Revan Loungefly Backpack & Loungefly Interview!

Loungefly paired up with Gamestop to make a Star Wars Revan themed backpack! Apart from figurines, this is probably one of the nicest and highest quality Old Republic collectibles I’ve seen. During the Star Wars Celebration convention I had a chance to interview two key players in the Loungefly team about fandom, Legends, and what’s coming up for high-quality collectibles. I was incredibly excited as not only did they take the time to allow an interview, but they also had brought a copy of the not-quite-released-yet Revan backpack to show me in person!

New Revan Backpack on Gamestop

Loungefly Interview

Swtorista: Hello everyone! Today we are here with Liz DeSilva, Creative for Loungefly, and Derrick Baca in charge of Merchandising for Loungefly! I’m Swtorista, a really big fan of Loungefly products and Star Wars.

Here’s their booth at the Star Wars Celebration convention 2022! It had a pretty fantastic setup – if you won the lottery to get in!

Swtorista: I wanted to ask you about high-quality products for the fandom – for a very long time there was action figures and comics, but not a lot of accessories. Functional and fashionable collectables were very hard to find. How did Loungefly get into that space, and is that something you like to work on?

Liz: It’s something we LOVE working on! We are fans ourselves – from all different fandoms – but obviously Star Wars, and we always want great quality products for ourselves. As adults we want to have nicer things to represent our fandom. We have met, and have realized this massive community of fans are looking for these types of products.

Derrick: The community of Loungefly has always known Loungefly as quality products. We’ve always raised the elevation with our embroideries and appliques and other similar features. When we started to do licensing, way before both of us joined 10-20 years ago, Star Wars was one of the first licenses that Loungefly had. When we joined the company, we wanted to elevate it even more, bring the quality up, and I think the fans are excited about what we’re doing.

Here’s a really good example of the elevation of appliques materials that Derrick mentions. Loungefly’s designs go above and beyond the simple faux vegan leather with a print.

Liz: I think the fans are always happy to support more details, more in the know, more little hidden Easter Eggs, and that’s what we want to do.

(Swtorista gets very excited about the mention of easter eggs. The new Star Wars Revan backpack has a lot of really nice Easter Eggs and custom details – the special fabric for the ‘robes’, and the two enamel keychains for each of the lightsabers on each of the zipper pulls.)

Swtorista: Who worked on this??? (pointing excitedly at the Revan backpack)

Liz: We have an amazing team of 30 creatives, designers, product developers. They all have a hand in making these bags amazing. We also partner with our retail partners. This one is coming to Gamestop.

(A fan at the conventions walks by in a Star Wars Revan costume during the interview, the exact same costume as the bag we are holding right now.)

Derrick: They key for us is – because we do work with so many different retail partners – is keying in to what THEIR fans are. Gamestop, being a huge gaming company, this type of product makes sense for The Old Republic. They came to us, asking how they could make themselves stand out compared to what’s on the market, and we said: let’s go into the gaming universe, in the pantheon of Star Wars. What makes sense? Revan was a sure choice!

Swtorista: There’s a huge demographic of people who like Star Wars, but REALLY like gaming, and the more obscure Star Wars references. We see Loungefly making Revan, and Funko did a Revan and Bastilla a while ago.

Swtorista: Will we see more of these obscure Legends products coming out?

Derrick: We can’t announce it yet, but we will be announcing something for San Diego comic con, something outside of the normal canon!

Oh I bet this is it! It just got announced a few days ago! I wonder if the images came from their personal collections as well?

He may have also been referring to this Tusken Raider backpack, which is definitely different than the usual characters we see!

Derrick: At our booth right now, we actually have a mini backpack based on the old comics from the 80’s, “Ewoks and Droids”! The great thing about that was, because we’ve been working with Lucas for so long, we actually had all the comic books! We’re big collectors! We took pictures of it, sent it in to Lucas, and aked if we could make a bag with these assets. They said, “Great!” We redrew the whole thing, and were able to make the bag! Nothing like that from Ewoks and Droids has ever existed!

