![Han Solo (62) - Hasbro - The Black Series [Phase III] (2018)](/star-wars-the-black-series-phase-iii/thumbs/tbs3-six-62-han-solo1-th.jpg "Han Solo (62) - Hasbro - The Black Series [Phase III] (2018)")
Author Archives: Thomas
As a companion piece to yesterday’s bombshell news that Hasbro will fire about 20% of its total workforce in 2023 I would like to point you to a podcast hosted by YouTube channel 3POA. Now this podcast is from early 2023, after the initial round of layoffs was announced and does not talk about the current layoffs, but the things said by two former Hasbro employees are certainly still valid 10 months later.
3POA talked about the layoffs and inner working of Hasbro with two ex Hasbro employees, Bobby Vala, of Valaverse, creator of the Action Force toyline, who used to work on the GI Joe team as a designer at Hasbro (and was fired in 2018) and Rick Laprade, who was Hasbro’s social media manager and also responsible for content creation, who was let go during the pandemic. The podcast is on the long side, 92 minutes, but if you want to get an insight on how it is to work at Hasbro and what the company culture is like it will be highly informative and maybe even shocking here and there. Click through for a few highlights from the podcast!
Bobby Vala and Rick Laprade on the 3POA podcast
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How bad are things for Hasbro? Hasbro had already layed off 800 employees earlier this year but on Monday Hasbro released a memo and informed its employees that another 1,100 of its remaining 6,500 strong workforce will be let go – which in total is almost 20% of its entire workforce.
In the memo Chris Cocks lamented that “market headwinds we anticipated have proven to be stronger and more persistent than planned” – this comes after several quarters of declining revenue and losses. Cocks also informed his employees that the problems will likely persist even in 2024. As a result of all this Hasbro will also leave its offices in Providence, Rhode Island and not extend the lease for the office space in early 2025. Hasbro’s already very low stock price dropped more than 5% after trade once the news dropped.
Christmas will not be a happy time for the soon to be fired Hasbro employees. Now the big question is when Chris Cocks will have to face the consequences himself and will be asked to go. His “operational excellence” is not all that “excellent” after all, it seems. Cocks announced that Hasbro will focus on fewer brands, digital, gaming and their direct to consumer business (which cuts out the middleman and means higher margins).
Click through to read Chris Cocks’ full email to his employees.
Things get worse and worse
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Reputable leaker Jeff Sneider (who has a really good track record – one of his more recent scoops was that Damon Lindelof is working on a Star Wars movie, which turned out to be 100% correct) has dropped quite the surprise in his Hot Mic podcast. According to Sneider The Mandalorian season 4 will not be released on Disney+, instead it will be turned into a movie and it will even be the first new Star Wars movie to be released! Click through for more!
You are about the enter the Star Wars Rumor Zone!
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With the year drawing to a close and with things like Ahsoka and The Mandalorian season 3 behind us the question is what is next for Star Wars? We now have some more details about what will be next for Star Wars on Disney+ in 2024 based on an official press release. And there is also some news about the Rey movie (what could very well be the Star Wars version of The Marvels). Click through for the details!
On set photo of The Skeleton Crew – source: Bespin Bulletin
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It’s that time of the year again to look back and to reminisce. So it’s a good opportunity to talk about your favorite action figure of the year! The rules are very simple: name your favorite Star Wars action of the year you bought in 2023 and it would be ideal if you did not name some vinyl cape Jawa you bought on ebay for 10,000,000,0000 quatloos (congratulations though), but a figure that was actually released in 2023 or at least in this decade. Anything goes. SH Figuarts, Hot Toys, Black Series, Vintage Collection, Mission Fleet, Funko Pop – whatever you like best. Feel free to also name your most favorite non Star Wars action figure you bought this year in addition to your favorite Star Wars figure, because most here certainly collect more than just one thing. I will tell you my picks after the jump!
Bruce Lee’s goddaughter who is also an accomplished martial artist as a Star Wars action figure. Will she get at least one vote?Â
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I hope all the American readers of JTA have digested their turkeys by now and you are all having a great weekend, no matter where you are from. Since nothing all that much is going on in Star Wars land (and that won’t really change until the next Disney+ show is released, which will probably be Skeleton Crew), I would like to talk about something that is at least tangentially related to Star Wars: everyone’s most favorite movie studio in the entire multiverse, Walt Disney. Because Disney’s fate will of course ultimately have an impact on Star Wars.
