Question #4: from November 25, 2002:

With Hasbro having success re-releasing some of their vintage toys ie: The Transformers G1 Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus ect., do you think it is a possibility, we would ever see the original 12 backs re-released? Or is it out of the question because Kenner was the original manufacturer?
--Chewy27

My answer from 2002 With commentary from 2025:

While anything is possible, Hasbro got a lot of heat over that Classic 4-pack in 1995 (reissues of the original Luke, Han, Vader, and Chewie for those who didn't know) and at the time they said they would never bother with anything like that again. Given that most of the management has changed since then, and the nature of the market has changed, anything could happen, but I see this as highly unlikely. (And from my perspective, highly unwanted. The effort to reproduce 12 original figures would be nearly the same put in to 12 new figures.)

Since Hasbro bought Kenner, odds are more than likely any reissue would feature a Hasbro logo on the packaging somewhere. But this is all moot, as no such relaunch seems to be in the works. (And for this, I am truly grateful.)

Well, it finally happened - and multiple times! In 2010, Hasbro made a Mail-away Rocket-firing Boba Fett that was an all-new sculpt and honestly, I wish they kept that going. The detail was good, they could have just made new sculpts in the style of the originals, and "close" would be fine. My understanding is that the 2019-present line of The Retro Collection come from scanned figures, and the resolution is a little low. Details are a little washed out... but the colors are nice.

As you can see, my opinion changed a lot with time. I didn't want remakes back in the 1990s or 2000s - I wanted something new. (Like Rocket Boba Fett, Tarkin, and Mando!) But, Hasbro stopped giving us new original trilogy figures for months (sometimes years) at a time, which got me more excited to revisit Kenner-style figures. We sure did get Hasbro logos on the back of the packages for the 2019-2025 figures, and now that's my favorite line segment. I hope they add vehicles to it. Also I have zero clue what (if anything) is on deck next at this point.

We're at a point now where the future for the "collector" line has been kind of blah for a while, so I'd be happy to live in the past some more. Bring Jaxxon to Kenner. Bring Vlix to Kenner. And bring back anybody that new fans and old fans miss in their lives, too. The marketing was done - like those Transformers reissues, which we're still seeing - so why not cash in on all the hard work from the past 50 years and sell us minty fresh X-Wings and X-Wing Lukes? In 2002 a lot of the old stuff was vaguely within reach. Today, even well cared-for vehicles have peeling stickers or yellowing plastic with worn-out electronics. A reissue could make the original generation, their kids, and maybe even their grandkids pretty happy.

Ad: Get New Star Wars Items at Entertainment Earth! Get Free USA Shipping on Orders $79+

 

Become a Patron!

Special thanks to our generous Patreon patrons, especially: JT, Jared, Bobb, Christopher, Daniel, Dan, Tim, Jayson, Matthew, Michael, Robert, Stephen, Todd DrReiCow, Eddie, Jeremy, Mario, and Todd! Thanks for helping us keep the servers on!

FIN

Opinions change! I made a Star Wars: The Retro Collection microsite that tracks a number of details about this new era of Kenner stuff. It took me a while to warm up, because the line is so slow going. It's hard to get excited when the first two years are only 18 figures, and only two of them are newly sculpted characters.

Today I really would love to see Hasbro revisit Kenner-style vehicles for the kids, with less paint, more action, and maybe even some stickers. (I'm not married to the stickers.) I'm having a lot of fun with the 2025 Epic X-Wing, so Hasbro clearly still has the chops for this kind of toy. It's $30 with a Luke, which is a steal. I'd love to see more of this kind of thing for the masses, especially if new movies hit big.

--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.

Social media? Sure. Bluesky | Fediverse | Mastodon | Tumblr | Instagram

I'm on Instagram! All Pictures from a GameBoy Camera.