Answered Questions: August 15, 2008

[Darth Zirock]

1.) We pretty much now know the bulk of the figures and vehicles being released in 2008 and early-2009. Fans suggesting figure ideas now would have to wait until late-2009 or even 2010 to see them on the shelves. In a fantasy world where all deadlines are met, what's the fastest you can possibly take a brand new figure from design to prototype to production to store shelves?

ANSWER: It now takes us a minimum of approximately 12-14 months for new figures, 8 months or so for repaints. You can bet that we have *plenty* of surprises in store for fans ... we would not have felt confident showing such an abundance at Comic Con unless we had more great things coming ... stay tuned!

2.) Looking at the pictures from SDCC of the Infinities #3/4 Leia and Vader Comic Pack, although we never see his lightsaber ignited in the comic, wouldn't it seem more likely that an all-white armored, redeemed Vader would also change his lightsaber blade's color from red to, say, Anakin's original blue?

ANSWER: That would have meant seeking out a new crystal, and we'll just assume that he had more pressing things to attend to.

3.) Some other STAR WARS licensees ran with the look of the CLONE WARS micro-series and created animation-style designs of Original Trilogy characters. Has Hasbro considered applying the new, CGI-animation style of THE CLONE WARS to figures of Luke, Princess Leia, or Darth Vader?

ANSWER: We have not considered doing that. While it would be interesting to see animated versions of the OTC heroes, and realistic versions of the animated characters, we are instead keeping them separate to focus on making each assortment as strong as it can be.