Monthly Archives: March 2024

Walmart has dropped prices even lower on a few The Black Series figures. Click below if you still need these:

• Boba Fett (Tython) Jedi Ruins – $8.38
• Boba Fett (Credit Collection) – $7.93
• KX Security Droid (Holiday Edition) – $14.55
• 1-JAC – $14.55
• Scout Trooper and Grogu (Holiday Edition) – $14.80
• Vice Admiral Rampart – $9.97
• Imperial Officer (Dark Times) – $13.98
• Clone Shock Trooper – $11.41

UPDATE: more figures added to clearance, and prices dropped again

Hasbro announced several new figures today from The Vintage Collection and The Black Series at today’s WonderCon panel. Pre-orders will go up on April 3rd at 1PM Eastern:

The Vintage Collection

• Kanan Jarrus (VC318)
• Ezra Bridger (Hero of Lothal) (VC319)
• Garezeb “Zeb” Orrelios (Deluxe Packaging)

The Black Series

• Momaw Nadon (ANH07) (Fan Channel Exclusive)

Head to LaughingPlace.com for more details and images

Update: Click through to watch the entire panel

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Iron Studios’ 1:10 Scale Night Trooper completes this display trio to create a very nice diorama. Click through for complete details and images.

This is available to pre-order at Sideshow Collectibles.

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The Iron Studios update features Grand Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars: Ahsoka. Get all the details after the jump!

This is available to pre-order at Sideshow Collectibles.

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Iron Studios has several new announcements from Star Wars: Ahsoka, starting with their Captain Enoch 1:10 scale statue. Click through for complete details and images.

This is available to pre-order at Sideshow Collectibles.

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Amazon has dropped the price again for the Rebel Soldier (Echo Base Battle Gear) ($24.99) and Imperial Death Troopers ($28.99). Click below for the product pages:

What an impressive re-release! Hasbro FINALLY gets Captain Cassian Andor up to speed with a remarkable PhotoReal update. The figure hasn’t looked better. Check out the new version of the fan-favorite character. It comes with a stunning paint job that brings out the likeness and is a worthy inclusion to the line now. We took the time to summarize all the new details for you by producing an all-new 56-image gallery complete with comparison shots and a breakdown of what separates the 2018 version from the 2024 reissue in the Collector Notes. See this gorgeous figure updated in our RDRs now! There’s more difference here than you may realize.

There is a LOT to talk about this week. Not just about The Bad Batch and the return of Asajj Ventress (which comes as no surprise, they showed her in the trailers) and certain revelations, but I feel it’s also high time to talk about Star Wars as a whole, because “The Harbinger” is a perfect showcase for everything that is both good and beautiful and just plain silly and bad in Star Wars. So click here or on the banner for my spoiler review of “The Harbinger” and let’s discuss it all!

The Vintage Collection Finn (Starkiller Base) figure has some minor improvements from the figure released almost nine years ago, but why did Hasbro wait so long to add this crucial character from The Force Awakens into the line? It sounds a bit suspect and racist to us! (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

Pre-orders are now live for yesterday’s Imperial March The Black Series and The Vintage Collection announcements. Click below for pre-order options:

The Black Series

• Clone Trooper & Battle Droid (Hasbro Pulse • Amazon)
• The Last Command 4-pack (Hasbro Pulse)

Note: The Last Command set will also be available at Disney Store at a later date.

The Vintage Collection

• HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana) (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Dark Trooper (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• The Vintage Collection Wave 19 (Includes HK-87 Assassin Droid and Dark Trooper)

The Vintage Collection Count Dooku figure is a perfect ten. The only thing we’re disappointed in is the packaging. But aside from that, this figure has been worth the wait. (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

We also have a few reveals from The Vintage Collection to close out Imperial March. Both of these will be mainline releases and available to pre-order starting tomorrow at 1 PM Eastern.

• HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)
• Dark Trooper

Looks like we also get another The Black Series reveal today, featuring a 4-pack from Star Wars: The Last Command. This will also be a Hasbro Pulse/Disney Store exclusive going up for pre-order tomorrow at 1 PM Eastern on Pulse, and Disney Store at a later date (this was Pipelined last year at MCM London Comic Con). Check out the full reveal over at Comicbook.com.

It’s the end of Imperial March, and the last week of reveals start with The Black Series Phase II Clone Trooper & Battle Droid set, exclusive to Hasbro Pulse and Disney Store. Click here for the other reveals from today. Pre-orders at Hasbro Pulse start tomorrow at 1 PM Eastern.

UPDATE: And apparently also available on Amazon

The Vintage Collection Phase I Clone Trooper figure is a figure that we expected after long last, but it’s so close to perfect that it will make you mad. Why couldn’t Hasbro tweak it a little further? Check out what makes this figure both good and bad. (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

S.H.Figuarts dropped a tease via social media today indicating some releases for The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary. Look for announcements to start in April. 

This year finally, 1999 release “Star Wars Episode 1 / Phantom Menace” celebrates its 25th anniversary! New S.H.Figuarts series announced?! More announcements coming in April, stay tuned! This year, “STAR WARS: EPISODE I, The Phantom Menace” will celebrate its 25th Anniversary! And there will be an announcement from S.H.Figuarts?! Look for more details coming this April, you won’t want to miss it!

It looks like Amazon has followed suit with Walmart and dropped the price of the newest The Vintage Collection R2-D2 release to $9.97. Click here for the product page.

Sideshow Collectibles dropped the pre-order time on their Twitter account today for the LIMITED Hot Toys Umbra Operative Sixth Scale figure. Get ready because this is limited to 1,500 worldwide, which means a small allocation for Sideshow Collectibles and sure to sell out in a flash on Sideshow’s site. 

Here’s the link for the virtual queue!

Walmart has listed most of this week’s new pre-orders from The Black Series and The Vintage Collection for much lower than their retail price. They did this with both Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper too, and then raised them back to retail a few days later. If they add the other two TVC figures from The Acolyte we will add them. Take advantage of the lower prices while you can:

• The Vintage Collection Princess Leia Organa – $9.97
• The Vintage Collection R2-D2 – $9.97
• The Black Series Jedi Knight Yord Fandar – $19.97
• The Black Series Padawan Jecki Lon – $19.97
• The Black Series Jedi Master Indara – $19.97
• The Black Series Jedi Master Sol – $19.97
• The Black Series Mae (Assassin) – $19.97

The next The Black Series Holocomm figure is now available to pre-order. Darth Vader is an Amazon exclusive, retailing for $27.99. Click here for the pre-order page.

With this week’s episode we are past the halfway point for the last season of The Bad Batch and things are slowly coming together. While this week is mostly more setup for the finale, “Bad Territory” is an entertaining episode. Much of that can be attributed to the inclusion of Fennec Shand. So click here or on the banner for my spoiler review of “Bad Territory” and lets’s discuss the latest The Bad Batch episode!

Along with pre-orders, we also get some reveals today. The Imperial March Campaign has revealed several The Black Series exclusives:

• Baylan Skoll (Mercenary) (Walmart Exclusive)
• Masters of Evil 3-Pack (Amazon Exclusive)

The Masters of Evil 3 Pack is available to pre-order right now, and you can check out the official reveal of that set over at Collider.com.

Pre-orders are now open for yesterday’s The Vintage Collection and The Black Series announcements from yesterday’s Imperial March Fanstream. Click below for pre-order pages.

