1-29-2007

Straight from Japan

 
Photos: GAGraphic

Do you like your characters deformed or made out of metal?  If so then you're going to like some of the offerings coming out of Japan in 2007.

This past weekend at an event in Japan Tomy showed off new mini helmets including an AT-AT Driver, Boba Fett, Lando Skiff Guard, Death Star Gunner and Scout Trooper.  These appear to be like the Vader, Stormtrooper and others that Gentle Giant imported to the US in 2006.

New deformed figures shown off included Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Fett, C-3PO, R2 and Yoda.  I'm not sure yet what line these figures are from but they look similar to the voice activated deformed figures we had from K-Mart 2 years ago and POTJ about 6 years back.

Finally, in the 8" format, we get two figures made out of metal and super articulated.  Darth Vader and Boba Fett seem to be kicking off a new line called Real Action Doll Collection. 

I'm not sure what company is doing either the SD or 8" figures.  They all look cool however.

Transformers

News also dropped this weekend of four new Transformers on the way.  One is probably a re-paint but the other two are new. 

The repaint is Mace Windu' ROTS Jedi Starfighter in purple.  Newly  sculpted is an AOTC style JSF in Saesee Tiin's orange color which will have a hyperdrive ring.

Darth Vader makes a new appearance but this time he'll transform into a Death Star.  The new Transformer that has me the most excited is a Republic Gunship.

The news was posted on a Transformers board, Seibertron.com, but thanks to Joe K. for sending in the link.

Attakus

Following their awesome Millennium Falcon diorama, Attakus is now showing off an insanely detailed Dagobah Swamp dio.

StarWars.com updated with 25 photos that are going to blow your mind on this one.  Guaranteed to be well over $1000 this diorama is only for a few lucky collectors.  Still, that doesn't take away from the detail of the piece. 

Gentle Giant

Not to be outdone by Sideshow, Gentle Giant is starting to pimp out pictures of their new Jabba the Hutt statue.  The set is going to set you back nearly $300 but he's 9" tall, 21.5" long and 11" deep.  It's not a small piece.  Edition size hasn't been set yet.

Not only will Jabba be available but so will Jabba's Band, Max Rebo being the first piece we saw as a holiday version of him was sent to a lucky few back in December.  This set is also pricey at $195. 

But, if you buy both sets, they come with a redemption certificate to redeem for a free Bib Fortuna statue.

Target

I hit the local Target this weekend and found newly stocked white TIE Fighters and Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter.  They also had the Hailfire droid on the shelves.

Figures are being refreshed almost daily with what appears to be wave 8 revision cases.

Still no new Titanium vehicles hitting but the Transformers and Unleashed Battle Packs have been refreshed.  Role-play weapons are abundant as are the two non-exclusive Battle Packs, Sarlaac and Jedi vs Sidious.

Hasbro

Last Friday was Q&A day with Hasbro and, once again, a few pieces of interesting news slipped out.

The first is that Hasbro is considering some type of accessory pack for "a future year" and asked the fan community what we'd like to see?  How about you just pack two blasters (rifle and pistol) with Clone Troopers and call it done.

When asked if we'd see a battle damaged version of Darth Vader, as seen in the comic "Star Wars: Purge," Hasbro said yes.  Sort of.  Apparently their version won't be from the comic but we will be seeing Vader a little roughed up.

Finally, asked about the incorrect stands included with some of the wave 8 figures (Kit Fisto and AOTC Sergeant Clone Trooper come with ESB stands for example) Hasbro announced that they will have a collector stand pack available by Celebration IV that will allow fans to "correct" the mistake.  Could that mean character label sheets?  I wonder if Hasbro would go so far as to allow you to order stands pre-printed with any character's name?  Hmmm....  Wouldn't THAT be a huge surprise.

1-26-2007

Kotobukiya

I normally don't cover Koto items as they aren't normal releases in the US but this new announcement from StarWars.com is too good to pass on. 

Kotobukiya will be issuing a statue based on the Ralph McQuarrie concept illustration of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

This statue represents one of the most famous McQuarrie concept pieces from the original trilogy and the first time either character has been done in 3D form.  This statue may be the first Koto item I pick up as it looks to be a killer item.

