Clone Trooper (Phase II Armor) (CW2) - Hasbro - Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] (2012)
Star Wars Collectible News, Photos, and Reviews

Q&A With JTA: Our Thirtieth Column!

Posted by Paul | October 20, 2011 at 09:27 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: Cancelled running change (Twin Pod) Cloud Car Pilot figure?, your questions answered by Hasbro (and me) at NYCC and what the heck is that next big vehicle, darn it?

Q&A With JTA: Our Thirtieth Column!

featuring Paul Harrison

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

1. Recently I discovered one photo of another bespin cloud car pilot exhibited in Toyfare 2010. Could you tell me what happen to this figure??? it never came up to sale. There is any chance we´ll see this figure in vintage style next year??? it would be great to have the couple of pilots to fit into cloud car. I put a picture of that figure. Thanks a lot. (William)

 

 

JTA: Hi William. I hate to deflate your balloon, but this is just a differently painted sample of the figure that did indeed make its way to retail as part of wave 1 of The Vintage Collection. I had the privilege of attending the Hasbro presentaiton at 2010's NY Toy Fair and saw this figure in person with my own two eyes and if you look carefully, you'll see the mustachio is flesh-painted and the eyes are blue making it look like a completely differerent figure when in fact it isn't. You'll be interested to know that many colleagues from various fan sites including ours were originally fooled as well in person until it was pointed out to us that is was the very same figure in the packaged samples. Eagle-eyed readers have already probably noticed the incorrectly painted brown belt as well which drastically differs from the production sample. Let us give you one rule of thumb, never hold prototype samples as finished products. Many things change before they reach our pegs. Check out our 2009 Toy Fair coverage and check out the figures in wave 6 and wave 7 from The Legacy Collection. Figures like Tarados Gon and even Obi-Wan Kenobi barely even resemble the figures we got in the package. Things change all of the time.

2. I want to know from Hasbro why won't they produce a BMF SAND CRAWLER with a hollowed out shell to keep costs down, and what about vintage ships in a more larger scale like the AT-AT they made recently? people will buy many of each! (David)

AND

This is probably a common question but someone must ask. What are the plans for the next big vehicle. There have been rumors of a big sandcrawler and a big jabba sail barge. An imperial shuttle would be an excellent idea and I hope that Hasbro does not base their future decisions on the sales of the current attack shuttle. (Mike)

JTA: Hasbro wouldn't leak anything more to us at NYCC than a big vehicle is indeed coming and will be announced at NY Toy Fair this February 2012. I know this answer won't satiate the appetites of most readers, but unless an image leaks from China or someone emails JTA again with a slide presentation from Hasbro (God forbid), we just won't know until them. I spoke with a designer who has been with Hasbro/Kenner since the vintage era and he told he he was sworn to secrecy and couldn't leak anything. As much as I would like a better understanding of what is coming, I am just happy to know that another super-deluxe vehicle is in the works for a 2012 release. If you want my guess, despite Hasbro's denials, I believe an updated Naboo Royal Starship is most likely. I find it very, very odd that Hasbro proudly displayed the Naboo Astromech Droids Battle Packs set and then wouldn't get out the vehicle needed to properly display these droids. Hey, I could be way off here, but Hasbro has denied MANY things in the past only to announce them as a surprise for collectors. So, mark the date I said this, I believe it is the Naboo Royal Starship. If it isn't, I will be very surprised, and I believe it will be an exclusive somewhere eventually even if I am at the moment incorrect.

I also believe that an Original Trilogy vehicle may be more likely than a The Clone Wars vehicle. Many were horrified at the lack of interest Hasbro displayed at NYCC with regards to The Clone Wars line so I don't think anything from the television show is on the forefront of their minds at the moment. I think the Jawa Sandcrawler is a wise choice and as I would sacrifice my nieces and nephews (I'm kidding) to see the Sail Barge released, I don't see how that is possible as a single release. I believe this vehicle would have to come piece meal and that is something Hasbro is just not willing to do. As you can see, our minds could ponder this forever. Thankfully, February is only a few months away and we will all have our answer then!

