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

1. I just bought this set [sic - Battle Over Endor] yesterday, and my reason for buying it was due to it was the only one on the shelf packed with r5-d4 instead of the re-worked r5-p9. It is awesome!!!!! I have not been able to find anything on the net about the mis-packaged set anywhere. So if you are out buying, you should look for it. I am going to be uploading the photo to my Facebook if you want to check it out. This is 100 percent real and is not a hoax. If anyone you know has information on this please let me know. Thanks. (Anthony)

JTA: Anthony – I hate to tell you this, but you have been duped. (Editor’s Note: I asked Anthony for a photo, but didn’t hear back from him.) While it’s completely possible that Hasbro could have made a mistake and packaged a wrong figure, it’s more likely you are a victim of theft. We live in an age where people pull and replace “new” figures to get the latest version of an astromech droid. So you’ll most likely come across a stolen item instead of a packaging mistake. Packaging errors do exist, but the last one I saw was almost a half decade ago. In 2007, I pulled a VTSC Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) figure out of a sealed cased that was packaged with the Princess Leia Organa (In Combat Poncho) figure instead. But as I have mentioned, this hobby has way too many unscrupulous collectors who are poor (morally first, financially second) and they’d rather screw another collector over than just buy it outright at full price and sell the pieces they don’t want on eBay - or just not purchase it at all. So Anthony, yes, I would bet my collection that you have purchased a hoax. R5-D4 wasn’t even a droid in this assortment that could have gotten mixed up in the Battle Over Endor sets. Sorry buddy.

2. Hey Paul, I don't think there has been a Q&A with JTA for awhile. Is there one planned for anytime soon? I get more information out of your Q&A than I do Hasbro's nowadays. If there is one planned, I was wondering are there going to be 19 all new clone wars figures next year or 19 total? Keep up the great work with the site. (Mike T.)

JTA:Hey Mike! So sorry for the long delay with this new Q&A. So many things have been happening at JTA (and our personal lives) that it is getting harder and harder to commit times to do the features that our readers seem to enjoy so much. So, we apologize. (If anyone wants to help us out, please let us know!) And thank you for the complements to our column as it means very much to us. As to your question, yes, Hasbro has stated at NYCC and confirmed in the recent Q&A that The Clone Wars line (which has been changed to a sub-line like Saga Legends and/or Movie Heroes) is officially on the back burner for 2012 and we will only be seeing 19 figures (including one-third repackaged figures). To be quite honest I am very mad about this. It took me almost 2 full years to warm up to The Clone Wars line. Now I enjoy it at nearly the same level of The Vintage Collection. And there are some animated figures that I can unequivocally state that I enjoy more than their realistic counterparts, namely Barriss Offee and Eeth Koth. (And there are others as well like young Boba Fett and Shaak Ti.) Hasbro did their best to get the line up to snuff under the Shadow Of The Dark Side banner and they’ve really stepped up to the plate to bring kids (and I believe mostly collectors now) one of the best lines in quite some time. The articulation and sculpting is phenomenal and the characters choices are so well-balanced that the line is really being embraced by people who wanted nothing to do with it back in 2008. And now that the line has climaxed what does Hasbro do? They essentially “can it”. I am praying that by SDCC this year that Hasbro announces a full and exciting new line for 2013. And I hope they give us more information at NY Toy Fair this February as well. I think Hasbro is dangerously throwing all of their eggs in the Episode I basket and when they realize what a flop it becomes, they’ll be wishing they could back pedal much faster than they’re going to be able to do. I don’t wish for the “Darth Maul” line’s failure, but I don’t think Hasbro should be abandoning a successful and awesome property like The Clone Wars line however.

