Posted by Jeremy on May 30, 2001 at 11:09 AM CST
Some more news about the rumoured Admiral Ozzel figure has just come in:
This weekend a colleague was interviewing Michael Sheard for an article on this year's 25th anniversary of the BBC's Grange Hill (Sheard played the fearsome French teacher Mr Bronson). After the interview was over he took a few moments to gather some facts on the Admiral Ozzel figure that was reported in April at various websites.
Michael Sheard told the interviewer that he had been given the action figure by a Hasbro employee early in 1999 as a gift. Sheard was told that Hasbro made two Imperial officer mock-ups (Ozzel and Piett) but eventually settled with Piett, for reasons unknown. Because of the imminent arrival of The Phantom Menace plans for a second Imperial officer figure were shelved as Hasbro was more intent on pushing the new toyline.
Another source at Hasbro says that there were no Ozzel prototypes at the time of Freeze Frame Piett, though an Ozzel figure may have been discussed. However Piett and Veers (with AT-AT) were released in the same period so Hasbro may have deemed two Imperial officers enough. Current contacts at Hasbro say they don't know of any plans for an Ozzel in the coming future.
The simple explanation could be that Michael Sheard was given a mock-up figure, cobbled together from other figures by the toy designers. This would explain Sheard's claims to owning one, and Hasbro's word that no prototype was ever made. Whatever the explanation there is no Ozzel figure currently under development.
