By Adam Pawlus
Photography: Michael Sullenger
UPDATED JULY 24

(SAN DIEGO, CA, July 21, 2004) If there's one thing Hasbro proves their expertise at on a regular basis, it's putting on a good show and making you glad you came to see their booth. Few companies make you feel quite as welcome, greeting you with a pile of posters, cardbacks, catalogs, and yes, even a free figure. While it wasn't a new figure, it's one you can't easily get these days-- a Galactic Heroes Scout Trooper. The figure was in a little bag, and stapled to the top was a small brochure touting the upcoming line that's on display in the booth. The figure is the same thing you may have received when you bought the Playskool "Fast through the Forest" set in 2002, but hey, who doesn't want more baby-faced Imperials?

While there were highlights a-plenty to be found, there's no reason to dawdle-- here's what you missed. Rare is the convention booth that serves as a reminder of why you're in a hobby, and I'm glad to report this was one of the good ones, even though it wasn't brimming with brand new figures.

BASIC FIGURES

After the Hasbro panel on Friday, numerous new figures for 2005 were confirmed-- and yes, even shown.

As reported previously, Senator Yarua, Pablo Jill, and Sly Moore are coming in the first post-OTC wave, all based on Coruscant. Next up is Rabe and Queen Amidala, both from Episode I, the latter of which based on the ceremonial gown at the end of the film. Also coming, but not shown, was a wave based on the Cantina. Trevagg (Gotal), Myo, and everybody's favorite pipe smoker, Dannik Jerriko. After these three waves will be the Episode III preview series, which, if you believe the rumors, will include one of the figures from the next wave of animated Clone Wars toys.

Hasbro confirmed three new figure sculpts were coming for the cartoony series, which seems to have a lot of love here, and at LucasArts. Anakin Skywalker will be made from his duel with Asajj Ventress, as will General Grevious and an ARC Trooper (not shown). When asked about the color, they asked back "What would you like to see?" and I said "well, both." And from their answers, it looks like we're going to get both!

All 39 basic Original Trilogy Collection figures were on display, 38 of which in the package, which means many of these guys were making their public debut. Thankfully, many of them came with brand new deco, meaning that people who enjoy variations of merit are in for a real treat.

The highlight here are some new paint ops to fan favorites, and one figure that, well, it's not so much a fan favorite. The Gamorrean Guard has received a decent facelift with all sorts of new paint apps, giving the figure a much more 2004 feel, which is great given that all they did was paint up an already superb 1997 sculpt. The high contrast gives him a little more personality, and it appears the axe has gotten a slight recolor too. All in all, good times. Bib Fortuna has gotten some work done as well but it may take a lot of squinting to notice it. While painted better than ever before, the figure's existing sculpt shines through the paint, for better or for worse, and it is tough to see the changes made to it.

The Imperial Scanning Technician seems to have gotten a few minor paint tweaks to his accessory, while the figure appears to be mostly unchanged. This may change, of course, as the figure shown wasn't a final packaged sample. The ESB-flavored Darth Vader was on display as well, and he turned out good for an existing sculpt.

Numerous other figures were on display, but these have been covered previously.

VINTAGE FIGURES

Hasbro put out samples of all twelve planned Vintage figures, and even took the ravings of some mad fanboy regarding their needing to do a fourth series of figures based on Power of the Force. The new figures were superb, and even the maligned Luke looked most excellent in person.

The new Vintage figures continue the strong tradition that just started a couple of weeks ago. It appears Boba Fett was less than complete at the show, with his rangefinder missing in action. The Stormtrooper was much improved over the image that was floating around earlier, making this the best version of the shocktrooper of all time... so far. Highly posable and nicely sculpted, this is sure to be a fan favorite come Fall. R2-D2 looks very clean, shiny, and laden with a few new gimmicks, which means his card was changed more than other vintage figures. After all, the new robotic arm accessory had to be highlighted rather than the pop-up sensorscope. The final ROTJ figure from this series was Chewbacca, a much toned-down walking carpet with a sculpt that shows Hasbro really learned how to do fur right in recent months. All figures are capable of assuming a number of poses, and it seems there's no doubt that they want you to feel you're really getting the most out of the $10 price tag.

FIGURE SETS

The biggest surprise of all came in the form of a vintage figure nobody ever thought they'd see again-- the infamous blue Snaggletooth, now being sold as Zutton in the second Cantina three-pack. Also in this set are Ponda Baba (Cantina, 2002) and an Obi-Wan Kenobi, specifically, the 1998 Flashback figure.

