OTC Debuts Down Under

(MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, MARCH 28, 2004) Hasbro Australia presented a small but interesting range of Star Wars items to local retailers and distributors this past weekend in Melbourne, Australia. Among the displayed items were the retooled Millennium Falcon, complete with light up engine bay, new packaging design for the PLAYSKOOL figure 2-packs, new packaging designs for re-released Unleashed figures, as well as mock-ups for the Original Trilogy Collection (both vintage and modern styles).

ORIGINAL TRILOGY COLLECTION
The modern Original Trilogy Collection display included mock-ups of Vader, R2 and Han Solo from the Hall of Fame assortment. 

Also shown were card backs of Boba Fett, Luke Bespin and Luke Jedi. While some of these were displayed in Star Cases, this was simply to protect and help display the product. The final items will not be coming in Star Cases. 

Mock up packaging  for the new Lightsabers were also on display.

VINTAGE ORIGINAL TRILOGY
The Vintage Original Trilogy Collection display showed the first wave of four card backs. The Princess Leia version also included a mock up of the clam-shell packaging that these will be sold in. They are similar in design to a Star Case brand pack although about half the depth. As you can see from the back of the card, the items are pre-production samples and the final products may vary from what you see here. The Leia figure was produced with a better quality printer and thicker card, while the Han, Luke and Obi-Wan versions were of a more basic quality.

MILLENNIUM FALCON
The new Falcon has a few changes from the previous version including a redesigned cockpit interior, new light up engine bay, light up headlights and firing missile. The model on display did not have batteries fitted (takes 3 AA), so we were unable to play with the lights and sounds on the day.

UNLEASHED
Next up were the Unleashed Jedi Luke and Darth Sidious figure re-released in the new style Unleashed packaging complete with new artwork. Unfortunately for Australian collectors, these versions will not be available locally, so if you're a packaging variation collector, you'll have to look overseas for them. The new waves of Unleashed will be available locally though, so don't panic too much.

PLAYSKOOL 
The new PLAYSKOOL 2-packs will be known as the Galactic Heroes line and the packaging will be similar in style and shape to the recent Christmas Yoda figure. No plastic outer bubble was provided on these products, but it is easy to imagine what the finished item will look like. The PLAYSKOOL Falcon and X-Wing will be repackaged to fit in with the retro black packaging look.

Toy Fair Australia Image Bank