2-20-2006

Today Sideshow Collectibles put up their new 1:6 scale Mace Windu for pre-order.  The exclusive, which comes with a Jango Fett helmet, sold out in about a half hour or so.

I didn't order it and I'll probably go to BBTS.com or somewhere.

2-18-2006

Just missed out on the Geonosis wave at Target.  Still had Poggle and Sun Fac on the shelf but I left them.  Sun Fac looks like a good figure with plenty of articulation but hopefully it'll show up at WM later, and for a $1 cheaper.

2-17-2006

George Lucas was awarded the National Medal of Science and Technology for the accomplishments of Industrial Light and Magic and Lucasfilm.  He received his award at the White House from President Bush on Monday, February 13th.

New, retro updates

As a way to keep track of toy runs and finds, meetings and other stuff, I'm going back and posting items here that I didn't when they first happened.  Sounds kind of odd, I guess, but I'm going to be making an effort to update more often and use the site for one of its intended purposes, archiving collecting news, rather than just as a place to post my collection.

Usually I just post this type of info to the PSWCS mailing list or whatever, but it's a pain to go back and look things up there.  Plus I also want a place to put some of the articles I've written like my Best and Worst lists, show recaps and whatnot.

So, if something suddenly shows up here with an older date, don't think you're losing your mind...I probably just posted it.

Gentle Giant Exclusives 2006

GG sent out their newsletter today and in case people haven't gotten it they announced their 2006 convention exclusives.

The good news is GG will be at WW Philly and have the Vader in flames Bust Up that they gave away at Toy Fair.  They'll also have it at San Diego and Gen Con.

The bad news, that awesome looking new Mara Jade bust is a Gen Con exclusive.  And I'm not happy about it.  That better be offered on their web site because of all the busts they showed at Toy Fair that was the only one I was definite on.

They're also going to have a Shock Trooper bust and Bust Up exclusive to San Diego.  I'm not so concerned about that one but I'm sure a lot of people won't be happy about it.  I expect that that one may be a bigger deal than the blue Clone Trooper bust from San Diego and WW Chicago a couple years ago

2-14-2006

It's only Monday but it's been a good SW week so far.  Sunday I found the last AT-AT Driver that I needed (Palpatine holo pack-in) to complete my run of 6 holos.  Also a big thanks to Joe K who hooked me up with one last week at the PSWCS meeting.  Now I'm waiting on the Treasure Hunt version.

New Insider came today so that'll be some reading material for a couple days.  Looks like there are a couple cool articles in it including the one on Mandalorians.

And I just won an auction from Brad K. for a couple of the Lego ROTS mini Jedi Starfighters that were promos last year.  That completes my "set" with the TIE Interceptor and ARC-170 from TRU.  I love the mini line!

Toy Fair pictures are out and there are some good things to look forward to this year.  But, unless the Geonosis wave shows up, or I close this other deal I'm working on, the rest of the week is probably going to be slow!

2-13-2006

Well, the pictures are in on the new Gentle Giant offerings that will be coming our way and I have mixed feelings on them.

It almost seems that GG is getting away from the Star Wars mini busts and more towards the statues.  They showed 7 new statues that will be coming and 6 mini busts at Toy Fair.  That doesn't count the Palpatine and Yoda (which is already out) mini busts or the Maul statue that was previously shown.  It looks like they only debuted 4 new bust ups but they are Animated Clone Wars characters so I'm thrilled.

  • Statues:
    • Animated
      • Darth Vader
      • Leia & R2-D2
      • Boba Fett
      • Ithorian Jedi
    • Movie
      • Royal Guard
      • Rancor (7" diorama, actually)
      • Obi-Wan in armor
  • Mini Busts
    • Qui-Gon
    • Darth Maul
    • ROTS Clone Trooper (white, 501st Tactical Ops and Utapau)
    • Grievous
    • Chewbacca
    • Mara Jade (Gen Con exclusive)
  • Bust Ups
    • Animated Clone Wars
      • Padme
      • Obi-Wan
      • Yoda
      • Grievous
    • Other - It appears that a couple new gift sets are coming with new or kit bashed figures
      • Bounty Hunters with Vader, Boba Fett (new), IG-88 (new), Dengar, 4-LOM, Zuckuss and Bossk
      • Luke and Han as Stormtroopers
      • AOTC Clone Troopers

Statues:  The animated statues kind of baffle me.  I'm guessing they'll be in the price range of the Clone Wars maquettes but since none of those characters ever appeared in that format I'm wondering why they're doing them?  If they had continued with the Clone Wars maquettes that would be one thing but these are odd.  I do think they look exceptional, though, and I'm a huge fan of that style.  I just think it's kind of an odd choice.  Although I'd like to pick them up (at least Fett and Leia) I'll probably pass just based on price.

