Ah, excuse me...

These guys were wandering around the EHQ (Eclectorama Headquarters) this morning, asking for directions to a detention block or something. It seemed sorta fishy to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it, like maybe they were a little short for Stormtroopers... anyway, they were way off so I gave then directions and went on with my morning routine.

Candid Toy Pic - 04.19.2011

A few new troopers for the ranks!

Weekend Toy Haul

Not often I have one of these, but I had pretty good luck this weekend and found some cool things.

First up I found myself near a Toys R Us that we do not often find ourselves near, this one is located in the big city, anyway on the pegs were about 20 Captain Colds and one lone Flash figure. The thing is his card was destroyed, the bubble was being held on by two pieces of scotch tape on one side, what was left of the original heat seal on the other and the top of the bubble was open to the world. I figured he was either A) a return from a child's birthday party, it was opened and then decided upon it was lame and returned or B) someone really wanted to see what it was all about and ripped it open in the store. Either way since Flash doesn't have any accessories and the rest of him seemed in tack, I bought him. That is how bad it is around here folks, you buy them when you see them, no matter the cindition. Now I will admit I was going to open him anyway and I did feel a little cheated, but at least I found one in the wild... The Action League set was from a trip to Wally World, I was in a Flash sort of mood and wanted to round out the Flash collection a bit.



This next set of toys is from a trip (or two) to the local Grocery Store, well let me back up. The Lego TIE Fighter was from the same trip to Wally World as the Flash Action League. It looked like it was meant to be an Easter thing like Target does, they had the X-Wing (which I already had) and the TIE. These were all tucked away in the very back of the Lego aisle. I had to have a small Lego TIE. Okay now, the two figures were from the grocery store trips, I picked up the Stormtrooper because I have this sickness that compels me to pick up two of certain figures, like Stormtroopers, Jawas, etc. Sort of a mini army builder I guess. I just had to have two of these to put next to one of all those Darth Vaders I have laying around. R5-D4, might live on the card I haven't decide, I sort of dig those Star Wars cards. Now, I'm a little ashamed here as I had already picked up the Luke from this set earlier in the week and I also picked up another "big head" Han Solo, I don't know why besides I wanted another one of these Han Solos for something. I couldn't help myself. STAR WARS!



This last one is from the Toys R Us trip as the Mego-Like Flash, which I should call the "Mr. Miracle Flash" as he was trying to escape that plastic tomb all those Captain Colds put him in (for the record I passed on Captain Cold this round). Anyhoo, check this out, they make a freaking Red Porsche 914! I found out that there was a red one and a mustard yellow one a week or so back. I told myself that Toys R Us is the only place I will ever see the red one and if I am near one I was going to check and they had one on the peg. Again the package is in not so hot shape, but I plan on opening it up anyway. I just wanted to shoot a package pic for all my die cast readers. The mustard yellow one comes in one of those multi packs. I have a plan for that one since I am only interested in the 914, that will be revealed later. It's not illegal, I am not going to swap out a car. Gesh people, my nephew loves die cast cars so he will get all the extras, see now you made me spoil the surprise...



I think that about covers it, plus I think I have pretty much used up my toy karma for the next month... plus maybe my budget : ) I do have some Spockcation pictures to post this week, an awesome box of toys Jboypacman sent last week I need to post (sorry Jboy I'm getting to it) and wasn't there something else? Oh yeah the Cantina Crawl! I still need to shoot my entry! Have you shot your's yet? Oh, and welcome to the new followers... er I mean eclectomaniacs! I woke up Sunday morning and had 67! Sweet!

Trooper Doodle

... don't ask, not sure what I was trying to do here either.

Smugtrooper

Well look at this little trooper, finished his holiday shopping, presents all wrapped and possibly has checked one of his goals off the 2011 Collecting Goals list. I say possible because it is in route to the Eclectorama headquarters and I won't really believe it till it is in hand. More on this after the Holiday.

Star Wars state of mind

Maybe it's the time of year or just having some of my collection displayed in the office and easily accessible, but I have been thinking about that galaxy far, far away a lot more recently. Believe it or not at one time Star Wars was my only collecting focus. In 1997 I had about six of those standard six foot shelving units packed to the brim with nothing but Star Wars. Of the one shelf that contained books it was all Star Wars. That was probably what I called my hey day of collecting. I have since carved that collection down, focusing more on the original trilogy, more specifically Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.

