1. Why is it that none of the Star Wars vehicles have any lights or sounds? The H.I.S.S. tank and Dragonfly use back lit panels to light up their interiors and although smaller than most of the Star Wars offerings I think make up for it with those features. The big Millennium Falcon had a ton of features including, lights, sounds and movie playback, a ton of play features plus the escape pod you mentioned in your [August 2025] article. Just a bunch of play and display value. I bought it at Toys R Us when it first came out. The amount of detail and scale on the Star Wars HASLAB vehicles is great. But even when I was kid the X-wing, TIE fighter and Falcon all had that annoying sound and in some cases a light when you pressed a button and that was in 1978. It can’t be that those components are cost prohibitive, the Ghostbusters and G.I. Joe offering kind of prove that. Even the large 1/12 scale in store offerings like the snow speeder or first order TIE fighter didn’t have lights or sounds. I think the addition of that to these vehicles would make them more appealing, and maybe a little more expensive. Maybe offer that as an upgrade to unlock as a tier. After all you can buy after-market lights for Lego sets there must be a way to do the same for these, a plug and play feature? [trimmed for space - AP] There’s a lot of things to spend your money on, maybe incise people further with upgraded electronic play or display features? What do you think?

--Martin

If they put in lights and sounds with no price lift, would that change your mind on any item you skipped? Also worth noting, HasLab Transformers haven't had electronics either. I can't say that the lack of lights or sounds made a difference in my decision to buy an item.

I don't believe Hasbro ever specifically addressed the lack of electronics in its Star Wars figure/vehicle offerings. I believe the last Hasbro Star Wars figure-related toy to include batteries was in 2018 with the Kessel Run Millennium Falcon from Solo: A Star Wars Story but I might be wrong there. Galaxy of Adventure, Mission Fleet, and Epic Hero lines came and went with, so far, no electronics that I can recall. At this point I assume it might even be a licensing issue, as Hasbro still has batteries in most of its lightsabers and props.

Electronic lights and sounds are probably a great selling tool for the 20th century that doesn't quite work today. With TV ads or in-store "try me" demos, these could help make a sale. With everything being online only, not necessarily relying on video, there may not be much bang for the buck when it comes to including electronic play features for kids. I don't doubt adults rarely use battery-powered things more than a handful of times. They're nice to have, but ultimately our stuff sits on a shelf for years, until the batteries corrode. I think it's OK to leave them out, but that's me.

Historically batteries have a real estate cost. The old Kenner TIE Fighter added an ugly handle to the back of the ship. The X-Wing had to pick between working s-foils/electronics and a working Astromech socket. The Millennium Falcon traded away play space for battery compartments. We loved our old toys, but I can't help but think we may have traded away fun for a cruddy battle alert sound and maybe some red lights.

One thing I do think would be fun are more "hooks" for optional (fan-made?) upgrades, or to bring back something like ForceLink. The ForceLink Kylo Ren TIE Fighter had lights, but no battery compartment - it used RFID to wirelessly power the bulbs. It was brilliant. I think it would be great to see something like that incorporated in other toys, but perhaps in a slightly less unpleasant package. If you could wave an RFID reader from your phone under a toy and it could power a light on the toy or play a sound on your iPhone, that would be pretty amazing and probably be pretty cheap. After all, it worked for Skylanders.

Semi-related, I've seen a lot of battery corrosion over the years so I'm of two minds here. I really liked ForceLink's wireless light solution, mostly because the ship is going to be fine if you goof up on the battery leakage front.

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2. Okay, I get why Haslab will never rerun the Barge, the Razor Crest, the Ghost, or the Cantina. That whole business model depends on exclusivity and FOMO.

Do you think they would ever revisit the failed Haslabs, maybe with a few tweaks? If the Gunship doesn’t quite make it, it could just be that 2025 was the worst possible time to offer a $450 item...
--James

It funded! (This was asked before the campaign ended.) And I caved, which you could have predicted. What I couldn't predict is that two days later, a tier would unlock and Coleman Trebor is now part of the package.

With the Republic Gunship I feel timing had to be at least a part of it. (Tariff concerns probably impacted pricing, and prequel kids probably need a few more years to want to spend that kind of money.) Hasbro could just decide to do another one someday as new engineering or manufacturing techniques make things easier to do cheaply. Or not! It's hard to say.

