This weekend, Toy Fair New York kicks off its annual tradition of previewing, debuting and announcing new toys to be released throughout the year. “Toy Fair is THE can’t-miss event for tapping into the $27B U.S. domestic toy market”, and this weekend will be full of panels from every major toy manufacturer looking to get a piece of that billion dollar pie.
On Saturday, February 16th Hasbro will hold their Hasbro’s 2019 Entertainment Brand Preview Event, powered by Hasbro Pulse. They will be providing, “a first look at the product from Hasbro’s Franchise and Licensed Brands including Transformers, Power Rangers and many more”.
Now, this panel is a not-to-be-missed event when it kicks off at 1:30 PM EST as Hasbro typically has announced major initiatives such as their HasLab or 40th Anniversary figures in years past.
As we have done for the past 6 years, right here is where we will be covering all of the Star Wars action figure news throughout the fair and will be updating this page as news is made available to us via our correspondents, Hasbro, and social media reporting.
We are looking forward to this year’s show as Toys ‘R’ Us’ bankruptcy and absence during the holiday season has caused many ripples in the industry. Just in the last few months, we are seen a number of announcements that have occurred in the industry. Here are just a few:
- Diamond Select purchases Gentle Giant
- Mattel loses DC license to Spinmaster and McFarlane Toys (6″ & 12″ figs only)
- McFarlane Toys picks up Harry Potter
- Tomy has picked up the WWE license
- Toys ‘R’ Us rebrands as TRU Kids
- Mattel picks up Despicable Me/Minions license
- and Rumors of Disney buying Mattel
While some Hasbro properties have already released preview images via online partners, no Star Wars images have yet to be shown. However, Entertainment Earth has already set up a pre-order page for Toy Fair reveals.
Additional sites to keep an eye on include hasbrotoyshop.com and hasbrolab.com as well as the Hasbro Pulse feed and #HasbroToyFair on Twitter.
Friday, February 15th
Triple Force Friday
Starwars.com announced Triple Force Friday launch on October 4th!
Let the countdown begin.
Triple Force Friday, the latest in a tradition of Star Wars product launches, is set for October 4, Lucasfilm and Disney announced today. The event will see the debut of brand-new products inspired by three of the year’s biggest Star Wars releases, including:
- The highly anticipated, final installment of the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: Episode IX
- The first-ever Star Wars live-action series, The Mandalorian, set to debut exclusively on the upcoming streaming service, Disney+.
- The latest title from EA and Respawn — Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — a brand-new action-adventure game releasing holiday 2019
Products spanning categories from toys to collectibles, housewares, books, apparel, and more will go on sale beginning at 12:01 a.m. on October 4. As with past Force Friday celebrations, stores around the world will join the festivities with in-store events and midnight openings.
Stay tuned to StarWars.com for more on Triple Force Friday!
HasbroPulse.com
Hasbropluse.com is now online with new items in stock! This site also now includes Hasbro’s HasLabs site information and images.
Hasbro Pulse Premium
The new online store will be offering a premium service to collectors who either a make a purchase in the next seven days or after than pay a $50 annual premium.
The Lightsaber Academy
The Verge has announced the newest version of Hasbro’s take on lightsaber roleplay toys. The Lightsaber Academy toys will feature Bluetooth technology which will sync with a downloadable app.
Episode IX Wraps
OFF-TOPIC: JJ Abrams posted to his Twitter page the following:
POP! PEZ: Star Wars
Funko has announced the new series of their new POP! PEZ line and a second chase figure for the line of a Blue Snags. Thanks to David B. for the heads up!
Indulge your sweet tooth and love of adventures that take place in a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars-themed Pop! PEZ including Ponda Baba™ (Walrus Man) with a Chase, Snaggletooth™ with a Chase, Lando™ and Logray™.
Age of Republic: Count Dooku #1
OFF-TOPIC: John Tyler Christopher is dropping an exclusive prequel era Obi-Wan cover on Feb 28th!
