1. Now that everyone's seen the film by now and looked through the Visual Guide, Would you say this episode is less toyetic than the others? It felt that way when I watched it.

It seems that way compared with the PT and aside from the scene at Maz's Castle that there are relatively few figures that absolutely need to be made that are not already in the works. We seem to have gotten most if not all the principals and their costume variations in 2015.

I think we might even have had the entire collection by 2018 had Hasbro been producing as many figures like they used to and we were back on a 3 year film cycle. I mean they pretty much did all the vehicles at this point save for the capital ships that will never get made.

This probably isn't a bad thing considering how much fewer product we get now and the fact we are getting three additional films but I'm curious what you think. I do hope we at least get a Happabore and Luggabeast before Rogue One is out since this one is severly lacking in creature packs.
--Grant

I don't know that the film is any more or less toy-friendly than the 1977 original. It's probably about on par - there are some vehicles that aren't particularly welcoming as 3 3/4-inch toys, and I take mild issue with the phrase "figures that absolutely need to be made." Most movies get no figures of any kind, but this is Star Wars and with the waves posted in the last few days, we've seen quite a bit. Admiral Ackbar, Nien Nunb, Greg Grunberg, Han Solo, and a lot more are all coming soon... and in 1979, except for Tarkin, a lot of people felt that line was pretty nicely fleshed out. They can probably still milk us for more articulated versions, battle-damage, Hux' non-snow outfit, Snoke, and so on and so forth. Before the movie came out, what we got was up to what Disney would share with its licensors. Now? It's fair game.

A non-Elite TIE Fighter is still possible (as in, they could, I don't know if they will) and Leia's Resistance landing craft could unfold to be a fabulous tiered diorama display (if this were 1980).

I really hope we see things like the Happabore and Luggabeast, but I would be lying if I said I was super hopeful. We just saw a new vehicle pre-order go up this week and it was for Rebels' Ezra's Speeder Bike which, while cool and desirable and I ordered, is not a Luggabeast.

I don't know if Rogue One will be the end of The Force Awakens toys like Marvel's seeming expiration date of a year on all its licensed movie properties, because this is a brand that has historically thrived on "classic." We even got a few The Phantom Menace figures during the Attack of the Clones line after that was declared cinema non grata. It's much, much less common for vehicles which tend to be produced almost exclusively during a 2-year movie window unless it's a) classic or b) there's TV support, too.

At this point it wouldn't be wise to overstuff a movie because we'll have a new one every 6-12 months and short of firing the entire design team each time, it's going to be a challenge to get a ton of new concepts that aren't basically recycled Ralph McQuarrie eventually. It could be like Star Trek when it basically requires a complete shift in location to change up alien designs, but who knows? I'm pretty jazzed the latest film didn't mostly incorporate existing species and went full-out to give us a lot of newness. But I don't know that Hasbro will find it necessary to make everything in the movie unless we start asking for specifics, loudly, and in many places.

 

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2. Having seen those Disney Star Wars Elite figures in person, I'm impressed with their paint quality. And the price is only $5 more than the Black Series figures of almost the same size. So, why aren't these sold out? At my Disney store, the shelves are packed with all of them. Is there some stigma associated with die-cast figures?
--Chris

I had some store credit at a Disney Store for a couple of years and finally used it to buy one of these - I got the unmasked Kylo Ren because so far it's the only one you can buy (but a 3 3/4-inch one is en route, oddly, with his hood up.) Collectors don't necessarily march up and down the aisles of The Disney Store for a variety of reasons - my nearest one is over 25 minutes away, but I could throw a rock and hit several Walmarts, Targets, Toys R Uses, and other stores within 5-10 minutes. I already signed up for Hasbro's line, and Disney's already has a few sold-out expensive releases... a shame, I'd have bought Boba Fett given another chance.

Some figures in Disney's line sell out instantly (Rey with Lightsaber) while others don't (Finn). I don't know that there's a stigma against this kind of product, but I would say the quality is probably not a huge improvement. It's heavy and different, and an ideal collectible figure due to their limited articulation and real solid weight. When the history books are written I'm sure whichever line gets the best variety will be the collectible king, but right now that's Hasbro by a long shot. I assume it will continue to be. I certainly don't want to start another expensive collection line, especially if it's the same basic figures I've already got made out of a different material that's more prone to paint chipping. They're nice. They're OK. But unless they give me Vlix before Hasbro does I've got no real incentive to run out and buy the old ones, or make the trip across town for it.

3. I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I also am a big fan of the new movie, but I am curious as to what your favorite movie was in 2015.

Anyway, I was a bit disappointed to not see any ties to Star Wars Rebels in the new movie. I had heard that there was supposed to be significant tie-ins, but they may be waiting for future movies. I wonder, though, will Disney continue to have the unspoken 5 to 10 years (I think that was the case!) between movies as George Lucas did? I think they may be missing out on significant details if they do that, plus using characters from the original trilogy or Rebels becomes less and less possible if they do that. I am not sure of the life span of some of the species of aliens, but I can guess that I may not be seeing Darth Maul, Rex, or some of the others on the big screen.

I know you have a decent amount of information on licenses for old toys. Since what was old has become new again, are there any other franchises in re-development, such as other cartoon series, etc? I was a big fan of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and kept my fingers crossed about the Kre-O sets, but they were just standard D&D. What are the chances that some of those old, beloved series will see the light of day in toy form? I think the more popular ones would do very well in a toy line.

