Monday, January 23, 2006

Mondays can be good

I had a particularly crappy day at work (my office was flooded, which I'll post about in my regular blog sometime) so it was nice to come home to a package on the counter from Gentle Giant.

Inside, was my Salacious Crumb bust, which I promptly took out of the box and set up. I took a picture without a flash so the glory of C-3PO's battery operated blinking eyeball could be seen.



I was having so much fun opening busts, that I decided to open up the Anakin and Grievous Maquettes I got the other day. I now have an entire shelf of the Clone Wars maquettes. Unfortunately, I also managed to break the saber off of my Obi-Wan, so I sent off a letter to Gentle Giant to see if they can replace the blade. Crossing fingers on that one.



Last but not least, today I found out I got my refund for the C-3PO bust Star Wars Shop screwed up on. The replacement I purchased on Ebay hasn't arrived yet, but at least I now have my 50 bucks to put towards the 90 it cost me. I'm still mad about that one.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Kit Fisto on order

Sideshow collectibles took over the 12" line where Hasbro left it off last year. Their figures cost 50 bucks instead of 20 and although I don't own one yet, from everything I've seen on the web...it's easy to see where the extra money goes. The first of their figures went up for sale last year, and I didn't buy it because at the time, it seemed like it was "just another Luke", only this one cost 50 dollars. I let the Anakin Skywalker slip away, because I already had him in 12" form as well.

Then they released the Obi-Wan, and after looking at what a great likeness it was, especially compared to Hasbro's crappy version, I decided I needed to pre-order. Because I waited a week or two, I didn't get the limited edition, just the regular one. That's ok...I don't need the extra gun he comes with, and this thing is night and day better than Hasbro's stupid stuff.

Now I'm feeling regret for not getting the first two, because I have a feeling I may have to buy these things on Ebay. I'm on the wait list for both of them, but I doubt I'll be chosen.

In the last few weeks, they announced Kit Fisto and since he hasn't been made in this scale before, I decided I had to get this guy. I chose to go for the limited edition this morning when they went on sale at 10:00am. The limited edition comes with a battle droid head, which I'm not sure I need...but for some reason am glad I'm going to have. I do like the battle droids.


In other collecting news today, someone on Rebelscum posted a link to Action HQ, where they're having a sale on Kotos. The Luke Skywalker Stormtrooper (which is just a stormtrooper with two interchangeable heads, 1 helmet and 1 Luke) and the Han Solo can be bought together for about 60 bucks each. I just bought 4 kotos a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure I want to buy two more....but I may miss out on this deal if I don't. I've been spending too much this month, so I'm going to ponder it for a night.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Woohooo!

StarWarshop finally emailed me back and offered me a refund for the purchase price of the C-3PO bust they never sent, plus they allowed me to keep the gold one they sent accidentally. While I don't actually need this, I'm sure I can find someone that does, sell it to them...and then apply that towards the purchase of the one I just bought on Ebay. Yes, that's right...I turned to the dark side and hit "buy it now" on an auction for 90 bucks.

It looks like my collection will once again be complete! It was 90 dollars, but at least I finally have one coming to me....and hopefully the SWS refund plus whatever I can get for the gold bust will almost completely pay for it.

Ice Ice Salacious

Today a Gentle Giant collector's club email went out announcing their Salacious Crumb bust is up for sale. In addition to that, they also were selling a 6 pack of the Hoth Bust ups Ice version variations via their website.

The Salacious bust was previously only available as a holiday exclusive that went out to bigwigs in the collecting world. I'm not one of those people, so other than paying 2000 dollars on Ebay for one, I'd have no chance to get this little guy in my collection until now. I'm glad they've released it (without the Santa hat) to the rest of us.

The "Ice" bust ups are simply clear versions of the series 5 Hoth Bust ups that I already have. Normally, they are only 2 per case, so they're kind of hard to find....but now I can buy them all in one shot, which is my favorite way to buy things.

I will of course post pictures once I receive these suckers. I plan to post pictures of everything I buy this year, if it's at all possible.

Monday, January 16, 2006

More Mini Sabers!

Came home today to find a big brown box from Ebay. That's always a nice thing to come home to find waiting for you. It was the 9 mini sabers I ordered from Ebay.

Instant collection!

Friday, January 13, 2006

The Jedi-Con Two Pack

My friend Chris from the local Rebelscum collector's group sent me a mail this morning letting me know that another local collector (also named Chris) was selling his Jedi-Con 2-pack for cost. I was never able to pick up or trade for one of these puppies, so I agreed to buy it. I'll be picking it up from him at the collector's meeting we have every month.

