This Week’s Toy News Stares Into Infinity, and Beyond

Hasbro's Star Wars The Black Series Tala, Hot Toys Lightyear Space Ranger Buzz, and Hiya Toys' Robocop.

Image: Hasbro, Hot Toys, and Hiya Toys

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular round-up of toy news. This week, Obi-Wan Wednesdays continue with a new Black Series figure, Hot Toys keeps reminding you that its expertise lies in creepy realism with a trip to Lightyear, and, we cannot stress this enough: Nerf has a blaster shaped like a dinosaur. Check it out!


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Hot Toys Lightyear Space Ranger Alpha Buzz Lightyear Sixth-Scale Figure

With Disney shunting most of its Star Wars-related content to its streaming service, it looks like Pixar’s Lightyear is going to be this summer’s biggest sci-fi blockbuster, complete with the Hot Toys treatment for the movie’s leading character: Buzz Lightyear himself. The 12-inch figure features 30 points of articulation, a “lifelike” sculpt of the CG cartoon character complete with “rolling eyeballs” for added expressions, seven swappable gloved hands in various poses, Sox the robotic cat and its computer (for those who opt for the deluxe version of this figure), and a beautifully weathered space suit with a removable dome and rocket pack with wings. It’s arguably the greatest Buzz Lightyear figure to date, but won’t ship until sometime late next year.


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Image: Hasbro

Hasbro Star Wars The Black Series Tala (Imperial Officer)

Hasbro’s latest “Obi-Wan Wednesday” reveal might be a little poorly timed given the events of this week’s episode of the show, but hey, it’s nice to get any version of one of Obi-Wan’s better new additions to Star Wars. Based on her Imperial Officer disguise from episodes three and four of the series, Tala comes with a SE-14C blaster pistol. Now she just needs an equally uncomfortable Obi-Wan Kenobi with bonus comically-sticking-out trenchcoat accessory! Tala is set to release early next year, but is available to pre-order now for around $25.


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Lego Forest Hideout (Gift With Purchase)

Rumors swirl of Lego bringing back some of its most iconic themes for the company’s 90th birthday, but available as a gift with purchase for those who spend $150 or more between now and June 22nd is this revival of the classic forest people collection: a subset of Lego’s castle theme. The 258-piece Forest Hideout set features a secret fort hidden in a tree, and a pair of forest people brandishing swords and bows and arrows. For those who grew up with Lego in the pre-Star Wars days, the forest people sets, which cleverly tip-toed around acknowledging Robin Hood in any way, were always fun models featuring lots of hidden surprises and reveals. And if Lego plans to bring anything back to celebrate the big 9-0, we hope it’s more of these.


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Image: Hiya Toys

Hiya Toys RoboCop 1/12th-Scale Die-Cast Figure

It’s Hiya Toys’ turn to celebrate the 35th anniversary of RoboCop with a new 12th-scale figure that goes heavy on the sweet, sweet die-cast parts. The company has been churning out detailed RoboCop figs for a few years now, but at 6.5-inches tall, this release is larger than its usual fare. All of the figure’s armored parts are made of die-cast metal, and Hiya managed to squeeze in an impressive 23 points of articulation. Accessories include swappable hands and heads, alternate battle-damaged armor, and a pair of auto-9 pistols, with storage for one in Robo’s right thigh. It’s available for pre-order from online shops like BigBadToyStore now for $90, with shipping starting in February of next year.


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Lego Ideas Jazz Quartet

It was back in October of 2021 when Lego revealed that Hsinwei Chi’s Jazz Quartet Lego Ideas submission would be turned into an official set, but it’s taken about eight months for the final version to be revealed. Available for purchase starting on July 1 for $100, the most notable change to Chi’s original design is that the all-male quartet now sees the piano player replaced by a female tickling the ivories, while the frames of each performer have all been thickened and reinforced to presumably make them more stable to build and display.


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Image: Hasbro

Nerf Dinosqaud Armorstrike Dart Blaster

Even if Jurassic World: Dominion was a big stinker, dinosaurs are, and will always be, cool. And even when a Jurassic movie flops at the box office and with fans, it still brings with it a mountain of dino merchandise, including another addition to Nerf’s Dinosquad line. These blasters aren’t necessarily designed for hunting dinosaurs, but instead draw upon the creatures for design inspiration. The new Nerf Dinosqaud Armorstrike blaster takes inspiration from the Anklyosaurus, although the last time we checked that dino wasn’t known for blasting eight foam darts using a rotating barrel and pump-action priming mechanism while storing eight backup darts in its tale. But records from that era are sketchy at best. The Armorstrike blaster is available now for $40.


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