‘The Mandalorian’: And this is how Disney prepares to sell Star Wars figures to the beast

The episode 3×07 of The Mandalorian He has given us what will become two of the most demanded action figures by fans since Star Wars created Baby Yoda. Stay well with what I say. Star Wars figure of IG-12 driven by Grogu (and if I’m lucky, I cross my fingers that it is, with anzellano included), both in the format of the 15 cm figures of the premium editions and in a more home-like version in the style of the classic figures of 3.75-inch Kenner, and the figure of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) with the armor of an Imperial Mandalorian with Beskar armor, including tell-tale horns, will unleash the buying craze of Star Wars fans. And it’s a master move because the passion for Grogu goes beyond fans of the Star Wars Universe. The Baby Yoda Lego figure has been the best-selling set on Amazon for a couple of years (now it’s been dethroned by the Star Bomber set and The Mandalorian’s N-1 starfighter… which includes a Grogu figure). , of course), without going any further, and that does not happen just because.

Grogu has long since officially become the Iron Man of Star Wars, the gateway to the Star Wars Universe for non-legals. What we did not expect is that, on top of that, he would repeat the genius of recovering IG-11 and replicating the Hulk’s armor in Infinity War, the Hulkbuster (Mark XLIV for friends). This Grogubuster is what Disney and Lucasfilm needed to boost sales of their merchandising. How can more Grogu figures be sold? Obviously creating new ones. How to make them attractive enough to sell out as soon as they come out? Bringing IG-11, sorry IG-12 into the equation. The yes and no buttons are the genius to expand the product range and make more toys with the Grogu-IG-12 duo. And the figure of Moff Gideon in Imperial Mandalorian armor from Beskar… that one sells itself, ladies and gentlemen. And the thing about putting an Anzellano in, don’t look at me like that, it’s not nonsense: it’s the difference between charging 39.99 euros for a figure or 94.99 euros for a pack of three. Sorry, but watching the episode was all I could think about. In that and in that this time Disney was not going to make the same mistake as in Christmas 2020, before the pandemic when it lost a golden opportunity with the Baby Yoda figures.

Right now Hasbro’s most popular Star Wars figure sets are the Vintage set of the septet of bit musicians Figrin D’An and the Modal Nodes (109.99 euros), followed by the Grogu Rescue Set that recalls the end of the season 2 of The Mandalorian with the figures of Moff Gideon, Baby Yoda, Mando and a darktrooper (92.99 euros) and a set of clone troopers from Phase 1 (63.99 euros). The soft-bodied, chunky-headed Grogu plush is one of the best sellers in Amazon’s Toys section and is ahead, mind you, of Spider-Man and Batman.

The boost that Grogu has given to Star Wars toy sales is clear, especially when they were starting to decline. In 2018, direct sales of Star Wars toys had dipped to between $143 million and $176 million from $284 million to $333 million just two years earlier, according to industry estimates at the end of the year. the second decade of the 21st century. Since the pandemic there are no figures. There is talk that both The Rise of Skywalker and, above all, Baby Yoda boosted sales of Star Wars merchandising, but there is no concrete data. In 2021, Hasbro acknowledged that it had increased its sales by 70%, largely as a result of the Star Wars license.