1. Being a seasoned collector *cough* older collector, I have really enjoyed the latest retro offerings. I'm not very active on message boards. How do I write my congressman at Hasbro if I'm really passionate about something I want to see produced. Is there a suggestion email for Hasbro?
--Dan

Given we're reading about Mattel's amazing sales in Hot Wheels, hopefully Hasbro can find a way to make lower-dollar product like Retro to be worthwhile. (Or maybe they can try 2-packs to sell outside 6-packs... 6-packs are great for online sales, but not for actual shops.) But you asked about what we can do.

1. Buy the stuff. If Hasbro sells out of something at full price, like that set with Yak Face, that sends a clear message.  Are you seeing markdown figures at decent prices? Surely you or someone you know would like it and may start collecting after they realize what they missed. I stumbled on a Tusken Warrior for $7 the other day and a $4 Reva and said "...yeah I'm keeping these." Maybe I'll open 'em, maybe I'll give 'em away.

2. Write a fan letter. It's old-hat, but we're old. Hasbro publicizes their address for their 10/27 announcements, so I don't think I'm sharing private information by saying that you can send snail mail to them at 1027 Newport Ave. Pawtucket, RI 02861.

Be polite, be courteous, don't be a snot. Remember, they're people with jobs, like you. Write to them like you would want someone to "help you do your job better," and remember about how receptive you might be to outside criticism. "Hey you've been making these figures I love, you should re-reissue Yak Face because I love it and missed it" is great. "I can't wait to buy that set with Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise and hopefully you have more especially Vlix so Adam Pawlus shuts the Hell up about it" would be, I think, welcome by everybody.

3. You're the publicity team. Hasbro has marketers, but they put their efforts into high-dollar big-run stuff. Retro figures are about $10 each, or $72 for six. Because big box aren't getting them in stores, it's up to use to let our fellow Kenner fanatics know where to get them, and when. So post on social when you bought something, show off your collection, use your Q&A column to direct people to Steve Evan's poster checklist site and use it on your work's lock screen, stuff like that.

4. Remember, Hasbro is a business. There have been some decisions that don't appeal to everybody - such is life - so every last item they manufacture may not appeal to your specific needs.  That's OK, skip those ones.   Even if all we get are 5 new figures in 2025, that's 5 more than we've had... and more classic trilogy new guys than we've had since 2019.  Hopefully they'll keep doing more, so keep buying them as they come up.

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2. Adam, I FINALLY get [a new release of] episode 3 [The Vintage Collection] Anakin... and he’s in an exclusive multipack with a pair of easily can do without figures. You reckon we will get a single carded Anakin from ROTS in 2025?
--Derek

Well... not to pee in your cereal, or another folksy colloquialism, but this actually isn't a Revenge of the Sith Anakin Skywalker? The figure in this set is actually a set of figures from Ahsoka, which is why the young Anakin Skywalkers look like they're in their 40s. The figure you're looking at - Darth Vader - is from one of Ahsoka's Force Visions or Afterlife Encounters or bad Trips from the streaming series Ahsoka - hence the red lightsaber in 2024. (You may recall, some figures in 2005 had a red lightsaber while the script and edits were still being finalized.

As to if Hasbro has individually carded figures, I can't say - the 3-pack one is "Darth Vader" and if what you want is a less Sithy Anakin, hopefully Hasbro is reading and - oh who am I kidding, has Hasbro ever found an easy repaint they didn't like? You'll probably see one eventually, but as of my writing this I am unaware of plans or a release date for a figure meeting those requirements. But surely, this is a request they'd be happy to fill (and probably find profitable to do as he's been off the market for a while.)

If I were you, I'd pre-order it and keep my ears to the rumor mill. $50 is peanuts to "not getting a figure I want that's expensive." Also, you can cancel it. I'd also say you can sell the others on eBay, but that's not for everybody.