 The Vintage Collection

• Princess Leia Organa (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• R2-D2 (VC149 reissue) (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Mae (Assassin) (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Jedi Master Sol (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)

The Black Series

• Jedi Master Sol (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Padawan Jecki Lon (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Jedi Knight Yord Fandar (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Jedi Master Indara (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Mae (Assassin) (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• Darth Maul (Holocomm) (Target Exclusive)
• Moff Gideon Helmet (Entertainment Earth)
• Master of Evil 3-Pack (Amazon Exclusive)

Full Cases Via Entertainment Earth

• The Vintage Collection Wave 18 (Includes Princess Leia Organa and R2-D2)
• The Vintage Collection Wave 19 (Includes Mae (Assassin) and Jedi Master Sol)
• The Black Series Wave 18 (Includes Padawan Jecki Lon, Jedi Knight Yord Fandar, Jedi Master Indara, Jedi Master Sol, and Mae (Assassin)

Amazon has dropped the price (again) for their exclusive The Black Series Ahsoka Tano & HK-87 Assassin Droid Carbonized set down to $28. Thanks to JTA reader Jon for letting us know! 

Well, that was a very pleasant surprise and probably the best Hasbro Star Wars livestream in literal ages! Not just when it comes to the number of reveals, but also the presentation felt much more alive this time, less scripted, less teleprompter reading and actually, just like five people having fun with the reveals… Anyway, much to my own surprise Hasbro revealed a ton of The Acolyte figures, which will all be released in Fall 2024!

• Jedi Master Sol
• Padawan Jecki Lon
• Jedi Knight Yord Fandar
• Jedi Master Indara
• Mae (Assassin)

ALL figures come with their robes and each has a unique lightsaber! Only Mae comes with various knives/daggers instead, but she too has her purple cloak. All the figures are mainline items in the US and Fan Channel / Amazon / Pulse items in Europe and everything revealed today will be available for pre-order on March 21st at 1 pm ET!

On top of that a new Darth Maul holocomm figure was revealed as well and there will also be a new Moff Gideon roleplay helmet

There are also quite a few exciting pipeline reveals! Stay tuned for the update coming very soon with all the photos and some discussion!

Click through for all the photos and a discussion!

So much new stuff!

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Here’s the breakdown of what was revealed during today’s Imperial March live stream for The Vintage Collection. Pre-orders kick off tomorrow (March 21) at 1 PM Eastern. 

The Vintage Collection

• Princess Leia Organa (VC316) [ANH] – mainline release
• R2-D2 (VC149 reissue with clean deco) [ANH] – mainline release
• Mae (Assassin) (VC328) [The Acolyte] – mainline release
• Jedi Master Sol (VC329) [The Acolyte] – mainline release

Also revealed was the packaging and card backs for Jabba the Hutt playset

TVC Pipeline reveals

• Jetpack Trooper (Jedi Survivor)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (Ahsoka)
• X-wing Pilot builder pack
• Blurrg & The Mandalorian
• Moff Gideon’s Imperial Light Cruiser Hallway playset (with Mandalorian Privateer)
• Next Star Wars HasLab will be revealed the week of May 4th and will be from The Vintage Collection

Click through for photos and the pipeline reveals!

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Hasbro’s Star Wars Imperial March Fanstream starts today at 11 AM Eastern. Click through to watch and discuss! You can also watch it on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel.

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Hasbro will make action figures for The Acolyte. Now the only question is what figures they should or could make…. based on the first trailer I have some suggestions for Hasbro. So click through for my take on what Acolyte figures Hasbro should make.

So many Jedi

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The new trailer for The Acolyte has dropped. Click through to watch it and also for an analysis and discussion of the trailer! You can also check out the second teaser poster. 

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The next sixth scale figure in the Hot Toys line-up is the Umbra Operative ARC Trooper (VGM58) as seen in Battlefront II. Click through for details and gallery images.

Note: This is a Hot Toy exclusive, so it probably won’t go up for pre-order until a later date.

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The Official Star Wars Social Media team has released the teaser poster for The Acolyte, and hinted the trailer debut is set for tomorrow. The poster reveals The Acolyte will premiere on June 4th.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Gentle Giant is getting into the spirit with a St. Patrick’s Day exclusive Yaddle Animated Mini Bust. Click through for the pre-order page.

The Bad Batch Season Three character posters were revealed on the Official Star Wars Social Media outlets. Click below to check them out.

