MGS Interview: April 14, 2023

jazwares micro galaxy squadron news

The awesome folks at the Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron Action Fleet collectors Group just concluded another 3-hour interview with Jazwares Sr. Brand Manager Max Lux.

The interview discussed Waves 3 to 5, but it was full of what Max called the “inside baseball” trivia on MGS, and what we can expect.

Here are the relevant details:

Confirmed

Next waves

✔️ The MGS line has been planned out to Wave 7, so we have 2 unrevealed waves remaining. Max says the planning for Wave 8 and 9 will start within the next 2-3 months.

✔️ Jazwares is now working on the model line for spring 2024, prototyping vehicles and showing them to retailers to gauge interest before production.

More TIE variants

MGS is committed to making more TIE variations. This could include the Reaper, and even the TIE crawler at some point.

✔️ The TIE Defender will definitely be produced.

The panel tried to convince Max to include Grand Admiral Thrawn as a figure for the Defender.

Starspeeder

✔️ Disney wants Jazwares to make a Starspeeder 3000 at some point for the Disney Star Tours ride. While it’s not officially announced or even in development, Max says it’s only a matter of “How and when” at this point.

There has been no Action Fleet version of the Starspeeder to date. There have only been a deluxe electronic playset for 3.65″ figures with 5 doors, and 1/64 diecast models from Disney and Tomica. A smaller lights and sounds version for Disneyland Paris was also made with 3 doors, but was still too large for MGS scale.

E-Wing

✔️ The E-wing is all but confirmed for future release, especially since it was included in the Ahsoka trailer.

  • There will 100% be a “Dark Empire” variant.

Imperial Landing Craft

✔️ The Sentinel-class landing craft is Max’s favorite and will “100%” be produced.

Potentials

Sandcrawler

  • The initial model has been brainstormed and sized to a reasonable scale. It even has “a dual feature”. However, Max has still no idea if it will get made.

Naboo Starship

  • Max would really like to do the Royal Starship, and they even went as far as sizing and production measurements. They also discussed all the sections and play features that should be included. However, the ship will have to be downsized.
  • There’s a possibility we could see it next year during the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace.

Royal Starship Repair

The Royal Starship Repair from Galoob was huge and action-packed, but did not close up.

The Ghost

  • “Very high” on Jazware’s wishlist. Max considers it as iconic as the Falcon and the AT-AT, and has expandability with two versions (one having the Phantom version).

Direct to consumer sales

  • Jazwares is very interested in doing direct to consumer sales, instead of exclusive retail agreements. They will have a business study on what form this could take, whether it could be something as simple as a Sales landing page on the Jazwares site, to something more elaborate similar to Haslab crowdfunding.

Droid vehicles

  • Max asked whether droids like the dwarf spider walker is considered vehicles by fans. This could be a hint for future Clone Wars models like the Droid gunship and droid ground vehicles.
  • Since MGS is all about vehicles first and figures second, it’s likely that all droid models will come with figures, even if they don’t need a pilot (like the Vulture droid)

Creatures

  • Max wants to do creatures such as the classic AF Rancor that could eat figures (probably as a vehicle), Wampas and Tauntauns, even hyperspace whales.

Solo Falcon

  • Max is gauging interest in a Lando-era Falcon, which means we could get one in the future.

Andor

  • Max will be presenting a vehicle from Andor‘s Season 2 for Lucasfilm for approval.

Porkins

  • The entire Red Squadron has been pitched to Lucasfilm. However, Porkins may have to be resculpted to be “politically correct”.
  • The Jazwares team is also brainstorming what form his X-wing will take, whether it be a battle-damaged version or on fire like the Speeder Bike with Paploo.

Gauntlet

  • Jazwares may revisit Bo Katann’s fighter and give it proper justice by redoing it as a proper Assault-class model.

Others

Direct order collector’s boxes

  • Max asked the audience whether there would be interest in a Collector’s Box that includes an entire wave, including rare and chase models.

Chases

  • One viewer asked why Jazwares insists on doing rares and chases. Max says its the only way they could make obscure models that are not recognized by casual fans, like Durge and Aurra Sing, without the risk of overproducing them like the Ginivex.
  • Max apologized for making Ahsoka, Sabine, and Hera’s fighters rare, and he was surprised at how popular they turned out to be.

The rarest MGS

  • Speaking of rares, Max said the rarest possible MGS ship is a 1 of 1 Yoda Starfighter. The original design did not have R2, only Yoda, but Jazwares added the droid later in development.
  • A complete packaged sample was produced without R2. It has a cap covering the droid area and the packaging omits any droid mention, including the blister. But it was mistakenly given away and is out in the wild.

Assault class ships

  • The Assault class costs the most to develop for Jazwares, hence they are limited to one per Wave. However if MGS keeps growing, they hope to increase it to 1 Assault class ship for spring and 1 for fall.

UK distribution

  • Jazwares is in talks with Smyths and Entertainment Earth to improve its UK distribution

Models from upcoming shows

  • Their collaboration with Lucasfilm has steadily improved. The Jazwares team now has regular access to what vehicles will be in upcoming shows, so they produced faster and closer to the show’s release.

Repaints

  • Max has a giant spreadsheet of every possible repaint for every Star Wars ship. This is to maximize their “astronomical” investments in the tooling of each ship.
  • Repaint potential is also what guides their decisions when coming up with future models. Lucasfilm supplies the list of vehicles set to appear in future shows, and Jazwares decides which ones to produce.

Vulture Droid

  • The Series 4 Vulture Droid starfighter comes with 2 wings: flight mode and walking mode.
  • This is because the prototype sample that combined both modes turned out to be fragile, and the constant transformation between the two modes actually destroyed the sample.
  • Including 2 wings actually ate into MGS’s profit margins, but durability was more important. After all, the series is for both kids and collectors.

Escape Pod

  • The escape pod with C3Po from Wave 4 will now be common and will have re-entry burns. It’s meant to depict the pod after it lands on Tatooine.

Resistance A-wing

  • Will come with a female pilot. MGS wants to diversify the figures included in the whole line

The whole 3-hour interview can be watched here.

Thanks to Kevin Tanner, Dave Cosentino, and the awesome crew of the MGS Facebook group for setting up another awesome interview!

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5 responses to “MGS Interview: April 14, 2023”

  1. Adrian Avatar
    Adrian

    Awesome interview. Max is such a mystery to me though. I know he loves Star Wars and understands the desires of the fandom but I am curious about what he says is the future for this line. I hope it endures and keeps its integrity instead of becoming a device aimed at the more causal consumer. We chase the limited releases and Jazwares chases the buck. I get it. But please continue to care about the diehard fans because this line is the most important Star Wars offering in the last 20 years in my opinion. I will explain why soon.

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thanks for the news! Looking forward to all these ships!

  3. Brian Avatar
    Brian

    Its time we get a new starspeeder. Hopefully with the same electronic features as the falcon!

  4. Chris Wr Avatar
    Chris Wr

    The Naboo royal starship is definitely a must! All they need to do is copy the Galoob one since they bought the rights to it

  5. Victor Avatar
    Victor

    I remember when the vulture droid was shown then moved back. Now we know why.

    Good of the team to put quality first even at the expense of profit!

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