Hasbro

In May 1999, Star Wars hadn’t been in movie theaters for nearly 20 years—well, new Star Wars, at least; the Special Editions had returned a few years prior. But the galaxy far, far away was about to explode with the arrival of The Phantom Menace. And actually, a few weeks earlier, the explosion had already begun, in pretty much every store and toy aisle across America and beyond.Technically, the fervor had kicked off the year before with a mail-away campaign for the first Episode I figure, a mysterious Jedi Master—and…

Image: HasbroTen years ago, Hasbro announced something akin to a disturbance in the Force—and Star Wars toy fans’ wallets: The Black Series, a brand new line that would bump the iconic heroes and villains of the galaxy far, far away up to 6" scale for the first time (and away from the 3.75" scale Star Wars changed the game with).Since then, countless characters from movies, games, comics, streaming shows, and more have made their way onto our desks and shelves—classic heroes like Han, Luke, and Leia; all-new ones still…

The Last of Us, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Our Flag Means Death, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, Doctor WhoImage: HBO, Paramount+, Max, Crunchyroll, BBC/Disney+With a dizzying array of streaming services available, there was no shortage of great TV this year—and while io9 has already shared our top 20 shows of 2023, today we’re revealing our top TV moments... all 50 of them. These are the moments when we laughed, cheered, shed a tear, shrieked in disbelief, and/or realized we were witnessing game-changing turning…

Image: Hot ToysIf you thought it’d be Hasbro who first got its hands on Ahsoka’s trooper repurposing, think again: Hot Toys is giving us our first actual look at Thrawn and the Great Mothers’ unholy matrimony of Imperial Remnant and Nightsister witchery in action figure form... although there stands a good chance anything Hasbro has planned for them will be out before these two pricey figures hit shelves.Hot Toys has revealed its latest additions to its Star Wars line from the world of Ahsoka in the form of the Night…

An error in judgement earlier this year—when a D&D artist confirmed they had used generative AI programs to finish several pieces of art included in the sourcebook Glory of the Giants—saw Wizards of the Coast publicly ban the use of AI tools in the process of creating art for the venerable TTRPG. Now, the publisher is making that clearer for its other wildly successful game in Magic: The Gathering.I Interviewed a ChatGPT Powered Hologram Bot | AI Unlocked“For 30 years, Magic: The Gathering has been built on the…

Image: HasbroHasbro’s Haslab series—a crowdfunding drop line that lets the toymaker make some truly wild toys it could never feasibly release to the mass market, should enough collectors actually want them—is meant to be a one and done thing. The campaign starts, and if it hits its goals, when it ends pretty much all that’s ever made is to fulfill the orders of who backed it. That doesn’t mean, however, that Hasbro doesn’t have some of them hiding in its vaults.Today the embattled toymaker announced to mark its 100th…

Although it feels like it can be said every year recently, it’s hard to imagine a better year in terms of its influence than 2023 has been for Dungeons & Dragons. A movie, TV channels, a video game that has dominated the world, and of course a not-insignificant glimpse toward the game’s own future. But for all those highs, they are contrasted in lows that have nearly sundered all of that goodwill in the process.Google’s AI Isn’t a Gimmick, It’s the Future | AI UnlockedEven since a combination of the rise of Actual…

Image: HasbroAs we get closer and closer to the arrival of X-Men ‘97, the rallying cry of “To me, my X-Men merchandise!” just gets louder and louder. Earlier this week we saw Lego get in on the X-mania with a new set, but now it’s Hasbro’s turn with its latest wave inspired by the cartoon series.There’s plenty of X-Men this time around with Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler all getting figures in wave two, but the real highlights are the villains filling out the other half of the wave. Magneto—having appeared in wave…

Toy and entertainment giant Hasbro is cutting a significant amount of jobs, citing a softer market for toys. Hasbro said in an SEC filing that it conducted a "further review" of its cost structure and organization design, and it is shedding 900 jobs as a result. Hasbro said this will include both voluntary early retirement and layoffs, which are due to be completed in the next 18-24 months.This move comes after Hasbro announced a cost-savings effort in October 2022 and announced a plan to eliminate about…

Image: HasbroRetro toys are a funny thing. When The Phantom Menace hit theaters, it did so alongside the firepower of a fully armed and operational action figure line that represented a huge generational leap from the Star Wars toys that changed the movie industry two decades prior. And yet now in the present, nearly 25 years removed, Hasbro is imagining a world where that revamp didn’t exactly happen.That’s because while time marches on—Phantom Menace and its toys are older to us now than the classic Star Wars Kenner…