The Black Series [Phase IV] Tusken Chieftain figure looks pretty remarkable for a figure with reused parts. (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

Hasbro’s next Fanstream will celebrate the Imperial March Campaign. Tune in on March 20th at 11 AM Eastern. 

Roll out the red carpet for a special Star Wars Imperial March Fanstream, coming to you on March 20th at 11:00 am ET! The team will be kicking off an Imperial celebration for your favorite Hasbro Star Wars lines, including reveals from Star Wars The Black Series and The Vintage Collection, and more! Catch it all on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel next Wednesday.

Pre-orders for both Andor (Season One) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Season One) are available at Walmart.com. Both season one SteelBook sets are listed for $44.96. Click below for the product pages.

Walmart.com has also opened pre-orders for the recently revealed The Vintage Collection Darth Vader and Stormtrooper. The Stormtrooper is currently up for pre-order for $13.78.

Update: The Stormtroopers cleared out at that price. Now showing Out of stock.

It’s a wrap! The final two cards from the weekly Topps Star Wars Living Set are now out. Featuring the iconic blue starfield and the impressive artwork of Kris Penix, check out Snowtroopers (#499) and Willrow Hood (#500). This series ends with a run of 500 cards. Click here to view the entire Star Wars Living archive, including individual print runs.

In a movie with many iconic scenes, “Apology accepted, Captain Needa!” is certainly one of those memorable moments, when a sadistic Darth Vader once again disposes of one of his officers like a used paper tissue in The Empire Strikes Back.

And sadly, the actor portraying Captain Needa, Michael Culver, has passed away on February 27th 2024 at the age of 85, news of his death however only broke yesterday. Michael Culver did not appear in all that many Hollywood movies, but like many other accomplished British actors he had a very extensive theatre career and Culver was also always in high demand on British television, where he regularly appeared in various series until 2008, only after that did his tv career slowly wind down, but Culver would still narrate a few documentaries in later years.

So let’s all remember Michael Culver who will never be forgotten by the Star Wars community as the officer who would take full responsibility for losing track of Han Solo, only to become another one of Darth Vader’s victims. But as mentioned above, it would be wrong to limit Michael Culver’s long career to this one movie, some of the series he starred in that you may have heard of outside of Britain are Space 1999, The Professionals or the classic The Avengers.

Rest in peace!

Apology accepted, Captain Needa!

This week we get a The Bad Batch double feature with Infiltration and Extraction. And the two episodes are the best of season 3 thus far. One reason for that is that the focus this week is mostly on Rex, Crosshair, Howzer and Wolffe with some interesting cameos, even the action is above standard, no alien monsters this week, instead we get an intense escape sequence when a deadly clone assassin and squads of clone troopers under the command of Wolffe, who try to capture Omega, raid Rex’ hideout. So click here or on the banner to read my spoiler review and let’s discuss this week’s two-parter!

Pre-orders are now open for The Vintage Collection and The Black Series Imperial March Campaign reveals from yesterday. Click below for the pre-order pages:

• The Vintage Collection Darth Vader (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• The Vintage Collection Stormtrooper (Entertainment Earth • Amazon)
• TVC Captain Enoch & Thrawn’s Night Troopers (Pulse • Amazon)
• The Black Series Jedi: Fallen Order 3-Pack (Amazon Exclusive)

This Springs Walmart’s Collector Con is now live. Click through for pre-orders for two The Black Series exclusives:

• R4-6D0
• Mandalorian Nite Owl

Our next addition to The Black Series Visual Guide is Boba Fett (Throne Room) (The Book of Boba Fett 02). Click below to access the full guide page. Click here to check out our full review.

For some reason the official Star Wars site did not include the Vintage Collection reveals for the Imperial March campaign in their own article about the new promo campaign, but you can find the TVC items in the list of all new reveals here!

