TOY FAIR 2012: Hasbro – Star Wars

2012 is a big year for Star Wars– Clone Wars is going strong into its fourth season, and The Phantom Menace is back in theaters, the first (of probably many) Star Wars movies to get the 3D treatment. Hasbro, of course has lots of great new toys to go along with this banner year for the galaxy far away… Get all the details on their plans for Star Wars this year!

One of the most exciting announcements came early– this year’s movie figures will feature light up lightsabers for Jedi and Sith! The series will cover all six movies and feature all new sculpts. The Clone Wars animated series will also continue, with new characters and new Season 4 looks for characters like Ahsoka and Commander Wolfe.

Fans can also look forward to a new Naboo starfighter that actually fits R2D2 in the control pod. As has been the tradition for the last few years, we will also see a huge vehicle in 2012. Since this is the year of Phantom Menace, this year’s big vehicle is the trade federation MTT, coming out this Fall. The colossal tank features a motorized deployment rack and other action features, as well as a total of twenty battle droids– four will be fully articulated, with another sixteen pre-posed and ready for deployment!

The Vintage collection will continue strong in 2012, as Hasbro reaches the 100 figure mark!

Wave 6 will feature:
Odd Ball
Grand Moff Tarkin
Nikto
Starkiller/ Galen Marek (from The Force Unleashed 2)
Shae Vizla (from Old Republic)

Wave 7 includes:
Ahsoka (first time in realistic style)
Obi Wan in his Clone Wars general armor
Lumat
Nien Numb, who will for the first time be in correct, short height scale
Weequay
Emperor’s Royal Guard, who will feature both movie-accurate guard gear & training gear from the Expanded Universe

Wave 8 is set to include a Republic Trooper (from Old Republic) and Orrimaarko Prune Face among others.

The highlight of the presentation for me was the reveal of the Comic Con exclusive, available this July in San Diego…
Hasbro dug deep into the Kenner archives and has recreated the “lost” line card art! This design was George Lucas’ second choice pick for the package design of the original toys, but was beaten out by the classic black with silver trim design.
However, now this lost packaging will see the light of day, with an exclusive assortment of six Vintage style figures available first at Comic Con then at retail in the Fall. The Comic Con exclusive set, however will be the only way to get the carbonite freezing chamber display box packaging… and the exclusive seventh figure– Jar Jar Binks in Carbonite!!

Poo (and justifiably loathed) Jar Jar was inspired by a life-size sculkpture of the character trapped in carbonite made by two fans, which currently resides at Lucasfilm… not only can the Jar Jar figure fit inside the carbonite block, but the frozen Binks will come on his own (non-numbered) Vintage card!
As the Hasbro team joked, “it was a joy to work on.” I’m just happy to hear the often pouty Lucas has a good sense of humor about this set.
As for the other six figures, the set includes the following:

Jar Jar Binks
Clone Trooper Lieutenant from Attack of the Clones
Red Shock Trooper from Revenge of the Sith
The Sandtrooper, who includes his E-11 blaster with a fold-out stock
Princess Leia in her Bespin dress
Darth Vader, in mid-electrocution

The brand managers closed out their presentation with the results of last year’s Fan Poll, who will be released as a vintage figure in 2013… Mara Jade Skywalker will get the Vintage treatment!

I went in expecting 2012 to be somewhat of a down year for Star Wars, but Hasbro’s clever and cool, offerings prove there’s lots of life left in this universe.