to improve either aesthetics or update the figures for the new films as they were released. What is their obsession with metallic silver and gold (and blue) packaging? Ugh! (Pun intended!) By the way, if you haven't had the chance to check out our thoughts on wave 1 or wave 2 of The Vintage Collection yet, we have highly detailed (and rave) reviews complete with photo galleries of them in our Research Droids Reviews. We think you may enjoy checking them out if you haven't already!

3. Everyone loves the current Lego Death Star Playset because its uber cool and contains every major element from the films it can. Since Hasbro has said that playsets aren't a viable release and don't sell well, would they consider making smaller, modular playsets that can be connected together so that we could create our own custom enviroments, film based or not? I think that would be a great idea for kids and collectors ( to use their imagination in creation which is lacking in toys these days.), Ex, detention block, cells, tractor beam control, turbolaser batteries, swing chasm/light bridge. (Aaron)

JTA: Unfortunately Hasbro has already told us this would never happen. While JTA doesn't agree at all with Hasbro's position on playsets, we do however agree that getting playsets in piecemeal is not ideal or remotely the way to go. This platform/concept works beautifully with the basic figures, but it would be disastrous with larger and less popular playsets. We are not sure how new you are to collecting Aaron, but Hasbro did release multiple playsets in the 1995-2000 The Power Of The Force line, including the Death Star chasm and detention block cell. (They all can be found in our very own Visual Guides located here.) They weren't perfect but we liked them. Sad to say they didn't do well for Hasbro but we still think they should take another stab at them and focus on key scenes. But we don't know what it will take to renew interest in both fans and Hasbro to see this to fruition. Buy a Jabba's Throne playset from Walmart and show Hasbro that we want more playsets. If they don't at least try to get collectors a Death Star playset before the license ends or the toy line dies, we will be very upset collectors also. It is probably the quintessential toy they could ever make for collectors. And we think most if us would settle for a retooled version of the one they made way back in 1978.

4. Since TAC (30 77-07) and the conceptual McQuarrie figures came in great numbers, I have always wanted to have in my hands a "Conceptual Princess Leia" figure. I've asked for that in some forums and the answer I had is that "30-37 - Starkiller Hero" figure complies (somehow) with that fact, thing that of course did not satisfy me since there are other sketch pictures of Princess Leia. Please head on to the following link to see one HERE. Is there any plan/new/information for this figure to be made as well as for some other main characters such as Lando Calrissian? (Fernando)

JTA: The TAC Concept Starkiller Hero (No. 37) has caused much confusion since its release. The reason why this figure even has this name is because in early drafts of the A New Hope screenplay, the main character who became Luke was originally a girl named Starkiller. So yes, it is true that Hasbro has NOT made a Concept Princess Leia Organa figure yet. There are a few drawings that exist that are quite different in appearance and she actually looks nothing like the Starkiller Hero at all. (Please see the reference photo below as one example.) We believe the picture you directed us to is just another variation of the Starkiller Hero with a little bit of a different approach taken. We would love to see a version of Princess Leia in concept form (and a cool version of her can easily seen in the concept art books of The Empire Strikes Back as well as the rare photo we have included below). But it is unlikely at this point since Hasbro has other things in mind for The Vintage Collection. The concept figures are awesome and some of our favorite figures Hasbro has ever done, but we bet we will see a return of some other main characters. But it may not be for quite some time.

5. Are there any plans to possibly do a "Fans Choice Figure" (which could be a re-pack) onto the new vintage style card or maybe even some type of chase/variant figure like the 4 different colored clones from the EE Clone pack on an AOTC card? (Scott)

