1. How on earth did it take Hasbro this long to put out an updated [The Vintage Collection Commander] Cody? The yellowed plastic Cody has been in need of a redo since 2010.

Why don't popular clones like Cody and Rex get more regular releases, while the generic ones get multiple releases?
--Derek

Rex has received quite a few The Vintage Collection figures in the last few years thanks to The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch. Hasbro is on a clone kick now and I think we can thank the aging The Clone Wars kids as well as last year's Republic Gunship crowdfund. Fans ask for more regular clones, and I think that is why Hasbro does it - they might buy more of them. I don't need multiple Cody figures unless there's a helmet change, but plain clones? Rub some dirt in it, and it's a new figure.

It's also worth noting that Hasbro has a finite number of figure releases per year determined by some byzantine budget process. It would seem some tooling must be reused, and I think that's why we're getting clones now. We've been getting variant video game troopers for years, and those have not seemed particularly exciting to a lot of fans - and now Hasbro has a Clone buck they can just keep using.

With thousands of figures, it can be difficult to understand why Hasbro remakes one guy, but not another. The last new EV-9D9 was in 1997. We haven't had a chrome C-3PO since about 2010, and that was a rerun from 2006. Every new Chewbacca is the same base design from 2004 with one or two changes (the last new one had some revised legs.) With so many characters to do and redo, each new announcement is greeted by fans on the stream asking why some other figure wasn't remade, or why some character hasn't been made at all. I think that's just going to be the way this is going to go until the line finally becomes unprofitable. But keep asking for your favorites - Hasbro does listen to massive groundswells of fan opinion.

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2. Do you think Hasbro will ever do retro figures for newer media or do you think that's dead now? The Mando movie would have been the perfect chance to get an AT-AT driver and a snow trooper out without them needing to be in a box (which they still could do on an ESB card as a two-pack like the bounty hunters).
--Charlie

My hunch is we will never see more of this post-Return of the Jedi era of stuff, mostly because it took too long to get the ball rolling. Four of the five waves of Disney+ single-carded figures got dumped at Ross, but that may be more due to overproduction after a successful first wave followed by some of the worst distribution ever on the final two. If the data looks like an item didn't sell enough at full price, even if it was because of exuberance? It will be hard to convince the powers that be to not trust their own data set.

It is up to you, the collectors, to make some noise. The Retro Collection conversation online is scarce - there's some chatter at Rebelscum, and I assume on Facebook, but I'm not on a lot of social media and what I do follow, I don't see much chatter about these guys. I don't see a lot of chatter where I lurk and most of what Hasbro representatives have said is "we hear you, we're only doing original trilogy stuff because fans demand it to be so." An overcorrection, sure, but The Acolyte was the wrong set to make.

While I don't want everything represented in Retro, they missed an opportunity to engage us with more new (or remade) troopers and a new AT-AT to go with them. If Hasbro could somehow make a Kenner-flavored Remnant AT-AT (maybe simpler than last time) for $100 or so, wouldn't you want one? Hasbro hasn't done a Retro Snowtrooper yet, so selling those with and without the masks would probably be an easy sell. But, fans supposedly said no - I can't figure out where, though. I assume they had a focus group and people were afraid of speaking up against the loudest, oldest voices. But no matter what happened this year, The Empire Strikes Back turns 50 in 2030 and maybe you'll get some remakes at that point.

I can assure you there are store buyers who ask this very question and are very excited to see this kind of stuff. If the run sizes are right, it works - that first wave of The Mandalorian Retro stuff seemed to do spectacular business, with an asterisk. It had the benefit of controversy over one of the show's stars fueling speculation on rarity of Cara Dune. This resulted in fan-driven misinformation and hype that we hadn't seen since the 1990s . This also had the perk of just making people go "Oh hey, I didn't know they still made those!" Given people were freaked out that Cara Dune was recalled (she wasn't), that's a recipe for strong sales among those who don't know any better. But I digress.

Two weeks after The Mandalorian and Grogu hit theaters, I saw the ActionVerse STAP set for 30% off and Mattel's Grogu plush doll for 50% off at Target. The collector stuff seems to be selling, but it seems the film's product offering didn't do what it needed to do. I expect the focus will remain on the original trilogy, but I really hope they can "Expanded Universe" it up with some more stuff from these shows. I don't necessarily need any more prequel Retro, nor do I want any sequel Retro. But anything they want to do after Darth Vader put his armor on until maybe a decade after Return of the Jedi sounds great to me - Rebels, Ewoks, Droids, The Mandalorian... but maybe not Skeleton Crew. (I know some of you like it, but a lot of people can't be bothered even at $6 on clearance.)

Even something that I would consider a surefire hit - Retro Grand Admiral Thrawn - could be a flop. His The Vintage Collection release was at Ross for $5, but it was also (at least) the third 3 3/4-inch Thrawn based on the same body in a short window of time. I see Kenner figures as a separate animal, and we're just (I assume) seven or eight months away from finding out what Hasbro does for the big 50th anniversary in 2027. If we get 24 figures and a vehicle and a playset, and they keep out of Ross, I think they'll consider it a big enough win to workshop additional ideas. But also, keep in mind the oldest kids to see that movie in 1977 are in their 60s. Hasbro waited too long to push this stuff in a big way.

But, dear readers, it's important to note that time is short for a lot of us. If Derryl DePriest is starting to sell off some big-ticket items, it's a pretty good reminder that interest in these kinds of action toy brands probably won't be eternal. As I write this, I'm still wondering if it's worth waiting for a Retro Vlix that'll probably never come, or selling off a slice of stuff to get a real one that, ironically, is now too expensive for me to play with.

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FIN

As we hurdle toward the future, it's weird to consider the childhood toys that we cling to (or hope to recapture) just might not be around forever. I'm always enamored with new stuff based on old licenses, but it's not like Doctor Who, Star Trek, The Outer Space Men, or The Planet of the Apes managed to deliver anything super exciting for the big 50. This isn't to say they don't have good, recent collector products. But it is worth reminding ourselves that not all of us get to pick how our stuff is distributed. Enjoy your stuff, or remember that someone out there might want to give it a home if you're done enjoying it.

I know we're all hoping for the King of the Death Stars next year, but I'd be happy with something small too. I don't know that it's possible to make a good XXL Death Star given what we paid for our barges, unless it's done in chunks over time. 50 years is a long time to wait for something big, and I doubt anybody who is middle-aged now will necessarily have the time to really maximize their space doll house if or when it arrives. Hopefully they'll do something really amazing next year. When I find myself asking if something the size of 10-20 of their "hallway" playsets will please fans, I'm guessing we as a community are beyond being pleasantly surprised at this point. At least, when it comes to big things - I think there are still ways to impress us on the low-end, for those who dare.

Hasbro's various playsets were fun, mostly because it got me an excuse to haul out a bunch of old action figures and set up aliens all over the place. I can't think of a better use of my time, or money, when it comes to collecting. The Death Star is in a similar position, and hopefully not all of my Stormtroopers have yellowed with time. As an environment, the Death Star(s) would be a slightly less exciting place than the Barge, Cantina, or Jabba's Palace only because there just aren't as many figures I'd like to set up there. A few versions of Luke and Han, a Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and whatever Imperial guys you've got would be good fits... and maybe we'll get a few new ones. While I can name Imperials I don't have, there are precious few that I think would get me excited. And they're old men dressed in purple robes, mostly.

Not unique to our hobby, but it seems every line based on existing IP has its announcements met the same way. If the figure you've always wanted is revealed, 20 people will show up in the chat or comments going "but when are we getting this other thing?" That's kind of frustrating. But thankfully, buying old toys on eBay is pretty satisfying and doesn't result in much of that.

The 2025 reissue of the Star Wars The Retro Collection Return of the Jedi 3 3/4-Inch Action Figures Set is theoretically sold out. I probably should have bought another one or two. (I currently have three, because "buy a Yak Face for a fair price" was too novel to not do.) Third-party sellers still may have some stock, so if you've been dragging your feet? I'd recommend tracking it down, fast. I don't believe this set is likely to get a third production run.

--Adam Pawlus

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