1. 2025 will mark the 20th anniversary of Hasbro's - Star Wars: Titanium Series small die-cast vehicle line. I think Hasbro should produce a small group of 12 vehicles (6 all-new and 6 repaints/rereleases) to commemorate this anniversary.
Hasbro's die-cast line began as a Walmart exclusive in 2005 during the release of Revenge Of The Sith. Fans may recall that many of the molds used in that first year were from Galoob's Star Wars die-cast line from the mid-to-late-90s (as Hasbro bought Galoob Toys in Fall of 1998).
Hasbro's Titanium Series featured roughly 85 unique vehicles from 2005 – 2009 and many of those molds were used to produce several differently painted ships like various Rogue Squadron X-Wings, Speeder Bikes with different riders and many Jedi Starfighters, just to spotlight a few, totaling over 150 vehicle releases. All were sealed in the eye-catching tear-drop shaped bubble packaging.
When the Titanium Series small vehicles returned in 2015 for the release of The Force Awakens, Mattel won out due to their line being offered for roughly one dollar less (mostly because of fewer moving parts, if any).
So, I think a small offering of die-cast vehicles would sell well given Mattel's recent absence of vehicles in this smaller scale.
--Scott

Hasbro is very aloof about anniversaries unless there's a clear license-based marketing plan. I would bet you money you won't see product next year because there's no reason to do it right now - as cool as it would be. We didn't get anniversary lines for MicroMachines, Action Fleet, or even Kenner figures. Or The Black Series. Or The Vintage Collection.

While I think the Titanium Series line is amazing - as far as I know I've got everything except for one promo item (also, I have one promo item I've never seen mentioned on any web site yet) I don't think we'd see it return from Hasbro. With Mattel and Jazwares competing in this mini vehicle space I wouldn't assume Hasbro still has a mini vehicle license. They might! But I've seen no vehicle-only product from them in quite a while - everything includes a figure lately, be it Mission Fleet or even The Vintage Collection in recent years. "Must include a figure" could be a licensing requirement for vehicles, as LEGO ran afoul of Hasbro (allegedly) in the 1990s with figure packs - so everything eventually had to include some bricks for a small build. This is just a wild guess, I don't have any special Hasbro intel on vehicles beyond this observation on recent Speeder Bikes and other toys.

Depending on who you asked, Mattel and Hasbro had slightly different licenses - and in my findings, the same retail prices. If memory serves, the key difference was the percentage of die-cast metal - which varies from ship to ship anyway, so how this was policed, I have no idea. I would wager Hasbro let the license lapse after Rogue One as official versions of these events have not been talked about, as far as I know. And that means even I am not sure exactly what caused things to s hake out - did Hasbro shrug and quit? Did Mattel "win?" I couldn't begin to tell you.

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2. I could be wrong in my thinking, but I thought what Hasbro had to offer in the Vintage Collection and Black series for the 40th Anniversary of the Return of the Jedi was pretty underwhelming. Hasbro offers collectors a Black Series six inch rebel commando, but does not do the same with the Vintage Collection. Hasbro offers Mon Mothma for the Retro Collection and Black Series, but does not bother to offer one for the Vintage Collection. Hasbro decided not to give us the definitive Han Solo Endor; instead they give us one with retooled legs that are from the Han Solo figure (VC124). You would think they would have the money to give him legs with the barbell hip articulation. Why could we not get a new sculpture of the Rancor Keeper, Sim Aloo, Chief Chirpa, A-Wing pilot, Amanaman in order to finish the 96? Instead Hasbro gives us all new sculpts of characters such as Vel Sartha Cassian Andor, Hunter, and Cal Kestis. Why could we not get a few new Jabba's denizens like Tessek, Wooof, or Ree Yees or Yakface for the Black Series six inch line instead of getting figures such as Cassian Andor, Cal Kestis, Vel Sartha, Luthen Rael, Morgan Elsbeth, and Mon Mothma, Inquisitor (Fourth Sister) , and Tala Durith (Imperial Officer).
--Ric

As to "why one size and not the others," it sort of boils down to "why isn't Hasbro doing what I want?" Disney nudges their licensees to tow the line with the New Thing, and depending on who you ask Andor is very popular and needs to be a major focus for adult fan product. (I disagree, I believe sales figures would back that up.) Hasbro has dragged their feet for almost 40 years when it comes to updating that old Kenner line, so "why won't Hasbro do XYZ?" is what you ask, and what I ask back is "Where's Vlix?" We all have things we want, and can't get. I personally think Hasbro would do well to do a program starting over with the original Kenner line and making new figures - making a fuss of "get the original collection," maybe in a new format that dads and kids buy together - but that's me. (But also balance it with New Stuff from New Shows, as it makes sense to do so.)

Would I be excited to pay $17 for a new Vintage Mon Mothma right now? Not really. I love Retro, and I found the decision to use the one all-new never-before-made figure slot to make a Mon Mothma a real head-scratcher... and she's not exactly flying off the shelves as a 6-inch figure, either. Diversification can be frustrating if all you want is everything in Vintage, but from a sales perspective it's probably safer to make some safe bets in all sizes (Luke, Vader, Mando) and be selective elsewhere.

