Adam's Star Wars Newsletter #004 **************** CONTENTS I. In Trouble Again II. The New Hasbro Announcements III. The New Hasbro Releases IV. Retail Round-Up V. New Shows VI. Fin **************** I. In Trouble Again The Razor Crest has been delayed until at least January 2022, so says Hasbro! Well, it's not entirely unexpected with the lack of updates, but it means you have more time to clear some shelf space and Hasbro has time to hope the ridiculous surge freight pricing from overseas goes down. It's up almost 10 times over last year, which impacts everybody's bottom line right now. Droids! I'm kind of amazed it actually hit Disney+ this past June 18. After decades in limbo, or worse, re-edited special edition form, it seemed much of the show would just vanish. As a kid I had a couple of the Fromm Gang episodes taped off Saturday morning TV, as well as the one with the intergalactic zoo smugglers. Seeing them in HD is amazing, mostly because the vaguely Mobius-inspired visuals look absolutely stunning on a nice big clean HDTV. While C-3PO is more than a little awkward, that feels incredibly consistent with my memories of the show. The original characters are great, as are the Mini-Rig cameos and a few original designs that look like they certainly could have been Mini-Rig concepts. One of the things I love about Droids - indeed, much of the post-Return of the Jedi output - is that you can watch it in more-or-less its original unchanged format. The second Ewok movie is also largely unchanged, whereas the first film got a new title. Most of the 1970s and 1980s (and 1990s) versions of Star Wars have been edited a little, or a lot. Even The Phantom Menace got new scenes for the DVD - and the special editions kept getting more special every few years. Getting to watch "Escape Into Terror," other than a brief recap being cut it's exactly as I remember. And for all I know my memory is faulty. Given how some of the Star Wars toy world is eating its own tail with more reruns - and expensive ones, at that - it's nice to have things like Droids to watch to remind me of why I like this hobby in the first place, rather than the frequent painful reminders of exclusives that sell out in seconds that will probably not be a lot of fun once I buy them anyways. Hey, I'm saving money. Your pal, Adam Pawlus **************** II. The New Hasbro Announcements 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 (HasLab, funding begins in fall) __ Rancor Monster The Black Series 6-Inch Figures __ Clone Captain Rex (Walmart Exclusive) __ Clone Trooper (212th Battalion, Walgreens) __ Crosshair (Imperial, Walmart exclusive) __ Princess Leia Organa (Yavin 4) __ Jet Trooper (Clone, GameStop) __ Zaalbar (GameStop) The Black Series 6-Inch Figures Archive Edition __ C-3PO __ Dengar __ Emperor Palpatine __ Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard) The Black Series Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary Collection - POTF2, Hasbro Pulse __ Greedo __ Han Solo __ Luke Skywalker __ Princess Leia Organa (Yavin 4) The Black Series Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary Collection - Clone Wars, Walmart __ ARC Trooper __ General Grievous __ Mace Windu The Black Series PulseCon Exclusives (nee SDCC) __ Cantina Showdown (Dr. Evazan, Ponda Baba, Obi-Wan Kenobi in POTF2 Box) __ Trapper Wolf The Black Series Carbonized Collection (Target Exclusive) __ Paz Vizsla (Heavy Infantry Mandalorian) __ Scout Trooper __ Shoretrooper The Black Series Multipacks/Deluxe Figures __ The Mandalorian and Grogu (Arvala-7) The Black Series Credit Collection __ The Armorer (GameStop Exclusive) __ Greef Karga (shared exclusive) __ Kuiil (Amazon Exclusive) __ The Mandalorian (Season 2, Amazon Exclusive) __ Moff Gideon (Best Buy Exclusive) The Black Series Prop Replicas __ Leia Organa FX Lightsaber __ Rey Skywalker FX Lightsaber The Vintage Collection __ 501st Clone Trooper __ Aayla Secura (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ ARC Trooper (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ ARC Trooper Captain (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ Barriss Offee (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ Battle Droid (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ Bib Fortuna __ The Emperor __ Figrin D'an __ IG-11 __ Lando Calrissian __ Luminara Unduli (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ Mandalorian Death Watch Airborne Trooper __ Teebo __ Yoda The Vintage Collection Gift Sets __ The Bad Batch Special 4-Pack (Amazon Exclusive) __ Emperor's Throne Room Playset (figure, throne, backdrop - PulseCon) __ Stormtrooper Multi-Pack (Hasbro Pulse Exclusive) The Vintage Collection Carbonized (Walmart Exclusive, pre-order October 7) __ The Armorer __ Incinerator Trooper __ Moff Gideon __ Shore Trooper The Retro Collection __ Stormtrooper (Prototype edition, Target exclusive) Disney Parks Exclusive __ R6-W1CH - https://www.shopdisney.com/star-wars-droid-factory-halloween-figure-r6-w1ch-400934663331.html **************** III. The New Hasbro Releases The Black Series 6-Inch Figures __ Flametrooper (GameStop) The Vintage Collection __ AT-ST Driver (Walmart Exclusive) __ Death Star Droid (Walmart Exclusive) __ Luke Skywalker (Endor, Walmart Exclusive) __ Princess Leia (Endor, Walmart Exclusive) __ Romba (Walmart Exclusive) __ Tusken Raider (Walmart Exclusive) The Retro Collection __ Boba Fett (Prototype, Target Exclusive - 6 variants exist) Disney Parks Exclusive __ R6-W1CH **************** IV. Retail Round-Up The stand-alone Disney Store Has joined Kmart and Sears on the trash heap of 20th century retail. While Disney-branded areas in other stores are presently thriving, the largely mall-based chain neglected to address the growing fan market and with shifts away from malls and to the internet, they announced the closing of all but just under 30 stores in the United States. (The news broke a few days after I popped into a mall to find the last, closest location - over 25 minutes away - had closed over the last year.) There is no end of Disney product online or in other stores. Macy's is the latest company to license the Toys R Us name. After trysts with Petsmart, Albertson's, Kroger-owned grocery stores, Amazon, and other retailers over the last couple of decades, the department store will be using Geoffrey branding in stores. As of late August 2021, they had a surprising pair of toy sections in the Arrowhead Mall in Glendale, AZ - upstairs, a sad little section with toys from several years ago, at full price, including a number of Transformers knock-offs. Downstairs, a larger selection of puzzles and games including numerous Hasbro Ghostbusters items and brand-new Star Wars Mission Fleet sets I hadn't seen in other stores yet. Obviously Toys R Us is gone and not coming back, but we've all shopped in significantly worse toy stores during our hunts. Give it a look. Because it's the season, your local big box store probably had an aisle reset recently. Without a Force Friday-equivalent this year, stores put out gobs of new stuff August 1 (or later) and September 1 (or later) for a number of the new movies which, we assume, will actually see release in theaters this year. If you haven't been to the stores around you lately, it may be good to take whatever precautions are appropriate and take a peek. For example, I prefer going later at night when the parking is ample and the patronage is nil. Despite optimism to the contrary, there will be no return of the nationwide toy specialty store in 2021 or 2022. **************** V. New Shows Star Wars Visions All 9 episodes of the anime studio series are set to go up September 22. The Book of Boba Fett While no date has been given, it's expected to hit Disney+ in December 2021. Also in case you missed them, The Bad Batch (season 1) and Droids (season 1 + The Great Heep special) are all now up on Disney+ in their entirety. **************** VI. Fin After getting Droids this summer and Star Wars Visions is set to premiere very soon, one might ask "what of 2022?" At this time, there are plans for The Book of Boba Fett, The Bad Batch, the Andor show, the Obi-Wan show, and some other stuff to be determined - but there are no plans for theatrical movies until 2023. Indiana Jones and the Franchise of Ages is expected to have a new installment in late July 2022, depending on what the movie theatre situation looks like that could still change. New York Comic Con is still set for October, but Phoenix Fan Fest - originally scheduled for early 2022 - just got pushed back until Memorial Day Weekend 2022. In short, I have no idea what the heck is going on. With all of this, you should expect toy roll-outs to continue as we've seen them - a few here, a few there, and some with too many at once. The idea of having a massive release of stuff from the movie or show you just watched - or are just about to see - seems to be out of vogue. (I bet we can blame shrinking post-production times.) The good news is that there's time for more navel-gazing and filling in gaps from last year's secret stuff, so without giving anything away, it's a safe bet there's going to have to be at least a little more looking back for the time being. And repaints. You're still getting so, so many repaints. Also there's so much Star Trek on deck that Star Wars fans are absolutely going to continue losing that arms race. Playmobil got Star Trek, which is both very exciting and also infuriating because I can't buy an overpriced German X-Wing designed to outlast a toddler crash landing yet. See you next mission. --Adam ****************