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KitFisto · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:15 am Post subject:

Here is SSG's Q&A with Hasbro (concerning TCW):

SirStevesGuide.com: So Clone Wars has been kind of on the back burner, and you mentioned Clone Wars will be back. Absolutely has, I've seen two waves in the past eight months.

Hasbro (DD): Well, there may be distribution problems, but definitely not the back burner as far as...

SirStevesGuide.com: How many waves are planned for this year, then?

Hasbro (JL): In general, we've shifted the strategy a bit to move away from, you know, multiple waves - lots of waves. So we've condensed them. But like three to four strong waves in Clone Wars.

Hasbro (DD): It's pretty loaded this year.

Hasbro (JL): Yeah, really.

SirStevesGuide.com: Oh?

Hasbro (DD): Came out in the front.

StevesGuide.com: I've only seen the two waves that we've seen on pegs or on even, to be honest, even in promo images.

Hasbro (JL): More to come.

Hasbro (DD): How many figures total are planned for the Clone Wars?

Hasbro (JL): That's the nineteen number - the so-celebrated nineteen figures - which we announced at Toy Fair.

StevesGuide.com: Half are new, right?

Hasbro (DD): And that is down from previous and that is because we've found that line, that as much as there is fandom, fans, the majority of audience for that is kids. So we do monitor all the data, so...

StevesGuide.com: So are kids still responding to it?

Hasbro (JL): Well, yeah. It's still a hit TV show, strong show. Season Five is about to kick in, the story arcs are just getting cooler and cooler. So I think there's a lot of love for Clone Wars. It's a terrific show. For kids and adults. We support it wholeheartedly.

StevesGuide.com: We haven't seen any Clone Wars exclusives, that I can think of, in the past few months. Maybe even longer than that.

Hasbro (DD): I think there's one in the case right over there.

StevesGuide.com: Oh, the [Target-exclusive Maul / Nightsister / Savage] battle pack, yeah. That's right.

Hasbro (BM): There's the Sith Witch-slash-Nightsister...

StevesGuide.com: Yeah, okay. One of my guys wanted me to mention that. So the design clearly is the Mother Talzin, but the paint is the regular Nightsister, right?

Hasbro (BM): The paint the regular, but the sculpt is not Mother Talzin.

StevesGuide.com: Really?

Hasbro (BM): Because she had some very particular jewelery and her hat is just a little bit different. This is actually originated from... Can I say that?

Hasbro (DD): Yes.

Hasbro (BM): This is the Sith Witch. That was announced, the one that never made it.

StevesGuide.com: Oh! Oh, nice.

Hasbro (BM): So we really are trying to figure out how... we heard everybody go crazy when that thing was not out. So how do we get it out? How do we do it? And it's all of the sudden, "Oh!"

Hasbro (DD): And I think the style lends itself well to both worlds [animated and realistic].

Hasbro (JL): Yeah, you can straddle this across both worlds.

StevesGuide.com: Yeah, it definitely does. I've noticed a lot of Clone Wars figures as they come later and later, they've been getting more of that cross the line.

Hasbro (DD): Yeah. Deliberately so.

StevesGuide.com: Since I've still got you, why does the Armored Savage not have his lightsabers in that pack?

Hasbro (BM): ... I don't know.

StevesGuide.com: Oh. That's a rare thing for you, sir.

Hasbro (BM): Not for me. I will be honest with you. If I can answer, I'll answer. I don't know. I'm going to look into that. Sorry.

KitFisto · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:24 am Post subject:

From Sandtroopers:

The Clone Wars line had a disappointing lack of presence both during the Friday morning presentation and at the booth. Nothing new was revealed that we hadn’t seen before, and the only new Clone Wars item still yet to be released that was shown was the upcoming Target exclusive Darth Maul Returns Battle Pack. This Battle Pack features Darth Maul in his first animated appearance, a re-release of the highly sought after armored Savage Oppress figure, and what is supposed to be a generic Nightsister figure. Derryl revealed that the Nightsister figure in this set was originally supposed to be a Sith Witch figure based on the Expanded Universe, and was planned for release in the Vintage Collection before it was decided that it would be a good fit for this multi-pack. It certainly looks more like a realistic figure than its two animated counterparts, and this explains why. It is not at all intended to be Mother Talzin. Unfortunately I asked Derryl if the specific character of Mother Talzin would ever be released in either the animated or realistic line, and he said it was very unlikely. I guess Talzin suffers from the ‘old ladies in robes don’t sell well’ mindset, although I think her action-oriented appearances in Clone Wars episodes such as “Massacre” would make her exciting enough to warrant a figure. She’s certainly an important enough character, but sadly it seems she’ll always be a hole in our collections, and the Nightsister/Mother Talzin figure will have to do. The good news is the Nightsister figure does look fantastic and is very well sculpted and articulated.

While we were on the topic of Clone Wars stuff, I asked Derryl when and how we’d be seeing the Pong Krell figure that was confirmed in the last of 2011’s Q&A sessions, and got more bad news. The fan-favorite scheming Besalisk general has been postponed, and isn’t even scheduled for 2013 anymore. It sounds like we’re going to have to make a point of telling Hasbro that we’re very interested in seeing this figure released as soon as possible. The line won’t be complete without him.