When it comes to the various anniversaries, most lines from Hasbro (and LEGO, and everybody) tend to be pretty much reruns, with few exceptions. Hasbro's 30th Anniversary line of 3 3/4-inch action figures was and remains one of their very best, but everything after 40 - including Mattel's Hot Wheels ships - is pretty samey stuff. I wish they could do a whole year of anniversary stuff to really make a statement, but you've seen the line. With so much new stuff on the pop culture plate, I assume the house of mouse (and friends) are probably having some internal discussions over what gets the big support and what doesn't. For the 25th anniversary of Star Wars, Hasbro gave us six figures - because it was butting up against Attack of the Clones. For the 20th anniversary, Kenner gave us dang near everything due to the tie-in to the Special Edition films in theaters. And for the 10th anniversary? Absolutely nothing.

When it comes to The Vintage Collection, I assume Hasbro is continuing to drag out the remaining 1970s and 1980s remakes to keep us on the hook... or they forgot/aren't thinking about that like the older fans are. And I don't know which. When it comes to more of Jabba's goons in The Black Series, they're putting a priority on the New Stuff and if you look back at the first ten years of the 6-inch line... it's basically par for the course. We've got Bib Fortuna and a Gamorrean Guard, and that's it - which is one of the reasons I'm not pre-ordering new 6-inch figures for my personal collection. They're still selling, and maybe I'll pick up some original trilogy guys as they come out, but there are so, so, so few. And Hasbro opted to leverage its existing tooling with new packaging, and for an anniversary year I can get why they went that route. It would be great if there was a bigger anniversary program with more marketing - I'm not even sure people were aware the movie got a brief theatrical rerelease.

I've got things I'd love to see, but there are a lot of marketing people that I imagine sit around and hash this stuff out to try to make a balanced line to please everyone, which is an impossible ask. If you make this stuff, you want to support the new movie or show in case it's a hit - but you also have to service old fans, the unmade stuff from the last show, and so much more. The result is a line that is probably really appealing to people that buy a handful of figures per year. If you only spend $200-$300, you're probably doing just fine. But is infuriating if you buy everything. Unless Lucasfilm decides to rest new Star Wars production and allows Hasbro to make whatever they want out of the history books, I don't imagine you'll ever see a line with more than one or two Ewoks every couple of years. Consider that the Cantina is probably the most famous creature scene in the saga, if not in movies - how long has it been since we got a new Cantina alien? Just don't get your hopes up for a line that appeals to any one specific audience - even just the new thing - ever again. (Until a significant portion of the teams at multiple companies get replaced, anyway.)

(Also if you want a not-retro 3 3/4-inch Mon Mothma, there's one from 1998 that's pretty good and cheap, and also 2005. And that's an affiliate link which I believe I'm supposed to tell you means I get a cut of a sale if you click on it.)

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FIN

Given we've just had Thanks-for-giving weekend, I should probably write about things I'm happy for rather than a screed of complaints. (You know, family, friends, my health, all that crap.) This year, we've had an amazing balance of items where "I can't believe they did that!" can be said with either amazement, or with the sneer of ennui. For example, Hasbro made a Life Day Chewbacca, from the special George Lucas more or less rightly never wants anyone to see again, and it's on my desk. Fans who always wanted an official release of Kenner's Yak Face can get one, from Shop Disney, right now. There's a giant The Ghost coming next year. We got a top-tier The Mandalorian Naboo Fighter without crowdfunding (and, well, priced accordingly.) Also there's a Svengoolie figure from Super7 now, a wonderful (hard-to-find) set of Transformers G2 exclusives from Hasbro at Walmart, news of bizarre-and-neat TMNT x MOTU toys from Mattel, and multiple Star Wars shows not even counting the one that got delayed and they won't tell you the date yet. There's a new 2D Mario game, they remastered Half Life for the 25th anniversary, a bunch of really hard-to-get-on-vinyl Tom Waits records got reissued (get your dads "Rain Dogs" and "The Black Rider" and "Bone Machine" because I bet he's already got "Swordfishtrombones" and "Frank's Wild Years") and... I could go on. It's been a good year for recycling pop culture, provided your interests go beyond super hero movies and Call of Duty sequels.

Seeing Hasbro license out o-ring G.I. Joe to Super7 - who took the ball and immediately ran to a giant crowdfunded vehicle (that needs more support) - gives me hope that there are still opportunities to do some really good stuff before Generation X quits/falls off the hobby as they all enter their 50s in the next few years, mostly because if Hasbro's waiting around to do certain things, the audience may not be there if they're waiting for an "in case of emergency make this toy." This is the emergency stage for Gen X and it's getting there for Millennials. We're seeing some nifty 90s stuff getting remade in other toy brands, but that action figure/cartoon/comic toy culture really seemed to peak in the 80s and 90s - which is why I'm grateful to be of that era of this plastic nonsense. (Hey, it may be boring for everybody else, but if I can get my Transformers and Star Wars while waiting for someone to finally do more StarCom and Dino-Riders, I'll take it.)

Atari is "back" and making a new 2600 plus new games. People are doing new NES, Genesis, Game Boy Color, and other games on Kickstarter. Look, it's not world peace, personal riches, and a Vlix, but I'll take what I can get. Hope you and yours had a healthy feast of the bird.

--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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