Attention, Star Wars fans. This year’s Force Friday has been canceled. Or, to be more precise, this year’s Force Friday never was. Disney and Lucasfilm decided to dial back the pomp of the 2015 event, which featured live-streamed unboxing videos, midnight madness store openings, insanely long lines, and excruciatingly low stock of The Force Awakens playthings. While stores will stuff shelves with new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story merchandise on Sept. 30 (yes, it’s a Friday), the day won’t be branded in the same way, and the rollout of announcements will be more gradual than last year’s 24-hour blitz.
Related: First Look at Disney’s ‘Rogue One’ Toys and Role-Playing Gear (Exclusive)
Beginning now and stretching over the next several weeks, the Star Wars YouTube channel will be airing a four-part loose adaptation of Rogue One introducing all the new toys via fan-created stop-motion animation. The first chapter, which you can watch above, features an action-figure version of Jyn Erso (played in the film by Felicity Jones but voiced here by someone else) hunting the plans of the Death Star — the Lego Death Star, that is.
The clip offers peeks at upcoming figures, vehicles, and playsets from Hasbro, Mattel, Lego, Jakks Pacific, Funko, and the Disney Store.
Related: Here’s Felicity Jones Geeking Out Over Her First Jyn Figure
Among the toys tucked inside the Star Destroyer cargo bay: the Nerf-shooting AT-ACT from Hasbro; Lego’s AT-ST, Imperial Hovertank, and Krennic’s Shuttle; Mattel’s fleet of Hot Wheels-branded TIE fighters; and several different lines of action figures:
Disney and Hasbro versions of the new Death Troopers flank a Funko Pop! vinyl Imperial Director Orson Krennic, while Mattel’s TIE striker and AT-ACT are parked on the shelves:
Scores and scores of Stormtroopers fall in, from the ginormous Jakks Pacific “Big Figs” to the big-headed Funko Pop! figures to the teeny Lego minifig variety:
Action figures of the dashing Rebel Captain Cassian Andor (modeled after actor Diego Luna) and his reprogrammed Imperial security droid, K-2SO — based on a quick survey of the new action figures, manufactures are banking on K-2SO, Jyn, and the Death Troopers as the most popular.
The clip’s best line comes courtesy of Jyn as she confronts a trio of Lego bucketheads: “Aren’t you a little short to be Stormtroopers,” she says, echoing the classic Leia line. “We prefer vertically challenged,” they respond.
Once the toys arrive in stores on Sept. 30, Disney will launch a contest where regular fans can try their hand at creating similar skits. Adult fans can enter the #GoRogue contest at StarWars.com/GoRogue, while children 8-12 can participate at Disney.com/MyRogueStory, with the winners being flown to Lucasfilm HQ in San Francisco for a special screening of Rogue One, which arrives in theaters on Dec. 16.
Keep checking back at Yahoo Movies for exclusive Rogue One toy reveals throughout the week.