Welcome to our next Q and A of the Day post! This column will be published daily, weekly, monthly, or just based on how many questions I get emailed – but no more than one a day. Feel free to send in your questions and I will put them in the queue. Today we talk about how many figures there will be in The Black Series basic figure line. Click through for Q and A of the Day: Day 11.
Q: Hi, Paul and JTA! With all the recent swing about 'The Black Series' collection, I can't recall (or don't know if it has been told anyhow already), but do you know how long will it last or how many waves will TBS have? Regards. (Fernando)
A: When I attend the Hasbro event next month in NYC, I am going to see if I can get confirmed details locked down for both The Black Series lines. I am most curious to see if it will run concurrently with the line based on the Sequel Trilogy. It's my personal belief that Hasbro might want to handle Episode VII more like how the Episode I line was handled: as an unadulterated "pure" line of strictly Episode VII product. And then the "other line" will be for everything else. But to answer your question, it's much too early to speculate on how long it will last. If you read comments from collectors, there is an overwhelming response that they hope it ends sooner than later. I can't say I have remotely similar feelings myself, because I don't. The line has some great figures coming. It got off on the wrong foot, but be empathetic to the fact that Hasbro had almost 20 figures ready to go for Legacy Collection "2". They plan these lines 18 months in advance don't forget. Once we get over this hump, things should start looking up.
To answer your second question, let me defer you to our Toy Fair Q&A:
Question: How many figures can we expect to see in the upcoming "Black Series" 3.75" line and how many will be brand new figures?
ANSWER: There will be 19 figures and all are from the cancelled Droid Factory line (for the rest of 2013). Hasbro did "sort of" give the impression that over 50 figures are planned for 2014 and will be all-new sculpts. Even if a figure is good "enough", if it isn't perfect, Hasbro will retool what needs to be fixed to make this line truly collector-focused.
You probably want more information on the "50" right. From what I recall, I asked them questions like "Will there be more than 25, more than 50, less than 50?" etc. But read the second part to their answer. They are committed to giving us the cream of the crop when it comes to all-new sculpts. I think we can expect great things down the pike, providing Lucasfilm Ltd. didn't turn on a dime on them again.
