Adam's Star Wars Newsletter #009 March 30, 2022 **************** CONTENTS I. Prologue II. The New Hasbro Reveals III. The New Hasbro Releases IV. New Stories V. Fin **************** I. Prologue It's almost all about Star Wars Celebration! We've had a lot of reveals - effectively very few classic - as we move forward to make things for the Disney+ shows, some of the prequels, and the occasional throwback to the prequels and concept art. We're also seeing a lot of collectible droids from Disney. Is it good? Is it bad? Well, it depends on your wallet's cries after you pre-order more or fewer items than you had in the past. They're really counting on you loving the new Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series right now. We're getting a new HasLab - an FX Lightsaber that costs only slightly less than Jabba's Sail Barge. We're also getting a couple of toys based on a droid that - as of my writing this - was destroyed shortly after being introduced. Perhaps it will be repaired? It's a curious slate of items, but everything has been a little weird lately. Also interesting, even more shows were revealed. Apparently Babu Frik is coming to The Mandalorian Season 3, and I'm supposed to care, but that's probably something corporate pushed for in order to sell more products. (Mattel even did a plush of him, which you ignored.) The only thing you can be happy about is that nobody has uttered the word "blockchain" yet. A nice surprise, Hasbro had a lot of packaged items on display with some unintended-to-be-announced characters for The Retro Collection. I don't even know who NED-B is, but apparently we're going to get one. Much of the figure announcements are repaints or retools with new heads, so anything I can get that's actually new is always a treat. **************** 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 __ Ayla Secura __ Chewbacca (The Force Awakens, Archive Edition) __ Darth Maul (Mandalore/Cyborg) __ Fifth Brother __ Fourth Sister __ Grand Inquisitor __ Grand Moff Tarkin (Archive Edition) __ Han Solo (The Force Awakens Archive Edition) __ Jon Favreau (Paz Vizsla, Star Wars Celebration-adjacent Hasbro Pulse Exclusive) __ Magistrate Greef Karga __ Obi-Wan Kenobi (Wandering Jedi) __ Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Vader (Concept Series, Shop Disney/Park Exclusive) __ Princess Leia Organa (Boushh, Archive Edition) __ Reva (Third Sister) __ Riot Scout Trooper (Gaming Greats, GameStop Exclusive) The Black Series Special Items __ Artillery Stormtrooper Helmet __ Reva (Third Sister) FX Lightsaber (HasLab) The Vintage Collection Figures __ Dark Trooper (Deluxe) __ Obi-Wan Kenobi (Wandering Jedi) __ R2-SHW __ Reva (Third Sister) The Vintage Collection Gift Sets __ Rebel Soldier (Echo Base Battle Gear) 4-Pack (Hasbro Pulse Exclusive) __ Jedi: Survivor (Gaming Greats, Shared Exclusive, KX Security Droid, MagnaGuard, Riot Scout Trooper) The Retro Collection __ Darth Vader (The Dark Times) __ Fifth Brother __ Grand Inquisitor __ Luke Skywalker (Snowspeeder, Prototype Edition, Target Exclusive) __ NED-B __ Obi-Wan Kenobi (Wandering Jedi) __ Reva (Third Sister) Disney Parks / Shop Disney Exclusives __ BB-PROUD (Pride Month Exclusive) __ Droid Factory Halloween Reissue Pack (R2-B00, R3-B0017, R4-B0018, R5-B0019) __ Droid Factory Sandcrawler Advent Calendar __ R2-W50 (Disney World 50th Exclusive) __ R6-SN0 (Disney Parks Exclusive, Christmas) __ R7-FNG (Disney Parks Exclusive, Halloween) __ R7-TN0 (Disney Parks Exclusive) Other Items __ L0-LA59 Animatronic Figure __ L0-LA59 Bounty Collection 2-Pack __ L0-LA59 Interactive Figure __ Monopoly Star Wars: Dark Side Edition **************** III. The New Hasbro Releases The Black Series The Vintage Collection __ Ahsoka Tano & Grogu (Walmart Exclusive, Deluxe) __ Boba Fett (Droids, Target Exclusive) __ R2-D2 (Droids, Target Exclusive) __ Republic Trooper (The Old Republic, Hasbro Pulse/Shop Disney Exclusive) Disney Parks / Shop Disney Exclusives __ BB-PROUD (Pride Month Exclusive) __ R2-W50 (Disney World 50th Exclusive) __ R7-TN0 (Disney Parks Exclusive) **************** IV. New Stories a. Available Now i. Disney Gallery - Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett 62 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage revealing how to take one of the most popular and merchandisable characters and then how to do nothing. Lots of stuff on Luke's special effects. ii. Star Wars Galactic Pals A new short animated program that you aren't watching. You can find it here: https://www.starwarskids.com/galactic-pals iii. Obi-Wan Kenobi Two episodes are up featuring the title character coming out of retirement for one last mission/trap. b. In Development i. Film Rogue Squadron movie - We first heard a 2023 date, then word of production delay. It is not coming in 2023 anymore. Untitled Taika Waititi Movie - Supposedly 2023 now. Untitled Kevin Feige Movie - no updates. (But we never had any in the first place.) ii. Streaming Andor (Season 1) - August 31, 12 episodes. 12 more being produced for season 2. The Bad Batch (Season 2) - Fall 2022. Tales of the Jedi - Clone Wars Gaiden, short form side stories streaming Fall 2022. The Mandalorian (Season 3) - February 2023. Star Wars Visions (Season 2) - Spring 2023. Will also incorporate non-Japanese creators. Ahsoka (Season 1) - 2023. The Acolyte (Season 1) - no date for the series. Lando (Season 1) - no date for the series. A Droid Story (Movie) - no date for the streaming movie. Skeleton Crew (Season One) - A Mandalorian-era show with four kids being cast. Jon Watts directs, Jude Law cast. 2023. iii. Video Games Jedi Survivor (Fallen Order sequel, 2023) c. Presumed or Confirmed Canceled Untitled Rian Johnson Trilogy - no updates. Untitled Benioff/Weiss Movies - they moved on. Rangers of the Republic (Season 1) - quietly removed from schedule. What is particularly interesting is we're seeing other movie studios positioning their new offerings, as we expect Avatar sequels to own the holiday window this year, 2024, 2026, and 2028. Unless Rogue Squadron is set for May 2024 - which would put it five years out from the last movie - it is very possible we may not see another theatrical feature for quite some time. It's also possible Disney and Lucasfilm are very happy with their streaming series, although it does not seem that they are necessarily maximizing toy sales without hard theatrical launch dates and shopper holidays. It's also worth noting that there's a Willow streaming series this year, about which we've heard relatively little. Indiana Jones 5 is still set for June 2023. **************** V. Fin The next Star Wars Celebration is now set for London. April 7-10, 2023. Hasbro certainly has a lot of higher-dollar items. A $500 lightsaber, a $90 interactive droid, a $132 helmet, plus several other lightsabers and helmets revealed in recent months. And hundreds of dollars of action figures, most of which are similar to ones you've already bought, but with new heads, accessories, or deco. It's one of the more expensive and less interesting eras if you're an old-school fan, but since you've probably all stopped being completists after the '00s anyway, at least you won't feel too bad skipping things here and there. As always, vote with your dollars. I'm absolutely loving the retro Kenner-style stuff still, my case of the second wave of The Mandalorian guys just came in while I was putting the finishing touches on this update. Boba Fett is a real treat, but so is everybody else. If only we got some mini-rigs vehicles to go with them! --Adam ****************