Hasbro's "Kenner Retro Collection" coming out in May, 2019

Well, someone had to post this. Hasbro is re-issuing some of the first 12 figures, maybe more to come. The weapons look pretty close, but from what I can tell, there are discernable differences. As for the figures, they've got 2019 dated COOs, and they aren't quite the same as they were made from 3D scans of production figures, then modified digitally, not from the original molds.

Personally, I think it will do much more harm than good, and just slightly de-values the idea of vintage Kenner. I think that while also thinking that its not a complete disaster, repro creators that are more dedicated to deceiving collectors are still out there.


This guy starts out with the press release and just the facts.

they have made tarkin he comes with the board game

tbh these figures sicken me and i dont like them. they are clearly a cash cow for adult collector market. the last jedi figures were a flop and hasbro probably seen how much money is in vintage market and they clearly want a piece of the pie. and why not i suppose. but there not for me. il stick with my original figures. the weathered look on the cards is stupid also....

The Tarkin figure looked good, and I'm tempted by it. But not the others.

Too bad you've got to buy a remade "Escape from Death Star" game to get it. Something you've probably got (and probably haven't looked at in ages).

I haven't got one yet. They may become slightly desirable for a change now that they re-made it. But yeah, the Tarkin does look mildly interesting.

I have preordered a set, they are different enough for me to justify having originals and these figures, would like the tarkin to, not fussed on having to buy the game to get that though

Here's a decent look at the board game and the Tarkin.

looks good, I never had the original game, but the new draw is the figure, got to have that if its around the 20 pound mark, what was the game like, worth a play or two?

It seems strange to me that many collectors who have gone on at length (in quite a serious tone ) about repros seem to have no problem with this, even to the point of mocking collectors who are worried about it.

Hasbro is on record as saying something like "if we've done our job right, you won't be able to tell the difference between the original weapons and the new ones", you can hear this on the first episode of the "Jedi Business Talk" podcast from ToyFair.

I'm not so much worried about the value of my loose run as I am about this just being yet another factor that discourages new collectors from getting into the hobby. It's also just fun to point out the contradiction of some hobby "gatekeepers" who think that people who want to produce repro weapons should be ostracised from the community, yet they have talked about being interested in buying one or two of these. But then again, a lot of the modern collecting podcast hosts get big boxes from Hasbro with all the new stuff so (in my estimation) they don't like to get to critical.

I think the weapons will be different enough heres a closeup of the Leia blaster, very different
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I wouldn't say very different. You can tell, but you can tell with most repro weapons (so far).

Still close enough that people would be against it if someone else were doing it.

But yeah, I can see that there is a raised bit around the end of the barrel that doesn't match, but if the shot was of the whole figure, a bit wider out, you wouldn't notice most of the differences.

Be interesting to see what the other weapons look like, I personally think there will be more tells on them, have to see when they arrive

Just waiting to see what will be the figures to be released by Hasbro in their second wave.

I'm not gonna lie, seeing everyone buy this stuff annoys me and I find it to be lame and uncool lol

I'm not passionate about my distaste for it, but that is my opinion lol I think they should just do only figures that never came out.

Interesting Hasbro booth display at SDCC:

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Well after pre ordering these back in march, they finally came today, gotta say i'm impressed, cardbacks are a bit flimsy but once in a starcase they should look good,they are the European release and so  they have info leaflets inside the bubble behind the figures, which ruins the look a bit but honestly I don't mind
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also got tarkin in the board game, mines staying sealed but heres what it looks like loose from the game
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Nice score, Ian. They’re starting to hit at “Real Canadian Superstore” which is a grocery store in Canada. They were at Toys’R’Us here a couple months back.

cool, they seem to have been a hit over here anyway, my online stockist just got the set in again after selling out on the first wave
I have heard the new figures after this will be empire based, which is nice but I was hoping for the next 6 figures to make up the first twelve

There are rumors swirling around about an ESB wave featuring Fett.

Yeah I had heard that, they won't have to work too hard on that figure as the tooling exists for the modern rocket firing version they did a few years ago, I was hoping for another new sculpt of a figure we never got in the original line, maybe that'll happen too

The 40th Anniversary ESB Retro Collection has started showing up at Walmarts in the States, these sold out extremely quickly when the pre-order went up during ToyFair.

Yeah I have mine on pre order, can see these selling out to, cards still on the flimsy side looks like

I had to get the Lando as I want to feel the cape texture compared with an original also the sculpt on the blaster,
I never knew the COO is (made in Vietnam)