Click to enlarge

Acme Archives

The next key from Acme will also debut a new line with characters from all six theatrical films, not just the Clone Wars cartoon.  The first key in this expanded line will be Slave Leia. 

She'll debut at New York Comic-Con but will not be an exclusive.  She's limited to 1,000 pieces and will be up for sale at $30 on Acme's web site the same day she goes on sale at NYC Comic-Con.

Sideshow

Don't forget to pre-order the RAH Boba Fett from Sideshow today.  I'm sure this figure is going to go fast.

1-25-2007

Hasbro

The hits just keep coming!  After all the news on the 2007 figure waves and Target 2-packs, yesterday we actually got photos!  4-inches.de scooped everyone again with shots of the VOTC/VTSC (are they now VTAC?) style figures of Han Hoth, Snowtrooper, IG-88, Bossk, Bespin Luke and Endor Leia. 

Blister.jp wowed with 11 shots of upcoming figures including Biggs in his academy outfit, Elis Helrot, an incredible new Jawa, McQuarrie Chewbacca and Boba Fett from the Holiday Special cartoon.

For an aggregated announcement on both waves check RebelScum.com for the VTAC and TAC pictures.

The Blister.jp web site also turned up photos of three new Transformer figures, Mace Windu/Jedi Starfighter and a possible 2-pack of Vader/TIE Fighter vs Obi-Wan/Jedi Starfighter.

Two new roll-play items are shown including a Clone Trooper and Rebel Trooper blaster.  Both are in really bright colors and appear to have soft dart projectiles.  Photos of the Transformers and blasters can be seen at the TAC link above.

If announcements aren't enough to make you giddy then buying new stuff should.  JediDefender.com is reporting that both Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter and the white TIE have been found at Target.  Both vehicles are in the $20 Starfighter line.

1-24-2007

Hasbro

Info from a retailer catalog from France has been posted at RebelScum.com and it includes tentative info on all 9 waves of the 2007 30th Anniversary Collection figures.  Read the full article here.

Some interesting figures that are now possibly confirmed are Hermi Odle and Darth Malak along with the McQuarrie figures which will include the Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Snowtrooper, Han Solo and a Rebel Trooper.

There are some other good tidbits in there like the possible Clone Wars figures (Roron Corobb!?) and Biggs Darklighter from the Tatooine cut scene.  And how about a wave 9 dedicated to figures from the "big event" of 2007, the Force Unleashed Lucasarts game?

Unless a Q&A answer confirms these don't look for a lot more info till Toy Fair which is only a couple weeks away now.

Target


Order 66

StarWars.com also confirms some rumored Target 2-packs called "Order 66."  Three sets are shown including 2/6 Mace w/ Galactic Marine, 4/6 Obi-Wan Kenobi w/ Utapau AT-RT Driver and 5/6 Anakin Skywalker/501st Airborne Clone Trooper.

The Marine and Airborne Clone are new, probably based off the Wave 1 figures in the 30th line.  Unfortunately the Jedi figures are repacks.  Mace looks to have an interesting new cloak, though and they did pull out the best ROTS Obi-Wan sculpt, still with soft goods. 

The AT-RT is a must as he goes with my growing Utapau company of Clones.  The Marine is also cool but I'd be tempted to army build him and I'm thinking that a $10 2-pack is not the way to go about that. 

Sideshow

Sideshow updated yesterday with a couple pictures of Bubo from the new creature pack that went on sale last week.  These two photos show him in relation to Salacious and Bib. 

Still looks kind of small for the price.

1-23-2007

Fan Club

The Fan Club and Insider magazine are going to be parting ways in 2007.  Hyperspace, which is the Fan Club, will be available now for $14.95 without the magazine making it a much more affordable price.

Insider is moving to a new publisher, Titan Magazines, and will be continuing.  I may pass up my magazine subscription, stay a member of the Fan Club and buy the Insider on the newsstand.

Master Replicas

MR will be putting a new Force FX lightsaber up for Collectors Society pre-order on January 24th.  The general public will get their shot starting on the 25th...and what Force FX saber?  Why Darth Vader's A New Hope saber, of course!  What better way than to kick off the 30th anniversary of Star Wars?

