Black Series

Four new drawings by Black Series artist Gregory Titus have appeared on Facebook earlier tonight. They show Crait Luke, Zeb, Jar Jar and a clone that might by Commander Bly. Now all of four of these figures were heavily rumored before, Zeb was virtually confirmed by Hasbro, and Crait Luke is all but guaranteed, two more prequel characters would make sense with The Clone Wars returning for a final season and Hasbro revealed quite a few prequel characters only recently. But Titus also created some art for Hammerhead who hasn’t seen a release yet, so apply the usual grains of salt. But my feeling is that we will get all four of these figures in 2020. Thanks to Matthew Cohen for the alert!

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People who collect Black Series figures probably encountered the following issue at least once… now how do I put together that accessory or where and how do I store it on the figure? Latest example is Cara Dune, it seems quite a few collectors were puzzled about where to put Cara’s knife. There is a small hole in her left boot into which you can sheathe it.
Maybe this is something that never bothers you, because you figure these things out right away. But maybe you are someone who sometimes misses these details. Is it obvious that Kylo Ren’s hood down piece can be removed so that you can put the hood up option on his head? Will all collectors find out on their own that you can remove C-3PO’s back of the head for Babu Frik to hack him? So the question is: do some figures need leaflets? Click through for a short discussion!

Now where to put the knife…

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JTA reader Lewis found the brand new exclusive Black Series Rise of Skywalker C-3PO & Babu Frik action figure at his local Target on Friday. And the brand new figure is already discounted, you can grab it for $17.99. And if you text “TOY” (without quotation marks) to 827438 you will receive a 25% off coupon for any toy or children’s book.
The figure is also available in other parts of the world already, I bought the figure today, from my local German etailer and I will get it shipped next week. But of course it was much more than $17.99. I had to pay about $43…. we love exclusives in Europe! Anyway, if you want C-3PO and the tiny, tiny Babu Frik figure now is probably a good time to go to your local Target! Thanks to Lewis for the alert and the photo!

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Hasbro promised more action figure reveals at various European conventions, and after Paris and London they now revealed two all new Black Series figures at the Lucca Comics & Games convention in Italy!
Prequel fans have been asking for more Jedi for years now, and it seems Hasbro is finally willing to deliver: meet Kit Fisto and Plo Koon, two of the most favorite prequel Jedi! Now while the headsculpts are all new, of course, the hands as well, it seems both figures re-use the Obi Wan and Mace Windu body, which is a bit unfortunate, but nevertheless, we finally get more Jedi and more (humanoid) aliens in the line! Click through for a few more photos! All the photos come courtesy of Italian Star Wars site guerrestellari.net!

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The promo photos by Hasbro that are either released officially or leaked are not always the best. People were quite taken aback by the amount of eyeliner, eyeshadow and lipstick the new Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker figure is wearing. Well, a first image of the loose figure in hand has appeared on the Black Series Instagram group and collectors can breathe a sigh of relief, the actual production figure looks a lot better! There’s still something off about the likeness, in my opinion, it seems Mark Hamill defies any attempts to sculpt a 100% proper likeness, but it’s certainly Hasbro’s best effort yet and a huge improvement over the Death Star duel version of Jedi Knight Luke. The figure will be a Walmart exclusive in the US. Thanks to Matthew Cohen for the alert!

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Well, Triple Force Friday is tomorrow, and still we get leaks! However, the figures leaked now look like they could be something that is released only in a few months from now. Charles G. sent us official Hasbro promo photos for a brand new Chewbacca and C-3PO figure. Thanks to Charles for sending us the photos! Click through for more photos and details!

Black Series Chewbacca and C-3PO

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A Reddit user has posted a photo of a brand new Black Series Clone Commander Fox figure, which was not officially announced anywhere. The figure is a Gamestop exclusive and is supposed to go on sale on Triple Force Friday! Some users reported pre-ordering  the figure from Gamestop several days ago. Check out the figure in the photo below! The helmet seems to be non removable? Thanks to Matthew Cohen for the alert!

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Instagrammer Toyfiend got the Target exclusive $40 Black Series Mystery Box early. And he was kind enough to post the unboxing video on YouTube and send us the link, so all the collectors can find out with him what’s actually inside the box. And I will spoil it right here. Inside are…

• one beanie cap with a logo
• one Marvel comic featuring Snowtroopers
• one “First Order” metal pin
• the Target exclusive First Order Elite Snowtrooper Black Series figure

Let’s say Toyfiend was less than thrilled when he found out which figure is inside the box… The First Order Elite Snowtrooper is probably one of the weakest new figures being released later this year, it’s basically the same old First Order Snowtrooper, but now with a cape. And you can get the First Order Snowtrooper for something like $5-$12 on ebay. Maybe Hasbro should have chosen another figure here.