So what exactly do I want to talk about? Well… as it seems Disney may have set a new world record this November, and for the full year even. They have lost the most money with their entertainment division ever, as in “the entire history of Hollywood”, this November alone sets a new record and all time high for how much money a studio can lose in just a couple of weeks. How? Why? Click through for more!
They have all the reason to be shocked
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Dave Filoni is further climbing up the ranks at Lucasfilm. Today it was announced that he has been promoted to Chief Creative Officer. What that means is that from now on Dave Filoni will no longer be a mere advisor who is maybe brought on when a project has already been in development for a while, Filoni will now work much closer together with Kathleen Kennedy and he will be involved with all upcoming projects already at the inception phase and thus have a direct impact on the early development of new projects. Click through for more!
Dave Filoni with mandatory cowboy hat at Star Wars Celebration 2023
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Unless you live under a rock you will have heard of Disney’s latest box office disaster. The Marvels is a colossal flop at the box office, so colossal, that it will not just be Disney’s biggest box office flop ever, it will be the biggest money loser in the history of Hollywood, period. But this is not about The Marvels, the question is if this unmitigated disaster will have an impact on Star Wars. Why? Because Disney should be in panic mode right now and sadly, there are quite a few similarities to what Marvel is experiencing now and what may happen to Star Wars in the the near future. If all of Kathleen Kennedy’s plans ever come to fruition. So let’s discuss why The Marvels may impact Star Wars, what the similarities between the two franchises are, and what any of that means! Click through for more!
Oops!
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JTA regular Oofa informed me that Hasbro seems to have pulled all the Selfie Series pages from Hasbro Pulse, both in Europe and in the US. When you go to Hasbro Pulse all you can find is a barebones FAQ and one of the questions is “Can I Order Hasbro Selfie Series?” and a tight lipped reply that merely states that Hasbro is no longer accepting new orders.
This is yet another major embarrassment for Hasbro, since they had only introduced the Selfie Series 2.0 recently and talked about it at length at one of the recent livestreams where they highlighted all the improvements and new options you have. But it seems not enough people were willing to pay the price or wanted a vanity figure of themselves. This is yet more bad news for Hasbro who have generated almost nothing but bad press in the past 12 months with revenue nosediving, their stock price in free fall – it is currently at $41.11, which is the lowest it’s been in the past decade – Star Wars and Marvel toy sales circling the drain and a controversy about Dungeons & Dragons when Hasbro tried to monetize the license (basically the ruleset) that created a massive fan backlash and resulted in a PR disaster for the company and hilarious backpedaling shortly thereafter. Add the, never officially acknowledged, not even once, massive failure that were the pfp boxes for their action figure lines and the hasty return to traditional boxes with plastic windows and trays.
And now the Selfie Series is dead. Before that Hasbro’s “Starting Lineup” figures failed. But it’s not over yet, a terrible Q4/2023 is still upcoming, Hasbro already issued a warning with their last earnings call. One wonders how long Chris Cocks can remain as CEO of the Pewtucket toy company. His “operational excellence” is maybe not as excellent as he thinks it is.
Did you ever order a Selfie figure for yourself? Do you know anyone who did?
Thanks again to Oofa for the heads-up!
Another one bites the dust – Hasbro Pulse website screenshot
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Add yet another entry on the list of cancelled or “forever on hold” Star Wars projects. According to an insider report the KOTOR remake is dead. It’s not currently worked on. Which is basically the same. And at the recent Embracer Group earnings presentation from last Thursday the CEO refused to make any comment when he was asked about how he feels about the KOTOR remake. Rumors about the project being on indefinite hold had swirled around previously, allegedly Lucasfilm was not happy with the quality of the work presented, game development was switched to another studio belonging to the Embracer Group, none of that seems to have helped the project.
I feel a KOTOR remake could have been good, of course it could also been a disaster, especially if had been reimagined for “modern audiences”. They had hired new writers (some of which did not really inspire fans with any confidence) which meant that the story could have changed, or at least the dialogue. Either way, it seems the remake will no longer happen.
