Star Wars Black Series Revival

by Gretchen Winkler

 

My husband and I have been collecting the Star Wars Black Series figures for many years.  It was one of my husband’s collecting habits that I shared with him.  He was a comic book person.  He kept the comic books in those neat little plastic sleeves and stored them in the special comic-book-shaped boxes.  But I am one of those fiends who like to take stuff out of the box and enjoy them.  Put them on display. Change the poses once in a while.  I used to mess with his robot action figures and the Power Rangers figures, making them do weird stuff just to see if he would notice.

 

It was fun.  One has to laugh at life a little.

 

So when the Star Wars figures came out, I was all on board, and I was allowed to take them out of the box….Although I have found duplicates originally sealed in their boxes.  The first few years there had been many wonderful figures being made.  A lot to choose from, which was really nice.  They were heavily inspired by the original set of Star Wars films and the recently completed prequels.  And as the sequels came out, they remained popular until the 8th movie in the series came out.  Everything seemed to die down.  The toys, books, video games, action figures…seemed to languish in some sort of malaise.  The creativity stopped.  Even the cosplayers seemed to disappear, along with the big clubs that were officially part of the Star Wars Universe.

 

It was disturbing and depressing for those of us who loved Star Wars.  But luckily, some of the cartoons still inspired collectibles and enthusiasm.  The Mandalorian series was a real boost.  But the toys seemed to disappear.  It was odd.  Not even Andor, an excellent 2-season series,  could beat down whatever was happening to the Star Wars Universe.   It was like the thrill and joy of Star Wars was dying.

Then something magical happened around the time of The Mandalorian and Grogu movie.  I could speculate what that was… but I shall leave that to you readers to guess.  

 And now, once again, the Black Series is making a comeback.  I am now finding all kinds of fun choices, and the figures have retained the attention to detail and moveability just like before.  Characters from the video games, novels, comic books, cartoons, TV series, and movies are now appearing.  It is as if something has given the Star Wars franchise a breath of fresh air, drawing in creativity and excitement once again.  I am hoping that, along with these cool action figures, more well-crafted movies and TV series will appear.  Perhaps I will even have a shot at getting my Star Wars book series published.  It would be fun to share the work that I put into writing those.

 

You may wonder why I buy toys at my age.  I have asked myself that.  Well, the Kenner toys long ago were too expensive for my parents to buy for me.  I had a few of them.  So perhaps I am enjoying what I could not as a child?  But I am also a cosplayer and a writer.  I find these figures inspiring and helpful, just like the amazing Star Wars music.  Just log on to YouTube, and you will find tons of wonderful variations and interpretations of Star Wars music.  Inspiration was so alive in the Star Wars Universe ten years ago.    I have to admit, there is something practical about having the characters in a solid form before me when I am thinking about details or what-ifs.  You see the armor in 3D and think about the protection, the comfort, the blind spots in the helmets, and imagine the tech involved.

It is really nice to see this change, and I hope it keeps going in a positive direction.

G. Winkler  ©2026