Adam's Star Wars Newsletter #012 December 29, 2022 **************** CONTENTS I. Prologue II. The New Hasbro Reveals III. The New Hasbro Releases IV. New Stories V. Bootleg Bonanza VI. Kenner Corner VII. Fin **************** I. Prologue The year is almost over, finished - so let's dump out the last couple of months' reveals that you probably ignored! I can't say "Hasbro is out of ideas," because we've seen a lot of pre-orders pop up since last time with increasingly absurd prices. Target's Boba Fett exclusive 3 3/4-inch figures are $23, which is pretty outrageous for a repaint of a previously $12.99 figure. The AT-ST reissue at $90 is almost a bargain by comparison - after all, he's cheaper than three Bobas Fett. Looking ahead to 2023, we currently see a smattering of retools, a lot of reissues and repaints, and very few all-new sculpted figures alongside even fewer new-to-figure characters. When you look at The Vintage Collection announcements since Paz Vizsla and Cad Bane are the only new-to-movie-style 3 3/4-inch figures. We have some new ARC Troopers, and some reissues and remakes, but for the long-haul fan that has everything there's very little outside Andor that's bringing any new characters to plastic. This isn't to say there's not a lot to like, especially if you're new. But if you've been here for 20 (or 40) years, you're no doubt scratching your head as we watch the new era which minimizes background aliens, droids, and vehicles. Seeing playsets like an update of the Endor Bunker makes sense from a corporate synergy perspective, but the 1990s original isn't much different and is still pretty affordable. But enough of my yakkin'. Let's boogie. **************** II. The New Hasbro Reveals Exclusive items denoted below. Follow the following sponsored affiliate links to place pre-orders (we may get a cut of the sales on these affiliate links): Amazon New Star Wars Pre-Orders: https://amzn.to/3l37odz Entertainment Earth New Star Wars Pre-Orders: https://bit.ly/3E0SvBh The Black Series Figures __ Ahsoka Tano (Season 1) __ Bastilla Shan (Fan Channel) __ Cal Kestis (Gaming Greats) __ Clone Trooper (Phase II, White) __ Darth Malak __ Din Djarin (Morak) __ Doctor Aphra (Fan Channel) __ Magnaguard Droid __ Mara Jade (Fan Channel) __ Omega (Season 2) __ Scar Trooper MFC (Fan Channel) __ Scorch (GameStop Exclusive) __ Vel Sartha The Black Series Figures (40th Anniversary Return of the Jedi) __ Gamorrean Guard (Deluxe) __ Bib Fortuna __ Boba Fett (Deluxe) __ Chewbacca __ The Emperor __ Paploo __ Stormtrooper The Black Series Gift Sets __ Emperor's Royal Guard and TIE Fighter Pilot (Carbonized, Amazon Exclusive) The Black Series - Props __ Clone Trooper Helmet (Phase II) The Vintage Collection Figures __ ARC Commander Blitz (Walmart Exclusive) __ ARC Commander Havoc (Walmart Exclusive) __ Artillery Trooper __ Boba Fett (Kenner Colors, Target exclusive) __ Boba Fett (Dark Empire Colors, Target exclusive) __ Boba Fett (Empire Strikes Back Marvel Comic Colors, Target exclusive) __ Cad Bane __ Cassian Andor (Aldahani Mission) __ Kithaba (Reissue) __ Moff Jerjerrod __ Nien Nunb (Reissue) __ Nikto (Reissue) __ Paz Vizsla (Deluxe) __ Saelt-Marae (Reissue) __ Wooof (Reissue) The Vintage Collection Special Items __ AT-ST & Chewbacca __ Endor Bunker with Endor Rebel Commando __ Speeder Bike and Biker Scout The Retro Collection __ Biker Scout __ The Emperor __ Han Solo (Endor Trenchcoat) __ Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard Disguise) __ Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) __ Princess Leia Organa (Boushh Disguise) The Retro Collection Special Items __ 4-LOM and Zuckuss (Amazon Exclusive) Droid Factory (Disney) __ Droid Factory Sandcrawler Advent Calendar (4 astromech, 1 BB, 1 Power droid) __ R6-SN0 **************** III. The New Hasbro Releases The Black Series __ Axe Woves __ NED-B The Vintage Collection __ Obi-Wan Kenobi set (Amazon Exclusive with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Teeka, and Purge Trooper) The Retro Collection __ Boba Fett and Bossk (Amazon Exclusive) __ Dengar and IG-88 (Amazon Exclusive) Droid Factory (Disney) __ Droid Factory Sandcrawler Advent Calendar (4 astromech, 1 BB, 1 Power droid) __ R6-SN0 **************** IV. New Stories The Mandalorian is expected to return March 1, 2023 on Disney+ with eight episodes. The Bad Batch will return in January 4, 2023. A new Star Wars movie is being written by Damon Lindelof with director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. No