Although there were no big Ackbar-related announcements at San Diego Comic Con ’12 or anything like that, I’ve got high hopes for new Ackbar toys. I have no secret insider information — this is all pure speculation on my part! Don’t take any of this as fact!
My thoughts on future Ackbar products after the jump…
Now, The Clone Wars season 4 opening episodes with young Captain Ackbar premiered almost a year ago, and as I just mentioned, the season 4 DVD will be released in October. I’m thinking that this means we’ll be seeing a lot more Ackbar stuff in the form of The Clone Wars merchandise.
The existence of the Hasbro Scuba Clone Trooper action figure (which came out a few months ago) hints at more Mon Cala-themed The Clone Wars action figures to come. I’d love to see a The Clone Wars Captain Ackbar action figure.
Hasbro’s line of Fighter Pods, aimed at kids, has characters from all six movies plus The Clone Wars. I believe it’s only a matter of time before we get an Ackbar (probably a Return of the Jedi Admiral Ackbar, though perhaps a The Clone Wars Captain Ackbar somewhere down the line).
LEGO cannot release Star Wars minifigures on their own. I believe it’s because Hasbro has the exclusive right to sell Star Wars figures, and LEGO is only allowed to sell Star Wars minifigures as long as they’re part of LEGO sets. To allow LEGO Star Wars fans an easy way to build up their armies, LEGO sells “Battle Packs,” which usually include four minifigures along with a tiny vehicle or something to allow them to sell it without stepping on Hasbro’s toes. Again, though they haven’t announced anything (remember, I’m still just speculating), I think the Mon Cala episodes of The Clone Wars will make for some great LEGO battle packs (with one of them featuring Captain Ackbar and some Mon Cala soldiers, of course) and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them soon.
Even if not because of The Clone Wars, LEGO has another great opportunity to bring back Ackbar. The good Admiral has so far only appeared in one LEGO set, and it was an expensive, exclusive and somewhat hard-to-find set back in 2009. Isn’t it about time Ackbar returned? With the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back in 2010, LEGO released a lot of ESB-related sets. With Return of the Jedi‘s 30th anniversary coming up in 2013, maybe we’ll finally see Ackbar’s triumphant return to LEGO form.
Especially since the upcoming Star Wars Celebration VI has a Return of the Jedi theme, there might be some Celebration-exclusive Ackbar stuff. I will not be attending Celebration VI, but I’ll hopefully be able to keep my eyes and ears open for any Ackbar news that comes out.
Also, as I mentioned while talking about LEGO, next year (2013) will be the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. Hopefully this will bring with it some cool new ROTJ-related Ackbar stuff.
Well, that’s enough wild speculation for now. Here’s hoping for an Ackbar-filled future.
Ackbar's Trap 
FINALLY new stuff!
Hello, Neat post. There is an issue together with your web site in web explorer, might check this?
IE still is the marketplace chief and a huge part
of other folks will miss your great writing because of this problem.