As we all know, the highly anticipated Cantina 4-pack was revealed on Monday, and with it, two of my nominees for this year's @SWTVC March Madness were announced. They were Labria and Garindan. So right off the bat, I have two slots opened up on my list. Plus I forgot to include a number 22 on my original list, so three spots! Additionally, while the announced Cantina Special Action Figure Set is without a doubt my most anticipated product for 2026, I felt Hasbro hit a double with the set when the pitch was a hanging breaking ball that they could have deposited on Lansdowne Street. That's a Fenway Park reference. (It's the street on the other side of the Monstah.) So I'm reprioritizing some of my choices to hopefully send a clearer message.
I want to say one more thing about the Cantina Special Action Figure Set before getting to my updated list. As I wrote yesterday, I'm disappointed that the figures (well, three of the four anyway) are not carded. Your comments helped me realize that these figures themselves are probably slated for 2027 in reality (and maybe budgeted there?). I suspect Hasbro rightly realized that the fans wouldn't have the patience to wait another year for Arleil Schous. We've seen it, so we want it now. This might have been the best compromise to get that figure out now while we wait for the individually carded figure in 2027 (which I can't wait for).
With that out of the way, here's my updated list.
My personal top 25 (updated): * denotes was not on my original 2026 list ↑ denotes figure has moved up from previous 2026 entry ↓ denotes figure has moved down from previous 2026 entry
So right off the bat, I forgot to include the AT-AT Driver on my original list. That's just embarrassing. And I put the list together during dry January. I have no excuse. Second, I rocketed Cantina Dude and Atheloe to the 2nd and 3rd ranks respectively. I'm prioritizing Cantina Dude because a lot of the tooling can be reused for a new Bo-Shek and Bossk. Atheloe is there because we finally need a Lutrillian in the Star Wars line. Despite the species making its debut in 1977, it has never made it into action figure form in the entire 48 year history of Star Wars figures. I believe this is the only recurring OT species for which this is true. I added Baniss Keeg to number four. I was really hoping Keeg was going to be part of this Cantina set. This left me one more unused slot which I used to add Rycar in position 25.
If Hasbro attempts another Cantina set, or they tackle some individual figures, I want the data to make the best choices unavoidable so we don't get another Chalmun. Let's get these Cantina figures to make a strong statement for this year's March Madness. This is my Jerry Maguire moment. Whose coming with me?!?