JTA: Hasbro has been quite annoyingly coy about Fans' Choice polls. And if you have caught the undercurrents of their tone in their recent responses in some of the Q&A questions they answer, it isn't too comforting how they feel about them overall. (We suggest reading in between the lines because they don't come out and say this.) They have essentially mocked Jocasta Nu's ranking of #2 in the last poll (which particularly bothers us) and since the rest of the poll contained many characters that the core group of collectors really don't know, we think they may just be losing faith in them despite their great relationship with Toy Fare. If they couldn't sustain the Comic Packs line with all EU characters, how can they successfully sell an EU figure from a fans' choice poll (and why are they charting so high)? This may be a controversial statement, but we think that EU lovers are the squeakiest wheels in the hobby and you know what they get: the grease. But we also don't think their noise making accurately portrays and is truly representative of the volume of collectors actually interested in the figures. (The hits on Expanded Universe figures in our Research Droids Reviews proves this to us over and over - there are exceptions of course). We are still siding with the voice of the people however and we would caution Hasbro never stop listening to us and take our votes seriously as they always have. But bring back some sort of a poll, whether for multiple figures in Saga Legends or a brand new never-before-made figure. As far as chase/variants of figures on the same card back? That will never ever happen never ever again. Period. In an April 2010 Q&A session with Collection Station (drag down to COLLECTION STATION to read it yourself HERE), Hasbro has definitively stated that (and we quote them) "because of the snafus we have had, there will be no more running changes." Sad, but the hammer has come down on these. With the recent screw-ups of 2008's TLC Ugnaught and Hoth Rebel Trooper as well as 2009's LC Imperial Scanning Crew and Utai they have blatantly come out and declared that running changes are done. Stick a fork in it! (We are very saddened by this because they successfully got running changes into the line during TAC's Saga Legends so what has gone awry all of a sudden?)

6. Will we ever see Jabba's Sail Barge made for the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi? Its my most wanted vehicle in the entire star wars figure line, hoping to see it one day! (William)

Any Jabba's sail barge updates from Hasbro? (Eric)

JTA: If we here at JTA have any say in it, then yes, it's definitely coming. But we don't have any input in this process and it appears Hasbro doesn't want to hear our input either. Excuse us while we wipe the tears.... But if Hasbro has any mercy on us, they will buckle down, bite the bullet and start making many 30+ and 40+ somethings' dreams come true and release this stunning vehicle. And all we would ask them to do really is make a middle area big enough to house the brand new Jabba's Throne playset. It is our most wanted vehicle of all time as well and we just don't care that they can't make it to scale. We just need it significantly bigger than the desert skiff which should be easy enough. They could even save money by ignoring electronics and other bells and whistles to put towards an massive and impressive sculpt. We thought they would cave when the Sail Barge made a very cool appearance in The Clone Wars, but Hasbro came back and said it wasn't prominent enough. Keep voicing your opinions and post away in whatever forums you belong to as well as ours! We need to make a big stink about this in order for it to happen. For us, if Hasbro could make the Death Star playset and Jabba's Sail Barge, we probably wouldn't whine for anything else. (We lie! Of course we would continue to whine for more stuff!)

7. What are the chances we could see a ball turret and clone trooper in the deluxe line (alongside anakin in the naboo skiff, plo koon and his bike, etc)? I blinked and missed the battle pack with one turret and two pilots - which I thought was kind of a ripoff anyway. $15 for a turret and a figure I'd totally buy a bunch of to equip my gunships. (Robert)

JTA: We think the chances for this are greater than ever with the recently announced Rebel Ground Crew with transport at Celebration V (from the totally awesome Scramble On Yavin Battle Packs set)! The Geonosis Assault Battle Packs set was ultimately cool but significantly (and ridiculously) overpriced. Hasbro could essentially sell one turret and one figure for around $15.99 - $17.99 and we think many more collectors would jump at it than one turret and two clone troopers in the Battle Packs set. Hasbro wins "better" if they were to release it as a deluxe figure instead! (Heck, we even think the Gelagrub Patrol Battle Packs should have been a deluxe figure set instead also!) Hasbro has got to get back to the roots of their Battle Packs line. It is sinking fast and we are totally devastated by this. It is one of our favorite things Hasbro has ever done and it is deteriorating right before our eyes. The only good packs are The Clone Wars ones and not everyone collects that line. (Yet, they are in the same assortment as the "realistic style" sets.) Do you see the potentially lurking danger?

