update: for those who missed it, there's been a press release from LFL
www.starwars.com/collecting/news/misc/news20080110.htmlagain, just so we know who the players are:
EFX has taken over the master replicas license and will be making all manner of high end SW props (see website);
EFX is owned by one Byran Ono, (ex) head of master replicas (previous) star wars line.
Bryan also owns Toyteq the third party developer who created MR's star wars line for them,
and thus, he owns all the R&D that went into MR's products.
meanwhile, MR has gone ahead and sold their force-FX "trademark" to hasbro; hasbro will be taking over MR's "force-FX" line and selling it under their own existing license to sell "toys".
from the press release:
^^ (
a quote so nice I quoted it twice)
these just happen to be the existing sabers that were already in MR's existing product line; these are the same lineup of sabers which were available on the MR website last month until they ALL suddenly showed "sold out" on the same day, right around the middle of december.
it would be logical to assume that , on that day, MR sold its entire product line to hasbro
including all their existing stock, which will be simply reboxed and rebranded under the hasbro name. it would also be logical to assume that Hasbro is getting everything that MR had "in the pipe" (things they were working on, but had not finished).
and what was MR working on? --> MR was working on an Obiwan TPM (they had a prototype at their C4 party which broke when somebody dropped it on its pommel); they were also working on both quigon and dooku FX (these were 'officially' announced late last year but then canceled due to time constraints). MR only release 3-4 sabers per yer, and these 3 sabers were (supposed to be) the lineup for 2008.
IN the end,
I think its safe to assume that the 5 models announced by LFL in the press release are the exact same physical items that MR was selling before the end of their license (Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul and Yoda);
and that this will remain the hasbro lineup for 2008.
in 2009 I hope to see that quigon and obiwan TPM MR was working on released in time for the 10th anniversary of TPM, followed closely by the dooku (probably the same year).
after that, the future is uncertain.
-===-
on the other front,
I think its safe to say we WILL see the xwing SS finally finished; this item was under development (by Bryan aka. toyteq) and was
very close to being finished when MR's license expired; I predict this will be one of the first new releases by EFX, along with a chewie bowcaster (which was also in development at the same time).
beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. we can only speculate as to what their debut product line will hold.
(hopefully, not
too many rehashes of previous MR items)