MTFBWY #4: Toy Fair’s Weirdest, Wildest Star Wars Toys, and Which Vehicle is Best?

In case you’ve missed the twenty-something articles from the last few days, we just had Toy Fair here in New York, with all the latest and greatest figures, vinyl collectibles, role-play items, statues, and more on display. Of course there were plenty of items for the Star Wars family, which we’ll be talking about in detail in the second half of today’s column. If you missed it, you can find out about all the new LEGO Star Wars sets right here.

But first, today’s hashtag. After the very deep and thoughtful one in last week’s column, I decided to keep things light and fun this time around. This week, I wanted to know what your favorite #StarWarsVehicle is, whether it would be to ride in, fly in, fight in, or maybe just to have for your day-to-day usage.

And that question just goes to show you how various opinions can be about a property as big as Star Wars, because holy cow was there a lot of variation in your answers! In the first 10 answers I got on twitter, there were eight different answers! Facebook got even weirder, with my friend Cat Lynch pulling out the “MTV-7” Multiterrain Vehicle, as the diminutive New York actress said it would be good “in this weather” and be fun to have “the biggest ‘car’ on the road! #compensation.” Once again, the first 10 answers there brought a lot of variety, with virtually no overlap in respondents across both social media sites.

Here then are some of your specific responses, dear friends and readers.

And this guy, who thinks a little bigger…

Over on facebook…

Eric Reinstadler says, “As much as I would love to commute in an AT-AT, it would just be too unwieldy. AT-ST would be perfect for me.”

Three people went a little differently, and voted for the living vehicles.

Josh Hill says, “Dewback!” Journalist Matt Moore says, “No argument, a Bantha. (It’s not mechanical, I know, and can’t go sub-light, but it’s a sort of smooth ride. Sort of.)” And writer Bryan Young says, “I want a Tauntaun. It’s like a cold weather horse. You could take it skiing, it would be great.”

Pat Loika says, “I love the Imperial Shuttle. It’s traveling in style.”

Finally, our intrepid editor here James Viscardi enthusiastically voted for the “SNOWSPEEDER,” and Marvel TV’s Arune Singh agreed with a mic-dropping, “Snow speeder or you’re just wrong.”

As for me, man, I feel like I could answer this question differently one hundred times if you asked me on one hundred consecutive days. Is there anyone who wouldn’t want a jaunt in the Millennium Falcon? I mean, she may not look like much, but…

I think ultimately though, if I had to pick just one vehicle, I’d go for the maneuverability of the X-Wing; I always fancied myself more of an X-Wing pilot than a smuggler, after all.

Next week’s hashtag is #BestStarWarsMovie. That’s right, I want to know which of the six live-action movies is the best one, according to you. Let the debates begin!

For part two of today’s column, I wanted to take a look at some of the stranger or more out-there things I saw at Toy Fair over the weekend from this galaxy far, far away that we all love. With a brand like Star Wars, in order to compete, companies have to come up with cooler, weirder, and more attention-grabbing products, and they have responded in spades. While the gallery below the story focuses on Star Wars products from brands you know and love, here are five of the more unique items I saw.

Hasbro’s Entire Featured Line-up

There were no new Black Series figures. There were no new Rebels figures. The products for The Force Awakens couldn’t be shown yet. So what did Hasbro bring to Toy Fair 2015? Some weird, wild stuff.

The three feature products, all of which were announced in the days leading up to the show, were a customizable modular lightsaber system, a furby Chewbacca, and Star Wars Mashers, a series of action figures that can be torn apart and put back together as you please.

Yes, this was definitely the strangest selection from Hasbro, and certainly marks… something, though what I’m not quite sure of just yet. No new traditional figures, a toy set made very specifically for young kids, a novelty item, and the ability to make the hilariously ridiculous multi-bladed lightsabers people made memes and jokes out of when a trailer hit a few months ago? There are also Play-Doh-making vehicles on the way. Looking at these things, you can’t say they’re not being bold.

Rainbow Bossk and the Star Wars Hikari Line

Oh Rainbow Bossk, where have you been all my life? This Hikari line of Japanese Vinyls from Funko are just cool. With glitter, funky color gradients, and super-deformed styling, these are unmistakeably Star Wars, but also unmistakeably unique. The red and shiny Darth Vader and the bloody variant of the Wompa were highlights of this line, as well. Just cool, cool stuff.

Lightsaber BBQ Tongs, Other Home Goods

The Underground Toys booth was like a marketplace for Extreme Makeover: Nerd Home Edition, and it’s outstanding. While there were some cool items from other hot brands, this is a Star Wars column, y’all.

Whether it’s the BBQ Tongs shaped like lightsabers (complete with light and sound, natch), the X-Wing shaped knife holder, the pizza cutters or corkscrews or coasters or plates or welcome mats… yeah, you can pretty much make your entire kitchen, if not your entire home, remind you of your favorite franchise. They also had a giant, four foot tall Chewie plush for those cold, lonely nights.

BUBBLES!

We, all of us, deserve to have a bubble-blowing R2D2 machine. Glow-in-the-dark bubble lightsabers were cool, too, and popping Yoda’s head off a bottle to blow bubbles is surprisingly entertaining. Don’t worry too much about the company’s name, Imperial Toys – we were told they have no official affiliation with either the Empire or the Rebel Alliance.

Star Wars Samurai

Okay, without question, this was the coolest Star Wars product I found on the entire show floor. Created by Bandai Tamashii Nations and distributed in the US by Bluefin, these “Movie Realization” figures show us what Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers would look like if they went back to the roots of what George Lucas said was an inspiration: Samurai films. The figures are running $82 for Stormtroopers and $93 for Vader, so it’s not exactly a troop builder set, but with the quality and detail on them, it’s easy to see this as a great addition to any fan and collector’s shelf.

Honorable Mention: Revell’s Empty Display Boxes

What do you do when you want retailers and fans to know that your line of buildable models will include the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but if you show any images whatsoever of them, you’ll get in horrible trouble and lose your license? Display empty, white boxes! Now, they were in varying sizes, so take a look at them here and in the giant gallery below, and maybe you can figure out which are classic or new vehicles. Rey’s cool new speeder has to be one of them, right?