NYCC 2017 | New Black Series Reveals

The onslaught of announcements from NYCC 2017 has begun and Hasbro has stepped up early with the reveal of four new Black Series figures; DJ (TLJ), Lando Calrissian (Jabba’s palace disguise), 4-LOM, and Dengar!

Hasbro has also showed off the new Arch-to Rey which joins an already deep line of The Last Jedi 6" action figures. The sculpts on these new figures continue to set the Black Series apart from any other line at this price point and I can't wait to get my hands on them!

4-LOM and Dengar join the Black Series bounty hunter ranks alongside Boba Fett, Bossk and IG-88, only leaving Zuckuss to complete out the ESB crew.

These figures are due to drop sometime in 2018!

DJ

Dengar

Lando Calrissian (Jabba’s palace disguise)

4-LOM

Rey

Let us know what you think of the latest Black Series reveals in the comments below.

Thank you for reading and good luck on THE HUNT!

Tim

The Last Jedi | Black Series Wave 3

Wave 3 of TLJ Black Series will be hitting shelves sometime this fall and we now know the case ratio and repacks for the final 6" wave before The Last Jedi hits theaters. 

Wave 3 will bring us three new 6” figures; Snoke, Rose, and the 2016 fan choice figure Jaina Solo. Repacked in this wave are Maz and the Elite Praetorian Guard from Wave 2 and Jedi Master Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren from Wave 1. 

 

The Last Jedi Black Series Wave 3

Elite Praetorian Guard, Rey, Jedi Master Luke, Maz, Kylo Ren, Snoke, Rose, Jaina Solo

Photo Credit: Big Bad Toy Store

The repacks in this wave alleviate some of the hunt anxiety around figures that may have been more difficult to find in wave 2. The Maz and Elite Praetorian Guard figures should now become much more attainable at retail as we will see them in two consecutive waves! With the Wave 3 repacks, the General Leia figure becomes the big prize in Wave 2, so grab it if you can!

 

The Last Jedi Black Series Wave 2

Maz, Force Order Disguise Finn, Elite Praetorian Guard, Kylo Ren, General Leia, Poe Dameron, and repacks ESB Snowtrooper, and AT-AT Driver.

Photo Credit: Big Bad Toy Store

My predication for Wave 3 is that all three of the single packed new figures will be hard to find, with the Jania Solo playing a lot like the Revan figure (near impossible to get at retail). The fan choice Legends figures run like a short packed exclusive making them extremely difficult to find at retail. We probably will not see another iteration of this character in plastic form for a long time, if ever and because of that I would expect this to be the most coveted figure in Wave 3.

The Snoke could also prove to be a difficult figure to find out of the gate, but I could see him being repacked in a subsequent wave down the line. This figure can also be found as part of the EB Games/GameStop exclusive throne set, which at the moment runs $39.99 USD.

The Rose figure will be a bit on an enigma for Wave 3, she could really go either way. I doubt we will see her repacked in future Waves and the one per case leads me to believe that this may be a harder figure to find than others in the first two Waves. 

Which figures do you think will be difficult to find in Wave 3? Let us know in the comment below!

As always, good luck on THE HUNT!,

Tim

Captain Rex 6" Black Series Exclusive

We got our first look at the Clone Wars Era Captain Rex 6” Black Series figure at this years SDCC and now we know it will be available as a convention exclusive this fall!

The fan favourite character was the leader of the 501st division serving under the command of Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars and can be seen fighting alongside the Ghost Crew in Star Wars: Rebels. Most recently Captain Rex was confirmed to be a rebellion trooper on Endor in ROTJ and will now be immortalized in the Black Series!

Forbiddenplanet.com revealed the figure and exclusive packaging for the Clone Era Rex late yesterday. The exclusive packaging is very reminiscent of the SDCC 2016 exclusive Jyn and 2015 First Order Stormtrooper. For me, the return to more exclusive packaging makes this much more desirable as it sets it apart from the standard BS card backs and makes it more of a display piece.

