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10-31-2008Sideshow UpdateThat was fast! The quarter scale Premium Format Slave Leia statue from Sideshow is now up for pre-order. There are two versions as always, only this time around the Sideshow exclusive sets you back an extra $25 and includes a cool looking Salacious Crumb figure. The regular edition is $249.99 while the exclusive is $274.99.
The estimated ship date for this is the first quarter of 2009. The edition size has not been set yet. HasbroHasbro released some hi resolution shots of several upcoming figures including the new Luke and Han as Stormtrooper figures. Both look very well done. These are scheduled for release in wave 5 which should be out sometime in early 2009. Also included in the photos is a shot of R5-A2 which is one of the two Build a Droid figures from the wave.
Hasbro 3rd QuarterIt looks as though the third quarter profits for Hasbro were in decent shape, even with the economy headed for the bad spell we're in right now. Hasbro reported sales were up 6.5% but their net income was off 14% on smaller margins due to rising costs of materials, labor and safety testing after last year's Chinese recalls over toxic paint. Part of the good news is that Hasbro saw those increased sales numbers due to Star Wars, Transformers and Nerf among other products. No predictions have been given for the 4th quarter, which includes the Christmas holiday, but analysts are expecting this to be an off year for sales. Sideshow
Han Solo in Carbonite Sideshow announced a new item in their newsletter last night, Han Solo in Carbonite environment piece! This is in the 1:6 scale line and is a companion piece to the growing Jabba's Palace set of figures. If this follows the last couple of orders, look for this to go on sale with next week's newsletter unless we hear different. While not announced in the newsletter last night, photos have shown up of what appears to be a Premium Format Slave Leia statue. Pictures are making the forum rounds and speculation is that this will be revealed later today as part of Sideshow's Spooktacular event. 10-30-2008Museum TourIf you're planning on being in the Roanoke, Texas area this weekend you can take a tour of RebelScum.com and TheForce.net owner Philip Wise's Star Wars museum. Philip is holding a fundraiser event to benefit the Southlake Safety Town attraction which will teach safety to children. Tickets are $50 for adults and $15 for children under 12. Gentle GiantLast weekend there was a Gentle Giant event at Forbidden Planet in London. Karl Meyer, president of GG, was in attendance and Jedi News UK was able to sit down with him for a Q&A session about current and new products that we can look forward to in the next months and into 2009. Here are some highlights of products that we can look forward to: )
AT-AT Driver
Some of the items listed, such as the AT-AT Driver and Force Unleashed busts, are already up for pre-order as are some of the in production pieces. Of course I'm excited about the AT-AT Driver but I may be looking forward to 4-LOM just as much. He'll be the cap on the Empire Strikes Back bounty hunter set! The statue of Luke in his Bespin outfit may also be a treat. That's still probably my favorite outfit for Luke from the original trilogy. Exclusives)
Galactic Marine What would an event at Forbidden Planet be without exclusives? Gentle Giant had two, a Galactic Marine mini bust and Coruscant Guard maquette. They also had the 2008 convention exclusive bronze Boba Fett Classic bust which is now sold out. The Galactic Marine bust has an edition of 3,000 pieces, of which FP had 1,750 pieces for sale. The rest will be on Gentle Giant's web site in the near future. The Coruscant Guard is limited to 500 pieces while the Bronze Fett was set at 50. Forbidden Planet has the Marine and Guard on their web site now or you can wait for GG's sale. 10-29-2008LegoBack in August we posted some new Lego sets for 2009 and this week it looks like they were confirmed when photos showed up. Along with the previously listed sets we can also look forward to set 7751, Ahsoka's Starfighter and Vulture Droid. HasbroToys-R-Us is getting two new exclusives; Hailfire Droid with General Grievous and V-Wing Fighter with V-Wing Pilot. Both vehicles are repaints of their previous releases only now outfitted in new Clone Wars packaging. General Grievous appears to be the same figure released in the CW line back in July while the V-Wing Pilot is an Oddball repaint. No price or release date for these yet. 10-20-2008Hasbro
Clone Trooper Voice Changer When the Clone Wars and Legacy Collection lines launched in July, Hasbro released a new Clone Trooper Voice Changer helmet in basic white to the various retail stores. There were also two exclusives announced for Walmart and Target. Walmart's will be a blue 501st deco helmet while Target gets a red Senate Security deco. Basically they fall in line with the exclusive figures. Yesterday the Target exclusive hit the shelf at the local store and is also available for order on their web site. It's a really nice looking helmet and includes a light along with the sound effects. The web price is $29.99 but the shelf tags in the store were just over $30 as I recall. It's the first role play item, besides the lightsabers, that I've thought of picking up in a while. Be sure to check your local stores if you're interested in this. I'm guessing the Walmart version won't be far behind. 10-19-2008
General Obi-Wan Kenobi SideshowFriday the most recent 1:6 release from Sideshow arrived on my doorstep in the form of General Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is both the first figure to have armor and use the new body developed jointly between Sideshow and Hot Toys. It's a good release for Sideshow and definitely showcases the direction they are taking for the armored figures in the future. Read on for the review and more photos... HasbroGalacticHunter.com posted a photo of Hasbro's Star Wars figure stands along with a new logo sheet that has new character names on it. Some of them are updates to include figures we already have, such as Antares Draco and the Ammunition Droid. One of the curious entries is "Anakin Skywalker - Concept." With the announcement Friday that we will see four concept figures in 2009, this seems to point to Anakin as one of them. Republic GunshipEarly last week I posted photos of the McDonald's Captain Rex toy an today I have Yoda. Yoda is also a bobblehead and is perched on an AOTC style Republic Gunship. The toy lacks the wheels of the Rex version but includes a voice feature. The sound clip is of Yoda saying "May the Force be with you." The toy has fewer paint apps than the Rex version but Yoda looks just like he does in the new animation. It's a fun toy and makes another fun addition to the Gunship collection.
