Despite being a "secret," one of the worst-kept factoids of the new movie has been of a big merchandise launch on September 4, or "Force Friday."  In an attempt to replicate the free publicity train provided by news reporters, radio stations, and fans in line back in May of 1999, you are once again being asked to line up at midnight to fork over hundreds of dollars on toys which history tends to show being worth nothing on eBay in a couple of years, because the good stuff comes later.  Click here to read more on StarWars.com.

Since the first time this sort of shopping holiday happened in 1999, we've seen other licenses and manufacturers shoot for the same thing with varying levels of success.  The most common outcome is the one happening now with Jurassic World - a May 11 date has been ignored by Toys R Us stores, with many of my local shops putting stuff out this weekend and others still putting out the toys last month.  

We've seen this sort of on-shelf date frequently ignored by big box stores, and even the prequels had stuff leaking out a month or more ahead of schedule.  Walmarts were usually the best source of this, but fans familiar with how DPCIs work at Target and are vaguely familiar with the premise of social engineering are also quite good at getting stuff before the common fan.   As a wise man once said, "social engineering is always more efficient." Also "Social engineering will get you what you want."  (I've been listening to a lot of records lately.)

In short: come late July, keep your peepers peeled in late-night toy runs.  Given what has happened with the Marvel movies, Transformers, and everything else you're going to find something early for Star Wars.