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Q&A With JTA: Our Thirty-Third Column! (Pre-Toy Fair)

Posted by Paul | January 31, 2012 at 03:07 PM ET

Q&A With JTA continues! Click through to access the Q&A database with our latest batch of questions!

Q&A with JTA

Hot Topics: The Vintage Collection Battle Droid, Prototype Boba Fett follow-up and Pong Krell

Q&A With JTA: Our Thirty-Third Column!

featuring Paul Harrison

We always need your questions! Please e-mail them to [email protected]. Thank you!

1. How many articulation points do you think Hasbro will give their planned General Pong Krell figure to make him as tremendous as they make it sound? Speaking of tremendous, do you think Hasbro will put as much effort into detail, sculpting etc to make collectors like the Krell figure the same way they did with armoured Savage Opress? Also, do you think Commander Wolffe & Clone Trooper Hardcase have a chance of being made as phase II figures? (Ruari W.)

JTA: I imagine that General Krell will come with a few extra points since he has a few extra arms to wave around. I am actually flabbergasted that they are even making this figure. I hope he gets the deluxe treatment like Kul Teska did, but not the quality of the Kul Teska figure – if that makes any sense. Krell needs room and the constraints of nearly all basic figure packaging won’t allow Krell to be the best he needs to be for collectors. I think the animated line has come so far that the details in the sculpts rival what Hasbro is able to bring into the realistic line. The last three waves of the “Shadow Of The Dark Side” line have proven to collectors that Hasbro isn’t playing games any more. Sure, the clone troopers could stand to have a little bit more articulation and have removable helmets, but the details are extraordinarily screen accurate that we’re thoroughly impressed. So I would expect that if you like the armored Savage Opress that you’ll be astounded with the upcoming Krell. I believe that Commander Wolffe has a much better chance of becoming a phase II action figure, much more so than Hardcase. Wolffe’s phase II armor is beyond awesome and Hasbro already knows that fans of The Clone Wars want to see him. I hope they announce him at 2012’s Toy Fair in February.

2. Hey Paul, I want to get multiple prototype armor Bobas but do I need to fill in multiple forms to get more than one? (Anthony P.)

JTA: The rules have always been black and white to me and unless I have been overpaying Hasbro all of these years. I believe I (and many other collectors) have been doing the correct thing however. You must send the completed order form, five (5) UPCs and a check or money order for $6.99 for each and every order. The only thing that makes me question this is that I once saw a picture of a complete case of these that was ordered by a collector and posted in a forum somewhere (I forget where....) and unless he got a deal on the shipping, he paid $6.99 times 20-something times. So to answer your question, yes, you do need an order form for each “Boba Fett” you order. Hasbro has made it clear that they can refuse any incomplete order, so why play chicken with them? (Although, we also have heard stories of incomplete orders’ checks getting cash and the figure arrives anyhow.) It’s your figure and you can play with it the way you want to.

3. Hey Paul, great work on the site and the reviews, as always. I had a couple of questions about The Phantom Menace figures if you get a chance (maybe for the Q&A column?). I chanced upon The Phantom Menace wave of The Vintage Collection at Target and got my hands on the battle droid which, sadly, lacks the elbow and wrist articulation necessary to pose it in the battle droid's most familiar pose from all the films (both hands on its rifle). This has been a problem with all previous battle droid figures too. Do you think Hasbro might update this, or is this basically "the" definitive battle droid figure we're going to get? Finally, I was surprised to see Ric Olié made into an action figure but not Captain Panaka, a figure long overdue for an update, in my opinion. Think we might see him in a future wave, or do you suppose this will be it for The Phantom Menace figures in The Vintage Collection? Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this. (Jace V.)

