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[David]

2/3/2010


ECHO BASE FORUMS: After her recent appearance in "Holocron Heist" and her second place finish in the Toyfare Fans' Choice Poll, would you say that everyone's favorite Jedi librarian has a pretty good chance of being released? Also, if you were to release Madame Jocasta Nu, would it be in the animated line or the realistic line?

HASBRO: Jocastu Nu remains out of any of our lineups.  Despite her appearance in the show, we remained convinced that she would be a figure for whom actual demand would be very low.  If we eventually did add her to the line, it would not be in the kid-focused Clone Wars line but would be as part of the realistic, Legacy-style line.


ECHO BASE FORUMS: Why have the original Rebo band members, as well as the cantina band members, never been released individually? They are all in major need of an upgrade. They seem like they are popular enough characters, so any chance that you could be making some new versions of these guys in the near future? An original Sy Snootles would be really nice too!

HASBRO: Based on the sluggish response to the 2007 Max Rebo Band re-release, demand for these figures appears to be very low.  As such, we don't have any plans to update them any time soon.  If we did do a new version of any of these figures, the Cantina Band members would be the first choice.

[gwest]

Really, no Jocasta Nu in the future?  She's made a second appearance in the CW series and they won't consider her for the CW figure line up.  That is a little disappointing to read.

The walmarts in my area still had Rebo band /dancer sets on clearance this past Christmas.   That they won't remake them isn't surprising.

[gwest]

Oh, by the way, great work on getting this site a chance to ask Hasbro some questions.  Congratulations.

[David]

Oh, by the way, great work on getting this site a chance to ask Hasbro some questions.  Congratulations.

Thanks!


So it looks like this page is getting a LOT of views, and so I thought I'd just take a moment to welcome all the visitors to this site, and invite everyone reading this page that's bothered to scroll this far down to check out the rest of Echo Base Forums! It's really a neat little Star Wars site that we've worked VERY hard on, and it would be great if we could get some more fans and collectors to register and participate in the forums here. We've got all kinds of cool stuff: toy reviews, wishlist polls, contests, and more. There are also some fun give-aways coming up that you won't want to miss! So if you've got a moment, please register and say hi!

[darth_sidious]

Did Hasbro not examine the poll results? Jocasta Nu came in second - and even beat out core characters from the movies - so demand does exist! 

[ars30]

Yes Demand Does exist But I Think The Hasbro team
Are Still Feeling a Little Hurt from the Very Poor Sales of
Yarna d'al' Gargan after all the years of fans begging for Her
to Admit the they have another Potential Peg Warmer finishing
Second in the Latest Fan Poll.

[JesseVader08]

I'm a little disappointed to hear they feel the Band members would be poor choices for updates.  I'd sure love to have a SA version of Sy Snootles!

[darth_sidious]

Yes Demand Does exist But I Think The Hasbro team
Are Still Feeling a Little Hurt from the Very Poor Sales of
Yarna d'al' Gargan after all the years of fans begging for Her
to Admit the they have another Potential Peg Warmer finishing
Second in the Latest Fan Poll.

The Yarna issue wasnt collectors fault, Hasbro is just passing the blame on to us - they put her in a wave that was produced in much higher levels than any other wave, and they expected her to sell through?  There arent even enough adult collectors to buy all those Yarnas.  I, like many others did indeed purchase her, but we have no need for multiples.  Look at Willrow Hood, he's selling steadily and is a virtual nobody, a realistic Jocasta Nu would indeed sell.

[David]

3/17/2010


ECHO BASE FORUMS: Have you considered making any figures based off the Clone Wars online comic? The online comic, which supports the Clone Wars TV series, has a great amount of characters to choose from. In addition to making new figures such as Ares Nune and Tonzet Xebec, there are a multitude of unique clones such as Kite, Mag, Shiv, and Ganch, that could easily be made using existing molds.

HASBRO: We have not considered this for the most part, because it is very important to stick to the entertainment that kids are watching for our figure lineup.  However, we will consider other sources that allow us to do a new version of a major characters, and we will be making a figure or two based on the characters who have appeared in the Dark Horse Comics Clone Wars series.


ECHO BASE FORUMS: The upcoming Aurra Sing in the Clone Wars line looks amazing! When can collectors expect to see a brand new Aurra Sing figure in the realistic format?

HASBRO: If the schedule holds, there will be a new basic carded Aurra Sing in 2011.

[gwest]

The answer from the first question confuses me slightly.  I assumed that the web-comic was kid focused.  I understand

that DH comic sales are easy to track, but surely there is a means to measure web traffic.  I haven't been collecting

comic books for a couple years now, so I'm not familiar with the DH TCW stories.  I wonder what Hasbro is planning.

