First Order Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Celebrate the season with specially designed Star Wars figures from The Black Series.

A year later is better than never, we suppose. Something went awry with distribution in 2021, and Hasbro couldn’t get out the next phase of Holiday Edition 6-inch figures from The Black Series line to their retail partners. But instead of coming clean to the collecting community that their plans fell through, collectors had to rely on leaked images of these products hitting eBay in various foreign markets. Thankfully, plans for this half-dozen set of Holiday Edition action figures came to fruition for the 2022 holiday season, and Hasbro got them out to all of their retail partners in a timely fashion. This year there are six instead of five characters to collect. Each comes with a “mini” character and an exclusive holiday-themed accessory. The new set of figures is interesting, and if you love gimmicky figures in Christmas colors, well, you’re in luck and have a new batch to bring home. Hasbro developed these “Expanded Universe” characters, and although we don’t see much in the way of new tooling, the approach taken on these figures helps to make them appear as fresh as possible. The miniature characters, like porgs, are also decorated in holiday festivities, while others come with a new take on previously released characters, like the MSE droid, for example. If you decide to appreciate this mini collection at face value, we bet you’ll find that most of these entries into the line are cute and worthy of consideration in your Star Wars collection. And the main characters included aren’t half bad, either. Let’s take a closer look at the figures and determine what is exclusive to what retailer.

Phase II Clone Trooper (Holiday Edition) is exclusive to Hasbro Pulse and Shop Disney. Based on 2020’s TBS [P4] Clone Trooper (Kamino) (TCW01) figure, Hasbro colored the armor light brown to recreate the likeness of a gingerbread man. It works. They also included white stripes to recreate the icing on the figure. The figure also has a bowtie and buttons on its torso to help make it look like a real gingerbread man, and it’s too bad they didn’t use images of raisins to complete the look. The Phase II Clone Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure comes paired with what we call a “porg-uin.” It’s a repaint of the figure from 2018’s TBS [P3] Porgs set. Hasbro gave the figure a paint job that looks like Santa. Mandalorian Warrior (Holiday Edition) is a Target exclusive. Based on 2020’s TBS [P4] Mandalorian Loyalist (TCW04) figure. Hasbro painted the figure with an ugly sweater with Mandalorian helmets. Hasbro paired the figure with an all-white bogling. The Scout Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure is a Walmart exclusive based on the age-old Scout Trooper figure, but first released individually packaged as 2019’s TBSA Scout Trooper figure. And yes, it still doesn’t look good, nor did it when first released. Hasbro included the accessory of Grogu in a sack based on a scene from The Mandalorian. But this time, they painted it in Christmas colors. Hasbro also changed the color of the blaster pistol to white. The First Order Stormtrooper is an Amazon exclusive based on 2015’s TBS [P3] First Order Stormtrooper (04) figure. Hasbro went “crazy” with the colors on this figure, and they cleverly made the top of the helmet look like a Santa hat. Hasbro included a Christmas-colored MSE droid with the figure.

The Protocol Droid is a Fan Channel exclusive based on 2016’s TBS [P3] C-3PO (Resistance Base) (29) figure. The tooling also feels outdated now. Hasbro paired the Protocol Droid with a BD-1 droid that first came with Cal Kestis (GG02) figure. Both are repainted in holiday flair and come with holiday-themed deco and parts. They also gave the Protocol Droid (Holiday Edition) figure a green scarf. The final figure is our favorite of the bunch. Hasbro made the Wookiee (Holiday Edition) figure by taking the 6-inch Chewbacca figure from 2019's TBS [P3] Chewbacca & C-3PO two-pack and painting it all white with blue skin underneath the white fir. It looks like a yeti or abominable snowman. And it might pass as a wampa for the creative collectors. We love how it turned out; it feels like a must-have figure for all collectors. The Wookiee (Holiday Edition) action figure is a GameStop exclusive and has the best value in this sub-line of figures. Hasbro included an all-white porg (also with blue feet) to accompany the Wookiee. With a total collection of nearly a dozen Holiday Edition figures now released, we feel it’s time to put this idea to rest and think of something new for any future holiday type of characters. We don’t believe the collecting community will be able to tolerate another wave of these characters. We’ve had our fill. Besides, with all these characters coming too close or over $30 (with tax and shipping), exclusive 6-inch figures aren’t affordable anymore. Hasbro will need to strategize a better way to run its exclusives program for 2023 because collectors are burned out. But enjoy these this year. Merry Christmas!

Special thanks to JTA longtime reader and friend, Alientek (AKA Scot Gray), for the reference data image artwork. We're grateful for his assistance.