1. Way back when Star Wars was still brand-new, Kenner included a note on vehicle instructions for customers to write them to receive replacement parts for missing or broken pieces.

On modern collector forums, I read posts from folks needing pieces from popular items, like the BMF, AT-AT, Y-Wing, etc.

Wouldn't it be in Hasbro's best interest to build up a stockpile of certain parts in anticipation, and sell these on their website?

I can see a few years from now new collectors needing a piece from the Razor Crest or Ghost to make it complete.

Could this be something Hasbro considered, but dismissed, due to the cost?

I've seen 3-D printed copies of some of these parts. Some are spot-on, but some, like body panels, are lacking in detail. And I don't even see canopy copies.
--Chris

My hunch is most modern customers are collectors that take really good care of their stuff, so the requests for missing parts within the first five years will probably be pretty low (and the result of very few factory errors.) Given the decades of product, I don't know that I would expect Hasbro to support thousands of figures and vehicles for very long due to the size of the project. If you take a step back from your request and assume fans of Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Marvel may all be asking for the same thing... it's probably outside the realm of feasibility.

I don't believe I've ever heard of Hasbro making a statement on this topic, but I assume the challenges mentioned above plus the expectation of the length of time anyone can support a product are limited. Even Kenner blew out its CS stock around the end of the 1980s, with some of those items made in such gargantuan numbers you can still buy Jabba the Hutt's pipe and slave collar set from distributors today. That shouldn't happen - this is a 42 year old set, and someone far overestimated a market need.

Dealing with collector expectations of 2025 versus kid expectations in 1983 are two very different things. Most 1980s kids will be done with their toys, or sell them, within a few years. They're not going to ask for parts, and garage sale purchases are unlikely to result in someone going "I got a used X-Wing, please sell me cannons." Collectors today don't let go of stuff, so to fully support them with spare parts for discontinued products sounds like an impossible task beyond the shelf life of the product.

When it comes to 3D printing, that technology is still very young. I've seen some 3D printed clear plastic models you can download, but if you have the kind of printer I have? It's going to look terrible. Some fans have made alternate designs, like this X-Wing canopy, that might get the job done without the use of clear material. But this model might work better if you have access to a good clear resin printer.

That's one thing LEGO and Playmobil have going for them - both have really robust replacement part programs, in part because they reuse a lot of the same pieces for decades. I bought a Playmobil castle on clearance around 2007 or 2008, didn't get around to opening it until after 2016, and Playmobil had the pre-broken parts I needed to replace. That's amazing! LEGO uses a lot of the same parts for years, allowing fans to either request (or in some cases, buy at retail) a box with the part they needed.

My most recent experience with missing parts on a Hasbro toy was the Sail Barge. Mine lacked the clear legs in the packaging. It took me about a year to get it open, but they were really good about sending me the missing parts right away. If memory serves I heard whispers of Hasbro making some extra HasLab ships for CS issues - they're very concerned about making that a fantastic experience, even for people like me who took too long to assemble that first crowdfund toy. But given the length of time, I feel like I was very fortunate to get those parts. If it were 5 or 10 years later, I don't think I would have a prayer.

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2. Over time, we all lose or misplace the weapons and accessories that come with figures. Years ago, Hasbro released these assortments in carded packs.

Why can't they do this again? A pack of 20 lightsabres with swappable hilts, Jedi robes, capes, blasters, clone helmets, rifles, or Ewok spears, would be great.
--T

They'll never do it again.

I should probably go on more about this.

Accessory packs generally - but not always - dovetail into kid lines. Masters of the Universe (OG and Classics), G.I. Joe (1980s), they managed to do a few but they were never a core part of the line. While useful (and often fun) demand tends to only exist when you have either kids losing parts - which requires massive customer bases - or when you have a part that's so fun and offers such a benefit to the customer that it sells the set on its own. Neither of these come up with Star Wars, and typically Hasbro would rather sell you a whole-new Luke with Blast Shield Helmet rather than just a blast shield helmet on its own. Why they decided to sell a separate Hyperdrive, I do not know.

