1. I was wondering if the exclusive Entertainment Earth / Hasbro Comic packs were produced before you joined Entertainment Earth or if you had input into their production? If so, well done. Any chance that Entertainment Earth can team-up with Hasbro to reissue some (or most) of the Comic Packs 2-pack figures (maybe without the comics to save on costs). New smaller package or even reissued on the Vintage collection cards from next year?
--Matt

I had zero input on this item - these were all set to go but thanks to "last wave syndrome," they didn't have a home so we were offered the assortment as an exclusive. I think it made all parties pretty happy and I'd love to repeat that opportunity with more orphaned products.

Due to various reasons, mostly legal reasons, we prefer to not take input on future exclusives. As a personal/professional rule, I try to steer the ship as far away from reissues in any form as possible. Once something has entered the marketplace, the numbers needed to do another production run (provided the tooling is viable) may not be large enough to justify the minimums at the factory. However, all is not lost - Hasbro was incredibly open about wanting its new The Vintage Collection line to incorporate more reissues and returning favorites. I would heartily suggest making a note of your favorites and letting Hasbro know at future fan conventions, per their request, or starting a campaign online to bring back specific favorites.

From where I sit, a reissue exclusive is sort of suicide when it comes to obscure characters. Every year, the pool of fans wanting a Vader or Boba Fett grows - but nobody new has learned who Ysanne Isard is since that two-pack languished in the Entertainment Earth warehouse far longer than the other sets. Costs have gone up significantly since the Comic Packs ended, and they were ridiculously cheap at the time - a single figure was $6.99, and a two pack with a full-size comic was $9.99 or $10.99 for most of the run with costs climbing by the time that final exclusive wave was made available. I don't know how they pulled it off back then - now, a single figure would have to retail at $12.99 or above.

No I much prefer lobbying for the issuing of items that got literally no distribution in the first place, should such a thing happen, particularly from a recent line where a lot of us are wanting to find them. But I probably can't talk about any specific examples... *coughs*

 

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2. Another Micro Machines question for you. For TFA, I feel Hasbro brought back Micro Machines as a nostalgic idea to hook people of my generation back in (TFA was brand new, so try every format possible). Despite the lacking quality, I enjoyed collecting them all. There was a handful of sets for Rogue One that came and went with little notice. Seeing the TFA stuff still on clearance in stores, on HTS, and HTS eBay, I really think that spells doom for TLJ Micro Machines and going forward. Any insights? Were modern Micro Machines a failure? I was really hoping they'd do well enough to warrant the return of Action Fleet.
--Alexander

Hasbro straight-up bagged on Micro Machines during the Star Wars panel at Comic-Con this year. When they're making jokes about a brand in a product announcement, that's never a good sign.

I have yet to see any news of any new Titanium Series vehicles or helmets, or Micro Machines vehicle products coming this year - it doesn't mean they aren't happening as someone's exclusive, or might be out later, but we've seen no evidence that they're happening anywhere yet. Hasbro did announce some new Titanium Series Helmets at Toy Fair, but I doubt they'll see the light of day. Also, maybe they just didn't announce them yet. Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence.

It looks like Hasbro ceded this category to Mattel, which means I picked the wrong pony and will probably never complete that scale. There are many Mattel Hot Wheels Star Wars ships I've still never even seen in person - so hey, no matter how bad your lot in distribution may be at least this phase in your collecting career may be over?

3. I know Luke from the SDCC Exclusive 6" Star Wars: The Black Series Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Jedi In Training Rey 2 Pack will be released as a regular in the Black Series but how about the new Rey?
--Eric

I don't know if Hasbro specifically confirmed her future distribution, but to date Hasbro has never had a truly exclusive Comic-Con figure - just packaging and accessories. I wouldn't worry in your shoes... I mean, it's Rey.

 

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FIN

Shoretrooper and Bistan ? Fenn Rau ? You should order those. Get while the getting is good, people.

Figure of the Day (Star Wars edition) will be taking a brief hiatus due to travel for work and a lot of other stuff coming up - but I promise I'll make up for it with many bonus entries in September as new The Last Jedi product hits. So I can say "It's good, I think, I haven't seen the unfinished film yet so who knows? Maybe you'll care about this one in December." Yeah yeah, spoiler warning, etc. We've got 4 more before I take a break until the new stuff starts arriving. The first one, I hope, I can get up on or around September 1.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.