DSTChuck is back again with another batch of questions from fans - this time with a focus on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis!

Even though the build-it accessories are awesome, I think that a Dr. Beckett can be released without anything and still sell well. The same with a Season 4 Uniform Dr. McKay. I would like to see both characters, and Carson would only require a new head sculpt (using a repaint of one of the other character bodies).

DSTChuck: I’m glad you like the build-an-accessory line, however having those does not stop a character such as Beckett from being made. He was way up on our list after Seasons One and Two of the show, but changes to casting moved him down our list. He’s still a character we’d like to make though.

Now that Atlantis Wave 3 has been announced, and Atlantis Wave 2 and SG1 Wave 4 are out, will it be long before we hear any announcement on SG1 Wave 5?

DSTChuck: VERY soon! Our general plan is to have one series of product in stores, another series being ordered by stores and the next series being developed. So right now we’re just about done planning SG1 Series 5.

Does the limited edition black BDU Sheppard come with the Sheppard Atlantis gatepiece? Honestly aside from my Black T-Shirt O’Neill, Spike and Troi (All of which I got free in the mail) I have no desire to buy the figures. I would however love to see some of the SG ships from DST as they really do starships justice. Daedalus, Prometheus, Puddle Jumper, maybe an Al’kesh? Include some replacement stickers with the Daedalus with Apollo, Phoenix, Odyssey, Korlev, etc. so the person buying it can have whatever ship they want.

DSTChuck: I’m sorry, but right now there are no plans to do ships for Stargate like the ships we do for Star Trek.

Everyone here seems really excited about Atlantis Series 3! It seems that you have really selected a line up that lots of people like - both the chair and the characters. I, myself think that the chair is an awesome, awesome idea. Thanks so much!

DSTChuck: So glad you like the line up! Sometimes when you’ve gone a few series into a line it gets harder to make a balanced line up, but Atlantis is so deep it’s been fun. I’d love to take 100% credit for the chair but Jean St. Jean Studios are the ones that really pushed for that to be included.

well its been months since we had our last answers, i thought ill post this anyways. the series three figures are awesome but i have one request to ask, can you please change the legs on sheppard? he is suppose to wear bdu pants with boot (like sg-1). would you please consider making this change? thank you.

DSTChuck: I’m really sorry for the delay, hopefully moving this to www.artasylum.com will lead to more timely turnarounds. I’ll look into the Sheppard figure for you.

Will we ever be seeing the Super Soldier make an appearance in the toy line? What about Ishta?

DSTChuck: There are no plans for one right now.

Dear DST,
Series 2 of Atlantis looks great! I have bought multiples of each of them. Keep it up!
There is a lot of concern here about the continuation of the SG1 lines. I made a suggestion a long time ago about re-releasing the stargate pieces to be bought individually in ‘gate packs.’ I was told that this would not be a good idea, as it would depreciate the value of the original stargate. However, I am now suggesting a different idea.
The gate is currently a very popular item on ebay. I believe that if it was repacked with another wave, then that wave would sell well, if only for the stargate pieces. That way a series of characters other than the main team can be released, without fear of poor sales. Reusing the gate molds would also reduce the cost of the toys. Finally, if the gate was slightly re-tooled (such as adding something to the backpiece, even something as simple as writing ‘not a piece from wave 1 or 2′, as one of us suggested here,) then there would be no reduction in the value of series 1 and 2.

DSTChuck: We’ve been very please with the response to the build-an-accesory angel from these lines and we understand fans’ concerns about the ‘Gate. We’ll keep thinking of ways to keep everyone happy and let you know when we come to a final decision.

First of all I’d like to say how much I love both the Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis lines. Though, if I’m honest, I’m liking the Atlantis line just a little bit more. They’re fine sets of figures which, for the most part, look stunning. Excellent work, Diamond!

DSTChuck: I’m so glad you like them and while I love both lines I can see why some fans prefer Atlantis - if for no other reason than we had more of an idea what we wanted to do when we started on that line.

Can you give us any guarantee that both lines will go beyond Waves 4 and 3 respectively, and continue into 2009? At this stage I’m not looking for clues on specific characters or detailed secret plans. I’d like to know if I can look forward to enjoying more of the 7-inch lines or whether I should count my blessings.

DSTChuck: I can’t say anything like that because you never know, but I will say we love doing these and as long as sales are there we’ll keep going. Oh, and Stargate SG-1 Series 5 is in the final planning stages as I type this.

Are there plans to release Black Ops variants of Carter, Mitchell and Vala in the future? What about Desert Combat variants of Mitchell and Vala?

