1. While I have never liked the hallway or street "players" that Hasbro puts out, why do you think we haven't seen Yoda's Dagobah home, a star destroyer bridge, or any other diorama no brainer?
--Derek

I think the answer is "it's complicated." Hasbro's $60-$70 playsets - Freeze Chamber, Tantive IV, Imperial Light Cruiser, Nevarro Bar, Imperial Light Cruiser, Mos Eisley - were all designed to be purchased more than once. (Endor Bunker, not so much.) If Hasbro can get a customer to buy two, or three, or more of a playset it becomes a much more attractive product because not all figure collectors buy ships and playsets. I would like to think we might some day see things like Death Star hallways and other pieces we can build out, but given how long they're taking we might be getting into "it's too late" territory for some of these things. Especially if HasLab is going to do prequel projects - that era of kids is maybe 30-40. Original Trilogy theatrical-era kids are starting to hit 60.

Fans could crowdsource something as well. There are laws against you making Star Wars playsets. There are no laws against making swamps, snow drifts, or forests. Operation Recall have put out 3 3/4-inch Hasbro-style G.I. Joe-compatible figures - with design input by actual 20th century Hasbro people - and they're great. (I bought the first series.) Star Wars fans have, for some reason, been extremely hesitant to do any sort of good "plays with" product short of 3D print stuff or some outright knock-off-ing. Given the liberties Kenner took with its playsets back in the day, fans could make a "swamp troll hut playset" that captures the spirit of the movie set. They just haven't. I don't get why there's no fan-made "Yeti Cave."

They look nice, but if Hasbro delivered you a slimy mud hole, what would you want it to do? I would assume it's in Hasbro's best interests to look at (and maybe modernize) Kenner's old playsets, mostly because you can manage expectations and keep prices within reason. Maybe Galoob's MicroMachines Dagobah set embiggened would be satisfying, or perhaps they could go back to old MicroCollection unproduced concepts.

I wouldn't be surprised if some concepts are future marketing centerpieces. I doubt there's going to be business for "Year of Dagobah" but who knows? The Star Destroyer would be a solid excuse for troopers and Bounty Hunters, and truth be told Hasbro has done a pretty good job covering a lot of scenarios. With other new initiatives taking slots in the line plan, it's reasonable to assume they can't get to everything - but it sure feels like there's less of an emphasis on the Disney+ streaming or new movie material, so maybe we'll see some more classic stuff in the next couple of years.

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2. Wish I had a real question. What are your thoughts on why you don't get as many questions anymore? Does everyone already get all the answers because...internet? Not actually have as many readers as you used to when you first started? I used to send you lots of questions 'back-in-the-day'.....OMG it's been over 25 years!
--Jason

Thanks for sticking with me/the hobby/what passes for the written word when I am involved!

I think it's generational, and that what I do doesn't bring in new readers anymore. When I started writing in August of 1995, I was writing for an audience that was older than I was. That generation has largely aged out of it, unless they've got good money, and a lot of people with good money are less concerned with the hobby beyond "what is there for me to get now?" If they want something, there are high-roller collector groups on Facebook, or high-profile eBay auctions, or just private trades. A lot of people who were reading my stuff in their 20s and 30s have other real problems to deal with at this stage in life.

This feature hasn't kept up with the times - I'm not answering questions on TikTok or streams, nor am I pivoting to AI. Young people do not seem to be toy collectors, and they certainly don't want to hear from somebody old enough to be a parent or grandparent. Hasbro also directly addresses fans now on regular streams, and while they may not answer questions they absolutely do dole out high levels of information we never used to see.

There isn't much inspiring our imaginations, either. If you go to the stores, and (heaven forbid) you find me online first, you might not be aware there are hundreds of vehicles or thousands of figures out there already. You just live in a world where all toy stores have the same 5-6 figures, some of which have been at Walmart for 3-6 inexplicable years. So why ask anyone a question? If Google doesn't have the answer, nobody does, right?

Back in the 1990s, I got really excited to find out about new Star Wars and I would put together a mailing list of new facts and send it out to people who were as thrilled as I was. It seems it's a lot less cool to be excited, or to dream, or to really dig in with the stuff we bought. No offense to Hasbro, but we pretty much know how the joints work on every new figure before we open the box and no toys have any play features any more. Things are predictable. I really do believe the old cranks will have a few 2027 things that might get them excited again, but the frequency at which fans feel engaged by the toy part of this hobby probably won't get a lot better. We're not getting new releases, and there are rarely (never) products that show up unannounced anymore. It really feels like a fan can know everything, and with Google and eBay? They probably can. I'm just hear for the color commentary and to be one of the last people from the end of the original trilogy generation to turn the lights off after everybody else finally leaves the party.

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FIN

Where was I while waiting for questions? The movies! Circumstances have resulted in me getting one of those all-you-can-eat (or close enough to it) passes from a major movie theater chain, which is both stupid and entertaining. The pass changes the equation from "I don't want to spend money to see that" to "I already spent the money, so let's see as much as possible." Since the pandemic I haven't actually seen all that many movies. In 2020, they bulldozed my favorite cheap local theater where I was usually paying $5-$7 for new movies on opening day at a theater with free covered parking. This soured me on paying more and going farther away.

For the curious, the chain in question sold the pass that lets you see four movies per week for about $24 / month (but that price is going up shortly.) The math I did was "if I see at least two or three movies I'd have paid full price to see, this is worth it."

So what did I see in June?

Masters of the Universe - a perfectly entertaining movie that, like most franchise films, is a little scared of its built-in audience. Lots of creature make-up and a few nifty vehicles make up for the 1987 backlot live-action movie, with a game cast that does as much as they can with the material. It's more like a recital than a continuation of the film, complete with requisite "passing of the torch" scenes and oodles of things to make the toy collectors go "I understood that reference." If you liked the old He-Man cartoon, and are over 40, this is a movie you'll probably enjoy. Amazon MGM is already developing a spin-off live-action She-Ra series, which probably won't be as good as Netflix' Dreamworks' anime-inspired show from a few years ago. It feels a lot like other super hero or sci-fantasy genre movies, so you're basically watching it for the pageantry.

The Mandalorian and Grogu (but in 3D) - I saw it a second time. I've never actually seen a feature-length modern 3D movie before, but I found the 3D in the Moana trailer to be brighter and more impressive than the murky scenes from this Star Wars entry. The creatures still looked awesome for its second go-round, but I don't think I'll need to see the movie again until I do a rewatch of The Mandalorian some day... which likely won't happen soon unless another season of the show gets announced. After seeing He-Man in action, this felt similar. Characters you like, not really doing anything to challenge your conception of their character or doing much to change the status quo of where they live in your imagination. (Unlike, say, what the end of The Force Awakens or The Empire Strikes Back did for our perceptions of Luke Skywalker.) I still like it as a feature-length continuation of the serial, but this would be a rotten finale.

Stop! That! Train! - this one came out of nowhere because she who is my wife said "let's go see that." It was pretty great - a short disaster movie spoof, but with drag performers, and a murderer's row of comic talent (Natasha Leggero!) from the past 20 years. If you were anywhere near the Los Angeles alternative venue comedy scene in the late 2000s, you'll see plenty of familiar faces. Also, RuPaul is in it. It looks incredibly cheap with some of the worst CG (or AI) train effects, but the performers were charming and the joke count was off the charts. This was supposedly made in under three weeks. Worth checking out, I think if I saw this as a kid I'd have been inspired to make zero-budget spy spoofs and creature features instead of being around the toy biz.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 - I got 4 "free" tickets a week to burn, so this was also a thing to see. I saw the first one on DVD or HBO back when it came out-ish, and remember very little about it other than it was entertaining. I would put this new one in the same ballpark - if you like these actors and characters you're probably going to love this. I didn't get much from it, but the audience loved it even though it'd been out for nearly seven weeks. It felt like it set up a streaming series that nobody can afford to make, and also felt a bit like the aforementioned legacy sequels/reboots. You get what it says on the poster, and probably won't have a lot more to take away beyond having had a chance to hang out with actors you probably like.

Disclosure Day - Arguably the most Spielbergian thing you could expect to see, it felt very much like his previous body of work. There's an action scene involving a train and some cars that would have felt at home in Indiana Jones, as would the John Williams score, and the general story of aliens among us felt like it would have fit right in with Men in Black and Independence Day in the 1990s. Other than a few composite shots that didn't pass the smell test, the actors, craftspeople, and artisans all brought their "A" game to put out a movie that feels like material that didn't really challenge anyone involved. Given what we've seen from Steven Spielberg (and what we got as a result of on-set challenges), it was by no means a bad movie - but it didn't feel fresh.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - sans "Indiana Jones and" on the title card, no less! There was a one-time, one-day screening on Father's Day and it was great to finally see it on the big screen... and apparently I missed a lot of details on TV. It was for the 45th anniversary, here's hoping it goes wider for the 50th so you can see too. The beginning was a little grainy, the shots of Indy on the stairs near the end were a little out of focus, but for all I know that's how the film looks - I've never seen it on a huge screen. The movie is still incredibly entertaining.

