Lets Talk About Star Wars 50

There's plenty of stuff going on in TVC right now and next year, but let's open the conversation about 2027.

We're still just now finishing up the arrival of the Mos Eisley Cantina and its supporting campaign, Return To Tatooine. And we just ended the most recent HasLab, the LAAT/i Gunship, with plenty of(hopefully) to reveal for the Battle of Geonosis supporting campaign for 2026.

I've already written at length on my feeling about these campaigns. The Cantina HasLab is one of my favorite things ever, while the Return to Tatooine effort was lackluster, in my opinion. While I loved the much needed updates to the Episode IV main characters, Hasbro dropped the ball when it came to populating the Cantina or the Streets of Mos Eisley with new backgrounders. To me, this was a colossal failure, because we NEED the Glups - not just to properly populate this $500 displayset, but to W-O-R-L-D-B-U-I-L-D. You know, the whole reason why Star Wars 3.75" figures and toys are the undisputed king of action figure collecting. Hopefully, the soon-to-be-revealed Cantina 4-pack does something to remedy this, but that remains to be seen.

Battle of Geonosis is off to a very poor start in this regard. Even the HasLab itself isn't a debut item, bucking the trend of the previous 4 TVC HasLabs. The figures included (and lost with the missed tiers) are also nothing new. And from what has been teased so far, there may not be anything new from the entire supporting campaign either.

So with that, I'm hoping Hasbro does right by us long-term, loyal, money-spending, nerds that already have everything, and manages to tip the scales just a bit and give us the newness and the Glups we deserve.

First of all, I don't care about the anniversaries. At this rate, there's at least one every single year. With 11 live action films (soon to be 12) and no less than 427 TV shows, the anniversaries aren't interesting to me in the least. But there is one that is absolutely and incontrovertibly the most deserving of a celebration, and that's the 50th Anniversary of the film that started all of this.

I expect Hasbro has things planned accordingly. But by that, I mean that they have something special planned for ME. And I represent the 50-ish year olds that have collected for 25+ years, and want to complete certain parts of their collections with never-before-made items. And I'm perfectly happy with just getting a small piece of the pie. I certainly don't expect Hasbro to reveal 50 figures for the year, and all of them are deep backgrounders from the Cantina and Streets of Mos Eisley. But I'd like a nice representation that's greater than the almost zero we've gotten in what seems like forever.

One caveat - I don't believe Hasbro has really spoken much, if at all, about their plans for SW50. I would guess that it revolves around the 50th anniversary of A New Hope, but perhaps there's some special attention to be given to the OT as a whole. For this exercise, I'll focus on Episode IV, but will throw in some things from the rest of the OT. Also - I'm taking full advantage of this special year, and putting on hold just about every other source - with the exception of something for Starfighter, which I would have to acknowledge is inevitable. And finally, although I recently listed a bunch of items to produce continuous annual support for each TVC Haslab, I skip those in 2027, unless it's for the OT.

And with that, I propose a slate of product for 2027 that looks something like this:

HasLab [2026 campaign for 2027 release]
Death Star - Make it the way I want. I don't care what it costs. Modular, with square/rectangular-ish rooms, hitting all the main areas we see on film. Please drop any consideration for ideas of nonsensical curvature. This is the ultimate power in the universe, not a beach ball. Also - No Tiers this time. Just include the figures in the set.

• Tarkin, 2 stormtroopers (with hips), and 2 all new TIE Pilots included in base


• Pol Treidum ("TK-421, why aren't you at your post?")


• Sim Aloo (POTF card w/coin)


• Death Squad Commander (I'm normally against kitsch, but I'll allow this)

[BOLD figures and toys are debut items]

Mainline Wave 1:

• Luke Skywalker Stormtrooper Disguise (Luke head on updated body w/hips)


• Daine Jir


• Jawa (All New)


• R2-D2 w/scomp


• Han Solo w/gloved hands and headset

Mainline Wave 2:

• Darth Vader EP4 (alt ANH Card)


• AT-AT Driver


• IG-88


• TIE Fighter Pilot (different card from HasLab figure)


• LT Sheckil

Mainline Wave 3:
Starfighter figure Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo
Starfighter figure Mark Bavaro
Starfighter figure Art Vandelay
Starfighter figure Axe Woves
Mando character and Grogu
Mando character and another Grogu and also a bonus Grogu w/Grogu

Mainline Wave 4:

• Bespin Luke Skywalker


• Stormtrooper w/new hips


• Ugnaught


• Tusken Raider (fully updated sculpt)


• Bespin Han Solo


• Yotts Oren

Fan Channel Wave 1:

• Han Solo Stormtrooper Disguise (Han head on updated body w/hips)


• Praji


• Bossk


• Pedar Solardo (Bespin Guard)


• Hem Dazon (new sculpt)

Fan Channel Wave 2:

• Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) - flap down


• Princess Leia (Ewok Village)


• Biker Scout (fully updated sculpt)


• Boba Fett EP5


• Barada

Deluxe:

• Imperial Technician w/swappable head, and Scanning Gear


• Amanaman


• Chewbacca w/C-3PO backpack


• C-3PO (hopefully updated by now) and Tantive IV Escape Pod

Large Playset:

• Yavin Base Command Center/Pilot Briefing Room w/General Dodonna and Col Takbright (Fake Wedge)

Small Playset:

• Jabba's Palace Droid Operation w/ EV-9D9 and 8-D8 (Now with Wall Climbing Action!)


• Yavin Base Celebration Stage w/Han Solo (Medal Ceremony)

Beasts:

• Jerba w/Garouf Lafoe

Multipack:

• Cantina Patrons: Atheloe, Danz Borin (Spacer #1), Rycar Ryjerd, Tawss Khaa


• Imperial Officers (Briefing Room): Yularen, Cass, Molock, Romodi


• Imperial Officers (Death Star): Shann Childsen, Bast, Edmos Khurgee, Tagge


• Rebel Pilots (Yavin): Theron Nett (Red 10), Puck Naeco (Red 12), Lepira (Gold 4)


• Death Star Escape: Ben Kenobi (Hood up), Luke w/Stormtrooper belt, Han w/Stormtrooper belt, Leia w/soft goods skirt

Large Vehicle:

• Gold Leader Y-Wing Starfighter w/Jon "Dutch" Vander and R2-BHD(This droid was created for Rogue One, and was released in a bootleg Disney set, which embarrassingly, I own. But it doesn't count because it's fake.)


• Starfighter Ö-Wing Fighter w/Cardinal Biggles pilot

Small Vehicle:

• Lars Family Speeder w/Owen and Beru Lars

Convention Exclusive Multipacks:

• Human Jabba, 3 Rodians, 3 Humans


• 3 pack of POTF card variants (EV-9D9, Luke Stormtrooper, Barada) - all 3 of these figures are in my lineup above

Cool. So now that we've done all the work, I expect this to be announced by Hasbro at NYCC. You're welcome.

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