Star Wars Collecting: The Best and Worst of 2007

This year has been interesting in the Star Wars world. No new movie, the television series are at least a year away and the big multimedia event, The Force Unleashed, was pushed to early 2008. However, none of that had any negative impact on collecting or fandom in general.

We had our fourth Celebration, it expanded to Europe for their first event and the French Reunion II was held in October. Comic-Con was big again this year and Hasbro even made a stop at Star Wars Fan Days which was held during the Sci-Fi Expo in Plano, Texas.

When I sat down to write this year's article I realized that I didn't really have a section covering the Titanium vehicles so this year I'm adding them to the Vehicle or Playset section.

I should also note that in the Worst section last year I should have reserved a special place for the Star Wars Choppers. I think their extreme crappiness forced me to block their very existence from my mind last year when I penned this article. I may have to start giving awards for the most useless SW collectible each year. If so, Star Wars Choppers will posthumously win the first award!

Best

Figure

McQuarrie Snowtrooper - The McQuarrie concept line was full of interesting figures but my favorite is probably the Snowtrooper. He has great details, is well articulated and painted and looks cool as hell on the shelf. He's also one of the coolest figures from the entire TAC line.
Tycho Celchu - He may be a mostly generic EU pilot but Tycho's action figure is incredible. Perfect articulation, plenty of details to his suit and a removable helmet and pilot headgear. It's a solid figure and makes a great toy.
Hermi Odle - After years on my "want list," Hermi Odle finally got his action figure this year. He's gigantic, has decent articulation and soft goods and better yet, a pretty good screen accuracy.
Yoda & Kybuck - This Clone Wars version of Yoda is one of the better versions with nicely articulated arms and feet, nice soft goods robe and both an ignited lightsaber and a hilt. But the gem of the set is the Kybuck. Leg, arm, head and tail articulation, a great sculpt and decent paint applications make this one of the standout accessories ever included with a figure.
McQuarrie Concept Figures - Nearly all of the figures in the line were well done with nice articulation, accessories and paint apps that made them great representations of Ralph McQuarrie's early concept sketches. Some were better than others but no other sub-line in recent memory compares to this one.
Honorable mention for Biggs Darklighter in Academy Outfit, Jawa & LIN Droid and Salacious Crumb from the C-3PO pack.

Figure 12"

Dejarik Holochess Table - It's not actually a figure but it is my favorite 2007 release from Sideshow. I passed on or cancelled most of my pre-orders this year but did keep this one. The detail on the metal chess pieces was what sold me. It's a very nicely detailed piece from a fun scene in Star Wars A New Hope. I'm holding out hope for a ridiculous Chewbacca to go with it.
Obi-Wan Kenobi - Shipping just before the new year, Obi-Wan from A New Hope is a brilliant figure and, in my opinion, the best 1:6 figure of 2007. The face sculpt is incredible, he has very detailed clothing and accessories and very well represents Alec Guinness as he appeared on screen 30 years ago.
Luke Skywalker (Bespin) - This might be the best Luke to date. I ended up passing on him but am having second thoughts now that he's been released. This is my favorite outfit for Luke from the original trilogy and Sideshow seems to have nailed it. The exclusive edition includes the auto-tourniquet which is almost a must-have piece but if you get the regular edition it's not a big deal. The face sculpt is very well done while the paint on some figures may not do it any justice. The eyes are a little off but the rest is nice. The outfit looks well done and, as always, Sideshows lightsabers and hilts are superb.

Vehicle or Playset

V-Wing - The V-Wing was one of two new vehicles we saw in 2007 and it fits well into the $20 Starfighter line. Lots of play value, a nice paint job and room for a pilot are all here. Hasbro has made the Starfighter line shine over the last two years and this is a perfect addition.
Y-Wing - Although this is a refreshed version of the previous POTF2 vehicle (both based on the vintage mold) it's very well done with updated paint apps and a nicely laid out window box. What really takes it up a notch are the included pilot, Lt. Lepira, and astromech droid, R5-F7. There is a fixed droid in the ship that shares a paint deco with the included droid making the entire pack really tied together.

