Star Wars Traps, Babies, And Vader’s Fist Lead The Way In This Week’s Toys

Star Wars Traps, Babies, And Vader’s Fist Lead The Way In This Week’s Toys

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, Gizmodo’s regular round up of all things good and plastic in this increasingly depressing world. Turns out that basically the only thing guaranteed in a time of global tumult is that, yes, there will still be Star Wars toys. This week the galaxy far far away dominates once more—check it out!


Bandai S.H. Figuarts Star Wars The Mandalorian in Beskar and the Child

This isn’t actually a set, but two standalone figures. Yes, Bandai is very willing to get in on that Baby Yoda toy hype and sell its own wee, standalone version of the Child that it hopes is a) cute enough and b) packed with enough accessories that you don’t mind dropping roughly $60 on a diminutive piece of plastic. The jury is out on option a), but option b) is surprisingly palatable.

Baby Yoda comes entirely articulated, and his robes are—in a rarity for Bandai—actual fabric material. The lil’ Force user comes with his hover-pram (complete with a cloth blanket!), a cup of bone broth to sup on minding his own business, and two alternate heads: one depicting him concentrating as he wields the Force, the other depicting him being 100 per cent in his lil’ baby bullshit with those cute, sad ears turned down to adorable effect. He’s even got a backpack to perfectly slot him into and then onto a teased (but undetailed) IG-11 figure.

Oh, and then there’s the Mandalorian, too, I guess. Unlike the previously revealed Figuarts, this Mando is clad in his full shiny Beskar armour as seen in the latter parts of the first season, even coming with his jetpack from the finale. On top of that, to make up for the fact that he doesn’t come with his lil’ clan member, he’s got a ton of accessories, from weaponry (his blaster pistol, phase rifle, and even a knife for good measure), to special effects recreating the jetpack’s afterburners, his wrist flamer, the stun effect on his rifle, or even the whistling birds mini-rockets. It’s cool, even if does feel like the company is trying to compensate for a lack of Baby Yoda in the process. You’ll be able to get both, albeit individually, when the figures release in Japan this September. Mando will set you back around $130, while the aforementioned $60 is the price on poor Baby Yoda’s lil’ head. Beats a camtono of Beskar, really. [Fwoosh]


Lego Star Wars 501st Legion Clone Troopers

After an online campaign from both Lego fans and supporters of the 501st Legion, the “international fan-based organisation dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of Imperial Stormtrooper armour, Sith Lords, Clone Troopers, bounty hunters, and other villains from the Star Wars universe,” the toymaker is finally releasing an official 501st set come August 1. For $50, it comes with 285 pieces that can be assembled into four 501st-branded Clone Troopers, a pair of Battle Droids, and AT-RT walker, and a BARC Speeder.


Star Wars The Black Series and Vintage Collection Releases

To try and distract the world a little from everything, Hasbro turned to Star Wars toy fansites to reveal a veritable bushel of new action figures coming to its two collector-focused figurelines…well, sometime this year, depending on how supply chains work out. The Vintage Collection is getting a shot in the arm with Rogue One’s K-2SO and Clone Wars’ Clone Commander Wolffe, while the Black Series 6″ is going all out with some much requested figures and some intriguing variant colour schemes. Speaking of the latter, Hasbro is continuing the trend it kicked off with last year’s “Triple Force Friday” with shiny alternate “Carbonized” versions of Boba Fett and a Stormtrooper to go with its line of Empire Strikes Back 40th anniversary figures. Joining them from Empire is a new version of Darth Vader, just one of many Hasbro has already taken a crack at in this line, replicating the small tweaks made to the Dark Lord’s armour for the movie.

Beyond Empire though, a second version of Hasbro’s Mandalorian is on the way, clad in his metallic Beskar armour from later on in the first season, akin to the Figuarts we discussed above. And finally for the Black series there are two very fun Return of the Jedi figures. Admiral Ackbar, at long last, is joining the Black Series in his classic Rebel Alliance threads (a version of him inspired by The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens was already released in a two-pack). Meanwhile Teebo the Ewok will also be entering the fray as the line’s very first furry fuzzball. With Jedi’s own 40th anniversary not that far off on the horizon, don’t expect him to be the last. All these figures are currently planned for releases over the winter. [Toyark]


Puzzle Impossible Clear Jigsaw Puzzles

Love a challenge and hate fun? It’s a great time to get into jigsaw puzzles as you start to exhaust the supply of content on your favourite streaming platforms, but Etsy seller LittleFlowerPotShop has come up with what might be the most devious design for an ultra-challenging puzzle yet.

Instead of cardboard printed with an image, the pieces are made from transparent acrylic so your only hope of successful assembly is blindly trying random pieces until they fit. There are four versions available too, with the easiest including nine puzzle pieces and the hardest forcing you to reckon with 144.