1. Can we talk about how they never made the original [Kenner] Death Star toy? All the reissues of toys they made in the 70’s and this never got made? It was the perfect toy as a kid. A adored this thing and played with it constantly. For me, this thing was the holy grail. SO MUCH playability! If they had ever reissued it I would have scooped it up so fast. I would love an updated version while keeping it pretty much the same.

Apparently a new Death Star playlet will come next year. Have you heard anything about it? Will it be our grail remade finally???
--Scott

I currently don't anticipate a remake of the old toy - as cool as it would be. The Retro Collection has almost run as long as Kenner's original line, and has done so with zero playsets, zero vehicles, and zero carry cases. And zero display stands. Zero mail-in offers. I could go on. Next year would be the time to do it, but it's been eight years and we haven't really seen much chatter on such things. If we don't get it, don't feel slighted - we didn't get a Creature Cantina, or Land of the Jawas, or even a Millennium Falcon either. (Prove me wrong, Hasbro.)

There are a lot of toys from the 1970s Kenner line we never saw brought back. Specifically, most of them. All of the 1990s ships were retools (if not new tools), and none of the playsets or the Dewback or 12-inch figures or die-cast metal vehicles got out again either. I could keep going. There were some similar toys with altered functionality and appearances, but I doubt anybody feels Hasbro ever really "reissued" any non-figure Kenner toy properly. And I think a few would say the same about some of the figures.

I haven't seen or heard anything official for a new The Vintage Collection or The Retro Collection Death Star, and for all I know Hasbro is re-retooling whatever concepts it may have been considering given how costs and tariffs are rapidly shifting. Just from the perspective of importing toys, I can tell you that a lot of people are asking what the heck is going on - myself included. Things look better. But I don't know what things will look like in a month. For delivery next year, Hasbro would probably need to be working on this exact item right now and I don't think anyone in our orbit knows yet.

If the various inflation calculators are any indication, a remake of Kenner's Death Star Space Station would probably set you back more than $100 with no changes. I would anticipate Hasbro, if they went in this direction, might want to do something sturdier than cardboard panels. I wouldn't be surprised if they sculpted the stickers and painted them too. (Why? Because Takara-Tomy did it for Transformers: Missing Link, and it looks nice, and it gives them an excuse to charge premium pricing for a kid toy with enhancements.)

2027 is just around the corner, as is Rogue One's 10th anniversary this December. If I were Hasbro, I'd probably run a HasLab or pre-order campaign in Q4 2026 to ramp up the 50th anniversary "celebration" which can't possibly meet fan expectations. Granted, in 2017 we got 12 figures from the 6-inch line on cardbacks that look like the 3 3/4-inch line, which is relatively easy to surpass.

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2. My question is about the strategy in balancing "fear of missing out" with "alienating the collector base". As a collector of all cantina aliens from 1970's, I have never been less happy about getting two figures (Tonnika sisters) than I was with the HasLab. Hasbro forced me to pay $500 (yes, I purchased all the bells and whistles; in for a dime in for a dollar, as they say) for two figures I wanted for 40+ years and a set I didn't care about. After I checked to make sure the pieces were all there (I remembered your [Sail Barge clear plastic foot] anecdote), I repackaged everything and it sits in a closet, because there is no space for it. I display Stan Solo's Tonnika sisters. This thought has been brought back to the fore last Thursday (02/19) with the recent Mos Eisley set with Chalmun. Folks could open the source code for the Hasbro Pulse website and see that there were only 4500 units made for sale at 1:00 for the HasbroPulse exclusive members. The number of available units was down to 1800 by 2:00 when it opened to the public and which was sold out by 4:15 (all times Eastern). This is intentionally poor distribution in order (I guess) to have people returning to the site. The kind of people who want Chalmun return to the site anyway, every time Hasbro puts out something with Original Trilogy goodness. Obviously, they are following a strategy but it generates so much bad blood. Frustration with distribution is the final straw for many a long-time collector. Do you think this is a necessary marketing tactic that benefits Hasbro's bottom line in the long run?
--David

I would ask if you parted out the rest of the Cantina - a lot of the big-ticket multi-part items sometimes can sell as parts. Some people just want a single figure, or a playset, or a blaster. Obviously this isn't what you wanted, but it is what it is, and it might help recoup costs. But on to this year!

