DSTChuck is back for another installment of Ask DST, this time answering your Battlestar Galactica and Stargate questions! Find out who’s coming in Stargate SG-1 Series 5, get the dirt on upcoming exclusive Cylon Centurions and learn the truth about Starbuck & Leoben!

Brian Petersen:
1) DST’s site says “Also included are two figure-sized Transport Rings compatible with the Stargate SG-1 Series 4 set” for the Daniel/Teal’c Season 10 2pack, but the figures were only released with one ring. I’m just curious why this is?
2) Why was the old version of the P-90 used in the 2pack rather than the more recent one?
3) Great work on the Daniel paintjob! Teal’c looks fantastic too!
4) Since you’ve done t-shirts, offworld and garrison uniforms, would you consider putting some of the pilot jumpsuits (like worn on the 303 in the show) into the line?
5) Previews announced a PX Ba’al figure. Is this a real thing?

DSTChuck:
1) Brian I am sorry, early on we had hoped to get two rings in there but we had to cut one out to stay in budget. We do however have rings in stock at the DST site if you need more.
2) When we re-use a small piece like that sometimes you have to go with the one that’s most convient for the factory to use. In this case that P-90 was on the “tool” with another piece we were already using.
3) Very glad you like the paint on those — DSTMatt had a great idea to make that two pack and we think it came out pretty well too.
4) Honestly I am not sure if we’ll do more versions of the same characters or new characters or a mix… I am very happy with SG1 series 5 and I think fans will be too.
5) I am not sure what Previews listed BUT I can tell you YES at long last we are doing Ba’al!

Andrew Rybarczyk:
I just walked into Toys R Us today and found two BSG exclusives that were great! (Civil War Cylon and Galatica Adama) I was just wondering if there was any way you guys could update us on exclusives to all the stores because I don’t want to miss out on anything? Maybe a special page on your site? Anything to help would be great!

DSTChuck: DSTMatt and I have talked about that and we’re going to see if we can find a way to call out ALL exclusives we do on the Blog.

Joshua Hesselgrave:
Hi there. I just wanted to let someone know in customer service about a bad experience I’ve just had with some of your product. First, let me say I contacted here months before about 2 of the BSG 6-7 inch figures I bought that I couldn’t for the life of me, get to stand up. I decided then I wouldn’t be buying anymore of these and was a little suprised that I never got any response from customer service about the experience. Well, that was several months ago and I ended up ordering two more of the BSG figures from two different on-line retailers. I was already placing an order for something else from them and decided to give the line another chance. I do like the look of the figures and like how they go with the Star Trek figures I have been getting. I purchased a Pilot Helo and a Hot Dog. When I opened one up, I tried to gently take one hand off to switch hands and it broke. I barely pulled and it just came off. I didn’t try the other hand for fear of doing the same thing! , but wasn’t real happy with what happened. I went ahead and opened the other figure and was extremely cautious with it to avoid the same thing. I twisted it around (gently) several times and pulled some to see if it felt loose. And then it broke off also. For real. Am I the only person having problems with this line? I can fix them both with glue (I think), but won’t be able to switch out the hands to the ones I want because the ball part is stuck in the arm. It’s honestly not worth trying to return to the company since I’d be paying for postage, but it really just makes me mad. You have really become a company I am loyal to and I appreciate what you try to do with your product and fan interaction (I really do love your new site). But having four problems with the first four figures I’ve bought from this line is just hard to swallow. I’ve had problems with some of the Minimates I’ve gotten (even in the last week), but it’s not normal so I just grin and bear it. I’m not complaining to receive anything, but it would be nice this time to get a response. Thanks.-Joshua

DSTChuck: If you just sent an email into CS that said you were upset and were not going to buy more figures, there is a good chance CS would not respond to that since there was no call to action. While I would like them to respond to ALL emails they receive, I do not know the tone of your email or the time you sent it (maybe they were at a show and had lots of catching up to do). I do track damage issues closely in our CS emails as well as online and have not seen mention of this problem. Please email customerservice@diamondselecttoys.com. We have a 100% replacement policy for items that are in stock! We’ll take care of it for you and I hope you will continue to support us as we’re always looking to improve our QC in China to assure the best product gets to fans.

Will Bueche:
I hear there are some battle damaged Cylon Centurians out or due out soon. Can you please describe what sort of battle damage you were able to apply — paint or sculpted? (I am hoping for sculpted damage.) Will the AFX exclusive 2-pack feature different damage than the Toys R Us exclusive “Civil War” Cylon, and will the 2 Cylons in that 2-pack be identical? Thanks!

DSTChuck: The battle damaged Cylons will have SCULPT and paint changes. The AFX two pack has a new version not done before and both figures in the pack will be exactly the same. The Civil War Cylon available now in Toys R Us stores is different, with only paint changes.

Ryan Luxford:
Previously DST was reporting that they were partnering with Toys R Us for upcoming toys. It has been announced that Star Trek was the first, now when I am searching on TRU’s site I have found Ronan Dex along with the Daniel/Teal’c -pack, and some BSG. Will this partnership end some deals with Comic Book companies? Will this end the Case Topper figures, since they are usually packaged differently than the regular figures? Will this lead to faster releases of waves to keep fresh toys available?