Here is what’s coming in 2012:

Wave 1:
Savage Opress (CW55 repack)
Mace Windu (CW20 repack)
Cad Bane (CW42 repack)
Chewbacca (CW63 repack)
Yoda (CW14 repack)
Anakin Skywalker (NEW)
Aqua Droid (CW46 repack)
Plo Koon (Cold Weather) (CW53 repack)
Clone Trooper (Phase II) (NEW)
Clone Command Cody (Phase II) (NEW)

Wave 2:
Republic Commando “Boss” (NEW)
Captain Rex (Phase II) (NEW)
Aayla Secura (CW40 repack)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (NEW)

P.S. We need questions badly now. I am all out! Send them in please! :)

3. what other versions of boba fett can hasbro do now? i think were getting to end of the tunnel on boba fetts. maybe a realistic young clone wars boba? (Davy)

JTA: That is one great choice, but there are even more prototype versions Hasbro can do. And actually, there quite a few that Hasbro can still do beyond that, although I bet they'll never attempt them. I would love to see a modern sculpt in original Kenner colors (as opposed to the Kenner-like mold in Kenner colors), the Droids Boba Fett (similar but also very different than the Holiday Special Boba Fett) and lastly the colored prototype with Jaig eyes on the helmet and the "half circle" gloves as seen on the VCD HERE. And in case you didn’t know, the very first modern neo-classic version of Boba Fett was based on this a colored prototype-version as well! There is also a “now non-canon” version of Boba Fett from the Infinities comics that would be awesome as well. Hey, if they can release Jodo Kast twice, they can certainly make very last version of Boba Fett for us too. Lastly, I’d like to see a revisit of an Episode V version of Boba Fett WITHOUT a removable helmet. Sorry, my collection will just not be complete without this. Thank the Maker that the 2004 VOTC Boba Fett figure comes without a removable helmet and can satisfy the definitive update requirement to that iteration of the character!

4. For some reason, the ignited blue lightsaber that Hasbro has included with The Vintage Collection Ep. V Luke Skywalker figures (and the VC13 Anakin/Darth Vader figure) has a peg on the handle. Why didn't they use an un-pegged saber such as the one they inexplicably included with The Legacy Collection's Medical Frigate Luke? Do they envision a play scenario where Luke has to trim his toenails while his hands are full? (Warrick)

JTA: You may find this blasphemous, but I actually don’t care that much about this mistake, if you can even call it that. Aesthetically it looks wonky, but you have so many options to hide it in the cup of the figure’s hand or behind it so in the end I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. With all of the parts Hasbro has in their inventory now, they probably have forgotten that they have an ignited lightsaber without that nub attached to it. It may be something we should just bring to their attention via a Q&A or when we see them at NY Toy Fair this February. But I respect your preference. When a whole bunch of smaller details are updated and corrected, it does help in the big picture of what makes an excellent action figure!

5. Found a TVC 56 TIE Pilot at retail that has the RETURN of the Jedi logo but the figure that was packed in with the TRU TIE Interceptor (same as the SDCC version) rather than the reported Lt. Oxixo version. Are all of the DS "Revenge" figures going to be released on a "RETURN of the Jedi" card? It's so confusing. Thanks again! You guys are the best! Thanks for all the information. Avid reader, (Morgan K.)

JTA: Hi Morgan, thank you for your feedback and question. We reported on the Lt. Oxixo information a little too prematurely. We were given some erroneous information by our source which we posted as fact and for that we are sorry. We did print a retraction to our story HERE. So we offer the most sincere apology for the mix up. I hope that doesn’t change how you feel about us, LOL! The whole Revenge Of The Jedi promotion has been very confusing. Basically there are two different assortments of wave 8 hitting retail. We have been able to locate the following:

Revenge/Return Boba Fett [VOTC sculpt]

Revenge/Return Han Solo (In Trench Coat)

Revenge/Return Princess Leia (Slave Outfit)

Revenge/Return B-wing Pilot (Keyan Farlander)

Revenge/Return Stormtrooper

Revenge/Return TIE Fighter Pilot

Revenge/Return Darth Vader

Revenge Admiral Ackbar*

Revenge Wicket*

Revenge Luke Skywalker (Endor Capture)*

Revenge R2-D2*

Revenge Rebel Commando (Black)**

* were released on Return Of The Jedi cards in wave 3
** - there are no known plans to release the black Rebel Commando on a Return Of The Jedi card

The whole Revenge Of The Jedi chase promotion should have been a lot more fun and a lot easier to find, especially since fans are already outraged at teh handling od the Revenge Of The Jedi SDCC exclusive. More may be on the way, but they are proving more difficult to find than wave 9, and that has also been a hard wave to locate too. But if history tells us anything, it’s that the stuff may hit hard almost a year later, just like wave 4 of The Vintage Collection!

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!