I can't say I have a ton of vintage stuff, or even the high end stuff. I never really went after vintage holy grails or for that matter gone back and retraced my childhood for those items I never had. I mostly just now collect what I like, but have been feeling a little more vintage coming on, mainly the odd loose vintage figure here or there. I think I am also at a place where I enjoy some of the toys other's would think are pure trash, I'm looking at you 1995 Power of the Force buff Han and Luke. I'm not saying I am ready to chunk everything and go whole hog Star Wars again, just it's nice to revisit that time back in 1977 and 1978 were we only had our imagination and no clue what was on the horizon for the Star Warriors. Enough rambling like an old man...

A Festive Trooper

Lets start Monday off with a little Stormtrooper action. This is what happens when I get bored...



enjoy.

Thar's Silver Troopers in them thar hills!

What no one like the Vader Sketch? Oh well, here's a little heads up. Toys R Us is giving away Silver Stormtroopers again and I finally got one in my grubby little hands, thanks to my son. He also picked up another set of Imperials for my Snowtrooper Army I am apparently building. I think you can skip the purchase though and just buy the Silver Stormtrooper, at least it looked that way on the Toys R Us website the other day. Hey I'm not going to turn down some more Snowtroopers.



This one is going to be opened and put on display with my other Stormtroopers!

Oh yeh, the swag...

I was on a tight budget and a mission so this is what I picked up from Comic Con.

They don't call it the Empire State for nothing

Note to self, stay off the subways in NYC during rebellions.

Sweet Mother of the Jedi!

Okay these have probably been around the web a few times by now, but I am so getting a set of these...



and a set of these...



if there is a Williams-Sonoma in this town (and I do believe there is) I might be dining on Yoda Hotcakes and Stormtrooper Cookies this freaking weekend! Pass the blue milk!

images from Williams-Sonoma website.

Just a Test...

... of the Imperial Broadcast Network.
No Ewoks spotted
That is all
End of line.

The List: February Report

I did a little better with my list in the month of February, though 99 % of my purchases were not on the list so I guess I should say my budget was a little better the list was not.

Here's what I picked up:

1) I started with a Star Wars Legends Sandtrooper, the clean version. I love Sandtroopers and I really, really needed this one. My wife had to ask "How many Sandtroopers do you need?", to which I reply ALL OF THEM!

2) Firestorm, another moment of weakness, but come on it's Firestorm, 3-3/4" scale.

3) The Mighty Mugs Wampa is on the list, check it. Plus I found this one online on sale, though shipping ruined it for me.

4) Okay I don't consider these next two little guys toys, I used to have a 914 Porsche, so anytime they make a die cast representation of that car I'm going to buy one, this case I picked up two, they were like 97 cents.

5) I did get this guy on eBay...

Okay I needed him, I really did, besides I used it in a post for another blog. That's right I finally did a post on the Batman The Animated Toys Blog. I usually do not try and buy stuff just to post, but I made and exception cause I got this one at such a low, low price something like 6 or 7 bucks with shipping, that was less than when they were sold in 1992.

6) This one I do not know if I should count, I found this figure for Mario at A Year of Toys, so I thought I would help a fellow collector and pick it up, I'm not counting it on my list.

So, okay I went off the list some, but I didn't spend at all what I spent last month and so far March is starting out to be a good month, plus I'll celebrate a birthday so with luck I will not have to buy my own toys this month!

Uhmm, Yes Please!

Holy Crap, to borrow an expression from Reis at Geek Orthodox, My Brain is Melting! Or is that My Head is Exploding! Or both!



A Freaking Shogun Warriors Stormtrooper! I'll let that sink in... A Freaking Shogun Warriors Stormtrooper!

First spied here at RebelScum and then the official site of Super 7.

Now to gets me 300 bucks so I can get this thing! A part of me was wishing it would be priced like the old Shogun Warriors back in the day.

Gertie vs. Stormtrooper Out Takes

TK328: "Excuse me ma'am, have you seen these Droids?"
Gertie: "Mmm, Wha? Who are you? Droids? You looking for trouble?"

TK328: "Ah, no ma'am, just looking for Droids... sorry to bother you."
Gertie: "Say is that a Blastech E-11? You threatening me? I don't like you...

interrogate the locals

"No, I haven't seen any droids!"

Stormtrooper of the Week 2009 - Lil' Trooper

Finally another Stormtrooper to add to the old Stormtrooper collection!



Some new Galactic Heroes have been showing up in the past few Months and as soosn as I saw the set with the Stormtrooper and the Rebel Fleet Trooper I grabbed it. Now I only picked up one, but couldn't you see the opening scenes in Star Wars (That's Star Wars: A New Hope, Episode IV, for my younger readers) acted out with a whole mess of these, can you say sweeeeet!



