Hasbro’s 2020 Entertainment Brand Preview Event Q&A

I 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) and Sam Smith (Star Wars Team Design Manager) and I would like to thank both for taking time out of their day to chat with us. And without further ado, on with the questions:

Disclaimer: The following answers are paraphrased and condensed for clarity. Any inaccuracies in these answer are the result of unintentional errors on the part of Bantha Skull during this process, and do not reflect upon Hasbro.

Banthaskull: There have been persistent rumors of the demise of the 3.75” line. Are there plans to continue the scale in 2021?

Patrick: Yes, we can give a long answer if we want, but we keep answering this question. There’s no truth to any rumors that Vintage is going away. As far ahead as we’re planning the line, Vintage is included.

Banthaskull: As a follow up, 3.75” fans want to know what needs to happen for TVC to get the same amount of newly tooled figures as TBS?

Patrick: We’ve had a couple of questions about that. First thing I’ll say, and this sounds trite, but we love both Black Series and Vintage, and that’s the honest truth. I know personally, the Vintage scale unlocks the whole world building in a way that Black Series 6” doesn’t, but I also love the detail in Black Series 6”. At the end of the day, there are some products from the past that are no longer with us. You haven’t seen any Centerpiece for a while, and there are other products like Vintage and The Black Series that are continuing. At the end of the day, it all kind of comes down to the demand that there is for that.

Banthaskull: Do fans actually engaging with the retailers saying, “we want this product,” help?

Sam: I can’t see it hurting.

Patrick: I think the more fan engagement there is, both engaging with [Hasbro] and engaging with retailers both in terms of buying the product and talking to them directly can’t hurt. We’ve seen all throughout the toy industry, but the larger entertainment and consumer product industry, passion from fans gets things done.

Banthaskull: That’s how the Barge got done.

Patrick: Exactly! That’s so true. I was saying in another conversation where they were asking about the Antoc Merick X-Wing petition; that’s fantastic. We wouldn’t have known the passion was there for the Barge without hearing from you guys. So let your readers know to talk to us at conventions and bubble things up through you guys. That’s how these things get made.

Banthaskull: Long time collectors tend to get frustrated with repacks in the TVC main line (not Fan Channel). Is there a reason Hasbro doesn’t look for kit-bash opportunities (head swaps, etc.) instead of just straight repacks?

Sam: There are opportunities where we can do partially newly tooled figures and being able to update them. A lot of the challenges we face are in terms of how an item is actually SKU’d and how it’s accounted for against the line. But in order to do those tooling modifications, yeah, I think we can absolutely make adjustments to figures. We can do things in terms of color changes that are able to get a new character; for example adjusting the colors of a droid to make a new character in the line. I think the biggest thing is just a matter of demand on how tertiary we go to the risk [of is it going to sell poorly].

Patrick: I think there are also some characters where the figure is great, but they’ve never been on a Vintage cardback before, and that’s what we want. But if the figure doesn’t need any improvements, like the Hoth Rebel Soldier. It’s a great figure. It just needs to be on a Vintage card.

I think that’s where those “smart pack” refreshes make sense. We did too many in 2019. We’re not going to that deep on pack refreshes [going forward], but where they make sense and where they add value to the community, we’re going to do them.

Banthaskull: Can we just say that a kit bash isn’t accounted for the same as a repack?

Sam: It does not count the same as a repack. The repacks just end up being an additional figure in the line. So for example, the VC45 Clone Trooper, putting that trooper out was just a great way to get a troop builder figure out there, but it didn’t take anything away from another character.

Patrick: [A repack is] an additional bonus. If it went away, nothing would come in its place. [Emphasis added by Bantha Skull]

Banthaskull: On the subject of repacks: it’s typically the over-supplied main characters that draw ire, but if those same long time collectors could get second chances at the Legacy Collection Jabba’s palace aliens or Legacy Collection cantina aliens, they would be thrilled. Are these secondary and tertiary characters up for repack consideration?

Sam: I think they certainly can be. As we revisit a lot of the older tooling, it’s finding that balance of what’s appropriate for the Vintage Collection, and what is more appropriate for a modification to the figure, or maybe we just tool up this figure completely new.

And once it goes into the category of “full new character” it starts competing for the slots of what characters we’re making.

Banthaskull: With that kind of more obscure character, should fans expect that to be tied in with another product, for example we had the Skiff Guard 3-pack…should fans expect that if they want those deep characters, wait for it to be tied to another product?

Sam: I don’t know that they should necessarily expect it, but I think the learning from that is there’s definitely an opportunity there. In terms of bringing a lot of these characters to the Vintage cardback for the first time, but bundling them in a way where they do still get something of complete newness or a character debut.

Patrick: There’s definitely a place for those deeper cut characters mainline. I mean, the GONK droid, that is a deeper cut character. I don’t think you ever see a mainline that’s only niche characters, and I don’t think you’ll ever see a mainline that’s only main characters. There’s a place for both.

Banthaskull: Do you have a goal line in mind for completing the original 92 or is it an abstract goal?

Sam: I think the biggest thing is really just being able to draw attention to it. Historically we’ve talked about it, but I think really sort of setting a stake in the sand in terms of just being able to address something we are very much aware of and it’s something we would absolutely like to work our way through. I don’t think we’ll see the Vintage Collection turn into “it’s the original 96/92, and that’s the only collection we’re doing.” I think it’s a matter of being able to lean on that as a template for these are great opportunities, and this is the reason this character is coming back.

Patrick: I would say there is a little more renewed focus on the original 92/96. It’s been a year and half between Yak Face and the Power Droid. I don’t think it will be another year and a half. [Emphasis added by Bantha Skull]

Banthaskull: Is there a reason, such as perceptions about the audience, that there has been no TVC Fallen Order product even in the cases where there’s a lot of tooling reuse (Purge Troopers)?

Sam: There used to be a pretty substantial gamer-verse tethered to the Vintage Collection. We had Bastila Shan, Shae Vizla, Darth Malgus, and Starkiller. There’s lot of ways in which the gaming characters have been used in the Vintage Collection, granted that was the only scale we were doing at the time.

A lot of the gaming characters, especially with our “Gaming Greats” program that we’ve partnered with GameStop, they’re bringing a lot more visibility to them and they want to have ownership of these gaming characters, and really start to build out this gamer-verse.

So I think there’s absolutely opportunity for [Purge Troopers]. Again [the Purge Troopers] are [unintelligible] characters in terms of the components that are needed to distinguish them from traditional Clone Troopers as opportunities for Fallen Order. Again it just falls into that pool of so much entertainment for Star Wars where are we pulling it from and hopefully finding the right balance.

Banthaskull: Has GameStop been kicking the tires on Vintage Collection?

Patrick: We can’t say anything. They’ve had good success with Black Series, and there are other retailers who have had success with Vintage. If we think it’s the right next step for Vintage, I’m sure we’ll be able to find a retailer who’s excited about it.

[TIME UP]

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