Q&A With JTA: Our Twenty-Eighth Column!

1. I have to take exception with your review on the new Captain Rex figure. And actually, I have noticed a trend in your reviews that lack of articulated ankles doesn't really bother you. Hasbro needs to spend their tooling budgets on this point of articulation and I really don't understand why it doesn't bother you. (Phillip)

JTA: Please don't infer anything from this, but typically my experience has been that the people who get most upset about a figure coming without articulation in their ankles on average are younger collectors. I am old school where I grew up with five points of articulation or less on my Star Wars action figures, so anything in the double digit range is usually palatable for me. Would I love to get every single action figure with 14 points of articulation or more? Absolutely yes. But that's not what is going to happen and we have to ration where we get premium articulation in this line. Please reread my Captain Rex (CW62) review. I actually performed my own animatics when writing that review. I walked around the room moving my hips like I only had swivel articulation but ball-jointed knees and ankles. Then I tried moving my body like I had ball-jointed hips (which we actually all have), ball-jointed knees (which none of us have) and no articulated ankles. You know what? I was able to move most naturally with the latter "articulation" than with the former. Try it yourself. As a result of my experiment, ball-jointed hips, articulated knees and no ankle joints is so much more important to have that swivel hips, ball-jointed knees and ankles. Getting ball-jointed hips is the most important articulation feature I want for my action figures and it's the most important articulation to allow your figures to move and be posed in the most natural way. If that mean sacrificing ankle joints, then so be it. Besides, this new Captain Rex figure has the most incredible head sculpt I have ever seen in The Clone Wars line and I hope Hasbro uses it to make all other clones going forward. It's fantastic!

2. I'm still confused by what happened to the Aayla Secura/Nom Anor wave of the vintage collection. Is it delayed, missing, a Walmart exclusive? It looks like such a great wave I was just wondering if you know what happened to it. As always keep up the great work with the site. (Mike T.)

JTA: Hasbro has delayed this wave until 2012, but it still remains unclear exactly when in 2012 we'll start seeing it. Entertainment Earth (a great guide to see when or about new figures will be coming by the way) hasn't even begun taking pre-orders yet for these figures and case ratio information also has yet to be released. I tend to believe that we'll begin seeing it after the big Episode I push in the beginning of the year (after the general and Walmart exclusive waves are released). So it might be 2 or 3 waves into the 2012 lineup before we'll begin seeing them. Hopefully Hasbro will have their distribution issues in order by then and things will be easier to find. I too am waiting to see finalized versions of Dr. Cornelius Evazan and Aayla Secura. You don't know how badly I need to have these two action figures! :) If you need to know exactly what's coming through VC91, Hasbro graciously provided us with the complete numbering system through this count via our Q&A session with them and we have organized it by wave. Click HERE to check out the report.

3. What do you think the likelihood is of us seeing The Father, Son, and Daughter from the Mortis episodes of The Clone Wars? Also, do you think we may see the "dark side" versions of Anakin and Ahsoka from those episodes as well? (Chad)

JTA: If you're asking for my own gut feelings here, I believe we will see them all in the basic figure line.... one day. It was such a groundbreaking episode and an interesting take on the explanation of the Force. I do recall Hasbro admitting that they have interest in these characters too but are trying to find out the best way to tackle it. I think this whole episode is a prime candidate for an Ultimate Battle Packs set. There is room for large scale "things" in these sets and I think the options here are nearly limitless. It's also a bit tricky of a set because this is definitely more of a collector type of set (i.e. no clone troopers) and since Hasbro considers this a kids' line, they may have reservations with seeing something like this through to completion.

I am actually "shocked" that we don't have "Dark Side" Anakin and Ahsoka from the Mortis episode myself. To have a "zombie" Undead Geonosian action figure shows that Hasbro has an interest in the supernatural, so I would love to get these two Jedi in a possessed (evil) state. And it's a great and easy way to get out two of the main characters out in the line again. I know they would sell like crazy, especially Ahsoka. Every version of Ahsoka Tano sells like mad. It's quite a phenomenon I have to admit. Keep in mind that Hasbro is still playing catch-up since The Clone Wars movie came out. So while we're getting a lot of great stuff, there has to be even better coming soon. And I hope that I will get my Ziro the Hutt soon enough too.

4. I know it's still an active, but I think you guys at JTA are handling the Hasbro Fans' Choice poll pretty well. It was easy and simple and since the choices were already there it made it easier on many of us. I also liked the option of adding your own choice although I am sure that none of those would make it to the top 10 anyway. My question is why is Darth Plageuis performing so well in the poll? I want an OT character to win. (Jack)

JTA: Thanks Jack. You'll have to address your question to our readers unfortunately as I can't attest to the state of their minds. I personally am a little upset that all the EU characters are ranking so high in the polls not just here at JTA, but almost every other fan site as well. (Thank goodness our friends at Yakface.com have restricted poll choices to only Return Of The Jedi candidates so there will be some OT representation at the Hasbro level.) I will say this until I die, but EU fans are the squeakiest wheels in collecting and the smallest in numbers. Since I am a conspiracy theorist, I am sure they are gathering all of their other EU fans and getting their moms and dads to vote in the poll too. Of course I am being facetious and my accusations are meant to be harmless. Many collectors feel that EU needs all the support it can get. I disagree. A character like Geezum or Sergeant Doallyn (and even Cane Adiss) needs just as much support to win in a poll. Darth Plageuis admittedly has a very intriguing story as we learned from Episode III, but we really don't know what he looks like other than a cheap lookalike of Darth Sidious. Do we really need another obstructed face under a dark hood? Geeze Louise, not me. I will be happy for whoever voted for him if he wins, but my vote is for Jocasta Nu first and then any Jabba or Cantina alien hiding in the adumbrated background of their respective retinue second.

5. Is there a good site out there that showcases the best 3.75" star wars diorama displays? I am particularly interested in seeing how folks have recreated key battle scenes (Hoth, Endor, Naboo, Clone Wars), Jabba's throne room / sail barge and the Tattoine cantina. Would love to see your displays as well! (Jose)

JTA: There are many great Star Wars diorama websites out there. One of my personal favorites is NiubNiubsUniverse. His displays and dioramas are absolutely breathtaking and he spends a lot of time making them perfect. There are others and the more fan sites you visit, the more great dioramas you'll see. I personally don't have any displays of action figures. All of my display space is taken by Sideshow Collectibles and Gentle Giant, Ltd. products. You will however see all of my Star Wars action figures in our Research Droids Reviews database. Nearly all (there are some exceptions) of the images in the photo galleries are of my collection taken by me. While there aren't any dioramas per se, you will be able to see the action figures up close and personal.

Are you new to Q&A With JTA? Click HERE to see our previous installments of this column. Each session is chock full of all the things you ever wanted to know about Star Wars collecting and the hobby in general!