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Author Topic: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans  (Read 4179 times)

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Offline BIGGS DARKLIGHTER

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Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« on: January 31, 2008, 07:52:12 AM »
Philip on RebelScum just posted this and I thought you all would like to read it:

Original Link

I just posted this to rebelscum...

FX Answers Directly from Hasbro Senior Director of Marketing for Star Wars / Indiana Jones, Derryl D. DePriest.

PW: Like the other Hasbro Star Wars products, will this line be under your direction as well?

DDD: Yes, it will be managed by a team in my group dedicated to the FX business.

PW: I noticed the press release referred to the line as "Force FX" and indicated the line is being "assumed". Do you plan to do more than take the line and run with it, continuing to add to the line by filling holes not completed by Master Replicas?

DDD: Our first task is to get our arms around the existing sabers and get them into production under our imprint as quickly as possible. Our strategy for this year at least will be making sure that, from an engineering and design perspective, we have teams that are completely up to speed with the tech before we broaden it out. Longer-term, we will look to expand the line but we do not have anything to announce regarding new products. We want to walk before we run, and when we are sure it's right we will look to what makes sense for building out the business. We did not acquire the FX business to just re-market the current products, but to continue to innovative within this very cool sphere of "working" 1:1 scale weaponry.

PW: I have noticed fans are "hoping" and "expecting" the price-point of the pieces to come down due to Hasbro's scale. Might that be one of your goals?

DDD: We are still working on the costing, but our goal will be to hold the business at the current level if possible.

PW: Now, some product specific questions:

PW: Do you have any plans to offer FX Sabers with removable blades?

DDD: We think we can do a lot of fun things with the technology that exists, and then we hope to innovate on that as well. It's too early to talk about where we plan to go specifically, though, as we need to make sure that we understand all aspects of the current line first. Fans should know, though, that we love this line and have passion for it, and plan to expand out from the current line as soon as we have a firm foundation.

PW: Fans have long wanted a Dooku FX Saber, might that be in the plans?

DDD: Dooku would be very cool, as would some other characters as well. We don't want to make any specific promises yet, though, because plans are always subject to change and we don't want to disappoint fans if the lineup changes.

PW: What about kid-sized sabers FX sabers?

DDD: We plan to stick with the 1:1 scale sabers for now.

PW: Does the license include weapons other than sabers? Any plans there?

DDD: The license is for FX weapons, so it could include other weapons (such as blasters). That's something we'll be looking at as well.

PW: What about electronic scaled pieces?

DDD: We will be concentrating primarily on 1:1 scale.

PW: The press release also states sabers will be available in the spring. This seems to indicate Hasbro really is taking up where Master Replicas left off. Are you using the same company to build the pieces that Master Replicas used?

DDD: Yes, we are working with the same vendors who have been producing the FX sabers to-date.

PW: The forum community has been hard at work making a comprehensive list of pieces for consideration by eFX and Hasbro. Comments?

DDD: We're not ready to comment on any specific line extensions or future innovations. As with our other lines, we are listening to what the fans say and will look forward to meeting many of them face to face at conventions this year.

I'd like to thank Derryl for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to answer these questions! I know everybody will appreciate it.

Offline Vektor

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2008, 08:03:37 AM »
That is promising indeed, as is the possibility of other "FX" weapons. Perhaps a "FX" blaster? Only thing that worries me still would be the replica issue. How well would Hasbro care to replicate the props? Or will they cut corners even more than MR did? What does actually "1:1 scale" in Hasbro´s book mean? Maybe we´ll see once/if they really move on to completely new designs.

Offline BIGGS DARKLIGHTER

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2008, 08:06:59 AM »
Bear in mind that Hasbro will have to get Lucasfilms' approval on all items before production and I would imagine that since these are the "higher end" toys that Lucasfilm will hold them to a higher standard than the old Hasbro Toys.

Offline SAESEE TIIN

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2008, 08:09:25 AM »
I'm sure that all the sabers released in the spring will be indentical to the ones MR released, that is except for the year and Hasbro name printed on the saber.

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Offline Ishi-Goturi

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2008, 08:25:24 AM »
That is promising indeed, as is the possibility of other "FX" weapons. Perhaps a "FX" blaster?