The Royal Guard, Rancor and Obi-Wan statues rock!  That Obi-Wan looks awesome and I really wish he's appeared in that outfit in ROTS to tie the CW cartoon in.  The Royal Guard seems an odd choice as well but it's very well done.  The Rancor has a ton of detail and having the Rancor Keeper with him is a great touch.

Mini Busts:  The Qui-Gon mini bust looks very nice, it really looks like Liam Neeson which is good, and my initial "Huh?" reaction to the pose has been replaced with a liking for it.  Grievous...I just can't get excited about the character but the design is nice and looks well done.  The Clone Troopers definitely look nice and I want to get at least 1 white one to go with my AOTC white bust...then I'll just have to get a Stormtrooper and I'll have the "evolution" of troopers covered.  The best of the lot, IMO, is Mara Jade.  The bust is beautiful, has a lot of detail, lightsaber!, and it looks like GG really hit a home run with the hair.  I'm definitely in for one.  (Note: I posted this before realizing she's exclusive to Gen Con...I'm still burning over it)

Bust Ups: GG can make all the Animated CW Bust Ups they want, I'll be buying them.  It'll be a great way to do all the characters from the 'Toon and I hope they do several assortments, sooner rather than later.  If Hasbro won't do figures in the animated style these will be the next best thing.  The Bounty Hunter set adds, I believe, a new IG-88. I may pick this boxed set up because I like the bounty hunters and I passed on that wave early on.  Getting them all together would be nice.  Now, if they round out the mini bust line with Zuckuss, Dengar and 4-LOM and Hasbro does them up in the 7" Unleashed style I'll be a happy collector.

Overall it looks like the only GG offerings I'll be buying this year are the Mara Jade bust, CW Bust Ups and a white Clone Trooper.  That is, if they all ship this year.

2-12-2006

Well, most of what Hasbro, Lego, Sideshow, Code 3 and Koto have to show has been posted.  Still waiting on first reports from Gentle Giant and Master Replicas.  Long post so stop now or get a beer...

Hasbro

Figures: Very nice for the most part.  I'm really hyped for Cody, Foul Moudama, C-3PO and a couple other figures like the Tatooine aliens and such.  The repacks are fine, I'm just skipping them, but they seem to be OK choices for the purpose they serve.  The Titanium 3.75" figures are just okay for the most part but the IG-88 looks to be really nice, especially if he has some articulation and isn't stuck in that pose that's shown.  I'm looking forward to a nice Grievous though.  The VTSC (formerly VOTC) figures look okay but the Tusken looks a little odd.  The Ultimate Galactic Hunt is a cool promo and I actually like the looks of the figure.  I'm not against the CommTech Stormy body, I have a bunch of them, and I didn't really expect more so I'm not disappointed.  The "Treasure Hunt" figures are fine, nothing that I need but I will be looking for the AT-AT Driver and I'll probably pick up others if I manage to find them.

The Galactic Heroes look cool but I'm kind of done with the line.  They are fun and I love them, but they don't really fit into what I'm collecting now.  Still deciding what to do with the sets I already have.

Attacktix looks to be expanding with plenty of characters available.  As with the GH figures, I've decided against collecting them and I'll be looking to liquidate the few that I purchased for ROTS.  I hope the kids like these because they are fun to play and the games are quick and easy to learn.

Role Play items are always fun and more lightsabers, now with spring action, should do well.

Star Wars Customs, the motorcycles...does anyone care?

Transformers, ditto.  I admit that I like a couple of the vehicles in ship mode but not enough to buy.  The Falcon with Chewy and Han is an interesting one, but again, meh.

They're only showing a couple vehicles because most everything will be exclusive.  I'm guessing the Mace Starfighter and Vader TIE will be in the open stock $19.99 vehicle line which is cool.  Kind of a slap to those that laid out the exclusive money for the OTC Vader TIE at TRU on '04 but it still holds up as a toy.  And if they have a Mace Starfighter does that mean a Mace figure that'll fit it!?