In regards to question 2, we have to wait a whole more for A.Sing! Oh, well.

[darth_sidious]

I'm surprised we're getting a new realistic Aurra Sing, with the CW version coming out - she must have a bigger role in the CW series or perhaps the live action series...

[David]

4/8/2010


ECHO BASE FORUMS: In the last session you said that although it is unlikely we will see figures of characters from the Clone Wars online comic, you would consider other sources, and you specifically mentioned the Dark Horse Comics Clone Wars series. So we'd like to point out the appearances of Kit Fisto and Plo Koon in the In Service of the Republic story arc, in very cool (no pun intended) cold weather gear. With the popularity of the "Trespass" episode of the TV series among kids and collectors and the recent inclusion in the line of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Rex in their cold weather gear, would you consider making those unique versions of these two fan-favorite Jedi?

HASBRO: You hit the jackpot.  We are well aware of those issues, a truly classic story that would have been very welcome on the big screen.  At least one of the Jedi will be finding their way to the line based on their appearance in the comic.  It's possible that more characters could show up as well, but right now we only had a slot for one.


ECHO BASE FORUMS: We have a three-part question (and please forgive us if something similar has been asked already in previous sessions). Everyone is sad to see the Build-a-Droid pack-in go later this year. The Build-a-Droid concept gave us a wide variety of awesome droids from throughout the Star Wars universe, and the pieces also had tremendous customizing potential for both kids and for the large number of collectors who are into that sort of thing. But perhaps the most important thing about the Build-a-Droid pack-in is that it if kids and collectors wanted to have a complete droid, they had to buy an entire wave of figures, even if there were one or two characters that they may otherwise have passed on. So the first part of our question is do you think that ending such a popular pack-in will hurt sales? Also, would you consider bringing the Build-a-Droid pack-in back to the line in the future, even though no other pack-in has ever been brought back after ending? And last but not least, what's YOUR favorite pack-in in the modern Star Wars line's fifteen year history? One of our forum members ran a poll across several different sites, and Build-a-Droid was the clear favorite, but we're curious which one you liked working on and bringing us the most (Commtech chips, Force files, coins, etc.)?

HASBRO: We are very grateful that fans have shown so much heart for the Droid Factory concept. It certainly was out favorite (and most useful!) pack-in by far.  We don't think that removing the buildable figure will hurt sales, as the decision to replace the line with Vintage has a very strong appeal.  If anything, we think that the Droid Factory concept may have been too confusing for kids and some fans to follow.  We don't think the Droid Factory parts actually hurt sales, but sales during the Droid Factory run were some of the lowest in recent times for Star Wars figures.  We think it could return one day, if we can clearly communicate the concept and get some more credit on the front of the package.  After all, coins did return (albeit after a very long hiatus!).

[gwest]

Another winter coat Jedi.  Okay,  I didn't purchase the first 2.  Maybe if there is a unique head sculpt.



BAD parts are too confusing for kids?  Buy a toy get a part, buy another toy get another part.  Get enough toys, get

enough parts, put the parts together and you have a bonus toy.  Maybe Hasbro should have kept it simpler and only

produced astromechs.  4 figures, 4 parts.  R2s, R4s, R5s.   Maybe R3s,  but that might be too confusing with the R2s.

[darth_sidious]

I actually like both of the cold weather gear Jedi from the CW - I wonder if they'll make a Plo Koon like the custom I made for the last contest?  In all honesty - I'd rather see something from the tv series before any comic appearances.

When it comes to the BAD line, I loved it - but I think they covered plenty of ground and it was a bit of a pain to track everything down in order to build each droid, especially with the same figures being shipped with different parts.  I think it needs to rest for at least a few years, and maybe they can try to bring it back after the vintage line...

[David]

4/27/2010


ECHO BASE FORUMS: Now that we have K'Kruhk coming in the Expanded Universe wave, will we ever see figures of Tarr Seirr and Sha'a Gi to recreate that first encounter with General Grievous on Hypori?

HASBRO: There are no plans to release these characters at this time, and the more that the original Clone Wars series fades into memory the less likely it is that we will get to any more characters from the series. 


ECHO BASE FORUMS: IF you were to release an awesome new Slave I, which colors would you release it in first (assuming it would later be repainted)? Prequel colors, to match its upcoming appearance in The Clone Wars cartoon? Or its original look, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back?

HASBRO: If we were to release a new Slave I, it would be based on the Clone Wars deco.