Hasbro has been revealing new toys at different cons all over the place since SDCC, so I didn’t have a good sense of what to expect from their NYCC presentation. Fortunately they came with a lot of cool new stuff from the new show, Star Wars: Resistance, The Vintage Collection, and the Black Series. My takeaway was that Hasbro seemed committed to touching all eras and media that creates Star Wars.
First off, Hasbro showed off their new figures from Star Wars: Resistance. These are super-stylized to match the designs seen on the show, so they aren’t really going to match up with any figures but themselves, but they are great for fans of the show. I’ve been watching the first few episodes and while it’s clearly kid-focused, I found the earnest cheerfulness and cel-shaded art endearing.
The original pictures of some of these pilots didn’t have the helmets, so I was glad to see that they will come with removable helmets or alternate helmeted head where appropriate. No word on ships for any of the pilots, though there are so many ships on the show this seems more of an ideal line for micro-machines or hot wheels ships.
The Vintage collection reveals included Han in Stormtrooper gear, 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper, Gamorrean Guard re-release, Assault Tank Commander, and Luke Skywalker Crait. They showed off tons of stuff about the Sail Barge package photo shoot and it made me feel pangs of jealousy for all those collectors who bought one.
For the Black Series they announced that the Archive line of hall of fame or greatest hits re-issues wave two will feature Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, The Biker Scout for Fall of ’19.
I do like that they seem to have noted the aftermarket costs of existing Black Series when picking which figures to re-release and the paint decos do look like an improvement for Yoda and Anakin.
The Walgreens Dec 2019 Obi-Wan in his Clone Trooper Armor was really surprising because they went back to the old Tartakovsky 2-D clone Wars cartoon for inspiration. It makes a lot of sense from a re-use perspective, though it makes me want a Durge figure for him to fight. Can’t say I’ve ever felt nostalgia for Durge before, but here we are. When asked about fixing the elbows, the reps on-hand weren’t sure. It looks like the old Clonetrooper elbows and not the Rex ones being used there.
The soft goods are a little dodgey for me, but the head sculpt is just astounding. I have to say it, it’s a Figuarts killer me. I dropped that ROTS Obi-Wan pre-order because of this head sculpt.
The Prequel Love was felt with with the reveal of the deluxe General Grievous coming in the spring. He looks appropriately massive and I was impressed with the weathered paint job. The soft goods looked very nice for Hasbro and included the little pockets for his sabers.
I’m really curious to see how well the arms function since they are going to pop apart. He’s the first in the new larger scale assortment (aside from the exclusives we’ve seen already from Target). I noticed they didn’t really have him posed hunched over, so I hope he’ll be able to affect that stooped pose Greivous is famous for. It’s tough to tell the articulation from these pics. The only thing he’s missing for me would be one of the electro-staff weapons he and his guards use. The Hasbro reps also did make a point to tease more prequel reveals would be coming later.
Dr. Aphra was revealed showing a bit of love to the comics side of things in the main line of Star Wars Black Series. I’m very happy to get her in this scale because I love the character and she’s probably been the highlight of Marvel’s comic run for me.
The sculpt looks very accurate to the source material and I love her little smirk. I was also glad to hear that the helmet and vest will be removeable and it’s a different sculpt from the 3.75 inch version.
000 and BT-1 are also great to see as her sometimes companions, sometimes foes, these evil versions of R2 and Threepio can be a lot of fun.
I had already made a super easy custom 000, but I like this one with the bicep swivel and articulated elbows from 4-LOM, metallic finish, and extra murder implement hands a lot more. It’s also nice that they have adjusted the leg length so hopefully future 3PO based figures won’t be so short. BT looks quite nice as well.
It’s going to be a long wait until summer 2019 when these see release!
The Rocket Trooper will be a Gamestop exclusive which is somewhat appropriate since he’s featured in Rebels and Battlefront II. I’ve been mulling over making a custom version of this jump trooper, so I’ll be looking to build a squad from Gamestop upon release.
I’m intrigued by the pack-in triangle shaped stand with the “slipper” attachement. Hasbro is going to pack these in with exclusives going forward and it looks like it could come in handy. I only wish they had included a rocket launcher with him since the figure is giving me nostalgia for many a Jet Pack Cargo game played with this character.
The Spring ’19 Target Exclusive “wet head” Stormtrooper Luke is interesting. Inspired by the enthusiasm for the custom wet head Luke in the 40th Anniversary diorama two years ago, the head sculpt does look very nice due to the new deco techniques. I think he will replace my current Stormtrooper Luke on the shelf if i can track him down. It would be nice if he came with the regular head with a new deco as well.
The final bit of news from the panel is that the reveals aren’t done yet, as Hasbro will be going to Paris Comic-Con later this month, then MCM London, and Lucca Comics and Games Convention in Italy with new reveals. So I’m definitely in for a few, if not all the Resistance figures and the Black Series figures will probably all make it home too. I’m hoping if I don’t love the soft goods on that Obi-Wan I can replace them with a aftermarket version eventually. I’m probably most excited about Aphra and crew because they were figures I wasn’t quite sure Hasbro would get to. What did you think of the reveals? Buying anything? Discuss in the comments or on our forums!
