Toy Fair 2009: Hasbro Presentation Highlights

I posted some images on Saturday from Rebel Scum. This time I am highlighting what interests me from the Hasbro presentation. These slides are from Jedi Temple Archives.

This new packaging will start in August and percolate through all Star Wars merchandise.

The Clone Wars - 2009 Wave 2

The Clone Wars - 2009 Wave 3.

The Clone Wars - 2009 Wave 4.

The Clone Wars - 2009 Wave 5.

The Clone Wars - Revamped "deluxe" line.

Turbo Tank Gunner Crew on-shelf date indicates that we should see the vehicle sometime between mid-August and mid-September.

The "starfighter" line will see some new vehicles this year, like the Republic Fighter Tank.

The ARC-170 makes another appearance, with yet another price hike. The vehicles to large for the "starfighter" line but too small to be a "big" vehicle will be in the new "deluxe" vehicle line.

There she is, the Turbo Tank! Expect to see this monster in time for Season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

New turrets!!!

With "Evolutions" set to go on hiatus this fall, the line falls to an exclusive label.

The highly coveted and hard-to-find The Force Unleashed Stormtrooper Commander figure will be rereleased as a shared exclusive at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con.

There are some images of what to expect out of Hasbro from now until early fall. A lot of good stuff like the Republic Fighter Tank and the Turbo Tank, in addition to the Geonosis Assault battle pack with two Episode II-style Clone Pilots and turrets! You'll notice I didn't mention anything about The Legacy Collection. It just so happens that there isn't a single figure shown at Toy Fair that I want. And I don't want to steal every image from Jedi Temple Archives. If you want to see the rest, go here.

It was also revealed that the Unleashed line will be ending and that Mighty Muggs will become Toys R Us exclusives.

This Needs to Stop!

I stopped at the local Walmart today after work to pick up a few things. I went back to the toys section to see if they had a Saga Legends Snowtrooper, the only figure currently available that I need for my collection. They did not. While I was there I noticed that, among the other The Legacy Collection Wave 5 figures, was a Han Solo that just seemed... off. I couldn't place it at first. Then I saw that part of the box had been torn. I snatched it off of its peg and inspected it, only to find that this hadn't been done by accident. No, someone had actually tripped the lower corner and removed the Build-A-Droid part. On Han Solo in Stromtrooper Disguise it is the right leg of the stromech R5-A2. I was appaled. I have heard stories of this happening and have seen it documented elsewhere, but never have I seen it in person. Who would do such a thing?!?! It's reprehensible - and extremely childish - behavior. I hope it was a young - very young - kid and not some teenaged aor adult collector. To whoever did this I say, "Karma is a bitch". Not that the act of stealing a measly droid part is on the same level of, say, killing or cheating on someone. But it is still ridiculous behavior. It must stop. Now. I know prices of figures have climbed steadiluy in the last 36 months. If you can't afford to buy the entire figure go to eBay. You probably can get just the droid part (plus shipping) for $3 or $4 dollars. Seriously, stop doing this. It tarnishes the figure and puts and damper on fun for kids and collecting. Pictures of this atrocity are below. They're from my iPhone and aren't the best quality.

Remnants of Clone Wars Wave 4 Found

I was grocery shopping at the local Walmart yesterday evening and checked out the toys section. It didn't appear, at first glance, that they had restocked. Further inspection proved otherwise. The Legacy Collection pegs were all holdovers from Wave 4; no sight of Wave 5. However there were more Saga Legends Wave 3, but no Snowtrooper. Then I saw some of the repacked Clone Wars figures (like Dooku, Ventress, and C-3PO) and, luckily, a lone 212th Attack Battalion Clone Trooper.

Unfortunately I missed out on the Space Trooper. Here are a few more images of the 212th Attack Battalion Clone Trooper card.




Hopefully this coming week will yield the rest of Clone Wars Wave 4 and The Legacy Collection Wave 5.

