Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 040 Show Notes

  1. Introduction

    1. About the podcast and site

    2. About Us

    3. Contact Us

    4. What are we drinking?

  2. Toy News

    1. 2nd Annual Swag Away – Communicate your favorite order of your favorite fiction of your favorte franchise by Oct. 6th

      MOTU Fiction

      1. Vintage Cartoon (includes She-Ra)
      2. MYP Cartoon
      3. Mini Comics
      4. Comics
      5. Live Action Movie
      6. New Adventures He-Man

    2. Clone Wars Rumors

    3. Transformers Generations Rumors and Walmart Listings (including Wreck-Gar)

    4. New Transformers United Figures (Cliffjumper)

    5. Fan Made Projects

    6. Star Wars Q and A

      • BanthaSkull.com: What went into the process of making the awesome 2010 SDCC Hoth and Celebration V Bespin Dioramas? How long and how many people did that take, and are there any work-in-progress pictures you could share with us? What happens to them after the shows?

        Hasbro: The Hoth diorama was created by the phenomenal Patrick Kelly, or Diorama Dreams. Patrick is a longtime friend of Hasbro and personal fan of Star Wars and GI Joe and has worked on many of our previous Star Wars and GI Joe scenes. The CV Bespin diorama was actually created by a fan, whose submission wowed us last year during our Fan Diorama contest. We were thrilled to see his creation in person at the show. The Hoth dio will be returned to Hasbro where it will be displayed on our “Main Street” for up to a year, after which we will probably send it to storage as we look to tell a
        new story. The Bespin dio has gone back home. Sorry, no “in progress” pictures are available, but Patrick Kelly has been known to make his work public from time to time; with enough interest he might make the Hoth production pictures available since the details in that one are absolutely mind-blowing.

      • actionfigureinsider.comIs the Clone Wars Bossk coming with the Slave 1 going to be released as a single at some point?

        Hasbro: There are no plans right now, but if he does, it won’t be for at least a year.

      • awesometoyblog.com:The vintage styled AT-AT box looks fantastic, the graphic artist(s) who worked on this packaging did an incredible job. If there are future “vintage-style packaging” exclusives would there be any chance that a prequel era vehicle be released in this manner?

        Hasbro: We’re glad you like the results. We agree – our team knocked it out of the park. Should the Vintage vehicles prove popular with fans, our plan is to continue with additional Vintage sets in 2011 (and hopefully beyond). However, for the near term we will focus exclusively on OTC vehicles until we knock out some more key vehicles. After that, the Prequel Trilogy vehicles certainly could be in play. We think that they would look fantastic too, just like the carded figures.

      • coreplanets.com: I see multiple sellers on Ebay, mostly from China, selling lots of army builder type Star Wars figures. There seriously seems to be 1000’s of these listings. Where are these figures coming from and why doesn’t Hasbro work with Ebay to stop this type of bootlegging? A friend of mine ordered some of these and the quality (at least on the ones he got) was awful. Loose joints, paint flaked off. I see other companies making a stink with Ebay regarding the sale of unofficial or bootlegged items, why doesn’t Hasbro?

        Hasbro: As a policy, we don’t comment on Internet auctions because it may touch on an investigation in progress.

      • jediinsider.com: Now that we have been introduced to Darl Maul’s brother, Savage Oppress, when can we expect to see a figure of him released and when will we get our first look at said figure?

        Hasbro: We cannot get Savage Oppress into the line quickly enough! Right now, it looks like he’ll be on shelves May 1st next year. We’ll have a first look at him at Toy Fair.

      • kittyspryde.forumotion.com: Are anymore EU figures planned?

        Hasbro: While there are fewer EU figures planned for 2011-2012 than there have been in the past few years, there are some strong figures in the works. In 2011, there will be another multi-figure pack based on The Force Unleashed coming to Toys ‘R Us, as well as a few higher-profile figures in the Vintage figure lineup. We have a couple more things in the works as well that we hope to announce next Spring. In 2012, we will start to feature some figures from the new Star Wars videogames (TFU II and TOR) and hope to be able to expand into the EU a bit more. Assuming the Entertainment Earth wave of exclusive Comic Packs (available now for pre-order!) do well, it certainly opens the door for more discussions on how and whether to continue that series.

      • snowtroopers.ca:Will we be seeing a single-carded Starkiller figure for TFU 2? or for that matter ANY TFU 2 figures?

        Hasbro: Yes, but fans will have to wait until 2012. That is when we next have free slots available to devote to the next generation of Star Wars games (TFU 2 and TOR).

    7. Transformers Q and A

      • jedidefender.com: This is a question that I think applies to a lot of toy lines, and so we were wondering how it is for the Transformers crew. Is there a single character that the team is itching to have a run at, but it’s either too obscure, too massive, or just too complex for giving it the go-ahead?

        Hasbro: Of course there are a number of awesome characters that we would love to do. That is the great part about working on a brand that has thousands of characters that have spanned over a 26 year history. However, many of these characters are not necessarily known by the new generation of kids, such as Unicron, Fortress Maximus or Omega Supreme, so the timing is just not right to invest in delivering these characters to toy shelves. However, as with everything that we do, it does not mean that any of these are permanently off the table.

