1. I have really been enjoying what Mattel has been doing with the Jurassic Franchise. In particular, the human figures and how inexpensive they are compared to Star Wars. Has there been any thought to doing 3.75" figures like these? Not 5POA, but also not super articulated - but also like $7. I know Star Wars likely has higher fees than Jurassic does, but it just seems like there is a retailer out there who has hit a medium between plastic statues and the super articulated stuff and it may be another way to bring cheaper 3.75" figures to the market if there is an appetite for them. I know Black Series has been selling more, but paying $13 for a figure seems like a lot and I would gladly sacrifice some articulation to save some money on army building.
--Matt

Two things - one, let's compare apples to apples here. Two, the other thing.

The Jurassic human slate has brought us some really good figures, most of which were around eight bucks a pop. You don't get wrist or ankle articulation, but you do get pretty much everything else that made a "super articulated" Hasbro figure great ca. 2003-2007. Mattel hasn't produced a lot of variety - they sold a lot of Owens, and in a lot of outfits, and a lot of generic guys, while some of the main players exist only as test shots and samples. (I assume because Admiral Screed wanted company.) We probably get more 3 3/4-inch Star Wars figures most years than Mattel has made Jurassic humans over several years. There are prototypes that have yet to see release due to the shifting of the lines, and there were "nobodies" made - just generic army grunts - instead of characters with lines. So no line is perfect.

Having said that, Hasbro could - and if you ask me, should - consider this approach for main characters, especially a Disney+ range. As I've mentioned here before, Spin Master has a similarly sized and priced line of Batman and DC Comics heroes that seem to be doing quite well. If Hasbro went this direction you should temper your expectations - it's going to be a lot of Newest Movie guys and the basic main original trilogy heroes and villains, with minimal weirdness. I would be OK with this - I don't think most of The Vintage Collection is giving me $13 worth of articulation or accessories.

Hasbro just got beyond Galaxy of Adventures 5-inch figures and the next "kid" line is the Mission Fleet which - I don't think I'm telling tales out of class here - has plans for a little while. I doubt Hasbro has any plans to do a new 3 3/4-inch "kid" line because of all the noise collectors made about the articulation/size/etc., and also because the last "kid" lines - lackluster as they were - didn't click. It's hard to convince someone to try something after it keeps failing, and after 3 years of things like The Last Jedi, and then Solo, and then the blink-and-you-miss-it repack tube line of 3 3/4-inch figures under the Galaxy of Adventures branding tanked I doubt they're wager to try the size for kids again. It doesn't matter if it could be better - they had three lines wind up on closeout shelves. Well, that's not true. Five lines, if you could Rogue One and The Force Awakens too.

It would be cool. But I don't think it's going to happen until some teams change up, either at Disney consumer products or at Hasbro, in part because trying to straddle the needs of kids and of the very vocal collector base may prove impossible. For collectors. If they did a line like this just focusing on their most popular live-action streaming series for kids and fair-weather fans, it could be a license to print money, when it comes to Mando and Boba Fett fans of all ages will shell out for pretty much anything. For collectors with any expectations of 200 figures a year again, it's over, it's never going to happen, the good old days are indeed old and good.

 

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2. Over 40 years ago Kenner made figure prototypes for the Star Wars Holiday Special. Obviously the ratings nixed further development.

Fast-forward to now, so why doesn't Hasbro cherry-pick some characters from it and make figures? Throw in some new Cantina aliens, Chewie's family, Stormtroopers and Guards, and you've got an untapped nostalgic segment. Or does Disney not own the rights to the Special?
--Tarantarok

Mostly because of what Star Wars is right now - there's a mix of the classic main characters, and whatever the newest thing's main characters. Getting Hasbro to bring out any sort of obscure character is like pulling teeth, and the chances of ever getting Art Carney or any of those characters from a special that has only been seen as a bootleg recording for 40 years is incredibly unlikely.

The Holiday Special is something that everybody will probably continue to pretend doesn't exist, except for the cartoon, for years to come. Could they do it? Sure. Is it going to happen while George Lucas is still alive? I doubt it.

Boba Fett's cartoon got some play on the Blu-Rays and now Disney+, so we got a figure of him - and a few others. And let's not forget Zutmore, or Zutton, the one we got in Power of the Jedi was indeed specifically from the holiday special too.

It's not a bad idea, but look at the last 6-7 years. Hasbro has made incredibly few new characters as action figure debuts from any project from the 20th century. Even Jaxxon is really the modern reinvention. Maybe some day we could see Chewbacca's family - after all, they appeared in comics and some other books over the years - but I wouldn't bet on it. Any fan could pick any aspect of the saga and say "So how come we don't get that?" with pretty much the same argument you made - except in the cases of everything else, it wasn't a TV special that aired only once and has been seen by any fan born after the Ford administration in bootleg form, no doubt dubbed off generations of Betamax. There's not much nostalgia there, especially as the original Star Wars generation - now in their 50s or even 60s - are less likely to want to spend lots of disposable income on it.

3. Why can Crosshair in the six inch line hold a sniper rifle, but no 3.75” figure can do the same (or is there a figure that can hold a rifle and look down the scope?)
--Derek

I have owned (and since sold off) a few G.I. Joe figures that could do a pretty good job. When it comes to most toys in the nostalgia era of Star Wars, increased complexity and compatibility are generally not a huge consideration. In the old Kenner days, figures looked simple and didn't have much articulation but you could count on them standing, sitting in ships, and holding their accessories pretty well. In the modern era it's a stretch for a figure to fit in a ship sometimes, and Hasbro is recently getting a lot better at articulation. We've been getting extremely good joints since 2003, but things have really gotten better in the last few years now that they're making little improvements to the knees and elbows. (Hips, not so much.)

There aren't many figures designed with being a sniper in mind, and it's also worth remembering that a lot of latter-day new movie guys were made before anyone saw the movie. One of the things I find unfortunate about modern figures is few of them get to be designed with anything other than a costume and a face - the designers may not know how the figure moves or behaves before putting in the joints. This is one reason I am fond of the Retro Collection with new guys - they can be wrong, and that's OK.

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FIN

Be sure you send in your questions for next time. The mailbag is out of on-topic questions, so if you got some, send some in.

This was a pretty good week for toy hunting - after not being able to find any new 6-inch Cheapo Figures from Hasbro since 2018, I found three! Young Han Solos have been hitting Five Below stores, and The Mandalorian and The Child are at Walmart checklanes now. For five bucks a piece, they're really good. Don't expect a $23 figure - consider that the sculpting and articulation are comparable to Playmates' well-received The Simpsons figures way back from the year 2000. In my book, that means they're an amazing technical feat. They are by no means the very best you can buy, but they're toys for kids, and as such I can't knock them. After all, they can stand for months (years) at a time and not fall over. The Black Series generally can't boast that without support.

Work continues on the next installment of Adam's Star Wars Newsletter, and I would not expect it to be ready until some point in May. Back in the 1990s, I ran en email listserv with new Star Wars news and lists - the stuff you want to know and don't have time to research, although with fewer scoops because of what I do for a living. If you haven't yet, check out the first one and hopefully you'll enjoy the second one.

Also The Bad Batch is just around the corner. As is my second COVID shot.

--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.

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