Bantha Skull Q & A: Episode 4 - Part 1

Posted by Chris on 03/13/25 at 07:05 AM Category: Vintage Collection, Bantha Skull Q&A

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Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. The response was so huge that there is no way we could answer all of the questions in one go. We're going to have to break this into two parts. If your question didn't get answered today, we'll do a second round next week. But we're still not going to get to them all. Please don't take offense if your question isn't featured. As Gureni Telsij famously said, "There's too many of them."

If Hasbro only made 1 more completely new sculpt figure & it was guaranteed to be incredible, who would you want it to be?

Same question beast, vehicle, and play set. - Alientek

Chris: I absolutely love background characters. They are what stir my passion for the line, but I don't need them to always be incredible. If they could kit bash Debnoli out of TVC 1.0 figures, I'd be fine with it. I do, however, need my main character combatants to fit that description. So my answer becomes easy: Darth Maul (Episode I). For the rest:

Beast: Bantha
Vehicle: Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1
Play set: Death Star

Bret:

Figure: Just one, eh? Well, it's a bit of a letdown of an answer, but I'd have to go with the Scout Trooper. It's not at the top of my want list, necessarily, but it would have the biggest impact on my displays. We've got essentially all new Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, and Phase I and II Clone Troopers recently, so the one that I would buy the most of would be this guy. He might have been my favorite Kenner figure, and I had recently recounted the story of how the speeder bike was the first thing I had saved and spent my own money on. I would be more excited about more interesting characters, but the Scout has been getting the short end of the new tooling sculpt for a long time. Second place is probably the Endor Rebel Commando, but I'd prefer multiple head sculpts/slight retools, so I don't know if that would fall within the boundaries of the question.
Beast: Orray. I have an amazing custom, which is really a statue, but this is Hasbro's most glaring omission from the otherwise nearly complete Petranaki Arena scene. I'd buy several.
Vehicle: Part of me might say the Rebel Transport, because it was never re-made from Kenner days, but that's really one of the most boring things I could imagine. Large scale vehicles I want have almost no figure support, so they're kind of a waste - (Marauder, Stinger Mantis, Trailblazer). So my answer is a better scaled Khetanna something that is likely nearly impossible to pull off: A Clone Wars-era Y-Wing, painted in 501st colors, with removable panels that reveal an all new OT-era Y-Wing.
Play set: Death Star. Of course. Let's just do this already before I die.

If you had to pick 3 sequel characters to get figures, what would they be? - JarJarRen

Chris: I think the ST is a risky source to tackle. Fans that don't like the movies won't buy them, and I have to imagine that some of the fans who did like them have moved on at this point. Seemingly everyone loved Mando season 1, but by the time Kuiil was released, a lot of us had our attention on the newer things from the Mandoverse. Because of that risk, I would go straight populism, and consult the Last Figure Standing dashboard. I would try Sith Eternal Palpatine first. If that were a success, I'd move on to Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, and if that sold well, I'd conclude with Ben Solo.

Bret:. Following Chris makes a lot of my answers easier. I too think that the ST is very risky, so much so that I would say they would cause damage to the line. As I've said, I'm not inherently against the ST itself or it being the source of figures and toys, it's just that we are so far beyond and behind in the figure/toy area that dribbling out a single figure or two is just a complete waste to me, but if Hasbro did some kind of commitments with like a 20 ST, items, I could be open to that. But I'm with Chris, of all the stomping out there by the very vocal minority, I would hope they get what they want and I'd support the same three choices as the most viable: Sith Eternal Palpatine, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, and Ben Solo. Honorable mention would be for a TLJ Rey. These the best within the confines of a terrible ST toy situation.

Do you think the Lt Callahan figure not making it out of the States is a sign of bad things to come? - IdleWillKill

Chris: I think it stinks out loud whenever fans don't have access to figures, and it can damage the hobby overall. I once quit the hobby because the Freeze Frame Hoth Leia became a prohibitively expensive Fan Club exclusive (notice that I have the will power of the NFLPA). So I think it's a bad sign in that sense, but I don't think it portends some weakness for TVC. If I had to hazard a guess, Hasbro had to reallocate their factory time to keep up with the demand for the Snowtrooper, and they sacrificed the figure that had the lowest preorder numbers. That's my guess.

Bret:. Always a bummer when fans can't get at something, but I don't think it's particularly telling about the overall health of the line. Hopefully it's a relatively isolated case.

What circumstances led to the launch of potf2 in 1995? - Flim

Chris: I don't know for sure. All I can offer is conjecture. We have to first wind back to 1985. Why did the line get canceled in the first place? The answer is simple: poor sales. That probably lead to the assumption that Star Wars would fade into the background of pop culture consciousness without any new movies planned, and Kenner let the license lapse (which was a massive blunder). Hasbro would then acquire Tonka in 1991, and with it Kenner. I can't find the exact interview, but I know Alan Hassenfeld, then Hasbro CEO, basically said he would do anything to get the Star Wars license back. So what changed? I assume it was that Star Wars did not dissolve into the background like it was supposed to. In fact, it proved to be evergreen with a massive resurgence in the early 90's. The rest, as they say, is history.