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FIN

It's December, so it's time to once again remind Santa that I still don't have a Vlix and he owes me. I'm pretty sure the rule is "anything you wanted when you were 10 or younger, Santa must bring unto you." With Droids turning 40 on September 7, 2025, I would like to ask you all to consider joining my (pointless?) crusade. Let's get fan support for reissues of the original Droids toys, which are super expensive now, and also at least one new-to-the-US figure in the form of Vlix. The old Sise Fromm, R2-D2, and C-3PO figures are worth a fortune. Heck, I've got my originals still (I paid $2, $10, and $10 respectively and would be delighted for you to get new ones as well.) Given what's going on with the now-pricey Yak Face reissues, I think there's demand for more "famous holy grail" things. And reissues of the reissues. If people are paying $120 for last year's Kenner Yak Face and $3.99 for The Vintage Collection one, there's probably some money left on the table for Kenner rarities.

With all this in mind, has anyone looked at 1995's POTF2 line lately? It's kind of funny to look back on it, because during its roughly 5-year run we got something like 80% of the original Kenner line updated to what was considered "modern." They skipped a lot of Ewoks, Bespin Guards, minor Imperials, and such - but over the course of five years you wound up with a collection that features most of the heavy-hitters, plus lots of new ones. By 2000 we had Dr. Evazan, Wedge Antilles, Slave Leia, Rebel Fleet Troopers, Yavin Ceremony Luke (and Leia!), Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, Grand Moff Tarkin, Thrawn, Stormtrooper Han Solo, Sandtroopers, Pote Snitkin, and a bunch more. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't complete, but for $5-$6 (and a few for $7) the "Kenner Collection" era ended with a robust selection of figures, vehicles, and other toys. We're a picky bunch - but I was certainly happy when in 1997 the world suddenly begat unto us a $4.99 Yak Face. And Ross begat unto us $3.99 super-articulated Yak Faces this year, while ShopDisney sold out of their retro remake Yak Face which is now north of $120 on eBay if you missed the set in 2023. (Hopefully fans make a fuss for a reissue on forums and social media.)

I guess with this being the holiday season and being grateful and all of that crap, what I'm saying is that despite the focus on "new Disney stuff," the big picture line-up has been quite good. I've got a tracking number for The Ghost, a new Cantina is in production, and I guess I've got the age and wisdom (or am defeated enough) to have very low expectations if Hasbro ever does a big Death Star. Due to the realities of what a fan imagines a playset to be, versus a realistic deliverable, Anyone costing out something for $400 or $500 is going to look at it and say "I don't think this is going to be enough for the collectors with 45+ years of imagination." This is one of the reasons I'm always kind of interested in toys - if every toy vehicle were perfectly scaled, I'd have to quit. It kind of stinks that our only Outrider was small... but I don't think I can put more big ships in my house at this point. A reissue of the 1970s Kenner Death Star Space Station or an upsized 1982 Death Star World from Micro Collection just might be possible due to the complete and total lack of paint or attention to scale/realism. And if anyone out there just scans the thing and proved .stl files, well, you know. We can figure the rest out on our own.

Semi-related, I recently picked up a cheap 3D printer. I'm extremely interested in making a one-man Landspeeder mini-rig for $2.02 and this Tantive IV mini-rig looks fun too. (I'm currently printing the latter as a micro ship for 1:72 scale Zoids/Starriors pilots, I think, we'll see if I did the math right.) If it turns out OK, I'll print out the full-size overnight. The Landspeeder I've printed out one piece in silver, and am waiting for the brown plastic to show up.

Hasbro has not made any new mini-rigs in quite some time, and I don't expect that they will - LEGO seems to enjoy the cheap off-camera vehicle, but Hasbro hasn't made that sort of thing since (correct me if I'm wrong) The Force Awakens. Why make non-licensed ships and pay a royalty on something that probably won't sell to a big audience? So to that, I open the floor to you guys - have you designed any awesome "off-camera" vehicles we can print at home? Please share with the rest of the class, I'd love to feature body rigs, mini-rigs, or whatever else you come up with. Especially if I can print them myself.

Merry Happy to you and yours.

--Adam Pawlus

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