Q&A: Hasbro Questions with Hasbro from Celebration VI, Part II

By Adam Pawlus — Sunday, September 2, 2012

I asked your questions to Hasbro at Celebration VI and am posting the answers here for you. Topics include Ziro the Hutt, sidekicks and critter, plus concept art figures. Read another batch of questions, and send in your questions for the next regular update!


1. Ziro! Come on, realistic or TCW styled - there has to be a way (and no, he can't be a Jabba repaint). It's pushing the envelope, but what are the chance sof us ever seeing those other Hutts as well?

Hasbro said that technically they are doing Ziro in Fighter Pods and said there are no plans to get to Ziro in 3 3/4-inch at this time. Interestingly, they more than hinted Jaxxon might be a future candidate for Fighter Pods as well, which actually gives this line a strong weight and high level of interest if they just do everything eventually.

2. How high is Cane Adiss on Hasbro's to-do list? Has concept art for his completed creature design been drafted/approved by Lucasfilm yet, and if so could you describe it?

Hasbro said they don't really have him as high on on the list, and, well, frankly, you raise a valid point: there's no body design, so it's not really likely for a reason. They did divulge that the Parking Lot still has Fozec and Sgt. Doallyn quite high on the list, and when pressed about the body thing they didn't really seem to have an answer loaded... so I'll just guess that those discussions haven't even taken place yet.

3. Little critters and droids - Tatooine scurriers, rolo droids, more woklings either repainted or in new poses, Prequel era mouse droids, Jabba's palace creatures like the attark and rock wort, road creature and his prey, seeker droids, Jabba's sentry droid, Naboo wildlife etc - the SW universe is full of these smaller characters and creatures. It's great that you have found ways to pop these into other figures here and there as accessories, but I'm hungry for more. Is there an opportunity here for small sets of two or three of these simpler tooled characters and creatures, maybe representing a lower price point miniature line akin in some ways to what was done with Salacious Crumb and the mouse droid on their mini cards?

The Hasbro team consulted with one another and could not come up with an upcoming example of a future "little buddy" sidekick creature or other figure for 2013. Based on their reaction it seemed pretty off their radar.

4. The Bounty hunter Derrown in the Clone Wars cartoon was an awesome reconfiguration of Ron Cobb's Revwien [jellyfish-like cantina creature] concept art. Might Derrown's memorable appearance inspire a figure of Derrown and/or a figure of the Revwien alien based on the original concept art? The latter would be particularly awesome for everyone's cantina dios...

No. (Short answer!)

5. Is there more juice to be squeezed from concept art figures? I think so, in particular from Return of the Jedi and the Prequels, so how about it? There's a lot of colour, diversity and in the case of Jedi, nostalgia to be wrung there.

Hasbro confirmed there are no plans for more Concept Figures right now.


OK, we got one more of these to go.

One of the more interesting stories to come out of Celebration (the convention, not the town) is that The Clone Wars will be a Saturday-morning cartoon for its next-- and maybe, maybe not final-- season. I hope this means more people tune in, because the ratings suck (and Hasbro knows the ratings suck too). The funny thing is in 2010, they confirmed there would be a season 5, and season 5 starts in a few weeks. In 2012, they made no mention of a season 6 (at least at the panels I sat in on) and there was a rumor walking around the show floor that the series' replacement (which is not Star Wars Detours was apparently on deck, whatever it is.

I try to keep politics out of here because let's face it, most people willing to write about politics in the comment section of articles are nuts. But because it's toy-related, blah blah blah Kay-Bee Toys and I'll leave you to that.

--Adam Pawlus



Season 6 confirmed

Adam, this Wired article http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/08/star-wars-the-clone-wars-s5 has LucasArts confirming they are in production for Season 6.
"Luasfilm confirmed to Wired that it’s in production for Season 6, but wouldn’t reveal plans for beyond that. "

While I guess that Cartoon Network could choose not to order another season, I'm guessing it will come out one way or another since they are working on it.

The Young Jedi

The Clone Wars replacement is probably the spin-off series "Young Jedi". The first four episodes were shown at CVI at the all children's panel that Saturday. Lucas was in attendance for the 88 minute showing as well.


I am sure that my enjoyment of the Clone Wars affects my perception of the various comments made about the show's ratings, but I still have never seen anyone who makes the assertions that Clone Wars ratings suck prove it. I have looked at various sources that discuss, post cable TV ratings and Clone Wars seems to be doing all right for Cartoon Network. Add the syndication deal just announced and Clone Wars dot seem to be on life support.

Additionally, the Clone Wars has other modes for distribution that has to be factored in - especially from a Hasbro perspective. From a Cartoon Network perspective, I am sure they could care less that Clone Wars likely has a much larger viewership.