details regarding premise or potential release date have been revealed, but this would be another in a list of several films we have yet to hear any details about as of yet. The Acolyte, a new series set in the High Republic (read: pre-prequels) era, has announced its cast and confirmed production is underway. You can read about most of the not-too-famous faces here: https://www.starwars.com/news/the-acolyte-original-series-cast-revealed For those keeping track, other movies we may never see include Rogue Squadron, the Rian Johnson trilogy, the Taika Waititi movie, the Kevin Feige movie, and apparently there's a rumor about an Exegol movie too. A least eight movies are in some sort of development, and being released at one every year or two - or none at all - we'll probably never see any of them. But I am excited to read the synopses when they get out some day. Nine movies, if you count A Droid Story, an animated movie announced two years ago that could be done or may not have started production yet. Willow has two episodes to go! It's a little cheap looking, but generally goofy fun. I'm not saying you're going to love it but there's a clash between "fantasy-English accents" and "more or less modern American" that you may find enjoyable. And there are figures. **************** V. Bootleg Bonanza Stan Solo Creations continues his fake Kenner line with a lot of newness. Added to the mix recently were Boba Fett figures available in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, gray unpainted, and now Holiday Special cartoon colors. They're basically the Kenner limbs with a retooled back of the body and a new head. The Jedi Spirits will be rerun in clear blue glow plastic - that's Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda. These guys aren't cheap (or licensed) but I can speak to the relative quality of the few I've purchased. His Slave Leia fits right in with the old figures, and Oola is very close. The non-blue Jedi Spirits are perfectly nice, with oddball designs like Amaulman coming off as a lot of fun. I can't say Han Solo (Stormtrooper) was amazing as much more than a display piece, but his fake vinyl cape Jawa looks like an old figure while feeling different enough that it's possible to detect differences from an original. **************** VI. Kenner Corner Kenner's getting a little love from Hasbro in its Marvel Legends 375 Collection - and right now, it's in its second (or perhaps technically third) year. I just started backfilling figures I missed and collections on eBay are quite cheap, and GameStop has had some older figures at below retail price. You no doubt saw it at Pulse Con, but Hasbro is doing its first real "Kenner Vehicles" in years with the Ghost Rider Motorcycle - it's a $25 red bike modeled after a rare 1970s toy, but it includes a figure too. This is only the second "big" item in the Hasbro Kenner Marvel range, the first being the 8-inch Sentinel from X-Men. I think the Bike is a bit more exciting. The other big get will be the Spring 2023 return of Kenner's 1981 The Adventures of Indiana Jones line, which as of my writing this is one figure. (It's Indy.) I'll be sure to track more here for you to ignore as they are announced. While not Hasbro or Kenner, Lucasfilm fans will want to know a Disney+ wave of ReAction figures are on the way for Willow. You get Middle-Age Willow as well as Kit, Dove, Jade, and a couple of bad guys. It's not the entire main cast, but it may be of interest to those of you looking to fill out your Lucasfilm shelves between now and whenever we get Howard the Duck and Radioland Murders. **************** VII. Fin And that's it! I'm getting old and cranky as we see a massive uptick on repaints of existing figures alongside reissues of old figures rather than new, weird aliens and robots. Hasbro is turning in their best work ever when we get new 3 3/4-inch action figures, but those are few and far between since so much of the case is occupied by 10-year-old rereleases much of the time. The important thing is if you cut back what you buy, you're all but guaranteed to like a larger percentage of your purchases. It's nice that there are so many options, but the prices combined with the variety do make it a bit tougher to want to keep up with so much of this stuff. With any luck we'll get some nice surprises for the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi, but so far, I am not hopeful we'll see a lot of new aliens or pilots. Maybe for the 50th. --Adam ****************