Play Angry Birds, You Will Telepods from Hasbro are designed to work with the new Angry Birds Star Wars app. When Star Wars and Angry Birds were combined, a supernova property was formed. The crossover app has been downloaded more than 100 million times since its introduction in November, according to Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds, and is one of the top-selling apps of the year. Eager to harness that popularity, toy makers have lined up to sign deals with Rovio and Lucasfilm, the owner of the Star Wars license. The latest offering comes from Hasbro in the form of Telepods, a hybrid digital and physical toy announced on Monday. Telepods are designed to work with the new Angry Birds Star Wars app, which is set to be released on Sept. 19 for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 devices. A Telepods mode in the new Angry Birds app allows users to "teleport" physical toys into the game. The toys look like Hasbro's stand-alone Angry Birds Star Wars figures, but each one bears a tiny, laser-etched product code. Players use their device's camera to read the code and the character appears on the screen in digital form. There is no need to drag the toy around the screen. And once characters are transported into the app, they can be played again and again. The concept is similar to Activision's Skylanders games, which integrate physical toys with video games. But Telepods cost much less than the Skylanders toys and console, and gameplay is not tethered to a TV screen. The addition of swappable characters adds a new level of strategy to the Angry Birds Star Wars game. Don't like Luke Skywalker's lightsaber skills? Send in Yoda as a pinch-hitter. And playable characters will include those from the dark side, like Darth Vader, the Emperor and General Grievous. Telepods will be available in August as figure packs and battle sets at retailers around the country at prices from $6 to $40. The initial assortment will include more than 30 playable characters, but Hasbro has plans for a universe more.