Press Release Images – Star Wars Lightsaber Academy
Hasbro has provided us with an official press release and images of their new Star Wars Lightsaber Academy line. There will be three assortments, the training system ($49.99), Electronic Lightsabers ($19.99) and Extendable Lightsabers ($7.99). Click here to learn more and read the entire press release.
Saturday, February 16th
Target Pre-Orders
Target.com in the wee hours of the night put up pre-orders for a series of items that are all set to ship in May of this year. Each of these figures’ presales sold out very quickly. We expect to learn more about these items and more at Hasbro’s Brand Preview Event today.
The Black Series – Luke Skywalker (Death Star Escape)
The Vintage Collection – Han Solo (Stormtrooper)
- Episode IV: Luke Skywalker
- Episode IV: Han Solo
- Episode IV: Darth Vader
- Episode IV: Chewbacca
- Episode IV: Princess Leia
- Episode IV: Stormtrooper
Image courtesy of Starwarscollector.com
Hasbro’s Brand Preview Event Panel
Announced at today’s Hasbro presentation was the following:
The Black Series
- New packaging is coming to the line
- A Celebration exclusive Obi-Wan Kenobi on a The Phantom Menace cardback. Obi-Wan will also be released in the main line with Chopper, 0-0-0, Aphra, BT-1and Erza wave in the Summer.
- Darth Maul (Archive version reuse) will be a Celebration exclusive as well on a The Phantom Menace cardback
- There will be a Fan Vote for the 40th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back
- Hyperreal Vader is the first in a new line of 8″ figures
The Vintage Collection
- Jabba’s Tatooine Skiff (Hasbro Pulse Exclusive)
- Jabba’s Palace Adventure Set with Han Solo and Ree-Yees will be a Wal*Mart Exclusive
- Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard) will be a Wal*Mart Exclusive with Photo Real and height adjustment
- Skiff Guard Action Figure 3-Pack is now up for pre-order at Entertainment Earth
- The Sail Barge will be available in the EU and AUS in limited quantities sold through eBay
- The new ship date for the Barge is March 3rd
The Retro Collection
- The six figures which were pre-sold by Target this morning (see above) are on “scuffed” cardbacks
- Grand Moff Tarkin done in Kenner-style will be released with a reissue of the vintage Escape from the Death Star Game.
Toy Fair Press Releases
Hasbro has provided us with official press images and information on all of the items shown during their panel today. Simply click on the series to view the full press release and view all of the images for each line.
Micro Collection
STAR WARS MICRO FORCE WOW! Series 2
(HASBRO/Ages: 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $7.99/Available: Spring 2019)
Available at most major retailers.
Sunday, February 17th
Jabba’s Sail Barge
It was confirmed by Hasbro that Barge is “currently on the water” and will include an amazing 1000 different paint ops. We also learned that the Yakface which is included with the Barge will include an exclusive glass/cup which is not included in individually carded Yak.
Hasbro Q&As
While we are still pouring over all of the information from this weekend, here are a series of Q&A’s from our fellow collector sites.
Monday, February 18th
Sandcrawler Podcast
The generous hosts of The Sandcrawler podcast, Mike Tarkin and Dengar Dan, were too kind as to invite me on to Episode 68 to break down all of the reveals from Hasbro’s Entertainment Preview event from this weekend’s Toy Fair 2019! Make sure of subscribe to The Sandcrawler and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
THE SANDCRAWLER – EPISODE 68 -NEW YORK TOY FAIR 2019 WITH JAKE STEVENS
Grab a bottle of water and don’t forget to stretch and pace yourself because this week’s show is an epic one!
Hasbro’s panel at New York Toy Fair 2019 was a big one for Star Wars collectors with news of new releases, amazing exclusives, play sets and more. In order to digest all of the news from Toy Fair we’ve brought in a ringer: One of the most knowledgable people in the Star Wars collecting community, our good friend, Jake Stevens of From4-OMToZuckuss.com.
