Q&A With JTA: Our Eighth Column!

1. What do you think Hasbro's reluctance is to release "live-action" (non CW) products? Are sales down for the non CW stuff? Just looking at what was released since August, there are three times as much product in some categories for CW than non-CW. What gives? (Sean)

JTA: Hasbro doesn't want to release live-action versions of The Clone Wars characters simply for the fact that this is a line that the kids "own". In previous collections, like Tartakovsky's Clone Wars series, that was geared for adult collectors and that is why Hasbro first focused on realistic versions. Yes, they made a series of animated figures too, but even those were designed for collectors. (Hey, we're the ones who asked for them in animated style.) We are confident that after The Clone Wars television series fizzles away that Hasbro will go back and make some of the key characters from this series in realistic style. (But who really knows how far into the future that is....)

REVISED RESPONSE: Hasbro has claimed for years now that sales for the realistic styled products have been diminishing. But the good news is that they're sure The Vintage Collection is creating revitalized interest in the brand. They seem extra eager planning The Vintage Collection and more and more figures are getting thrown into the mix which is a very good sign. Give TVC some more time before the panic set in because we believe that if these figures continue to sell as well as they've been doing (as evidenced by our own retail experiences), we have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming year(s). And just so you know, The Clone Wars line will play an important role at retail until the series goes away. That line is doing extraordinarily well at retail.

2. Is there a reason that I've come across the Mandolorian Speeder only at TRU? I don't remember it being an exclusive and when I do find it they one or 2 at most why is that and has anyone else seen this? (Nicholas)

JTA: It's definitely not an exclusive. This widespread release may have just ended up at your local Toys R Us. Interestingly, we have only found them at Walmart! Distribution is such a weird thing, isn't it?

3. Since you said Hasbro confirmed [a new Rebel Fleet Trooper] I have a 2 part question. Do you know when exactly is he coming out, and who all we he be with? (captainrico1991)

JTA: The new Rebel Fleet Trooper should most definitely be part of Hasbro's Fall 2011 lineup so we should start hearing more about him as we get closer to Comic Con 2011. It's a long way off now, but it will be here before we know it! And we are hearing rumors that Dr. Evazan and an all-new Ponda Baba may just join him in the same wave (not that Hasbro is doing themed waves anymore).

4. Are you all still working on the repaints guide? It looks like activity has stopped right now. It really has been helpful to me since i'm a loose completist since 1995. Right now i'm working on getting all the repaints i need and some are pretty vague as to if they are or arent repaints. Thank you! (Bryan)

JTA: Thank you for your feedback Bryan. We are guilty! We have let the repacks/repaints guide fall by the wayside the last couple of years. We will update it eventually, but it has taken a temporary backseat since we have developed our Research Droids Reviews, Visual Guides (more coming soon) and this new Q&A With JTA column (which at the moment we're unsure right now if this will continue beyond our tenth installment). This is frustrating to us because we get great traffic on the column, but we need the questions to come into us at a steadier rate. (In short, you're reading, but not participating.) As you can imagine, we all work full time jobs on top of the countless hours we donate to JTA and time is just an issue. But a way we can focus on things that are falling behind is with your feedback, so thank you for your comments. We need to hear from our readers more often than we do whether it's comments about our reviews, getting questions for our Q&A or just general site questions. Please continue keep us in the "know"! (And of course a big and huge thank you to the many of you who do write in as we love hearing from you - good or bad!)

