We had a Q&A session today with Chris and Jing from the Hasbro Star Wars team. We were asked to submit 5 questions last week in regards to the HasLab The Ghost project or any other previously announced products. Below is what we asked. We would like to thank Jing and Chris for taking the time out of their schedules to do these Q&A roundtables.
Hasbro Q&A
Q1). In regards to the the HasLab The Vintage Collection The Ghost, some fans were a bit disappointed that the detachable Phantom II Shuttle only included an attached Chopper Droid Dome and not a fully removable Droid. Why was this decided?
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
For that Phantom II specifically, the scale of Chopper on that is kind of critical to the look of it, to put a Chopper that would be true scale in The Vintage Collection would have been much bigger on that ship, so we scaled him down for the detail on that ship. And then at the time we knew we were thinking about what Jing was just talking about the package of Chopper and Sabine outside of the HasLab, so making sure that he could be available otherwise out side as a full figure, instead of doing a weirdly small version of him that would fit in there and be removable it just made more sense to make him just the head on that ship.
Q2). With the re-release of The Black Series Jabba the Hutt Set for the 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi, whey not go all out and give the fans what they have been asking for years which is Jabba’s Dais and a Princess Leia Hutt Slayer figure? It seems like a missed opportunity. In stead of this we pretty much just got another repack in new packaging.
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
A lot of what we wanted to do with that figure is get that back out for people that missed him previously. So Jabba has been out before, but continues to draw higher dollars on aftermarket, so there seems to be a lot of demand for him. So it was a great opportunity to do that. The Dais that he sits on is such a huge piece, The Black Series Scale, that would have driven the price really high and in our estimation out of the reach of a lot of people that just wanted that figure. There are such amazing fans from the Star Wars franchise excited about all the opportunity and characters to explore, I mean it’s a big product line and that’s where that one ended up.
Q2 – Part 2).
Are you guys forbidden from making the Princess Leia Hutt Slayer figure? Rumors are Disney has forbid it.
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
There are a lot of rumors out there, amazing fans like wanting all that stuff, we love all that, we would love to hear more, but ya rumors there are a lot of them around, and I am not going to comment on rumors.
Q3). Hopefully the HasLab The Vintage Collection The Ghost will get enough backers to unlock the 3 Bonus Tier figures. If the bonus Tiers are unlocked or not, will these 3 bonus figures along with General Hera Syndulla get another release in different packaging at a later date? Or will Hasbro just scrap the bonus figures all together?
Answer – Hasbro Jing:
Ya I would say in general we can’t speak to anything that has not been announced, so what we have announced is that those figures with those Exclusive Card Backs are tied to the Ghost Campaign. Hopefully we will unlock those, I love the support from the community and would love to add them to our collection. So that’s something we are hoping on our end as well, we are all fans.
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
And specifically those outfits of those characters are exclusive to the HasLab, like that version of them is exclusive there, so we wouldn’t do that version of those characters elsewhere, but that does not mean those characters are exclusive to this HasLab.
Q3 – Part 2)
The Sabine and Chopper figures you mentioned if we hit 17,000 Backers, you said those are going to be free or an additional charge to get those 2 figures?
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
Separate charge, It won’t be tied to the HasLab , it would be a normal release sort of thing.
Answer – Hasbro Jing:
I think for us it was important because we know the fans want to complete the mural card back collection, so that’s a way for us to do that.
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
We didn’t want it to be a thing to set more and more far out goals and high expectations for the HasLab and then to say you are never going to get those because we put them behind a 25,000 or 30,000 backer level kind of thing, we didn’t want to do that. So kind of drew the line at 17,000 and said that’s were we are going to stop the exclusivity things and anything beyond that we will release separately and outside of the HasLab.
Q3 – Part 3)
So if we don’t hit 17,000 backers we will not see those 2 figures at all correct?
Answer – Hasbro Jing:
Ya so that’s what we are saying. We think its something we can rally behind and I think there is a strong showing in the community, I think the Ghost is so exciting from the 4 Seasons of Rebels and now with the Ahsoka live action as well, we will keep refreshing our pages along with you.
Q4). Now that the The Black Series 6-Inch figure windowless “Plastic Free Packaging” is a thing of the past, is there any plans for Hasbro to re-release those figures in windowless “Plastic Free Packaging” in the newer clear window packaging? There was a lot of Fans and Collectors that stopped buying these just for that reason alone.
Answer – Hasbro Chris:
There is no plan to systematically go back and just replace all those things and put them in the current Main Line look. But they are part of our Black Series library, so if we re-release those things in the future and they line up with this packaging then that’s how they will come out. But there is no plans to just go back and re-release all of them.
Q5). The Black Series Andor 6-Inch Vel Sartha was assigned figure #08, which was also assigned to Cassian Andor. What is the correct numbers for these 2 figures and did Hasbro correct the numbering issue and release an updated box for the one that is incorrect or just left it as is?
Answer – Hasbro Jing:
Thank you for bringing that up, so Cassian is #08 and Vel Sartha is #09. We are all human and it was just a miss on our part and it’s something if we ever re-run that we will correct it in the future.