New Clone Wars Bobblehead

I made a trip to Walmart today and I naturally checked out the Star Wars toys. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this Walmart (closest to my apartment) had done a bit of an overhaul while I was home for the holidays. It had been about 5 weeks since I was last at this particular store and I noticed shelves were shorter and more organized, not just in the toy section but everywhere. Very nice change. The Star Wars stuff was in a new aisle and marvelously organized; each specific figure - not wave or line but figure - had its own peg. Now, the pegs were pretty much bare save for maybe 5 different figures. But each figure had multiples and they were each on a separate peg. there was a peg for Bail Organa and one for Commander Faie and so on. Plus, they were actually on The Legacy Collection pegs and not on Saga Legends or The Clone Wars pegs. A very odd site. Anyway, there was no sight of the new figures or mighty muggs or vehicle or battlepacks but I did find a Funko bobblehead I didn't have.

Clone Trooper Denal, a Walmart exclusive. Huh. Nice. I like the helmet deco. The funny thing is, when i went to check out the bobblehead didn't come up. My friend had actually tried to pick this up for me right after Christmas and they took it away from him because it was in the aisle "by mistake". I lucked out this time. The Walmart associates just checked the price on the other bobbleheads and rung it up for me. Excellent! Here are a few more pictures for those who are interested.

For those interested, here is a snippet of what Wookieepedia has to say about Clone Trooper Denal:

Denal was a clone trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic who served in the 501st Legion's Torrent Company during the Clone Wars. He was one of the most experienced troopers in the 501st, having survived many campaigns alongside Captain Rex and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker.

And a picture of him in The Clone Wars...

From Wookieepedia.

After Thanksgiving Round-Up

Well things have been quite busy recently. Kelly and I made the trek from West Lafayette, IN to Eighty Four, PA on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The following day I made the last leg of my journey to be with my family and friends in Sinking Spring, PA. Thanksgiving was busy as usual and soon enough I was making the return trip. After watching my high school win the PIAA District III AAAA football championship, I left the stadium in Hershey, PA bound for Eighty Four to pick up Kelly. On Sunday we made the 7 hour drive back to Purdue University. It was a nice little reprieve (Kelly hadn't been to her house since January) and a great preview of things to come for the Christmas break.

I've done more than traveling over the last 10 days however. Recently a lot of things I preordered and paid for months ago started shipping. Among them were The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection on DVD from Time Life and the Airborne Trooper and Galactic Marine mini-busts from Gentle Giant.

Image from The Real Ghostbusters.

While I was home I was able to hit up Target and Toys R Us with Brent for some Star Wars goodies. I picked up the Shield Generator Assault battle pack and the Clone Trooper Officer (Yellow, Commander) figure from The Legacy Collection and the Toys R Us exclusive Clone Wars bust-ups, mentioned in the previous post (w00t! Christmas gifts!).

While I was home I was able to organize, sort, and store some of my collection. I can actually walk in my room now! There's still a slight mess but that should be fixed over Christmas. Some extra figures I had lying around I decided to open and create a diorama with one of my opened Republic Gunships. I didn't get to snap any pictures but the Gunship (with nose art from The Clone Wars collection) has 4 TCW Clone Pilots ("Odd Ball") flying the ship and manning the guns plus Captain Rex giving orders to 3 501st Legion Troopers (Wal-Mart exclusive) and 2 regular Clone Troopers. It looks pretty sweet!

In developing life stories, some big news was dropped on our family and friends recently. Kelly and I have decided to move to Sinking Spring, PA (my original hometown) once Kelly finishes her atmospheric science master's degree at Purdue! I will be working for my father with a future goal of succeeding him as owner & president of the sandwich shop. I'll be his apprentice for the next 10 or so years until he wants to partially retire.

My family and friends couldn't be happier; they are REALLY excited for us to return! And we can't wait...

