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10-30-2009

Sideshow Update

The surprise Priority Pre-Order today is indeed a Star Wars item; Premium Format Darth Talon in all her red and black glory!

She's being offered in regular and exclusive editions.  The exclusive is sold out already but jump on the waitlist.

The exclusive edition comes with a bonus removable cloak and is limited to 400 pieces.  She's $289.99.

Sideshow's regular edition is $279.99.

Darth Talon is scheduled to ship in the 2nd quarter of 2010.

Sideshow

It's all about Sideshow this week as they race to the end of the 2009 Spooktacular event.  First up, today at 1:00PM EST they will have their second surprise Priority Pre-order event.  No word yet on what it will be but since last week's turned out to be the Hulkbuster Iron Man Comiquette maybe this week we'll get something from our favorite galaxy far, far away.

Sideshow posted another Ask Sideshow feature last night and there are two new Star Wars related questions, including a cool one about upcoming Clone Trooper information.  Check it out.

10-29-2009

Toys-R-Us

Toys-R-Us is advertising a "2-day Monster Sale" that includes a couple Star Wars items.  The sale runs Friday, October 30th from 3:00PM to 11:00PM and Saturday, October 31st from 8:00AM to 1:00PM.

Included are the Hasbro AT-TE for 50% off ($49.99) and two Lego sets for 33% off ($33.49 - $40.19).  The Lego sets are the Magnaguard Starfighter and V-19 Torrent.

If you're interested in these, head to your local TRU store this weekend and don't forget that this week you can also pick up a free Lego case with a purchase over $30 and a free collectible Lego brick with any purchase.

Sideshow

Gamorrean Guard

Sideshow launched a new pre-order last night for a 1:1 Gamorrean Guard bust.  The large bust is 17" tall by 11" wide and 14" deep and is very detailed, right down to the slobber on his chin.

He'll set you back $499.99 and is slated for the second quarter of 2010.  FlexPay is available for the bust so if you are interested, head over and put in an order.  If he happens to sell out by the time you decide, hop on the wait list.

Ask Sideshow

Sideshow also posted two new Ask Sideshow features on Tuesday and Wednesday night with several new Star Wars related answers.  Possibly the most interesting news is that Sideshow is hoping to bring both C-3PO and R2 to their 1:6 line.  Read on for the Star Wars related questions and answers.

Wednesday:

Tuesday

10-27-2009

Hasbro

JediDefender.com scores big with a great picture of the upcoming Nahdar Vebb Clone Wars figure.  Vebb will be a mail-away offer for the Clone Wars line coming later in 2009 or early 2010. 

First Hasbro hits it out of the park with the Qui-Gon and Eopie and now Vebb?  Two thumbs up, Hasbro.  This is how you get people interested in your toy line.  Now, just get that line to the stores so we can buy it...

Republic Imperial Commandos

The fifth novel in Karen Traviss' series about the Republic Commandos, now the Imperial Commandos, comes out today in paperback and is titled "501st."  This is the first of what should be two books in the post-Order 66 world for the clones. 

"501st" picks up the story of Darman and his Omega squad brothers, now split between serving in Darth Vader's 501st unit of Imperial Commandos and living on Mandalore.  If the novel follows the previous four books we should be in for a good ride, following the Commandos, the Jedi as they're being hunted and the Mandalorian warriors.

Sideshow

Sideshow is still in the middle of their 2009 Spooktacular event but they took the time last night to answer some new questions, including two relating to the Star Wars license.

When asked about the possibility of an Amanin or holo Darth Vader, Sideshow said they have no plans for the alien but the Darth Vader would be interesting.

Next up, answering a question about Mos Eisley cantina patrons, Sideshow mentions that the Scum and Villainy line may take an "important role" starting in 2010.

10-25-2009

Target

If you want more proof than our editorial yesterday that Hasbro needs to get their shit together then what we found at Target last night is example number one; a freshly stocked case of October/November 2008 wave 4, Revenge of the Sith.

