Happy Star Wars Day Everyone!

clicky to wookiee size it!

See what I did there? May the 4th, eh, eh? I wish I could take credit for this day, oh well. AT-AT first I was thinking what can I do to celebrate Star Wars Day this year, I was so going to shoot a cool picture, then I thought I will make my peeps something special, so I drew up my favorite wookiee jamming out for yas!

I plan on watching the OT tonight and maybe swing by the store and pick up a little Star Wars sompin sompin, you all have a blast today, go pull the ears off a Gundark!

Oh yeah the official site is supposed to make a big Blu Ray announcement today!

Just kicking back with Chewie...

...enjoying the day and drinking some tea.

Early Bird Round Two!

Or how I got my Early Bird groove on!

2005, Revenge of the Sith, Midnight Madness! The only Midnight Madness I have attended, for two reasons. One, I thought it would be the last time to experience something like this event and two, a rumor of a second Early Bird Kit. This was a second chance to get something similar to the Early Bird Kit of my youth. This time I was coming armed with a short list of things I wanted, Early Bird at the top of the list and money! Nothing was going to stop me. I was determined to get two of these bastards!



Midnight Madness fell on a Friday and lasted until the wee hours of Saturday morning. It was a good month or two before the release of Revenge of the Sith. I rested most of the day Friday, taking a short nap when I got home from work. I had my plan ready and money set aside. I was just waiting for the magic hour.



I planned to hit a Wal Mart first. Wal Mart was where the Early Bird kit was an exclusive. By this time I knew that the kit was a reproduction of the earlier kit from 1977. I knew that the figures were to be re-sculpts of the first four from the original redemption, and I knew they would initially be about 20 bucks. What I didn't know was that they would not be put out till the following morning under a giant tent in the parking lot. When I showed up at the store at 11:45 PM Friday night, the staff was just setting up the tent. I didn't realize what it was for, I just walked past thinking it was a seasonal thing. I walked straight to the toy section and was surprised to see nothing new set up. There were three other people waiting, I remember thinking this was a little less than I expected. We all waited and talked till 12:00 when a manger came by and said they would not sale anything until the morning under the tent in the parking lot. The other three were pissed to say the least, come to find out one was an employee of that store and had no clue. They said a few choice words to the manager (I thought risky at the time, especially if you are an employee) and mentioned hitting Target. I thanked the manager and said I would see her in the morning then, I passed the three in the parking lot and said I was heading to Toys R Us, they laughed and I said I'll see you there, Target wouldn't be participating till the morning as well. Thirty minutes later I was standing amongst friendlier collectors at Toys R Us. I made a selection of a 12" Clone Trooper, a Clone Trooper with action feature (reminded me of the old Superpowers figures), and a cool looking stylized Darth Vader. As I was finishing my purchase the three from Wal Mart came dragging in. I smiled and asked how they did at Target, they told me it was closed and grunted something about being a smart ass. A smart ass that was ahead of the game!



So I climbed in my car ready to go home, when I thought there is a Wal Mart close to here I wonder if they are doing the tent thing. So I decided it was late, I was up, might as well drive by. I pulled into the parking lot around 2:00 AM and no tent. I decided to take a trek inside and see what was going on. As I made my way to the toys I noticed a large crowd than the previous Wal Mart, though smaller than Toys R Us. There seemed to be a little disturbance going on, nothing out of control, just people questioning a couple of the employees. I asked a man that was standing there with his son what was going on. He said they let people start to pick up stuff then said that they were going to close the section down until tomorrow and had time to set up a tent. I asked if they were still letting people buy stuff, and at that time a employee said that they would let people continue to shop the stuff they had put out, but the rest would not be put out until the morning.



