Posted in: Collectibles, Games | Tagged: a new hope, darth vader, empire strikes back, han solo, hasbro, Luke Skywalker, monopoly, Obi Wan Kenobi, princess leia, star wars

First Plans For Star Wars 40th Anniversary Revealed By Hasbro

People around the globe will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Star Wars this year, and one of the main things have been wondering in the collecting community has been how Hasbro would handle it. Rumors have run rampant, and this morning they have started to reveal some of their plans ahead of next weeks Toyfair.

Revealed on Gizmodo, they will be releasing two new lines of statue-like figures with sound and light effects in two different scales. The first will be a line of 3 3/4 Titanium series "figures". They will retail for $15 each and will all be based on A New Hope. Each of the figures-Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia will come on a base with changeable backdrops from the films and character key art, and FX pieces in their weapons. These will be available in the spring.

Later on this fall, more than likely around the time merchandise for The Last Jedi will be available, they will be introducing a new line of 6 inch figures called "Centerpieces' in the same vein as the old Unleashed figures from years ago. A 6 inch figure on a base, non-articulated, only this time the bases will have full electronics and multiple peg holes so that more than one figure can fit on a base. The first offering will be Luke Skywalker climbing over the burning remnants of an at-at from Empire Strikes Back. These will retail for $50.

Lastly, they have shown off a new edition of Star Wars Monopoly and will come with 6 new game pieces based on A New Hope including Luke's X-Wing helmet, his landspeeder, a Stormtrooper helmet, R2-D2, the Death Star, and the Millennium Falcon. It will also feature a new version of the game board for $30.

As a first showing: this is sure to cheese off collectors. Whether we built it up in our heads, or at this point just have unrealistic expectations for what we should be getting, these offerings are not what most hardcore collectors are going to want to spend their money on. The fan community is still mad that they have drastically reduced the number of super articulated 3 3/4 inch figures, the bread and butter line since the original toy line started in 1978, and these feel more like displays than action figures. That being said, they do like high quality for the price, and for those of us that can't afford the higher end statues and figures, it might be a welcome alternative.

Hopefully even more will be revealed next week at Toyfair.

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