Adam's Star Wars Newsletter #007 **************** CONTENTS I. Prologue II. The New Hasbro Reveals III. The New Hasbro Releases IV. New Stories V. Fin **************** I. Prologue As much as I'd love to say that I have a message from another time, we're still here, and Toy Fair was the first domino to fall for 2022. And 2023 - technically, permanently. New York's Toy Fair in February is over, finished, and has been replaced by an event scheduled for September 2023 when other toy companies are holding their preview events. Will people be able to go to a bunch of west coast and east coast events at the same time? We shall see! In about 18 months. It's a very long time away. As of right now, Star Wars Celebration and San Diego Comic-Con are a go, but hubbub of new variants can make things change quickly. Some conventions may take different forms if delays keep happening, as you can't run a non-profit on zero income forever. Continued development and filing of new stories seem to be going along just fine, but a big question is 2023's Rogue Squadron movie. As of my writing this we don't know if the script is ready, if any concepts were developed, if any casting was done, or if any toys are in the works. Traditionally you want about 18 months to do a full line, but you can probably squirt out retools in 6-12 months and a product or two in about that much time if it's simple enough. I have absolutely no idea if anything is on deck, but given Hasbro already pushed its Transformers 7 movie (and toys) to 2023 I assume things are somewhat bleak for a new big-screen adventure. It is also worth noting we didn't get all that full of a line for 2019's The Rise of Skywalker, given the focus on the game, the streaming show, and some other stuff mixed in there. Also the guaranteed toy-selling "The Book of Boba Fett" didn't even launch with reissues, so I'm not super hopeful a new movie line will launch with any grandeur. It's almost like they heard fans say "We hate Force Friday" and someone said "OK, no more toys" and now we have to go "No wait that's not what we meant." Right now the "worst case scenario" for the balance of 2022 is for it to be like 2021 - that is, few conventions, lots of pre-orders, continued roadblocks to production and inbound international freight, but plenty of things to watch streaming. That means we've got the Andor show, the Obi-Wan show, more The Bad Batch, and probably more The Mandalorian before the year ends. And of course whatever surprises will be continued to be dumped upon us. I'd also love to see Star Wars Celebration panels all stream in their entirety - heck, I'd pay for that - mostly because I doubt I'll be boarding any planes for the near future. **************** 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 __ 13th B attalion Trooper (Gaming Greats, GameStop Exclusive) __ Aayla Secura __ Black Krrsantan (Fan Exclusive) __ Boba Fett (Tython Jedi Ruins, Walmart Exclusive Deluxe) __ Cad Bane (Bracca, The Bad Batch) __ Dark Trooper (Deluxe) __ Darth Maul (Mandalore) __ Fixer (Gaming Greats, GameStop Exclusive) __ Nightbrother Archer (Gaming Greats, GameStop Exclusive) __ Saw Gerrera The Black Series Archive Figures __ C-3PO __ Chewbacca (Star Wars) __ Dengar __ Emperor Palpatine __ Grand Moff Tarkin __ Han Solo (The Force Awakens) __ Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard) __ Princess Leia Organa (Boushh Disguise) The Vintage Collection Figures __ 501st Legion Clone Trooper __ Anakin Skywalker (Episode II) __ Axe Woves (Target Exclusive) __ Bespin Security Guard (Helder Spinoza, Walmart Exclusive) __ Bespin Security Guard (Isdam Edian, Walmart Exclusive) __ Boba Fett (Morak, Target Exclusive Deluxe) __ Din Djarin (Morak) __ Imperial Gunner (Walmart Exclusive) __ Koska Reeves (Target Exclusive) __ Mandalorian Commando __ Migs Mayfeld (Target Exclusive) __ R2-D2 (Walmart Exclusive) __ Stormtrooper (Walmart Exclusive) __ Yoda The Vintage Collection Playsets __ Book of Boba Fett Throne Room with Bib Fortuna (2023) The Black Series Prop Replicas __ Boba Fett EE-3 Blaster (2023) 6-Inch Value Action Figures __ Gift Set - Luke Skywalker, The Mandalorian, Grogu, Death Trooper, Darth Vader, Rey (Walmart Exclusive) Disney Droid Factory __ R5-D33R __ The Mandalorian Droid Factory Gift Set - R6-D3, MA-13, R1, NO-AH **************** III. The New Hasbro Releases The Black Series __ Ahsoka Tano __ Boba Fett (Prototype Armor, reissue in new box, Amazon Exclusive) __ The Client __ Death Watch Mandalorian __ Omega __ Tech The Black Series (Carbonized, Target Exclusive) __ Biker Scout __ Paz Vizsla __ Shoretrooper The Black Series Galaxy's Edge Gift Sets __ First Order AT-AT Driver, General Hux, R5 Astromech Droid, Mouse Droid __ Battle Droid, Pit Droid, Babu Frik, CB-23, KX Droid __ Kowakian Monkey Lizards, Porg, Mynock, and Bogling The Vintage Collection __ 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 __ Bo-Katan Kryze __ Kuiil __ Lobot __ Luminara Unduli (Clone Wars, Walmart Exclusive) __ The Bad Batch Special 4-Pack (Amazon Exclusive) __ The Mandalorian & Grogu (Maldo Kreis, Walmart Exclusive) __ The Mythrol __ Rebel Soldier (Echo Base Battle Gear) The Retro Collection __ Dengar & IG-88 2-Pack (Amazon Exclusive) Disney Droid Factory __ The Mandalorian Droid Factory Gift Set - R6-D3, MA-13, R1, NO-AH __ SK-620 (Chandrila Star Line) Disney Droid Factory Mystery Crate -- B5-5L (White and blue BB8) __ C1-4B (Blue Chopper) __ CH-83 (White and green BB8) __ G4-5B (White and green R4) __ JB-9 (Grey and yellow BB9) __ S3-R9 (Grey R2 unit) **************** IV. New Stories As screen dates go, we have nothing. Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (a six-episode series) is set for May 25, which would slot it in after the Disney+ Moon Knight series comes to an end. Andor, The Bad Batch Season 2, and The Mandalorian Season 3 have no known dates as I write this. The official synopsis of Obi-Wan's new show is as follows: “The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.” Other than confirming the time, this effectively shares no new information about the show. The recent teaser trailer also hasn't revealed much beyond the involvement of Inquisitors, which means awesome hats are back on the menu. Star Wars Celebration is still set for Anaheim, CA May 26-29 2022. **************** V. Fin And that's a wrap on The Book of Boba Fett! The second live-action streaming show ran its course without much of a toy launch and with a very scattered focus. Kenobi's new show could focus on just about anything, as we haven't seen a whole heck of a lot of adventures from that era. Maybe he'll have to fight people and defend a droid's honor on a space cruise. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_(1977)_24 More new toys are expected to be revealed in April and beyond as the non-Toy Fair announcements happen and we get used to the new toy reveal paradigm. I'll miss going to New York in February, but it's not like Hasbro can't announce a new figure whenever it sees fit. --Adam ****************