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SYFY WIRE Star Wars

Star Wars rules the toy galaxy at San Diego Comic-Con with new reveals

By Loryn Stone
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San Diego Comic-Con is a lot like Star Wars' most famous city-planet, Coruscant. It's visually stimulating, overwhelmingly crowded, and, presumably, expensive — especially when there's so much great toy stuff to buy. It's fitting, then, that Star Wars was the big winner in the convention's expo hall, as there were several highlights for Star Wars displays at the show, and there's no way to wrap of SDCC coverage without having a conversation about all the delicious lovely bits that Star Wars had to offer.

Here's a rundown of the best things I saw at Comic-Con, not that long ago in a galaxy not that far away.

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Sideshow Collectibles, the premium statue and action figure creator and distributor, had some super beautiful pieces on display. I turned the corner from their DC and Marvel statues and was smacked square in the punim with these incredible Star Wars figures. Everyone familiar with Sideshow Collectibles knows that their work is always top-shelf, but to see all of these Star Wars figures posed together is just incredible.

Look at the pant work on R2-D2, that sort of rust and weathering happening while he's forced to serve drinks. I can't get enough of it. Sideshow's sculpt on that Boba Fett is breathtaking too — he looks frozen in a moment and you can almost feel his pants rippling in the desert's hot, sandy Mandalorian wind. Also, that Jabba the Hutt statue was without a doubt some of the best artistry I've seen since his mighty Sail Barge toy.

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Which, by the way, have you seen that Sail Barge in person? I have now, and it's a spectacular, mighty slab of HasLab crowd-funded ship. One of those things you see in person and it makes Star Wars fans say, "Man ... I should have gotten in on that."

So, Hasbro does something interesting with its toys when it comes to San Diego Comic-Con. There are SDCC exclusives, and then there's something called "Convention Exclusives," a collection of toys that the company creates a limited quantity of for presentation on the convention circuit, with the expectation that the remaining stock will likely be sold on Hasbro Pulse.

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The most anticipated Star Wars toys of the convention were the Luke Skywalker Vintage Collection three-pack and that 3.75-inch Boba Fett.

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Tabletop gaming and traditional CCG card games are experiencing renewed levels of popularity right now, as people are wanting to have their fun be tangible. SDCC had these people covered, as the Star Wars: Escape From Death Star game came in the most incredible vintage packaging I've ever seen in my life.

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Did I mention that there's an Entertainment Earth Darth Vader prototype toy where he went Rainbow? It's true — this limited-edition figure is a convention exclusive provided by Entertainment Earth done in the original 3.75-inch Kenner Toys style.

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Moving on to the official Disney's Star Wars area, SDCC 2019 was all about the Sith Trooper, basically the stormtrooper with a red coat of paint, which is something Disney/LucasArts tells us we are going to see in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Me personally, I love seeing droves of the same toy in armies like this, and it was so much fun that Disney gave us something to cheer for.

However, it was the diorama of Star Wars action figures from all the movies that was truly a show stopper. Set in familiar, amazing action scenes from all the films leading up to The Rise of Skywalker in action figure form. What's super important to remember when looking at these recreations of Star Wars movie scenes is that each and every one of these action figures is available — readily available at that! Many of them are still at Target, Walmart, Game Stop, on discount shelves, or in online stores such as Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, BigBadToyStore, and Entertainment Earth.

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Yes, even The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and my secret love-love movie Revenge of the Sith were perfectly posed to look like some of the greatest science fiction action movies that ever happened.

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Disney knows that its 6-inch Black Series action figures are always highly anticipated, so the aesthetic action continued with a stunning presentation showing off some of the most amazing toys and characters that the Star Wars franchise has to offer, including my boyfriend, cute boyfriend Anakin Skywalker as depicted by Hayden Christensen.

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The revamped Black Series figure of Anakin will be shipping this summer, so it was really nice to see it in person, since it'll be taking a sip from my piggy bank shortly.

Anakin aside, the rest of the Star Wars Black Series Archive figures are coming this summer as well, and the wave includes Boba Fett, Yoda, Luke, and more. These are great and only run $19.99, so you can snap up a few and diorama the ever-living hell out of every room in your house.

Every. Single. Room.

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The Star Wars toys at this year's Comic-Con were expansive and amazing. I loved the range and variety of them. From $8 kids' toys and semi-disposable trinkets to several-hundred-dollar collectibles and statues. I would optimistically say something cute like "There's something for every budget," but I'm not kidding when I say you have to be diligent, patient, dedicated, and maybe even a little bit lucky in order to acquire all of your SDCC Star Wars grail items.

With all that, the biggest Star Wars show stopper at San Diego Comic-Con wasn't even toy-related. High on a stage with documentary footage playing on a big screen above it, there were a number and variety of Troopers on display. From the original white Stormtrooper suit to the new red Sith Trooper, leading into Sand Trooper and beyond, this piece of the convention was somewhere in between a museum attraction and waiting in line for the OG Star Wars ride at Disneyland.

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You know that cold rush of air conditioning, mixed with dimmed lights and audio that's just a little too loud in the best way and overloads your senses? That's what seeing these suits in person was like. You almost were hoping that they had come to life, Chuck E. Cheese-style, to whisk you away to a galaxy far, far away, but at the same time, if they started moving, you'd be so shocked and surprised that you'd start crying like a kid? Yes, it was something like that. Which all in all meant it would probably be the best new reality that any of us could ever hope for! But if nothing else, it reinvigorated the Star Wars Stoke for everyone attending SDCC, and made us know that plenty of delights and surprises are in store once Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters!

You can follow Loryn on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or her toy news website, Toy Wizards.