Here’s one for the 2015 D23 Expo crowd to chew on.

Bleeding Cool reported an interesting scoop last Friday from the Idle Hands blog: that a new round of Big Hero 6 toys will come from Bandai (with no street date determined as of yet).

Even more intriguing is the fact that the designs for these toys are essentially stealth variants of the Big Hero 6 costumes from the movie. They are mostly black and purple, with touches of the colors from their normal costumes.

In no particular order, we start with Baymax:

Hiro Hamada (standing next to Baymax’s resting form):

Gogo:

Wasabi:

Honey Lemon:

and Fredzilla:

For comparison, here’s a picture of the team in their original get ups:

As Idle Hands points out, these toys look like they are pretty much done and ready to roll out. But why would Bandai start to put out a new line of toys when there is seemingly no official indication that Disney plans to do anything major with the Big Hero 6 property (at least for the foreseeable future)?

It’s probably because (as Idle Hands suspects) Disney is planning something Big Hero 6 related. If not a full-blown sequel, then certainly a high profile short film of sorts:

Since the initial line is languishing on the shelves of local toy stores and the DVD and Blu-Ray release is ancient history, that leads to…Speculation!! Why would a company like Bandai make a reprint wave of action figures with very specific decos? Could there be a new cartoon short on the way????!!!

Whenever something curious is afoot people are bound to start asking questions, which is exactly what Idle Hands did. The response?

My inquiries as to why there are stealth figures coming soon were met with a side-eye and word that all would be revealed…SOON.

As I mentioned previously, D23 began today. Our coverage of the event (which begins with the first big animation panel at 3 PM today) will be anchored by three on-the-ground correspondents, while other writers will be tasked with certain stories and announcements. In light of this rumor (emphasis on ‘rumor’), I would suggest keeping one ear to the ground for any Big Hero 6 related news that could pop up at any time during the convention.

What do you think? Are these new Big Hero 6 toys an indicator of something bigger that has yet to come?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes