star wars "saga"

[Ran]

Yes. And this:



And after looking at some of those GI Joe toys, the black and purple cloud car would fit in with some of the other Cobra vehicles.

[Ran]

Skimmed through the Hasbro Q&A summary. It is way too much reading to get a few useful nuggets of information. Many of the fan site questions (especially the other site's0) seem long winded and tedious. Half of the answers were "wait until 2011". One site asked about the Yavin Battle pack being re-released. Hasbro said it was very successful, but they aren't bringing it back. Then there were a bunch questions saying "We can't find Legacy shit", to which Hasbro replies "You can't find it because no one wants it, but you can buy stuff from the Clone Wars series". And as usual, they gave the "wait until Toy Fair" answer.

Anyway, just to make sure I read things correctly:

The build-a-droid line is coming to an end?

Only 2 OT waves in 2010? Oola is in one of the waves. I'm assuming the other wave is ESB. Is there really much left to do from ESB?

2011 will have Walrus Man and Dr. Evazan...even though they are in the Fan's choice poll. (Have they announced the Fan's choice poll yet?).

No 2nd Imperial Scanning troop or Hoth Rebel, but the 2nd Bespin Guard is in the EU wave, maybe.

Did I miss anything?

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

The Legacy Collection is ending after the EU wave. I assume this means the build-a-droid line will end at the same time, but I'm not sure.

They haven't announced the fans' choice poll winners yet. Dr. Evazan was on it, but Ponda Baba wasn't.

The OT waves next year are from ESB (with a new Han, and signs are pointing to an Echo Base version) and from ROTJ (with Oola). There will also be AOTC and ROTS waves, and then TPM and ANH get their turn in early 2011.

The Hoth Rebel is going to be in a battle pack next year, and the Scanning Crew is possibly going to be out sometime in 2011.

The fact that there will be no new basic realistic figures from the EU wave until August sucks, but that's happened before, so I don't really know why people are freaking out so much. I'm sure there will be other products in the meantime (and Clone Wars will be continuing throughout, so that's good for me, at least).

[anarky]

So, with the Scanning Trooper, are we going to get half the box, and the other half is in limbo?

I, too, was confused by the "you can't find it because no one wants it" answers. "We're going to put the line on hiatus for eight months, because it's the only one of the three lines that's actually selling through most of the figures." Looks like they'd at least have a re-release wave in there, or something.

[Ran]

Thanks for the summary. It seems like Hasbro's actual answers are sounding more like the answers in our Q&A thread.

The re-release wave idea would make sense. Maybe have the alternate version of those 3 figures and toss in whatever is left over from the Comic 2-pack line. That should make it 5-7 figures for the wave. Didn't they do a repaint wave like that a couple years ago?

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

They've done a few repaint waves - 2005 through 2008 all had one, as I recall. I doubt they are going to release the comic pack figures in the basic line, though - if they won't sell with another character and a comic book, giving them context, then I doubt they'd sell well alone. I'm guessing those figures will become exclusives, perhaps through Entertainment Earth, but that's just a hunch (I know some of them are going to be convention exclusives next year).

[Ran]

Found most of the ESB wave today. Walmart had the prices rolled back to $6. Passed on the Snowtrooper and AT-AT driver. Why did they resculpt the AT-AT Driver so soon? They didn't have the Snowspeeder Luke, so I ended up with Ice Cream Maker guy, Bespin Guard, Zuckuss, and the green R2. The Bespin Guard looks like they took a sculpt that was intended for a white Imperial officer and made him black. It was a pain in the ass getting his hat to stay on. Now that I bought Zuckuss, I think I might try to find that last release of 4-LOM I skipped last year. Ice Cream Maker guy has a beer gut. Looks like there is a Rebel logo on the bottom of the ice cream maker, so I assume there is an EU story for that.

She wasn't there today, but I've left that female Cantina alien on the shelf 3 times now. I'll probably get her next time. Still debating on getting the R2-D2 and Boba Fett from the same wave.

I'm kind of glad there are only 2 OT waves next year.

[anarky]

Eventually, though, the Galactic Empire invaded and conquered the planet; in order to protect the Rebellion contacts Hood was responsible for, the miner took A'roFilter's main computer's memory core, as it contained the encrypted information on Rebel contacts.

Because the fanboys can't be content with a fat guy just wanting to save a batch of Cherry Garcia.

[Ran]

Did anyone get the new R2 with the lightning thing? I'm still trying to rationalize buying it. Does it have any decent features, like tools? I thought I saw a picture of it with the tools coming out of the chest. It has been a while since I've bought an R2. I skipped the last Endor R2 with the Ewok netting.

[anarky]

I got it, took the droid part out, and gave it to my daughter. It's a nice Artoo, but nothing special. No features or anything, unless you count the head clicking when you turn it to be a feature. There's a hatch on his left-front side, but it's glued shut.

I got the AT-ST, the Rancor, and another Dewback, all on clearance for 50% off. Haven't opened them except for the Rancor. He's sweet as hell, but no way was he a $50 figure. The Luke sucks ass. He has the lightsaber and the burnt hand, which is enough to be so inaccurate that there's no getting around it.

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

The picture on the R2-D2's cardback shows him with the VOTC tools panel put on there, upside-down. As anarky said, the actual figure has the restraining bolt panel glued down. This is the first R2 in a while to have a painted dome instead of a chrome one, which was also done on the R2 in the Resurgence of the Jedi battle pack.

[Ran]

I guess I'll get the R2. My kids like the build a droid thing. I think the only figure I need after that is the Snowspeeder Luke and the 2nd Bespin Guard from the EU wave whenever that show up.

I was at a Target & WM yesteday. The Target next to my house didn't have the Rancor. I'm waiting for Wedge's X-Wing to go on clearance. The 2 packs with Coran Horn were still $17. No AT-ST, and the Dewback was still $30. I'm going to lunch now and am going to try the WM near here.

Edit:

Walmart had the Coran Horn pack on clearance for $17 and the AT-ST was on clearance for $43. Both had the red & white stickers on them. Nothing marked on the Dewback. They also had the ANH R2, but the build a droid part was the chest of some Terminator looking robot instead of the R3. Why they would go through the trouble of putting clearance stickers on things without marking them down at all is beyond me.

Target had some double packs of basic figures that were the same price as a regular figure. Mostly were ROTJ wave figures. I wish those came out before I bougth them. Oh well. No Rancor, not that I'd buy one anyway. I have the POTF2 version and don't care enough to upgrade.

[anarky]

Okay, Ran, I know there are a bazillion Targets in the Vegas area. I really have to recommend the new Rancor if you find it at half price. It was a ripoff at $50, and I was a big naysayer until I got one. It's sweet. My POTF2 one is going to go to my daughter when I dig him out of the box he's been sitting in for a few years.

The Luke figure is a major turd, though.

[Ran]

I don't know. If I was going to spend $25 on SW, I'd rather take my chance on the X-Wing going on clearance. I might even consider getting that TIE Interceptor(?) I saw mixed in with all those $20 prequel vehicles at Target yesterday. For some reason I'm just not interested in the Rancor.

Saw the new Endor set yesterday with the Ewok Glider and yet another Luke in it. I've been avoiding most battle packs. Paid full price for the Yavin set and ended up with two Tantive IV sets after they went on clearance. Never saw the first Endor or the Hoth packs on clearance. Entertainmentearth has the Hoth set for $16. I kind of want the R5, I hate the idea of buying a battle pack for one or two figures. I haven't checked to see how much different the Han in this set is from the last one I got.

[anarky]

Sadly, the only Target I was able to stop by in your neck of the woods the last few days (the one almost across the street from the Fiesta casino in Henderson) had all the clearance toys more than any other Target I've seen. The Rancors were $35. Worth it, I think, but I don't know that I can recommend it at that price if you're hesitant anyway.