Echo Station: Episode 1 Toys

My Kingdom for a Toy:
Echo Station's First Look At Episode 1 Toys

Contributed by Doug (Ehawk) Dowling
Kalidor 9
4/27/99

The number of days and counting until the release of Episode One - The Phantom Menace, but if you're here at Echo Station, you probably already knew that. Like most Star Wars® enthusiasts, we are weak with the Force, and patience is not one of our strong suits. LucasArts knows this and has applied, --with much success probably--, an old Jedi mind trick, subliminally suggesting to us that we go see the movie. All right, maybe not so subliminally. For those of you who also are into the Star Wars® toy collecting, you can get a quick Episode One toy fix, but it won’t last. Trying to find decent toys is like trying to find life on Hoth, after the evacuation ... there just isn’t much out there, and what is isn’t very good.

The reason there is very little out, is that Hasbro is bound by an agreement with Lucas Entertainment (LEC), not to release any toys until the beginning of May. Some information on other toy line offerings can be found scattered around the Internet, but numerous calls to different Hasbro offices will neither confirm nor deny their accuracy.

Hasbro has released one preview toy, with a special promotional offer for another figure. They released a Battle Droid® figure on a S.T.A.P.™ This figure is plastic and fairly well detailed, like much of Hasbro's previous vehicle offerings. The S.T.A.P.™ is a small mobile and rapidly moving craft outfitted with high-powered, dual laser missiles. The package defines a S.T.A.P.™ as "An excellent patrol and reconnaissance vehicle, S.T.A.P.™s are piloted by Battle Droids®, which function as the Trade Federations personal drone army." The price is around fifteen dollars, I found it at Wal-Mart for $14.96.

Now that the offer has expired it is uncertain if this is a figure which is going to be released with the rest of the Episode One figures, or if it was a truly promotion only piece. Also available from Hasbro’s Internet Site, is a web order only two figure set of Muftak™ and Kabe™. The two figurines set goes for $13.99 plus $2.99.

Hasbro bought out the Galoob Toy Company, which makes small-scale toys, mostly of starships, and the MicroMachines line. They released their first playset offering of a Gian Speeder™ (much like Luke's speeder on Tatooine) and Theed Palace™. The Theed Palace™ set comes with a few Battle Droids®, Captain Panaka™, and a Naboo Foot Soldier™. Overall I was not impressed with it. It lacked the structural detail they put into some of their other playsets. Paint, not detailed modeling, provided most of the speeders detail. It does, however, have a canopy which opens and closes, working landing gear, and two firing missiles. For the Theed Palace™ they try and animate some of the 'battle action' through levers and plates which knock some of the figures over. The set comes with five figures and sells for around $20.00.

However there are two other options for the Episode One starved toy collector: a sixteen figure collection by Hasbro with Episode One flashback photos on it, and a Collectors Edition Trivial Pursuit game.

The Hasbro offering is really neat. Each figure is in a fairly new costume for Hasbro, except for Chewbacca (how many ways can you really wear fur?) and has a corresponding character from Episode one in the sliding picture part On the front of the package there is a picture of the character. When you pull down the tab on the bottom of the photo, it slides down to reveal a picture of a character from Episode one. The pictures are roughly 2 inches wide by 4 inches tall. They are enclosed in a plastic frame that serves to hold it together.

The eight figures currently available, along with their Episode One counterpart, are:

Luke - with Tatooine garb, Long blaster rifle, Floppy hat, and binoculars. Flashback Photo - Luke/Anakin
Leia - In ceremonial dress from awards ceremony in A New Hope. Flashback Photo - Leia/Queen Amidala
Chewbacca - Dusted with Hoth snow and Bowcaster weapon .Flashback Photo - Chewbacca/Wookie Senator
Emperor Palpatine - with Force lightning bolts. Flashback Photo - Emperor Palpatine/Senator Palpatine
Darth Vader- With new cape over one shoulder. Flashback Photo - Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker
R2-D2 - With launching lightsaber (from Return of the Jedi). Flashback Photo - R2D2/R2D2
Yoda - With real hair and a cooking pot. Flashback Photo - Yoda/Yoda
Ben Kenobi - with hooded cloak wearing hood. Flashback Photo - Ben/ young Ben

The Star Wars® Classic Trilogy Collectors Edition of Trivial Pursuit, which comes with a special ten card set of Episode One questions, and four pewter cast playing pieces. The base holds the ‘pie pieces’ when you win them. The two interesting features of this game are that the game board is numbered and it has no dice. The number of spaces you move is determined randomly by a plastic R2-D2™ unit that displays the number in a LCD screen on his front. Another feature is the 100 photo cards that depict scenes from the first three movies. It retails around thirty-five dollars.

There are two future Episode One toys which are confirmed. LEGO is releasing a Naboo Fighter™ set as part of its Star Wars® collection. The Naboo Fighter™ looks much like a Z-95 Headhunter™, especially in LEGOs! The second is a Naboo Swamp™ playset. No details were available. So far, at least in my area, the LEGO sets have been hard to come by. I checked on rumored production problems, but a call to LEGO’s customer service line, informed me that was not the case. According to the LEGO Website, they will be releasing a Mindstorm droid building kit towards the end of 1999. The Mindstorm line is an advanced lego product that has more detail and in most cases is motorized, and contains, metal parts instead of plastic parts. This set will allow you to build the Episode One Battle Droid® and S.T.A.P.™ craft and other droids from all four films. Price is said to be around $99.00.

Applause has a large selection of toys and collectibles available May third. According to their web page these range from kid's bendable straws, to PVC figurines, to 12 inch, numbered limited edition collectible figures.

Galoob Action Fleets, and Micro Machines is rumored to be offering a large selection of vehicles from The Phantom Menace starting May third also.

All in all the current pickings are slim. However, if you wait until Episode One - The Phantom Menace arrives, and save your Republic, Naboo or World Trader Federation credits, I’m sure there will be more toys for you to buy, than room on your credit card! But for those of you who just cant wait ... check with you local toy store. The KayBee Toy Works near me is open at 12:01 AM on the third of May. Early enough to satisfy my Phantom Menace buying urge.

(Douglas "Ehawk" Dowling is a member of Kalidor Squadron, and in real life a Packaging Engineer, and father of three.)