Tag: merchandise

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Her Universe and Hot Topic launch a new Star Wars collection

Darth Vader faux leather jacket. (Available now.)
Darth Vader faux leather jacket. (Available now.)
Boba Fett bomber jacket. (Available now.)
Boba Fett bomber jacket. (Available now.)
Princess Leia dress (Coming in December.)
Darth Vader cape dress. (Available now.)
Darth Vader cape dress. (Available now.)
BB-8 bomber jacket (Available now.)

Her Universe and Hot Topic launched a new Star Wars collection today! Several of the designs are available now, with more coming next month. And, Ashley Eckstein tells The Daily Dot, there’s another in development.

The items are avaliable in extended sizes, and Hot Topic’s sister shop Torrid will carry some items as well, including a lightsaber dress based on the skirt introduced earlier this year.

Ashley is also encouraging fans to share with the hashtag #MyStarWarsStory:

Not everything from the line is for sale at the moment, but what is can be found online at Hot Topic.

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Video: Unboxing ‘Wings of the Master’ and the dark side of Honey Nut Cheerios

Unboxing Star Wars - B-wing Cheerios

Yowie and I go over the latest in the Star Wars galaxy in this week’s Unboxing Star Wars video. We bring out a B-wing as we talk about Hera in this week’s Rebels episode, ‘Wings of the Master’, and try some Star Wars packaged Honey Nut Cheerios. We also show off some Star Wars stamps from the UK and talk about the upcoming Vader Down comic crossover event. I even talk about a scene from Rescuers Down Under.

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Rumor: We’re going to be seeing a lot less of Princess Leia’s slave bikini

Making Star Wars reports of rumblings that Lucasfilm is “retiring” the Slave Leia bikini. However, do note that piece’s only quoted source is J. Scott Campbell, an artist whose work mostly seems to consist of pinups – not exactly the most neutral of parties regarding this subject.

That said, I do feel it’s a very smart move for Lucasfilm to be more selective in how and when they use the bikini. It’s all-too-often used as the character’s default look – see Tsundo Sanda’s recent Newsweek cover, where any iconic Leia would do the trick just as well. The problem isn’t so much that slave Leia is a thing that exists in merchandising, it’s that the bikini dominates – and that’s not a fair representation of the character.

I do think a blanket ban on it is rather unlikely – I don’t have a huge problem with the Return of the Jedi poster that MSW uses an an example, for instance – but less of the bikini? Yes, please.

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Hasbro design director on The Force Awakens, embracing female fandom

hasbro-evans

Fast Company has a profile of Hasbro Star Wars design director Steve Evans, focusing on The Force Awakens rollout. Of special interest to us, some words on the changing market:

“I’m actually very, very fond of the three-and-three-quarter inch Rey figure,” Evans says. It’s an appropriate choice, and not just for the fact that Rey is one of the main characters in the next Star Wars chapter. That figure symbolizes a radical shift in the action figure market—and the Star Wars toys market in particular.

“It’s because of what it stands for,” says Evans. “Just because of the way it’s embracing girls into the brand more. I have a son and two twin daughters and my girls are infatuated with Rey. They think she’s brilliant.”

Back in the ’70s and ’80s Star Wars action figures were thought of as something to be made just for boys. But Evans says that’s all changed now. And not only are the artificial gender action figure barriers are coming down, now they’re designed to appeal to people of all ages.

As for The Force Awakens, “as we lead up to December 18, there’s a certain amount that gets released,” says Evans. “There are certain surprises from our product line that no one knows about, that we’ll release leading up to the movie, at the movie, and beyond the movie.”

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The Sphero BB-8 has been revealed, and it is wonderful


Sphero’s BB-8 toy was officially revealed this morning on the Force Friday livestream and on Good Morning America. There’s a Wall Street Journal story if you want details:

Would it be possible to make a version of the existing Sphero with a head that stayed on top as it rolled? he asked.

As it turns out, yes. I asked Sphero’s marketing senior vice president Kelly Nyland how the company managed to get the head to stay upright. “The Force,” she told me with a straight face.

And a video of BB-8 with puppies if you don’t, thanks to Vanity Fair.

There’s also a review over at Gizmodo.

bb8

If $150 is a bit steep for your blood (or you don’t want to hand kids your smartphone,) there will also be a significantly cheaper Hasbro version that comes with a controller. But who are we fooling here? We know the audience for this, and it’s totally us.

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Force Friday to be previewed with live unboxings of The Force Awakens toys on Youtube


tfa-merch-packagingYoutubers from Disney’s Maker Studios will be unboxing The Force Awakens toys live on Force Friday. The official Star Wars Youtube stream will host the events, which will begin with Bratayley in Australia on September 3 at 7:45 a.m. local time (5:45 p.m. EDT on September 2) and finish up with Chris Pirillo in San Francisco at 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT) on Thursday.

You can see the full schedule on StarWars.com. Here’s hoping one of them is that working BB-8 toy…