What's the ratio of foil chase figures to the normals? Should you be worried if you missed Ahsoka and C-3PO Clone Wars figures over the past few years? Just how different is that new AT-ST Driver? All this and a translated of the aurebesh lettering on the new AT-RT with Boil vehicle set await you in today's exciting almost-the-holidays installment of Q&A!

1. With regards to the new Vintage-style foil chase figures: is there any info on how many are made in proportion to the regular version of that figure?
--Chris

There aren't any specific numbers out there since we don't know how many of each wave ships-- I can make up a number based on how many cases had the figures without foil versus with, but it all falls apart as soon as you realize you have no idea how many of each case shipped. A safe bet would be nearly or less than 20% of the run, given how many mixes there are.

2. This season of Clone Wars seems more like seasons 1.5 and 2.5. Even my 3 year old nephew noticed that Ziro was "caught again" and Todo was "alive." Is this what "Secrets Revealed" is supposed to mean—the story behind already-told stories?
--TJ

I don't disagree-- there's definitely a massive push toward "filling in the gaps" of stories where I think most of us thought there was no need for more story. (Although I really did enjoy the episodes before and after "Hostage Crisis.") These season-wide subnames ultimately don't mean a lot-- last year's was "Rise of the Bounty Hunters," and really all we got were a few Cad Bane appearances at the top of the season and the Boba Fett 3-parter at the end. I guess they're reaching for a theme even if there's really not much there. We'll be getting some new stuff really soon with Savage Oppress, but even season 2 was peppered with unnecessary flashback episodes that take place before the pilot movie.

There's been a promise of "moving ahead" this year but obviously, we're not seeing that just yet.

3. The AT-ST driver was a nice surprise in the new Attack on Hoth ultimate battle pack; at first I thought he'd be a rehash of the Legacy scanning crew figure. Is he an all new figure? Also, we know Hasbro's stance on exclusive figures in the Clone Wars line like Gha Nachkt but where do they stand on Vintage? Any chance of the AT-ST driver being rereleased on a single card?
--Tim

The AT-ST Driver from Target's exclusive Hoth packs this year is indeed a new sculpt-- at least as far as I can tell. It's significantly different, and aside from the weird helmet/goggle thing, it's great. Well worth getting.

The policy of rereleasing "exclusive" figures in another outlet used to be waiting until the item sold out at the original retailer, but as far as I know no such policy exists for Battle Packs. So as of now, the best case scenario for an AT-ST Driver reissue will be early next year, but more realistically we probably won't see it individually for a very long time. After all, the last time we got an individually carded TIE Fighter Pilot was 2004-- sad, but true. We did get an AT-AT Driver last year, but most pilots seem to be bundled with vehicles as of late.

4. I just recently started buying Clone Wars figures other than Ahsoka Tano and whatever comes with cool vehicles or sets.

I know Hasbro said no re-release on C-3P0 and Jar-Jar which is a shame. I was wondering if Hasbro has said anything or if your think Commander Bly, Luminara Unduli, or Aayala Secura will be re-released? I think they were released in smaller numbers due to packaging changes.

Also, will there be a[n animated] Barriss Offee? I guess I only want Jedi, astromechs, and Clone Commanders.

--Eric

Hasbro's stance on reissues should be taken with a big grain of salt. "Not coming back" always means "not coming back now," because there's always a chance of them reissuing something to fill out an assortment if the tooling is still there. Right now we've seen Hondo Ohnaka on a cardback of an upcoming figure, which means we might see him again, but the others we really don't know just yet. Bly is a safe bet, but other minor characters-- Jedi specifically-- seems unlikely. The lower edition sizes seem to be intentional, not just because of the packaging changeover-- they want fewer non-core characters out there for some reason or another, which seems to be creating a real collector's market which we haven't seen a lot in recent years. Hasbro makes no money from the secondary market, but it's clear that this is helping to push a lot of new releases (and encourage collectors to buy) that may have been slow otherwise.

As you've no doubt seen by now, a movie Barriss Offee is on the way for 2011 which I was sort of surprised to see given her Clone Wars appearances.

5. I can see Hasbro wanting to do the real Vintage figures on Vintage style cards (like Vader, Fett, etc.) but why new characters like Grievous and MagnaGuard who have only been out 5 years?
--Volholla

For whatever reason, some prequel characters do really well-- that, and the line is (surprisingly?) not all about the packaging. Vintage isn't a tribute line so much as it is the collector line, and it just happens that it's based on a graphic design from 1978. There's still demand for new Jango figures and Grievous figures, and they gotta go somewhere-- and Hasbro doesn't want them in Saga Legends. So here's where they go, as well as new, previously unmade figures. Were it 1999 odds are Hasbro would put out another assortment, but there are already 3 different SKUs for basic figures in circulation-- so in short, they gotta put those new figures somewhere.

FIN

Well, what a slow December it has been. As some of you may (or may not) know I do collect other stuff as well (oh hey look at this column) so it isn't TOTALLY dead but it seems December will continue to be sort of boring as new releases go... and as news go.... and as pre-orders for new stuff goes. It seems the Entertainment Earth Legacy Star Wars Comic Packs are about the only new Hasbro thing shipping this month, and odds are you pre-ordered those ages ago and have them on the way by now. Some new waves should hopefully be shipping in January but... well, you know the drill.

The Target Vintage 9-Pack (the 3 3-packs in the oversized, waste-of-shelf-space empty space packed box) is also out now, with some stores blowing through it and others still having it, and others still reportedly marking it down at the manager's whim. You might want to take it to the price scanner if you find one.

The Clone Wars is also off for the remainder of the year, which, again, is sort of a bummer. Granted it's my busy season-- this is the nuttiest time of year to be in the retail aspect of the toy industry-- so it's not a terrible thing that there aren't NEW collector-friendly products alongside the neverending torrent of new orders from the holiday gift buyer crowd. Still, it seems retail appearances of most new toys were in November and now it's time to twiddle my thumbs for Windcharger, Yet Another Padme, the Cobra Shock Trooper, G2 Laser Optimus Prime, and al the rest to eventually show up.

One last thing, I got my AT-RT with Boil yesterday and it's pretty nice. For those too lazy to translate the Aurebesh on the body of the vehicle, it says EO under his seat-- either nonsense or a reference to the good captain-- and BUG STOMPER on the front hull. I'd really like to know if that's a Captain Eo reference or a typo, personally.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? I bet you do. Email me with Q&A in the subject line.