Using a proprietary Star Wars enigma machine the crew over at yakface.com have deciphered what the first 2 waves of The Last Jedi Black Series will look like! The first wave will be hitting shelves on September 1st, 2017 at Force Friday II!
The Last Jedi Black Series wide release cards will likely have the same silver/black look as the Rey and Luke SDCC 2017 exclusive (just not connected). The first wave maintains the diversity of eras we have seen in the past and includes two repacks from the 40th Anniversary (in standard BS cards), two highly sought after Rebels characters and three new TLJ figures.
WAVE 1:
2x Darth Vader (Episode IV – 40AC repack)
1x Rey (Episode VIII)
1x Luke Skywalker (Episode VIII)
1x Kylo Ren (Episode VIII)
1x Grand Admiral Thrawn (Star Wars Rebels – SDCC repack)
1x Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels)
1x Stormtrooper (40AC repack)
WAVE 2:
1x Snowtrooper (Wave 9 repack)
1x AT-AT Driver (Wave 9 repack)
1x Poe Dameron (Episode VIII)
1x Kylo Ren (Episode VIII) – wave 1 carry forward
1x Chewbacca?
1x Elite Praetorian Guard (Episode VIII)
1x General Leia (Episode VII)
1x Finn (Episode VIII)
Photo Credit: Hasbro
The only figure from the first wave we have not seen a version of is Kylo Ren. I would expect the appearance of the Kylo Ren figure to be very similar to the unmasked version we got in the TFA wave, only with his new scar and Vader-like cape.
The first wave case ratio is a bit interesting with the Vader repack being double shipped. My guess here is that Hasbro has a warehouse full of Vader stock from the 40th Early Bird pack and this is a retooling of the release to cut losses. Vader is always a sought after figure but I can see this repack being the peg warmer of the first wave.
If Hasbro maintains there shipping patterns I would expect to see Rey and Luke repacked in later waves, the same way Kylo will be in wave 2. I am actually surprised that Rey or Luke are not the wave 2 carry forward, given they will be highly sought after figures. My prediction is that Thrawn and Hera will be the difficult to find figures of the first wave as we may not see them repacked in later releases.
The 2nd wave of TLJ release has a much higher ratio of Ep. VIII figures with General Leia (seen at SDCC 2017) and the Praetorian Guard being that standouts! The repacking of Snow Trooper and AT-AT Driver is an odd choice but again we might be seeing this wave filled out with old stock as I'm still seeing these figures on the pegs.
This is very exciting news and hopefully you have been saving for Force Friday II as it is only a month away! Between the 6” Black Series and the 3.75” leaked 5 POA figures, its starting to look like Force Friday II is going to be another epic day for collectors!
Happy Hunting and thank you for reading,