Hasbro's Star Wars brand team has agreed to answer three questions from Jedi Insider fans every other week. Here are this week's questions and answers. This is the final round for 2007. The guys from Hasbro want to thank you all for helping make this year so successful for Star Wars and want to wish you all a Happy Holiday. New Q&A's will start up on January 18, 2008. Now for the final round of 2007.
JI:Reader question from Joenubb: Hasbro, great job with the Target exclusive Ultimate Battle Packs! Great toys at a great value. I especially like the suprise Hoth Rebel gun turret. Please keep the playset-like toys coming!
Have these battle packs been successful to the point that they can be an outlet for playsets or environment pieces? Jabba's throne dais could be released this way as well as a Sarlaac pit. Create some Hoth trenches this way, or an Endor forest or tree to hang the cargo net packaged with TAC #46 R2-D2. I know I'm rambling now, but you guys get me so amped up for Star Wars toys!
Hasbro: Thanks for the great thumbs-up on these, Joenubb! We were glad we could surprise folks like that while at the same time delivering some new things in this bigger format. And therein lies the rub - "some new things." As has been well-documented, playsets are backbreakers from a tooling and product costing perspective, and their return on investment is still not justified relative to the higher level of interest in figures and vehicles. That's why there were new elements to these sets, but they were not the sole focus of the sets themselves. By using a considerable amount of existing items, we were able to justify some tooling expense, which we spent on the turret and the logs. So the sucess of the UBPs (and they have been very successful) does not mean a change of format to more playset-dominated sets, but it does open the door to opportunities that have a similar type of format - i.e. some newness mixed with a good dose of existing to keep our costs down.
JI: Reader question from Hamsterboy: Any chance we'll ever see Clones in Imperial Officer uniforms like the ones shown near the end of Revenge of the Sith?
Hasbro: Great question. We had not considered these, concentrating instead on
doing the on-screen Commanders from EpIV-VI every so often. Now that you
bring it up there are some interesting possibilities, and we will discuss
it on the team and see if any opportunities present themselves down the
road.
JI: Reader question from ARBCOToys: Any chance we might see some Expanded Universe Galactic Heroes? I'd love a GH version of Mara Jade and Grand Admiral Thrawn. Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura would make a nice looking 2-pack as well.
Hasbro:Hey, awesome screen name, ARBCOToys! We can confirm that Aayla is on the way - here is a sneak pic shown below. Look for the Aayla/Bly pack on shelf around 3/1. While Aayla was born of the EU, she is the only one of your wish list that we are looking at as of now, preferring to work our way through on-screen characters before we turn our attention to the EU proper since kids still make up a sizeable share of the GH audience. We don't rule out the possibility of Quinlan or Mara eventually finding their way into the line because of their continued popularity with fans.
First round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Second round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Third round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Fourth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Fifth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Sixth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Seventh round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Eighth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Ninth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Tenth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Eleventh round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Twelfth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Thirteenth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
Fourteenth round of questions and answers for 2007,
click here.
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