We’re back this week with a very special AskDST Q&A, this week examining our Battlestar Galactica and Stargate licenses! So check out the full list of questions and find out what DSTChuck has planned for “The Plan” the future of the Stargate action figure lines. Plus find out if there’s hope for Battlestar Galactica vehicles!
Will Bueche
Cornerstorecomics mentions a wider release of Chief Tyrol figure coming in 4th qtr. (Not the orange jumpsuit Chief everyone keeps nudging you about, just a reissue of his green fatigues.) If this is so, is this a new run for which you can ask the factory to use matte paint for the fatigues? In Ask DST #11, DSTChuck said “I think a flat would look better as well. The paint master we sent was matte but based on the paint the factory used for production we got more gloss on some of them then we would like SO we’re going to keep pushing for a more matter, realistic look.” Is this your chance to push them?

DSTChuck: I am sorry but we have no plans to re-issue the Chief figure.

Michael Todd
Hi guys! Thanks for answering my question and making me feel a little better about the BSG line! I don’t blame you guys at all for the delays really. Stuff always manages to come up, and making this stuff can’t be easy! So really, i just wanted to take the time to say thank you for doing such a good job! I do however have another thing to ask. I’d ask that you guys seriously consider in the future the release of a ship for bsg. Mainly,the Mk II viper. You guys make great ships, and i’m sure you could make a very nice viper. And if it did well, you could do a mk VII, and a raider! I don’t think you guys realize how much interest is out there for these things. Everyone i know who has the figures, especially the amazing pilot figures you have put out, is DYING for a viper. And not just one. Many. I’d buy probably 4 at least, like 2 of each type. Maybe more! They would be perfect to display with the figures standing in front of them, or a pilot inside. You could include stickers to put on the nameplate of the main characters and their call signs. You could even do some electronics in there for the basic phrases: “Galactica Actual, this is Apollo”, or something like that. These things would sell like crazy! All we have gotten is the statue and a little titanium really for these ships, and they are totally fan favorites. Maybe you could do a poll or something to guage interest? I’m telling you that it is there! It just seems like a shame to have such wonderful figures, and no ships to put them in! And i don’t expect them to be 20 bucks. Obviously, it would be a bit on the large scale side, and be much more like the larger hasbro ships for star wars. I’d be willing to pay 60+ no problem for one of these if they were done right. Just a thought! I hope you guys can consider it in the future, though i know your plate is full! Thanks for answering so many questions for us, you guys rule!

DSTChuck: Michael, we have discussed ships for BSG but I think if we were to ever do one we’d start with the Galactica and see how that does before moving on to Vipers.

Christopher Gren
Once again, straight in with the questions: Has any thought been given to doing 3.75” Stargate figures? that seems to be a popular wave, and since figures of that size are cheaper, people would buy more. I know I would…it could also mean more figures per wave. Actually, that’s all really…

DSTChuck: There has never been any talk at DST of doing ‘Gate in 3 3/4 scale.

Vince Collier
Hey guys, I’ve got a BSG question for you. Have you guys considered doing a 1:18 scale BSG line? I think it would be a no-brainer as far as sales go. With the huge number of 1:18 scale collectors and the BSG fans you could do some great stuff. Also, it would open the door for vehicles. Just wondering. Thanks, Vince Collier

DSTChuck: Sorry no discussions on that scale for BSG either. If we ever did go smaller I think chances are we’d start with Trek, but that’s a big IF.

Andrew LaRue
Alot of people are thinking that the SG-1 and Atlantis lines are dead now that no new waves (aside from the pending SG-1 wave 5) are being planned. I have to say I’ve been skeptical to jump on that bandwagon as you guys have never been shy of being honest and upfront about that sort of thing, so I was wondering if you could confirm whether or not the lines are done? As well, if the lines aren’t finished, is there any possibility for crucial but potentially low-selling characters to be made as limited editions (similar to Nemesis LaForge) during the time that there are no waves planned? Such as Janet Frasier and Aiden Ford?

DSTChuck: We have nothing planned at this moment for either but we are waiting for information on the new movies for both properties and hope to plan new product based on those story lines.

James White
Hello Good people of DST. I hope all is well. Is there any hope at all of ever seeing 7″ figures from the Classic BSG? If nothing more than, say a Starbuck and Apollo two pack to test the waters? Please??? Pretty Please???

DSTChuck: All is just fine here, thanks for asking. Currently we do not have rights to the original show, but never say never.

Blaine Rodenbaugh
I am absolutely in LOVE with the new image for the Sharon 2-pack!!! I am so happy you guys are finally putting out the “good ones”! Now for the questions..
1-What will happen to the Boomer in civilian clothing? And since you’ve already made a figure before, does that mean you don’t have to wait for actor approval and it’ll come out on schedule??
2- With everything sorted out with series 4, do we get to see accessories?
3- I know you said it was unlikely, but with the new 2-pack could you PLEASE have Hera as an accessory??? (I really don’t know what else you could put with them, and she’s pretty important)
4- (lastly) We would REALLY love to see raptors and vipers for the figures, but if we don’t get them, has there been any talk of making a C.I.C. playset? somewhere for Dualla to sit, lol.

