SDCC 2006: What's New And What's Coming From Hasbro

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The Hasbro panel presented what we will be seeing for the rest of the year for the Star Wars lines as well as giving us a glimpse of what’s to come in 2007. The first announced wave included the figures 'Funeral Pyre Qui-Gon Jinn', 'Funeral Pyre Vader' with smoking helmet, and a 'dead Jawa two-pack'. It’s due out April 1st, 2007. Get it?

After getting the obligatory joke out of the way, the real planned releases were disclosed.

First up is R2-Potatoo, a Potato Head of R2-D2, which will only be available in limited release for the foreseeable future.

Galactic Heroes:
Galactic Heroes has proven to be a big seller for Hasbro and the plan is for them to continue to be distributed throughout 2007. Upcoming two packs include Imperial Tie Fighter Pilot & Wedge, Sand Trooper & Obi-Wan, and Han Solo & Greedo.

A new Darth Vader will be released in Galactic Heroes, along with Snow Trooper & Hoth Trooper and Chewbacca & C-3PO. The C-3PO figure comes apart into three pieces and Chewie comes with a net bag to carry the droid around in. Also planned are Luke & Lando.

For the holidays, 4 new 10 packs of characters will be released in that line. The package includes a cardboard diorama for displaying the characters. 'Escaping the Death Star' includes Vader, Obi-Wan, Luke, Han, Chewie, Leia, the Droids and some Storm Troopers. 'Bounty Hunters' includes all the favorites seen getting their instructions from Vader on his Star Destroyer. Also included in that set is the Shadow Storm Trooper. 'The Jedi vs. the Sith' includes quite a few force users, Mace Windu trooper and battle damaged shock trooper. 'Battle of Geonosis' is the fourth set. Included will be Clone Troopers, both red and blue, Geonosis Warrior, Battle Droids and Jango Fett.

Role-Play:
For role-playing fans there is a new light saber coming that has spring activation, lights and sounds. The blade retracts fully into the hilt. Rebel and Clone Blasters will be released in the Spring of 2007. These will shoot real ammo. Real Nerf arrow ammo.

Attactix & Titanium:
Two more waves of Attacktix are planned for the fall. Also continuing is the Titanium line which will expand into the 3 ¾ inch figures. “Tons of new vehicles” are planned.

Transformers:
Transformer Star Wars will continue with their first combination figure. Han and Chewie can be transformed together to form the Falcon, complete with lights and sound. There will be re-decos of the Vader Star Fighter and ARC-170 Clone Wars Clone Pilot making a total of 12 figures released for 2006. These will be available in November 2006. This line will definitely continue into 2007, promises Hasbro.

Unleashed:
The Battle Pack troop builders have sold very well and more waves are planned. Upcoming is the Empire Strikes Back sets, which will have Vader, the Wampa, Storm Trooper Gunner Crew, Shock Trooper 4 packs and Palpatine with Royal Guards.

Unleashed Ultimate Battles will also have 3 sets of 10 figures with two unique figures in each set. This will come out around December 1st. The first set is 'Battle of Hoth', which will have rebel troopers, then 'Battle of Kashyyyk' with new Battle Droids and 'Battle of Geonisis' with new clone deco should be released at the same time.These will retail for around $20.

Target will have an exclusive on the Unleashed 7 inch tube package of Boba Fett and Grevious while Walmart will get Vader and Luke in October. The Vader from Best Buy last year will become a KB exclusive. Sales are not as strong for the Unleashed figures which is why they are being done as exclusives.

3 3/4" Scale:
The 3 ¾ line will also be continuing strong throughout 2007. There will be plenty of troop builders along with the core characters. First up will be an Endor Wave with Luke; also planned are Vader with removable hand, rebel troopers, Darth Maul hologram, Obi-wan, and a Pod racer two pack with Dud Bolt and Mars Guo. On November 22, new figures will be available in the Saga series. Darth Maul, Chewie with C-3PO, hologram of Commander Cody, and Kit Fisto. The next wave will be the 442 Siege Battalion, Astromech Droid R4A1, Security Officer Clone Trooper and Green Clone Sergeant. Super Battle Droid with a new deco will be coming, as well as a Hologram of Obi-Wan figure, a Clone Commander, Combat Enginer Clone Trooper with brown deco, Vader’s Astromech Droid, Battle Droid Two-Pack, and Geonosis Padme' pre clothing malfunction.

The next wave includes Kitik Keed’kak, a new Clone Trooper, two Cantina denizens, a Deveronian, Aurra Sing, and Mace Windu’s Astromech Droid. This will be the last Saga wave and it will come out Jan 2007 and good news – it’s a Walmart Exclusive!

Starting in October, Hasbro will be releasing 4 packs with a lunch box like tin, which for legal reasons they cannot call lunch boxes. There will be seven waves, one for each movie and an exclusive Cantina wave. The 'Episode One' wave will have Obi-Wan, Darth Maul, Qui-Gon and R2-D4. The second wave has a blue Clone Trooper, Anakin, Jango Fett with removable helmet and Count Dooku. In the next wave, we will see Yoda, Anakin, Mace Windu and a Clone Trooper.

Star Wars will also continue to have vehicles for the 3 ¾ figures. Mace Windu’s fighter, the classic Darth Vader TIE, the Hailfire Droid, the Droid Federation Tank, Saesee Tinn Fighter, a Darth Vader Starfighter and a classic White TIE Fighter, which will have a single piece hatch, as opposed to the old split hatch, are all planned releases.

The Shadow Stormtrooper will continue to be an online exclusive. The 501st Trooper is a SDCC exclusive. There was a limited run available through the web site, which has already sold out.

Coming up Hasbro will be offering a Kir Kanos versus Carnor Jax two-pack which will come with a Crimson Empire comic book and only be sold online. The figures feature removable helmets. Shipping is due in September.

To coordinate with the upcoming release of the DVD theatrical versions of the original trilogy, Walmart will also get exclusive three packs of Vader, Luke and Obi-Wan; Solo, Chewie, and a Stormtrooper; and C-3PO, R2-D2 and Palpatine, In addition, Walmart will also be getting a 5 figure Cantina Band set. They will also get Darth Maul’s double bladed lightsaber in December.

An exclusive snowspeeder with all paint and no decals will be sold through Target. Mace Windu’s squadron with Airborne Trooper will be available in late September at Target. Toys R Us will get the large sized TIE Fighter with improved deco. The X-Wing is also making a comeback, this time with painted details and no stickers. And not to be left out, the AT-AT is coming back to retail, sold with two troopers.

An 'Imperial Briefing' set featuring Darth Vader and six officers will be available as a Diamond Exclusive in late November.

In 2007 Hasbro will be changing the packaging for the individually carded figures. Now the cards will feature more dynamic art. The first wave of figures will include a Ralph McQuarrie Stormtrooper. Each future wave, in fact, will also include a figure inspired by his original design work. The new waves will include a unique coin, compatible with the Power of the Force coins. 2007 will give us a total of 60 new figures.

Wave One will also include an Airborne Trooper and it will be in stores January, 2007. Hasbro will be partnering with Dark Horse to present two packs with a comic book, sold for around $10. Darth Vader will have a dynamic paint scheme, as if he were looking up at the stars. Each figure, including the Stormtrooper, will capture the compelling style of the comics. We will see Chewie, Luke and Quinian Vos in that line and fan favorite Darth Raven in the regular line later in 2007.

Click here to see all the Hasbro products on display at this year's San Diego Comic Convention.