Lego

Pricing! - For years I've wondered why the Star Wars line was skipping the $9.99 - $19.99 price range and this year they finally listened. There were four sets at $20 or less including a nicely done AT-ST, Grievous' Starfighter and two troop builder sets, Clone Troopers and Battle Droids, for $9.99 each. Yay, Lego.
UCS Millennium Falcon - If you have a spare $500 burning a hole in your pocket why not spend it on the largest Lego set ever, the UCS Falcon! We got a sneak peek at it during Celebration IV and it's an awesome piece. Over 5,000 pieces make up the model. Truly impressive.
Honorable mention goes to the MTT and Republic Cruiser. This was the second time around for the MTT which we first saw in 1999 and the RC was a large, well done piece with great colors. They both included a bunch of minifigs and were worth the $100 and $90 prices respectively.

Busts and Statues

Obi-Wan Kenobi - This year the ANH version of Obi-Wan got love from both Sideshow and Gentle Giant and both pieces are very nice. The sculpt on GG's Obi-Wan is spot on and he has nice detailing in his robes and his lightsaber that he's sneaking out from under his robe.
Commander Cody - There were five Clone Commanders this year but Cody is by far my favorite. He has a lot of detail between his unique helmet design and the shoulder pauldrons but GG took it a step further by making him a light-up bust with a holo Palpatine for Cody to take orders from. The San Diego Comic-Con exclusive had the largest edition size of the Commanders at 3,500 which made him relatively easy to pick up through trades or sales.
Jawa 2-pack - GG took the Jawa in a unique direction, instead of just doing one Jawa with a blaster, they put a second in this set and included a decapitated R5 droid with him. Add light-up eyes and extra arms and you have a winner.

Non-Toy Collectible

AT-AT Driver Track Jacket - This CIV store exclusive was a surprise when I saw it listed in the promo information for Celebration. Red with the AT-AT Driver helmet on the front and "Star Wars" on the back, this was a popular piece in L.A. I saw plenty of people wearing them around all weekend.
CIV & CE Medallions - Two 12 medallion sets were put together by the collectors running the Collecting Track panels at Celebration IV and Celebration Europe. Each set of 12 depicted the original 12 action figures on the front and text about them on the back. These were given away during the panels at both events. Coupled with the display case made by RebelScum.com's Philip Wise, these were a fun, challenging and ultimately rewarding collectible to chase down this year.
Acme Archive Sketchplate - This new collectible which debuted at CIV with a McQuarrie Concept R2-D2 is a very unique piece of art. Etched on an aluminum plate and mounted to black plexi, these mimic plates you'd find on aircraft detailing mechanical or electrical equipment. Acme followed up with an X-Wing plate and I'm looking forward to more, new ideas in 2008.
Stamps - The United States Post Office honored the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars by debuting a sheet of 15 different stamps at Celebration IV and holding a contest for fans to pick their favorite. The stamp of an Empire Strikes Back Yoda won and this fall full sheets of that stamp were released.

Best Exclusive

Celebration IV McQuarrie Luke Skywalker - There were a lot of exclusives this year from all of the various license holders. One of the nicest was the McQuarrie Luke. Also sold at Celebration Europe, it's a cool piece and fits well in the McQuarrie sub line for the year. Plenty of articulation, nicely colored and plenty of detail.
CIV & CE Medallions - I'm going to honor these twice just because I enjoyed them so much. Makes you wish the actual manufacturing partners that hold Star Wars licenses could produce items as nice as these medallions.

Best Events

Celebration IV - Was there any doubt? Forgetting that it was held in Los Angeles, CIV really took the Celebrations to a new level in both size and scale of events. Packed into 5 days over the Memorial Day weekend, CIV had autograph signers, collecting presentations, movie previews, collectibles, fans in costume and pretty much everything else you would think of or expect. There were too many highlights to narrow it down but the six movie marathon on Wednesday that kicked off the event was one standout. Going with a bunch of PSWCS members to share the experience made it even better.

Worst