1. [I] was wondering if you've picked up Funko's Alien Queen/Ripley/Power Loader set? I just got it and love it as much as their Alien figs but can't find any info on whether they're making anymore figures from this movie. Surely they have at least a few Marines or a Bishop planned?? Would appreciate your thoughts on the set and likelihood of any future Aliens figures.
--Joel

I have indeed! I've been a fan of the format, although the figures themselves are a mixed bag - the construction on the first ALIEN line was good, but the paint jobs weren't so hot. Subsequent toys from other licenses were good looking in spots, but were a mixed bag of engineering. Super7 just got the ReAction brand name back - and presumably will make more. I know they wanted to do so early on, but they have never made an explicit announcement of which characters or when. With the Ultimates line of Masters of the Universe being announced this week, they've been busy - so we'll have to wait and see how that goes. I think more are possible, but the question now is if they have the bandwidth to actually bring a lot of product to market. It takes a while, and they're not exactly as big as Funko.

 

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2. I've been seeing the new Rogue One toys in stores and am loving the 5POA-ness(?) of them. I have only been half keeping my eye on Star Wars figures since TVC ended so I know Hasbro has made quite a few OT 5POA figures, but Hasbro made any OT 5POA figures that Kenner did not?
--Chris

Now that you mention it, I don't believe they did - unless you count the variant armors for Boba Fett, anyway. The new Toys R Us TIE Striker has a 5-jointed TIE Pilot that seems unique, but I have yet to examine the markings to tell if it's from the new movie or an existing source. (It just got here.) The 5-jointed line has been a tremendous bummer in terms of the original trilogy, just because there's not much being made. But hey, there's always next year.

3. Back in the day I missed out on the last wave of exclusive EE Comic Packs. I was out of work at the time, had just had our first kid and for the first time since '95 I put collecting way down the priority list... it happens. I know this is entirely my fault, and I'm not expecting any sympathy.

These days to pick up many of these sets on eBay I would have to shell out some serious dollars - Montross, Darth Nihil, Deliah Blue etc. You could argue I could learn to live without them, but I dig these characters and always hoped to add them to my collection

I guess for a host of reasons, these sets are probably not going to see the light of day again?

So my question is - Should I just accept that there will always be some figures that are always going to command a high price (and most likely become more expensive as time goes by) and just go for them at the best price I can?
--Findlay

Heh. You're right about the sympathy - Entertainment Earth had to mark those sets down and put them on sale. It took a long while for the final ones to go - which is why I would never, ever expect Hasbro to bring them back. That and the whole "let's wipe the Expanded Universe clean" thing. Since the Disney takeover, and especially the new movie, Hasbro hasn't delivered much of anything new on the 3 3/4-inch "classic" front. I mean, some awesome lovable fan maybe could tell you about an astromech droid set, but other than that Hasbro has delivered jack and squat new for the original trilogy or the prequels since 2015. (I don't count it if it looks the same as something in a new movie.)

As a long-time fan, I had to deal with the concept of some figures being expensive back in the 1980s. EV-9D9 and Amanaman each cost me the princely sum of $20. Luke Stormtrooper? $25. Yak Face? Good luck finding one under $60! My Sise Fromm was about $4 though. (Nobody cared yet.) Their prices never went down - although given the short attention span of fans with the massive glut of product out there, I would expect any modern era figure to have a more erratic price on the secondary market. I would be willing to bet money that these eight figures will not see new versions without TV or movie support - and they'll probably be redesigned.

If I were in your shoes I'd start watching prices. Set up an eBay alert, watch closed auctions, keep an eye on Amazon, and have a number in mind of what I'd be willing to pay. Very few Expanded Universe (Legends) characters ever received multiple action figures, and those that did had wildly different outfits (Baron Fel) or were such popular characters that the fans repeatedly demanded them (Thrawn, Mara Jade.) That comic pack line was an underappreciated gift from above, and with 2 figures for $10-$15 we really didn't take advantage. Old packs sat, and Hasbro got the (wrong) message - that we weren't interested.

With manufacturing as it is today, and the average age of the person getting the figures going down, Hasbro has little incentive to make any figures based on old, obscure, non-canonical comic books. "Never" seems unlikely... but these are items where I'd feel pretty good about saying "never again."

 

FIN

It's always tough to make a call on what to expect Hasbro to redo - as I'm fond of citing, we've been promised another run of 3 3/4-inch Darth Revan since it came out (and sold out) in 2007. It has been nine years. Grand Admiral Thrawn got his first figure in 1998, his second in 2008, and I think we're getting a Rebels one shortly - almost 10 years apart. Mara Jade, similarly, was 1998, 2007, and 2013. Even hugely popular figures like Rex and Ahsoka don't get all that much play at retail - heck, neither does Chopper and that little bugger is on TV every week! Sabine is a Mandalorian, and Hasbro seems very stingy with figures of her - despite having multiple sets of armor and variant hair colors. And a TIE Pilot disguise.

We're going to have another Fan's Choice poll soon. The last time we got one for 3 3/4-inch figures, we asked for another Mara Jade variant and people assumed they'd be getting a different outfit and instead we got a figure with strange orange hair that even supporters just couldn't quite get behind. Maybe next time we'll pick something with a clearer idea of what it is we want - be it a remake or a previously unproduced alien or droid - but right now I just pray the collective fanbase has more imagination than "figure we already bought in a different size or with better sculpting." Let's get something that will do everybody's collections some actual good.

--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.