Possibly the single most terrible wave that Hasbro has ever invented.  The wave that was the sole reason why many stores never saw a restock of TLC figures for the first 8 - 10 months of 2009.  The wave that gave us three of worst accepted figures in the entire 14 year history of the modern line.

The case that dropped was revision 2 of the wave 4 release and includes the following:

• Han Solo (2008 BD-01)
• Darth Vader (2008 BD-08)
• Saleucami Clone Trooper (BD-20)
• Stass Allie
• 2x Commander Faie
• 2x General Grievous
• Bail Organa
• Breha Organa
• 2x Felucia Clone Trooper (327th Star Corps)

Perfect.

Kubrick

Medicom displayed a new Deluxe assortment of Return of the Jedi Kubrick figures at one of their Parco events earlier this year.  Now that wave of figures has made their release schedule and we can look for these in June 2010.  The Jabba's Palace set will feature a build-a-figure of Jabba with his dais.

The basic figures consist of:

• Jedi Luke Skywalker
• C-3PO w/ Salacious Crumb
• R2-D2 w/ drink accessory
• Chewbacca
• Amanaman
• Bib Fortuna

It hasn't been confirmed yet how Jabba will be packaged but from some photos at the Parco event it appears that the dais is in three pieces and Jabba is in at least two as there is an apparent seam where his tail meets his torso.  The Yen to Dollar conversion seems to indicate a box will be about $170.  We'll post more info as it becomes available.

10-24-2009

Hasbro

Question and Answer sessions with Hasbro are usually hit and miss if any good info is presented.  This week was a good week.  Read on for the new info Hasbro let us in on.

Galactic Hunter asked for photos of the Woof figure that has been confirmed for 2010 and Hasbro obliged with a nice photo of concept drawings and film and behind the scenes reference pictures.  Head over to their site to check it out.

Han's Hideout asked about the General Grievous figure that was shown at SDCC but not included in the recent case pack information that has shown up on the Internet.  According to Hasbro, Grievous, who was scheduled to be numbered BD-24, has been dropped from the line and there will be no #24 figure in the 2009 Legacy Collection set.

Also from Han's Hideout, they asked to confirm the releases of the two Imperial Scanning Crew members.  Hasbro confirms that both are set to be released.  The first is in wave 6, A New Hope, while the second is scheduled to come in the Expanded Universe wave.  One interesting piece of info is the wording Hasbro uses; "The Second one will be coming out in the last wave of basic figures - EU wave."  Does the use of the word "last" mean that the EU wave is the final wave of 2009 or that it's the final wave of the current format for the Legacy Collection?  There have been rumors that the Legacy Collection, in its current format, will be ending in the Spring of 2010.

As answers to a couple of questions, Hasbro indicated that the Rebel Fleet Trooper was a good choice for an update within the next couple of years.  Which leads to the conclusion that he probably wasn't the best choice for the 2009 Fans' Choice Poll.

Yak Face asked about the possibility of the upcoming bounty hunters in the Clone Wars line coming in one wave and also if the Xanadu Blood, a repaint of the Magnaguard Fighter, would be coming soon.  The bounty hunters will be inserted into cases with other basic figures and not come in their own wave.  And we can look for the Xanadu Blood, Cad Bane's ship, in 2010.

Editorial

Several different sites asked Hasbro about recent statements they've made relating to the lack of sales on the Legacy Collection lines by collectors and casual buyers.  Some were general, why does Hasbro think the collectors aren't buying, and some were specifically related to how stores don't seem to be carrying Legacy Collection figures, or even the comic packs, and if Hasbro realized this and had any input on the situation.

While we're sure that Hasbro access to much more sales information than we do, the anecdotal evidence is very telling.  Multiple people on multiple forums from many locations around the country are reporting the same thing; Legacy Collection figures are not making it to retail and neither are the comic packs.