So what happened with that Cantina set? Honestly, we don't know yet. It's possible Hasbro had all units available for Pulse Premium, and then let a sliver stay open for The Unwashed Masses, and then tripped a "stop selling" flag to fan the flames of FOMO. (This is pure uninformed speculation.) If the item did indeed fully sell through, for an October ETA, I assume they are currently thinking about adding more units to the run while they still can.

If Hasbro only made 4,500 - and let me be very clear, I don't believe that is the case - we're going to find out. 4,500 is a very small size run for new figures from anything bigger than an indie company. I would speculate more units just aren't up for sale yet, or perhaps they'll make individually carded figures later. 4,500 is a pretty tiny run to justify tooling 3 1/2 new figures. (I admit, I haven't checked to see how many parts were reused other than the Jod Na Nawood pants on Arleil Schous.)

Last year, we experienced something similar. The Cantina Adventure Set and Stormtroopers of the Empire sets sold out immediately. Later, they put up more units to sell. Now, there are still units available to buy if you want them. I don't necessarily have any anger or hostility yet because I got my pre-order in and I assume there will be extra units to sell, at some point, later this year. If there aren't, then yes, I agree some fans are right to be angry that they missed out - but we won't know that until after the item starts to ship. A pre-order is just a pre-order, nobody has missed anything yet and fan outcry could help Hasbro right-size the run if a lot of collectors missed out. I have no idea how many total were made, but I assume (if the Cantina is any indication) there might be 15,000-20,000 units-of-demand at a minimum.

I'll leave it up to them to explain (or not) because I sure don't know, but 4,500 is peanuts compared to the amount of pretty much any exclusive ever. I wouldn't believe that's all they would make here. Even if the entire run was 4,500 pieces, I would assume they will go back to the well unless the secondary market price of the set was terrible. And if it was terrible, you can just buy it on eBay.

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We are out of questions for next week. Send 'em if you got 'em!

The launch The Mandalorian and Grogu toys are making the rounds, and unless there are any secret exclusives happening? We've seen the theatrical stuff. A lot of Disney action boy properties have more stuff later, but it might be too early for that. It's not a big launch. Is the movie any good? I don't know, the press seems very interested in making it sound like nobody will see it while I'm sitting here quite excited to check it out. If Disney and ABC aired the show, I bet it would do wonders in ramping up interest in the film. But what do I know, I just work far, far away from such decisions. If you're out there hoping for a new 3 3/4-inch kid line, that's not happening. If you're expecting Retro Collection figures, all evidence points to that not happening either. The offering is pretty shallow, but it's also far better than we got for pretty much every new Lucasfilm product since 2019's Triple Force Friday. At least they're going to have a lot of toys of the title characters for sale, which might actually give kids a chance to buy some stuff. The non-collectors might have a crack at some stuff too, but it's not going to be the kind of thing that satisfies collectors or long-haul fans. I saw the trailers, the trailers have cool stuff in it, and the bulk of the offerings are remixes of products we've already bought. I hope they have a deep bench of goodies for us later, and I also hope someone over there gets over themselves about "spoilers" and just puts out figures of the best-looking stuff before fans have a chance to be told, after liking the movie, by some snarky YouTuber "no you didn't, it was stupid and you're stupid if you like it." Peer pressure is weirdly real online, sheeple.

My hunch is any hype for the new movie (and its toys) will come after the film... because it's not here now. Usually the toys serve as one of the big marketing levers - along with trailers, posters, and the like - that just drive fans to something of a frenzy. I'd like to be there! But right now, it's not like we have questions like "Who's Rey?" or "How does this Porg thing work out?" or "Why does this The Rise of Skywalker line seem so lacking?" The hesitation to show us new things, combined with a lack of new things to get excited about, is going to prove challenging when it comes to convincing people to give Star Wars another look. And I'm excited for this stuff. (Admittedly, I still haven't watched Star Wars Visions season 3 yet, in part because I didn't like most of the first two.)

I'm hoping the toy launch later this month - which is probably going to be very "we'll put it out when we feel like it" in stores - maybe we'll see some interest and excitement. The malaise in this brand isn't unique to Star Wars, as retailer shelves have a very generous offering of white space in toy aisles. It's almost shocking - new exclusives aren't there (or go straight to clearance at Walmart), there really aren't many new figures to buy, and it feels like there isn't much new for kids that wouldn't interest us, either. It just feels like a whole lot less is happening in toy world, which probably means something - anything - needs to be a rising new rockstar to bring the entire industry up a few notches. And what that might be, I couldn't say.

--Adam Pawlus

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