My session is at 12:30 today. The final session of the day concludes at 2:55 ET. The recording is typically distributed after the final session is finished, so I would start checking back around 3:15 or so for the answers. Here are the questions we submitted:
1. This isn’t so much a question as a statement. To say that fans are devastated about the lack of articulation on the upcoming 8D8 is an understatement. We are still getting daily comments about the lack of elbows over month after its announcement. We’ve waited 25 years for an update to 8D8, which means this is likely the last one we will ever get in the line. The fact that it is far from definitive is a gut punch. The reasoning about the thinness of the limbs is hard to swallow since we can cite several contradictory examples with IG-11 being the most recent. The question is, are you aware of how upset the community is about the lack of articulation on 8D8?
2. This is a spiritual cousin to my first question and really more of a statement. VC281 - Han Solo (Endor) is another recent Vintage Collection disappointment. The figure uses a high degree of tooling from 5 years ago. To put in perspective how far figures advance in 5 years, that is the timeframe between the ROTS line and the launch of TVC in 2010. This continues a recent trend of core OT characters getting short shrift by Hasbro. Do you understand that when it comes to Han, Luke, and Leia, the community would rather you wait until you can do them right, with the latest and greatest articulation, rather then kit bashing or reusing old tooling just to get them into the line?
3. The reason I choose the 3.75” scale is because of the vehicles, which aren’t as practical in the 1:12th scale. The sales of Mandalorian’s N1 show I’m not alone in my appreciation of vehicles. Has it given you confidence in taking risk on another newly tooled general release vehicle, and if so, are you zeroing in on what that might be? Not asking for specifics. Just asking if it’s in the planning.
4. The Dragonfly HasLab smashed it’s final stretch goal by several thousand backers, but no bonus tier was added. It’s presumed that’s because so many of those backers came in the final days. We have reason to suspect that the Ghost is on a similar trajectory. Would the Ghost add a bonus tier even if it doesn’t cross 17,000 backers until the final day, or would the campaign have to pass the final goal before that?
5. The recent Vintage Collection Darth Revan appears to be a runaway success. It is sold out on both Pulse and Amazon, and remains near the top of Entertainment Earth’s best seller list over a month after it went up for preorder. Does this provide Hasbro will market insight into how popular definitive, modern updates to established characters can be? Does it further the cause of “Make the Mains”?