I believe Hasbro will be releasing a super-deluxe vehicle going forward every year. The line has been extraordinarily successful and with success comes more products like these.

3. Hasbro keeps using a much oversized removable helmet for the Phase 2 clone troopers. The new pics of the 501st Clone Trooper shown on the floor at NYCC show another big helmet. Why is this? They sculpted great removable helmets for Cody, the Airborne Trooper, Phase 2 Clone trooper and even the AT-RT driver now... why neglect the most prolific clone trooper helmets of all?

The helmet looks much too big, and as a result a lot of people don't want to buy the figure. If this ends up being what is produced, how about some sort of way for collectors to purchase a new sculpted helmet in bulk online? Anything! I feel like I can't upgrade my clone army now because of this and instead will just be content with the old non-removable helmet mold that has been in circulation for years. (Justin)

JTA: I asked Hasbro about this point during NYCC and they told me they weren't aware of such an issue as this with their phase II clone troopers. They told me they would make a point to look at it carefully and see if some sort of tweaking is needed for future clone trooper releases. But this is exactly the answer I expected to get from them. The Star Wars basic figure line has SO MANY figures in it now, I don't see how Hasbro can organize it all in their heads without an army assisting them. I agree that the phase II helmets are too bulky, but them again, I feel the whole new TVC phase II clone trooper is bulky. The upcoming Clone Trooper (501st Legion) is a huge step in the right direction. The body is thinned out (thanks to using the phase I body type) and if the helmet is a little too big, well, I can actually deal with this because positive strides have been taken to "correct" the figure. Let's see if enough complaints come Hasbro's way with helmet size and maybe they can fix it in time. But I do agree, it has room for additional improvement.

4. What happened to dr. evazan in the line up? (sivorycat)

AND

Can you ask Hasbro if Bom Vimdin will be rolling forward to antoher case assortment? I totally missed that guy in Wave 7 and I wanted 2. (Jeff)

JTA: Dr. Evazan is alive and well and will be coming to collectors as part of the fourth wave of The Vintage Collection in April 2012. He was shown in the slide presentation which you can view HERE on our site. And we have great news for Jeff too. Hasbro is rereleasing the entire 2011 wave 7 as the fifth ave in 2012 so you should get ample opportunity to purchase as many Bom Vimdim action figures as you'd like. This also means that Han Solo (Bespin Outfit), Rebel Fleet Trooper and ARC Trooper Commander are being rereleased as well! You're not alone and many collectors never saw this wave at retail. Hasbro promises to make figures available for everyone again and they are even claiming to chnage up case ratios to help figures with the characters that are most wanted. One last thing, the best announcement was that Wedge Antilles and the Gamorrean Guard are also seeing rerelease as well. This should make collectors a much happier bunch for sure.

5. Why is that some figures are not reaching the international market? I've seen it happening with Star Wars line and Marvel Universe (Gotta say that there are some specialized stores that buy the products directly in teh US and sell them here, but as what Walmart concerns, it's limited.) Why are you just mailing the figures like "Boba Fett Prototype armor" just within the USA and Canada and not including, at least Mexico? (Roberto)

JTA: Hasbro explained to us at NYCC that some of the Star Wars packaging for basic figures had to be revised (including the choking hazard warnings and other things) which put a sever delay on many cases of figures. They have explained that the issues are almost all resolved and you should eventually see more even distribution in the foreign countries in the future. I don't know what that means in reality for you, but it sounds borderline reassuring. Keep an eye on the major retail toy chains in your country. Out of the blue, the Boba Fett (Prototype Armor) figure hit Australia (as reported by our Australian readers), so you just may never know what is coming to TRU or Walmart until it hits. You may get a nice surprise by frequent visits to your local toy supplier.

If you read JTA often, you know that while Americans don't nearly have the awful issues of finding action figures that our foreign friends do, it is still a burden to walk into a store and be greeted with the latest product. Things are looking up a bit and we are already seeing some improvements in distribution, so hopefully that means similar things will be happening for you.

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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