There’s always a sense of pageantry when it comes to revealing a new line of Star Wars toys, and Rogue One is no exception. Except the launch of the Rogue One figures is going about it a little differently from last year’s madness.
Ahead of a full unveiling of the Rogue One merchandise line, Disney has announced the “Go Rogue” campaign, a series of fan-made animated videos that uses the Rogue One toys to tell kooky stories about Jyn Erso and her Rebel friends battling the Empire… whether that Empire is staffed by action figures, Funko Pop vinyls or LEGO Stormtroopers.
The first episode in the series, which you can see above, is brilliantly made (amazing disclaimer in the video description: “This video uses special effects. The toys cannot move or talk on their own”). The strange mix of different sizes and styles of figures — from the realistically-sculpted Black Series and Disney “Elite” diecast figures of Jyn, Cassian and K2SO, to the Director Krennic Funko Pop and LEGO Stormtroopers — really works in some funny ways.
But this is a really weird way to start revealing your line of Star Wars toys ahead of the movie. Last year’s “Force Friday” event was just a deluge of information followed by a mad rush to get what was on shelves (and not a lot of it was actually on those shelves), so it’s interesting to see Disney trying something as strange as this for its Rogue One stuff.
The full line of Rogue One toys and merchandise will be revealed soon, ahead of their release on September 30. More of these “Go Rogue” shorts will be released throughout the month, so expect to see more toys to tempt funds out of your wallet in those, too.