10-18-2008Diamond)
UQS Darth Maul Packaging Diamond Select Toys, working with Art Asylum, is producing new quarter scale Star Wars figures and the first release, in December, will be Darth Maul. This week Art Asylum posted the final box art for the Maul figure and it has some impressive custom art work on the side. Check out the photo for more details. Already announced for the line are an ANH Obi-Wan, ESB Hoth Han Solo and ROTJ Palpatine. Now, this past week we also got the announcement for their fifth figure and it's ROTS Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Ultimate Quarter Scale (UQS) line of figures will feature 23 points of articulation, clothing and accessories that are accurate to their Lucasfilm archives counterparts, each figure will feature sound effects taken directly from the films, and they should have an MSRP of $79. If you haven't been keeping up to date on this line, and I admit I hadn't until just recently, head over to Art Asylum's web site and read the blog, there's some great info and lots more pictures to be had. HasbroWe'll kick off today's post with some info from the newest Q&A session with Hasbro. Unfortunately not all of the news is bright and shiny. First up, on a question from ActoionFigs.com about the Titanium line, Hasbro drops the info that the Battlestar Galactica Basestar vehicle will not be coming out. The license for BSG is up at the end of this year and the wave this ship was initially scheduled for was cancelled in the switch to the new Clone Wars and Build-a-Droid packaging. Per Hasbro, this ship wasn't slotted into any other cases coming out before the license is up. On Tuesday we posted a list of Empire Strikes Back figures that appeared on the Walmart.com web site. Included in that list was Captain Needa. Yesterday Hasbro confirmed Needa when answering a question posed by JediTempleArchives.com. Hopefully that implies that the rest of the listing on WM.com was also correct. More than one site asked about future availability of the Force Unleashed Stormtrooper Commander that was distributed at Game Stop stores. Hasbro states that they are looking for a way to bring it back out and mention 2009 San Diego Comic-Con as a possible venue. Han's Hideout asked for some photos of upcoming ANH figures and Hasbro obliged with high resolution shots of the Jawa and WED droid. Both look like incredible figures and I can't wait to pick them up. Vong fans happy with the previously announced Yuzhong Vong/Kyle Katarn comic pack should be beside themselves with the answer to JediInsider.com's question about Nom Anor. Per Hasbro, he didn't make it into the 2009 lineup but they've confirmed him for 2010. More than one site asked about concept figures in the line for 2009. Hasbro states that there will be four new concept figures next year but none of them are based on Ralph McQuarrie art. My guess is that we'll see some designs from the prequel films and probably based on Ian McCaig and Doug Chiang. 10-15-2008PSWCS Toy DriveThe PSWCS is kicking off it's annual toy drive to help benefit Garrison Carida of the 501st Legion. There will be two events this year, the first event will be held at the Steel City Con in Pittsburgh on October 24-26. The second will be at Toy Cave in Carlisle, PA on December 6th. The PSWCS will also accept donations by mail or drop off anytime at the Toy Cave. Please check out the official PSWCS press release and check out the newly produced commercial below which will also be running on the local Pittsburgh cable feed.
10-14-2008HasbroWalmart.com had some information posted to it last week that apparently listed the Empire Strikes Back wave scheduled for 2009. On the list were the following figures:
In one of the recent Q&A answers Hasbro said that a new Ugnaught was on the way but that it wouldn't be a 2-pack so that listing either was made before the figure was changed or it was just assumed it would be a 2-pack. The Luke Skywalker figure sounds like Luke in robes from the medical frigate, a figure that almost made it into the vintage line. And could the Leia figure be the long awaited, and much needed, update to her Hoth outfit? Or will we just get another Bespin version or even her outfit version from the medical frigate were she was with Luke 10-13-2008MedicomMedicom has announced Series 10 of the Star Wars Kubrick line. Scheduled for 2009 the series will contain the following Revenge of the Sith figures: )
Kubrick Series 10
As with any line of Kubrick figures, you can expect there to be two or three chase figures. Speculation is we'll probably get one or more Clone Trooper re-paints and possibly a different Jedi or Wookiee. Look for these about April 2009. Republic GunshipFor the release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars McDonald's around the world had their first ever Star Wars promotion. I showed a couple pictures of the Asian exclusive Republic Gunship the other day but now it's time to show off one of the US versions. All of the toys in the US were bobble heads attached to a vehicle. The Republic Gunship came in two versions, one with Captain Rex and one with Yoda. I'll have an update for Yoda later in the week but today, Captain Rex. When the toys were first announced Rex was listed as a pull back toy. However, the toy I received doesn't have that action, it simply rolls on its wheels. It is a bobble head and that works as designed. The paint scheme on the helmet looks quite a bit like Rex does in the film and TV series while the ship has minimal paint applications.
