Tonnika Twins No Longer Off-Limits for Toys

In the topsy-turvy galaxy of Star Wars merchandising, collectors were given a long-held belief: The Tonnika twins, those fleeting humanoid apparitions from the A New Hope cantina scene, were beyond the realm of plastic immortalization.

But don’t worry—the guys at Hasbro might’ve recently sidestepped that idea. Reading between the lines, the Star Wars project lead, Chris Reiff, spills the beans—or should we say, a fragments of a Death Star? “Without a doubt, we’ve crafted the twins, much to our delight,” he says, somehow maintaining a straight face. “To truly deliver something unique amidst all these ongoing projects is like navigating through the asteroid field.”

Taking the Reigns and Dealing with the Controversy

Sure, the method was a tad controversial. Goes without saying though, doesn’t it? The crowd-funded cantina was divided into two tiers—a little experiment to gauge whether fans were into the open-for-display concept, or were all-out completists, perhaps leaning more towards tabletops rather than shelves.

Reiff shrugs nonchalantly, “You can’t exactly offer two-thirds of a starship, can you? But in this instance, providing a two-thirds peek at the heart of the cantina seemed fair play. The HasLab price point isn’t entry level, yet it’s more palatable for a significant number of fans; a plus for those wanting to splurge on the deluxe upgrade.”

Digging Deeper Than Tattooine’s Sand Dunes

Would they contemplate creating a printable download for a cantina-set floor—that’s a definite no-no, and not without merit though. According to Reiff, “We didn’t want to confine creative imagination to a layout. Keeping it modular grants patrons the chance to maneuver it in inventive ways.”

He continues, “Following our photo documentation, we used a basic board as an underlay for a satisfying neutral tone, an approach that masked the absence of flooring in the pictorial content. Turns out, you hardly notice it. And therein lies the beauty—it encourages fans to simply choose a neutral-toned chipboard and slip it under.”

Embracing Mandalorian Merch and Star Wars’ Finicky Fate

True to form, The Vintage Collection soon expands to encapsulate, not just A New Hope, but also the rough and ready world of The Mandalorian.

Reiff grins like a mischievous Wookie, “We were handed the 3D blueprints from Lucasfilm and tailored them to fit in with the Vintage Collection’s aesthetic and of course, the highly anticipated Blurrg had to slot in appropriately in our Razor Crest.”

The Acolyte stumped them a tad, with a few unexpected character deaths catching them out of left field (or should we say, off Alderaan?). Jing Houle, Reiff’s fellow Jedi in arms, admits, “Sure, there were moments we went ‘Nooooo!’ in unison with the fans when some characters bit the dust.”

The Fast-Approaching Horizon and Archive Trials

The carded Archive Collection, stubbornly resisting total annihilation like Palpatine himself, will continue to play second fiddle to the repacked, boxed series. So when the question of the tenth anniversary of The Force Awakens’ crops up, Reiff stays noncommittal, “As things stand presently, a decade isn’t an unreasonable timeline to celebrate. Whether we ring it in or hold out for some future event is a bridge we will cross as we traverse this expansive galaxy.”