The figure is a standout amongst the many other iterations of  6" BS Clone Troopers, with its superior facial sculpt, armour details, and removable helmet the figure has versatility in display beyond a normal trooper.   

I will definitely be chasing this figure when it drops later this year. Recently we have seen the exclusive figures find their way into retail shops (just without the exclusive packaging) so I wouldn't be surprised is this figure shows up on the pegs in a standard BS card back sometime in 2018.

2015 SDCC Black Series Exclusive - First Order Stormtrooper

2016 SDCC Black Series Exclusive - Jyn Erso

The 6” Black Series Captain Rex figure will be available as a convention exclusive at Rhode Island’s Hasbro HASCON (September 8-10, 2017) and MCM Comicon (October 27-29, 2017). The figure will then be made available on forbiddenplanet.com.

Thanks for reading and good luck in THE HUNT!

Tim

Luke’s missing Lightsaber

The lightsaber is an iconic symbol of Star Wars and has seen a continued reimagining of style and colour throughout the Saga. Given the importance of the lightsaber to the Jedi story, I was intrigued when the first Last Jedi Luke Skywalker figure images hit and there was no lightsaber in any of the Jedi Master's packaging. I have never been one to read too deep into things but the reason this has my attention is simply because of how all of The Force Awakens Rey figures where initially released in 2015.

Rey figures from the Disney Elite Series, Black Seres and 5 POA lines were all initially released without a lightsaber, and at the time this aligned with what we knew about the film. Now in hindsight, this was done to protect the major plot point of Rey being force sensitive and wielding a lightsaber.

After The Force Awakens hit theaters, all figure lines released a version of Rey with a lightsaber. The Disney Elite Series simply just re-release a direct repack of the Force Friday figure, only with the blue lightsaber. 

With the release of the first images (the Black Series SDCC 2017 exclusive and leaked 5 POA figure) of Jedi Master Luke without a lightsaber, I immediately thought of the initial Rey 2015 release and that Lucasfilm was again protecting a major plot point. One of the more convincing clues, outside of precedence, is revealed if you look closely at the hand of the Black Series figure, you could convince yourself that it is moulded to hold a lightsaber!

Luke HAD to be amongst the first wave of TLJ figures, so satisfying both the fandom and the desire to keep a film secret was going to be a difficult task, but one that could be accomplished with a temporary subtle omission of something like a lightsaber.

Disney/Lucasfilm has a history of tenaciously protecting their film secrets as showcased by #ReyGate in the build up to TFA. Disney was so adamant in keeping TFA Rey reveal contained that they issued a copyright infringement claim when a Rey (Resistance Outfit) figure was accidentally released prior to the film and a fan/podcaster posted it to Facebook. We know Disney/Lucasfilm will go to great lengths to protect the secrecy of the films, so its not out of the question that the absence of Luke's lightsaber actually means something bigger.

Initial Force Friday release of Rey & BB-8

Rey (Starkiller Base) release in the first wave of 5 POA figures (Force Friday) with out a lightsaber.

Re-Release post TFA of Rey with the blue lightsaber

Rey (Resistance Outfit) released in wave 3 with a lightsaber and the figure behind #Reygate

What could Lucasfilm be protecting in The Last Jedi? Is there an epic lightsaber duel between Luke and Kylo or maybe even the Knights of Ren? Has Luke sworn the Barash Vow, as suggested by Marc over at TSW on the latest TWS Comics? My personal feeling is there is something big being kept in the shadows of The Last Jedi as it relates to Luke and his lightsaber and I will make the prediction that we are going to get another release of the Luke figures with a lightsaber. We may have to wait until December 15th to find out what the secret is but until then, let the speculation begin!

Let us know in the comments below if you think there is something more to Luke and his missing lightsaber or am I just reading to much into it?

Thank you for reading, 

Tim

The Last Jedi | Black Series Waves 1 & 2

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,

Tim