Left: Screenshot from StarWars.com published Oct. 3 / Right: Screenshots from Walmart
Hasbro’s U.S. Star Wars product release messaging and transparency continue to be as confusing as ever when it comes to preorders and release dates. At SDCC, they stated during their panel that the Halloween Black Series figures wouldn’t be available for preorder and would be “on-shelf” for Halloween season. Preorders did in-fact happen as the Walmart Wookiee went live today, but the kick in the pants of it is it’s expected to arrive a month and a half AFTER Halloween (est. Dec. 10, 2022) and the Target exclusive Clone Trooper is now live (unannounced) for preorder but the release date is open ended. Sure, release dates are continually up in the air still because of Hasbro’s distribution problems (which were prevalent well before the complications of COVID) so orders may arrive sooner (or later) than that, but holiday dates are still a fixed point on the calendar. Fix your production and distribution schedules so retailers can sell your merch in stores and have them for your customers BEFORE the holidays. Last year’s Christmas figures are being recycled for this year because the delivery window was missed and instead of blowing them all out at clearance and discount chains, they pushed them to the 2022 season. Smart, if not ultimately clumsy because they didn’t even acknowledge those holiday figures when they started to surface last year. High prices and piecemeal preorders are tough to navigate as it is, please don’t continue to muddy the waters with unnecessary online release/in-store date confusion.
Tomorrow (Thursday) at 10am ET, Walmart will be kicking off their Collector Con with select Star Wars preorders from the Vintage Collection and Black Series lines. Below is a list (with links) of known items available;
Remember, this is Walmart we’re talking about so links may go live before or well after the advertised time slot.
It is possible the exclusive Halloween Wookiee Black Series figure will also be available as the silhouette is shown on their Collector Con page, but StarWars.com lists a Nov. 1 availablility. The link will be added below if it does in fact go live.
Hasbro Pulse is now sending out shipping notifications for the exclusive Black Series Cassian Andor & B2EMO set. It is currently in-stock for order at HasbroPulse.com
Hasbro Pulse Con gave a nice peek into the future of the Black Series with a few Pipeline Reveals They include from The Book of Boba Fett: Pike Soldier, Cad Bane, and Tusken Chieftain and for the Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary Collection:Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight),Darth Vader, and Emperor’s Royal Guard and — finally– an all-new R2-D2! Black Series Roleplay got a couple previews as well with the Luke Skywalker ForceFX Lightsaber and the Clone Trooper (Phase II) Electronic Helmet. Look for all of these in 2023.
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Hasbro Pulse Con gave collectors the first look at the 4 mainline Black Series figures from Star Wars: Andor. It consists of 3 all-new figures: Bix Caleen, Luthen Rael, Mon Mothma and a repacked Cassian Andor from the Hasbro Pulse/Convention Exclusive set. All 4 are available for preorder now at Hasbro Pulse and through our sponsors/affiliates:
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Hasbro Pulse Con gave collectors the first look at the carded Black Series figures commemmorating the 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi. Wave 1 consists of 4 repacks (Endor Han, Endor Leia, Skiff Guard Lando, and Biker Scout) and a new Wicket. All 5 are available for preorder now at Hasbro Pulse and through our sponsors/affiliates:
Doing some early morning reconnaissance today, I found information for 4 figures for Black Series Wave 35 from the Andor series: Cassian Andor, Bix Caleen, Luthen Rael and Senator Mon Mothma. Look for an official announcement on these later today at Hasbro Pulse Con.
Target is finally processing and shipping preorders for the long-awaited Black Series Boba Fett (Droids) figure. If you recall, this figure went up for preorder on Sept. 24, 2021 and it is now just hitting stores in the U.S.
You may recall last year we had a look at what was set to be a continuation of the 2020 Holiday Edition Black Series figures, but distribution/production being what it was in 2021, only a handful of unofficiallly announced figures made their way to collectors.
Hasbro today officially annnounced 6 Holiday Edition figures (one of them being new) for 2022. Each has an MSRP of $27.99 and with be available for preorder through various retailers. Retail partners and preorder dates listed below:
First Order Stormtrooper – Amazon 10/25 Scout Trooper – Walmart 11/1 Wookiee – GameStop 11/1 New Clone Trooper (Phase II) – Hasbro Pulse 11/1 Protocol Droid – Fan Channel 11/1 Mandalorian Warrior – Target 11/16
