star wars the force awakens

The hype levels surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens may have reached critical mass, but that hasn't stopped fans from clamoring for more. Fortunately, to sate some of those appetites, there have been trading cards and comics and books and toys to hold the hunger for the actual film at bay. I'm as guilty as anyone for jumping head first off the moving bandwagon onto the hype train, and a large part of that is due to the new bad guys we've seen in promotional materials. Apparently I'm not the only one, as trying to find any merchandise with Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers has been a challenge. Even they can't hold a candle to the desire seemingly everyone invested in Star Wars has for Captain Phasma. Captain Phasma has appeared in footage and images, but hasn't uttered a single word. The only thing we know about her is that she's played by Gwendoline Christie and has the bossest set of armor. The fan fervor surrounding this character has already pegged her as the successor to Boba Fett. Now that's not from an actual coolness standpoint, obviously. We have no idea how cool she'll be in the movies. That's strictly from the point that any bit of merchandise that she's on becomes more coveted than the Ark of the Covenant. It's been especially true for all the figures Hasbro's made thus far, and it will likely be true for the upcoming Hot Toys version, too.

According to Facebook comments by artist J. Scott Campbell, Marvel and its parent company Disney are phasing out the "Slave Leia" costume from their merchandising and publications. If the reports are true, the move suggests that Disney is stepping away with the most degrading canon representation of one of Star Wars' few female characters in an effort to broaden the appeal of the franchise to include more women and girls. The metal bikini and elf shoes could soon be a thing of the past. And to this I say: it's about frickin' time.

With a new Star Wars on the way, the deluge of new action figures and toys has been constant. It's the first time in a long time that there's been any reason to create whole new lines from scratch, with some animated exceptions of course. However, as popular as the animated versions of the Star Wars universe have been, they just can't hold a candle to the hype surrounding an actual new film in the iconic franchise. Needless to say, since Force Friday, Hasbro's been busy. In fact, Hasbro's got so many toys planned for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there are even exclusive sets popping up at select retailers. Take this Desert Assault Walker and First Order Stormtrooper Officer set from Entertainment Earth. A repaint of the widely available Assault Walker and First Order Stromtrooper Sergeant, this exclusive set offers another way to build up the First Order forces for the 3.75" line. We got our hands on one of these sets courtesy of Entertainment Earth, and can only hope that these things actually make an appearance in the upcoming sequel.

Another week has gone by and we're still no closer to seeing any of the actual human characters whose faces aren't hidden behind masks from Hot Toys' upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens figure collection. That's okay though. The only thing people really care about is Stormtroopers and their various incarnations. So, it makes perfect sense that the latest sixth-scale soldiers to join up with the previously announced Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers are the Flametroopers. The First Order's soldiers have comprised a great deal of the action figure reveals so far across multiple scales and sizes. The Flametrooper is a division we've not seen in films before, though given how specialized the Empire was and how the First Order appears to be, there were likely similar troops in the Imperial Army as it existed all those years ago. The Flametroopers have gained some significance as of late thanks to the prevalence of fire and flaming villages in the trailers for The Force Awakens. We don't know who or what they're burning down, or why for that matter, but we do know that they are rather good at their job given the propensity of flames in the five or so minutes of footage that's been released.

I have a problem. That problem is my addiction to the Star Wars Card Trader app. Not once in my life did I ever expect to fall down such a deep rabbit hole for virtual trading cards I'd collect on my phone, but I also never thought Back to the Future II was capable of actually predicting (potential) World Series winners. These things happen. I freely admit that this all started when Topps sponsored some of our video content last month. Those little advertisements worked as Topps intended, and they got me to try out the app out of sheer curiosity. It's been a bad year to try and convince me not to buy something with the words "star" and "wars" on them. I've got a stack of comics and novels I'm still working through, and a lot of toys on order, much to the chagrin of my shelves. When I saw that Topps was going to be at New York Comic Con, I immediately knew I needed to head to that booth. There was bound to be some sort of cool exclusive cards, which there were, and I needed to make sure I could get them. While I was there, I figured I might as well attempt to make it look like I was working, so I also chatted up Ian Hundiak, app producer for all of Topps Digital, and Matthew Petz, one of the designers for the Star Wars Card Trader (also a 2015 Eisner nominee for his work on Top Shelf's The Leg) about the app, its success, and what to expect for the rest of 2015.