FX Droideka. :D lol
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Offline Vektor

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2008, 09:01:25 AM »
FX Droideka. :D lol

1:1 scale of course! :D

Offline WEDGE ANTILLES

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2008, 09:28:47 AM »
most of this we already knew.  the real 'nugget' here is the confirmation that they will be using the same factory to produce the FX's.  we saw a video of the factory before christmas.  so at least now we know the sabers will be of the same quality. (alsi his comments about 'walk before we run' seemed to imply that they wouldn't be changing the design (yet) so thats good news too)
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Offline darthmorbius

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2008, 09:32:56 AM »
This is VERY similar to the regular strategies used by big company. The thing that intrigues me about this, is that the same answer was reapeated over and over: "We're NOT telling!" ;D

Which means one of two things...

1. They already have new designs in the works as they are cranking out the current line of repeats on the current gen sabers.

2. They are unsure of what to do at this point.  Whatever it is they are being VERY secretive about future plans.

Personally, I have a hard time believing that they haven't cracked the YL07 model MR boards yet.  I'm just a farmboy from Indiana, and I figured it out pretty quickly...  it's just a set of transistors, capacitors, resistors, and a COB...

Not much to it really.

Perhaps they decided to improve the boards and put out better sounding sabers....

Offline Boxster

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2008, 09:50:06 AM »
DDD: Dooku would be very cool, as would some other characters as well. We don't want to make any specific promises yet, though, because plans are always subject to change and we don't want to disappoint fans if the lineup changes.

That means they are designing it as we speak, as are "some other characters as well"

 ;D

I wish, come on Hasbro! Get to know the FX community and you will see how much we would love to have accurate hilted FX of many other characters and Dooku of course.

B

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2008, 09:54:45 AM »
I think that right now they are doing what they say.  They don't know this technology and they are going to take their time to learn it and expand on it.
So like I said in the other thread, we probably won't see anything new for like a year, if that.

I just think it was funny how Philip kept asking a different question to get to the same answer as the question before and Derryl kept having to repeat himself.  I'm sure that was a little irritating.

Right now they are just going to be changing the copyright stamping as well as the box design and any accompanying paperwork to go with the Hasbro line.

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Offline WEDGE ANTILLES

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2008, 10:04:32 AM »
with such a big company they probably have to wait for a "balance sheet" to see if they will be "expanding" anything. ROFL

(ie: "....lets wait and see if we can turn a profit on these things first.  the size/scope of the first-quarter earnings will determine if there's any potential to expand the line, AND, how far we are willing to go with it") ;)
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Offline JudgeSabersmith

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2008, 12:02:26 PM »
Not to mention - there's an enormous amount of stock to clear out before Hasbro can think about creating something new.  I bet there's case after case of LED ladders and soundboards that need to get used before Hasbro shells out for Luxeons or whatever we're hoping for in their new sabers.

It makes good business sense for Hasbro to use up what is already there - what they already inherited when taking over, and THEN buy new stuff to make new sabers.

Don't look for a "brand new" saber until the last quarter of 2008 or the first quarter of 2009.  That's my prediction.

Offline Aluke123

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #12 on: January 31, 2008, 03:02:03 PM »
This is intriguing. I sure do hope they make a accurate Dooku hilt. They're being SUPER secretive about it  :-\

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Offline Bandit-Jedi

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #13 on: January 31, 2008, 03:11:58 PM »
This is intriguing. I sure do hope they make a accurate Dooku hilt. They're being SUPER secretive about it  :-\

I honestly don't think they are being secretive at all.  I think they just don't know what they are doing yet.

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Offline Onli-Won Kanomi

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Re: Hasbro's Derryl Depriest Interview On FX Plans
« Reply #14 on: February 24, 2008, 12:31:10 AM »
"We don't want to make any specific promises yet, though, because plans are always subject to change and we don't want to disappoint fans if the lineup changes"

Okay parsing that for a moment;

They dont WANT to "make any specific promises" implies that they could make such promises if they did want to...which could only be possible if they do have plans, which also could only be "subject to change" if such plans already exist.

Of course they dont want to disappoint fans if the lineup changes also implies they already have a lineup in mind or it couldnt possibly "change"...and that he'd say that when asked specifically about Dooku means the there is a good chance Dooku is in the lineup I'd guess.

I suspect they are playing their cards close until they see their first quarter sales to gauge the market, so wouldnt expect an announcement til summer or fall...but a Dooku is looking more and more likely imo.

But hey I'm an optimist!
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