Liz: From Loungefly you will always get things that are outside the studio style guides that everyone works from. We’re always striving to bring something unique to the fans that isn’t in the market already!

And here’s the Loungefly bags that were launching during Celebration. The hot ticket item was the R2D2 purse, and the most unique item was the X-Wing Fighter mini backpack that actually has a space for a R2D2 Funkopop figurine in its window!

When I went back to the booth I got a BIG surprise from the Loungefly team! Thank you! I had mostly just been happy that they took the time to talk to me. I was especially excited and mentioned that I was very happy that they were creating products for communities like mine who are more into the gaming side of Star Wars, and they mentioned.. that’s exactly the types of communities they are happy to welcome into the Loungefly family and community :) I hope you enjoyed this interview about merchandising/designing for the gaming industry and the better look at the Revan backpack!

 

Revan Loungefly Gamestop Backpack Review

Order on Gamestop Link

Official Features

  • Darth Revan from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  • Bag Dimensions: 9” W x 10.5” H x 4.5” D (Please note: width is measured across the bottom of the bag.)
  • Features adjustable shoulder strap and side pockets
  • Officially licensed Star Wars™ product
  • GameStop Exclusive

Official Description: A legendary figure of the Old Republic is here to take control of your Star Wars™ collection, and outfit, with Loungefly’s exclusive Darth Revan™ Cosplay Mini Backpack! This mini backpack depicts the iconic outfit of the prodigy padawan turned Sith. A cotton fabric hood covers Revan’s commandeered Mandalorian helmet and robes as seen throughout the Star Wars books and games! It’s is a menacing accessory for Star Wars fans and makes a great addition to a Darth Revan inspired outfit or cosplay. The Darth Revan™ Cosplay Mini Backpack is made of metallic and patent vegan leather (polyurethane) with cotton fabric details. Bag has adjustable shoulder straps, sturdy metal hardware, and features: side pockets, 2 molded rubber zipper charms, metallic, and printed details. Take note of the coordinating design of the inside lining fabric.

Expected Date: 06/17/2022 – arrives on or shortly after release day

Price: $69.99 + free shipping (Loungefly bags range from $50-80 depending on the complexity, this one has more details than most)

It is currently after the expected date but is still marked as Pre-Order on the Gamestop website.

Swtorista’s Notes

  • This backpack is really cool and I knew I wanted to grab it when I saw the initial promo photos on Gamestop.
  • It is absolutely easter-egg laden. If you consider yourself a Revan fan you will be excited about the details. Obviously the front features the Revan mask, robe hood, and chestpiece with the buckles, but the best details are the red and purple lightsaber enamel zipper pulls – they are the proper lightsaber designs for Revan, the purple one for the main zipper that’s kind of Star forge shaped, and the red Sith lightsaber with the red button for the front pocket zipper pull. The colors are so on point like the straps being red on the black back background to mimic the mask.
  • Due to the special cotton fabric for the robes/hood, you will need to be more gentle with this backpack compared to one that is full patent vegan leather from Loungefly’s other collections. I was NOT gentle with the backpack as I was excitedly hauling it all around the convention floor. Structurally it held up well though the cotton parts took a beating. Luckily it seems easy to clean up w/ scissors or clippers to bring it back to tip top shape – it is mainly the edges that get fuzzy/frayed probably from being dropped on the floor.
  • The inside fabric is just flat black shiny material. There is no special matching print inside, unlike some other Loungefly bags. I imagine this is due to the interesting / unique fabric being on the outside instead.
  • The front pocket seems bigger than my other Loungefly bags which is useful as it fits my phone with a case on better.
  • If you do not already own a mini backpack, the general idea is it is a great hands-free alternative to carrying a purse or other type bag, without the bulk of a full backpack. Loungefly in particulary makes high-quality fandom-focused mini back packs.

And here are my photos from home, if you were wondering if the perfect stock photos from Gamestop match up with the real item. Glitter not included, that was from my dress!