Indiana Jones is back after a long wait, now presumably chasing the Antikythera Mechanism in this Summer's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"; and it looks like he is bringing a bunch of museum quality merchandise with him!
It’s no secret that I am a huge Indiana Jones fan, and have been since the early 80's. As a kid I would run around our yard slinging a piece of string twine around like a whip. I would wear one of my dad's button up shirts and eventually got a Fedora from... somewhere.... after seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark at the upper theater in Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale, lllinois which had opened only months before the movie was released. The fact that I have these memories from such a young age is a testimony to the iconic imagery from the movie.
I remember standing just to the right of the marquee where the light boxes were, and being mesmerized by the amazing Richard Amsel Raiders of the Lost Ark movie poster. It was captivating – this cool guy with a holster, whip and hat; smiling confidently while everyone else looked on in the background with varying displays of emotion.
Unfortunately, throughout most of those years of childhood fandom, Indiana Jones merchandise was very lacking. Of course, we had the now classic Kenner releases, based on their earlier Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid toyline. Later, LJN released three underwhelming Temple of Doom figures, and The Last Crusade was absent of a toy line entirely. It wasn’t until the 2008 release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that the merchandise train got moving again in any meaningful way with Hasbro’s decent, albeit short-lived line of 4” figures.
Then, for some years the fandom kept the property alive through various books, prints, posters and fanzines such as Indy Mag.
Wave 1 Collectibles is the online host for Indy Mag – the freely downloadable PDF Indiana Jones zine, which we maintain in join effort with the Indiana Jones Archive. You can download all 14 issues, 2 Specials and Calendar from the W1C Downloads page here!
But now, finally, 15 years after The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hasbro is again chasing their fortune and glory with Indiana Jones once again.
This time, Hasbro has expanded their action figure line vertically, with a variety of scales and product styles meant to coincide with the June 2023 release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Unfortunately the release schedule is a bit messy, punctuated with a variety of exclusives and mid-wave pieces that can be difficult to keep track of - something that this Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny toy-release-roundup should help to clarify!
Indiana Jones Retro Collection | 4” Action Figure Releases
Hasbro went back to the original Kenner figures and card styles to re-release several of the vintage figures for modern collectors. To be honest, this is not something I am typically a fan of at all – I can’t help but feel that this trend of recasting vintage molds for modern retail takes something away from the original lines, their uniqueness, their history and the efforts of fans who kept them alive for years both in collections as well as on the aftermarket. But the exciting news is that Hasbro is continuing this collection across future waves, fleshing things out in the original Kenner style with figures that we never had before the line's demise in the 80's!
Hasbro's Indiana Jones Retro Collection Wave 1
The first figures are comprised totally of re-releases of vintage molds from Raiders of the Lost Ark - Toht, Marion Ravenwood, Indiana Jones, Belloq in Ceremonial Garb, and the German Mechanic.
Indiana Jones Retro Collection Wave 1.5
The first new figure in the retro line is a great version of Indiana Jones as he appeared in The Last Crusade. This figure is available for pre-order at places like Entertainment Earth
Indiana Jones Retro Collection Wave 2
But wave 2 is really exciting, fleshing out collections with Short Round, Indiana Jones (Temple of Doom), Henry Jones Sr. and Sallah. Sallah is sure to be a fan favorite as collectors have been clamoring for what has come to be affectionately referred to as "Fez Sallah" for years now, as opposed to another "Arabian Desert Dig" release. This wave is pure fan service from Hasbro - something I very much appreciate and am looking forward to adding to my collection. Note that these are Target exclusives and began showing up in-store at the end of May, 2023.
I sincerely hope that this retro line continues for some time as it is a little concerning that there are no new villains being shown by Hasbro at this point. Even more concerning is that they may be avoiding that topic altogether as it could be galvanizing to do so in the current socio-political climate. Fingers crossed for a long continuation of these new retro-style releases.
Indiana Jones Adventure Series | 6” Action Figure Releases
Indiana Jones has been conspicuously absent from the 6" format widely made popular by Toy Biz Marvel Legends over 20 years ago now. We did the get the occasional larger figure as a Disney Store exclusive, or Figma import, but it was always a little surprising that Hasbro didn't embrace the scale during their Kingdom of the Crystal Skull era of releases.
But they are definitely embracing 6" Indiana Jones action figures now, again with a traditional wave of releases followed by more characters and more store exclusives. Of note, while Hasbro is not making traditional Build-A-Figures with this line, the BAF has been replaced by Build-An-Artifact, which is an incredibly cool addition for this kind of character.
