Chris And Bret React To The 3/25 Fan Stream Reveals

The reveals for the February Fan Stream had varying degrees of disappointment associated with them. When I wrote my reaction article, I said I felt that it would be a rare down blip for the 2025 TVC calendar year. Little did I know that the wait for the epic comeback would only take a month. I didn't think Hasbro would be bring the hammer down this quickly. I thought we'd have to wait until Celebration. TVC came storming back yesterday, and batted .800 for the reveals. I'm going to be plunking down a decent chunk of change once the preorders open later today. With that, let's get into the reactions. -Chris

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Chris:

I think the Paul Sun-Hyung Lee moment on the livestream was really special. Is this the first time a celebrity has introduced their own TVC figure? I feel like it is. It seems the previous celebrity reveals have been for TBS and Retro. I also didn't have Steve and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee engaging in social media kayfabe on my 2025 bingo card. The figure looks incredible, and I am so over the moon that Hasbro didn't opt for a half measure. They gave it the "all new" treatment. One of the reasons I also collect carded is because it's the strongest anchor to the memories for me. I want to remember this moment in TVC history for a long time, so I'm going to buy way more than I need.

Bret:

The whole reveal was adorable. The conversation was...kayfabed...(I just learned that) but clearly the fun was entirely genuine. The team takes a lot of (unnecessary) flak from people about the authenticity of their enthusiasm. This was a sweet moment, and it was cool to see. There has been a lot of chatter about a Teva figure within the community, and the character became a common thread in the fabric of the live-action Filoniverse, so it's really nice to see it happen. What's funny is that I didn't imagine any other version of Teva other than the one in the jacket that Hasbro is giving us, so I think it's great. Hopefully we get his X-Wing soon, as well as more pilots - from any era.

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Chris:

This announcement saddens me. Now I no longer get to pour over the 1500 different misspellings of "Asajj Ventress" when I do the data cleanup for Last Figure Standing. It's like the community knows that one of the letters in her first name is doubled up, but they can be bothered to research which one, so they double one up at random. My favorite version will forever be "Assj". Anyway, I agree with the commentary that the colors come across as too vibrant. It also looks like the elbows don't even bend to ninety degrees. I hope I'm wrong about that. But this scratches a long awaited itch, so, as with Teva, I'm probably going to buy more than I need.

Bret

Fascinating. "Assj" was my nickname in high school. I voted for Asajj in the MM finals, so clearly Hasbro was listening to me and gave me exactly what I wanted, so take that Moron Mara! Nah, I'm just kidding, I don't have hate for Mara. I just don't care about her as a figure (again), but I assume she's inevitable. I think the Asajj looks terrific overall, but we'll have to wait and see the final product in hand before passing judgment, as I think we're wrong about first impressions more than not. Either way, it was a solid announcement.

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Chris:

Hey LFL, I'm pretty sure I could have lived the rest of my life without a Star Wars spelling of "Alexander". I think many fans hoped that the Imperial Officer buck wold be tweaked to bring Agent Kallus to TVC. The poor range of motion of the elbows from that sculpt is probably going to frustrate me when I try to pose the figure with the bo staff, but I am thrilled that the incredible Garazeb 'Zeb' Orrelios figure finally has someone to fight. The removable helmet is too big, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I'm definitely going to do the "one to open, one to keep carded, and one just in case" with this one.

Bret

I thought it was a real world Russian spelling of the name Alexander. I Googled it and, of course, Kallus was the top result. So I guess we'll never know, since nobody scrolls past the first line. As Chris alludes to, if this is just reusing the limbs of the Officer, it will frustrate me as well. If a buck isn't absolutely as definitive as it can be, then Hasbro shouldn't use an unaltered version for endless repaints, which simply increases frustration with each subsequent release until it reaches VOTC Stormtrooper levels of madness. But whatever shortcomings there may be, I anticipate this to be another excellent figure.