I turned to the man and asked if they had seen an Early Bird Kit, he said they were just about to put it out when they carted it and some other stuff to the back, that was just before I walked up. I decide to look around and I ended up picking up a Darth Vader action figure and as I walked around the corner noticed the Batman figures from Batman Begins. I knew these were not supposed to be out yet so I grabbed a couple of the different Batmans and headed to the house. I made it home around 3:00 AM that morning and set the alarm for six. When it went off I woke up my son who decided to join me for this last leg of the Midnight Madness and we left as fast as we could. We stopped to get a quick breakfast at Mc Donald's and hit the road back to the first Wal Mart, making it there just around 7:30 AM. The tent was to open at 8:00 AM that morning and so we stood there for a short time. You could see into the tent, the whole front was open, people were pointing at all the stuff they were going to get, I kept looking for the Early Bird Kit, where was it? They opened the ropes at eight I told my son what I was looking for and that he could get whatever he wanted. I was starting to panic as I walked around from display to display with no kit to be found, when I heard him call out "Dad, dad are these it?" I looked at the back of the tent and he was standing pointing to a pallet of Early Bird Kits. I rushed over and pulled the first two from the pallet, my son picked up a Lego set and a book and we headed for the cashier. The cashier was actually surprised we only had four items; the guy behind us was buying a basket full of carrying cases and another of action figures. We headed home and I collapsed till the afternoon when I finally opened an Early Bird Kit and filled out the form for my long awaited figures.



Months passed Early Bird Kits were plentiful, seems they were not as popular as I had thought. The Carrying cases were extremely popular. I was not in it for the mad eBay money; I was still sold on the thought of the Early Bird Kit. I did pick up an additional one for five bucks at a clearance aisle. I just couldn't leave it there, so I ended up with three, two that I filled out, and one I kept packaged. Months past, Revenge of the Sith wasn't what I thought it would be, a few more weeks past, then in my mailbox a small white box. The Early Bird Kits arrived! I was surprised to find that they had the little tray, the foot pegs, and the bow caster had some green on it. Luke had a straight arm and a somewhat familiar extending light saber, one of my favorite renditions of the character. R2 had a dome that turned and would raise his sensor scope, Leia was just as dainty and regal as the first time I saw her in 78' on that bus, and Chewy, he was huge. Chewbacca was in scale with the others, and possibly one of the best versions of the character ever. I knew as I held these that eventually they would all be repackaged and re-released in stores countless times, but for a time I was little again and all the wonder of the Early Bird Kit was mine at last.


May the Force Be With You Indeed!

Early Bird Round One!

If you are at all familiar with Star Wars toys from 1977, you know that there were none. Not until 1978 did we see Star Wars toys, and they just kept coming after that. Okay they took a little break after Return of the Jedi. You also know about a little thing called the Early Bird Kit. Where you got your parents to buy an empty box that promised delivery of the first four Star Wars figures when they would be produced in 78'. This was a way for Kenner to get some of that 1977 Christmas cash. Your empty box would include a display that had illustrations of each of the first twelve figures, some stickers, a Fan club card; some little pictures from the movie, and most importantly the certificate to send in for your four figures.

The first four were Luke Skywalker - soon to be Jedi Knight and hero of the rebellion, Princess Leia - the damsel in distress and rebel leader, that fur ball co pilot of the “bestest” space ship around, Chewbacca, and the feisty little know it all droid R2-D2. You would also get pegs to insert in the display to hold your figures in place. I will go on record right here and now that I wanted this set of toys bad, I did not get said set of toys, and this was probably the only time I was truly jealous of another kids toys. I know kids get jealous and envy other kids stuff all the time, but this is the one time I remember being in that state of mind as a kid. Sure I wished I had stuff, but I coveted this set of figures! Funny thing is I didn't even know the kid all that well, he was a new kid on our bus, and he wasn't even at our school that long. For sake of the story we'll call him Tommy.


Vader or Vadar?

Tommy didn't show up on our bus until after the Christmas break, being new no one really wanted anything to do with him (aren't kids great!), it was towards the end of the week that Tommy tried to join in the rest of the kids discussions on our respective Christmas hauls. I had talked with a couple of friends earlier in the week about my knock off Star Wars 12" figures and MASH die cast toys. Other friends received various Superheroes, Bionic men, comics, you name it. We all wanted Star Wars toys though, we were rabid for them! Tommy spoke up from somewhere near the back of the bus and said he had the first four Star Wars figures, other kids called him a liar or made fun of him, wanting proof. He said he didn't have them yet that he was waiting for them. I remember reserving judgment and just sat listening quietly. Could he be talking about the Early Birds? I went home knowing that this is what he must be talking about. I remember it was all I could think about.