DSTChuck: As we go along with any of our lines we try to strike a balance – including multiple versions of key characters to balance out other less popular characters to make the line more complete. If there is a need for more versions of Carter, Mitchell and Vala we’ll look at all these possibilities.

Beside the main cast, Bra’tac and Jacob Carter are possibly the most popular characters in Stargate history. Is there any chance of seeing either of these two characters created as figures in the future? Which regular character from Atlantis do you think will be released in action figure form first: Lt. Ford, Carson Beckett, or Richard Woolsey? Also, which recurring character from Atlantis do you think will be made first (if at all): Colonel Caldwell, Major Lorne, or Dr. Zelenka? Assuming sales of Atlantis figures remain strong, will we see Michael as the “alien” character in a future wave?

DSTChuck: I really can’t comment on specific characters but I will say some of the ones you asked about are already in our planning so hopefully you will see some of them soon.

DSTMatt: We’ve talked about all of those at some point or another, but my money’s on Zelenka. I love that crazy Czech and I take a drink every time David Nykl comes onscreen.

Why were the Atlantis series 2 figures packaged with zats? Isn’t that an SG-1 accessory uncommon on Atlantis?

DSTChuck: Yes they are uncommon, but we wanted to include them with the Atlantis universe of toys in case fans of one series never bought the other.

Has any thought been given to doing other Jaffa Guards? I mean there’s a perfectly good stock body in the form of a Serpent Guard that could simply be turned into a Horus Guard.

DSTChuck: We’ve talked about doing the Horus Guard since Series 1, so we’ll just have to see if we can find the right time for that to happen.

Unlike the SG-1 figures, the Atlantis figures have pegholes in their feet. Will we eventually see stands for the figures, possibly ones that go with the floor pieces of the Atlantis build-a-gate?

DSTChuck: We’ve had so many request from fans for peg holes we decided to add them into all our figure lines, but we have no plans to do bases or such.

The desert wave came in cases of 8 figures with 2 of each figure, instead of 10 figures with a shortpack, will this be the norm from now on?

DSTChuck: While we do like to stick to our formula, the desert wave really cried out to be packed in sets since it was the core members together in one wave. We might do a different mix like that from time to time depending on the characters in those series.

Will there be a 2-pack with geared-up versions of Desert Carter and Jack coming to finish up the wave?

DSTChuck: There are no plans now but that’s something we could do at any time if it worked out.

Compared to previous years at USTF and even Comic-Cons, and excluding Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Retro lines, i thought that the overall Stargate display was pitiful.I have lost count of how many times ive seen SG-1 Series 4 on display, not including the changes to uniforms, colors, and gear over the past THREE years. And what about Star Trek TNG Series 5? It was shown at USTF06 and still is not out. DS9’s Sisko and Dax Season 3 Uniforms at USTF07 are still not out either. When will you show SG-1 Series 5 figures?

DSTChuck: Sometimes (depending on approvals and such) what we show “new” at a show can ebb and flow… Don’t take that to mean we have lost faith in a property as that’s not the case at all. With Stargate SG1 going off the air we pulled back a little and with Atlantis going strong we wanted to spend some more time on Series 3 and added the chair. I think that’s the first time the chair was shown in public and maybe one of the first times for the Season 10 Two Pack. As I have said earlier, SG1 Series 5 is moving along and we’ll have something to show soon.

SDCC showed enough Battlestar Galactica figures to last two to three more series but with USTF08 there are enough figures to go through Series 5 with them.

DSTChuck: Funny you should say that we’ve received many emails from BSG fans that were disappointed and wanted to see more figures and a new ship in their line…

I know you want to us to be surprised but when you add so many delays to this line and others, you begin to get people upset, especially when you ship wrong items, damaged items, missing items, and figure hands snap off.

DSTChuck: We’re aware of the delays and I’m not going to make excuses. It’s NOT cool and we’re trying to do much better! As for damages, we receive very few emails about problems with our figures but if you have a broken figure or missing accessory please email customer service right away and we’ll take care of it!

What about an F-302 die cast toy? Come on - the BSG toys are pretty slick - SG1 and SGA need to catch up! You could do all the ships and make a killing!

DSTChuck: Sorry, we don’t have the rights to make anything Stargate in die–cast.

Yes, how come Keller got an action figure before a character who’s been in the show a lot longer than she has? I’m talking about Carson Beckett btw

DSTChuck: I can say with confidence if Beckett had stayed on the show straight through he’d have his figure already, but we know there is interest from the fans so he’s not forgotten.