You can watch the full 3 minute unboxing by clicking on the screenshot below! It’s hilarious. Let’s see how many of these unsold boxes will turn up at 5 Below, Ollie’s, Ross & co early next year… Thanks to Toyfiend for taking one for the team! 😉

Not so mysterious anymore – click image to watch video

More good things are coming to the Black Series! Photos of four boxed Black Series have leaked. We know three of them: there is a photo of Jannah, the regular release of Yavin Luke and the regular non carbonized Jet Trooper. And then there is the brand new Wedge figure! Thanks to Cybereye for the alert! Sources for all photos is the Black Series Facebook group! Click through for the other photos!

Black Series Wedge – click for larger version!

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A photo of the back of the box of Black Series Rey has appeared on the internet. And the short blurb about D-O contains some VERY badly translated German text. Which makes you wonder if a) no one at Hasbro can speak and write German or b) they use Google Translate instead because they are lazy. Let’s hope this error has been corrected for the regular edition boxes, because it’s kind of embarrassing to read something that almost sounds like your average auto-translated manual for some cheap Chinese electronics product.

This is the German text translated back into English, so you know what I am talking about:

Assembled from junk in the workshop of a droidsmith, little D-O is an impressive little roll which is fixed to BB-8.

Okayyyyy…… Click through for some more, including a proper German translation.

We no speak German (click for full size)

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The following photos are official promo photos of the upcoming Black Series figures. Click through for a good look at what Black Series will get on Triple Force Friday!

Black Series Cara Dune

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No  word about availability (Triple Force Friday? Or a bit later?) yet, but the Black Series Elite Snowtrooper was also revealed earlier tonight. It begs the question why a Snowtrooper, wearing special cold weather outfit, needs a cape. Maybe because capes are just cool. Who knows… other than the cape, this seems to be the First Order Snowtrooper we got a few years ago! So the figure is mostly a repack.

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And the reveals don’t stop, check out the all new Black Series Purge Stormtrooper! This photo was first posted on Intagram. No word yet if it’s an exclusive figure or not.

Source: Madness80 / Instagram

JTA reader Michelalano discovered an official promo photo of the upcoming Black Series Medal Ceremony Luke on Facebook!
This Luke will (also) be available as a German con exclusive, apparently and he comes in a quite nice looking special box and a host of interesting accessories!
Hasbro Germany sent the official promo photos to various German Star Wars fansites and groups on Facebook. This con exclusive is not part of the Triple Force Friday event in the US. Click through for all the details! Special thanks to Michelalano for the alert!

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A daily routine search on eBay has yielded yet another leak. Look at this all new “Carbonized” First Order Jet Trooper Black Series Figure… the figure and the box have a pearlescent finish, which makes this the third variant figure so far we know of.
If you have too much money lying around: the figure can be yours for a mere $125! You can also find most Black Series First Edition figures on eBay for about $30. I bet Hasbro loves this guerilla marketing campaign by Disney!

The Jet Trooper is number “99” btw. Let’s see what figure will be “100”.
What do you think of the latest Black Series variant? Do you like it? Will you get it? Will you get it instead of the standard release? Check out more photos on ebay!

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The comedy that is called “Disney Star Wars Merchandise Embargo” adds another act to the play. Facebook User Richard Nash posted photos of a yet unannounced brand new Mandalorian figure variant on the Action Figures Collectors UK Facebook group! So on top of the “graphite” Second Sister we now also get a “carbonized” Mandalorian! If you head over to the Facebook Group you will see more photos of the box, this variant still has the number “94”. Will you get these paint variants? It seems these paint variants are not meant to be screen accurate, but rather chase variants for completionists? Will you get this figure? The box certainly looks better than the standard Black Series box. Click the photo below for a larger version!