Why is it so difficult for Star Wars projects to actually get made? Would you still like to get a proper KOTOR remake? Or at least a remaster? To make the game enjoyable for newer fans who would not be happy about the (for 2023) bad graphics, clunky combat and otherwise archaic gameplay mechanics?
“Outlaws”, the open world Star Wars game developed by Ubisoft, is still on track fortunately, and definitely not cancelled, however, as things look the game may get delayed, tentative original release date was “early 2024”, latest reports claim a release after April 2024 in Ubisoft’s new fiscal year is more like it. So Star Wars fans will at least get one new game in the not too distant future. But anyone who hoped to be Revan again in a much improved KOTOR is out of luck.
We will not see them again any time soon
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Entertainment Tonight published an interview with Taika Waititi yesterday and in it Waititi was of course asked about his Star Wars movie, which was announced all the way back in 2020. What did Waititi say? Click through for the full story!
The state of Star Wars movies in 2023
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Earlier today Disney released their numbers for Q3/2023, which is Disney’s fiscal Q4/2023, and for the full fiscal year. If you are one of those who hope the Walt Disney Company will crumble and die, I have bad news for you: total revenue for the full year is $88.9 billion, a plus of 7% compared to 2022, and total operating income (before taxes) is $12.86 billion, a plus of 6% compared to 2022.
With that Disney did not quite meet expectations by analysts but still had a pretty solid year, all in all. However if you look at the details there are a few things which are somewhat worrying or at least not as great. And yes, that includes Disney+. Click through for more!
Disney keeps swimming in money
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I would like to talk about something today that has bothered me for quite some time: the apparent lack of any perceived value you get for your money when you buy a Star Wars action figure at full price. You pay too much and get too little and then the little you get is also quite often wrong in certain ways. Is Hasbro cutting too many corners? Click through to read more!
Spot the Hasbro product in this photo
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The final episode of Ahsoka has been added to the Nielsen streaming charts! How did the episode perform? The Ahsoka finale also competed with the first episode of Loki season 2 – which franchise had the upper hand? Star Wars or Marvel? And how does the Ahsoka finale compare to all the other major season finals we’ve had on Disney+ thus far? Click through for all the details!
Shin shows Captain Marvel who’s the boss on Peridea
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A little later than usual, because Hasbro stole the spotlight in the past few days with things like a repacked Finn for the Vintage Collection, here are the latest Nielsen streaming charts numbers! The penultimate Ahsoka episode was added in the last update. So how is the series doing? Ahsoka gained about one million views with its 7th episode! Click through for more!
A deleted dialogue from Ahsoka episode 7 (click to enlarge so you can read the dialogue)
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Earlier today Hasbro revealed a couple of new things for both the Black Series and Vintage Collection at the MCM London Comic Con!
The Black Series:
- Padme Amidala (The Phantom Menace)
- Anakin Skywalker (The Phantom Menace)
- Carson Teva roleplay helmet
The Vintage Collection
- Finn (The Force Awakens) as VC308
- Phase I Clone Trooper as VC309
- Count Dooku as VC307
TVC collectors need to be brave now
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Early this morning Hasbro released their numbers for the 3rd quarter 2023. So how are things? Chris Cocks sees the company right on track because of his excellence initiative. In reality investors are not happy and at the time of writing this article Hasbro’s stock price is rapidly declining, it’s currently about 10% lower than yesterday, at roughly $49 now.
Why is that? Well, it turns out consumers value other things much more than toys in times of high inflation. And Hasbro also warned that things will not improve for the holiday season. In fact, analysts expect the toy market to shrink in 2023.
And what about Star Wars? Star Wars (and Marvel) were not mentioned even once in Hasbro’s report. Which is usually never a good thing to begin with. But based on the numbers and information provided in the earnings call one can say without a doubt that sales are shrinking by quite a bit. Click through for more about that!
Not a happy time for Hasbro
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It’s time yet again to look at the Nielsen Streaming Charts! How is Ahsoka faring with episode six added to the charts? Not all that much has changed actually! Click through for more!