If you remember from Stormtrooper of the Week from long, long ago. I posted a set of Rebels in disguise that were based on the previous release of the Stormtrooper. This guy is different in the way that he now can point his blaster at you! Ptew! Ptew!



I left out the Rebel in the set, maybe in a future post I'll put him up... I'm just not in a Rebel yell sort of mood. "Freeze Rebel Scum!"

Stormtrooper of the Week 2009 - Entry 1

So like I was saying a few posts back, I'm brining back Stormtrooper of the Week (SOTW) for 2009. I don't know if I will post a Stormtrooper (and now expanded to Clones and other Imperials by the way) every week, but I like the feature's name so I'm keeping it.

So here is our first Stormtrooper of 2009, which is actually an Artist Trading Card by Eric Stettmeier AKA Bubba Shelby which I won as part of a contest he ran last year around Halloween, where you take a picture of the Question that he drew and make a face for him.


I'll call him Fred, TK 0009, he guards the loading docks on the Death Star, luckily he was on vacation durning the Battle of Yavin

The cool thing about Eric's contest, everybody won something. My package, being the grand prize, included the Question Card and two more of his choosing. I like to think that Eric hand picked everyone's prizes by reading their blogs, cause I got Stormy here and one of my favorites from the Marvel Universe Captain America! Star Wars, DC and Marvel truly an eclectic mix. Thanks again Eric!





These cards are sweet and I plan on trying my hand at a few as well, and will possibly have a contest to boot. To see more of Eric's awesome artwork check out his Art blog, tell him "Texas Him" sent ya!

Death Star Gunner

I wish I had had a couple of these guys for my Death Star Playset back in the day. Hell I wish I still had my Death Star Playset that was hands down the best playset ever. I’m not saying that because I am a fan of the Star Wars, but because that set kept me busy for hours, rain or shine, inside or out, that was the set to have. Oh well another time, another time.



This guy, while not being the first of his kind to be made an action figure, is certainly one of the coolest versions to date. Part of the Hasbro 2006 Star Wars – the Saga Collection. The Death Star Gunner is pretty much a super articulated figure with some hyper detail. I think this is one of the few times I bought multiple figures of the same guy. That’s a sure sign I like a figure, if I get a pair for future plans. Like building my own Death Star, Buhawhaw! I think to date I have bought twin Death Star Gunners, AT-AT pilots (this one makes total sense), Stormtroopers, and Sandtroopers. I’m not talking multiples of the same character, that’s a given being a collector, I’m talking the same figure. I’m sort of a mini-army builder, LOL!



So, cool things about this figure. His chest armor can be removed, apparently they didn’t have chest armor in the first Star Wars (I’m talking A New Hope here) and they did in Return of the Jedi, Not that it mattered the Rebels still blew up the Death Star whether these guys had extra protection or not it didn’t help them much.

Dewback Patrol!

Like most I was in awe of the Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars. When these shiny, white troopers emerged through that blasted hatch at the beginning of the film I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Even better a few scenes into the movie and the Sandtroopers arrived, on giant lizards no less. The lizards are known as Dewbacks, and while they are supposed to be pretty common in Star Wars I will always associate them with Sandtroopers.



So if you have been following the blog you know I did a little feature last year called Stormtrooper of the Week. I started it a few weeks into the blog, and it was where I highlighted troopers from my collection. I ended it in the new year, but that was not because I ran out of troopers, oh no, far from that. So, I thought I would throw a trooper up on the ole' blog every once in a while to satisfy the Star Wars side.



Here we have the 1997 Creature set of Mr. Dewback and his pal Stormy Mc Sandtrooper! I've shown a Dewback before, and if I ever land my mitts on a complete vintage one you know that a third post is coming. This guy is in scale with the 3 3/4" line of toys so it's not as big as the previous one I spotlighted. The set comes with the Dewback, molded saddle, reigns, a Sandtrooper rider (his legs were made to ride!) his back pack, a rifle, and a long pole or pike to poke at stuff or Dewbacks! Wow, that seems like a lot. The Dewback him or herself has articulation at each shoulder and the head and tail move. Actually moving the tale makes the head move from side to side and the mouth open.



These creature sets were released when the Special Editions came out at the theater, and there were three in the set. Dewback/Sandtrooper, Jawa /Ronto (a new creature), and Han Solo/Jabba, all to celebrate the digital enhancements made to the film. I didn't mind the new scenes with the Sandtroopers, the Ronto seemed a little forced in there, and the whole Han talking to Jabba just didn't work for me. I will say though I appreciate how they tried to tie the toy line into the new releases. Plus it was the first time we get a Dewback since the vintage line.