Gentle Giant

GG has pushed a couple release dates back.  Look for Luke Jedi in March, Jango and Zuckuss in May and Obi-Wan in June.

1-20-2007

Hasbro


Wave 2 Comic 2-packs

Lots of news dropping from Hasbro or, more specifically, e-tailers.  Photos have shown up of wave 2 of the comic packs and we now have photos of Quinlan Vos, AOTC Obi-Wan and the ARC Trooper Alpha.  Also shown are a new R2 and Luke in Stormtrooper armor.  Hit  EntertainmentEarth.com for the photos and to pre-order.

Obi-Wan looks to be based on the ROTS sculpt with a new head but the ARC Trooper is brilliant.  The only drawback might be the removable helmet.  (Note to Hasbro - not every figure needs a removable helmet and, when it compromises the look of the trooper, you should leave it out).  Quinlan looks cool as does the figure he comes with, Vilmarh Grahrk.  Luke and R2, eh.

Hasbro hinted at a holiday 2-pack for 2007 but that it wouldn't be a Christmas set.  Word from R2Dtoys.com is that it's an "I Am Your Father" Father's Day 2-pack that will probably have Vader and Luke.  Interesting.

With the pre-order for Saga Legends hitting the web so comes news of another change to the figures.  It appears that an OOM-9 figure will be included in the Battle Droid 2-pack

Sideshow

The Buboicullaar Creature Pack exclusive sold out at Sideshow yesterday.  He comes packed with a rock wart and wamp rat and the exclusive is a wamp rat scratching himself.  For $40 and shipping it didn't really seem like a great deal to me and even if I was looking to complete Jabba's palace I'd be hard pressed to pay full retail for what amounts to an accessory.

1-19-2007

Sideshow

Plenty of news out of Sideshow this week.  First up, later today is the Priorty Pre-order for the Buboicullaar creature pack. 

Sideshow also announced that the 1:4 scale Boba Fett figure just sold out and it's edition size has been set at 2,000 pieces.  And if that's not good enough news for Fett fans, we also found out that Sideshow will be importing the 1:6 scale RAH Boba Fett from Medicom in Japan.

The RAH Fett will go on sale next week on January 25th. 

If you haven't ordered the Bib Fortuna 1:6 scale figure yet you better get your order in soon.  They only have 75 left as of this writing.

Gentle Giant

Back at San Diego Comic-Con GG showed off some animated Clone Wars Bust-Ups that weren't included in the 7th series case that came out at the end of 2006.  They announced yesterday that these new Bust-Ups will be out in a 5-pack that will have an ARC Trooper heavy gunner, 3 ROTS Clone Troopers and Saesee Tiin in Clone Armor.  Photos of Tiin both with and without a helmet have surfaced so we don't know yet if there is a variant.

Priced around $20 for the set, you can definitely count me in!

Hasbro

Both the Ambush on Ilum and Betrayal on Felucia battle packs have been found at retail in California.  I'm kind of looking forward to the Felucia set for the Star Corp troops.  It'll be cool to finally have some troops to go with Commander Bly.

The first wave of 2007 Titanium vehicles including the Royal Guard TIE Interceptor, AT-TE and Dagobah X-Wing have been found at retail.  I'm still waiting on the previous waves to pop locally so this news is not what I wanted to hear yet.

1-17-2007

Gentle Giant

Following on the heals of the Max Rebo Christmas statue that GG gave away, they announced a Jabba throne statue and the rest of the Rebo band for 2007.  Head over to GentleGiantCollectors.com for photos.

GG also announced some edition sizes for their Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings lines.  The Princess Leia mini bust will have an edition of 6,000 pieces when she ships later this year.

Hasbro

RebelScum.com is reporting that Hasbro has changed one of the figures in the 2007 Saga Legends line.  Instead of the decently sculpted Cloud City Capture Chewbacca (Saga 02-38) we'll be getting the craptastic Chewbacca w/ Wookiee Rage (ROTS-05).  How about this, trash them both and put the VOTC figure in the line?

Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm is auctioning off two Tournament of Roses 501st Stormtrooper figures to raise money for the AIDS Emergency Fund & Brest Cancer Emergency Fund.

RebelScum.com made the report which I'll link rather than the eBay auctions which will eventually be taken down.

1-16-2007

Around the Toy Aisle

Both Wal-Mart and Target stores are wrapping up their post-Christmas resets in the toy aisles and starting to stock new merchandise.  Not only have newer Star Wars figures been showing up but so have items from other lines.

Pirates of the Caribbean is continuing into 2007 as the release of the third film is headed our way in May.  New single figures have shown up as have new deluxe packs that include a figure and a prop from the movie.  Some of the more minor characters are getting a shot now including sailors from Davy Jones' ship.

Hasbro has now taken over the Marvel Legends line of figures and with the clearance of the older figures at both Target and Wal-Mart, 2007 kicks off with the Annihilus wave of figures in new packaging.  Also out are Thor and Wolverine in the 12" Marvel Icons line.  Just before Christmas the 3.75" Titanium Spider-man figures were at both Target and Wal-Mart as were the 8" Signature Series.

Hasbro has also brought the Marvel License to other existing lines; Attacktix and Heroes.  The Attacktix line has booster sets of Marvel characters as well as a new starter set for Ghost Rider in promotion of the upcoming movie.  The first series of Heroes 2-packs, called Superhero Squad, include Angel/Colossus, Cyclops/Magneto, Hawkeye/Captain America and Wolverine/Sabretooth.

Speaking of Ghost Rider, the 6" line of action figures was at Wal-Mart this past week.  The figures, unfortunately, were not that impressive.  They look as though they'll fit in with the existing Spider-Man line as well as previously released Fantastic 4 and Hulk.  That's great continuity for collectors of the Marvel Universe of figures.

"Ben 10" continues with new 4" action figures including Ben himself.  There is a reduced presence at Target and not everything has been stocked yet at either that store or WM.

Not be outdone by Marvel, DC continues to have quite a presence of their superheroes in the aisles.  Continuing are the Justice League Unlimited figures in both single and 3-packs.  I haven't paid much attention to the other DC offerings, but Batman and Superman each have lines continuing into 2007.

Hasbro continues the Sigma 6 line of GI Joe figures in both 3" and 8" scales.  New characters due this year include Shipwreck and Lockdown in the 8" line as well as multiple updates to Duke, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.  I'm still waiting for them to do Scarlet and the Baroness.

Attacktix

Woohoo!  Hasbro updated their web site with a long list of new Star Wars Attacktix figures and an AT-AT Driver is on the way!  Series 5 also has two other Hoth related figures, Snowtrooper and Rebel Soldier.

One of the coolest looking of the bunch is a spirit Yoda figure with lightsaber.  Dengar and Zuckuss are also added to the bounty hunter lineup with this update.

Hasbro

Wal-Mart has stocked some value 2-pack sets in some stores.  For $9.98 you get two 2006 figures.  Two of the packs reported were an AT-AT Driver/Sandtrooper and Poncho Luke/Endor C-3PO.

Two of the 30th Anniversary Battle Packs have been found at retail in California, Jedi Training on Dagobah and Battle of Geonosis so be on the lookout for them. 

Master Replicas

MR announced another replica late last week, an Empire Strikes Back Luke Skywalker blaster.

Disney

Disney will have 4 maquettes available in 2007 to go along with Star Wars Weekends.  They are Mickey as an X-Wing pilot, Minnie as Leia, Goofy as Vader and Donald as a Stormtrooper.

The official site updated with this info, and photos, last Friday.

Lego

Freelug.org has posted photos of the new 2007 sets I mentioned the other day.  They include the blue Jedi Starfighter with hyperdrive ring, MTT and Naboo fighter with Vulture Droid.

1-13-2007

Hasbro

The holiday season is over and Hasbro has cranked up their Q&A machine again.  The major collector sites updated yesterday with their submitted questions and a couple cool items popped right up in the answers to JediDefender.com's questions.

First, two new role-play blasters will be coming in 2007 including a Rebel Blaster and AOTC Clone Blaster. 

