1. I really expected to see some version of the AT-AT rereleased this year, not as a HasLab but maybe a 'Made to Order' with a December release. It seems like they kept releasing new or updated guys to go inside it and displaying them on or around one. Do you think that may have been in the works and the movie coming and going like it did put a stop it or was I just reading to much into it? When it first came out money was a bit tighter and I only bought the Endor edition so it may have just been wishful thinking on my part.
--Peter

It would have been nice! Most toy companies are shying away from vehicles, with few bright spots. McFarlane Toys put out a bunch of its DC line-up, with quite a bit of non-Batmobile options in its DC Super Powers range. Jurassic World has been quietly making up military vehicles in dinosaur battle packs, effectively making it a stealth replacement for 1990s-style G.I. Joe military sci-fi fantasy vehicles. Hasbro went whole hog on the AT-RT, which we had many of already, and we got again in multiple sizes this year. I think it was the wrong choice.

I would hope we get another AT-AT someday, in some form. I wouldn't mind it being a "toy", cheaper, like Hasbro's Fantastic Four Fantasticar (now on clearance on an eBay near you.) A remake of the 1980 toy would make sense for the 50th anniversary, or maybe sooner. It is a little ridiculous to think we're catering to toys a half century late, especially as we saw nothing of the sort for - as far as I can tell - pretty much any movie or TV series.

I'd say keep asking. Hasbro knows the AT-AT is very popular, and if they can do it cheaply (as in, under $100) I bet they'll sell a ton of them.

Most of Hasbro's items take about 18 months from "hey, we should make this!" to a shelf. Current made-to-order pre-orders launched in the last month are coming out in about a year. I would strongly recommend pestering Hasbro to do these things, because I think there's a customer who wants an AT-AT. Any AT-AT. They're all quite expensive.

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2. Since I can no longer read RebelScum (they don't seem to wish to grant me an account - shrug emoji), what are the rumors around this years Haslab if any? Any ship rumors for 2026 and 2027?
--Dan

The big rumor going around for 2027 remains that there could be a HasLab Death Star. I don't know that the economy will allow for the HasLab of your dreams. Why? Take a look at the Cantina, and what $400 can get you. A satisfactory Death Star would probably need to be triple the size, and fans would still say it's not big enough. And if it's triple the size, it could be triple the price. Maybe they can carve out a smaller piece of they go for something that's more "playset" than "movie set replica," but fans will probably still demand something of gargantuan size.

I haven't heard any vehicle rumors, but I'd sure as heck love to see a Blockade Runner or a Star Destroyer of some sort. I would imagine Ahsoka season two should have a ship, but I have zero insight as to what might be involved there. There's all the reason to believe they could crank out another X-Wing repaint. (I swear, that last sentence was written before the reveal. You'd have seen it on the Patreon!)

Hasbro elected to show us evidence of my wild speculation with a new Kenner-flavored The Vintage Collection X-Wing, but there's nothing Retro on deck and as far as I know, there are zero plans to reveal or tease a 2026 Star Wars HasLab at this point. Hasbro did tease one for Transformers, though.

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FIN

Well, that was a Comic-Con! I'm a little surprised that we didn't hear much fuss over Starfighter, the 50th anniversary, or season 2 of Ahsoka as all of those are likely to drop before the next SDCC. This is probably why you don't want Marvel and Star Wars sharing the same PR crew - they're going to fight for resources what with Spider-Man and the Avengers having movies coming out first. But we did get some good toy reveals.

I personally am not excited for more Attack of the Clones 3 3/4-inch The Vintage Collection nor a grab bag of animated The Black Series, but there were some nice new items. A Kenner-deco Vintage X-Wing is coming, and will be expensive. We'll get a The Mandalorian and Grogu 3 3/4-inch INT-4 with Imperial Warlord. That's pretty cool. But as far as super-articulated figures go, no, I can't say it's terribly exciting right now. I assume it will be next year, and I'm generally biased toward the movies (and comics, and cartoons) I grew up with. I love 3 3/4-inch original trilogy (and adjacent) stuff, so 6-inch 2026 streaming stuff is generally outside my circle of specific interest. Hopefully the fans show up for it, because it certainly seems Hasbro won't reissue The Vintage Collection and The Black Series seems to be getting marked down more often than not. As fans point out to me things colored wrong on Obi-Wan's knees or IG-88's chest, I find I care a lot less. It's notable, it's unfortunate they got it wrong or had bad reference, but I'm a toy collector. As long as they're good toys, I can deal with a few inaccuracies. It's the way things have been since the beginning.

The Retro Collection has me hopeful, and not just because I'm a great spy. We got official confirmation that next year has 28 figures and 3 bigger things, and that's hopeful. This makes 2027 the second year to have more than 20 new figures, and I assume the implication is that they're new.

In 2023, we got 36 figures. Of those, I would classify 3 as "just different to make you mad" and 1 as a prototype, which may or may not make your count. I wouldn't expect 100% of 2027 to be all-new movie figures, but right now, I would define "success" as "more than six."

Speaking of The Retro Collection, the 2026 set is hitting stores now but I haven't read reports of Target shipping pre-orders. (Maybe go hunt for this one.) I have opened three so far. Wedge feels like someone fudged a modern figure's CAD file into Retro, but Captain Antilles and CZ-3 are very good and excellent, respectively. I'll have reviews starting on Thursday with Wedge... and it's long. And you'll probably assume I have a tinfoil hat, but I'm fairly positive the sculptor was working from 2015's Saga Legends 5POA X-Wing Luke figure. You'll see. You'll all see!

...but I digress.

It's a pretty good time to collect toys. If you like the zanier side of things, I would also nudge you to turn around at Target and look at what's going on with Jurassic World. I was recently lamenting the lack of G.I. Joe figures with vehicles, and then it hit me - Mattel's doing them. They've been doing Target-exclusive boats, bikes, SUVs, and military vehicles with commando figures and dinosaurs for years. I even bought some, and it never dawned on me that Mattel has stolen Hasbro's lunch money. For $38 you can get a Battle Corps-esque Bryce Dallas Howard in an attack eyeball with a weird dinosaur. You don't get ankles or wrists on your humans, but $38 nets you a lot more toy than Hasbro currently gives us. Give them a look. They're not for everybody, but it goes to show there is still a market for toys that sell to both kids and collectors.

--Adam Pawlus

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