1. Do you get any sense (or can you say) that TVC (or new line) and BS Archive *re-releases* will continue past Boba VC 09 and series 2 of AS with Anakin/Maul/Yoda/Biker Scout?
--Allen

Unfortunately everything after October 4 is under a veil of secrecy - even reissues, remakes, or characters revealed in various trailers and convention panels. A "Greatest Hits" line has a pretty finite limit to what you can (and indeed should) do with it, with some of the would-be reissues showing up as exclusives. Fans were wanting more Emperor Palpatines, and now he's showing up at Amazon. We saw a Stormtrooper with extra accessories, too. Clearly there's a market for a few reruns, but I'd nudge anyone that is contemplating more of these things to start demanding specifics.

I personally can't imagine a world where Hasbro won't sell you redeco repacks of these figures.

Just looking on Amazon it's amazing to see how things shift with a few years. Remember Greedo in 2013? Nobody wanted Greedo. He was hard to sell - and he's expensive now. You couldn't give away Slave Leias in 2013. Times change, and it clearly seems to be a buyer's market for other recent "duds." If you want Royal Guards, most versions of sequel movie characters, and a smattering of original trilogy heroes, now is the time.

 

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2. I've seen a Boba Fett 6 inch with the exact same paint job as the 2019 SDCC Boba Fett but in a black series (orange) box with a TRU exclusive sticker on it. I cant find this on eBay or any ones 6 inch list. Was a paint version of this Boba released before or did I see a custom?
--Eric

Unless it's a bootleg, it's a custom. The Kenner deco on Black Series Boba Fett is new for 2019, Toys R Us had never stocked it.

As there was a market for knock-offs of the normal figures, it wouldn't surprise me if unscrupulous sellers were somehow putting together illegitimate releases. The sticker in particular sounds like some A+ weirdness. I'd also like to say I'd love to see more "Kenner deco" figures in The Black Series. Greedo, being a prime example - reissue it with that lime color and a different blaster, and it's a whole new figure! And leave the vest off.

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FIN

While I know I can't be Star Wars' preferred target fan forever - I'm getting old! - I sometimes see things that make me wonder if they know who their fans are. Star Wars Roll Out seems like the kind of thing that would make all of the sense in 2015, but much like Galaxy's Edge seems to have been spawned out of a 2015 style guide. If there are toys for this All-BB-8-All-The-Time format, I haven't seen or heard of them - it's infinitely marketable in how it looks, reminding me a bit of the Ewoks post-Return of the Jedi. You may not be old enough to remember this, but Lucasfilm and its licensees really went all-out with multiple styles of products. You had your basic Return of the Jedi look, the cartoon series look, and another look that was used for the Kenner Preschool toys and adapted for things like greeting cards, Valentines, and vinyl banks. Lucasfilm pivoted to the Ewok business, and it did what it did for a few years - and then it all stopped. We're probably not far off from someone, somewhere wiping the slate clean in the near future.

I am somewhat impressed by the ongoing Flash animation out of Lucasfilm, with the likes of Forces of Destiny and Galaxy of Adventures and now Roll Out seemingly looking like they were meant to push a line of products that may not necessarily really exist. It's like Dinosaucers all over again - there's a big idea here, but only part of it makes it out, and the results are this weird, confusing addition to a franchise that doesn't necessarily quite fit in with the greater whole. Well, I exaggerate on Forces of Destiny - it fit in, and it had a Gorax, so they did some nice work there. Galaxy of Adventures were beautifully animated, but with no real products to buy and no new stories to tell. This new thing... I can't wait until people can start talking about where the non-existing line of Star Wars Weebles went.

Next year, we've got the fallout of this year and probably the first whispers of what may the GoT guys' alleged prequel series that I emphatically do not give a rip about, and I assume nobody else does either - I hope I'm wrong! I know people love Knights of the Old Republic, but once you remove the factor of a video game people put 40+ hours in to, even if it's good, it's basically just an alternate universe story about the Force. That probably won't be enough to get people more excited than they were for Solo.

This isn't to say there won't be anything interesting to discuss over the coming months. It's August - so between now and October, someone's probably going to leak everything for Force Friday. Between now and a year from now, someone is probably going to talk about the future of the toy licenses. LEGO has a license going on for a while - although its value may be in decline - and the last official update from Hasbro was in 2013, informing us it was to (or through, depending on who you ask) 2020. Between you and me and the wall, there's 2020 product in development, so assume "through." But the nature of the license can change - we've seen it. There was the awkward year and change when both Hasbro and Mattel had similar-but-different die-cast metal vehicles. Hasbro had a toy line that ultimately didn't make it to marked called "Amp'd" that was not unlike a construction toy. For all we know the license could be carved up yet again if Hasbro has a segment Lucasfilm deems them to not be exploiting properly, or a segment could be handed over to Hasbro if someone else isn't quite doing the job right.

One last note - it's always worth remembering that most toy lines eventually come to an end. Barbie and Hot Wheels and Transformers stay at their home company because they own the IP, but most toy brands are licenses that can and will be bought and sold time and again. Batman, Star Trek, The Simpsons, and even Marvel have moved around more than a few times during their history - and a company can be bought and sold too, like Gentle Giant. For all we know Hasbro might not keep 3 3/4-inch action figures and it's Disney Park Exclusives until the end of time, or Hasbro and Mattel might merge and introduce some sort of maddening "Red Lines" or "Treasure Hunt" aspect to action figures. It can always get worse.

--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, and we're down to 2 questions per week until we get overloaded with questions to re-expand back to 3 or more.

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