While some of those reporting may not be hitting multiple stores multiple times a week, which means they could miss some new product, we have been to over 16 different stores from upstate NY to Philadelphia, PA along the 476 Turnpike in the last two weeks.  We found remnants of The Phantom Menace wave 4 of the Legacy Collection in only three of those stores.  Only two stores had any hint of the new comic packs and in both cases, they only had the two to three year old re-packs left.  One Walmart we stopped at had 12 of the Leia and Xizor comic pack. 

We're not sure if Hasbro tracks sales by the store or by what is sent to the various distribution centers, but if they're only seeing sales to the DCs then there may be a few retail locations in the larger markets that are accounting for the sales Hasbro is seeing.  Locally, in smaller markets, the stock is simply not making it to the pegs.

Buying via the Internet, as Hasbro suggests in at least one answer this week, is a fine example when you can buy the items you want individually.  Of the various on-line stores around, only a few sell figures individually at retail price while many only sell by the case.  With Hasbro's crazy case ratios, buying by the case is not economical.  Buying a case of 12 figures when there are only six new figures means you're stuck with crap you can't even give away.  The comic packs are a worse deal by the case. 

Whether Hasbro wants to admit it or not, they have a problem and it's not all the consumer's fault.  We again call for Hasbro to admit to the fact that some of their decisions on case ratios, choices of re-packed figures and maintaining two Saga based lines are helping to contribute to the lack of product at retail.  It's not all on the shoulders of collectors and kids, they share some of the blame.

10-22-2009

Sideshow

Sideshow is about to launch Spooktacular 2009 on Friday with a mystery Priority Pre-Order.  Sideshow's website will be streamlined starting at 1:00PM EST for the sale and you have to be a Priority Pre-Order member (meaning you get their newsletter). 

No firm info yet as to what the item might be and it may not be from the Star Wars lines but it'll be worth checking out.

We have seen at least one hint in the production blogs of what looks like a new Twi'lek character.  Could we see a 1:4 or 1:6 Darth Talon?  Scary, hot, tattooed Sith for Halloween?  Count us in!

10-17-2009

Around the Toy Aisle

I had the opportunity over the last few days to hit some stores in three different cities and it's been interesting what I found, and possibly more important, what I didn't find.

I barely found any currently shipping Legacy Collection figures.  Walmart in Elmira, NY had some leftover Phantom Menace figures including Padme, Holo Palpatine and the Gungan Warrior, as well as a couple of the carry-forward figures from that wave.  Target in Elmira also had the carry-forward figures but none of the new TPM releases.  That's pretty poor since I hit three each Target and Walmart stores and two Toys-R-Us locations.

There are plenty of Saga Legends figures to go around, however, and the Clone Wars releases were up to date in nearly every store I stopped in.  All three retailers had their exclusive vehicles out, ARC and Gunship at both TRU locations, Red 2 X-Wing at all three Target stores and the Octuptarra Droid at two of the three Walmart stores (Binghamton and Elmira).

The exclusive figures were less available.  Both TRU stores had plenty of their Clone Wars Commander Ponds figure while only the Binghamton Target store had any of the new Geonosis 2-packs on the shelf.  All three Walmart locations still had plenty of the Evolutions packs while only the Binghamton store had any Droid Factory sets left.  The Clone Wars 2-packs were hit and miss at the Walmart stores but there were one or two in a couple of stores, still at the $12.96 price even though there have been reports that some stores around the country have bumped them to $16 and change.

Target in Binghamton was the only location to have any amount of the newly shipping comic 2-packs and while they were sold out of the three new sets (Katarn/Vong, Luke/Lumiya, Krayt/Dare) they had plenty of the re-packs.  TRU in Elmira was the only other store to have any remnant of the new wave and they've been there for about a month. 

All three Target stores and both TRU locations had some remnant of the Titanium line but nothing of note.  Walmart is hit and miss on the Titanium, as it's been since 2005, but nothing newer than June-ish was spotted.  Both the vehicle and Battle Pack lines were available at all the stores with a mix of re-pack and somewhat current sets.  The only set worth noting was the Geonosis Assault at TRU Elmira.  I snagged that along with the new Gunship so the trip through the stores wasn't a total waste.