There have been Star Wars toys on the shelves at retailers consistently since the mid-1990s. With the re-releases of the classic trilogy and the actual releases of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars has managed to not only stay hot for collectors, but thrive at retail in ways many other toy lines that started in the 1970s could only dream of matching. This year is a big year for Star Wars movies, in case you hadn't heard. That also means it's a big year for Star Wars collectibles. It's such a big deal in fact, that an entire day, Force Friday, was built around the new toy releases themed around the upcoming sequel, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. With figures from the upcoming film in high demand, it's a wonder the team working on Star Wars at Hasbro has any free time at all. Fortunately, we caught up with Hasbro's Star Wars team after getting a look at some of the new Star Wars Black Series collectibles coming later this year.

Though it was announced as part of the Disney Infinity plans quite a while back, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures and Play Set hadn't been shown or teased at all beyond its mere existence. Today, Disney Interactive finally unveiled the first four figures planned, though they shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to the Force Awakens release plans since Force Friday. Heroes Rey and Finn will be included with the Play Set itself when it arrives on Dec. 18, with Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron being offered as separate figures on the same date. Little is known about what we'll be doing in the Play Set itself (shocking, I know), but it will be compatible with all the other Star Wars figures that have been released to this point. So yes, you will be able to team Darth Vader with the man rumored to be his biggest fan, and give Rey a chance to hang with Han and Chewie before they had so much gray in their hair.

Though much of Hasbro’s upcoming plans for Star Wars remain under tight lock and key, the company did preview a handful of new figures during New York Comic Con. It’s not surprising that so few Star Wars figures are being shown considering just how secretive Disney and Lucasfilm are being about the upcoming sequel. Very few characters not shown in trailers or official photos have been teased or released previously, but that didn’t mean there weren’t a few exciting reveals this week. To this point, the only classic trilogy character to get a new figure for The Force Awakens lines has been Chewbacca, but the Wookie’s best friend and co-pilot will soon join him. Old man Han Solo was the centerpiece of Hasbro’s Black Series unveilings at NYCC this week, and rightfully so. The iconic smuggler with a heart of gold has long been a fan favorite, and he’s one of the few returning heroes to have made an official appearance in promotion for The Force Awakens. Sure, there were some characters on display, too, but it’s hard not to feel a bit sentimental for a Han Solo figure based on a aged Harrison Ford.

So far, Hot Toys' Star Wars: The Force Awakens line has been and endless array of bad guys. Well, at least we think they're the bad guys. We haven't seen the movie yet, but everything we've read and seen so far seems to indicate the First Order is taking the place of the Empire in the new film and universe. Though we've gotten figures based on the supposed heroes of The Force Awakens from a few other companies, Hot Toys has been reticent to show off characters like Finn, Rey or Poe to this point. Instead, it's been First Order soldier after First Order soldier. The Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers can now count the TIE Pilot amongst their numbers. Revealed this week for the first time, Hot Toys' First Order TIE Pilot brings the sleek, black spacesuit you might recall from the original trilogy into a more modern era. Like the standard Stormtroopers before him, the TIE Pilot draws quite a bit of inspiration from the classic design. The helmet ditches the "mouth," instead opting for a cleaner faceplate. He does have a weird top on there, which doesn't appear to serve any purpose. If it was a flip down visor, there likely would have been at least one picture with it flipped down so we could see what it looked like.

Aside from BB-8, the most-wanted action figure/collectible for Star Wars fans this season has to be anything Captain Phasma. A bit of that desirability comes from how rare the figure has been at retail, as both the Disney Elite, Hasbro Black Series and the Hasbro 3.75" versions have all be very hard to get your hands on. That of course springs from the character's mysterious nature and kick-ass costume. Also, she's played by Gwendoline Christie, making Phasma immediately one of the most bad-ass characters in Star Wars canon. And she hasn't uttered a single word yet. Phasma is basically the Boba Fett of The Force Awakens from a collector's standpoint. As difficult as it's been to track down the current crop of collectibles, you can believe that the upcoming SH Figuarts Captain Phasma will be equally as hot when it hits the market. It's a bit of a challenge to get Figuarts figures here in the States already, but when you add in the fervor around this character, it starts to shape up into a perfect storm of impossible odds. That is, if you hope to pay normal, human prices, and not the "time to sell a kidney" prices the second-hand market often deems as "fair" and "reasonable."