The Sabine and Ezra reunion scene we should have had instead
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Star Wars is still worth a lot of money to people. A battle damaged X-Wing model used in the Star Wars movie was auctioned off for a whopping $3.1 million. It was part of late model maker Greg Jein’s estate. Jein created miniature models for various movies throughout his career (he never worked on a Star Wars movie, but he was involved with various Star Trek movies and series and more recently with the first Avatar movie and Interstellar), which earned him three Oscar nominations. Friends found the filming model stashed away in a box in Jein’s garage after his passing. He had accumulated a wealth of movie props (not just models), over the decades, but an original X-Wing filming model was of course a very special find. A Stormtrooper costume Jein also owned sold for $645,000 and one of the more curious items was a hairpiece worn by William Shatner in the original Star Trek series (which went for $13,500). Overall Jein’s auction brought in $11.5 million.
Starting price for the X-Wing model was $400,000, but in the end the model was sold for $3.1 million to an unknown bidder. The model was used for Red Leader, Red Two and Luke’s own Red Five in the movie. Feel free to come forward and post in the comments if you’re the lucky one who now owns an original X-Wing filming model! You know it belongs in a museum, right? Don’t just display it in your own private collection room.
The X-Wing is now the most expensive Star Wars prop ever that was used onscreen. Even beating another X-Wing filming model that was auctioned off before, which went for $2.375 million last year.
What do you think future generations will want to pay millions for when it comes to sequel trilogy props?
The $3.1 million X-Wing filming model. Source: Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
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And it’s time yet again to see how Ahsoka performed on Disney+. Nielsen added the 5th episode which included a lengthy flashback (kind of) to the Clone Wars era with a young Anakin Skywalker and his teenage padawan Ahsoka. Now the question is if this major guest appearance would boost the ratings. Click through to find out more!
The much better Ahsoka
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I was a bit busy the past few days so I get to report the latest Nielsen numbers for Ahsoka a bit later than usual. And while some people may have you believe the ratings for the show are a complete disaster they are not really. But they are certainly not great either. So how did Ahsoka in week 3 perform? Click through for the important numbers!
In Ahsoka’s 4th episode Shin put on her Neko ears and went to the local Disneyland on Peridia to unwind from a long day of intense staring, glowering and lightsaber dueling. She had a great day!
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The Ahsoka season finale dropped last night! Was is a worthy conclusion to the season? Was it fun? Was it any good? Well…………………. it depends. Do you posess the talent to switch off your brain at will? Then “yes”. But if your brain refuses to cease functioning while watching Star Wars? Then probably “no”. Either way, there are many things to discuss, so click through to read my spoiler review for the Ahsoka season finale and let’s discuss it all!
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Nielsen have updated their streaming charts and added the third Ahsoka episode! So how did the third episode (or the show as a whole) do in its second week? It did “ok”. Click through for more!
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Last week I said episode six of Ahsoka, “Far Far Away”, is some of the best Star Wars on Disney+. Fast forward one week and episode seven is in many ways the counterpoint, it is in some ways the worst Star Wars on Disney+. How is this possible? Why is Ahsoka so terribly uneven? Now on the surface the current episode is fun, it has lots of ‘splosions, lightsaber action, space action, it has a swift pace and yet even more memberberry cameos. On the surface it’s never boring. But when you look behind the curtain you find there isn’t some Oz, there is nothing, just a vacuum of nothingness. The plot of this episode is plain stupid when you think about it all for just one second. No other way to put it. So click here to read my spoiler review for “Dreams and Madness” and let’s discuss the penultimate Ahsoka season 1 episode!
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Here are all the newly revealed Black Series figures from the Hasbro PulseCon livestream!
- Baylan Skoll
- Shin Hati
These are the only new figures revealed! Just two. But at least good ones.
Outside the US Hasbro will release a wave of archive figures for more casual fans, so these will not be sold in the US:
- X-Wing Luke
- Darth Vader
- Bo-Katan
- Stormtrooper
There will be two new premium roleplay items!
- Ezra’s/Sabine’s lightsaber
- Captain Rex’s helmet
And there were also some pipeline reveals!
- Darth Vader (A New Hope)
- The Mandalorian
- Phase I Clone Trooper
- Mandalorian Night Owl
The pipeline reveals are targeted at more casual collectors!
The new items will be available in spring 2024, pre-orders go live today at 4 pm ET for Pulse Premium members and 5 pm ET for the plebs!
The Ahsoka MVPs are coming to the Black Series!
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