Hey gang welcome back to the Toy Chest!
I know this space has been bare since the holidays, but real life happens sometimes. I hope to get back to bi-weekly posts soon, but I had to (Doom made me) pop back in to give my 2 cents on the big Star Wars news coming from Hasbro during this year’s Toy Fair!
(And before we start let me just say sorry bleedingcool.com, I’m totally using your pictures. I hope you don’t mind)
I’m not one to drool too hard over modern toys, especially from Hasbro, but…
Holy. Shit. What I’ve seen online the past two days looks incredible.
First, I want to go through the standard fare: Hasbro’s new additions to the Black Series line.
To me this line has been pretty underwhelming in the past. For the $20 price point on these things I would expect way better face sculpts. Some of them have been decent, but most have been downright awful.
But. I have to admit what they showed off this weekend looked really nice. The new waves have a good selection of characters from across the saga and their sculpts look pretty accurate. Of course I suspect they being higher quality pieces to Toy Fair than what end up on store pegs.
Of the lot they displayed, the 3 that caught my eye were:
1. Geonosis Padme – This figure looks beautiful. This is one of my favorite Padme looks of the entire PT and they really nailed it.
2. Chopper – I love this one just because it’s a large scale Chopper. The paint job is fantastic. The orange of his dome and the orange of the rocket fire provide a cool visual balance (although it does kinda look like he’s fart propelled)
3. Mimban Han Solo – This was easily the best looking figure out of the 6″ assortment. The details on the armor and the removable mask are dope af. The face sculpt really captures Alden Ehrenreich’s likeness. It’s been years and years since I’ve purchased a Star Wars figure, but I might actually need this one.
The 3 3/4″ Black Series had a big reveal as well, finally delivering a toy that Kenner promised way back in 1985 and then left us all hanging when they cancelled the entire Star Wars line.
Of course I’m talking about the Sarlacc Pit Skiff from Return Of The Jedi. I can still remember staring at the picture of it in the J.C. Penney Christmas catalog the year it was supposed to come out and dreaming of making my Jedi Luke walk its plank.
So it’s no wonder that I let out an audible gasp when I saw the picture of the new version from Toy Fair. I’m sure I won’t buy it, but it makes me feel good knowing it exists. This looks way better than the Power Of The Force 2 skiff that was released in the late 90s.
And if you were one of the lucky ass rich bastards that got in on that sweet 3 foot long Jabba’s Sail Barge they kickstartered last year, this Hasbro skiff is going to look amazing displayed next to it.
Finally, I’ve saved the best (in my opinion) for last.
Over a decade ago Hasbro launched what I consider the crown jewel of their modern Star Wars lines, the Vintage Collection. I was so excited when I first saw them. Seeing those original package designs on the pegs made my palms sweat. My only issue with them was that the figures looked way too fancy. Something about the combination of the modern figure designs with old school packaging felt off.
Well. Much to the chagrin of hardcore vintage collectors, Hasbro is taking it up (or maybe it’s down?) a notch by releasing a new Vintage Collection line featuring not only repro packaging from the original line BUT also exact replica figures!
Splooosh.
These are a thing of beauty. With owning the real things being competely off the table for 99% of fans, these are a fantastic looking alternative (They even include shelf wear on the card back edges).
My only gripe (aside from them doing a big head Han instead of the better looking, imo, small head Han) is the obnoxious red circle on the packaging letting you know it’s definitely NOT a 40 year old toy. I feel like they could’ve come up with something a little less distracting. It really takes away from the overall look. Although, the more I look at it, the more it’s growing on me. It reminds me of the old mail away advertisements they would stick to the front of the cards back in the day.
Either way they look gorgeous. I can’t wait to stumble across these at my local Target. I might actually cry.
What’s even more exciting is that in addition to releasing original figures from the Kenner line, they plan to release characters that Kenner never made in that same chunky o.g. style.
Look at Tarkin! He looks legit right out of 1978. They even got the crotch right, using that same squared off leg joint design that the old figures had.
Overall I don’t think I’ve been this impressed by anything from Hasbro since the first wave of the Vintage Collection back in 2007. I’m almost definitely going to be buying a few of these. Just looking at the pictures makes me happy.
Ok enough of me drooling. If you want to see more of what was shown at Toy Fair, including a pretty overpriced “hyper real” Vader, go on over to bleedingcool.com they have a lot more pictures and information from the show.
Thanks for reading guys, come back next time for more toy talk!
[…] ← Previous […]