Full of Beanz

Allow me to introduce you to one of two reasons why I developed the "Vader only (and sometimes Boba Fett)" rule of collecting Star Wars: the infamous Spin Master Star Wars Mighty Beanz. What, in the outer rim, made me decide these were something I had to have? A jedi mind trick no doubt.

Originally I only intended on getting a few. It was actually the giant, tin Darth Vader case that got the bean rolling with its exclusive Mighty Beanz Darth Vader Bean (Beanz?) contained inside. The tin holds 40+ Beanz and I thought, well, that won't be hard to fill. I'll probably stop before that even happens. Yeah, right.


The Beanz themselves are little 1 inch plastic capsules with a metal bearing inside. Each capsule (and there are over 60 to collect) is sealed with a decorative tape that has one of many Star Wars characters printed on the surface. The characters range from the Original Trilogy to the Prequels and into The Clone Wars series. Some are considered more rare than others but there is no literature to support how rare they are.

So, tin in hand, I made my first few purchases of the 4-Beanz Packs and was lucky enough to get all but one of who I consider the core OT characters: Han, Luke, Chewie, Leia, Obi-Wan and R2. The collector tin gave me Vader but damned if I could score a 3P0. I ended up buying enough packs to fill my giant Vader and the duplicate Beanz were piling up. Still no 3P0. My kids reaped the benefits of my Beanz addiction and after several months of frustration I finally gave up on trying to find the golden protocol droid. F#@k You, Spin Master.

Time passed and the Beanz withdrawal symptoms were but a fuzzy memory replaced by visions of the Hasbro booth at SDCC courtesy of the world wide web. Some movie somewhere said something like, "You can only find what you are looking for when you are no longer looking for it". I'm relatively certain it was not a Jedi quote but low and behold I stumbled across a pack of Mighty Beanz that had C3P0 proudly displayed in its main window. The long road to recovery was over. I had my gold star and it was in that moment I created my Vader Only (and sometimes Boba Fett) Rule. Never again would I be seduced by the dark side of collecting.

Who's Scruffy Lookin'?

Issue #127 of Star Wars Insider has hit the Canadian news stands and features a look at everybody's favorite rogue smuggler Han Solo. Anthony Daniels gives readers a 6-page interview while Timothy Zahn (SW EU writer) and a look at Disney's Star Tours fill out the bulk of this issue that isn't advertising or tidbit info.

It is worth noting that there is also a 6-page look at the combat styles of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic massive multiplayer online game and a snippet from the forthcoming novel Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan if you are looking forward to that latest piece of fiction.

Quality Time

Yes, I love Lego®. Yes, I love Darth Vader. These two things have already been established if reading my recent ramblings has taken but a moment of your time. Ah, yes, time is the key word here and Lego®, Vader and Time are all rolled into one nifty little alarm clock that helps keep me on track with my late night blogging. (Or at least it reminds me I should have gone to bed an hour ago.)

This handsome time piece is licensed by Lego® (or so the stamp from China on the back says) and is almost exactly like a large Lego® Darth Vader Minifigure as far as points of articulation go with the exception of a turnable head. He can sit or stand depending on how much prowess he commands on your nightstand and his arms and wrists allow for a variety of poses right down to the famous "I find your lack of faith disturbing" force choke. It does feature an alarm setting and if you press down on his head the LCD clock face lights up in a Sithly red glow.

Sadly, the alarm is just your typically annoying digital beeping that most dollar store travel alarm clocks offer. I was hoping for a little heavy Vader breathing to coax me out of my slumber. The other disappointing thing about my new clock is that he lacks his cape and lightsabre. What's with that I ask? Now I have to go and make those accessories myself.

I bought this particular item in the spring when it was on sale (yeah, baby) and they cleared out pretty quick. There was also a Stormtrooper version which I thought was equally as excellent a collectible but I stuck to my Vader only (and sometimes Boba Fett) rule and left it on the shelf. As of last week I noticed that these clocks have been restocked at Toy R Us with a new addition to the line; Lego® Anakin. Technically Anakin is Darth Vader so I could just... no, no... gotta draw the line somewhere.

Get Your Funk On

Let it be known that if I were to collect everything some company slapped a Star Wars sticker on I'd be both broke and an irrefutable hoarder. Fortunately I am neither, yet, though I do collect certain product lines avidly and almost to completion. My one rule of thumb that keeps me in check is that, while I cannot have everything, I can at least allow myself something worthy if it happens to look like Darth Vader (and sometimes Boba Fett).

