2021 Target TVC Blue Leader's X-Wing with General Merrick

[Jeff]

Announced at Fan Fest today:
Rogue One Blue Leader X-Wing (repaint of the new TVC X-Wing ship) with carded General Merrick figure

Target exclusive in USA; TRU in Canada; Fan Channel in UK/EU.

[Matt_Fury]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.




Until they mentioned it's a Target Exclusive.

[Jeff]

io9 has the paid exclusive reveal.

They are saying its $100 @ Target this Fall.  That is a nice surprise to see they didn't jack up the price $15-20 because it's coming with a carded figure this time.

[Dave]

Any thoughts on if this figure will ever be released on a card?   I'd love the figure, but don't need another X-Wing.

[Jeff]

Any thoughts on if this figure will ever be released on a card? 

To be clear, he is a carded figure (like the pack-ins have been carded for the playsets).  They said the plan was for the carded figure to be exclusive to the set.  No plans to repack it in the main line.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.


Until they mentioned it's a Target Exclusive.

I'm generally excited about this. I do wish they would give one carded figure and one un-carded figure in this scenario.

I'm not sure if I need it, but I do wonder if Hasbro will do a partisan X-wing with Two tubes this year.

I don't know that I am too worried about Target. Recent Transformers Target exclusives have been pretty reasonable to get. The Smugglers BMF had issues, but I assume the cost of that lead to less volume in the system. My fingers are crossed that there will be a reasonable amount of Blue One to go around.

[Rob]

I love it.  I really wanted them to make him, this is great.

[Nicklab]

This was easily the highlight of the Star Wars team panel.  The updated X-Wing is a great vehicle with some amazing details.  And I feel like a lot of collectors have been calling for the Blue Leader X-Wing and General Merrick to be released ever since they saw ROGUE ONE.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole carded figure pack-in with a vehicle.  Yeah, they did that with the playsets.  But the playsets sold for about half the price of the most recent X-Wing release.  So if you wanted to get loose and carded versions of the Han Solo and Ree Yees from the Jabba's Palace Adventure set it was just another $50 to do that.  And the playset have lent themselves to some world building if you bought more than one.  This feels a little bit like Hasbro might be taking advantage. 

And if this does make it to Target stores?  I get the feeling that you might find some swappers who buy the vehicle just for the figure and return it with another figure.

[Rob]

Poe's X-Wing at Target was easy to get for $60 within a few weeks... I bought both of the other two for full price but I think I'm going to hold off for a sale on this one. 

[Jedi Idej]

This is a great set but it does suck the figure is exclusive. Wish they did an accessory variant instead, like the Razor Crest off-world jawa, so the figure itself is widely available.

That said, I'm down with the occasional release of a well-made re-deco and figure. I'll even go for a semi- or thrice-annual subscription.

(C'mon, Haslab, time to add a new Y-wing to your portfolio.)

[Matt_Fury]

It's times like these I feel sorry for carded collectors who are completionists.  Gonna have to get two of these.  It's probably worse with the Razor Crest.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

It's times like these I feel sorry for carded collectors who are completionists.  Gonna have to get two of these.  It's probably worse with the Razor Crest.

So, I mentioned above that I wish this release would come with an un-carded Merrick and a carded Merrick to solve the problem. I would be happy to pay $120 for that... maybe more? What would the rest of you pay?

[Dave]

It's times like these I feel sorry for carded collectors who are completionists.  Gonna have to get two of these.  It's probably worse with the Razor Crest.

So, I mentioned above that I wish this release would come with an un-carded Merrick and a carded Merrick to solve the problem. I would be happy to pay $120 for that... maybe more? What would the rest of you pay?

As cool as it looks, I really don't want another X-Wing. 

I'd really like to only pay $13 for a carded Merrick.  I'd be okay if he came in a white mailer for $13 too.

[Matt_Fury]

I'm already trying to figure out how to reorganize my Rebel Alliance hangar table to fit this thing!

[Nicklab]

The TVC TIE Fighter came with a pack-in TIE Pilot.  But that figure wasn’t carded.  This way of presenting General Merrick  is a little bit of a departure from what they’ve done before.