George Lucas has joined the Galactic Empire. It’s tragic, but it must be true, since he’s the newest figure in Hasbro’s beloved Star Wars: The Black Series toyline, sporting Stormtrooper armour and a E-11 Blaster Rifle, the standard-issue weapon for the Emperor’s soldiers. I doubt this turn to the Dark Side will prevent collectors from picking the figure up, though.
Lucas’ newest plastic incarnation will arrive next year, just in time for Lucasfilm’s 50th anniversary, in commemoration of the founder of the company that gave us Star Wars. In addition to the blaster, he comes with a removable helmet and a likeness that is not particularly flattering, but what can you do. (Spoiler: He’s only disguised as a Stormtrooper. Phew!)
This isn’t the director’s first action figure, however! That honour goes to a 3.75-inch toy released as an exclusive at the 2002 Star Wars Celebration, making it quite the sought-after figure. Weirdly and/or delightfully, he was labelled as X-Wing pilot Jorg Sacul, who was said to have grown up on Tatooine, nearly died in a T-16 Skyhopper crash (much as Lucas nearly did in a car crash in his youth), joined the Imperial navy, became top of his class, defected to the Rebels, and became a renowned flight commander and instructor. Oh, and he was “probably” Force-sensitive, too.
There were other figures after that, although not nearly so wonderfully accompanied by biographies. He was similarly decked out in Stormtrooper armour for the Saga Collection series in 2006, which was only available as a Hasbro mail-in. He had a mainstream release when Hasbro made a figure of Baron Papanoida, the alien Lucas himself played in Revenge of the Sith as his only cameo in the films. But if you ever wanted a figure of George in his regular clothes, you’d need to go back to 2002, when Hot Toys — yes, that Hot Toys — made an extremely unlicensed figure of Lucas, calling him only “The Director.”
You won’t have the easiest (or cheapest) time tracking that toy down, but the new Black Series figure is a different story. Pre-orders open September 30, at 3 a.m. AEST on Amazon.
[Via StarWars.com]