WTF!!! Grave news for Titanium

The DEATH KNELL has been sounded! This just came in on the tri-weekly Q&A of Sir Steve Guide. SSG: Titanium Series has suffered another indignity by not being included at New York Toy Fair. With recent significant price increases, a continued focus on pointless repaints, a general feeling of lack of support from Hasbro for pretty much the life of the line, canceled and displaced molds (some shown at the '08 Toy Fair), what is happening with Titanium Series? Fans keep asking about the line, and Hasbro keeps saying they will give it more attention at the next venue, only to get shorted again. What does the future hold for this line that is in many ways the only outlet for most Star Wars vehicles in toy form? Are sales at least solid enough that Titanium collectors can relax their fears a bit for the foreseeable future, or is the line considerably weaker than the 3.75" figure line and thus vulnerable in these uncertain economic times? Hasbro: Titanium is indeed a much less-collected sub line that the 3-3/4" line. In the first year of Titanium vehicles, the line showed promise, but the audience never materialized to grow the collecting base. Since them, we have struggled with the amount of new tooling the line could justify along with the extraordinary number of new/refresh items the line needed to stay productive at retail (an outcome of the smaller batch sizes). While we feel that this year we are giving it some great attention and some exciting new tools, this will be the last year for Titanium. The line will be put on hiatus after 2009.

Hard Contact ... Lost Contact

Finally found my kids Halo trilogy in another Carefour book sale. I was there to find a copy of Hard Contact of the Republic Commando series. Don't get me wrong, I had a copy but now it just dissappeared from my library. I called up my brother, the only other guy I loaned my books to but he denied having it. Being a completist of sorts for SW novels. Im now in the midst of replacing that lost copy.

Last of 2007 wave

Another round of questions and answers from Hasbro. I kind of like, feel deflated when I read the answer to this question. Like there's no bang! or crescendo for the last wave of 2007. Q: Since Hasbro ran out of time making it unable to plan and bring a full presentation for Titanium Series at Celebration IV, might we get some info on what's coming in the line, especially beyond the small handful of new pieces that were there? A: Beyond what we have shown, there is only one more wave. It's a pretty cool wave, with one new retool based on a McQuarrie painting - a concept Snowtrooper on Snowspeeder. Beyond that, there is a Hoth deco AT-ST, a new AAT, a revised V-Wing, and a black chrome AT-AT. That'll be it for 2007, but 2008 will be chock full of goodness Titanium 3" vehicle front, so stay tuned! This would be wave 6, I think. To me, its one new amd the rest repaints. I thought Hasbro was like going to wow us with new vehicles and stuff, and they are saving the best for last, double duhhhh!!! Silly me for doubting Hasbro's marketing team. Above is the concept snowspeeder. It is the start of introducing concept based vehicles into the titanium series. This vehicle was previously done for the Action Fleet Series Alpha. An okay looking vehicle. But the rest of the wave reads like a dejavu. Hoth deco AT-ST!!!! this is like the lazy clone turbo tank and attack cruiser in plain vanilla. Absolutely lazy. New AAT??? I bet it will have a green based deco. Revised V-wing??? just call it repaint okay. Hmmm ... best guess, red deco. Chrome AT-AT!!! Colour me jet black. This AT-AT methinks goes out only at night and carrying only the shadow troopers. Which leaves us with the unanswered and unseen Rouge Shadow fighter? Hmmm ...

Rings or wrongs?

Totally disappointing order. I would have wanted to showcase hyperspace rings galore in this entry but what I got was a letdown. I've ordered a few more loose jedifighters with hyperspace ring from Kingsmodel, an avenue that some specilized shop are not doing anymore (ie bring loose titaniums in). As fast as I've got wave 3 from the bird shop, Kingsmodel brought in loose pieces from wave 4. I couldn't believe my luck, and to top it off, they eventually brought in the jedifighter with ring too. So with a great anticipation in my heart, I ordered 2 pieces of each of the hyperspace jedifighter model and the 3 pieces from wave 4. But what I got really boiled me, just look at the condition of the rings ... duhhh!!! ... utterly disappointing mannn!!! At least after 1 email shot back, Kingsmodel has agreed to replaced these warped ring vehicles with new ones. Kudos to them for being good businessmen, but it still doesn't remove the pit of frustration I had when I saw the rings.

Noooo!!

Oooh man! what a letdown. After trawling the net, I have to admit that there is NO new animated Tales of the New Republic. Drats!!! It is part of Gentle Giant promo vids for its maquette series. Damned! Just look at these still ads. Look familiar?