When it comes to other toy lines, all 8 stores were packed with the Rise of Cobra GI Joe movie lines including all basic figures and most of the vehicles that were released back in July and August.  The only sign of newer releases was in the Binghamton Walmart which had the new exclusive 2-packs.  While both TRU stores had a couple leftover pieces from the 25th line, the movie figs definitely dominated.  Even with the lower $5.99 price now at Target, and temporary markdowns at various stores (most notably Target) for the other toys, they seem to be slow moving.

Transformers still have a decent presence at all locations but we haven't paid enough attention to releases beyond the initial movie push to know what's new and what should be out versus what's actually out there.  We have found new characters that appear to be new releases but, at this point, we found the lines to be irrelevant to us here at the Holocron.

The other two "big" movie lines for the summer, Star Trek and Terminator are still taking up peg space at a few stores, TRU mostly.  Target has long since cleaned out their Terminator figures and the Star Trek line hit it's final clearance prices this week.  The Walmart stores had a smattering of Trek but the Terminator figures were nowhere to be found. 

On the superhero front, there seems to be a decent amount of both DC and Marvel lines at Target and TRU while Walmart is mostly limited to a few of the Marvel figures.  While Walmart has some exclusives that are supposed to be out, we're not familiar enough to know if we saw them.

For new movie lines, Avatar is starting to make an appearance.  Both TRU stores had figures and one other location, that we can't recall right now, had some of the 3.75" figures and vehicles while TRU had the 7-8" figures as well.  The vehicles and beasts were at TRU and they look like they may be nicely done.  However, it's been reported that the ships are a little small for other lines of the same scale, notably GI Joe and Star Wars.  The 3.75" figures appear to be about the same size as DC Infinite Heroes which are on the small side.  We'll be looking for some in-hand photos before making a call on the Scorpion Gunship which looks like a really great toy.

The most standout thing was the complete lack of new Legacy Collection and related figures at the various stores.  No comic packs, no single packed figures and not many of the new Battle Packs.  Movie lines, while they may have sold when the films were first released, didn't seem to hold up through the summer and may have been a combination of the bad economy and the fact that while they may have been box office hits, none of the summer films were really that great for toy lines.

Avatar is about the last film for the year that has a toy line coming, that we can think of right now, and it'll be interesting to see how that sells with the Christmas holiday coming up.  Actually, with the holidays it'll be interesting to see if any of the movie lines still standing pick up any business.  The lower price on GI Joe figures at Target may help, especially with Hasbro backing the new style going forward into 2010.  It's also going to be interesting to see how the Star Wars line does.  Now that the Clone Wars cartoon is back on, that may help, but if Hasbro and the retailers don't do something to fix the terrible distribution on the Legacy Collection, it's going to be a cold Winter.

Target

The local Target store had such a backlog of Legacy Collection figures through 2009 that as of October 10th they hadn't received a new shipment of figures.  The last newly stocked figures were from the 2008 Revenge of the Sith wave and only added to the peg warmers.  At one time the store had over a dozen each of Bail and Breha Organa and a handful of Stass Allie and Yarna figures.

A couple of weeks ago, when Hasbro was pulling figures from stores, they cleaned out everything except three Stass Allie and a Breha figure.  After the sale of a Stass Allie figure, the stock level finally dropped to the point that a new order for figures went out and earlier this week that order finally hit.  Unfortunately it was a wave 5 New Hope case which had one each of the new figures and 6 carry-forward figures.

As of yesterday, exactly 1 figure has sold; Commander Faie.  Since Walmart had this wave of figures three or so times this year, it's not a huge stretch that the local market has probably had it's fill of these particular figures.  It's a shame that Target got stuck with these and weren't able to move on to at least the Attack of the Clones wave if not the newest, Phantom Menace.  We'll be interested to see how long it takes for these to sell down.  Best guess, they'll be here till mid November. 

