1. Some merchandise for Mando/Grogu is already on clearance. Will this affect displays for 2027 in Walmart/Target? Do you think the overall numbers for the Mandalorian/Grogu movie will impact the toys being created/developed for StarFighter next year? Or even what is being made for Star Wars- ANH re-release in theaters?
--Jeremiah

The movie should do well unless Disney chickens out with the marketing. Ryan Gosling sci-fi and branded genre entertainment sells tickets but, most important of all, pretty much the entire 2027 line is in the oven. If you want to manufacture a new toy, it takes about 18 months to get it to shelves. Hasbro is likely just starting on 2028. Short of a catastrophe, it is unlikely anything they have for the new 2027 movie or anniversary will get revised at this point. Epic Hero Series was on clearance in 6 months in 2024, and we still got Epic World of Action product through 2026 before Hasbro replaced it with ActionVerse.

For Disney (and pop culture in general), Starfighter director Shawn Levy is a pretty bankable guy. He did Stranger Things and a Deadpool movie. He did Real Steel, Night at the Museum, and a lot of fairly good and popular projects. There's no reason for a corporation not to bank on him, plus Ryan Gosling, plus the Star Wars brand. I don't know if Starfighter will be a dud, or will be a massive rebirth for the franchise. In 1989, Tim Burton's Batman had people rolling their eyes and mocking the choice of star until they saw it - and everything changed. It could happen here. It might not. Nobody is showing me footage.

The Starfighter product was in the works for months before The Mandalorian and Grogu came out. I don't expect the line will change, but orders on the store level may be altered. I don't know if big box put in their orders yet, but I think absolutely everybody has an opinion about why a toy failed to launch. The characters look the same. The promotion was weak. The toy offering was terrible, and such small portions. I've heard people say to me "I am only just now hearing that a new movie was in theaters." Whatever the grassroots fandom thing that made a new movie An Event was, I think it's been pretty dead since The Force Awakens and to a lesser extent, Rogue One.

I would expect next year to look a lot like this year, sort of like how Rogue One followed up on what The Force Awakens was doing. You'll probably see more ActionVerse, and The Black Series and The Vintage Collection figures. You probably won't see The Retro Collection for the new movie, but you probably will for Star Wars. I have every reason to assume you'll see Funko and LEGO products for everything.

Starfighter is a new start, and I think that's something we all need if we want to keep seeing these movies. It has a bankable star and a talented director. If this doesn't work, maybe we won't get a Star Wars movie any time soon. I'm of two minds about that - I haven't really had time to watch and rewatch and study the Disney era because there's just so much of it. I'd be more excited to buy toys from existing stories if I had time to watch and rewatch them all. Will there be a giant line-up filled with 50 figures and 12 vehicles? No, that era has ended.

Ad: Get New Star Wars Pre-Orders at Entertainment Earth! Get Free USA Shipping on Orders $79+

 

2. After 50 years next year, would it be a good time to call it quits? I'm starting to feel there needs to be an end to this all. Feels like the toys are being aligned for the next generation. I keep pondering the theme from the Ahsoka show - "It's Time to Begin Again." Which, btw, I've enjoyed more and more with each viewing. But, it's not my Star Wars.
--Daniel

Stick around for 2027. While you're waiting, trim your collection if you have the time. If what I hear is true you're going to want to make a little space, and you'll be glad you raised some money ahead of time. The 1990s are over - finished - and the years of all-new aliens and vehicles and troopers are never coming back. We're in the nostalgia cycle downward, and with any luck we'll get a few good new things on the way down.

I do not believe there will be a siignificant next generation of kids who grow up to go back and collect 21st century Star Wars toys. Some adults will buy stuff, and they will never have played with the toys as a child. (It's like comic books.) The past decade showed us that Hasbro and Disney have a small line for kids that ends before birthdays or Christmas gift giving season can kick in for a chunk of the population, so they're not going to be exposed to anything for very long ever again. It's possible some sort of cultural peer pressure will cause someone to buy figures that aren't from their era (see also, KISS in the 1990s) but they are not giving kids a fun time that they will want to remember as adults. That's done. (For Star Wars. Jurassic World is doing a good job attracting new business but needs more low-dollar product because it keeps selling out.)

With Star Wars is I like the old stuff, and I like the new stuff, but I don't like one era suffering at the expense of the other. Skeleton Crew felt like nobody had any faith in it, and The Acolyte felt like they had way too much faith in it. (Kid lightsabers? Really?) It would be nice to see Hasbro go all-in with each and every new franchise entry, even if it means resting legacy stuff, but that's not what happens any more.  And with the above examples, you can see why.

I think fans will never be happy. Fans can be happier than they are now if they stop buying things they don't like (short of clearance), and maybe even torpedo stuff they bought and don't want. Aliens, droids, vehicles, playsets, and retro things make me happy. Another revised Obi-Wan Kenobi will struggle to do so. I'm getting enough stuff per year that I like, but also, things I don't play with after I write the review. So why own it? I don't know.

Become a Patron!

Special thanks to our generous Patreon patrons, especially: JT, Jared, Bobb, Christopher, Daniel, Dan, Tim, Jayson, Matthew, Michael, Robert, Stephen, Todd DrReiCow, Eddie, Jeremy, Mario, and Todd! Thanks for helping us keep the servers on!

FIN

Jayson of Yak Face made a post about stepping back from the hobby, and that's not abnormal. Philip Wise sold off Rebelscum, SirSteve doesn't seem to be active. Most collectors I knew growing up grew out of it, or quit, or sold their companies. I don't think any of us expected that there would be consistent new product forever and it's possible Hasbro could keep making figures beyond the time it's profitable, just to keep the brand out of competitor hands. I've mentioned before that I assumed the prequels would be done around 2005 and that the toys would disappear again by 2008... and that didn't happen. It shows just how massively Star Wars impacted us as kids, to still be talking about this stuff nearly 50 years later.

And let me tell you... it's exhausting. I don't post every bit of news on the site because between my two web sites, I write 7 toy reviews per week, and I write this Q&A, and I also have a full-time job. If I have to format graphics, or skip through and transcribe names from a video, sometimes I just don't feel like being a marketing megaphone. I'll post about what I'm doing at work (because I got bills) and this stuff (because it pleases me to do so) and this Retro site solely because it tickles me.

I bought all of the 1990s Kenner toys from jump, but I did stop being all-in for 12-inch figures around Episode I and then picked up a few odds and ends from there. I sometimes get hate mail for saying this, but if you don't like something? Vote with your dollars. If any toy company is churning out stuff that you don't want, it's your duty to yourself to pocket the cash (and if you must, wait for a sale.) You work hard for the money. So hard for it, honey - there's really no reason to collect any line to any point where it stops being fun or starts being a real problem.

On that note, one thing some of us may forget is that there are still a lot of interesting corners to occupy. Hasbro's Unleashed 7-inch statues were incredible values in their day, and make for great display pieces that are largely more impressive than a The Black Series figure - provided you just want a display piece. They're terrible toys, they're just the cheapest collectible statues ever sold at a store.

If you're like me and you're wishing Hasbro would make The Retro Collection vehicles, don't forget that Kenner designs (if not molds) were used frequently from 1995-2006. POTF2-era vehicles are still relatively inexpensive, even boxed ones. If you want something more "old," you can always buy one and clean off the fake battle-damage paint, and then go to eBay to buy reproduction Kenner stickers. It will still be cheaper (and more importantly, faster) than waiting for Hasbro to do anything if they actually do come through in 2027. We know they're doing three "large items" next year, but they have yet to reveal them to the public. I pulled out my 2004 Original Trilogy Collection Millennium Falcon over the weekend, and last year's Ceremonial Luke fits in the gunner seat like a glove. (Also, I still kind of hate the cockpit on that model. I should have pulled out the POTF2 one.)

As someone in the collectibles business, I hear a lot of feedback from fans - and sometimes it doesn't match sales. If fans let me know how much they hate a product, but that product outsells the products they say they adore, the manufacturer might not take that note. If you're buying something you don't want - be it a license or a format - it doesn't matter. Money talks. There is much grumbling about Dungeons & Dragon's Universes Beyond expanding to include Star Wars and World of Warcraft, but that sort of licensed gimmickry has really worked wonders in Magic: The Gathering. I know a lot of older fans have strong opinions about The Black Series, and while it might be failing to sell through at full price (hi, Ross) it's still selling. We all deserve a break, and if we're spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on toys we don't even want... what are we even doing in our respective hobbies? There's other fun stuff we could be buying, or doing, or just plain waiting to get.

--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.

Social media? Sure. Bluesky | Fediverse | Mastodon | Tumblr | Instagram

I'm on Instagram! All Pictures from a GameBoy Camera.