Also on display were the previously confirmed DVD Edition sets, which will share the pallette at Wal-Mart with the DVDs-- a first, it would seem, and an interesting one at that. While those didn't offer anything new, the Naboo Final Combat set includes at least three pieces that should float your boat-- a resculpted Captain Tarpals, and repainted Kaadu with a feather, and a new version of the Battle Droid which appears to be the Boomer Damage version without the damage, but painted up in the yellow rank colors. The very popular and hard to find Naboo Palace Guard has been renamed and returns here alongside the generic but nifty Gungan Soldier.

Lastly, it looks like Sam's Club is getting the Millennium Falcon packaged with a whopping six bonus figures from the Original Trilogy Collection. The price is rumored to be $49.99-$59.99, which is a steal given the inclusion of Luke, Han, Chewie, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Old Man Kenobi.

UNLEASHED

Hasbro confirmed what many of us assumed for some time, and that's that IG-88 was coming to Unleashed

While obviously not from the films, it seems this firey action-packed sequence looks like it came from Dash Rendar's encounter with the droid bounty hunter from Shadows of the Empire. It should also be noted that this is the very first Unleashed droid.

When asked about the availability of some hard-to-get Unleashed figures like the Red Clone Trooper, Hasbro said they plan to ship him as long as we keep buying. Also, Darth Vader will be released on the new packaging, and it will be the first version of the figure, not the one with the interchangable heads.

LARGE ACTION FIGURES (12")

While this line is being rested for Q1 2005, there will be a few exclusives. Hasbro confirmed a few were on tap, but only could confirm one-- Chewbacca for Kay-Bee Toys. Also revealed was a big surprise-- it looks like the 12" Boba Fett will be available in ESB and ROJ versions, and fans of running changes should also note a few blue-suit ESB versions are on the market as well, meaning you could have up to three versions of this figure to buy.

GALACTIC HEROES

At first, the only new Galactic Heroes announcement came in the surprise form of a twin-pack of Stormtroopers due later this year.

Later, it was revealed that the line would continue possibly even into Episode III, but before that would be a wave based on Tatooine. Figures include Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) with a Gamorrean Guard, Lando (Skiff Guard) with a Nikto, and a Jawa with a Tusken Raider. All excellent choices, if we do say so ourselves.

Also show, a retooled version of the X-wing Fighter from the Playskool line. This time around, it looks to have electronic sounds and possibly a revised Luke-- we couldn't tell, but it might sport a helmet on the figure this time around.

MISCELLANEOUS

While some previously seen vehicles were on display like the revised Slave I and recently released OTC Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, Hasbro surprised us all by showing two Wal-Mart exclusive figure cases, each with two figures.

At this time, Hasbro was unable to confirm if the guts were retooled to fit modern figures, but was able to let us know that C-3PO won't include electronics like the previous version. Darth Vader includes Boba Fett (Pit of Carkoon) and his rifle with no blast effect or flames as well as the Stormtrooper. C-3PO includes the 1999 CommTech Han Solo alongside Chewbacca, from his Falcon mechanic release, but with a bowcaster and no tools.

As an added bonus, two more Jedi scenes were unveiled, and it looks like some minor changes are in store. Some of the warriors look a little out of place with their unusual action poses, while others are the same as previous releases except for a lack of accessories.

Action Fleet was confirmed to not be in development at this time.

The turnaround on the first wave of animated figures was insanely fast-- Hasbro designed them in under two weeks, a record for toys like these. Seeing as they were so well received, hats off to the amazing folks at Hasbro on a jorb well done!

The mystery of Ephant Mon is now a little less mysterious. While it was long speculated that this figure's price was his reason for not showing up again, now we know-- it is. Hasbro's panel made numerous references to "losing their shirt" to make this figure for us at $4.99 and more or less confirmed he'd most likely never be available as a basic again. They didn't rule out accessory packs or multipacks as a future avenue for release, though, were he to ever come out again.

While there were no specifics on Episode III figures, we did get some vague information that action features would return to core characters, while many army builders would continue to have increased levels of articulation. Also, they said they would address the lack of Clone Troopers in 2005-- but specifics were not given.

There are no plans for a Fan's Choice #6 just yet, but one might happen at some point to allow for a figure to be released no earlier than 2006. At least it's something.

At the Fan Club panel, Steve Sansweet and the guys from Hyperspace mentioned that there may be some new way to let fans get the exclusive Celebration III figure(s) that doesn't involve the long waiting in lines and/or exploiting the system seen at Celebration II. Huzzah!

Hasbro has the license for another 14 years, meaning by 2018, you could get a lot of toys.

For additional photos of promotional posters, freebie Unleashed cardbacks, and alternate photos of many of the above items, be sure to visit our Image Bank for additional coverage.