The Titanium 3.75" figures will also be coming to an end in the Star Wars line.  Hasbro will support the line through the first part of 2007 but probably not see a release of all the rumored and previewed figures.

Hasbro also let slip that the Treachery on Saleucami Battle Pack will be a Wal-Mart exclusive and not part of the general Battle Pack releases that will go to all retailers. 

Wal-Mart

The local Wal-Mart stocked some of the new Galactic Heroes figures.  The newest wave includes a Snowtrooper/Rebel Trooper, Chewy/break apart C-3PO, Nikto/Lando and a couple other sets.  They looked pretty cool but I passed them up.  Hopefully they'll do an AT-AT Driver at some point!

1-12-2007

Hasbro


Battle of Ilum
Padme

Jedi_Matt_c posted loose photos of the upcoming Battle of Ilum Battle Pack on the Rebelscum.com forums and the news is not good.

The R2-D2 and C-3PO figures are repaints and that's to be expected, but Hasbro decided to sculpt a new "snowbunny" Padme figure for this pack and they totally booted it in my opinion.

This figure is very basic, white outfit with some tufts of fur on the boots and gloves, the head is mostly covered and she has a holster.  How freaking simple is that?  I could probably sculpt this figure.

But, instead of making a nice, neutral figure with 6 or 8 points of articulation they gave us an incredibly pre-posed figure with about 5 points of articulation, a terrible looking face (at least the paint is terrible anyway) and almost zero play value.

When I originally heard that Hasbro would be doing this figure I was hoping that they didn't just re-task parts of the Saga arena Padme figures to get this version, now I wish they had. 

This figure could have easily been a home run for Hasbro but instead, this incredibly lazy effort achieved nothing but wasting the time of a sculptor and money on the tooling.  Not even the two chameleon droids can save this Battle Pack for me.  I'm completely disappointed by Hasbro.

Sideshow

Sideshow announced the next release in their 1:6 Scum and Villainy line and it's a Buboicullaar Creature Pack.  This will go on sale Friday, January 19th.  For the people that bought the Jabba environment I'm sure this will be a great addition but to the rest of us it's kind of boring.

I will be interested to see what else Sideshow rounds out the package with, though. 

Honestly, as cool as this overall set is it's actually gotten me thinking about customizing some items to recreate the set in 3.75" scale.  With the vintage dais and the modern lines creatures it's pretty doable. 

Along with the announcement of the new creature pack, they also released edition sizes for two recent figures.  Asajj Ventress and Bib Fortuna will both be set to 5000 pieces.

1-10-2007


Yoda maquette

Gentle Giant

A photo has shown up of a new Yoda maquette from the Clone Wars cartoon.  This one is more in line with the recent statues than the previous Yoda, he's even riding his kybuck as seen in the cartoon.

Master Replicas

If you aren't a MR Collectors Society member today is your day to pre-order the new Yoda FX lightsaber and Clone Trooper helmet.  Head over to MR's web site for details.

1-9-2007

Cool Tech

A company called Nikko Home Electronics debuted a couple R2-D2 items at the CES show in Vegas this week.

The first is a (estimated) $2,500 home projector system with built-in CD/DVD player, speakers, iPod dock and a cool Millennium Falcon remote control.

Second is a $350 Skype phone and web cam system that comes with a remote control in the shape of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. 

Both are very cool items but for the higher end geek.  I think I'd settle to get one of Hasbro's R2-D2 robots again. 

Sideshow

If you ordered the Salacious Crumb Creature Pack from Sideshow you'll be happy to know that he's shipping.

Also it appears that there will be a  second creature pack to go along with Jabba. 

1-5-2007

Hasbro

Things are shaping up to be a good year from Hasbro.  Last night I stopped in Wal-Mart and although the toy aisle reset is not yet complete I did find the newest comic 2-Packs had been stocked.  The only set on the shelf was the Vader and Rebel Trooper set and I passed them up.  I probably won't be buying any till we get some new characters. 

But, while at WM I snuck a peek at the aisle planogram and found that my store will finally be carrying the $20 Starfighter line along with the standard action figures.  The comic packs have peg space as do the Unleashed Battle Packs, Titanium, Galactic Heroes and your standard action figures.  Role-play lightsabers will be on the shelf next to the vehicles.  Transformers will be back but I don't recall seeing space for Attacktix but I wasn't really looking for it.

