SDCC Day Two: Big News From Del Rey Books & Hasbro Toys

It’s been a challenge to keep up with all of the news coming out of San Diego Comic Con this week, so allow us to catch you up on the Star Wars front.

Hasbro‘s Star Wars panel was the first of the two big panels on Friday that were a must see for lovers of Star Wars collectibles and toys. The toy company has been quite productive over the past year or so, and they seem to show no signs of slowing down. Among some of the new product announced at the panel were more action figures, toys based on the animated series Star Wars Rebels and even more from the popular Black Series line.

You can read a play by play of the Hasbro panel by reading Dan Brooks‘ liveblog here.

For a look at the new Hasbro toys on display at SDCC, enjoy the phenomenal photo gallery posted over at Rebel Scum News.

The Hasbro booth drew a lot of attention throughout the day but none more than when Star Wars Rebels stars Tiya Sircar and Vanessa Marshall stopped by to sign autographs.

Tiya Sircar and Vanessa Marshall at the Hasbro booth during SDCC.

Vanessa Marshall with her new Hera Syndulla action figure at SDCC.

The next big event of the day to reveal exciting new Star Wars product was the Star Wars Collectibles panel. Several companies were on hand to display new merchandise and make big announcements including eFX, Gentle Giant Studios, Kotobukiya and Sideshow Collectibles! Dan Brooks also has a liveblog of this panel, posted here.

Later on Friday afternoon, it was time for fans of Star Wars fiction to get excited, as Del Rey held their own panel covering the upcoming release of Star Wars: A New Dawn.

Onstage during the panel to discuss the new book were A New Dawn author John Jackson Miller, Del Rey editor Shelly Shapiro, Lucasfilm senior editor Jennifer Heddle, Star Wars Rebels actress Vanessa Marshall, Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni and the Lucasfilm Story Group‘s Pablo Hidalgo.

The group spoke about how the new line of Star Wars fiction will fit into the SW film canon, as well as what new books we can expect to see in the future. The panel then opened up the floor for fan questions, which you can find a synopsis of on Dan Brooks‘ liveblog here.

The most surprising moment of the Del Rey panel came when Dave Filoni revealed news of an upcoming Star Wars novel based on the characters of Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos. Written by Christie Golden and slated for release in Summer 2015, this novel will be based on unused scripts from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The cover of the as of yet untitled Star Wars novel featuring Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos, due out Summer ’15.

For a complete live audio recording of the Del Rey Star Wars panel, check out the post by Justin Bolger over at TheForce.Net.

There’s much more to cover from Friday’s events, so keep checking back with us at DSOTF for more exciting Star Wars news!