Accessory packs are the first thing on the line plan to be cut. Action figures and full-size roleplay/props are big for a toy company, followed by vehicles, and then playsets. After that, you might do well with carry cases. And after that - long after that - is where you're likely to see accessory sets. Unless the figure itself gets packed with extra accessories (which we saw in 2002 as a Target exclusive, plus gift sets here and there) this means you're probably unlikely to see packs of gear again. We also got some packs for Episode I in 1999-2000, but those didn't do good business despite really neat play functionality and lots of original, exclusive bits to upgrade your figures. And a fish.

With The Black Series there's probably a better opportunity for more parts, thanks to needing to fill a box at a specific price point. We saw Wicket come with a ton of extra gear, thanks in part to Hasbro's willingness to add value to a tiny figure. Without that gear, he would be a pretty bad deal. There's nothing stopping Hasbro from putting more parts in a deluxe $35 figure - like that Stormtrooper a few years ago - but those don't always sell well. We saw some great Transformers sets kitted out with tons of spare parts for other figures (Cog, Centurion Drone) but those had more specific purposes. Only one of the two was a huge hit.

It's worth asking "what would you pay?" and seeing if it lines up with Hasbro's marketing plans. There are very few items for sale at $10 or under. Those that are $10 or under haven't done great business. Given the lack of Ewoks in the line, I don't think there's a customer base that is eager to buy $10-$20 worth of spears/bows/arrows/etc. Perhaps there's a world where Hasbro could bundle 2 Ewoks together with a bunch of stuff for army-building purposes, or 2 carded figures with a packet of gear like we saw in G.I. Joe recently. You're probably going to need to 3D print things yourself, or put in request at Marauder for the things you want. They already have some pretty decent things. And 3D printer fans are already on top of this stuff.

My gut feeling is that, in 2025, most people buying Hasbro's products are not playing with them. There aren't many things fun for kids, and a lot of collectors leave things packaged or only open them to pose them in a playset, and that's that. I think the wide variety of stories from which characters are pulled are a problem - one guy from Skeleton Crew does not interact with any other figure in the past 47 years of toys - so we are sadly not in a position to put a lot more gear on the market.

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FIN

I'm cobbling together some stuff for a possible feature on 3D printing parts for newbies (like me) so if you have any questions - or things you want to make sure get shared - send those my way too.

While I try to keep things in this column more or less focused on the business of action figures, sometimes other factors may impact what it is we do for fun and it's worth bringing up. You no doubt heard Trump imposes tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. Some action figure production has moved to Vietnam, and some of it has gone back to China. Just plucking random toys up from around my desk, Masters of the Universe Origins are still made in Vietnam, as are Transformers. Super7's ReAction Figures as well as The Black Series, The Vintage Collection, Marvel Legends, and G.I. Joe: Classified Series are coming from China. However, The Retro Collection and Epic Hero Series come from Vietnam. Mattel's Hot Wheels and Matchbox come from Thailand and Malaysia... and I believe elsewhere sometimes, too.

It remains to be seen if/how/when the fees will be assessed, and how much of the cost of goods will be taxed. For example, I don't know if it applies to the raw cost of goods, the landed costs, licensing fees and profits rolled in, or something else. Hopefully you'll get some answer in a press release before you wake up and read this today.

I feel like a massive buzzkill this week. But that's the passage of time for you.

If Hasbro or Lucasfilm came to me tomorrow and said "want to run a Rebel/Imperial parts business?" I'd assume it's not worth paying the royalty. Fees aside, the orders would probably be very small, require a lot of precision, and the customer base is dwindling. In 1995, tens - possibly hundred(s) - of thousands of people were clamoring for new Star Wars toys. That's not how things are today. There may be hundreds, or low thousands, of fans looking for a new X-Wing cannon or a replacement lightsaber blade - and you might be able to buy a whole toy for cheaply enough that it's a better way to go.

It's like I've been saying - to get the best possible line, you need kids and collectors both buying the same thing and creating demand for stuff. While Hasbro's quality of action figure has arguably never been better, I can't say the selection of product feels very good, and we're doing nothing to encourage kids to play with this stuff or come back later. There hasn't been an AT-AT in about 15 years. The last two Millennium Falcon toys were out of any reasonable price range (TVC, Target) or was just a really subpar and expensive toy (Solo). Maybe if things were basically 1980s-level still, with limited play features and odd proportions that allowed for more play and less accuracy, we'd still be doing well. We can't have everything, and goodness knows we're not getting everything these days.

--Adam Pawlus

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