8. Finally, I have been told on several occassions, by my local retailers, that I live in a "small market". Because of this, many times I can not find the ending waves in a series of figures. This means I am forced to go to third party vendors for those items I miss out on. For example, I recently went to Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, FL. I spent over $400.00 purchasing the last two waves of The Legacy Collection because my local stores either never ordered them or did not order enough. My question is, why can't Hasbro put EVERY ITEM they sell to retailers on their website? I would rather give Hasbro my money than to pay double or triple the standard retail price from some guy on ebay. Wouldn't Hasbro like to receive more of the public's money? (Sal)

JTA: Sal, you won't find a more empathetic group of people than us regarding the frustration collectors experience when trying to find figures at retail. "Last wave syndrome" in general is an incurable and chronic condition if you're a collector unfortunately. And it will likely never go away. When collections start to wind down, that's just what happens. But 2008-2009 was in particular a distinct nightmare when it came to Star Wars action figure collecting. Many didn't have trouble at all but many others never saw Legacy Collection figures until the Blockbuster Value! sets started showing up. (How is this possible we ask?) Distribution will unfortunately never be perfect but most figures do make it out there in one form or another. Of course there are exceptions to this rule as well. For example, I can count one hand how many figures I have NEVER seen at retail, two to be exact. One figure was 2003's CW Clone Trooper '03 #50 (super-articulated) and the other was 2003's McQuarrie Concept Stormtrooper. But 2009 my list more than doubled when I had to add TCW's Darth Sidious (CW45), Commander TX-20 (CW46) and Thi-Sen (CW43). I NEVER EVER saw these at retail. Ever! (There must be a ton somewhere in hiding ready to be clearanced out because Philly gets everything!) Other sites claim these were simple to find. So spotty distribution coupled with collectors dropping like flies and not buying product causes a back-up and makes finding figures even more difficult. Try great sites like Entertainment Earth where you can get complete cases if you are fearing missing out on the last waves. There are other options besides eBay. It may not be ideal, but it is a solution.

9. Hey Paul, love the site and the new Q&A, I have a question about the Droids and Ewoks cartoons - any reason why these haven't shown up in boxed set DVDs with the full seasons? 1980s cartoons seem to be really big in popular culture, yet Lucasfilm seems to be ignoring their own cartoons. On the same note, any idea why we dont see figures from those cartoon series? We've seen Boba and his droid (BL-17) from the series, and the upcoming Wicket also comes with an animated hood but thats about it. (Toby)

JTA: Actually, some of the episodes were put together on released on single DVDs years ago. And as with anything Star Wars, we want them more than ever when they become hard to find. While we think both series should have been released in their entirety, Lucasfilm, Ltd. thought they could milk the market by releasing a sampling first. So we blame them on the demise of getting the complete series out in one fell swoop. The individual DVDs didn't fly off of shelves and were even clearanced out. Now that they're out of print, the masses start making their disdain vocal again. (A quick search on eBay will help you find these on the aftermarket.) It's cyclical. As far as action figures from these series. Boy oh boy do we hope that Hasbro will release more and more of them. They are extremely gun-shy when it comes to these EU sources and we honestly don't know why. And since the Boba Fett/BL-17 two-pack was part of a series that also tanked at retail (Walmart's insultingly priced Droid Factory sets), we will need a miracle equivalent to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead to see more figures being made from Droids and Ewoks we're sad to say. And we don't think there will be any divine intervention happening soon for Star Wars collectors. But if they can continue to include Droids/Ewoks-specific accessories in the basic figure line like they have done for the upcoming TVC Wicket, this should be good enough for us, no?

10. What are the odds of ever doing any types of weapon/accessory packs whether it be in the form of packed and marketed to sell at retail or even packed in the generic "white box" and sold thru hasbrotoyshop.com? I know a lot of diorama builder would love the opportunity to get more cantina tables, holographic tables, crates, etc for their displays. (Scott from Tulsa)

JTA: If you ask us our own personal opinion, we think the TARGET exclusive accessory sets from 2002 totally killed the potential for any other accessory sets to ever happen again. They were one of the worst selling, if not THE worst selling, exclusives Hasbro ever created. Sure the format wasn't perfect, but we sort of proved to Hasbro ourselves that most of us aren't into such things. We're surprised that Hasbro even attempted them again in 2002 during the Star Wars (2002-2004) line after the Episode I sets in 1999/2000 clogged up shelves too (and they were SO MUCH better). We think we are lucky to get the weapons lockers and extra accessories in the Saga Legends lines now. There are certainly a lot more cooler accessories available to select from now than ever before and we think it would actually be more of a solid idea if they decided to bring this concept back now. Hasbro feels that they do get accessories out there in the Battle Packs platform but if you're looking for more, then again, post your comments in forums, Hasbro does indeed read them!