      • toymania.com: Human Alliance Mudflap with Agent Simmons was EXTREMELY difficult to find in the United States, as most stores did not receive this vital set of figures. As a result, there are thousands of collectors who have the widely-distributed Skids, but not his twin, Mudflap. Since there is a large portion of collectors who still want the opportunity to purchase Mudflap and Agent Simmons, is this pair scheduled to be re-released in the United States?

        Hasbro: Currently, we do not have any plans to re-release Human Alliance Mudflap in the U.S.

      • cooltoyreview.com: Can we please get some information about Human Alliance Mudflap’s distribution – will be rereleased in HftD packaging, if any will get sent to stores like Ross or Marshall’s…anything?

        Hasbro: Please see the list below:

      • allspark.com: The Allspark News Staff has received a response from Hasbro’s Transformers Team’s Public Relations group regarding the availability of the Challenge at Cybertron 3 Pack. The PR group spoke with the Hasbro Transformer Team and had this to say:

        Hasbro: We’ve confirmed that the item in question is exclusive to the Asia market – not the U.S. Sorry for any confusion.
        The Challenge at Cybertron 3 Pack features cartoon accurate colored versions of Cyclonus, Rodimus, and Galvatron. This set was rumored to be a Target Exclusive, but it appears there are no plans to release it within the USA at this time. You can discuss the news on our forums.

    8. MOTU Q and A

      • He-Man.org: You said that we should expect about 2 POP figures and 4 female figures in 2011, but no estimation of New Adventures figures. How many of those will we be getting?

        Mattel: There will be some NA representation, but we are not ready to announce how many at this point.

      • figures.com: There is no doubt that many great MOTUC figures such as Gygor, Weapons Pak #2 and the Eternian Royal Guard 2-pack will be available to purchase soon yet we still continue to face major slow-downs and problems on mattycollector.com month after month. Can you please tell us a little more about what is being doing logistically with Digital River to make the shopping experience more pleasant for future sale dates?

        Mattel: We are working with Digital River to implement some new procedures which should go live in October. Ideally this will make the process much easier. Details will follow shortly!

    9. Tidbits from Toy Guru

      • Palace Guards are pushed to next year.
      • 2-packs hitting TRU in 30-90 days
      • Roboto to have only one removable hand
      • He-Man.org 200x Poll and Toy Guru’s Response
      • Cyber Monday sale will include re-issues and limited customer service stock
      • Next NA figure will be a Galactic Protector figure
      • Quite a few females planned for 2011, but most will be in the second half of the year
      • Panthor may be realeased flocked in the future, possibly at retail

  3. Store Report

    1. Sightings

      • Twitter and Twitpic
      • Jaime:
        • G.i Joe fig’s and Vehical’s have droped even more
        • A-team fig’s droped from $15.75 to $5 (i picked up 3)
        • geting the R.o.t.s wave only at Target but there $18 each

    2. In The Ads

  4. Online

    1. New Items and Pre-Orders

    2. Sales and Promos

  5. What We Got

    • TOO MUCH! Going to be liquidating.

  6. Custom of the Week: Millenium Falcon Electric Guitar

  7. Weekly Toy Review: Gygor – Evil Fighting Gorilla

  8. Listener Feedback and Questions

    • Sim’s 1st Voicemail – 686 is him. How are you. I just wanted to say, It’s great to hear you guys again yesterday in the wrong con season. Thank you, okay so much for the personal shopping experience, a comic con. I. I appreciate it, greatly. Sir, I was gonna go. But thank you for getting me What I needed the the the logo, was pretty cool lower then I love the the dot small at that. That’s cool. But. The All of our star Paul, to pass. Cos I think I liked it. But Yes, good to hear you guys again, and I’m glad you’re back in the regular schedule mail and You know that. I just wanted to Give a call and say hello. So, we should all be seeing you guys soon. I’ll talk to you later, bye.
    • Sim’s 2nd Voicemail – Only one more thing, it, it’s in my life. Just, this extreme thing back at your home. I’m sorry. That is just, hey there is no call for that. It’s like there was nobody there You know sort of the autograph know. Give me a break. I hate people like that makes me sick. And anyway, this message.
    • Steve’s Voicemail – How you doing. Mr. This is a favorite. Steve again. Just want to say love, the less show safe with me on the voicemail on some You’re. My voice, I want to say I did pick up a few things from Chicago and You said you want to hear what I got so I got the various are just water got different. 30 bucks. Going to bed and I got a couple of comic fax. For 5 a space pretty good deal, dealer shop around and to major just wanna say I love the show and You guys have a great day. Thanks. Bye.

  9. Grab Bag

    1. G.I. Joe

      – RoC Movie Prop Auctions

    2. Transformers

      – The Transformers Vault

    3. Star Wars

      – New Star Tours Droids

    4. MOTU (not really)

      – Scarabus Articulation (more pics)

  10. 2nd Annual Swag Away – Communicate your favorite order of your favorite fiction of your favorte franchise by Oct. 6th

  11. Peace