1. it dawned on me the Shadow of the Empire is nearing its 30 anniversary. Any word or rumors for Guri, Leebo, and updated Dash or other Shadows figures?
--David

I was surprised to see Hasbro make Xizor, Boushh, Imperial Guard Luke, and Dash Rendar in The Black Series - and sadly, no Snoova Disguise Chewbacca. But it shows they're thinking about it, and we did get a trio of Heir to the Empire figures after seeing a few faces in the 6-inch line. I don't know of any Shadows of the Empire 3 3/4-inch figures on the horizon, but I'd really love to see some. Heck, I'd love to see a cartoon based on it. Wouldn't that be fun? New toys, reissue the games, maybe put those anime studios to work on something with a familiar roster of characters? (Anime would certainly be in the spirit of "everything but the movie" like we saw in 1996!)

I get occasional flashes of interest from fans of that era for these figures - it's always brief, and it just seems like most fans don't mount sustained campaigns for things like they used to. (Or Vlix, they should be talking about Vlix.) I think there might be some interest in such a thing, but I'm getting the vibe that DisneyLucas are focusing on the future with their new movies, rather than anniversaries. I'm a little worried the 50th will be another dull drop like we got for the various 40ths, but here's hoping I'm dead wrong.

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2. I unboxed and setup my Darth Vader Tie Advanced. Being a kid that has always wanted a more movie scale toy, I’m very happy to have it. But, now my tie bomber looks a bit anemic. And, of course, I now want this one rescaled. When will it ever end?
--Dan

Probably not in the next two or three years. My question to you would be "How much would you pay for a TIE Bomber without a working bomb chute?" Hasbro probably also will want to finally completely update the TIE Fighter pilot. The current pilot is a mutation of a 2004 figure, so something up to current standards would probably need to be in the pipeline too. I assume by the time we get to a new TIE Bomber, we're probably looking at $150, which just seems absurdly out of the price range of all but the most dedicated fans.

It seems we're in an upgrade cycle, and it seems Hasbro is good with making "ultimate" versions of a lot of old figures, ships, and playsets. It's really interesting to see the new Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, which is a big departure from the Kenner and Power of the Force 1997 vehicles in color and proportions. It's better! But it's not as fun - I liked the rockets and slide-out cannons of the older ones too. For accuracy, it's spectacular and shows fans probably want more of that sort of thing.

Especially as we ramp up to 2027 and the 50th, I expect we're going to see revisions of old toys and returns of some others. We got a new Landspeeder. We haven't had an all-100%-new X-Wing in a while, but I assume what we have is probably good enough. It's been a while since we got a new Dewback, and an all-new TIE Fighter could be interesting as well. Heck, all of our Y-Wings were derived from a 1983 Kenner toy. They can keep this going, if you're willing to pay $200 for a plussed-up version of a toy that was maybe $30 a couple of decades ago.

I get the idea of wanting the very best, but gosh I'd love to see what the very best might look like without having to include a $20 carded figure in the box, or without optional damage panels. What can you do for $60?

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FIN

The 50th anniversary is just around the corner and there's a lot of speculation as to what everybody is going to do. I assume we're going to see a fight between whatever Disney+ has, the 50th of the original movie, what I'm guessing will be an undercooked Starfighter movie line, and hopefully a general push for original trilogy stuff. But we don't know. I can't imagine LEGO is just going to trot out a few old ships while Hasbro puts out reruns of its best version of the 1977 cast, alongside reissue Topps cards and Burger King glasses and maybe those bedsheets. You know the ones.

I occasionally imagine that it would be neat to see Star Wars reimagined in other styles. Give different designers a crack at figures, in different scales, for different audiences. Some old guys are going to want 8-inch squishy head Mego-style figures, I'd want Playmobil figures, and as a kid I remember a lot of my fellow fans going on about how they wanted O-Ring figures. You know, to match Hasbro's wildly popular G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toys. Right now Super7 is making some top-notch ReAction+ Figures (Joes and Monsters and Back to the Future), and Hasbro has done some Joe reissues alongside a very nice Ghostbusters 3 3-4-Inch Action Figures. You see where this is going.

Hasbro should do a retro line for the 50th... or two. My modest proposal: Keep making Kenner-style reissues for the as-of-yet unmade The Retro Collection reissues. But also, just for funsies, do o-ring reissues of anybody that has previously been reissued, and do matching "kit" vehicles with some assembly required like a lot of Joe and Cobra toys.

At this point, why not? I'd still want to see a Kenner-style Blue Snaggletooth for those who missed it, but I would be very interested in seeing Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Luke, or Han with jointed knees and elbows. Having backpack holes would be fun, and as long as everybody has a screw hole in their back so we can replace o-rings in 10-20 years? This could be a lot of fun, and maybe even good for kids.

Hasbro charged about $45 (now $52, thanks tariffs) for the Ghostbusters set which had four figures, four proton packs, four wands, a trap, a PKE meter, and some goggles. That ain't bad. We've seen O-Ring construction can be cheap, the Valor vs. Venom-era G.I. Joe comic packs got us three figures for ten bucks. (New heads, old bodies, comic reprint.) I think there's something here, and it's worth mentioning again because I think it's not only a fun toy idea, and a great collectible, but it might even be good for kids. I wouldn't mind seeing a new interpretation of old-style figures, and I'd happily buy the original 92/96/whatever it is with Ewoks and Droids cartoons built out with a little extra articulation and prices that aren't $19.99 each. I don't doubt there are shared parts between many figures too, thanks to the ol' flight suit used on so many figures.

I still very much want to see Retro going, but given Hasbro's proclivity to kill a kid line every couple of years and try something new? This might be fun. Not that I'm complaining about the quality of what we are getting. R4-M9, CZ-3, and Garindan are all coming to Retro next year - that's great! But six figures a year does not a compelling offering make.

--Adam Pawlus

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