Carbonized Mandalorian. Source: Action Figure Collectors UK / Facebook

While Disney has everything under embargo and Hasbro roll their eyes 360 degrees all day long, the rest of the world doesn’t care one bit about Disney’s confused Triple Force Friday strategy. Stores in North America ignore street dates (someone was able to buy the Mandalorian figure just very recently), things leak left and right on Instagram and Facebook… and now the first YouTube videos of the Triple Force Friday Black Series figures are released. YouTuber “Vern’s Hobbies” bought the figures from Hasbro’s great retail partner Walmart in Canada! “Vern’s Hobbies” has already unboxed and reviewed The Mandalorian, Cal Kestis and the Offworld Jawa, chances are the rest of the TFF figures will follow shortly, so maybe you follow his channel for updates, if you want to see videos of the figures.
Go to the channel, to see the videos! Thanks to Ondrej M for the alert!

These figures don’t exist. According to Disney.

Instagram user crimsondawn_collectibles posted a photo of the yet unrevealed and unnannounced brand new Jedi Luke figure from Return of the Jedi on Instagram! It looks as though he has a non removable plastic tunic and a soft goods cloak. So you won’t be able to easily transform him into a better looking Death Star duel Luke. This Luke comes without a gloved hand. It remains to be seen if an extra gloved hand is hidden in the box, but knowing Hasbro this may not be the case. The figure may or may not be a retailer exclusive. Thanks to cybereye for the alert!

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While browsing my local German Amazon shop today I stumbled upon a yet unannounced variant of the Sith Trooper figure: a so-called “First Edition” Sith Trooper that comes in an all white box and red background! I immediately tried to find the figure on Amazon US, but had no luck, so it seems that maybe Amazon Germany revealed something that they were not supposed to reveal yet.
But what is this? You can already pre-order the figure on Amazon.de, however availability is October 4th, which is Triple Force Friday! Is it possible that there will be more “First Editions” of other Triple Force Friday figures? Will Hasbro make box variants now? Are box variants or “First Editions” anything that interest you? As usual, we know nothing specific, I suppose Hasbro will eventually announce something. Until then we can speculate that the Black Series will see “Special Editions” or “First Editions” box variants. Actually, this “First Edition” box design with the circular callout was also something we saw in the leaked box photos of the Second Sister, which said “graphite”. Is it possible that “graphite” refers to the box here and is a special edition of sorts? Will you chase these box variants?

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Paul will certainly review the figure soon, but in what is a rare event, the upcoming exclusive Clone Wars Obi-Wan figure is already available in Germany! And while I will not review the figure, I will tell you a few things most likely not covered by Paul’s review. Including a comparison with other figures! So click through for a first look and some very general thoughts about the figure!

Hello there!

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Begun the leaks have! Over on Reddit a list of the upcoming Black Series figures for Triple Force Friday was posted. Since Disney won’t allow Hasbro to promote anything, let us try to step in and show you what’s coming for TFF. Click through for more info!

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I don’t think that Hasbro mentioned it at the SDCC panel. But the 3D render of Luke Skywalker (Dagobah Training) shows that Hasbro has re-engineered Black Series figures once again. Click through to find out what is new!

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That was probably the most boring Hasbro panel ever. I have no words for it. Click through for the one piece of news I have.

Live from the Star Wars SDCC Panel

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The brand new Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker Sith Trooper was revealed just now by The Star Wars Show on YouTube! He will also come as an SDCC exclusive with exclusive packaging and weapons! But he will also come later in the basic line! Click through for a photo of the SDCC version!

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A quick search for “Star Wars Black Series Galaxy’s Edge” on eBay will show you several sellers already offering either single sets or all three sets of the Black Series Galaxy’s Edge exclusive figures. It may well be that eBay will be the only source for international collectors (and those who will not or cannot go to Disneyland) to get a hold of the all new Hondo, DJ-R3X, Commander Pyre, Mountain Trooper, a Mouse Droid and two all new Porgs. On top of that you will also get C-3PO with the new 4-LOM style elbow joints and a photo real The Last Jedi Rey, and she does look quite nice, the sculpt really comes alive with photoreal.

Price for a single set begins at $90, there are offers for all three sets beginning at $160, but another seller wants $370 for three sets in “near mint” condition.

Will you resort to eBay to get these figures? Or will you wait and hope Hasbro might eventually release the new figures in the mainline? Another question is if photo real The Last Jedi Rey will see an Archive release or if she will only be available in the exclusive Smuggler’s Run set. In my opinion it would be a wise choice by Hasbro to make only the packaging exclusive, but to offer the all new (and repainted) figures to all collectors worldwide eventually. But there is no official word yet.

Shared Galaxy’s Edge and eBay exclusive?