Let's use Funko for example. Funko is a company that manufactures, for the most part, Bobble-Heads and other items that take up valuable real estate on your office desk. I almost picked up the Funko Force Darth Vader that hit shelves last year but the price never dropped low enough for me to consider it seriously. This year, however, they brought out a sickeningly cute series of vinyl bobble-heads that look very much like 3D sculptures of Katie Cook's artwork. Series 1 features Vader (01), Yoda (02), Han Solo (03), Princess Leia (04), Stormtrooper (05), Chewbacca (06) and Greedo (07). Normally the ruggedly tough and manly collector in me would scoff (and gag) at such doe-eyed, cutsie collectibles but the Vader, as always, suckered me in. The biggest draw was that this little trinket looked a lot like Stewie Griffin in Vader garb from the Family Guy Star Wars specials. I couldn't resist it any more than Anakin could resist the Dark Side especially since I found it on sale at Toys R Us. He stands almost 4 1/2" inches tall (base included) and is, as described, made of soft vinyl. He has no articulation but his head does bobble quite well and when it does I can almost hear Stewie's voice echoing out from under the helmet, "I made a Darth Doodie. I Sithed my pants. My diaper's gone over to the Dark Side". Awesome.

Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer!

If somebody had asked me to name my two favorite toys as a kid I would have spat out, "Star Wars" and "Lego®" without skipping a beat. I loved building things and I loved building Star Wars vehicles even more. Of course this was long before Lego® had the intricate sets that they do today but it was hours of fun either way. I still recall fondly the Tie Fighter I created which held together for months until it met its demise at the hands of Darth Mother.

Of course one can only imagine how delighted I was when Lego® actually obtained the Star Wars license and created the wonderful line of brick-based vehicles and mini-fig characters that we see today. It's bloody expensive though and generally takes a back seat to my collecting. (Lego® makes wonderful Father's Day presents in case you were wondering.)

Back in May I splurged and bought the one iconic Star Wars vehicle I had always been after; The Tantive IV. (It's awesome by the way.) Even though it was on sale it still cost a pretty penny and I honestly thought it would be the last expensive Lego® set I would ever want to buy and perpetuated that thinking as a selling point to my wife. I was wrong.

Hello Lego® Super Star Destroyer! Is that an IG-88 in your command module or are you just happy to see me?

Over 3, 000 pieces, almost 50 inches long and just under 8 pounds of brick with an intergalactic price tag of $399.99. Did I mention it comes with 5 minifigures? Darth Vader, Admiral Piett, Dengar, Bossk and IG-88. Oh, and there's a cool little mini Star Destroyer too. That makes $399.99 seem like peanuts, no? Yeah, well, one can dream. I'm sure I'd have plenty of money to spend after the divorce.

A Fett full of dollars

Obviously the success of last year's "Rocket Firing Boba Fett" figure redemption was enough to make Hasbro think it was worth repeating. I'm not going to say I'm exactly thrilled about the idea of another rendition of Fett but I'm not going to snub my nose at it either. The prototype armour is pretty slick even if it is very, very similar to the Ralph McQuarrie version we were handed during the 30th Anniversary of A New Hope. Still I would have been much happier if they had made this year's redemption program a Vintage Kenner-style Darth Vader. I have the original from when I was a wee lad but getting my hands on a brand new one would be like stepping back in time for just a moment. Sideshow Collectibles is doing the giant 12" version of the vintage Vader but it's just not the same.

Ah, well, Boba in shining white armour will have to do for now. Maybe next year, Hasbro. Maybe next year.

Better late than never!

Well look who finally decided to show up at my door. After months of delay Sergeant Bric, the Hasbro mail-in redemption figure, and his Galactic Battle Mat has arrived safe and sound.

Sergeant Bric made his debut in the Season 3 opener of The Clone Wars titled Clone Cadets where he and fellow drill instructor El-Les, along with Jedi Master Shaak Ti (both of whom had single carded releases this year) tried to whip a merry band of clones into combat soldiers.

Overall he's a pretty decent figure with 12 points of articulation, blaster and working holster. Hasbro skipped on the ankle articulation, which is a pet peeve of mine, but other than that I'm happy that I went to the effort to send away for him. The included Galactic Battle Mat is something kids are supposed to be using to play this year's pack-in incentive game (die, battle stand and accompanying battle card with stats) but it's a big waste of plastic as far as I'm concerned. Any of you kids actually using this thing?

Well now that that's all over with it's time to start saving those UPCs for the Prototype Boba Fett mail-in figure this fall.