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Well, that took forever. But collectors finally have the Blurrg & The Mandalorian together in a set. But do you know what is new here? Learn more in our Research Droids Reviews today. (more….)
Tune in this Friday, September 13th at 1 PM Eastern for the launch of PulseCon 2024. All brands will be covered and there’s no order of events just yet. If it is like past years, Star Wars will be towards the end around 3 – 3:30. Pre-orders for announced products will be up for pre-order right after the event starting at 5 PM Eastern, with early access offered to Hasbro Pulse Premium Members at 4:00 PM ET. As usual, we will break down the list of reveals right after, and put together links for all the pre-orders once they are live.
Wait. Didn’t we review this figure? Let’s now check out Mae (Assassin) from The Vintage Collection. It’s the focus of our Research Droids Reviews today. (more….)
It’s time to review Star Wars Outlaws. The stats tell me I spent 84h30m in this game since launch. And I enjoyed almost every minute of it. Yes, I like this game. No, I LOVE this game. It’s all I ever wanted from a Star Wars video game. It’s an almost perfect recreation of original trilogy era Star Wars, open world, several planets and you get to see and experience many of the most favorite locations you can think of.
And on top of that the main character Kay is a relatable, very likable woman who is flawed, not perfect, makes mistakes, but perseveres, learns, trains and gets better and never gives up hope. I would say she’s – with Merrin from the Jedi games – by far the best female Disney era Star Wars character and quite honestly one of the best female Star Wars characters in general. Do not believe the hate for her.
And while the online narrative surrounding the game is outright bizarre I urge you all to please forget about all what you may have or may not have heard for a moment and to just see the game for what it is. The very first open world single player Star Wars game. Set during the original trilogy, shortly after Empire Strikes Back and before Return of the Jedi, it offers what people are asking for incessantly these days: good old escapism. In Outlaws you can forget about it all and imagine what it’s like to live in the Star Wars galaxy. In one word, it’s “fun”.
Disclaimer for the certain few… no, I am not on Disney’s payroll (it would be hilarious to even suggest it), no, I was not invited to Disneyland (I wish!), no, Ubisoft does not even know I exist, so they never sent me a review copy, in fact, I paid for the game with my own money.
It will be clearance fodder in no time, and most of its units will debut at Ollie’s, but Hasbro continues to double-down, making products no one wants to buy because they might be called names otherwise. Check out the Osha Aniseya figure from The Vintage Collection. It’s the focus of our Research Droids Reviews today. (more….)
Sad news today as another Original Trilogy Great is one with the Force. James Earl Jones has passed away at 93. Read the full story at Variety.
It’s ridiculously priced, but you need these to complete your “mural” collection of Star Wars: Rebels characters. Check out the Sabine Wren & Chopper (C1-10P) multipack. It’s pretty sweet. Check it out in our Research Droids Reviews today. (more….)
Entertainment Earth has just added the previously sold out Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes builder pack. If you missed this from Pulse and need it for your upcoming Cantina you can grab it here.
The lack of new product can only mean one thing… more rereleases. Pre-order the latest over at Entertainment Earth:
Today’s Visual Guide update takes a look at the Gaming Greats’ KX Security Droid (Gaming Greats 15 – Jedi: Survivor). Check out the complete Visual Guide below, and check out our full review of this figure right here.
Up next for The Black Series [Phase IV] Visual Guide updates is the Stormtrooper Jedha Patrol (Rogue One 09). Get the full guide by clicking below! Make sure to also revisit our review of this figure in our review database.
Our next Visual Guide update features the Clone Commando (The Bad Batch 13). Click below to access the full Visual Guide. You can also check out our full review right here.
Today is the global rollout for the early access of Star Wars Outlaws. In the US early access begins at midnight on the East Coast and 9 pm on the West Coast. Other time zones accordingly.
In Europe early access begins at 23:00 local time in the UK and 24:00 (midnight) in Central Europe.
In Australia you can play earlier than in other parts of the world, early access begins also at midnight local time, which means Aussie fans can already play this game (it’s 4:45 am in Sydney as I write this).
So the US / America is one of the last territories to get access to the game, expect spoilers if you use social media.
The review embargo was lifted earlier today and most reviews by YouTube gaming channels that matter (i.e. who I think just focus on the game itself, not some agendas or politics, channels like ACG, Mortismal Gaming etc) are mostly positive, virtually all reviews say Outlaws 100% nails that Star Wars feeling and that the open world feels very alive, some are not as much in love with the stealth focus in this game, but most reviews I watched gave it something in the range of 7 up all the way to 9 out of ten. Only one reviewer (Youtuber MrMattyPlays) absolutely hated his experience. Mainstream gaming websites gave outlaws something in the 7-8 range as well. But I never read reviews by them anymore and just ignore them entirely.
I have pre-ordered the gold edition, I will play the game in a little more than three hours from now. I guess I’ll sleep again next week then. Expect a full review on JTA once I have fully finished the game. So probably over the weekend or maybe early next week. Outlaws is apparently a much leaner game than previous open world efforts by Ubisoft (looking at Assassin’s Creed Valhalla here), if you beeline the main campaign you can finish the game in something like 15-20 hours, a full run where you do everything will of course take considerably longer, probably something in the 50 hour range.
