1. With the 2 recently announced Star Wars movies (Both due in 2026), and we have a "vague" idea as to what these movies are about and the potential plot line, do you think Hasbro will have massive toy lines ready to go when the trailers launch and then the movies come out? Do you think that we would be 7 years removed from the last movie, would this almost be a "re-boot" phase? Jeremiah
--Jeremiah

In a perfect world, Hasbro (and Funko and LEGO) would have a handful of "sneak preview" figures in stores (or ready to pre-order) when the trailer drops, with at least a full suite of items on-shelf 30-90 days before the movie. I haven't seen anything from the increasingly spoiler-averse fandom (and business daddies) that seems to indicate an appetite for that sort of thing. They're keeping Deadpool and Wolverine product secret for the movie Deadpool & Wolverine. This is where we are now.

I would bet right now you won't see new toys for the trailer for the next Star Wars movie, be it in 2026 or later. I am not hopeful you will see many movie-specific new toys for the movie in theaters either - unless they happen to just be the same as a previous costume, which is how we got Darth Vader for Rogue One. That wasn't Rogue One Darth Vader - it was 1977 Darth Vader, which was close enough that nobody had to clear new movie assets for spoiler things. We didn't get Han Solo The Force Awakens figures for months due to fan fear of spoilers eventually going from "this is a fringe, ignore them" to "we have to cater to this crowd." Which is baffling - do the thing that sells product, don't avoid giving people a reason to hand over money.

I don't think we'll ever get a true reboot, and I assume Hasbro is never going to let the figure license go to let someone else genuinely reboot it. Someone might find a new format to flourish - Imaginext or Playmobil or something new, maybe o-ring figures. But right now I doubt we're going to see a brand-new toy line from anybody, and as much as I would like them to do a Force Friday launch I'm unsure everybody "got" the complaints. By 2018 people were sick of it, Toys R Us ignored it for Solo (due to closures), and I don't think fans want to jump through hoops every single year. But once every five or ten years? It's exciting and fun to have a big launch, midnight or otherwise, to make an event of things.

I was pretty surprised people showed up for it in 2015 for The Force Awakens given fans seemed pretty over it by 2005 (and especially 2008, the last one they did for The Clone Wars.) The gap between The Clone Wars and The Force Awakens was seven years, which is theoretically what it could be in 2026 if we actually see a movie.

Tinfoil Hat Me doesn't think there will be two movies, and one is unlikely, only because it seems these announcements come around earnings season and it's a plea to Wall Street to keep pumping in investor dollars because this totally huge thing is coming down the road... and hasn't, for several years.

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2. How many rebel pilots have had their own x wing made in 1:18 scale?
--Derek

1:18 scale - which we consider to be close enough to 3 3/4-inch scale? A lot! If you go by the packaging, Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, Biggs Darklighter, and Red Leader Garven Dreis leap to mind, in addition to numerous riffs on Luke. Poe Dameron also had a few X-Wings made for him.

I'm the tiniest bit surprised Porkins didn't get one. Without Toys R Us in the picture as a real player in the business I assume such things will never, ever happen again - and you probably won't see a lesser character get an X-Wing without it being featured in TV or a movie. I'd still love to see Carson Teva get a ship. And a figure.

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FIN

Over the years I've had a few opportunities to make good on the question "What do you want?" A few of the figures you may own were because I got to say "make this!" or "can you do that?" within certain limits in terms of tooling availability and price points. I really love that over the past few decades we got literally thousands of figures, which has really hit hard in recent months. Now if someone writes in asking "As a fan, what do you want at this point?" I can rattle off a few things that never got remade from the Kenner days (The Vintage Collection versions of Sim Aloo the Imperial Dignitary, Kenner-specific versions of the Ewoks or Cantina aliens), a few missing gaps from known rarities or prototypes that would be a blast in The Retro Collection (like Vlix and Gargan,) but most of my requests over the years came out from gaps in the toy box. 20 years ago, we had relatively few astromech droids not named R2-D2. 20 years ago, troopers were not yet abundant. Now, either of those categories dwarfs the entire original Kenner line.

We finally got a new 3 3/4-inch Jabba's Palace playset (from Boba Fett's Throne Room) and we've had so many figures that it's pretty full. I'd love to see a new take on the Max Rebo Band given the last new molds were made in 1998, but is that likely? It would be great to see a new Cantina playset and a few more aliens to fill the seats, but is that even on the radar this century? I hope so - I hope they aren't holding it for the 50th anniversary mostly because a good chunk of the kids who saw the film in 1977 will be around 60. The VHS generation will be pushing 50.

I see a lot more cynicism from fans - myself included - lately, and I think it's because it's a lot harder to honestly name anything that would make our whole group happy. I saw Boba Fett's Throne Room as an easy "everybody wins" product, minus the price. You get a new take on a classic figure with Bib Fortuna, tons of accessories, and a big playset you can use with your old figures, or with new figures, or with classic figures, or with streaming figures. That provides you with a lot of options, but there were a lot of complaints. (Myself included - again, about price.)

I really hope there's going to be some new toy revealed at a convention this year that results in jaw-dropping applause and standing ovations, but I've been in a lot of those rooms and some of those people will clap at anything. "But you have that at home" doesn't matter, it's just an exciting place to be. From where I sit, I'd probably be the most excited to see a new alien figure to plug in to Jabba's Palace or the Cantina that I hope some day gets made, or perhaps a never-before-made droid of some sort. We're well beyond an era where we're going to find a new figure that we all want in a store, at a fair price, that most fans agree was an exciting idea. But that's not all bad, as I'm actually seeing new The Black Series and The Vintage Collection figures in stores. The fact that they stay there for a while is another issue entirely, but at least human beings who aren't lifers who watch fanstreams have a chance to find out about a new action figure without having to pre-order it. That's a good thing for the fans... maybe not for the business.

I've still got boxes of unopened figures - I could do figure reviews for a year or more and not miss a beat without making a new purchase. I finally opened Paige from The Last Jedi, and you know what? It's a good figure. I don't know what value she serves without a vehicle, but as a plastic human goes there's very little to dislike here. The same can be said for hundreds (thousands) of other figures out there, which is what can make it hard to answer what would really, honestly, truly get people excited that a) Hasbro will actually make and b) isn't just a better version of a figure that has been sold previously. It is a little sobering to think that by the time the new movies come out in 2026 (or later) a lot of us might look at our collections, look at the offerings, look at our collections again, and say "You know what? I'm good, thanks." And if we want something new, a local collectible shop probably has a figure we skipped for pennies on the dollar right now.

Star Wars has an uphill battle on the toy aisle, as The Mandalorian & Grogu may not necessarily lead to all-new main character toy designs and we haven't seen any signs of Disney pushing Hasbro to do a big launch when a new show comes out. The Acolyte may splinter fan interest with a new timeline for toys, and who the heck knows if fans will embrace or reject that Rey movie, but I assume action figures will rope people in to a new story and no figures, to a lot of older fans, probably helps them ignore stuff. If you don't have to know the toys, you don't have to know the movie, and vice-versa. All I can say is this: costume designers, please make sure whatever you do makes for distinctive, new action figure or doll design. Thank you.

--Adam Pawlus

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