Hasbro's 30th Q&A session

Bits here and there from Hasbro's Q&A session; ActionFigs:The Titanium Series line has shared its space with Battlestar Galactica license for some time now with much success. Can you give us a hint as to your plans for the future of this license? You were recently quoted as saying the Cylon Basestar and the classic Cylon Base ship were not likely to happen due to "complexity of production", what does that mean and how would they be different from something like the recently-released classic Cylon Raider? Also, what happened to the plans for the Titanium Forged Figure of the Cylon Centurion, is there a future release here? Hasbro:The Battlestar license has done very well and we plan to continue releasing a new/repaint one every few waves. Some vehicles, depending on the complexity of the vehicle, require so many tools or so much labor to complete that we simply can’t afford to pursue them for our basic line and these two fall into this camp. As for the Cylon figure, that line is discontinued at mass retail and we are looking for ways to bring the figures out as an exclusive mix. We know that there is demand there from a smaller number of devoted fans, but we are looking for a retail partner for the right opportunity. JI: This one is in regards to Titaniums and a little off topic, its about Battlestar Galactica Titanium ships. We have had a alot of people as if there will be a release of the Classic Battlestar Galactica ship released for the Titanium line. Hasbro: It's in the works, but won't make it out this year. Basically, Hasbro's keeping a tight lid on most things with the Celebration IV coming up in 2 weeks time. So I would make a good guess that pics of the titanium wave 4 series and the rumoured pieces, especially the Rouge Shadow Fighter, would probably show at the event.

Wav3 3 out ... in US

Well, US is abuzzed again with various news of collectors getting their hands on the new V-Wing wave. Haizzz ... and us, Singapore collectors, will just have to wait for Hasbro Sg to get off their sorry ass and slowly bring them in.

Star Wars Art

This is one book on Star Wars that I won't be buying. It's an ART BOOK.

Last 4 Ultras

Now a reader from Rebelscum has laid his hands on the 4 new ULTRAs!!! aaargh ... This is a time for jealousy and frustration!! aaargh!!!

More Tech Demo

The game Force Unleashed is gearing up pretty well although it's release date has been pushed to early next year. But the physics behind the game is making my mouth water. I highlighted how the sprite reacts to the environment before. Now a new tech demo has been released to show how materials in the game environment reacts to breakage. And it's so damn cool! Just watch ...

The Droid You're Looking For

Maybe I have to change my collection to another series. Like the Lego series,perhaps. Why? well with news like this, I'm a ready convert already; Fans of Star Wars LEGO sets may soon be the lucky owners of a limited edition metallic gold C-3PO minifigure starting this June, when 10,000 of the gold-clad droids will be randomly inserted into select 2007 LEGO Star Wars sets in the "These Are the Droids You're Looking For" promotion. While the metallic gold figures will be pretty scarce and immediately sought-after by collectors (odds of snagging one in select Star Wars 2007 sets is about 250 to 1), the ultimate LEGO Star Wars prize will be a gold -- the solid, 14-carat kind -- C-3PO figurine to be won by five lucky individuals who enter in an online contest to be announced soon. Now, he is really the Goldenrod by Han Solo's estimate ...

New Titaniums ... not SW though

Hasbro has announced more titanium 3" figures for their Marvel line. Of the 3, only the green behemoth looks good. But good enough to be collected? Nahhh! I'll pass.

Hasbro Bi-Weekly Q & A

Here's a roundup of Titanium news from Hasbro's bi-weekly question and answer session. SirSteveGuide Q: :We received the following open-ended answer back on November 3rd and were wondering if there were any new developments on it: SSG: Lots of fans love both Jedi Starfighters and were looking forward to the AOTC Action Fleet release and then the ROTS Titanium 6"" Ultra release, both were canceled just before going into production but were tooled up. Could these be saved from limbo and presented as an exclusive special Titanium 2-pack? HASBRO: We have no plans for Action Fleet at this time, but stay tuned for new on the Titanium vehicles. We are working on a way to bring them to retail. A: We still do not have any plans for Action Fleet at this time due to other priorities for the line. As for the Ultra series, the last vehicles are coming to TRU as exclusives and that will complete this series. There is nothing more planned for this line exclusive or otherwise. TheJawa: Q: Whatever happened to the 3 3/4" Battlestar Galactica figures you once said were coming out at the end of 2006? Sure enough, we saw some cool Titanium ships from BG, as promised. But what about the figs? A: The whole Titanium figure program for Star War was scuttled due to disappointing sales of the first waves. This includes the Battlestar figure. While there are no plans currently, we wouldn't rule out the possibility that these figures could eventually ship as retailer exclusives at some point.