Bret:. I assume POTF2 was launched in the wake of the GL's official prequel trilogy and Special Editions announcements. They used a lot of the original Kenner vehicle tooling for the early line, indicating it was somewhat rushed into production. They wanted to recapture the magic of Star Wars action figures. I would be most interested in the market research of the time, and whether Hasbro's target audience was kids or nostalgic young adults.

What do you think is the future of OT vehicles? It seems odd that we don't have an updated Vader's TIE, Y-Wing, A-Wing, and Interceptor. - Randy

Chris: I feel like the Y-Wing is getting middled. It's too big for traditional channels and too small for HasLab, but think it should be a Haslab. We need an affordable one again so more fans can participate. They can add in ladders, scaffolding, and the Scramble on Yavin cart to beef it up to HasLab worthiness. We do have the Landspeeder coming, so Hasbro is dipping back into OT for vehicles. If we support that, then we can start pushing for the others. I really want a Droids branded A-Wing before I retire from the hobby. It can include an Episode VI branded A-Wing Pilot as pack-in to cross off the O96. The box/card mismatch precedent was set with the Tanvtive IV play set.

Bret: Too much new content has muddied the waters for the various sources. OT and PT have been largely pushed aside, with the exceptions being Barge World and a recent renaissance for the OT (while the PT still suffers). I think aside from some main crew ships that will never get made (like the aforementioned Marauder, Mantis, and Trailblazer) the most obvious choices for new vehicles from a sales standpoint would be some significantly updated OT standbys.

Who was the best NFL team of the following three from last year: Jets, Patriots, or Giants? - BenduPeace

Chris: The Cubs

Bret: The New York Liberty.

Would bringing an "Evolutions" style 3 pack be the best way to get all the Mains from the 1st 6 Star Wars films? For instance a Luke Evolutions style pack could be ANH Luke in Death Star Escape outfit, Luke in Bespin outfit and a Death Star 2 Luke, all on new cards. - Coleman Miller

Chris: They already are. That's what the Special Action figure sets have become. The only departure from the Evolutions expression is that the tooling budget isn't allocated entirely to that SKU. They've been a blend of "pre-packs" and "repacks". It's already rumored that the upcoming ROTS Anakin is getting a single carded release. If I were betting man, I'd say that a carded Emperor's Wrath Vader is in our future. The Clone Wars 2D Anakin with the cape will become exclusive. I think it's a good pattern. Mattel did this with their Cars multipacks. Most of the Cars were or would be available individually, but one would be exclusive to the set. It was a pain point for the customers, so that exclusive can't be too juicy. I think that caped Anakin hits that sweet spot.

Bret: Yeah, the Luke and Anakin releases in the Special Action figures 3 packs are the closest thing to that. I always liked the Evolutions sets, but they got a little confused over time. Like the Jedi set that had Qui-Gon, Bultar Swan, and EU Luke. That was a weird grouping. Or that sometimes it was a single character evolving over time (Anakin), or it was some kind of time capsule of a faction (Sith). The Special sets seem to be going that way, coming as either 3 or 4 packs, and sometimes being a single character (Luke, Anakin), or a "crew" (ARC Troopers, Shriek Hawks) or just a grouping of associated characters (Heir to the Empire). To the question, I like the idea of the Luke/Anakin set that gave us 3 versions of the character at the same time. I would love to see that for Leia, Han, Obi-Wan, C-3PO, Palpatine, Padmé, etc. So many versions of these characters could use an update.

Do you really think there are any "casual" collectors left in the 3 3/4" action figure arena? - loosecannon68

Chris: Absolutely. I think the evidence is readily available. Figures that win fan polling, from the first Fans' Choice through the modern fan polls, have about a 50/50 chance of being a success. Meanwhile, almost no one was stumping for a new Episode VI Darth Vader (present company excluded), and stores screamed through their stock. It's one of the rare recent TVC2.0 figures (outside of the short run final wave of 2023) that carries a premium on the secondary market (one recently sold for almost $50). It tells me there's much more of the iceberg below the surface than above. It's why I cringe when anyone in the online community says "everyone wants". No. At absolute best, what you mean is that the 50 or so people you talk to online want one. These figures need to sell in the tens of thousands. 50 out of 50 uber fans really wanting something does not necessarily mean it will project to the market as a whole.

