MAKE THE MAINS:  Return Of The Jedi

There are a ton of figures from Return of the Jedi on my most wanted list, but very few of them are main characters. Episode VI is the undisputed kind of background characters. While none of the main characters are up to 2022 standards, a lot of them are at least passable such as VC175 - Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight), VC23 - Luke Skywalker (Endor Capture), and VC200 - The Emperor. I don't think that Emperor is good enough, but there is no way the market would accept another figure this soon, and market viability is a key part of this #MakeTheMains feature. This all means that this will be one of the shorter lists in the series.

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Last 100% new tooling: 2007
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: Yes
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: No
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: This one perhaps frustrates the community more than any other figure. The 2007 sculpt is not good enough! The mold needs to be destroyed. It reminds me of the VOTC Stormtrooper which was reissued long past it being viable. Hearing that the Scout Trooper being packed-in with the recently pipelined Speeder Bike will still be based on the Vintage The Saga Collection sculpt is a punch in the gut for fans. It's beginning to feel like getting an all new sculpt of the Biker Scout is never going to happen. An OT army-builder is still a safe bet for Hasbro.


Last 100% new tooling: 2005
Exists in Vintage Collection: Yes*
Original 96: No*
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: No
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: Once again, a lot of the ultra-definitive Obi-Wan Kenobi-based VC241 - Darth Vader (Dark Times) release can be reused to make an Episode VI "unmasked" Darth Vader. To be clear about this, it shouldn't be another removable helmet Vader. The only way to do this right is with swappable heads, which is something we've been seeing more frequently in the line.

* This does and does not exist in the Vintage Collection. This is and isn't an O96 figure. A Darth Vader that can be unmasked exists with the VC08 release, but the card represented a fully armored Vader, and the figure in-package was masked. This will be the ideal chance to give us a Darh Vader that is both packaged showing the Sebastian Shaw portrait and with an unmasked filmout. That would be a first in the entire history of the vintage style packaging (including the Kenner line).

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Last 100% new tooling: 1998
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: No
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: It's almost unfathomable that we have a version of a main character that has never been updated since the POTF2 line. The 1998 Freeze Frame Princess Leia Organa In Ewok Celebration Outfit was the last time tooling dollars went toward this source. There was also a soft goods 1997 Princess Liea Collection version which was received updated deco for a 2007 re-release in the Episode VI commemorative tin. The latter might actually be the best release, but that's not saying much. This is Tier B because, while Leia is obviously as main as main characters get, she doesn't spend a lot of time her Ewok dress.

Seeing that a 100% newly tooled Ewok Village Leia is in The Black Series stings, and also completely undermines the notion that TVC gets fewer new media figures because it tilts towards the OT, but that's a discussion for another day.


Last 100% new tooling: 2007
Exists in Vintage Collection: Yes
Original 96: Yes
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: No
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: This is Tier B because the figure was just released last year in The Vintage Collection as VC191 - Princess Liea (Endor). Aside from a new head sculpt and updated soft goods, it was just a re-release of the 2007 figure. Here's what's puzzling: Hasbro recently said they were reluctant to mine 2008 - 2009's Legacy Collection for repacks because the sculpts might be dated, but what Hasbro is forgetting is that the Legacy Collection figures fans are begging to be re-released are secondary characters. Secondary characters don't always need the posability of main characters. Yet, Hasbro happily gives us even older sculpts for main characters such as Endor Princess Leia. This makes absolutely zero sense. Hasbro's recent statements seem to completely contradict their past actions.

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