Collect, or Collect Not!, There is no try..

Disclaimer - All points raised on this post are my own opinion and therefore I cannot be held to ransom. I also reserve the right to change my mind whenever the hell I like :P 

WHAA?

Ok.. so..I'm a Star Wars fan.. since the age of about 5 when I saw Return Of The Jedi I've loved Star Wars in some shape or form.. be it the Ewok movies, the main movies, Droids cartoon, The Clone Wars Series, Rebels, even the Holiday Special was pretty cool to me, everywhere I could get Star Wars I tried to be there. I still remember waiting about half a day to download 12m/b's to watch The Phantom Menace trailer.. THAT.. was when my fandom went from playing with my brothers hand me down Star Wars Figures (3.75" of course) to getting my own.. Starting with Darth Maul.. so that's when buying the figures for me started.

I'm not one of those collectors which have to have everything, I've never had the money to get everything and to be honest I've not been interested in buying characters I can't connect with or even have some kind of love for. I just bought sporadically. 

But this comes at a price, if you're not invested in a whole line, you end up with bits and bobs from each and it kind of makes the collection a little non-special. I don't really have much of a collection either, there are still lots of figures I would have liked but another problem is space.. I have nowhere (at the moment, I'm working on it) to display my collection.. 

My wife has recently started a collection of Beauty & The Beast merchandise, mainly display pieces and plush toys. But this got me thinking while looking at all the different type of items for this one film.. its also aesthetically pleasing to look at, as the colours are very similar to one another.. whilst looking at my own collection of different lines, different types of toy, different characters just looks a little messy.. 

FOCUS!!

Why does my wife Focus her collection?  

She says mostly, and firstly as she loved Beauty and the Beast, she has done since childhood and it's always stuck with her. There's a few reasons she transfixed on B&TB: One, because of Disney there's just SO much out there, and we have neither the room or the money to purchase everything. This is not to say my wife has had to reign it in on a few occasions as she has bought a few items, but in the main she's done her best to just get B&TB.. 

My wife has advised that she does not just go down the ebay route, she is also connected via Facebook to a wealth of groups which deal with vintage and also newer Disney items. This is where for her, the fun really starts. Okay it's great searching e-mail for that vital piece and putting in that bid, watching and then grumbling if lost of getting extremely excited once won.. it's also ALOT of fun searching the boards and being the first person to raise their hand to purchase an item from someone. Ebay seems to have become too popular with some sellers and they tend to take the "Mickey" (pun intended) with the Disney items in terms of price, so in a lot of cases she can get a much better price from "Facebook Friends" who seem to appreciate a little bit more about giving their old items a new loving owner. 

Because of the many boards and many people to purchase from, the thrill of the hunt also plays a big part for her. 

So having a focal point for a collection seems to be the way to go. Taking into consideration Money and Space, I'm pretty sure for me it's the best way to go. I totally respect those Completists out there too though, a few of my old colleagues on the Toy Run podcast and Galaxy of Toys Network are Completists in one way or another...

This is not to say that people who collect EVERYTHING Star Wars don't have a great looking collection.. Steve Sansweet is another level of a collector (CHECK OUT RANCHO OBI-WAN!), but it proves that if you have a massive collection it looks beautiful!! 

THE CONCLUSION..

For the small collection I have I think it notices more and there's no WOW! factor.. I want to be proud of my collection.. Of course I have the sentimental pieces that actually mean something and I love those and will never get rid of them, but I do feel there are quite a few pieces where I've just wanted them for the sake of wanting.. "oh! There's a new film! I need the Hero/Heroine!" Is usually my first thought.. I also buy for my son too, if he likes a character I get it..it goes in a bag of opened figures and then gets played with so I don't include those in my collection. 

If you're going to do something, do it wholeheartedly.. especially when it's something you love. I will therefore soon be sorting out my Star Wars Collection and will be placing all neatly on ebay.. after which I will be concentrating ("All firepower") on collecting specifically the Emperors Royal Guard..

I spoke to my wife about this last night and she asked me..

The Emperors Royal Guard/ Imperial Guard

Why this red guy? 

Basically, I'd always found them intriguing, I LOVED the Crimson Empire comics (which I've downloaded recently again from Amazon, SO CHEAP!) and  I've chosen this Character as I like the mystery behind them, their awesome costume and it was in fact one of the first 3.75" figures that I played with as a child. It was a hand me down from my Brother, whether he liked it or not!

Once I've sold some of my Saga Legends figures on Ebay, I will be starting my journey..

For now, this is what I have.. :

Well... IT'S A START!!! 

New Star Wars Book for Kids has appeared on Amazon for Pre-Order!

Pre-Order it below! £10.47 on Amazon!

Join the Resistance Book 1! 

Aimed at 9-12 year olds, this see's cadets in a resistance flight academy, with the lead pilot Mattis Banz wanting to be the next Poe Dameron!

Star Wars Force Friday II - Confirmed! Midnight on 1st September!

  

Hasbro have just announced the date for Force Friday! The date where all Star Wars fans get to empty their pockets, wear out their credit cards and re-mortgage their houses in order to buy all the amazing new Star Wars wares! 

The exciting midnight openings will probably be specific to Toys R Us who usually do them. I'm hoping that Smyths Toys get in on the action this year too..

The 1st September will bring new toys and other merch from the new Episode 8 - The Last Jedi, so hopefully we will have our first glimpse of Old Jedi Master Luke Skywalker! 

