After months of waiting, it is finally almost upon us! What? No, not the theatrical release of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (although that IS soon), it’s almost FORCE FRIDAY! For those of you who have somehow not seen any of the blaring advertisements over the last few months, ‘Force Friday’ is this Friday, September 9th, and it commemorates the official launch of all of the highly anticipated ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ merchandise! Most stores are going to open at midnight Thursday going into Friday to celebrate this special occasion, giving dedicated fans a chance to grab all of their favorite ‘Star Wars’ collectibles before all of their friends!
We’ve gone through the droves of merchandise that have been announced so far and are bringing you our Top 10 Reasons To Be Excited For Force Friday! These are what we’re going to call our Top 10 favorite ‘The Force Awakens’ products or product lines that have been revealed so far. We say “so far”, because there is still bound to be plenty of merchandise that has remained behind a shroud of mystery until the big day this Friday! Without further adieu, here’s our Top 10 Reasons To Be Excited For Force Friday!
10. Furbacca
Starting off our list is a fine new product that was premiered way back in February at Toy Fair 2015, Furbacca! Furbacca is a combination of two awesomely furry things, Chewbacca the Wookie of ‘Star Wars’ fame (you may have heard of him), and the sometimes creepy but always loveable electronic pet Furby! Furbacca gives you a chance to own your very own pet Wookie (kind of), without all of the mess of feeding it, cleaning up after it, and explaining to the neighbors why their child’s arms have been removed from their sockets. Always remember, let the Furbacca win!
(via Imgur)
9. ‘The Force Awakens’ LEGO Sets
While the more recent ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy had the advantage of the LEGO brand throughout most of their lifespan, the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy did not see awesome buildable LEGO sets until roughly three decades after their release! Newly designed ’Star Wars’ vehicles like these only come once every few decades, and what could possibly be more fun than experiencing a brand new ‘Star Wars’ vehicle for the first time by building it yourself? The ‘LEGO Star Wars’ brand has easily been one of the biggest combined marketing successes of the last decade, so it’s no surprise to see ‘The Force Awakens’ LEGO sets on the forefront of this list!
(via HighDefDigest)
8. The Build Your Own Lightsaber Kit
So if in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, Jedi Knights build their own Lightsabers, and with this toy, you build YOUR own Lightsaber, does that mean anyone who buys this kit would technically be considered a proper Jedi Knight? No, probably not. At least we’d say it’s highly unlikely. But how cool is it that you can mix and match all of these parts into so many different combinations to create your very own unique toy Lightsaber? Anybody can go buy a toy Lightsaber, but to actually craft your own custom design? Now THAT is the power of the Force!
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7. Funko POP! Vinyls
As many of you know, we’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Funko here at ScienceFiction.com (and for most toy companies really, we just love toys!), so it’s no big surprise to see us super excited for the latest wave of Funko ‘Star Wars’ products! We can’t get enough of these adorable little vinyl bobbleheads and can’t wait to see how our own little bobble BB-8 ‘s bobble feature works! So far we’ve only got a preview of this first wave, which contains already popular new characters like Finn, Rey, Captain Phasma,, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren and more, as well as a few fan favorite classic characters like C-3PO and Chewbacca; but it is expected that there will be a second wave of these figures that will include new versions of Han, Luke, and maybe a few other new characters from the film!
(via HighDefDigest)
6. New Vehicles
With each new “Star Wars’ film, we see the launch of a fleet of freshly designed new vehicles to line our shelves with! While a few of these are updated takes on classic designs like the X-Wing and TIE-Fighter, there is still plenty to be excited about in the lineup of new vehicles for Hasbro’s 3.75” scale ’Star Wars’ action figure line! We’ve got new Land Speeders, Assault Walkers, and even a fresh take on the Speeder Bikes coming our way! While many of these look to be on a bit of a smaller scale, it’s not hard to get excited about this huge new assortment of ‘Star Wars’ vehicles!
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5. Nerf Bowcaster & Stormtrooper Blaster
They made a NERF gun version of Chewbacca’s Bowcaster. We don’t think we need to elaborate any further on why this is amazing, it pretty well speaks for itself. Also, the NERF Stormtrooper Blaster is pretty badass too! Hopefully you can actually hit things with those though.
(via Imgur)
4. Remote Controlled BB-8
They made a remote controlled BB-8 toy! Yes, that little rolling ball Droid that everyone has been clamoring about ever since he first appeared in the very first teaser trailer, and the Droid that blew everyone away when they found out he was actually a practical effect and not a CGI character. This little remote controlled BB-8 is sure to be a huge seller for ‘Star Wars’ fans both young and old, as he allows you to capture the magic of the film in your own home with a Droid that actually rolls around the house!
(via Imgur)
3. The Return Of ‘Micro Machines’
WOW. For ‘Star Wars’ collectors and children of the 1990’s, the name ‘Micro Machines’ is definitely no stranger. This huge toyline of tiny vehicles and figures was a big property in the mid 90’s for ‘Star Wars’ fans that gave us a ton of micro sized playsets, figures, and vehicles, and encompassing every corner of the ‘Star Wars’ universe until it died out shortly after the release of ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace’. The fact that this miniature line is returning is gigantic news for collectors, and even more exciting news for collectors who have children now, as people can share the magic of this pint-sized toyline with their own little ones.
The new ‘Force Awakens’ Micro Machines line consists of a few foldout playsets that fold up into the shape of popular vehicles and characters, as well as ton of minifigures and vehicles to actually use on the playsets themselves. So far playsets have been revealed shaped like the Millennium Falcon, R2-D2, a Super Star Destroyer, and a First Order Stormtrooper.
(via Imgur)
2. Star Wars Black Series
It goes pretty much without saying that many ‘Star Wars’ collectors have quickly fallen in love with the highly articulated 6” scale “Star Wars Black Series’ toyline from Hasbro. It gives fans larger scale figures with highly detailed sculpts and the articulation that the collectors market craves! We’ve spent the last year and a half eating up a ton of awesome 6” scale figures based off of the first six films in the ‘Star Wars’ series, so it’s really exciting to be able to add an entire wave (and probably more) of brand new characters to the toy line! The first wave of ‘The Force Awakens’ Black Series figures includes Finn, Rey, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, and a First Order Stormtrooper.
(via Imgur)
1. Kylo Ren’s Force FX Lightsaber
Whether you love or hate Kylo Ren’s ‘Crossguard’ Lightsaber, this thing is easily the coolest thing we have seen so far! The team behind the Force FX Lightsabers line has provided highly detailed screen accurate Lightsaber replicas for almost every major ‘Star Wars’ character from the previous films in the series, so it isn’t too surprising to see that they’ve tackled this new design. But wow, just look at that thing! It’s likely to be one of the single most sought after pieces of ‘The Force Awakens’ merchandise that’s hitting the market this week. With an expected price point of around $199.99, it’s going to be a very expensive piece of awesome ‘Star Wars’ memorabilia to celebrate the day with!
(via StarWarsUnderworld)
So are you planning to hit your local stores to celebrate ’Force Friday’? Which piece of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ merchandise is your favorite? Which pieces do you plan to pick up yourself to add to your collection? Let us know in the comments section below! And this Force Friday, May The Force Be With You!