5. Does Hasbro have any plans for Royal Naboo officers in the future either for Vintage or Saga legends such as a repack of the Naboo soldier(either red or yellow) or an update of past officers? (Nick)

JTA: Figures based on The Phantom Menace aren't coming anytime soon from Hasbro and the earliest we will see some will be fourth quarter 2011. This is what Hasbro had to say to LICHTGESCHWINDIGKEIT (SPEED OF LIGHT) about this topic:

The plan won't be that exact. While we like to work in groups of six, it actually varies from 5-7 and not all waves have characters from all films. For example there are no EpI figures for the first 9-10 months (the reason for that can now be revealed…EpI in 3-D will be coming and we wanted to save figures for that). There will indeed be carryforward figures to round out the case packs and to make sure we have enough of our core heroes in there. We won't have as many instances of taking an existing figures and repacking on Vintage cards (a sort of "Greatest Hits" approach for Vintage) in '11 as we did in '10, which leaves a wider berth for more true new/refreshed figures. What we will try to do is make sure that we have waves with an exciting mix of 5-7 figures spaced more evenly across the course of the year. R5-D4 will be coming out, but he won't be a repack. Stay tuned!

6. Do you know if the Legacy of the Dark Side 2 packs are a TRU exclusive? (Jason)

JTA: Yes, these are 100% exclusive to Toys R Us. You may want to pass on them however. They are $17.99 each, only contain two-repacked figures with little to no paint variations. We think they are a rip-off and we rarely use harsh words like that to describe Hasbro's products. But then again, Pre-Cyborg Grievous is a hot figure, so they may serve some purpose.

7. Will we ever get a BIG Jawa Sandcrawler? (Alan)

JTA: We will let Hasbro answer this one! This is what they answered in a recent Q&A about this very vehicle!

We would love to remake the Jawa Sandcrawler, and at one time started to look at what a super-sized version would cost in terms of tooling. The bottom line is that it would cost too much given the more niche nature of this vehicle.

Don't get us started on their comments. Niche natured vehicle? Doesn't almost every vehicle as well as most action figures have a niche natured audience? Just bite the bullet Hasbro and update it! Please!

8. Does the actual film for the deleted sandstorm scene from ROTJ still exist or does it only exist in the still frame photos I have seen? (Eric)

JTA: We have never seen the live footage but we have heard it definitely exists in its entirety and should be included on the upcoming Blu-ray versions of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. There is a great video of stills on YouTube.com that puts them together in sequence with a cool soundtrack. Click HERE to check it out!

9. With the updated AT-AT, Snowspeeder, Slave 1 & Cloud Car currently enjoying shelf time, what other vehicles do you think could benefit from a re-release? I know that there has to be a 'reason' from Hasbro's point of view (Empire's 30th, exposure on The Clone Wars etc), but there are some kids out there who love the movies and will not have the chance to have their own 'classic' vehicles (unless they go to eBay) - I'm specifically thinking things like The Naboo Fighter, T-16 Skyhopper, Luke's Landspeeder, Endor Speeder Bikes, Anakin's Podracer etc.... Although i'm guessing the EP1 stuff will wait until the 3D releases...... Anyway, some of those vehicles dont even need updating, just a straight re-release. I'd buy a new Naboo Fighter........ (Matt)

JTA: The Naboo Starfighter. Oh man does that one makes us shake our heads! How Hasbro has not reissued this is beyond our comprehension. But you're right, the 3D release of The Phantom Menace better light a fire under Hasbro's rear and we hope they focus not only figures but also vehicles from this Star Wars film next year. And the same goes for Luke's Landspeeder. While Hasbro claims that some vehicles don't officially fit the mid size vehicle assortment, we think they should be a little bit savvy and come up with ways to fit smaller vehicles like the landspeeder into this assortment. Include a few accessories to make it worth the $24.99 price point. Luke T-16 and the podracers, we're not as excited for, but we know many other fans are, so we would accept a rerelease of those as well. But your points are well-taken because Hasbro really needs to bring a ton more movie-specific vehicles into the toy line. (Or at worst, Filoni needs to incorporate these same vehicles into The Clone Wars television series as this show seems to drive the what Hasbro does and doesn't make for the toy line unfortunately.)

10. Are there any chances of seeing an ITF-T tank repaint done of the clone fighter tank? (shunter909)

JTA: We haven't heard about this vehicle yet. Hasbro seems to love repainting there already established mid size vehicles so we imagine it's a good bet that this will see the light of day eventually. Sorry we don't have more information for you.