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Chris:

Dengar was always the Lisa Berger of the bounty hunters, and he was the Lisa Berger of yesterday's reveals:


Incredibly, the value of the TVC 1.0 Dengar had shot up on the secondary market, and newer fans have been clamoring, to varying degrees, for a re-release. It's incredible because Dengar was one of the 2010 launch wave figures that peg warmed so hard that Hasbro had to send reps out to collect the unsold stock from stores. A re-release would have been better a year or two ago when this figure wouldn't have seemed so dated. Nonetheless, he's mostly another "stand around" character, so the dated tooling isn't devastating, but Hasbro has to start getting very careful with this repack game. The complete lack of wash on the white wraps really looks strange. I guess this is his dress uniform for the meeting on the Executor. I do love the new card. I always hated the vintage Kenner card even when I was a kid. I'm going to give a Chef Reactions summation on this: 0.29/10. I'll buy two.

Bret

I loved when so many people were going nuts in anticipation of the reveal of VC200, assuming it needed to be a major character befitting of the milestone number, and then felt vindicated when it turned out to be The Emperor. I found that nonsensical. The whole thing was completely shot to hell right out of the gates, when TVC was launched with VCO1 being...Dengar. We're already caught up in name pill font sizes and the grid coordinates of the Hildebrandt logo, I'm not interested in further burdening Hasbro with milestones and (most) anniversaries. Just give me a good figure, and I'm very happy. And this announcement was...easily dismissed. I think you can even tell that Jing and Emily couldn't wait to move on to the next reveal. As a simple fan channel repack, it shouldn't be all that impactful, as there will be no pegs on which to rot (if stores even sell TVC anymore). This doesn't really do anything for my collection; with regard to Dengar's "crew", I would have preferred an IG-88 (since mine disintegrated) or a proper update to ESB Fett. Overall, I think it's harmless, and we should know by now that uninspiring repacks are going to be sprinkled into the line until the end of time.

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Chris:

I was one of the fans who have been clamoring for a new Landspeeder. I always hated how crammed Ben and Luke were in the cockpit of the current one. They looked like sardines. The fact that 3PO can now sit in a screen accurate fashion is huge. Am I the only one whose vintage 3PO had the peg from the back of the vintage Landspeeder seat permanently stuck in his foot? I only have two gripes. The first is that they over did the gray paint on the strut holding up the central engine. I can find no on-screen support for this. That strut has a little gray showing through on the leading edge, but it's mostly the same orange-red as the body. The second is that the rifle is inside the bubble of the Luke. This means that if you buy a second one to keep the Luke carded, you won't technically have a complete Landspeeder to sell. I'm going to get three of these because I have a sickness.

Bret

I was one of the fans who have been utterly uninterested in a new landspeeder - until somewhat recently. As I recently mentioned, I had felt that the POTF2 (Kenner) sculpt of the skiff was sufficient, and I was opposed to an update. Now I can't imagine life without the TVC skiffs framing the Barge. I hope to feel the same about this new Landspeeder once it's in hand. Like many long time collectors, I have more landspeeders than I know what to do with. The most recent version looks really nice, and I felt did its job well enough to keep its place. But as I've been unpacking and setting up my collection for the first time in a while, I have come to realize that it doesn't do its job well at all. As Chris mentioned, Luke and Ben look ridiculous crammed into the front seat, and Threepio doesn't sit screen-accurately (and tends to fall off the back at the slightest provocation). After seeing the images of today's reveal, it looks like Hasbro addressed both of those concerns. Threepio can sit like a proper human being, and it looks like Luke and Ben have a much more comfortable ride in the front seat. NOW the Landspeeder should be able to do its job and won't require any more updates. Ever. As for the Luke, it looks to be nearly perfect (I need a new T-16 toy and carbon scraper tool!) Like Chris, I may also get 3 of these and retire all 3 I currently have on display: the Tusken Raider Ambush, the Mos Eisley Checkpoint, and the Wioslea Fleecing.

Overall, this was a fantastic livestream for TVC. I confidently predict, once again, that the ne'er-be-happy's out there will gloss over this one, quickly forget it by the end of the week, and complain vociferously that TVC always gets the shaft by the next livestream event.

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So that's what we think of yesterday's reveals. Give us your two cents in the comments. And please come back here at 1PM EDT for the Entertainment Earth preorder links. Using our affiliate links really helps the site.

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