The Star Wars Motherload

Today is the day. And things couldn't have gone any better than they did. I woke up at 7:25 in order to be a Target for their opening at 8am. Kelly and I pulled into the parking lot at about 7:50am. There were a few other customers waiting in cars in the parking lot. This made me a bit nervous. At about 7:56am Target opened their doors. Kelly and I walked backed to the toy section behind 2 people. This made me even more nervous. I turned the corner and saw 2 endcaps with Clone Wars goodies. One of the customers in front of me peeled off for the matchbox cars. Phew. However the other customer was going to the same area as me. Kelly and I go to one endcap and I started grabbing the figures I wanted. This endcap had a mixture of The Clone Wars and The Legacy Collection figures as well as some roleplaying items and a Millennium Falcon. I snatched that Falcon - the only one in the store - as well as the Target exclusive Commander Fox. After the endcaps Kelly and I rounded the corner into the aisles and continued to find the figures I was searching for. The bottom shelf had 2 AT-TEs and I grabbed one. Between the endcaps and the aisle I was able to locate 10 of the figures I wanted. From The Clone Wars: Target Exclusive Commander Fox, Obi-Wan Kenobi with Generals Armor, Obi-Wan Kenobi with Generals Armor (1st Day of Issue variant), Clone Trooper, Captain Rex, and Captain Rex (1st Day of Issue variant). From The Legacy Collection: Saga Legends Clone Trooper, Greatest Hits Commander Gree (1st Day of Issue variant), Greatest Hits Kashyyyk Trooper (1st Day of Issue variant), and a Greatest Hits Imperial EVO Trooper (1st Day of Issue variant). Sprinkled in with the figures and large vehicles were the Clone Trooper Voice Changer Helmet, Clone Trooper and Stormtrooper Blasters, and the $19.99 vehicles: AT-AP Walker, V-19 Torrent, V-wing Starfighter, all of which I picked up. After the Target haul there wasn't much left to get but I still planned to go to Wal-Mart and Toys R Us.


At Wal-Mart they had pallets of Millennium Falcons and AT-TEs. At least 10 of each. Back in the aisle I found the remaining figures and variants I wanted. From The Clone Wars: Clone Trooper (1st Day of Issue variant) and the Imperial Pilot Legacy Evolutions pack. From The Legacy Collection: Greatest Hits Commander Gree, Greatest Hits Kashyyyk Trooper, Greatest Hits Imperial EVO Trooper, Clone SCUBA Trooper, Clone Trooper with Quad Cannon, and an Obi-Wan Kenobi with Generals Armor. And that was everything I wanted!!!



But of course I went to Toys R Us anyway. Kelly and I pulled in their just a few minutes before 9am, when they opened. We entered the store and the front aisle was somewhat decorated for The Clone Wars. I say somewhat because the employees were still decorating and unpacking everything. They knew this was coming for close to 5 weeks and they weren't prepared. Fail. Luckily I had already purchased all that I wanted so it wasn't as big a deal. There was another gentleman there going through everything the employees put out as soon as it hit the pegs. Try Target and Wal-Mart, buddy! Overall it was a successful and spectacular morning.



In accordance with the new items I have updated my TCW and TLC pages. Check out all of my new stuff!!!

Target Prepares Their Shelves

Today is Thursday, which means I got off work early and went on a toy run. The pickings have been slim these last few weeks since the retail stores have not been restocking in anticipation for Saturday. Target has had their Star Wars items on clearance now for the past 2 weeks. Today when I went to Wal-Mart and Target, I noticed some changes to the toy aisles. At Wal-Mart, my first stop, they had removed a smaller section of Star Wars figures all together. Back at the larger area of Star Wars items there were absolutely no basic figures to be found. However, they had a bunch of comic packs that were spread out over 7 or 8 pegs. This is presumably to save the area for the new collections due out Saturday. I also noticed on the bottom shelf a Clone Wars item that was not supposed to be available until this weekend: the ultimate lightsaber kit. Unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of it. It was the only item that breached the street date. You could tell Wal-Mart was getting ready to reload.

My next stop was at Target. I went back to the toy aisles and walked to the normal spot for Star Wars items and there was nothing! I quickly turned around and realized that the open space at the beginning of the aisle had a few Star Wars items such as transformers and The Force Unleashed lightsabers. But that didn't explain all the empty pegs and a bright red sign in the middle of the section. I walked over to it and noticed that all the pegs were labeled for the Clone Wars and Legacy Collection figures! The sign stated that the store was preparing for a new display. I snapped a few pictures for the world to see.

Target sign basically announcing that new stuff is coming!

Clone Wars basic figure price. Yuck. $7.99 is gettin' a wee bit expensive.

Sweeeeet! Come to my mouth ice cream!

Saturday morning is so close! New Star Wars things here I come!