Can customers from Outside of the U.S, (like Germany,…or Europe aswell) use the Proof of Purchase from Series 3 to get 2 Rings at least for free (because Series 4 only come with 2 Transport rings, as 4 fans hoped for), like DST did send out the Gate Piece…Are there any plans to ship extra rings out to retailers like you did with the gate pieces?

DSTChuck: International shipping is something we’re going to see if we can address in the not-too-distant future. You can see we’ve already added the rings back in as an accessory with the Season 10 Two-Pack so there will be more out there soon. Honestly, we did not think fans would (for the most part) want all four rings since if you stack that many you can’t even see the figures inside.

what happened to the added articulation on the sg1 series 4 figures as was stated in the description on the Diamond Select website which has mysteriously vanished as of today? many people were hoping that with the long delay we would at least get that.

DSTChuck: I think I’ve addressed this before but since the Q&A has a new home I’ll touch on it. The short answer is, it was 100% planned all along but there was some bad communication between us and the factory in China and by the time we caught it, it was too late.

With the success of both sg1 and Atlantis lines, is there any plans to increase the amount of toys per wave or include more waves each year? this would help many fans with a better chance at getting that secondary character they want but might wait much longer in the current format if it comes out at all. Thank you

DSTChuck: While both lines are successes and we’re pleased with how they’re doing, Stargate is still very much a niche line and adding more characters per wave would significantly increase our cost… so we’re pretty much going to have to stick to the template we have.

was there any specific reasoning why Keller and Atlantis Carter were chosen over other characters at this point?

DSTChuck: Sometimes it’s not as simple as “how about this character over that character.” We have to factor in the costing of the sculpts, the tooling of the figures and the costs each one will have in production. It’s seldom as simple as a straight “lets do Keller over Beckett” type of conversation. However part of the thinking with Keller was to get her figure out while she’s fresh and new. Since Beckett was off the show already we knew we could do him later and that his fans weren’t going anywhere. BUT it was not a straight swap Keller over Beckett as some people have speculated.

Are there any plans for new original SG1 character releases not previously seen? (Besides Jonas Q)

DSTChuck: Do you mean like Hammond, Ba’al, stuff like that – yes they are all still possible.

Is there any intention to converge the Stargate line into one merchandising style, or will SG1 and Atlantis be kept as two separate branches of the figure franchise?

DSTChuck: Very short answer – yes.

Is they any intention to revisit characters from earlier in SG1’s history?

DSTChuck: Not at this time – but never say never.

Will the pace of production and releases accelerate, or will it be one - two waves per year?

DSTChuck: I think at the most you would see three waves of each show, but a realistic idea would be more like 5 total waves.

So we’ve seen 3 new Atlantis figures, but never has there been a wave in either Stargate series with only 3, so I’m curious if the wave is still in development with a possible fourth and/or fifth figure in the works?

DSTChuck: I’m not sure which figures you have seen but for the benefit of all here is the breakdown for Atlantis Series 3. Col Carter, Dr Keller, Wraith Done, Garrison Sheppard and the Previews Exclusive is Ronon.

Will series 2 and 3 UPC’s work for sending away for the Steve figure, in the future?

DSTChuck: We do honor series 2 for sure. We’ll have to see about Series 3 if we have some Steves left we’ll send them out I’m sure. Problem is I can’t promise the supply will last that long.

Neat SGA wave 3! A few questions:

I am very glad that Diamond has followed up with the Season 4 uniforms! Will Dr. McKay in Season 4 uniform be in the next wave (wave 4)? If so, could the blue-stripe uniform be re-used to make a Dr. Zelenka as an exclusive? (Or Woolsey, Season 5 Uniform, as he is now in command).

DSTChuck: Honestly wave 4 is not 100% planned yet so even if Marketing let me tell you what we’re doing – I can’t. Like I said before, it’s hard to come up with the right mix of core characters in new looks with other characters we have not done before that the fans want to see… Those Season 4 jackets are certainly a cool change though.

Will Series 3 build anything like the Ancient Control Chair (or Atlantis)?

DSTChuck: Yes, the build-an-accessory is the Chair.

Any particular reason for giving Series 2 Rodney a ZAT stunner? Was this from The Return, Part 1, where they had to steal a Jumper in the SGC (and use ZAT’s)?

DSTChuck: We felt we needed to get some Zats out there for Atlantis in case fans did not collect both lines.

Are there plans to release a special case topper like the Daniel figure with every future wave?

DSTChuck: We’ve gone back and forth on doing case toppers or not doing them. If you had to make me say what our plans are right now, I’d say we hope to do them for each release. In case you missed it though, we ARE including a case-topper for Atlantis Series 3. That figure will be a Blue Uniform Jack O’Neill to match the Series 1 Daniel Jackson.

