By: Dominic Jones
"Force Friday" may be in the rear view mirror now, but the toys from Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens are just beginning. With everyone thinking about Star Wars toys again, Fast Co Design caught up with Steve Evans, the Star Wars design director at Hasbro to talk about the future of the Star Wars line.
On how they go about choosing the toys to release (and avoiding spoilers in doing so) Evans revealed that the toys released thus far only represent the first third of the film. He added,
"Star Wars is such a great movie, that the director and
Lucasfilm, quite rightly so, want to keep the surprises for the fans
controlled. It’s like any great marketing campaign. You
release when it's right for the story. And in the case of Star Wars
that story is not just the movie—that story is the whole brand and the
whole way it's portrayed and played out to the audiences as well.
As we lead up to December 18, there's a certain amount that gets
released. There are certain surprises from our product
line that no one knows about, that we'll release leading up to the
movie, at the movie, and beyond the movie."
Evans also discussed the importance of Rey and shifting the Star Wars toy line from being "for boys" to "for everyone" saying,
"I'm actually very, very fond of the three-and-three-quarter inch Rey figure...It’s because of what it stands for. Just because of
the way it's embracing girls into the brand more. I have a son and two
twin daughters and my girls are infatuated with Rey. They think she's
brilliant."
"We are designing them for ‘fans’. That's all we like to say. A fan can be 4, can be 44, or can be 94. Can be male or female.
I’m seeing grandparents, parents, kids, kids and friends, aunties,
uncles, everything. Everybody is getting engaged with Star Wars
because it's transgenerational. I think the movie that's coming out
epitomizes that because it’s the classic characters and the new
characters. We know that we provide toys, playsets, and tools for
engagement for families, young kids, middle aged men and women.
Everybody. That's what I think makes it so great. It's for everybody. Star Wars is for everyone."
And, on getting to visit The Force Awakens set, Evans said,
"It was like a childhood dream It was fantastic seeing
all the things we saw, working with Lucasfilm and being privy to that
information to allow us to go back with enough to be able to design
products and toys that we know will resonate with kids and fans of all
ages."
Head over to Fast Co Design to read the entire interview with Evans for more on the future of the Star Wars line at Hasbro and a behind the scenes look at what goes into creating an action figure.
Follow The Star Wars Underworld on Twitter @TheSWU for more updates about this story and other breaking Star Wars news.
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