• A classic Stormtrooper (mainline)
• A New Hope Darth Vader (mainline)
• Ahsoka Night Troopers with Enoch 4-pack (Amazon US and Fan Channel exclusive)

Pre-orders open once more tomorrow at 1 pm ET or 17:00 GMT! Will you get some or all of the TVC figures?

Available for pre-order on March 14th

Star Wars gets a new promo campaign! This time it’s “Imperial March” (they seem to love puns) and as the name suggests this campaign is all about the villains! The official Star Wars site has all the details and they will also post highlights from the newly revealed items each week. The Black Series will get a Jedi Fallen Order 3-pack with the Second Sister, an Inquisitor version of Cal Kestis (based on a vision) and once more a Purge Trooper, but with some changed paint deco, so you get two straight repacks/repaints and one new figure. For the Vintage Collection reveals check the specific TVC article!

Price was not mentioned, pre-orders open on March 14th, 1 pm ET or 17:00 GMT, the set is an Amazon US exclusive! Release date is summer 2024, so in about four or five months from now! Go to the official Star Wars site for the other reveals, among them a Jazwares Micro Squadron N-1 Starfighter!

Will you get the Black Series Fallen Order 3-pack?

Amazon exclusive Black Series Fallen Order 3-pack

Walmart’s Spring Collector Con kicks off this Thursday (3/14) at 10 AM Eastern. Pre-orders will open for two The Black Series exclusives. They’ve already posted the placeholder pages in their Collector Con preview for R4-6D0 & the Mandalorian Nite Owl. Both figures will retail for $24.97. Click below for the product pages, and check out their preview page for some of their other licensee exclusives.   

Today’s Visual Guide update adds The Black Series Echo (Mercenary Gear) (The Bad Batch 17) to our Visual Guides. Click below for the full Visual Guide page. You can also check out our full review of this figure in our review database.

Our next Visual Guide update continues our look at The Black Series Walmart exclusive The Bad Batch figures. Up next is Tech (Mercenary Gear) (The Bad Batch 16). Click below to check him out! Click here to check out our full review.

Today’s Visual Guide update features the Walmart exclusive Wrecker (Mercenary Gear) (The Bad Batch 14) from The Black Series. Click below to check out the full Visual Guide. You can also visit our full review of this figure right here.

It’s time for the penultimate set of cards from the weekly Topps Star Wars Living Set. Featuring the iconic blue starfield and the impressive artwork of Kris Penix, check out Darth Nihilus (#497) and Darth Revan (#498).  Click here to view the entire Star Wars Living archive, including individual print runs.

The Black Series [Anniversary Collection] Emperor’s Royal Guard & TIE Fighter Pilot two-pack celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Return of The Jedi. or does it? (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

Even though demand for The Bad Batch episode reviews is at a record low – as are probably the streaming ratings/ views – here is the review for the latest episode released yesterday! And it not only has some questionable low tech scifi again (one of Star Wars’ hallmarks) or shows to the audience once again how much Star Wars borrowed from Dune, it also has some good moments, whenever the Bad Batch are not running around shooting alien monsters that is, and focuses on its characters and this week it means Crosshair has a hard time returning to the fold and Hunter does not trust him at all. So click here or on the banner to read my spoiler review for The Return!

It looks like the long-running Star Wars Living set featuring art from Kris Penix and Carlos Cabaleiro will end next week with cards 499 & 500. While this set is not for everyone, it’s been a great run starting back in June 2019, and we’ve been happy to feature every set since day 1.  Click through to read a message from Kris Penix. 

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Pre-orders are now open for the Hot Toys sixth scale Shin Hati (TMS124) and Baylan Skoll (TMS125) figures. Click below for the pre-order pages.

Hot Toys also reveals their sixth scale Baylan Skoll (TMS125) to go along with Shin Hati, adding to the Star Wars: Ahsoka line-up. Get all the details and images after the jump.

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Check out the latest sixth scale reveal from Hot Toys: Shin Hati (TMS124) from Star Wars: Ahs0ka. Click through to check out the full gallery and details.

