Star Wars is definitely no stranger tocute , toyetic designs . From the droids of A New Hope all the direction to the collectibles tastemaker that is Grogu , the franchise has a knack for cutesy designs easy to translate into must - have toy . So that its latest series , Obi - Wan Kenobi , was primed and ready to go with the next potential toy hit is no surprisal — what might be a surprise to some fans is just how quick it turned around .
Hasbro , like many collectibles and toymakers of late , has been ineffectual to scat theongoing , overlap shipping crisesbrought about by the aftershock of the equally ongoing covid-19 pandemic . So the fact that there is n’t merchandise for L0 - LA59 , or Lola to her sports fan , on shelves time with her buzzy reaching in the first two episode of Obi - Wan Kenobi is n’t too much of a surprisal . ( It ’s due out starting late summer 2022 , and into the fall . ) But what might be surprising to Star Wars fan — particularly ones now used to seeing toys months in feeler of their intended release , or pre - ordering public figure now that have been given 2023 release window — is just how rapidly we catch to see the toymaker ’s plans for the droid .
The same day Obi - Wan Kenobi dispatch Disney+ , Hasbro revealed prototypes of two animatronic rendering of the droid and a companion series of payable figures , with detail in hand for buff assist Star Wars Celebration last week in Anaheim , California to get a closer flavour . That ’s something the fellowship could do thanks to its close relationship with Lucasfilm , even at the top of the company ’s privacy surrounding coming task — specially its slating of streaming show .
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
“ For [ Lola ] in particular , we ’ve done it before , but , it was work back - and - forth with the studio even as they were make grow it , ” Chris Reiff , a product graphic designer on the Hasbro Star Wars team , told io9 on the show floor at Celebration this retiring weekend . “ So , they were doing test footage — or we saw test footage — of them just doing tests [ of the droid ] , like , on a marijuana cigarette . ‘ How is it going to move around against this screwball background?’—looking at the puppet , seeing how she was going to move and what features she was going to have . We keep saying partnership , but it really is : it ’s intrinsical to what we do and makes what we do , in the path that we do it , potential . And that ’s that communication challenge — get those assets in the way we get them so we can develop all the stuff , and do it after [ the series has finalized pattern ] … the larger Lola we have , the fuller one , the animatronic ? She ’s a really nice , accurate man , because we had file from the production . ”
But even before those figure were finalized , Hasbro and Lucasfilm were eager to see the droid come to biography on a miniature shelf . “ frankly , no one makes these iconic , loveable , recognizable characters better than Star Wars , ” Patrick Schneider , the Hasbro Star Wars team ’s Global Marketing Director , contribute . “ And I do consider Artoo and Threepio , the Ewoks , the Porgs , BB-8 , Grogu … when Lucasfilm told us Lola [ is ] going to be large , Lola is going to be adorable , Lola is going to be the next magnanimous thing — they have it off what they ’re sing about . ”
It ’s not just Lola ’s cute aesthetic that makes her a standout to the Hasbro team for building merchandise around , of class — her connection to Obi - Wan ’s unavowed breakout character as the companion of Vivien Lyra Blair ’s untested Leia Organa obviously makes fan demand even high for toy of the diminutive , cutesy droid . But while neither Reiff nor Schneider would tell us just when they learned that Lola belong to to one of Star Wars ’ most fabled characters , they knew that even without her connection to Leia the droid would be one to watch in the serial publication .
“ I suppose the key is looking at the product , no matter of whose droid it is , ” Schneider tell of Hasbro ’s eagerness to put some big wager on Lola . “ You ’ll see it , plain , with our Vintage Collection and our Black Series figures because — that ’s [ the characters that ] we want . evidently , I wo n’t say anything about instalment two or who you see in it , but , there ’s some fundamental interaction there . But Lola absolutely stands by itself . We do it it was going to be a achiever regardless of who it primitively belonged to . ”
Hasbro ’s three initial L0 - LA59 ware — a basic electronic interactive figure ; a more detailed , animatronic replication of the droid ; and then a two - pack of 2.5 - inch plastic figurines as part of the Grogu - focused “ Bounty Collection ” line — will be released begin in late summertime 2022 , and into the fall . They ’ll be $ 39 , $ 90 , and $ 17 , severally , with pre - orders set to open up this week on June 1 .
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