DSTChuck: The TRU web store and the store fronts are NOT connected. If the store carries an item it’s pretty much assured the website will have it as well BUT the opposite is NOT true. We will be shipping many (hopefully) items to the stores and website that we had not sold to them before. It will NOT be every item we make nor even the same items in many case. We’re doing many exclusives for TRU as well as configuring cases more to their customer base. The case toppers will remain exclusive to the direct market. I don’t think it will lead to more or faster release but it will allow us to add more depth to some of the lines as well as allow some lines to remain viable when they might not have been with support from only the specialty market.

Jose Perea:
I see that you have Star Trek ships. Why not any Stargate Atlalantis Ships ?

DSTChuck: Right now we need to produce approximately two large (for us) runs of a Trek ship to show a profit. Based on response and the history of the line –and lack of TRUE key ships, we do not think ships for Stargate are possible at this time. Never say never though.

David Robinson:
Hiya - I jut want to say I love the SG1 & Atlantis figures, great job so far! Have you ever thought of making a two-pack set of Todd the Wraith & ‘Wraith Teyla’? I think the episode was ‘the queen’ and would make an excellent addition to my vast collection of stargate figures. Would you consider making a Ronon and Ford two-pack figure set (since Ronon has been made in wave 3)? What are the chances of getting a Beckett Atlantis figure? When will we hear about wave 5 of SG1 - What accessories come with Ba’al PX Figure? Thanks, D:)

DSTChuck: We have not thought of those two packs yet, but those are some good ideas. We’d like to do Beckett at some point for SURE. We’ll be announcing SG1 5 at New York Comic Con.

John Sharkey:
Thank you for doing these!!! This is my first one so I’ve got a few Q’s:
1. The recent Ship Update has the first BSG 2 pack listed for 12/31…so does that mean it has shipped? If so, wouldn’t it be in stores now? If not, when will it be in stores or available for order (not pre-order) online?
2. In a recent Q&A you said: “DSTChuck: The DST site is NOT correct, D’Anna is still stuck in limbo. We’ve got some new characters to get taken care of and some catch-up, then we’ll see about going back for new versions of characters we’ve done already. Thanks for the ideas though.” I could not possibly agree more! I REALLY hope you stick to this because seeing/getting multiples of Apollo, Six, Helo and Anders with no mention of Saul or Baltar has been quite frustruating.
3. (Last one!) Any chance of increasing the frequency of waves? 2 per year just isn’t enough of a BSG fix!!! THANK YOU!

DSTChuck:
1) YES the Apollo & Dualla two pack is in stores and on our website, just in time (spoiler)
2) One of the reason we do multiple versions of the same character is to amortize our cost. The hard costs to make an action figure are considerable, and selling specialty toys like we do, the sales are not always what you need them to be to cover the expense. SO we come up with tricks to spread those cost over multiple projects.
3) We’d never really do more then three waves a year so if sales pick up on the line that’s something we would work towards.

Andrew LaRue:
The Ancient Control Chair seems to have really turned out great, and I’m looking forward to getting it! I was just wondering, is there any possibility of the Build-a-Chair idea continuing with the command chair of the Daedalus?

DSTChuck: Not right now. We have the “build an accessory” planned for SG1 5 and it’s not a chair. We have not planned out Atlantis Series 4 yet.

Coy Wims:
Dear ArtAsylum, I had a question concerning the STARGATE ATLANTIS SERIES 3 LINE getting ready to come out at the end of this month. My question is about the Ronan Dex action figure. I wanted to know is that figure going to be fully articulated or just have multiple articulation? Please send me a response to this question your convience. Thanks Sincerely, Coy D Wims

DSTChuck: I am not sure what the exact difference is BUT Ronan will have at least 14 points of articulation.

Agent 86:

Dear Sir/Madam,
1. What can you tell us (if anything) about the pictures of Leoben (Number Two) and Starbuck (long hair, fatigues) action figures that have mysteriously surfaced? Is this a planned two-pack? Or will these figures (together with the flight suit Number Eight/Boomer/Athena) form part of “Series 5″ of the action figure range? If it is a planned two-pack, is it exclusive to Toys R Us, or will it be available elsewhere (particularly to international fans)?
2. Any updates on the Civilian Number Eight/Boomer, “White Dress” Number Three/D’Anna Biers or the Flight Suit Number Eight/Boomer/Athena action figures? When can we expect to be able to buy these figures (if at all)?
3. Are any further two-packs (or multi-packs) planned for relase and/or in the development stages? If so, will these be exclusive to Toys R Us or available to all fans?
4. Any chance that we’ll see more “new” humanoid Cylon characters (other than Leoben (Number Two) and possibly Boomer/Athena (Number Eights))? Thanks.

DSTChuck:
1) Hmm I have no idea where those pics would have come from…NO just kidding! YES we are doing a Starbuck & Leoben two pack! The long hair Starbuck works for season 4.5 and the time on New Caprica. We pretty much consider the two packs to be separate from the waves of figures. This two pack will be available to all retailers.
2) TRU has been nice enough to allow us to offer their exclusives internationally SO even if we were to do an exclusive two pack you’d have a chance to pick on up.
3) I have no updates on the whole Boomer/ D’Anna mess SORRY!
4) We’d like to do all the “skin jobs” but time will tell…