1. With the current tariffs on Chinese made products (toys), do you think any further Star Wars Haslab products will be put on hold until things are more "stable"? The Cantina is due Fall 2025, and with no recent announcements or even "hints" at new Star Wars Haslabs, do you think all is in a hold pattern?
--Jeremiah

This question was sent in April 15, when the US tariff on China was 145% and Vietnam was 10%. (Hours later, a press release went out increasing it to "up to 245%." Now we're seeing hostility toward toys and I could go on about "what kid has 30 dolls?" but that's another topic.) As far as the in-progress HasLab products go, let's just say no news is good news. Or as Rusty Steele once said, "all news is bad news." That reference will be hilarious to precisely two of you.

Were I in Hasbro's shoes, I would not launch another HasLab for any brand in 2025. America seems to be unaware that there's a 10% tariff on all imported goods, or at least, they choose to forget. There's a 145% tariff on Chinese-made goods. It's not safe to do business in prepaid goods right now. Pre-orders, probably - prices may change. And of course, in-stock stuff is what it is, and you don't have to worry about a surprise fee en route.

Previously, a crowdfund was a safe investment for a big company like Hasbro. Their minimum runs? That's not "break-even," they make money on those. Guaranteed payment over a year in advance of goods is a great way to fund toy making adventures. Fans loved getting Barges and Razors Crest and so on. But there's a wrinkle - if you can't figure out how much your goods are going to cost, it ceases to be a safe and sound business strategy. If you know you can buy a widget for $1 and sell it for $2, that's good business. If that widget might cost you $2.50 and you're on the hook for a prepaid order for $2... that's bad.

I think it's too early for Hasbro to share what a 2026 or 2027 item is. I have little doubt that the HasLab project's identity would give away the secret theme for 2026. We know 2025 was Return to Tatooine, so if next year is Endor Excursion, Some like it Hoth, Takodana Tuesday, or Geonosis A-Go-Go, we'd figure that out. Given what I assume to be a massive supply chain disruption, there's really no reason for Hasbro to give us a hint - especially if crowdfunding projects are not as safe as they were a year ago.

The Cantina was revealed June 2024, for a "Fall 2025" delivery. I would expect the next thing to be - at best - a July San Diego Comic-Con reveal. This is assuming toy companies still go to Comic-Con in a market where exclusives may not be financially viable, meaning there could be a compelling reason to skip it given the current economic climate. At this rate I would assume it will be a miracle for the Cantina to get in our hands in 2025.

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2. To quote your [April 20] Q&A session

"It's kind of interesting to see that we're getting very, very few The Vintage Collection exclusives at mass retailers anymore (I can't remember the last time Walmart or Target had a new one)"

Do you think Walmart/Target are steering clear of them based on how they have performed over the last 2-3 years and how many end up on clearance?
--Jerimiah

I would also lob "did Hasbro's minimum production order exceed the needs of the market?" (Yes.)

When it comes to The Vintage Collection specifically, our last single-carded retailer exclusives were in 2023. I think it may have been ARC Trooper Blitz for Walmart at $13.97ish. We didn't have any in 2024 - no Retro, no Vintage, really nothing under $25. I think that's why - Hasbro doesn't appear to bother with low price point exclusives anymore. In life I find that the answer to most things is money, and I don't know why this would necessarily be any different. Hasbro wants higher priced exclusives, so the reason most of us collect got ignored in favor of bigger and more expensive gift sets.

Everything we get now is a multi-pack, be it 3x $17 Vintage figures (or more), or 6x $10 Retro figures. The Black Series exclusives have recently been $24.99 for "same figure with a cape," or higher if it's with fancy paint, or clear blue with no paint at all, or some sort of multi-pack.

If it weren't for tariffs I'd say something like "maybe things will change!" I don't think there's a reason for anything to change now. I'm not sure why Hasbro and Lucasfilm don't want fans running to stores constantly looking for new stuff, especially in a world where the news keeps talking about store foot traffic being down. Surely putting toys at affordable impulse-buy prices could get people off their butts and into stores, while also buying their 20 ounce Cokes and fabric softener sheets. I know exclusive toys are what got me out to the stores constantly 10-30 years ago. In the last decade, it's been diminishing a bit either because the items were impossible to find (The Retro Collection 2019-2020) or supremely easy to get because of the higher price points. Hunting does not yield successes or interesting surprises these days.