We'll see if this store has to progress through the Empire and then AOTC waves in order to get caught up or if at some point they'll skip ahead.  Any way you slice it, it's not good for either Target or Hasbro in the long run.

10-14-2009

2009 Fans' Choice Poll

The websites that participate in the Q&A sessions with Hasbro ran polls within their communities this summer to collect the top 30 characters the community members wanted to see in action figure form.  Each site submitted those lists to Hasbro where they were collated along with ToyFare magazine.  Here's the full list of 30, in alphabetical order:

• Admiral Pellaeon
• Bastila Shan
• Barriss Offee
• Ben Quadinaros
• Bom Vimdin
• Cane Adiss
• Cliegg Lars
• Cordé
• Darth Caedus
• Darth Plagueis
• Darth Sidious Senate Duel
• Dash Rendar
• Dormé
• Dr. Evazan
• Grand Moff Tarkin
• Guri
• Jaxxon
• Jocasta Nu
• Joruus C'baoth
• Kitster and Wald
• Queen Apailana
• Queen Jamillia
• Rebel Fleet Trooper
• Sgt. Doallyn
• Sim Aloo
• Taym Dren-Garen
• Tey How
• Toryn Farr
• Tzizvvt
• Weequay Skiff Master

The poll is now online at WizardUniverse.com and you can also Read on for our breakdown of the top 30.

Update - Link to the poll has now been fixed.

10-10-2009

ThinkGeek

ThinkGeek pulled an April Fools joke a year ago where they posted photos of a Tauntaun sleeping bag and advertised as a new product.  The joke was so successful and the sleeping bag so cool, ThinkGeek actually went ahead and started the process of getting the sleeping bag made as a real product.

And now they have.  The order page has been up on their website for a while now, listed as out of stock, but an email update came through today with the first of the product arriving at the ThinkGeek offices.

To support the arrival of the Tauntaun sleeping bag, ThinkGeek is running a pumpkin template design contest and first prize is a sleeping bag plus some other items.

10-9-2009

Sideshow

Sideshow finally got around to announcing the next character in their 1:6 lineup and it's the Sandtrooper Squad Leader.  Squad Leaders have the orange pauldron and the preview photo looks to include a heavy blaster.

Pre-orders will go up with the release of the newsletter next Thursday, October 15th.

10-8-2009

Hasbro

Qui-Gon Jinn and Eopie

Fresh on the heals of reports that Qui-Gon and the Eopie were hitting mailboxes, we here at the Holocron were happy to find we were in the first batch of recipients as well.  Yesterday there was a plain mailer box on the doorstep clearly labeled Qui-Gon Jinn and Eopie.

The box was plain, we didn't bother to take a photo, but check out the two shots below.

Qui-Gon uses the same sculpt from last year's Evolutions pack while the Eopie is a sculpt from way back in the Phantom Menace line from 1999.  The limited Qui-Gon and Eopie packs that were released, mostly overseas, back then were rather expensive to come by so this is a nice, and affordable, way to add an Eopie to the collection.

Titanium

The Titanium line is quickly winding down with only a few more vehicles scheduled before the line goes on hiatus at the end of this year.  Two of the final new ships, Punishing One and Malevolence, have apparently been found in the US as they are now starting to show up on eBay.

Also keep an eye on HasbroToyShop.com as the Mist Hunter and Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter have been listed, and sold through, in the last week.  The Malevolence is also currently listed with an estimated shipping date of November 4th.

10-6-2009

Hasbro

If you've already sent in your order form for the mail-away Qui-Gon Jinn and Eopie then you may want to start checking your mailbox.  Reports are in that these started showing up yesterday.  So far most are reporting that their checks were cashed back in August so your mileage may vary.  Remember, these take 6 - 8 weeks to show up.

10-3-2009

Hasbro - Update

Sandtroopers.com posted their Q&A answers and they asked the status on three figures that Hasbro had discussed in previous sessions; super articulated "ultra" Stormtrooper, battle damaged General Grievous from the Clone Wars series (damaged mask, removable legs), and Darth Maul from "Visionaries" which we saw a proto of in the "Star Wars Insider."  According to Hasbro, the SA Stormtrooper is actually a Sandtrooper and is the pack-in figure with the Walmart Dewback.  Grievous has not been put on the list of updates at this time.  Finally, Darth Maul was originally scheduled for a comic back but was pushed and will now be a 2010 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive.  He'll still be in a comic pack but the other figure has not been chosen yet.

In sort of a joking manner, Sandtroopers also asked what Hasbro was doing with the action figures that reps recently pulled from retail (Yarna, Organa family, Cantina patrons).  The reply was interesting as Hasbro stated they "are being destroyed and will never ship, in any form, again."  It was our assumption that figures pulled in this manner were sold on to discount stores such as T.J. Maxx, dollars stores and other liquidation type retailers. 

The second question from Jedi Temple Archives this week had to do with the Hoth Rebel Soldier variant that was originally scheduled as a running change to the bearded version packed in the ESB wave.  According to Hasbro, the factory has confirmed that some clean shaven Hoth Rebels made it out and they may still be in the pipeline somewhere.  So, keep your eyes on your local pegs.

Rebel Scum asked about the possibilities of a future TLC wave made up of alternate sculpt figures such as the clean shaven Hoth Rebel Soldier, grey smock Ugnaught and the Scanning Crew Tech.  Hasbro answered that this would not be an ideal way for them to make up an entire wave.  However, the interesting part of the answer surrounds the Scanning Crew figure; Hasbro mentions that the alternate head sculpt version may not make it out in the current red/white packaging.  This is new and potentially significant news.  Not only was the Scanning Crew figure scheduled to ship with a new head, but also additional scanning equipment that would help complete both versions of the figure.  It could also imply a short run for the red/white packaging which may line up with previous rumors of Hasbro changing the packaging earlier in 2010 than Fall as they did this year.  We'll be monitoring this situation more closely going forward.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

The hour debut of Season 2 was last night and what a debut it was!  The cartoon looks even better than it did last season, Cad Bane didn't disappoint and the battles on Felucia and the Separatist battle cruiser were packed with action.

The scenes from upcoming episodes look awesome.  I can't wait to see more of this season.

Also of note, the advertisement for next week said that Clone Wars would air at 8:00PM while TV Guide's website said 9:30.  Make sure to check your local listings next Friday.

Hasbro

Yesterday was Q&A Friday with Hasbro and, as usual, we have some news.

Jedi Temple Archives asked about Ewoks, specifically if new versions of Wicket and Logray were in the cards.  Happy news for Ewok fans, Hasbro confirmed that one of those would be in the basic line in 2010.

Jedi News in the UK asked about Cantina patrons in the 2010 line and Hasbro let us know that there will be no ANH next year but we should see one in 2011.  As part of the same answer, Hasbro confirmed at least one wave for ROTJ figures and it will include at least two characters from Jabba's Palace.

10-2-2009

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will debut tonight on Cartoon Network.  The theme of this season is Rise of the Bounty Hunters.  The debut will be an hour long and starts at 8:00PM EST.  That's an hour earlier than normal. 

Next week the show will be on at 9:30 which may be its new time.

Hasbro

A couple new exclusive vehicles have been showing up over the last couple of days.  Both the "Crumb Bomber" Republic Gunship and TIE Interceptor have landed at Toys-R-Us stores.

The TIE Interceptor has an all-new cockpit while it reuses the wings from the POTJ version.  It runs about $49.99.

The Republic Gunship has updated doors that fully close, and new fold out missile launchers on the top.  This, unfortunately, will set you back about $70.  The Gunship has been offered on-line as well so if you don't spot this at your local store, head to the Toys-R-Us website.