On a similar note, what is the easiest way to find out what companies are producing toys such as this? I know Tim Mee and the Four Horseman do some vintage lines, but are we missing out as collectors because of the nature of limited information? I consider myself to be a moderate collector, but information aside from what I see on your sites, seems to be nonexistent.

In regards to some of the third-party Star Wars or Transformers items, do you feel that the price is over-inflated for some product? If I can get an original dinobot for 45.00, but a third party one for 250.00, I am not in the financial place to make that kind of a purchase for the new product. I understand that there are costs and a desired level of profit, but some of the prices seem to be well out of the range of an average collector with an average salary. What are your thoughts?
--Rick

You cheated, this is more than one question!

I saw a lot of great movies in 2015, some may have been 2014 holdovers but here's a listing of things I'd recommend that I assume most of you missed: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, He Never Died, What We Do in the Shadows.

I'm not sure how the licensing ownership is these days for Dungeons & Dragons, I'd assume Wizards of the Coast feels the brand is bigger than any cartoon so it's pretty unlikely they'd shell out for it. A lot of companies also tend to ignore their Saturday Morning pasts - see also, Vlix, Droids. I wouldn't get your hopes up for these in 2016 or 2017, mostly because we're all getting older and the golden age for this kind of stuff was probably 15-20 years ago. Unless, of course, you get the kids big into it in which case all bets are off - Star Wars, Transformers.

A lot of companies makes toys, and there are new ones every day. Funko has the biggest and arguably best licensing roster of any toy manufacturer to date, their willingness to try things that are obscure, partisan, or for a wide audience is pretty amazing. I mean, some lovable, handsome smart man asked them to make an orange Oscar the Grouch Pop! Vinyl figure and they did it. They're doing John Oliver. They did Bob's Burgers. I assume if it is licensable, Funko would pursue it. Zica Toys, Bif Bang Pow!, Figures Toy Company, Mezco Toyz, Toynami, and others continue to make great licensed stuff too - but again, how big is the audience? D&D's cartoon has a big audience, but not necessarily a toy audience. Even He-Man struggles and He-Man is a big deal.

Third-party items are something I generally do not support - I work with Hasbro at my day job, and I'm cheap. If a collector wants to pay $300 or more for a figure that Hasbro hasn't done (yet), well, I suppose I'd probably throw down some csh for a decent Vlix even if it was unlicensed. But seeing new versions of Masterpiece Grimlock when the old one was sold a few times, in a few flavors, for $100 or less is just baffling to me. Trademarks and IP aside - at this point I assume as long as certain symbols and trademarks and names are left off, you can basically make whatever you want - it's weird.

When it comes to Star Wars I'm of a different mindset. If someone wants to make a snow base or forest diorama, well, there's no law there. If someone wants to remake a Death Star corridor, that's pushing it. In either circumstance I've yet to make a purchase, but these are (in some cases) hand-made by a small team who doesn't have the manufacturing resources to scale up and bring the prices down. It costs what it costs, and this is why the free market can be good - more will be made if there's a market. People will learn their lesson if there isn't. If it weren't for "plays with" products we wouldn't have had modern-era Star Wars action figure display stands out of Hasbro until 1999's CommTech Chips, rather than being out in 1996/1997 from other vendors. These companies do serve a purpose - and in some cases fill a valuable place - but I'd rather see what Hasbro could do, for hopefully less money. If we get a day where someone makes a really solid Last Stand of the Wreckers Iron Fist for roughly the same cost as Hasbro's toy, well, maybe I'll bite. But until then I'll be happy with my Combiner Wars toys and regular action figures.

I don't know what the "average collector" has as a toy budget, but the proliferation of Sideshow, Hot Toys, Gentle Giant, and other high-end collectible manufacturers says there's a lot of money left on the table. Hasbro gave us big toys like a Millennium Falcon and an AT-AT and last year's TIE Fighter plus Metroplex, and it's assumed (cough) we'll see more things like this in the future. Combiner Wars feels like a gauntlet thrown down to make a decent product at a decent price to compete with that kind of a thing, but some people want a $500 Defensor and some people want a $100 Defensor. All people want a deluxe-class Groove, though, and hopefully they'll be well-served outside of Japan soon.

 

FIN

We lost a lot of fantastic people this week. It's always sobering to look at some of the numbers - Erik Bauersfield, voice of Admiral Ackbar, is 93. Harrison Ford is 4 years older than the now-late Alan Rickman and David Bowie. I can't help but wonder how this new sequel-manic world-building franchise machine is going to react as more of the major players. It's one thing to recast someone in Harry Potter - especially given the franchise wasn't yet decades-old - but could you imagine The Force Awakens with anyone but Harrison Ford as Han Solo?

There was a lot of heartbreak this week in pop culture spheres, and while there's really not much we can do to stop the passage of time, there's a lot we can do with the time we have. You can't always spend time with your loved ones while you have to work or go to class, because that's when you goof off and read Q&A. But after work, there's some time to spend with those you care about and there's really no better time to do this than right now. You can always score that action figure on eBay, but sometimes you say "later dude" to your best friend and 10 years go by. It happens a lot. One day you're surrounded by friends rehearsing for a festival, and then you're working the same job every day for years while everyone is scattered over the country. Maybe this won't happen to you... but let's be honest, memorials are about the living more than the dead and if there's nothing else you can do, you can at least take the opportunity to check in with someone you care about before you are relieved of the ability to do so.

More toy nonsense next week, I swear. I checked in with some interesting folks and as non-Star Wars goes it still looks like there's enough happening to potentially mean reviving a recent revival. I shall say no more.

--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.