1. What's the difference between these two [The Black Series] Mando's aside from accessories and packaging?

Mines of Mandalore-hard cape, no jet pack. EE HSG0365

Glavis Ringworld-soft cape, jet pack. EE HSF9985

Paint or sculpt differences?
--Jason

While a cop-out answer, I don't know that we're going to know for sure until these things hit mailboxes. I was surprised there were any changes at all - but here we are! I assume there will always be minor production differences because sometimes there are subtle differences in batches of paint and plastic from run to run, but it does seem that the Glavis Ringworld figure has a slightly shinier silver than the armor on the Mandalore Mines figure. It could also be a trick of the light - metallic and shiny paint can be different depending on the environment in which it is shot. My guess is these are going to be as close to indetical as possible unless there's some element I'm missing in the pictures, as Hasbro is getting the most out of its tooling with the newer reveal. (And there's nothing wrong with that, I can count the times I've seen a single Mando figure on-shelf on one hand.)

The Mandalore Mines figure won't be in assortments, but should be in stores as a solid-only case. (You can tell from the package SKU, ditto with the new Darth Vader.) So how it will be sold will absolutely be different, and the variant capes would be sufficient enough for most fans to say "I need both." But I need more other characters to spend $50 on two similar figures... but that's me.  I'm increasingly likely to tell people "if you can't tell how it's better than what you have, don't buy it."

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2. What's new in the Imperial Officer Four- Pack over on Hasbro Pulse?

I'm attempting to maintain a collection of one-of-every figure who had screen time in the Original Trilogy.

Any fresh additions within this set?
--Paul

As far as I can tell, Piett seems to be the same as his single carded release. There's no single carded Motti (yet), and the other two nameless guys seem to be new as far as I can tell. If you want one of everybody from the original trilogy, you may want to get this set to upgrade Motti (if you want) and if you don't have a single Piett. The other two guys I don't recognize as specific characters, which I assume someone will come in with a correction shortly. Maybe they're super close to streaming Imperials I just can't recognize.

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FIN

I think that's it for Hasbro Star Wars launches for a few days, and boy howdy do I miss themed drops. I remember some fans being irate that 2005 was all-Revenge of the Sith, but since it was mostly new (and new costume) stuff I was down for it. That's the sort of thing I miss with Star Wars - a bunch of stuff that goes together that I don't already have. (Granted, there were some retreads of droids to be had but they were interesting.) New gimmicks, new articulation, new sculpts, these things are what make this hobby exciting, and it's hard to fake an interest when your "new reveal" is "hey didn't we buy this at Walmart in 2016?" (Cut to me giving Stan Solo some more money when the Tonnika Kenner figures get made.) It's hard to please everyone as a line grows and Star Wars is so splintered now thanks to Lucasfilm having not only a robust back catalog, but a massive slate of new and newish things that fans still want to buy - and rarely does it go beyond who would be on the poster anymore. From where I sit, that's where a lot of my interest ends - if there's no new weird guys, there's no reason to stick around to re-buy somebody.

Thankfully there are options. For those who are not old and spoiled with your complete collections, some of the older 1990s stuff is affordable at your local comic shop or eBay. There are a lot of old great MicroMachines toys from the 1990s that won't set you back too much (and some that will.) LEGO has a decent slate of new things if you swing that way. Also you could just drive around to Ollie's and see what they have below wholesale price. It's currently an amazing time to buy toys and I assume brick and mortar will probably mark a lot down for the holidays, particularly if you don't mind getting last year's model of lightsaber or The Vintage Collection figures with price tags on them. I'm also seeing the newer waves of The Black Series and The Vintage Collection - ones that just hit - starting to sit on shelves for a few days at the big box stores. I can't assume that's a great sign, but again, the product spread is spread a little too thin.

I'm probably one of very few fans who would rather see the line shift to all Disney+ stuff than the scattered approach we have now, because at least there might be some way of having a robust product selection instead of what increasingly feels like the best thing that old tooling could allow next to some new stuff that you can just smell isn't going to sell for more than a season. (Droidables.) Super7 is making a good case to give you their money with some high-end crowdfunds and even Hasbro's new Ghostbusters prop set is excellent - there's just nothing on deck right now for Star Wars that seems to be blowing me away. There are some very good items, but at least from where I sit they have to be part of a better, bigger thing. (Oh hi Retro/Vintage.) It's great that the Ghost is coming, but some smaller figure-scale starfighters or new vehicles would certainly go a long way to keeping things fresh between reissues and repaints.

--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.

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