Indiana Jones Adventure Series Wave 1
Hasbro kicks things off with the first ever wave of Indiana Jones 6" releases. It is a relatively solid Raiders of the Lost Ark wave featuring the characters you've come to expect from an early release - Indiana Jones, Marion, Sallah, Toht and of course, Ceremonial Belloq.
This first wave, of course, features a Build-An-Artifact Ark of the Covenant.
Indiana Jones Adventure Series Wave 1.5
Just like the retro line, Hasbro snuck some releases in between the official waves which, in this case is incredibly fun because it features two characters we previously never had filling our shelves - Professor Jones and Walter Donovan, both from The Last Crusade!
Lastly, rounding out the early releases is the Target Exclusive Club Obi-Won Indy from the Temple of Doom's amazing Shanghai opening setpiece. This figure went up for pre-order in January, 2023 on Target's website.
Indiana Jones Adventure Series Wave 2
This series of releases bring us several versions of Indy - TOD Bridge Chase, TOD Hypnotized, ROTLA Streets of Cairo, and Indy as he appears in The Dial of Destiny. In addition, we get a great Short Round and new DOD character Helena Shaw.
Wave 2 figures contain parts to put together a Temple of Doom Skull Idol that houses the three Sankara Stones!
Indiana Jones Adventure Series Wave 2.5
Fleshing out the line even further will bet the Target Exclusive Map Room Indy and for the first time in plastic, Kazim from The Last Crusade.
Indiana Jones Adventure Series Wave 2 Deluxe Figures
Supplementing these waves are some great deluxe releases - A Raiders of the Lost Ark "Temple Escape" set featuring Indy with the Golden Idol, and a 2-pack that finally fulfills on a Marcus Brody figure as well as Belloq in his dapper white suit from the Cairo scenes in Raiders!
Indiana Jones Adventure Series Wave 3
Wave 3 was originally teased at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023. The promo images look great and the toys themselves feature some surprises as well.
This is a pretty great wave of figures - going back to The Last Crusade with Henry Jones Jr., the Grail Knight and Indy in his shirt and tie. One of those surprises I mentioned above is Indy's hat on this figure - it turns out that it is articulated so you can pose it on his head instead of using a removable hat that would've been oversized to accommodate the hair sculpt. By coincidence I discovered how great an idea this really is when just the other day I opened my Adventure Series Short Round and found that the fedora he comes with won't fit on any of the suited Indy's heads. So really, this articulated hat thing sounds like a solid idea that I'm pretty excited about messing around with at some point.
The wave also supports the Dial of Destiny with figures of Antonio Banderas' "Renaldo" and Mads Mikkelson's "Doctor Voller". This entire collection so far is in sore need of villains, so I'm glad to see Voller included in this wave.
A really nice surprise is the wave 3 build-an-artifact, which I am really excited about seeing sitting in collections in the near future. Hasbro did Indy fans right with this one - going in on the Grail Table from the end of The Last Crusade. This is a really bold choice that I don't think anyone saw coming. And I think that collectors will go far with this backdrop, even supplementing it with years of artifacts that were originally packed in from the 2008 4" Indy line as well.
Indiana Jones World of Adventure Series | 4” Action Figure Releases
Back during the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull era, Hasbro did a great job of making toys available to the youngest fans with their neat Indiana Jones Adventure Heroes line of articulated PVC figures.
This time around, Hasbro upped their game, instead releasing the "World of Adventure Series" - a line of articulated figures analogous to the kid-friendly Star Wars Mission Fleet line.
This 2.5" line of nicely articulated action figures are a lot of fun, although they are overpackaged a bit . These come in Hasbro's recent full-box without windows (a problem for collectors that Hasbro plans to remedy), and the fact is that these could have easily been on cardbacks of some kind as their is a lot of unused space in the boxes for these things.
Regardless of the packaging, these deluxe sets are incredibly charming and regardless of the younger target demographic, they make for really fun display pieces for all collectors.
Indiana Jones World of Adventure Series Wave 1
The first wave of these fun deluxe sets consists of Indy with Horse, Helena Shaw with Motorcycle, Indy with Motorcycle and Doctor Jurgen Voller with Plane.
Hasbro also snuck an "Adventure Backpack" version of Indy in the first wave of deluxe releases as well, complete with the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
It is pretty clear at this point that fans will be sitting pretty in Indy merchandise for some time. Feel free to check out the Wave 1 Collectibles Store for many of these Indy toys, vintage releases, and other fun stuff that might interest you. If you like what we do, then please leave a comment below!
All images courtesy of Hasbro or otherwise adapted from Hasbro general release marketing images.
Last Updated: 06/29/2023 - Opening night of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny!!