10-12-2008)
AOTC Clone Helmet eFXThe next helmet from eFX is going to be an Attack of the Clones Clone Trooper helmet. The pre-order date is Saturday, October 25th. The helmet was created based on the actual digital files used for filming the movies. The edition size is set at 1,000 pieces and will ring in at $429. The helmet includes an LED in the fin, padded interior and is constructed of fiberglass. It will also include a numbered plaque and stand and COA. 10-10-2008
212th Attack Battalion SideshowSideshow put up the 212th Battalion Clone Trooper for pre-order last night. It's $89.99 and scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2009. The exclusive edition includes a 212th Attack Battalion stand. The exclusive is limited to 2 per customer while the regular edition is 5. The regular edition should also be available from the various on-line sellers as usual. CrayolaWith every movie release the Star Wars line usually introduces new license holders to the franchise and the August release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars was no different. This time around it's Crayola and they're starting with three interesting products; Color Explosion, Giant Coloring Pages and ReColoritz.
Crayola Color Explosion uses special black paper and color-reveal markers that reveal hidden colors on the paper. The Star Wars set comes in two version, deluxe (pictured) and regular. I don't have a listing for what's included in the regular release but the deluxe set includes an 18 page tablet with 12 printed and 6 blank pages, six Color Explosion markers, a sticker sheet and stencil sheet. The Giant Coloring Pages set includes 20 13.5" by 19.5" coloring pages. The set covers characters such as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi as well as vehicles and droids such as the Republic Gunship and R2-D2 and C-3PO. Star Wars ReColoritz are reusable coloring pages. Each set includes 10 scenes from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, six washable markers and a sponge. I've found the Color Explosion and ReColoritz sets at Target, Wal-Mart and A.C. Moore and the Giant Coloring Pages at Wal-Mart. Look for these in any stores that carry the Crayola line of products. Republic Gunship)
In 2003 Wizards of the Coast released a TCG expansion set called Jedi Guardians. In the set, card 98 is the Republic Attack Gunship. I have had the regular card for a few years now but just recently added the rare foil variant of the card. There have been several new releases of Republic Gunship items, including the recent McDonald's toys and the Wal-Mart exclusive. Over the weekend I'll have updates on the US McDonald's toy along with some Titanium repaints. 10-3-2008Star Wars: The Clone WarsDon't forget that tonight at 9:00PM is the debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. There will be two episodes airing so we get a full hour of Star Wars goodness! Sideshow
212th Attack Battalion Sideshow has announced their next Star Wars 1:6 scale figure and it's going to be the 212th Attack Battalion: Utapau Clone Trooper. No pre-sale date yet as it was just announced in the newsletter. I'm guessing this will be in the same price range as the Stormtrooper that went up for order back in July and probably won't ship till 2009. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Utapau deco of the 212th Battalion so I may be in for one of these. McDonald'sFor the Clone Wars release McDonald's and Lucasfilm teamed up for a promotion in the US, Europe and Asia. The promotion included toys included with Kids Meals as well as Star Wars graphics on the boxes and posters and window clings in the stores. As we covered back in August, the US toys consisted of 18 bobblehead toys with characters attached to vehicles from the Saga. In Europe and Asia McDonald's mixed up the releases and included some items not available in the States. Most countries saw about eight toys each. China and a couple other Asian countries received four wheeled vehicles with launchers that you can shoot across the floor or table. One of the vehicles is the Republic Gunship. It's about the same size as the Titanium version and has a very basic paint job but plenty of sculpted detail. The action feature works well and it makes for a fun toy.
Topps)
Star Wars Galaxy 4 StarWars.com updated on Tuesday with information on the next Topps trading card set; Star Wars Galaxy 4. The 130 card set is slated for a February 2009 release and will include at least two types of chase cards, autograph and sketch cards. There will be over 50 new paintings, Galaxy art that hasn't been used in the previous sets, movie poster, comic and book cover art and new paintings of window posters and packaging art by Russell Walks. The article states that the cards will be available mainly at hobby and comic shops but with the special promotions for the retail stores such as Target on the Clone Wars set, I wouldn't count out similar arrangements for this set. |
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