As North America celebrated Labor Day weekend, many gathered their families in a frenzied last-ditch attempt to cram in a final warm memory before the seasons changed. For some this meant shopping, and even though no one has yet seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, that need not stand in the way of buying the officially licensed toys.
Last week an 18-hour round-the-world YouTube webcast revealing new action figures, Lego ships and robotics led to #ForceFriday, a social media event in which eager consumers lined up at midnight to be the first on their block to own the new collectibles. There were some unfortunate bumps in the road with retailers being woefully understocked, but maybe Star Wars was just following the first rule of showbiz: always leave ’em wanting more. Now, with the initial euphoria subsided, the time has come to see just how playable these new gewgaws actually are.
Members of the press and their families in the New York area were invited for a Star Wars Day of Play, which I interpreted to mean “don’t be a schmuck and line up in the middle of the night, let Hasbro slip you a gifting bag for attending our event”. This was, indeed, the case, but I maintained a soupçon of integrity by giving all my trinkets to my young nephew – even though I know he’s never going to play that Star Wars-themed Monopoly board game and I totally would.
The Manhattan event space was filled not just with happy kids, but Stormtroopers and Jedi in full dress ready to add atmosphere while we familiarized ourselves with the new product line. There were Nerf blasters, Chewbacca masks and figurines of the new villain, the mysterious Kylo Ren. The niftiest toy was undoubtedly the Bladebuilders, essentially tools with which to create your own lightsaber. They ranged from tiny dagger size to elaborate, candelabra-esque weapons with multiple ports. They all lit up and made sound effects. My nephew wanted a double-bladed one like Darth Maul’s, but, being a student of Jung, decided it should be half-good and half-bad, so his was blue and red.
Nearby was a station with a similar concept, a Star Wars-specific version of Hero Mashers, in which you can take component parts and build your own action figure. (My nephew put Han Solo’s torso on a Stormtrooper’s body and gave him enormous fists that looked more like Marvel’s The Thing, but I’m sure they came from a lesser-known in-Universe alien.) On the one hand, I was impressed with this opportunity to play in such a free jazz style, but part of me wondered if Hero Mashers wasn’t born of a toy exec spying a bin of discarded doll parts wondering if he couldn’t make a buck out of ’em somehow.
We later got a kick out of Loopin’ Chewie, a variant on Loopin’ Louie – a tactile board game that works like something of a reverse-Hungry Hungry Hippos. Basically, you want to prevent a spinning object (in this case, the Millennium Falcon featuring a smiling depiction of Chewbacca) from grabbing little discs away from you. It was fun, and I bet that I would have loved it when I was a kid. Will today’s kids, the ones who can do God-knows-what on their iPads, find it as engaging? Spend $25 at your local toy shop and you can find out yourself.
“I don’t think a movie needs to have toys to be good,” said Ethan Olcsvary, age 11, of Queens, New York. “But, it’s not a bad thing either,” he conceded before explaining that his number one hope for the new film was “a good space dogfight”.
“For parents who grew up with Star Wars toys, this is an incredible bonding experience,” said Erik Davis, managing editor of Fandango and father of two. “The toys help get the kids invested in the Universe, they have some familiarity with the new characters prior to going in. It makes for a more enjoyable experience for them.”
Of those new characters, not one was as buzzed-about as BB-8, the cute li’l beachball-like droid seen in brief clips in the film’s trailers. “That’s the new R2-D2!” my nephew accurately pointed out upon spotting it.
There are two BB-8s currently in the marketplace. (Or would the correct usage be BBs-8? Any chance we can contact Force Ghost William Safire? Priced at $150 is a remarkable smartphone-controlled robot that is already terrifying housecats. We got to play with the larger, less dynamic remote-control model that costs around $80. It gives me no joy to report that, while still cute, this gadget is something of a disaster. Maybe this one had just had a bad motivator, but its head could not stay on its body for more than three seconds. As kids tried to roll BB-8 through a fun obstacle course of action figures, the cheery attendant flop-sweated as he continuously corrected the decapitated droid, shooting glances of “please don’t report this, please don’t report this”. For what it’s worth, the Verge product-tested it and their video clearly shows that their gadget rolls around quite nicely, making agreeable little blurps and whistles. It’s entirely possible a Sith Lord was in the room causing trouble.
For the kids and emotionally stunted Gen X-ers in the room, the Day of Play was a success. For parents wondering what to get their kids for the holidays, there’s no point in fighting Star Wars. My sister has never watched a Star Wars film in her entire life, but can still name every character in the classic trilogy, even though she “hates them all and wishes it would go away”. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that there are at least five more films coming after this next one.