I doubt Target and Walmart are saying "we hate this kind of 3 3/4-inch product." When they have something good, it sells - Retro Proto Mando, that Morak Boba Fett from Vintage did fine despite the higher price, but I assume it's challenging to find good solid ideas. I was really happy to see Target's Droids capsule program in 2022 - I mean seriously, that was one of the most fun things we've had in a while - and I bet someone would make good money packing movie figures on The Power of the Force cardbacks with a coin at a $3 upcharge. Which would probably be a $9 upcharge later this summer.  (It's not getting better, folks.)

It does bring us back to the question "what's a good item for the masses?" At this point I assume the only thing you could probably use to excite the masses would be main characters, many of which are still somewhat cheap on the secondary market. I doubt people want The Force Awakens 10th anniversary stuff (even though we never got, for example, Vest Leia), I assume if we got some Rogue One stuff next year it would be the main guys all over again, and I just generally get the vibe that the future of our line is "easy repaints" and "main characters." And if that's the case, maybe it's OK we're not getting more of it.

For that reason I still think Retro is a solid idea. Do I want to buy another Cassian Andor in The Black Series or The Vintage Collection? No. But if they put it out Kenner-style? I'd buy every last costume variant.

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FIN

I wanted to write about the new Target Retro set that was supposed to be out last week. And then I wanted to complain that it is late. And then I wanted to complain that the Cantina set sold out before I could get a pre-order in. But obviously, we have bigger concerns.

"How will tariffs impact my collecting?" I get asked a lot. It's bad for Americans, for now. It will be fine if you are outside the United States, for now. My assumption is that the US market's large appetite subsidizes tooling for the globe. If America stops collecting, there won't be much new collector product for everybody else in 12-18 months. There will likely still be toys, but the super-articulated stuff requires a pretty significant American adult buy-in. Without the biggest customer there may not be enough of a market to make it all worthwhile.

Do you like politics? Well, too bad. Consider writing your representative in the House and Senators. If you like the tariffs that have not yet fully hit, let them know. If you don't like the tariffs, let them know. A number of companies - specifically toy companies, the ones you care about - are pausing or delaying shipments to the United States from China. Elected representatives may not know that this matters to you, and knowing which way the wind blows helps them get what they want the most - votes. It's worth noting that production of super-articulated collector figures will not be coming to the USA. Kid-driven jointed action figures have historically been from Vietnam, the once-independent-ish Hong Kong, or elsewhere in China. As cheesy as it is to say, your voice matters and if a lot of people are fired up about something, the representatives that your tax dollars pay to employ should take note. (I wrote my representative - no response yet.)

Will Star Wars collecting survive this? Absolutely - there are millions of mint-on-card figures from the last 47 years and they will continue to be collected, traded, bought, and sold. The future of new product will probably require either the repealing of the self-imposed tariffs (which can be done quickly) or moving manufacturing to another country or a new factory which always requires some fine-tuning. Remember the wonky eyes on the 2009 Indiana Jones figures? That was a new project at a new factory. You want the same factories who do a good job to keep doing a good job and it takes time to train them.  You do not want to set up new factories unless absolutely necessary.

Will Hasbro survive this? Very probably. The stock market seems very confused right now, but their Wizards of the Coast brand is largely paper.  Printed goods can be made here in America. That's good! Most of their plastic stuff comes from China or Vietnam. Much Play-Doh comes from Mexico, and some items have come from India in recent years. The articulated collector figures come almost entirely from China. And the wheels are already in motion. And I'd be willing to bet things will come and it's going to cost you.

In the next few months either someone is going to have to blink, or we're going to have a dramatically different landscape on what gets made where - or at all. So consider writing your representative in the House or your Senator or President or anybody you think might actually listen, because it's been three months and there's no actual sign of improvement.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.

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