Here comes a "huh?" comment...what happened to the Titanium Worlds?  They showed them at Comic-Con but I don't see any evidence of them now.  Maybe they decided to move up in scale and go to the Unleashed Battle Pack size.  The small Titaniums look cool and I'm really psyched for the Battle Star Galactica stuff.  Again, though, Hasbro seems to be willing to do "Action Fleet" vehicles without actually calling them that...this time as Titaniums but that Unleashed Snowspeeder looks awfully similar...

WOTC

I didn't see anything new in the photos but the line is really nice so I doubt they'll screw it up now.

Lego

They've updated their license to 2011 now so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more from them over the next 5 years.  Most of this year's offerings are already out or at least pictures have been shown.  The new B-Wing is nice looking as is the V-Wing but I really wish they'd bring back the Mini vehicles...and if they do, make it so the sets have extra parts to form an extra vehicle.  The two waves that came out that did sold well, the others, a couple sketchy offerings aside, didn't and they didn't sell as well.

Sideshow

Amazing!  I think the Han Solo head sculpt is a little quirky but the Jedi, all the outfits and accessories look to be insane!  The only drawback is that it's February 12 and there are already over $250 worth of pre-orders out there with Mace coming on the 20th.  I'm definitely going to get Mace but then it'll be big decision time on what to buy from there on out.  Other good news is that Sideshow is going to be the US distributor for the Japanese vinyl Semi-Deformed figures...showing Vader and Stormtrooper at least.  Fett is a no-brainer if they can do it.  Hopefully the prices won't be insane but definitely a line to keep an eye on.

Kotobukiya

Showing some good looking troopers and the ROTJ Slave Leia sculpt looks to be a winner.  C-3PO and R2 look kind of bland but the Luke Skywalker seems like a good figure.  This is a line I don't collect but what they put out is definitely nice.  If they ever find their way to an AT-AT Driver I'm in 100%.

Code 3

More posters.  I haven't been buying them although they are kind of cool.  I also won't be buying any new vehicles although if I ever scored an really exceptional deal on a Slave I it might be worth it.

Thoughts

My initial thoughts on Hasbro are: Huh?  First up, where did those Titanium Worlds go?  Hasbro seemed to be all gung-ho for the Choppers but didn't show anything new and they don't have new offerings in the Force Battlers area either, just repacks from last year (which I've seen on shelves now).  The 2" Unleashed line is Hasbro's new baby, it appears, with the addition of playset and vehicles and the announcement that they are expanding the brand to cover the GI Joe Sigma Six line now.  For a company that wanted to get away from 3.75" Joe figures at retail the Unleashed line for them is a head scratcher...sort of like it was with the SW line.

Good news, though, is that Hasbro has some phenomenal GI Joe figures coming up in the Direct To Consumer line including a Low Light figure that I need to buy.  They've also added a couple new female figures that look good, a Cobra (Baroness?) and Lady Jaye.  They still need a definitive Scarlet figure though.  The 3-pack with Snake Eyes, Stalker and Storm Shadow form Vietnam also looks like I need to add it to the collection.

Expanding the Titanium line with other licenses is a cool move for Hasbro and I like the BSG stuff.  Now, if they could only get the license to do some Babylon 5 stuff...I KNOW it would sell.  Hell, they could do Titanium lines for all the Sci Fi shows/movies and I might just give up SW figures to collect them: B5, Farscape, ST, BSG (old and new), SW, Stargate...I'm sure I could come up with some others.

It'll be interesting to see what GG has to offer.  Since they are importing the Tomy mini helmets I'm guessing the Armory line is out...but I still want that AT-AT Driver helmet!  I've slowed down on GG stuff and don't see that changing.  It's nice, but they haven't offered any characters in the last year and a half that got me that excited.  And I'm still in disbelief that they could pass a whole movie year without a bust for it (yeah, yeah, Vader is technically ROTS but as I've said before, if nobody told you you wouldn't know).

I really need to make up my mind on the Sideshow stuff...man, it's nice, but I can't afford that line.  I've got the first 5 on pre-order and will definitely pick up Mace but I need to cut it out.  I think what I may have to do is limit it to the classic OT characters (Han, Luke, Leia, Obi, Vader, Chewy if they do him, and maybe a Stormtrooper or Fett) and one or two Jedi from the prequel (Obi again, Anakin, Mace, Yoda in any version).  I think in the end, less will be more with this line.