Our show returns this week as Flyguy and I discuss the latest in Star Wars news and collecting. Finally, Star Wars Rebels figures are starting to hit stores from coast to coast. Plus, Black Series 3-3/4” Wave 6 is being found quite regularly at Target and Toys”R”Us. New images for the SH Figuarts line of 6” figures have hit the web and they do look impressive… most impressive. The biggest news this past week was the reveal of the title of Star Wars Episode VII. If anything, it further “awakened” our curiosity as to what we can expect next year. All this and much more on Episode 39 of The Realm Recap!
The official kick off of The Black Series hitting retail starts this week and with it comes news of packaging variants (at least in the US so far) for the first wave of 3-3/4″ figures. It appears that the first runs of these figures have a bubble variant where the embossed “wall pattern” is present on the bubble. Our friends at Star Wars Action News confirm this with the photo above. It shows that the Biker Scout, Clone Pilot and Clone Trooper Sergeant are “missing” this detail while the others in the case do. For those keeping track, the date stamps on those figures without the embossing is 31611 and those figures with it have 31261.
PROS: Hasbro looks to have tweaked the paint ops for this figure, specifically the zip-line backpack to incorporate some of the orange accents from the armor, making for a more visually interesting piece overall. The oranges seem to match perfectly between the figure and the pack so no one item stands apart from the other.
CONS: Not currently available in the US.
Head to the toyguide for the full image gallery and to judge for yourself whether this figure is worth tracking down for your collection.
You can also weigh in with your impressions on the figures we add to our toyguide on facebook and in our forums.
For variant collectors out there, we thought we’d pass on news and visual confirmation of a rumored running change/variant to the 2012 Clone Wars Republic Commando Boss (CW11) figure. Initial versions of this figure included an all white backpack (as seen in our Toyguide), but orange accented backpack variant has shown up on pegs in the UK and Australia and on eBay. Click the image above for a closer look.
In an update to our 6-14 report, I ran into this variant over the weekend and the revised name not only affects this piece but its cross-sell case mates as well as the naming has been revised on the cardbacks for the Rebel Heroes and Geonosis Arena Battle Battle Packs too.
In an odd move, Hasbro has issued a packaging variant for the Republic Troopers Battle Pack. The revised bubble insert now calls this the “Republic Clone Troopers” Battle Pack. The listing and packaged image has been updated on HasbroToyShop as well. You can check out the original packaged shot by browsing our Toyguide.
There is another. On the heels of our post regarding the Dr. Evazan variant, Eddie from DorksideToys.com has sent us an image of a red bandana variant for Kithaba. Click the image above to check it out!
Over the weekend, Galactic Hunter posted on their Facebook page a theory of a possible face paint variant/running change for Dr. Evazan. We’ve received visual confirmation of this thanks to reader Frank Laureyssens. As you can see, one has a pink facial scar under the right eye and the other does not. Click the image above for a closer look.
Our friends at Jedi Temple Archives are reporting the discovery of a new astromech variant/running change for the R2-B1 from the Walmart Exclusive Royal Starship Droids multipack. As you can see, the internal “guts” of the body are now cast in silver/gray plastic whereas the initial releases were cast in solid blue. It also appears there may be a slight color shift in the yellow accents on the variant as well. Which one(s) do you have? Post your findings in our comment section, on facebook or in our forums.