First off - a thank you! The zero point module with Dr Weir (I think?) and the fact you have made Jonas Quinn is more positive proof that you listen to fan requests and input. It makes me as a collector appreciate DST all the more!

DSTChuck: No problem! What’s most fun is DST is a small company, so it’s cool that lots of us are fans of the show. We love to have fun with the accessories and some of the character choices.

DSTMatt: Exactly! Including the lemon with Sheppard was my idea and I never would have thought of that if I didn’t watch every episode multiple times.

Do the ongoing casting changes in the Atlantis series have an impact on the design and planning of figures? For example, will new versions of Shephard, McKay and Teyla featuring the new season 4 field jackets be considered, and how do the lead cast changes fit in with figure production schedules?

DSTChuck: Yes they have a big impact. If Beckett had stayed on the show we’d have done a figure of him by now and I think we might be done with Weir now since she is off the show. We’d NEVER have done a Woolsy if not for his jump from SG-1 to Atlantis. Also as for new outfits we think its great. It’s a chance to keep the core characters out there and fresh for fans while giving versions fans actually want.

How positive has the preorder response been to the desert combat versions of SG1?

DSTChuck: I think SG-1 Series 4 did about what we expected it to do.

Are there any figures on the drawing board based on the upcoming Ark of Truth and Continuum movies?

DSTChuck: I’ve seen both movies and I don’t think we’ll plan anything around them at this time.

Has DST ever considered creating waves of figures from both SG-1 and Atlantis?

DSTChuck: Nope. From the start we felt they should be separate.

In the episode “Spoils of War” we see that the face armor on the Wraith Grunts/Warriors is removable, would this feature be included if one is ever made as a figure?

DSTChuck: Honesty I don’t know if that’s something we’re going to be able to do.

Is Todd the Wraith (from “Common Ground,” “Spoils of War,” and other episodes) being considered?

DSTChuck: I think we’ve tossed him around but he’s not currently on the “list”.

Now that the P90 has been corrected can we send in the incorrect ones for replacement? Or can DST at least sell them in groups of 4?

DSTChuck: Interesting idea, I’ll bring that up in the next meeting..

Very awesome work on the new P90, it’s leaps and bounds better than the previous version. There is one big flaw about it though; the magazine. The bronze/goldish paint used on the sides is a good representation of the transparent plastic magazines, but in the future could the top of the magazine be painted as well? When you look at it from any angle aside the bottom or side it ruins the effect that it’s a separate piece of the gun.

DSTChuck: I’ll have them pull some reference and we’ll check that out! Thanks for the heads up!

With many fans unable to get the case toppers (like the blue uniform Jackson) due to its scarce numbers, do you plan in the future to make them available in larger quantities? thank you.\

DSTChuck: Sorry but no. We have no plans to make a case topper part of any future regular release.

Are the unpainted casetoppers done with? If so, will we be getting more case toppers like the Blue garrison uniform Daniel?

DSTChuck: Yes, I think going forward any case toppers we do will be painted.

With DST having Colm Meaney’s headsculpt for the upcoming wave 4 of TNG, does this increase the chance of him being made in the Atlantis line for his Genii character?

DSTChuck: No it does not make it more likely.

Will there be any special figure promotions for the SG-1 movies?

DSTChuck: We talked about them but nothing was ever worked out.

What was the decision that lead to the introduction of the 12 inch figures? Does this mean that the number of characters in the existing 7 inch scale will be cut back for any reason, or are the two lines working independently of each other?

DSTChuck: Each line will be independent of each other.

Does the introduction of the 12 inch line have any implications for the Atlantis line of figures in addition to SG1?

DSTChuck: We are right now considering Atlantis 12” figures.

It was once said (I think!) that once a wave is announced, the next one is on the drawing board. Does this mean that SG1 wave 5, and Atlantis wave 3 is waiting in the wings? If yes, is there a timeframe to an announcement for them?

DSTChuck: Exactly correct. Right now Series 4 of SG-1 is in stores and Series 3 of Atlantis is being worked on at our factories. Series 5 of SG-1 is now moving into the sculpt stage and Atlantis Series 4 is moving into the planning stage.

Are we to expect that the regular action figures will be delayed for the development of the 12″ figures?

DSTChuck: Nope not at all. A different sculptor is working on those as well as a different product manager and different factory.

Are there any plans to do anything like minimates, since DST is expanding the Stargate toy opportunities?

DSTChuck: We’ve thought long and hard about it but nothing in the planning stages yet.