Did you pre-order either the gold or ultimate edition to get early access? Will you buy the game at all once it’s in general release come Friday?
We have a few new The Black Series Visual Guide updates starting with the MagnaGuard (The Clone Wars 15). Click below to check out the full Visual Guide, and click here to read our full review.
Igloo’s latest addition to their Star Wars collection features Ralph McQuarrie’s artwork from Return of the Jedi. Check out the Jabba the Hutt Palace Little Playmate and Jabba the Hutt Palace 16 Oz Can.
Igloo and the team at Star Wars™ have launched a Jabba the Hutt cooler and drinkware collection that features unique artwork inspired by Ralph McQuarrie’s incredible concept art. The coolers and drinkware highlight iconic characters from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi™ shown within the depths of Jabba the Hutt’s Palace. Here’s a direct link to the full Star Wars™ collection: https://www.igloocoolers.com/collections/star-wars.
Revealed at San Diego Comic Con, Hot Toys officially announces the Chewbacca with Disassembled C-3PO (MMS766) sixth scaled figure, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Click through for complete details and gallery images.
Sideshow Collectibles has revealed their first wave of Scum & Villainy sixth scale figures, with pre-orders now open for both Ponda Baba and Greedo. Their second wave is also now teased, which look to be Jabba’s Palace denizens.
Wave 1 of Sideshow’s Limited Edition STAR WARS™ Scum & Villainy Sixth Scale Figure Line is fully revealed! Pre-order the first two collectibles from Wave 1 now: the Greedo™ and Ponda Baba™ Sixth Scale Figures!
Sideshow Collectibles teased on their social media pages teasing a new limited edition line of cantina-themed sixth scale figures.
Sideshow’s Limited Edition Star Wars™ Scum and Villainy Sixth Scale Line – coming soon!
It’s only over a year late, but late is better than never! We find The Vintage Collection Jabba The Hutt Action Playset with all-new Salacious B. Crumb and 8D8 mostly lovely, but we won’t hold back on where it needs to be criticized. Check it out in our Research Droids Reviews today. (more….)
Thank you for reading Research Droids Reviews: Season 16!
Deadline just released an exclusive article about the cancellation of The Acolyte. With Deadline being a reputable Hollywood trade magazine with actual industry sources there is zero doubt about the veracity of their report. The least watched live action Star Wars Series on Disney+ ever that cost 180 million to make and which also had the lowest watched Marvel or Star Wars series/season finale on Disney+ ever (less viewers than Ms Marvel even) will not get a second season. As reported in my Nielsen article from a few days ago The Acolyte series finale had not even one quarter of the audience of The Mandalorian season 2 finale and performed worse than the Ms Marvel series finale even, which is a new absolute low point. An overwhelming number of fans ignored the series and refused to watch it. News of the cancellation breaks mere days after Nielsen reported their series finale numbers for The Acolyte, of course internally Disney knew about the viewership weeks ago.
And with that Leslye Headland and The Acolyte will both become obscure footnotes in Star Wars history. The woman who tried to destroy the Jedi and wanted people to root for psychopathic murderers she identified with and considered her “avatar” will never work for Lucasfilm again. And quite frankly – the best Disney could do is to give The Acolyte the Willow treatment and to erase the show from existence or at least to officially label it non canon.
And with that I think we will finally never have to talk about The Acolyte again. Let’s forget about it all. And to the twelve people who wanted a season 2: welcome to the real world!
One final question remains: why does the woman who greenlit both Willow and The Acolyte on Disney+ (two of the worst flops on Disney+) and is reponsible for the massive box office disaster that is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny still have a job?
Lo and behold, after weeks of absence The Acolyte did manage to enter the Nielsen Streaming Charts for original shows with its last episode. The numbers are however nothing Lucasfilm can be happy about. In fact, the numbers are abysmal. Click through for all the details!
Yesterday’s new reveals are now available for pre-order, as well as the previously revealed The Black Series Dedra Meero and Cassian Andor. Click below for pre-order pages:
Click here for all The Black Series listings on Amazon
Case Assortments (Entertainment Earth):
K-2SO will be getting a refresh in both The Black Series and The Vintage Collection lines. Check out the full reveal over at Gizmodo! No word yet if this will be a VC170 refresh of K-2SO or a new number in the line. The image is the same so hopefully this will be a VC170 refresh.
The latest The Black Series announcement features another return to The Phantom Menace. Head to laugingplace.com for more images and info for Darth Maul (TPM05). Pre-orders start tomorrow at 1 PM Eastern.
Disney Store will have all of their D23 exclusives and some other new releases starting today around 11 AM Eastern. You’ll also be able to get this year’s D23 exclusive droid, R6-D23. Many of these items are limited, so if you are on the hunt start stalking the site early just in case they have a virtual queue. Click here to browse the complete selection. Here are some of the Star Wars items available: