A few days prior to Toy Fair ’19 I speculated on the forums that we wouldn’t see too many Black Series reveals because Hasbro showed off most of their stuff already and the secrecy around the new movie and shows would prevent them from sharing too many new figures. Man, do I hate being right all the time. There was still quite a bit to see, however, so read on for more Star Wars Toy Fair ’19 reactions.
It turned out to be even fewer Black Series figures than I was anticipating, with the only reveal being an Obi-Wan Kenobi from The Phantom Menace in some new “retro” packaging. Obi-Wan and Maul in retro Episode I packaging will be a Star Wars Celebration exclusive releases. Though it does look kind of cool and I’m far enough away from TPM to actually have nostalgia for that era now, I don’t need it. These kinds of things are the perfect exclusives in my opinion.
The figure will be released in regular Black Series packaging, which is good for fans who cannot attend. It’s quite a nice looking figure with a stunning likeness, though for me my enthusiasm for it is tempered somewhat by the already stellar TPM Obi I have from Figuarts.
At first glance it looks a little thicker than the Figuarts Obi, so maybe it could stand in for all the shots that are clearly Ewan in a wig, shot many months later.
Probably the highlight of the whole showing for me was packaged and production shots of the upcoming Ezra Bridger and Chopper figures. They will be in a wave with Obi-Wan, Aphra, and her droid frenemies 000 and BT-1.
Ezra looks like a perfect translation of the cartoon design to a more realistic style and he also looks appropriately short. I couldn’t get a sense of his height at SDCC and the prototype seemed a little large, so I was glad to see he’s going to scale well with the rest of the Rebels.
Though nothing was shown, I am happy to hear that The Empire Strikes Back will get the Vintage card back treatment. They are also having another fan vote, but keeping the focus narrowed to ESB characters. I’m hoping for a Lobot myself, but would be pleased with Ugnaughts, FX-7, 21-B, Bespin Guards, Cloud Car Pilots, or Hoth Rebel Troopers. It might be a good way to get a Hoth Han or Luke in your collection if you skipped the original two-packs and Bespin Luke would certainly benefit from a new paint job.
The 3.75 inch Vintage collection is getting some cool new Skiff guards and an exquisitely detailed new skiff to go along with the upcoming sail barge. It’s times like this I’m jealous of the smaller scale collectors. The vehicles can’t be beat. The skiff seems like it could be a possible future six inch scale vehicle though right? It’s big, but not too big.
They are also getting back into the plastic playset game with the Jabba’s palace adventure set. It’s basically the display wall for Han in Carbonite with a couple of archways and looks like it would be excellent for photographs and diorama set ups.
It’s also kind of neat and overwhelming how much of the newly announced product was available for pre-order as they were announced. It’s not quite as neat that so many things already pre-order sold out just as quickly.
The big news from Hasbro seemed to be on this new 8″ line of highly detailed collector figures that they are calling Hyperreal.
I’m not terribly excited for new form factors, but it is interesting to see them stretching a little. The accessories, packaging and stand all look really nice and I like the multiple hand options. The body seems to be based on a metal and plastic skeleton with a flexible body sleeve and soft good parts.
It kind of feels like Hasbro shooting for the Mezco One:12 market. They had Vader on hand, which so far I’ll probably pass on, but if it’s a character I love I might jump on it. I don’t know, the more I look at the figure, the more I like it. I’m curious to see where they go with this and how the flexible body material holds up over time.
In an odd twist, Hasbro jumped on the recent trend of retro 5 POA figures with a series of re-issues of vintage figures.
The interesting thing about it to me is that they are making a Grand Moff Tarkin in that vintage style, though he comes packed in with a re-release of the classic Escape from Death Star Board game.
I’m not super interested in reproductions of old figures, (I might buy a Boba Fett for old times sake if they made him or those last couple Droids and Ewoks wave figures if they made them) I’m intrigued by the prospect of new characters in vintage style.
I’ve seen customizer friends of mine doing this for years, so it feels really odd to see Hasbro take up the old Kenner mantle again. I know some vintage collectors can be understandably prickly about re-pro stuff, so I hope Hasbro keeps that in mind. It’s also a little funny that Hasbro has three different lines with vintage style packaging.
I’m a little surprised that they had no new 5POA figure showings for Resistance. It was renewed for another season, so I thought a wave two was a lock for sometime later this year. Maybe the following year?
Lego had a couple of resistance ships on hand, Vonreg’s Red TIE and Griff Halloran’s Black Ace TIE Interceptor. Both ships look neat and I’m glad to see main characters like Kaz and Bucket included with Vonreg, but it seems weird to get these before Kaz’s ship, The Fireball.
Especially Griff Halloran’s ship as he’s been barely in the show at all so far. He does have a neat skull design on his TIE pilot helmet though, so I wonder if they just decided to skew towards designs older fans would recognize. I didn’t see these reported from Toy Fair, but Yakface did post some pictures of the upcoming Hot Wheels versions of Kaz, Torra and Hype’s ships from resistance. I don’t think the shape of Torra’s Blue Ace is 100% accurate, but it was great to see more stuff from this show in toy form.
As a Star Wars Black fan, this was a pretty underwhelming showing to say the least, but I understand why it is the way it is. Even though I was anticipating fewer reveals it still stung a bit to be honest. In the same vein it was also a little sad to see that Bandai had no new six inch scale figures for their model kit line on display.
Hasbro could have at least shown me that Zeb that everyone insists is coming! I’m crossing my fingers that Hasbro will show him in April at Star Wars Celebration.
