1. As my attorney, I need you talk to my Dr. as my head is about to explode. I have never had the will to get into S.H Figuarts Star Wars figures. Then, there were/are (???) Bandai Star Wars figures. Now you say, there is Blokee's Star Wars figures. What's the difference between them all? From a casual observer, they all seem similar but also not.
--M

Each company has different slivers regarding things like designs, price points, sizes, and where it can be sold. So far it looks like Blokees Star Wars are only getting Champion Class - a 6-inch line of kit - in the United States. Other sizes are sold internationally. Blokees are descended from a brand of LEGO-like kits, which mutated into snap-together figures in the American market close to Stikfas and Xevoz. I find these to be generally charming and, for the ones I've bought, worth the asking price.

BanDai makes model figures that are more realistic, but roughly the same size, and at a higher price point. I do not know precisely where the license line is drawn, but basically Blokees are cheaper, and BanDai are more expensive and a bit more authentic/specific. BanDai also makes S.H. Figurarts, but those are more traditional action figure-type construction and not a kit. I keep meaning to try out BanDai C-3PO and R2-D2 kits, they look pretty cool and are shiny in ways Hasbro's figures aren't.

There are a number of companies in orbit of the 1:12 scale/6-inch figure space, and under Disney it's a lot harder to figure out what the specific differences are. For example, we saw Titanium Series and Hot Wheels Starships at roughly the same size and price point in 2015-2016, competing with each other on pegs. I was told the license difference had to do with the percentage of metal. I am not sure I believe it, despite trusting the source, but it seems a lot of IP holders are keen to find new ways to thinly slice their licenses ("slicensing") to make more competitive products and, unfortunately, significantly more marketplace confusion.

It's worth remembering Disney themselves had 6-inch die-cast metal figures in a now-defunct line, and Revoltech and Medicom MAFEX also stopped making stuff. And it's worth remembering I probably forgot a few competitors, too. There are always slight differences in height, so I don't know how you're necessarily going to want to mix-and-match things. The reason I recommend Blokees is they've got a crackerjack crew distributing these things in America, they're cheap, and they're generally easy to put together. I still need to pick one up to see how the Star Wars ones turned out, but everything I've bought in Transformers has been excellent.

Even worse, I can still imagine and propose variations as of yet unexplored in the 6-inch line for more interesting collector figures with differing new features. It seems every company wants to compete among about a dozen characters, resulting in a generally bloated and easy-to-ignore offering once you get a couple of figures. There are few incentives to stick around forever, unless you're a completist, or you have a character focus itch that's being scratched by Vader/Boba/C-3PO/Troopers/etc.

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2. Does having a movie where "remnants" are key, make for a lot of rehashed figures & ships? Maybe time will be the ultimate answer to this one.
--Dan

If you're waiting for a 3 3/4-inch line that can hold a candle to what we got in the 1980s - or even the slow years of 1995-1996 - I would recommend against it. You're probably never going to see "a lot" of new ships again.

Hasbro and Lucasfilm didn't exploit this for The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, so I'm guessing no. To this day I'm kind of surprised The Mandalorian didn't become the new face of all things Star Wars with New Republic X-Wings, Outlander TIE Fighters, and every possible weird alien or trooper variant under the twin Suns. The show did get a significantly bigger slice of the New Content Pie, but I'm kind of scratching my head why they had a clear winner and just sort of dribble out new stuff here and there, with the first real "kid line" being this year - and arguably, not much bigger than Epic Hero Series and Epic World of Action. So far it's an AT-RT, Zeb, Grogu, Mando, and you could make an argument for the Stormtrooper. Maybe I'm a spoiled 80s or 90s kid, but any toy line launching with under 10 figures tends to not be worth paying attention to until year two.

I really don't know everything in the movie yet - I've seen the trailers and some product, but if it's got TIE Fighters and Star Destroyers, or Boba Fett, or whatever? I don't know yet. It would be a great time to get that kind of stuff out - but I assume Disney/Lucasfilm/Hasbro are holding back "spoiler" toys. I use air quotes disparagingly, as we saw them do this with Han, Leia, and Luke for The Force Awakens and I still think that was a poor choice to not capitalize on fans who are dying to empty their wallets.

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FIN

We are out of questions for next week. Send 'em if you got 'em!

Maul: Shadow Lord is on. I'm four episodes in as I post this during a work trip, and it feels like another case of "written for the binge model." The show delivers on its promise of a crime lord Maul, but so far, I feel like we've got about 30-40 minutes of story stretched out to two hours. Nice animation, good voices, everything looks good, it's just very slow as we watch the animators amortize the sets and models over an ongoing series that would probably have made a fantastic movie (or duology.) The end of episode 4 teases more characters and action, but I'm reminded a lot of The Clone Wars as serialization took hold and you got a great expository episodes, two very thin middle episodes, and a pretty good ending. I assume this is building to something pretty cool. By not having weekly adventures or really any sort of conclusion, there is a bit of a drag here.

Given the lack of product on-shelf, I assume that cool something might be in season two. Maybe they're holding back - but they're not holding back on The Mandalorian and Grogu as Walmart has a ship with Grogu and Anzellans for $20. These ships are ActionVerse (4 1/2-inch) scale, but don't seem like they would be wildly out of scale with 3 3/4-inch stuff. For lack of a better alternative so far, you might want to keep your eyes out for this one. Given its odd size and lack of product, ActionVerse is a line that I feel needs to dig itself out of a hole to warrant any real attention. It's neat, it feels something between "modern" and "1988," but right now it's about five basic figures and two vehicles. The Anzellan ship is something totally unique (so far), which I would say upgrades the line from "you can ignore this" to at least "give it a look." I'll probably pick this one up unless I get wind of The Vintage Collection getting one too.

By the time most of you read this on Monday, there should be a couple more Maul episodes, tickets for The Mandalorian and Grogu should be on sale, and boy oh boy am I hoping for some more toy reveals.

--Adam Pawlus

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