JTA: Just like 2011’s TVC Clone Trooper (VC45), the 2012 TVC Battle Droid (VC78) is quickly becoming the figure I am hating to love (Instead of loving to hate). By the way, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. This is an ALL-NEW figure. There are no recycled parts at all. I don’t care what anyone says, the new The Vintage Collection Battle Droid is much too short. You can look at ANY still in the Prequel Trilogy that contains a Battle Droid and see that they are taller than the average human, yet the new figure is often shorter than the average male action figure. On the contrary, it has some of the best details we’ve yet to see on a Battle Droid. Hasbro knocked the eyes out of the park and they’re now sculpted into the figure instead of just painting them on, so think of the uniformity your Battle Droids will have going forward. The ball-socket joints in the shoulders and hips are smaller, so the movement of how far they can move away from the Battle Droid’s body is severely inhibited. Those TARGET Geonosis Arena Showdown Battle Droids can do almost anything and that makes us a little sad. The new Battle Droid still can fold up very well, but the droid blaster can’t be attached to its back like we see in the film. That makes us very, very sad. Maybe Hasbro reduced the scale a bit so that the droids fit into the new MTT we unveiled for you a couple of weeks ago? Who knows. It’s a great figure, but it does have a share of unfortunate issues. (See our review on it for comparison shots and more information.)

I am thrilled about a new Ric Olie and he looks fantastic. Captain Panaka is a figure I hope they revise one day, but it may not happen. Captain Panaka was supposed to appear in Episode II, but due to some contractual issues, the same actor couldn’t appear in the film. Instead of giving an all-new person the same character, Lucas/Lucasfilm Ltd created Captain Typho, a “lookalike” head of security for Padmé Amidala. It’s unknown if more action figures can be made of him. We’ll look into this and hopefully ask Hasbro at Toy Fair for you.

4. I recently just found your site within the last couple of months searching for various Hasbro stuff and have quickly become a fan. You guys have all the stuff that I as a collector am looking for. I tend to be snooping type of reader and noticed that your forums and not active at all. I am surprised by this since your content seems to warrant more “traffic” in this area. I know social media has changed the face of Star Wars collecting, but maybe you could explain why this is for me? (Kevin L.)

JTA: Hey Kevin – we’re thrilled you’ve found us and thank you for your kind words. Every site has its niche. JTA has always seemingly been a site where people pop in and out a lot but then go discuss what’s in our newsfeed at other sites. And we’re totally OK with that. We've developed a strong following over the years and people keep coming back - that's all one could hope for. There are so many longstanding forums that people have called hone, we’d have to be crazy to think that people would leave those homes just to come over to us. If you’re looking for a great forum to belong to, check sites like Yakface.com, Rebelscum.com and/or JediDefender.com (just to name a few and the many on our affiliate listing). They’ve really set up a following and there is a lot of activity in their forums. But as you have stated, times have changed and we are seeing a trend where forums are a dying breed. Facebook, Twitter and so many other social media sites have made the "forum" nearly extinct. While we would never expect them to completely die away, there will be less and less traffic to them as the years go by.

As far as traffic, well, even though people may not take the time to discuss things in our forums, we do have it. As soon as we post an article, the comments start shooting in right away. Don’t be misled by our lack of forum traffic – judge it by our comments from readers and our Facebook page. Our Disqus comments module has really take off (actually skyrocketed for us) and we’re thankful for the many faithful readers who continue to post there on a daily basis. (Thank you The_Question, wookiepasta, Scott, Sjefke, Vallius, bombadgungan and the many more who keep it going so strongly.) Our recent Yarna article had over 100 comments in it. That’s nuts! We’ll take that over a forum discussion any day. Maybe you could join in on those conversations too. We bet you’d have a great time.

5. I am a regular [Jedi Temple] archives viewer and Kswcc member from Ashland Kentucky. This question may not make any matter to anyone but. What happened to the mini figures that were mention about a year to a year and a half ago. They were supposed to be sold at small time stores like Big Lots, Dollar stores, etc. The line up was supposed to be stuff like creatures and small droids. I never saw them. Or heard another thing about them. They would have made good diorama fodder anyway. (Chris G.)

JTA: Chris - I am honestly not even sure I know what you are talking about. hopefully by including this question here someone will know and can post some answers for you in the Disqus module. Can anyone out there help Chris out?

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!

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