Oddly enough, Tuesday when I was in WM I also found a couple 3.75" Battle Packs on the shelf.  They weren't with the rest of the Star Wars action figures but an aisle over.  They had the Palpatine and Jedi set.

Target had actually stocked figures again as there was a Maul figure left over from wave 8.  The rest of the figs were pretty standard.  New to the shelf were the Episode 1, 2 and 3 4-pack tin sets for about $25 each.  Next to the tins they had several Battle Packs including Battle Above the Sarlacc and Jedi vs Darth Sidious.  The reset hasn't been completed in my store for the action figure section, I don't think, but I'm hoping to see some new Titanium vehicles eventually.


Firespray Interceptor

New Titanium vehicles have shown up on Hasbro's web site and they include Jabba's Sail Barge, Luke Skywalker's Snowspeeder (repaint), Imperial Attack Cruiser (repaint) and Firespray Interceptor.

The Firespray Interceptor is a repaint of the Slave I but looks very cool.  I may pick one up.

To go along with the new Star Wars ships we can also look forward to a classic Cylon Raider and Battlestar Pegasus from the Battlestar Galactica line of vehicles.

The Cylon Raider should go great with the classic Viper that's out now. 

Lego


Clone Trooper Battle Pack
7655

One section in Target that was reset was the Lego shelves.  And I was psyched to see that not only were the new 2007 sets stocked but Lego has finally listened to me and put out some affordable sets!  There are at least 6 different sets available for under $20 including the holdover V-Wing at $9.99 and TIE Interceptor at $19.99.

Joining them at the $9.99 price point are are the new Clone Trooper (7655) and Battle Droid (7654) Battle Packs.  An Andrew Jackson will get you the new AT-ST (7657) or General Grievous' Starfighter (7656).

Boba Fett's Slave I is still available as are the Star Destroyer and Sail Barge.  New 2007 sets include a Y-Wing (7658) and Imperial Landing Craft (7659).

We also now have an announcement for a new MTT Droid carrier from EP1, the Naboo Fighter is coming back in a set with a Vulture Droid and we'll see a blue Obi-Wan ROTS Starfighter with hyperdrive ring and Kit Fisto minifig!

The Naboo Fighter and ROTS Starfighter should both be under $30, if not $20, so that's just better news for both collectors and casual Lego buyers.

Another report of a new Republic Gunship appears to have been false which sucks.  That's one Lego set I'd shell out for!

1-4-2007

Best and Worst of 2006

The 2006 Best and Worst article is now online here at Imperial Holocron.  It's permanent link will be on the Articles page.

Disney

Disney has 5 new die cast vehicles available in 1:64 scale.  They represent Vader, C-3PO, R2, Stormtrooper and General Grievous.  Check out GalacticHunter.com for the photos.

Master Replicas

Master Replicas has revamped their web site and it's now live.  Along with the new design they also announced their 2007 Collector's Society benefits. 

Enrollment will score you a .45 scaled Qui-Gon Jinn lightsaber which will be the only version of this saber available.  Changing from the coupons that they've handed out previously, CS members now get a blanket 10% savings on purchases. 

The other nice announcement is that CS members will have access to two exclusives that are not Elite Editions of already released items.

Now, if Gentle Giant had sprung their club in this manner I'd have ponied up the $50 membership but just saying you'll get a "free" item and a SHOT at buying exclusives...well, I'm not that desperate to be a "true collector."

Hasbro

If you're an über completist then you should know that all of the 501st members that marched in this year's Rose Parade received a 501st Stormtrooper with special Rose Parade sticker.  The trading card that was included was for a special honorary member, George Lucas.

Very cool gift for those members that marched.  I kind of hope it doesn't turn up online for $15 like the San Diego Comic-Con version did.  It should stay a special gift.

1-2-2007

Happy New Year!

Here's looking forward to the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, Celebration 4 in May and all the cool collectibles we have coming this year.

Hope everyone caught the Rose parade yesterday with the two Star Wars themed floats and the 501st Troopers that were marching.