This guy will always be a Death Squad Commander to me

Months past and it started to warm up, it was a sunny Friday afternoon when Tommy waited till the bus was just about empty, it only had a few more stops left. That's when he spoke up and said, "Remember when I told you I had Star Wars figures?" I happened to be sitting in front of him that day, and with out missing a beat I whirled around just as he was taking a white box out of his backpack. Other kids clawed their way to where he sat, over other kids to see what he was doing. I held my position as if I where a damn holding back a river. Our bus driver yelled at every one to sit down, but we all ignored him. Then as if in slow motion a plastic tray was pulled from the box and our four heroes wrapped in plastic were resting in little compartments in the tray. I distinctly remember the greenish bow caster of Chewbacca, the straight arm of Luke's light saber hand, the little cylinder look of R2-D2, and the white cape of the Princess.


obviously not the 77'-78' version, but close

Kids immediately begged for him to pass it around and take them out, Tommy held firm as he reminded the crowd he was called a liar months before. I remember I sat silent as before, just soaking in the details. I didn't beg or plead to see them, just watched as he held them and then packed them up. I also heard him explain his mom told him that he could take them, but not to unpack them as he might loose something. I thought smart move, bring mom into this, no one would say another word about holding them. Just as Tommy packed up his figures we came to my stop. I hopped off thinking about those figures. I retold the experience to my parents, as if I had seen Christ walking with Mr. Spock and Santa Claus on the way home from school that day. They dismissed the notion of my suggestion of seeing if it was too late to get this kit and send for figures and we sat down for dinner.


again the back of the newer version

Not too long after that Tommy's family moved on and I thought I would never see a Star Wars figure in my life. What had George Lucas done to me, where were my Star Wars toys? My birthday came and too my surprise so did the Star Wars toys, probably like every kid in America at the time. I ended up with Vader, Luke, a Stormtrooper, C3-P0, R2, a Landspeeder, X-wing and a TIE fighter. My parents did not know what they had created. I never did get the Early Bird kit, by that time it was useless. I don't regret not getting it, and understood why now my parents waited, but I often thought of it and what it would be like to get those first four figures in the mail.


... the saga continues

Mighty Muggs: Chewbacca

Just to catch you up, here you can read a little about the Mighty Muggs from an earlier post. Just like in that post I will mention that it's funny how characters that don't strike me as my absolute favorite get picked up just because something clicks. The Hulks face, Chewbacca's somewhat happy growl here.

The Mighty Muggs are a mixed bag with me, I don't feel the need to pick up every one I see, just a few select ones, a representation of certain pop culture institutions, Star Wars, Marvel, etc. I can say too I find it really weird that some of my favorite characters do not translate well into the Mugg format leaving me on the fence and not really concerned about adding that version to my collection.

So having said that, Chewbacca here is a one of the ones I chose for the Star Wars section, just something about making the character so simple works. I have said before I am not particularly drawn to Chewie, he's cool don't get me wrong, as a kid he was one of my favorites! Just older me wasn't too thrilled about his appearance in the prequels. He didn't seem to do much except give Yoda a piggy back, and even then why did it have to be Chewie?!? So seeing this Mugg reminds me of cool Chewie from back in the day, the Chewie that few starships and blasted troopers, Rock on old Chewy!



I will also note that I called the G.I. Joe and Transformer Muggs before they were announced at SDCC 2008! Of course it's hard for Hasbro not to slap paint on a basic shell and sell it for ten bucks, they even sell them for ten bucks unpainted! At first I scoffed until I realized I could make DC Superhero Mighty Mugs, or Muggs of the family! Do I smell some crafting christmas presents?