Star Wars turns 40 this year — yes, really, and yes, we’re all getting old. But being old(er) means that we might just have the funds to secure all of Hasbro’s upcoming 40th Anniversary Star Wars figures set, which was unveiled at the New York Toy Fair last week. How’s your savings account looking?
The set of 6in figures from the original trilogy are based on the highly-collectible Kenner set of Star Wars figures, which were first issued for the launch of Star Wars (in 1977, before we had to subtitle it A New Hope) in nowhere near enough amounts, and they’re be launching soon for the 40th anniversary of the first film. And they’ll be out in sections, because of course they will. Need to spread the expense over more than one month, right?
Launching first (for $20 per figure, or about R265) will be the well-known heroes — Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan, and R2-D2 are set to launch in the first wave, with Chewie, C3PO, a Stormtrooper, Tusken Raider, the Death Squad Commander (from the Death Star), Jawas, and the almighty Darth Vader launching a little later.
There’s a special edition Darth Vader coming too, at $40 (R530), which includes a recreation of the empty box and toy stand that was sold (which promised buyers that they’d get their toys later). And yes, folks bought ’em. People will buy this one to get another Darth instead of an empty box, which we’re seeing as an improvement. Two more toys, Pilot Luke and his exploding Droid, are also expected. The biggest draw, with all of these figures, is that the packaging has been recreated from the initial release. Rather grab the reissues than attempt to buy an original Luke Skywalker from 1977 in its packaging. Your home-loan will thank you.
They’re expected to launch in Spring in the States, which puts it about September in our Southern Hemisphere perception of time. Whether Hasbro is going to be able to launch them in South Africa or if all of the available stock is going to be snapped up before they get close to our country is the biggest question. They’re almost certainly not going to flood the market — that would make them slightly less collectible — so it might be a plan to import these. Which you were going to do anyway, you giant Star Wars nerd you.
Source: Gizmodo