Hasbro PulseCon Follow Up Q&A

We would like to thank Hasbro and Litzky PR for inviting Bantha Skull to participate in this interview opportunity. As always, it was great getting to interact Patrick Schneider (Senior Manager, Global Brand Development & Marketing, Star Wars). This was also our first chance to talk to Chris Rieff (Associate Product Designer, Star Wars). I would like to thank both for taking time out of their day to chat with us. We were honored to participate with the following outlets:

Mint In Box
Fantha Tracks
Endor System
Victoria's Cantina

There are more answers you'll certainly want to read or listen to from their portions of the Q&A.

Disclaimer: The following answers are paraphrased and condensed for clarity. These are transcriptions of a conversation and are not meant to be verbatim quotes. Anything in brackets was not said by Hasbro, but represents Bantha Skull's interpretation of pronouns or non-verbal communication. Any inaccuracies in these answers are the result of unintentional errors on the part of Bantha Skull during this process, and do not reflect upon Hasbro.

And without further ado, on with the questions:

1. Patrick, during the PulseCon live stream, you said that if the Razor Crest gets backed, “there is a pretty good bet that we will have really all the figures that interact with it.” Fans are extremely literal, and in this case are latching onto the word “all” which is a pretty expansive list when it comes to the Razor Crest. In a literal sense, that would include characters like Amy Sedaris's mechanic character. Can you clarify if the “all” statement was literal, or was the intent of that statement more along the lines of “all of the key characters” or “all of the characters that fly on the Razor Crest?”

Patrick:. I went back and rewatched it. So one thing, first of all, if you go back and watch it, and I understand these words sounds the same, I said “nearly all” not “really all”. I understand those sound the same.

Editor’s note: I went back and rewatched the segment of Pulse Con, and there is no doubt Patrick says “nearly”, so mea culpa on Bantha Skull’s part. We used the quote that has been circulating on social media, and it is not accurate.

Patrick’s reply continued: This isn't us walking anything back, but we obviously have some caveats in there such as “pretty good bet” and “nearly all.” Again, this isn’t me walking anything back. Our intent in saying that was to communicate that there is more coming. With respect to the key figures you want from the Razor Crest, it’s a pretty good bet they are coming. That statement was basically meant to assure fans who were going to spend $350 on the Razor Crest that there was going to be more than Mando and Cara Dune to interact with it. And I think we’ve already seen that with some of the reveals that have come and the tiered offerings. There’s more, even in addition to that coming in 2021 and beyond. There’s no guarantee as we see more seasons that [Hasbro could make a figure of every single character that interacts with the Razor Crest].

I appreciate you asking the question because I know it’s a question that's out there, so it’s good to clarify. It was never intended and the words were never such that it was a promise or guarantee, and that’s not us walking anything back. It’s us clarifying was was stated initially. With respect to the main ones, there’s a pretty good bet we’ll see them.


2. Regarding the figures included with the Razor Crest, will the soft goods Beskar Mandalorian figure be carded and numbered, and will the Child and Jawa card be numbered as part of the continuous mainline collection, and will and of them be unpunched.

Chris: The Mando figure is not carded. Because he’s so specific to that ship with the fabric cape, and wanting people to be able to pose him and play with the ship and put him in the cockpit, it felt harsh on our part putting him on a card and making fans tear him open immediately. Knowing how much fans love their carded figures, [we didn’t want them to have to make that decision]. We made the decision early on not to include him on a card for that reason.

Editor’s note:. Thank you. We approve of this 100%.

Patrick continues the answer regarding the numbering: In terms of numbering, they will not be numbered as part of the mainline numbering. We’re talking and we might do something like the Sail Barge POTF Yak Face where we gave it a special different number. We’re playing around with that idea, but it won’t be part of the mainline numbering.

It terms of unpunched, you guys want them unpunched, right?

Bantha Skull's reply: We want them unpunched.

Patrick: I think that’s our current plan. That’s what we did with Yak Face for the Barge. It doesn’t need to live on a peg, so I don’t know why we wouldn’t do that again.


3. The most recent Fan Channel wave is not being well received by the fan site community. You previously said that Fan Channel waves hitting brick and mortar stores are not intentional, yet all three have in fact shipped to brick and mortar. There is real worry that if this is the fourth such wave to make it to Target and Walmart that it will sell poorly and prevent more desirable product from reaching the pegs. Is this wave intended to show up at brick and mortar?

Patrick: The short answer is no. The intent of all those waves is for newer fans. It’s for more casual fans, younger fans, and fans who are just getting into the hobby that need those foundational figures that we released ten plus years ago. That’s the goal of those waves. They are primarily targeted for other markets, or in the US, for “Fan Specialty”. You’re right. They have been showing up at brick and mortar. As soon as we launched [that wave] at Pulse Con, I made sure that I talked with our US team, and discussed that’s not supposed to end up on brick and mortar pegs. We’re working to ensure that doesn’t happen. Additionally moving forward, one thing we might do, and this is getting a little technical, but establishing separate five digits for the mainline and Fan Channel just like the Archive and Black Series are separate five digits. That makes it easier for retailers to track exactly what they do and don’t want. Without getting into the weeds, that is what we hope will be a positive development. The intent is to not end up at brick and mortar, and we’re doing what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Editor’s note: Bantha Skull is passionate about the need and value for these Fan Channel waves overall, and separating them from mainline would be a godsend.


4. We can infer that the less expensive a HasLab item is, the more backers it requires (6000 for the Razor Crest and 5000 for the Barge). A lot of fans would love to see fan-centric background characters come to HasLab (cantina aliens as an example). If there were a hypothetical 4-pack of cantina aliens at $15 per figure ($60 total), can you give us any indication of what number of backers that would require?

Patrick: It’s a good question. It’s something we talked about. As Chris said earlier HasLab is for those dream projects that can’t make it to brick and mortar retail. It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It just has to be something that we don’t think we can do through the normal means. So some of the more niche, but exciting figures are definitely in scope. I don’t know exactly how many numbers, but I think you’re right that it would be more. I’m not sure it has to do with how expensive or inexpensive. It has to do with the tooling investment and other factors. It has to make sense for us to do it. It would probably be a higher backer number, but it’s a cool idea. It’s something we discussed, and it’s something we could see in the future.


5. Has the runaway success of the Razor Crest given Hasbro confidence to increase its investment in The Vintage Collection?

Patrick: Yes.

I think it was actually on these interviews, and I think it was Bantha Skull’s question back in May that launched the whole market demand thing, which is honestly fantastic. We loved seeing the petitions. We loved seeing the online campaigns. That’s more information for us. We’ve learned more about the market demand for The Vintage Collection. And [the success of the Razor Crest campaign] is just another pillar in that support. The Razor Crest campaign has been phenomenal. Let’s not undersell it. The fact that it hit the backer goal in 26 hours, the fact that it’s north of 16,000 backer right now with still five days left to go has made us so excited and so blown away by its success. It’s certainly more evidence in favor of the fact that there a passionate group of Vintage fans out there. We’ve said before that we’ve got a bit more coming for The Vintage Collection in ’21 and beyond. That’s still true and maybe even more so. We’re excited about the future for The Vintage Collection, and we hope you guys are as well. I know you’ll be more excited when you actually see it. Hopefully the day will be here soon in the next year or so.

Editor’s note: I didn’t know “runaway success” was underselling it. Zeesh.

---

comments powered by Disqus