Hasbro's Questions & Answers #73

Q. One of the big attractions of the Ultimate Battle Packs has been the inclusion of some never before made set pieces. Items like the new Hoth Rebel turrets, the Sarlacc Pit and even the Endor logs wound up being a significant draw for some collectors. But something that collectors have become more and more mindful of in the Q&A process is that tooling these items is costly, and these sets take up a good deal of space at retail.

With that in mind, will collectors see more of these exclusive Ultimate Battle Packs in the future? And what of the larger accessories? I know that I for one would LOVE an Imperial Turbo Laser station from the trench run in A New Hope!


A. Right now, there are no more Ultimate Battle Packs on the horizon. We would like to do more, but recent costing challenges have forced us to abandon the concept. We hope to get back to it at some point - there are a bunch of things we would like do to if we did go back to the format.

Q. A continual point of discussion amongst figure collectors is articulation, articulation and articulation! And since the introduction of the modern vintage line we have seen basic figure articulation improve significantly.

But one of the things that has been a hallmark of the Star Wars saga is that life forms come in all shapes and sizes. Yoda told us that size matters not. But how does the size of a small character such as Yoda impact the sculpt and articulation of a figure? Especially when such a dynamic character as Yoda is involved.


A. The smaller the character, the less articulation (and fewer sculpted parts) they will generally need. Since we are used to sculpting things at very tiny sizes, though, small limbs do not pose that much of a different challenge as opposed to a regular-sized character. Down to road somewhere is sure to be a smaller character - like Yoda - where we will want to push the articulation envelope and we are sure that our team will enthusiastically step up to the challenge. We have some amazing sculptors working on the Star Wars line!

Q. One of the much talked about images from Clone Wars season 2 has to be the clip of a Mandalorian warrior that was shown at Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World. Can we expect to see a Clone Wars Mandalorian in that line in the coming year? And can you offer any insight into who this Mandalorian might be?


A. You can expect to see him in the lineup in 2010. We are not at liberty to reveal any more, except in due time. Stay tuned!

Check back in a few weeks and we'll post the next round of Questions (and answers) as soon as Hasbro offers them.