Sue Rostoni

Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing Managing Editor, the "stitcher" (thats what I call her) of the Star Wars EU (expanded universe). She's the one that makes every Star Wars story on printed material connected to each other, in one way or another. She keeps a blog found under Star Wars blog community here. Sometimes, she would reveal nuggets of info in her entries; like this one. She has published an entry on Delrey's publishing schedule for Star Wars novels. Here's a "grab" of 2007 schedule. You can see the rest from her blog. May 1, 2007 Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, mass market paperback reprint Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy, trade paperback omnibus May 29, 2007 Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice, hardcover June 26, 2007 Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, mass market paperback reprint August 28, 2007 Legacy of the Force: Inferno, mass market paperback September 25, 2007 Death Star, hardcover October 30, 2007 Republic Commando: True Colors, mass market paperback November 27, 2007 Legacy of the Force: Fury, mass market paperback The most important omission is the Darth Plagueis novel. Sad to say, it has been canceled. Oh well, I hope the Sith past can be told in other forms, some other time.

Games Galore

It's not all about The Force Unleashed. The gaming net is now abuzz with 2 "new" Star Wars game. Well, sequel perhaps. First up is the continuation of the Knights of the Old Republic Saga tentatively called KOTOR3. Then there's rumours on the sequel of the other hit game in the Star Wars stable, Battlefront 3. But, the rumour continues that this game would be an XBOX360 exclusive! aaargh. That is really bad news if it turns out to be right. Is it time to upgrade my xbox?

My Spider senses are tingling ...

I chanced upon the titanium series for the Spiderman 3 movies last week at Paragon. The 3 Spiderman figures were quite small and spindly. The only interesting figures were that of Goblin, Venom and Sandman. The Goblin figure was the best amongst the 3. Sandman somehow has a lacerated line around his neck (maybe for head movements?) and Venom's teeth (mouth area) looks that it could have been done better. I could get Goblin and Venom only but 2 doesn't make a collection. If only they had made a free-standing Spidey and the black Spidey in the size of Venom. Oh well, I decided to let this series go it's way. However, I'm still hoping for Ghostrider's titanium bikes, they look good.

Lelong! Lelong!

Going through the yahoo auction site, it seems that 2 collectors are getting out of their titanium collection hobby. They have advertised to sell their collection of titaniums at quite a king's ransom. I think to me at least, these titaniums were meant to be released from their bubble packages and displayed with affection. Then, they will be something to be proud off and not cast away when the "fad" runs out. Like real!!

More on Titanium gone wild

And to add to the crazy world of titanium series, Hasbro has come up with the Fantastic Four titanium line. Duhhh .... Torch looks weak, Dr Doom and Ben Grimm looks nice enough to collect. If Invisible girl is any good I might collect these? hmmm ... let me think about it. And I'm still looking for Ghostrider's bikes ...

Star Wars Vault

The official site has announced an interactive reference package called The Star Wars Vault. It includes audio, visual and interactive cds to tell you the history of the monster vehicle that is the Star Wars saga. This mega scrapbook has everything you need to know, judging by the stuff they put in. 50 interactive, rare and some never-before-published memorabilia, including reproductions of Lucas's own handwritten script pages, flip-through catalogs, swag, posters, T-shirt transfers, tattoos, stickers, blueprints, production notes, animation cells and much more! Hundreds of photos and pieces of artwork. 2 CDs containing over 2 hours of vintage radio ads, original cast interviews, excerpts from the NPR Star Wars radio drama, the complete Star Tours soundtrack, George Lucas's commentary and other tracks that tell the story of everyone's favorite galaxy battle as never before. It is massively mouth-watering.

More news on the Cartoon 3D

The official site has came out with the interview on George Lucas talking about the various projects being undertaken by Lucasfilm. Featured on the page is the excerpt of his interview about the clone wars 3D carton and the live tv series happening in 2008. The file was a bit grainy to hear so I had to download it in my pc to hear it a few times. This is the highlights of what I can make out from the recording Recreating the ambiance of the movie in a cartoon form. There is nothing on tv quite like this. The animation will break all the rules. The movies are about the Skywalker story, but the tv series is like a spin-off to what happens to various characters in the Star Wars universe. On the Live action series, he doesn't talk much about it. The only thing he said was that the TV show is basically 1 show split into 4 shows, each show is about different characters. Maybe each character's development intertwines with each other to create one big series. Lastly, check out the high res of Yoda's mug; COOL!!!