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SteelBook collectors get a chance to add two more titles to their collection. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor are landing on physical media on April 30th. You can pre-order the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray starting March 12. 

Reminder: The Hasbro Pulse exclusive The Vintage Collection New Republic E-Wing & KE4-N4 is still open for pre-order, but only for a few more hours. The pre-order window closes at 11:59 p.m. ET tonight. 

If you have pre-ordered from Entertainment Earth The Vintage Collection wave 39 case, which includes 2x Cad Bane, 2x Moff Jerjerrod, 2x Nien Nunb, and 2x Boba Fett (Tusken), you may find your order is being canceled due to discontinued production. JTA reader Todd received his notification email today. Let us know in the comments if you see any other cancellations. 

SH Figuarts are still in the Star Wars game, even if the frequency of releases has greatly decreased. But SHF have revealed a brand new Star Wars figure! It’s Ahsoka as seen in her series. You do get proper soft good Jedi robes, as well as some accessories like the ancient map, lightsaber blades with motion blur and various alternate heads with different facial expressions. Pre-orders are open, you can buy the figure now. Tentative release date is July 2024. Price is ca. $78 or 70 euros.

Here is the Japanese language Tamashii website with all the photos!

My general feeling is that the Black Series version is “good enough” and I am not even sure SHF captured Rosario Dawson’s likeness all that well and I feel the TBS figure has the better likeness. In my opinion SHF should release figures that either do not exist in the Black Series or that they can greatly improve upon, Shin and Baylan come to mind when we talk about the Ahsoka show, whereas Ahsoka is certainly one of the better Black Series figures.

Will you get the SHF Ahsoka?

One of three different heads, Ahsoka also comes with a neutral and super angry bared teeth expression

As you may remember EA very recently cancelled a first person shooter Mandalorian game which was in development by Respawn Games. It has since been revealed that a sizable chunk of the game was already pretty far ahead in development, yet EA decided to cancel the game nonetheless.

At the time this seemed like a typical EA thing, with some hints that EA wants to release fewer licensed games and focus on own IPs. YouTube Channel Star Wars Theory now reports that according to one of his sources, who is with EA or works for EA in some capacity, the real reason EA cancelled the Mandalorian game is that Disney suddenly decided to retroactively raise the licensing fees for all upcoming games and even games already in development: from already insane 22% to now ludicrous 33%. Click through for more!

Is Bob Iger behind the cancellation of the EA Mandalorian game?

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The next two cards from the weekly Topps Star Wars Living Set are now out. Featuring the iconic blue starfield and the impressive artwork of Kris Penix, check out Poe Dameron’s X-Wing Fighter (#495) and Boga (#496). Two new cards will be released each Tuesday and only be available for one week. Click here to view the entire Star Wars Living archive, including individual print runs.

The 4-inch Epic Hero Series Stormtrooper is a case in point example of how the line gets too thin. We didn’t need this figure produced. (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

The Pyke Soldier is every Scooby Doo villain in one action figure. It’s well made, and we should probably anticipate a bunch more, knowing how desperate Hasbro is to release new toys with zero budget. (more….)

Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 15!

One thing that always interests me is how Star Wars compares to the competition. How popular is Star Wars, and here I mean the toys really, in 2024, when we compare it to Marvel, GI Joe or Transformers? All Hasbro brands. Hasbro has not released exact sales figures for Star Wars in years, they used to brag about Star Wars sales back in the prequel era, which was about the last time they openly talked about revenue for Star Wars. Back then they even openly talked about Star Wars royalty expenses. Now it’s all top secret. So what can we do to find out how popular Star Wars toys (and here specifically action figures!) are compared to the major competitors? I thought that Hasbro’s own Pulse YouTube channel may be a good source to gauge how popular the various brands are. In the past three years Hasbro had a number of livestreams for all four brands on their Pulse channel and I believe that the number of views for each stream may be a good proxy for actual toyline popularity. As a bonus I will also look back to how things were in the prequel era. But how are things now? Click through to find out!

Who is more popular?

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