Op-Ed: Hasbro's Star Wars The Black Series Team Failed Their Second HasLab in a Row and Need to Finally Listen its Fans

When you go to Hasbro's site, on HasbroPulse.com, to buy collectibles their motto is as clear as day on the browser tab for the page and reads, "Where Fans Come First."

For the most part I kind of agree when it comes to most of their brands, however, for me, this is starting to not apply for their 6-inch Star Wars The Black Series brand, and many fans join me in this opinion.

First off, I know Hasbro cannot willingly produce anything without the approval of Disney and Lucasfilm first and foremost. But after their second HasLab campaign failure in a row it seems like The Black Series team has become quite detached from their own motto.

I'm a part of several collector groups for The Black Series line on Facebook, as well as several subreddits for the product line on Reddit, and I can tell you first-hand how the fans, who are supposed to come first, feel like they are now coming in last and being ignored after a failed Rancor funding campaign and now yesterday's failed Reva lightsaber campaign. 

Now don't get me wrong, I collect a lot of Hasbro's various brands and product lines and in fact I can safely say their G.I. Joe team is probably (one of if not) the best team they have working on that particular product line. (Shout out to Lenny who I have spoke to many times at San Diego Comic-Con's of the past begging him for a 6-inch G.I. Joe line which debuted in 2020 with the Classified Series. Thank you so much for listening Lenny!)

The G.I. Joe team absolutely nails it, regardless of the lack of availability of certain exclusives from big box retailers. Their new HasLab HISS Tank campaign was the fastest HasLab campaign to become fully backed and it has nearly achieved all its bonus tier goals (as of the writing of this op-ed), too. 

But then there's The Black Series failures. Reminder, it's been two in a row!

That's a really bad look and shows a fan-perceived detachment from the brand as well as showing all their cards how they are not really in line with their own "Where Fans Come First" motto. And to clarify, I'm not pissed off at these failures, I'm just very disappointed in Hasbro.

Many collectors in the various groups and subreddits all seem to be in agreement that the logical HasLab should have been The Mandalorian's modded Naboo starfighter as seen in THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT series. But instead they dropped a ridiculously expensive lightsaber that in no way was deserving of costing as much as it did. Especially when Disney's own Legacy lightsabers are far better than Hasbro's versions and those are actually worthy of their more expensive cost direct from Disney. 

So what can be done? Well, not much right now.

Most likely, and this is purely my opinion, fans and collectors of The Black Series product line won't see another HasLab campaign for a long time as Hasbro needs to lick its own wounds and recover from two disastrous funding attempts in a row. 

Or... they could call up Disney and Lucasfilm and beg and beg and beg them to make Mando's Naboo starfighter campaign a reality. Hasbro's next attempt needs to hit a home run and there is no easier way to do this than to listen to the fans and give them exactly what they want as soon as possible.

Finally, and in conclusion, if anyone at Hasbro sees this opinion post please know I will in fact be at San Diego Comic-Con next week and would be more than happy to sit down and discuss this in further detail with Hasbro. Especially if you want fans to get back on your side. Tell me your story. Be honest. Be candid. Show some empathy toward the fanbase, I'll happily help you tell this story.

Written by Daniel Wolf, Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief

(Image screenshot via HasbroPulse.com, Second image via Disney/Lucasfilm)