As you can see below, the packaging for The Last Jedi was also released, hopefully you will join me in thinking that Rey looks FIERCE! I can't wait to see Rey let her hair down and kick some butt!!

 

Poe looks pretty similar to how we saw him in The Force Awakens when he flew his Black One X-Wing.

Finns costume (from what I can see) has his standard hand me down jacket, originally from Poe, but underneath looks a little like a Gi, it looks like he's come straight out of that medical bay! 

 

I'll obviously have a full review of the night, be it Toys R Us or another store, I'll get that report! Stay tuned for more information of where midnight openings will be held. CANNOT WAIT! 

Hasbro New Star Wars toys for 2017 and 40th Anniversary!!

 
Hasbro have just teased a few of the new line of toys for the 40th Anniversary and also for the new (soon to be record breaking!) Star Wars Sequel, Episode 8 - The Last Jedi!!  All ahead of the New York Toy Fair!

I'm going to break down what we've seen so far and give my review of them.. this is all based on what I've seen and speculation, so hopefully a bit of fun! 

Poe Dameron Black Series Electronic Helmet:

As you can see from the pictures it really looks amazing! Very shiny, and definitely screen accurate from what I can see.. 

We've been advised that this helmet is electronic BUT I'm sorry to say, unless Hasbro does ALOT of work to this element I don't think it's going to be much cop. Like the Stormtrooper Helmet, it just didnt have the intensity for the mic and speakers to be effective, yes the helmet itself looked amazing, but if you're expecting the "whole package" you were disappointment. I really hope the electric element is sorted as this has ALOT of potential to be out of this world!! I've also heard speculation they could release a white and blue version too!

Word on the street is that this will be the same price as the Stormtrooper Black series Helmet, so around $69.99 or more like £79.99 in our case.. #Sadface

Next up is a personal favourite of mine, from the Bladebuilders line - The Path of the Force:

Now this is in fact pretty interesting as it's slated to have The Last Jedi packaging on it, usually signifying it's from the film.. are we possibly seeing Rey's newly constructed lightsaber? While this is in my mind, it's also odd that the additional parts pictured look very lightside (the silver one with the Jedi symbol), however this is also strange as from what I understand the Jedi symbol stopped being used shortly after the Clone Wars, so unless Luke has found it somewhere, possibly in the temple on Ahch-To; its very odd that it's here.. it could also mean that speculation about it being The Last Jedi branded is entirely wrong. 

The other piece looks decidedly Sithy, or at least Dark side.. we know that Rey destroyed Kylo's lightsaber in the Force Awakens, or at least that's what it looked like.. So could we be seeing a teaser of his new lightsaber?   At this point we really don't know but it's fun speculating right!? That darker piece also looks like the red prongs fan out at the click of a button, so that could be a cool new hilt design.. 

The main hilt itself, looks very much neutral, obviously so you can interchange the included parts. The blade is also clear which would usually mean the blade has the option of at least 2 colours.. which even more (as I've been writing and thinking) confirms that this is probably NOT canon and just another cool new set for the Bladebuilder range, we will not doubt see Rey's lightsaber depicted as a "blade-to-be-builded" (hehe!) but not at the moment.. Stay tuned!! Hasbro have it allllllll figured out!! 

I'm gonna put it out there that this will be another £29.99 - £39.99 pricetag..

Last of the new line, is the NERF Glowstrike Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster!:

It's a BIG GUN.. ok blaster, which fire's NERF darts, it makes firing sounds, and the end of the barrel should (if it's anything like the new Rogue One Blasters) light up when you pull the trigger. It's also a BIG GUN! Did I mention that already?

It looks awesome and will number 1 give kids an awesome time firing this, I really hope it fires using an electric motor.. number 2 us bigger kids will LOVE tricking it out in realistic colours and adding to costumes!

Um, £49.99-£59.99 anyone? Maybe?


Lastly, on THE STAR WARS SHOW (Love those guys!) we got to see the newest 6" Black Series Figure in some very Shiny packaging! 

Apologies for the very crude screenshot from You Tube.. Now what REALLY gets my goat is that firstly I'm not too enamored with the Shiny Packaging.. it just makes it look a little cheap.. BUT I have not seen this in the flesh as yet, but even on the Star Wars Show it didn't look massively appealing to me.. 

ALSO.. WHY Luke in X-Wing gear? We already had him back in 2013 (thanks Jedi Business! ) He was the first 6" Black Series.. Totally cannot understand why we haven't seen an Old Luke Skywalker from The Force Awakens/The Last Jedi.. surely that would have make more sense.. or even a 6" for the very first time we saw Luke.. remember the Tatooine sunset? 

It would have been great to get him with his macro bins, shielded training helmet and lightsaber.. I seldom put my personal quirks in my blogs because I don't want to seem like I'm ranting, but this just really got to me. 

Other new 40th Anniversary figures include the following:

6" Centrepeice Black Series - $50 each apparently! (£59.99 for UK? possibly..) Quite expensive but it does look amazing, Bliiming X-Wing Luke again!! hehe.. Bit of a step up from the Unleashed range, but alot more expensive too, also looks like it may light up?

These also look REALLY nice, and I may end up getting a couple of these, they're slated to be around the $15 mark, so probably about £20 for us in the UK:

Keep checking back for more info on upcoming Toys from Hasbro and other awesome Geeky companies! Looking forward to New York Toy Fair this weekend!! BRING IT ON!!