Bret: The line may appear to be on thin ice, as we often speak of a single bad seller or the departure of a few more OG collectors bringing ruination to the line, but without a much larger casual audience in existence, the line wouldn't exist today. We have no way of knowing the true numbers of fans out there, or how may figures are produced in a typical run, or how many must be sold to be profitable, but a few years ago, based on the not quite 10K fans that signed the community petition, we threw out numbers like 10-20,000 hardcore collectors. That count has likely dwindled over the past 5 years. That number alone just doesn't seem to be enough to support a line on this scale. Manufacturing, marketing, and logistics costs aren't the only factors contributing to $17 basic figures. We have to also realize that the run numbers have to be WAY down, making the production costs on a per-figure basis much higher than they used to be. In the end, the vocal hardcore collectors are important, but I do believe we represent much less than half the buying population. I don't know how significantly or quickly the balance might be shifting one way or the other.

Why do you think there was a sudden turnaround when they didn't make the main characters from ANH for years and now they are? - Bridgerunner

Chris: In all honesty, timing. The pace of media slowed down, so it gave Hasbro a chance to attack the backlog. The ANH mains were unquestionably the highest priority. Unfortunately, it also coincided with the ROTS 20th anniversary, but if Hasbro bumped the big four another year it would have done irreparable damage to consumer base (that had already started). The PT will get its day. I'm not worried about. In general, I think the TVC community needs to relax on the anniversary angst. We're getting to the point where every year is a anniversary of something now. This is the 40th anniversary of POTF. That's a pretty big deal to me, but I'm not becoming apoplectic over the fact that it's being ignored. I think we should focus more on highest priority regardless of calendrical coincidence (major milestones like the ANH 50th excepting). I know I kind of took this answer in a different direction.

Bret: Agree with Chris. As I stated above in answering another question, there has been so much media pulling the line's resources in different directions, that the OT has been largely pushed to the side. But taking a bit of a breather has helped. There is plenty of debate over whether there should be more or fewer figures and toys from sources like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bad Batch, Rebels, Acolyte, Skeleton Crew - and I am back and forth on some of those. But for me, if I knew that Hasbro would be largely skipping these sources in favor of the OT or PT, I might be okay with that. I'm with a lot of fans in believing that too much new content, too fast, has saturated the market, and burnt out collectors, while Hasbro's backlog has blown up. I'm not upset that it's been 6 years since the last film, and that there seems to be a bit of a slowdown in D+ content. There's a lot of catching up to do. And with this bit of a breather, Hasbro was able to revisit the OT mains as a start.

If you were in charge of the Death Star HasLab to be crowdfunded in 2026 for delivery to collectors on May 25, 2027, what would your pricepoint be, and what would be the key features that you would include or exclude? - RumSleg

Chris: Oh, this is a juicy one. You said "in charge", so I would take that to mean I work for Hasbro in this hypothetical, and my job might be on the line based on its success. So this isn't the answer I'd give as a fan. The price point would be as close to $500 as I can get it (don't wince yet, Tyler). The features it would exclude would be any signs of curvature. I'm not a flat earther. I know that the curvature of a planetoid sized sphere cannot be perceived at human scale. It would be a bunch of modular interior sets. I would get a much as I could pack in for that $500, but it would require the entire detention block at a bare minimum. For the remaining budget, I would include as much of the following as I can: the briefing room, the trash compactor, the Vader vs Ben hallway, and the control room overlooking Docking Bay 327. It should be a "system" along the lines of Space Walls, where I can connect them as I see fit, and more importantly, can be expanded upon further. If it's wildly successful, I can follow up with other sets the continue to build up the Death Star via Pulse exclusives or even another smaller HasLab. The next set I would tackle would be the Throne Room, which would make it a DS I / DS II hybrid. I'm fine with that.

Bret: Since Chris took the high road and went with the "My job is on the line" approach (which sounds like the spirit of the question), I'm going to play the bad guy and do this from the collector approach. The Death Star is my most wanted Hasbro item. One that is done well would be the environment for a crazy amount of figures and the display for so many iconic scenes. I don't think I'd be satisfied as a collector with Chris's response above, even though it's makes a ton of sense from a Hasbro point of view. I wouldn't trust the market to give us add ons down the road. I would just want to get the thing done properly and in full in one shot. First, I would 100% agree with the curvature thing. Too many people are pining for something akin to the Kenner or Palitoy toys that incorporated curvature in the toys. The Palitoy version was insanely ridiculous in this sense. It's not a knock on it's viability as a kid's toy, or the nostalgia it may evoke in many OG's, but as a current high end collector focused product, the usable space lost by curved walls/ceilings would be rage inducing. Think of an attic with sloped walls that someone wants to renovate into a bedroom or office. You can't use the space along the sides of the room for anything that requires standing. I'm not going to pay premium bucks for a playset where 40% of it can only have a figure lying down. But aside from that, I'd prefer to pay $1000 for Death Star rooms that are modular, connecting both/either side to side and/or stackable. I'd love for the stack of rooms to be connectable into a wide tower configuration that framed the Falcon's Docking Bay (Room to fit the BMF), and cover all the required rooms: Control room, hallways, elevator, prison block, prison cell, Garbage chute/compactor, "swing" bridge, Tractor Beam, Laser control room, Command Bridge, Briefing Room - As well as a version of the DSII's Throne Room. It's huge, it's expensive, it's insane. I'd want nothing less.

