As we impatiently wait for this Friday’s San Diego Comic-Con Hasbro Star Wars panel we thought we would take a moment to look back at last year’s SDCC panel.
In 2012, Hasbro announced the return of the Build-a-Droid concept in their new Droid Factory Legacy Collection. This series was to feature two (2) Build-a-Droids per wave and the first two waves were announced. Now we all know that these plans did not stay in place due to a handful of factors: change in guard at Lucasfilm, cancellation of Episodes II and III in 3-D, over-produced Episode I 3-D products filling the shelves, retailers not ordering new product and so on. These factors led to new figures being released exclusively outside of the US, some exclusively online, items like the Naboo N-1 Fighter debuting at discount stores and new product increasingly drying up over the last year.
Now what to expect at this year’s panel based on what we saw last year. For starters there are the 3 figures that have shown up carded online this week; R2-D2, 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper and Stormtrooper with R2 being seen as part of the Droid Factory line last year.
Then there are the seven (7) figures already seen in this year’s Hasbro Booth: 212th Clone Trooper, Battle Droid, FA-4, Geonosian Warrior, Sandtrooper, TIE Fighter Pilot and TC-70. All seven of these figures were slated for the Droid Factor line with the two droids (FA-4 and TC-70) being the actual Build-a-Droids announced in Wave 1.
That leaves us with the final eight (8) figures that were shown or announced last year who have yet to resurface since the cancellation of the Droid Factory line. Dan Curto recently announced on the Galaxy of Toys Podcast that we would be only be seeing Wave 2 of The Black Series at SDCC leaving Wave 3 to be announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2 the following week so it is unlikely that we will know at SDCC this week the future of these missing figures.
We have provided last year’s Hasbro’s panel announcements below and bolded the lost Droid Factory figures we are looking forward to hearing about.
SDCC 2012 – Hasbro Panel Announcements
Legacy Collection (Droid Factory)
– featuring the return of the Build-a-Droids concept on a droid shaped card
Wave 1 (Spring 2013)
- 212th Clone Trooper
- Anakin Skywalker
- Battle Droid (Episode II)
- Biker Scout
- Clone Trooper (Sergeant)
- Geonosian Warrior
- Luminara Unduli
- Pablo-Jill
- Padme’ Amidala (Arena)
- R2-D2
- Sandtrooper
- TIE Pilot
- Build-a-Droid – FA-4
- Build-a-Droid – TC-70
Wave 2
- A-Wing Pilot
- Biggs Darklighter
- Captain Rex
- Clone Pilot (Episode II)
- Darth Vader (Bespin)
- Luke Skywalker (Yavin Ceremony)
- Mace Windu
- Mara Jade Skywalker (Jedi)
- Build-a-Droid – R5-X2
- Build-a-Droid – R8-B7
— Exclusives —
Brian’s Toys
- Jocasta Nu
K-Mart
- Endor AT-ST Crew
- Ewok Scouts
- Scout Walker AT-ST
Target
- Darth Maul Returns Battle Pack
- Droid Pack – Special Action Figure Set
- Villain Set – Special Action Figure Set
Toys ‘R’ Us
- AT-AT (Endor)
- Ewok Pack
- Millennium Falcon
- Speeder Bike with Scout Trooper
- Yavin Pilot Pack
