I was lucky enough to find a small assortment of the Triple Force Friday wave of Vintage Collection figures at my local EB Games. Sadly - and somewhat predictably - the next wave (Wave 10) proved much harder to find. There were three figures from this wave on my hunt list: VC150 Princess Leia Organa (Yavin), VC162 Sith Trooper, and VC163 Shadow Trooper. While I finally managed to find the Sith Trooper at retail, I had to resort to the online secondary market to secure the other two.
As usual with The Vintage Collection, this wave provides us with another excellent trio of Vfigures. Leia is an upgraded of version of the (previously Walmart exclusive) Black Series figure from 2015 - now with improved articulation and that wonderful Photo Real face treatment. The Sith Trooper, on the other hand, is an entirely new figure and represents (only) the sixth 3 3/4" figure we've received from The Rise of Skywalker. Featuring phenomenal articulation and a unique pair of weapons, he'll make a great addition to my First order forces.
Rounding out the wave is the Shadow Trooper. While technically a new figure, he is in fact a clever repaint of the Rogue One stormtrooper with the addition of a pauldron. He comes as something of a surprise - being sourced from Legends gaming material - but a welcome one, to be sure. In fact, if Hasbro needs to pad waves with repacks of old sculpts to keep production costs down, then this is exactly how it should be done.
Now I've got this wave in hand, my 3 3/4" collecting is apparently going to quieten down for a while. Other than a trio of new Mandalorian figures coming in April and a handful of Photo Real upgrades towards the end of year, nothing else has yet been announced by Hasbro. It could be that they're waiting to show off a slew of new products at next month's New York Toy Fair. Ordinarily, however, such announcements are preceded by all kinds of leaks and rumours through the usual channels. But this time around, there's nothing. It's no secret that Hasbro's current Star Wars license expires this year - so I suppose we'll just have to hold our breaths to see if their twenty-year affiliation with the brand is set to continue.