Do you think we'll ever get the Original 96? Steve Evans has stated something to the effect that if Hasbro gave collectors everything they wanted (e.g., the O96), there would be no reason for us to continue collecting. Is he insane? - FireFly

Chris: Regarding the O96, nope. There are ones that would be too dicey today. Regarding Steve, I didn't hear him say that, so I'll have to take your word for it. If he said that, I disagree with it personally. Getting what I want only leaves me wanting more, and getting excited for figures that are otherwise off my want list. Going years without getting anything crossed off form my personal want list is what nudges me toward the door. Getting a major itch scratched with Leia last year allowed me to better appreciate the Kanan figure.

Bret: I don't know about Steve's personal motivations. But as far as O96, the only viable way would be to do what they did with that group of ROTJ40 figures, that were essentially just sub-standard repacks. Those likely didn't make anyone happy, although Hasbro seemed to be trying. As an opener, I got a bunch of crap figures. I assume that carded collectors got a bunch of crap figures on a card. But to redo some of the remaining ones, I don't think the line is healthy enough right now to make some of them, and that includes Sim Aloo. The only way around that would be some kind of premium priced special exclusive set. Like get the last bunch of them (how many are left? 10? 15? I don't keep track) for like 25-30 bucks each as a Pulse exclusive. I would be relieved with a quick closure to the O96 thing.

Why is VC304 Chopper so expensive on the secondary market? Did everyone else have trouble finding it too? - David Bodenschatz

Chris: That entire wave was a short print. EE didn't get their full allotment, and had to cancel some preorders. Most of the figures carry a premium on the secondary market led by Revan at around $70 or more.

A HasLab question. If they were to try to lure more PT collectors to TVC and create the best HasLab centre-piece for that era what 1) Vehicle and 2) Diorama would you think would be most successful? - AqualishDoug

Chris: I think this discussion begins and ends with a better scaled LAAT/i Gunship to the point that I'm not even going to offer any alternatives.

Bret:
Vehicle: Reluctantly, I would say Gunship, even though from a personal standpoint, I am vehemently against this. Not only would I be frustrated with a rare Haslab project being an update to something we already have, I have all 7 of the existing variants, plus a double, to boot. I have ZERO interest in an update to the gunship. But I can think of no more iconic PT vehicle than this one.
Playset: Much less reluctantly, but for the same reasons, I would say Petranaki Arena. It was the set of the best PT clash, a Battle Royale of Jedi, Clones, Droids, Geonosians, and beasts, in the presence of the entire Separatist council plus Jango Fett. It never got any better than that. While we do have an arena playset from 2002, I would say that it has been grossly inadequate almost out of the box, unlike the quite excellent gunships. While the Arena is the most iconic action setting from the entire PT, the set may come across as just a big wall of melted chocolate, so it would have to be done right, with a lot of display options (like the backside being a viable droid foundry), and it would have to accommodate a large display space for a proper battle to be raged. I'm not sure how they would pull it off, but this is THE playset for the PT. A VERY distant second for me would be a Senate diorama.

Since Hasbro is releasing a new-ish landspeeder, do either of you think a re-release of the V-wing would be a good choice for Hasbro to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ROTS? - Martin M.

Chris: Yes. But. I would do the Imperial V-Wing as seen in The Bad Batch, so it would kinda celebrate ROTS in a tangental way. The previously released Toys R Us exclusive Imperial V-Wing is hella expensive on the secondaries.

Bret: Viable? Probably, yes. But personally, it wouldn't excite me because 1. re-releases rarely do, and 2. It was already in TVC. I haven't heard much talk about collector desire for a V-Wing, but if it's there, I would support it from a community standpoint.

When you get a carded figure off ebay with the intention of opening it, and the seller goes to painstaking effort to keep it in good condition, packing it really well, does it make you hesitate to open it? - Tannith

Chris: All. The. Time. And then I have to go find another opener.

Bret: It makes me want to rip it open even more. I love the smell of an open bubble/card in the morning.

Did you know that your logo is in fact, a Mythosaur skull? - Jason MAKMCSWF

Chris: Nope. No good. I can't understand a blessed word you're saying. Does anyone speak Kiwi?

Bret: Did you know that your face, is in fact, a Mythosaur skull?

If you made it this far, bless your heart. We almost didn't make it here. Look forward to part two next week.