DSTChuck:
1. Sometimes the actor or actress will have multiple stages of approval. For instance they might get to review the sculpt and then the paint or maybe just do a review at paint stage. The Boomer figures you have just seen are 100% approved so hopefully there will be no additional delays.
2. I’ll see if we can get marketing to shoot some pictures of the figures with accessories once the factory has made counter samples. They are very hard to shoot with accessories when they are in the prototype stage.
3. Baby Hera only stayed a baby for a brief stretch, so probably not.
4. I just don’t see BSG play sets on the horizon, sorry.

Mike L
I see that the DST site is re-releasing some of the cylon action figures. I was wondering if there were any plans to do the same for the “Downloaded” Cylon. Some of us aren’t lucky enough to make it to SDCC, and I never saw it up on your site. I would love to add this to my collection! Also, will there be any BSG figures at WizardWorld Philly? If not, could you give us any insight as to what we’ll see at this years SDCC?

DSTChuck: Sorry we do not have plans to re-issue that Cylon, we do have a few here and we send them out to fans on occasions so you never know. DST will not be setting up at WW Philly this year, I might be around on Sat. if you want to chat… To be honest I am not sure yet what we’ll have for BSG at SDCC, we’re still working that out right now.

Blaine Rodenbaugh
So, I’m pumped for all the new characters of BsG coming out, and I’m anticipating re-creating the “last supper” poster with the figures. I’m assuming that main characters such as Baltar and Tigh will be made, but I was wondering if there were any plans to do a Natalie figure? I was looking at the picture, and you could certainly just use Roslin’s legs and the D’anna top painted grey. And speaking of recreating scenes…Have you ever thought of doing a picture submission for the site, to show off how people display their dst products? I for one love getting into my BsG and Star Trek scenes.lol.

DSTChuck: Blaine, I am sorry but I don’t think we’ll ever be able to do all the Cylon’s since we do not currently have the rights to D’Anna. As for Tigh and Baltar, we’re going to do all we can to ensure those get done, as long as sales are strong obviously they are very high on our list.

Mike L
I was looking at the Boomer/Athena picture, and I’m glad to see that her pins are correct. I was wondering if I had gotten a faulty figure with my “Razor” Kendra Shaw. She has the pins of an admiral, and the Pegasus badge is in yellow. I’ve also noticed that Gina’s hair color is way more blonde than the prototype, and what it should be. Are there “fixed” figures out there, or is that how they all came, and how will the series’ coming not have similar issues?

DSTChuck: While there are slight variations in paint though out a run, since they are all painted by hand, I think most will look the same as the ones you have.

Kushmeer Farakhan
Hi guys. Thanks for answering my question last time. 3 mini ones this time: -Will the 5th assortment of figures have a theme? The third assortment was razor and the fourth one appears to be leaders of the fleet. Are we to expect the 5th one will be “The Plan” or maybe just “Cylons” or something? -Are we going to see the new few assortments in Toys R Us or any bigger retail chains? It’s kinda pricy to buy the toys online all the time and I bought Husker Adama and two Cylons from Toys R Us recently (first time I ever saw them there) and that was a LOT less costly. -Can we see more 2 packs? That seems to be the easiest way to get out characters that aren’t part of some kind of theme assortment. I think we were all glad to see the boomer/athena 2 pack and the starbuck/leobon. Maybe this way we can get something like Gaeta/Zarek or Cally/Seelix or something of that nature. Characters we all want who wouldn’t fit a particular theme.

DSTChuck: Thanks for coming back for more! I think with Razor we set out to keep the theme, it really flowed from the Cylon. We were just so excited about the idea for the movie and for the retro looking Cylon we built the wave around it. I think for wave 4 it just kind of came out that way as we started to look over the list of characters and refined it to most of those…we might have made the Apollo fit in the theme intentionally but honestly I can’t recall. I think for a wave 5 the theme might be characters Chuck has to do so fans don’t try and kill him when they see him at trade shows. But we are hoping to get reference soon on the “Plan”. So far sales have been pretty good in TRU so I think we’re going to ship them new figures through out at least this year and we’ll be talking about 2010 in the next few months. I think the 2 packs for BSG are still in the early stage so we’ll see how these new ones do and take it from there. I don’t think you will see two B characters together in a 2 pack though. I think we’ll be sure to keep a main cast member in there to help sales.

Penn Norris
First to say, I just got the Atlantis series 3 figures, and they’re great! The line is going from strength to strength. I also managed to pick up the case-topping o’neill - I actually really like the packaging for that figure. I have noticed the packaging has undergone some revisions across waves 1-3. How much does the packaging play as a factor of the product as a whole and is it costly? Second, I notice that the Stargate team figures tend to come with a Colt style pistol, although on the show they tend to use Beretta style pistols. What was the decision there? Lastly, for the next series, I’d really dig a figure of Robert Davi as the Genii leader Kolya, complete with ‘Timecop’ pistols…can we?

DSTChuck: We kind of start with an idea for the package as well as the style guide the studio provides and go from there. Yes you would be surprised how many little things in the packing can add to the cost or the production MOQ’s. We have to be careful to find a balance -you want a nice package fan will enjoy but you also want to use as much of your budget you can on the figures themselves. I don’t think it was a conscious decision to pick one pistol over the other, it might be as simple as that’s the one we had the most reference one or Jean or Matt liked that version more.