In terms of international trade policy, I don't know that things are going to be cheaper in a year (or two, or three.) In terms of Hasbro policy, we've so far seen no interest in trying again with Cookie Monster, the Reva FX Lightsaber, or the Ghost Rider Car. However, we did see HeroScape fail and Hasbro went on to license it to Renegade Games for production. Hasbro also did new, non-crowdfund versions of the Ghostbusters Proton Pack.

I don't know what rules they self-impose on encores. I'm not sure I'd want a second $450 Gunship - even if they did a really cool paint job, it's just a lot of money. I can't imagine they couldn't find a way to do it differently and hopefully make people happy. Maybe option parts are left out, maybe the stands are excised, perhaps pilots are sold separately... there are ways to make it different. But I don't assume the appetite is there if they struggled to sell 10,000 of the base model.

I don't think Hasbro would've sold another version later if this didn't make it. They could make a kiddo version, but I don't think it's terribly likely. We've seen Hasbro can make a really good toy X-Wing for $30, and I assume we could get a killer $80 Gunship if they wanted to. I don't think there will be due to it not being a big push in the greater media landscape. Heck, I'm surprised we got this - I have to assume they show up again in Ahsoka, but it's hard to guess with these shows. Surprises can happen anywhere.

I'd love to see them revisit some ideas as a different product. I never want to see another 4-foot Sail Barge, but if they want to do a Kenner one that's maybe 12-18-inches for The Retro Collection. A kid version of the Razor Crest might be nice. And we've already seen a Galactic Heroes version of the Ghost. I assume fan demand (and corporate synergy) can make anything happen. The Barge's high prices make me think it's the most worth revisiting.

I wouldn't be opposed to a mini-Cantina for the masses, or an expansion set with a booth to put behind the bar or some other feature that may serve stand-alone customers too. If fans ask for it, and the market demands it, you can get a lot. Given how many people sound like they army-built Gunships, I have a feeling there will be a lot of supply on the market next year.

FOMO is really a tough thing to work with, mostly because there is no missing out. You might not get it for a good price, but there are very few Star Wars items you can't actually buy. I can name a few "Movie Heroes" figures that rarely come up for sale, sure. Vlix costs as much as a used car, yeah. A test shot Rocket Firing Boba Fett is a gift you give yourself when your kid isn't college material. These things can be had, including all the HasLabs, if you're willing to pay for it. I kind of wish Hasbro added some sort of "tier extension" period. Maybe the thing has the same initial 45 day funding period, but if it hits the goal? Latecomers can still buy one for a 10-15% mark-up for another month or two. They're not going to manufacture these things for nine or so months, surely they can squeeze a few more bucks out of people before cutting off the ROI on the mold forever.

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FIN

I'm off on another quest of many to see what the future holds. Wish me luck!

I admit I'm amazed the Gunship made it. I didn't like the concept of bringing back a toy 20% bigger at 1500% the price, but I guess you can't argue with results. One of the things that excited me the most when I hear they're making more toys was to expand the toy collection with new ships, new characters, and new features. New features are vanishingly rare, new ships are uncommon, and new characters are hard to find. We've had a good year for new expressions of characters as well. I'm wondering if it would be as exciting as the Cantina. (Mine hasn't shipped yet, so I may be disappointed. The pictures all look amazing.)

I'm hoping the line has a big movie year in 2026. I'm guessing it won't - since 2019 we've seen small bursts of activity. Nothing like Revenge of the Sith or The Force Awakens seems likely, especially now that the core line is so splintered between Hasbro's scales, LEGO, and other higher-end makers too. I think the era of blockbuster toy launches is over, at least for the 1970s-style action figure-and-vehicle. (Prove me wrong, world.) With The Mandalorian on streaming, we've seen a surefire hit and repetitive, unimaginative kid lines with a basic Mando with a feature and Grogus of various sizes and features... and not much else. I don't think that group of kids is coming back to collect as an adult. That, along with diluting the brand with lots and lots of different shows and movies, might make it harder to unify a group behind a single item down the road.

With Starfighter in 2027, I have got to assume someone at Disney is already planning on a big version of the movie ship for The Black Series as a crowdfund, whatever it is. An X-Wing or something new? I have no idea. The line is moving away from the oddities of the 1990s and more toward a mass consumer approach, or so the Gunship makes me think. I don't think there's a bright future for obscure 3 3/4-inch vehicles right now.

--Adam Pawlus

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