Toy Story 5 - we saw this in the "ScreenX" format, which projects on the side walls, up the stairs, over some exit signs and speakers. As far as I can tell, it seems it's just taking the edges of the movie and stretching them a bit more. (I don't think it was worth it, it seemed out of sync with the main screen a couple of times.) The movie itself was a lot of fun, with a story about tech replacing toys for kids that seemed about a decade late. It had some characters based on older kid toy tech that were made of clear plastic, like stuff from the 1990s, so I'm not sure exactly how the timeline shakes out but it was fun all the same. Conan O'Brien did a great job. Shelby Rabara (Peridot of Steven Universe) was also fantastic, and the story was pretty good considering it's the fifth in a series. I assume a #6 is coming, and it feels Buzz and Woody (and really, the toys in general) are less important than the human characters - I wonder how that might shake out for the next one. You should probably see the movie, but I don't know that I'd ever need to see anything in ScreenX again. 4DX is still on my bucket list but I don't believe we have that near here.

Jackass: Best and Last - I don't doubt there is anyone reading this unfamiliar with the prank/stunt/endurance franchise from its TV show or previous films, or the performers' feuds or places on the talk show circuit. I've seen some of the TV show and a few clips, but never a full movie. I had a fantastic time. I probably laughed more and was more on the edge-of-my-seat than anything else I saw this year, and it's a pretty amazing example of non-narrative filmmaking. There's no script per se, but you get to see de facto stuntpersons doing their craft with more in-camera action than you'll probably see in any other movie this year. Sure, someone's getting kicked in the balls, and yes, I saw Idiocracy when it ran on like four screens for its token theatrical release, so I'm well aware that this is the kind of thing that will be mocked or worse, ignored. But you also get to see a bunch of people who tolerate or possibly even love one another band together to put on a show, and I would be extremely interested to see other movies like it where we get to see stunts work (or not work) on a big screen. I assume most of you think you're too good or too mature to sit through an MTV movie involving poop when you're in your 40s or 50s, but let me assure you, it was a valuable use of my time. Perhaps it is because of my advancing age, but this may well be the only movie I see that really showcases the human spirit and reminds me of my olf friends who have moved away, or moved on to other planes of existence. It's puerile, filthy, base, and unoriginal - and I dare say we may be worse off if we never see its likes again.

Supergirl - this movie surprised me as it's actually pretty Star Wars-y in its creature abundance. I didn't watch the trailers, so I was not expecting an interstellar romp in alien bars, alien planets, or alien mass transit systems. I certainly wasn't expecting creature shop work that probably shamed The Mandalorian and Grogu and had a sense of style that reminded me of the Men in Black movies. I wouldn't say any of the effects work or sets had any signature flair, but it did a good job of cobbling together stuff that worked from Furiosa, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, and modern blockbuster fare. The movie was well-cast, the actors all did a great job, and you could see a little bit of Natasha Lyonne coming out of Kara Zor-El. You should probably see this one, since we're probably not going to see a big book or magazine article focusing on all the alien designs.

Tuner - I missed this one in May, it's got Dustin Hoffman as one of two piano tuners. The other tuner discovers an aptitude for opening safes. It's actually pretty great, go see it if it's still around. It appears to have expanded last weekend, and I wouldn't have known about it in the first place were it not for ads on the Henry Rollins radio show. It might be at your theaters again right now, so check listings and maybe bring a date.

Despite next year's Star Wars boom, it's been kind of quiet on the plastic front. Some things to look forward to: TMAG Zeb figures are shipping now. Retro 6-packs from Target are shipping in about two weeks. The Ninth Jedi anime series premiers in August. And I assume The Mandalorian and Grogu will be on streaming before the fall, for those who missed it, which is most people. We've got plenty of reasons to be excited for 2027, too. And some of those are sure to start leaking out soon.

--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.

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