Every once in awhile in the life of a collector.....something random and unexpected like this happens! It's great.

Speaking of random and unexpected, this morning, Brandon called me at around 9am to inform me that Wal Mart in Renton had the Star Wars Foosball tables for 21 bucks. It's too big to fit into my bug and I don't really like foosball that much, but I have a feeling I may regret passing that up at some point.

Searched Ebay again and bumped my classified ad for the C-3PO bust. No luck so far. I hate Star Wars Shop with a passion right now.

Monday, January 09, 2006

The continuing saga of the Gentle Giant AOTC C-3PO mini bust

Technically, this should be considered a story from last year, since I ordered this bust in the fall. However, it's carried over until 2006, so I think it's worthy of a post.

When we went to Celebration 3 last year, Gentle Giant had a C-3PO statue in their display case. It was the grey version, from Attack of the Clones...at that point, an unreleased product. I asked them when they planned to release it. Would it be a Comic Con exclusive? Would they be selling it on one of the websites? Would it be part of the regular line, or perhaps a credit card giveway?

They would not answer.

Awhile after we returned from the trip, it was announced online that the C-3PO bust we saw would indeed be a convention exclusive, but for a convention in Singapore. I was frustrated, until I found that these would be on StarWarsShop.com in a very limited amount. I purchased mine within hours of it going on sale and added another figure I'd been meaning to order while I was there.

When the bust finally arrived in December, it was not the convention exclusive I had ordered. Star Wars Shop had screwed up and sent me the regular gold version. I figured they'd solve this problem for me and sent them a letter asking for the correct bust, but of course...they were completely sold out. I figured they must have some for customer returns, but they said they did not.

I've sent 5 or 6 letters since then, each one asking for a solution. They don't have one for me. I sent another one today, asking for either the bust I ordered...or a refund plus 50 dollars so that I can buy it on Ebay. I even said the 50 dollars can be in their store credit.

I await their reply. I just want them to make this right. In the meantime, I have taken matters into my own hands. I'm watching Ebay for the right auction and I have classified ads at both Rebelscum and JediDefender. No replies yet, but I am hoping someone will sell me one of these for a decent price. Doubtful, but I still want the thing, so I'm not giving up.

Friday, January 06, 2006

The Master Replicas Mini Sabers

My friend Walter has been looking for a Master Replicas Yoda Saber from Comic Con last year since the convention. He was unable to go, so he asked our friend Brandon to pick one up for him. Brandon gladly did, but when he opened the box, he found that he was lucky enough to find a gold one. The gold sabers are quite rare and Brandon decided to keep that one and the other one that he bought for himself. Brandon is a variation collector, so this isn't really a big surprise....he's just trying to maintain a complete collection.

Anyway, ever since I heard about this, I have been keeping an eye out for one of the regular sabers for Walter and have gone so far as to post a classified ad or two for him on various Star Wars sites, but as of last week I had no luck. It's been several months of trying, and I figured sooner or later I'd find it for him.

Today, I saw someone on Rebelscum selling off their collection of Master Replicas lightsabers. I asked the topic starter if the Yoda saber they were selling was the Comic Con exclusive. He said no, but sent me a link to someone who was selling it. I immediately sent him a message asking to buy it.

Then...I started looking at his other items. He was selling the mini-sabers at very reasonable prices. I don't collect these, but what a way to start! I could buy the one Walter needs and start myself off with a couple as well. I made him an offer and soon I was in for 180 bucks worth of Master Replicas goodness.

It didn't stop there. I visited Ebay a few hours later and found a seller selling an almost complete set of them, for another 180 dollars. I picked up that lot as well. 179.99 with free shipping.

Within a couple of hours, I had purchased 359.99 worth of .45 scale lightsabers less of course the cost of the one I originally found for Walter.

Being a collector can be dangerous.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Maquettes have arrived!

I came home tonight to find that the Grievous and Anakin Maquettes I ordered from toynk back before my wedding in October have finally arrived. I sent an email the week after Christmas asking where they were and the customer service guys said they were a little backed up, but that they would be shipping soon.

He was correct, as they have arrived on my doorstep. I will be posting pictures as soon as I open these up!

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Welcome!

As part of my New Years resolutions this year, I have decided to post a blog about one of my favorite hobbies: Collecting Star Wars merchandise.

I'm doing this for two reasons:

1. I thought it might be interesting to look back and actually have a record of how much time, effort and money are spent doing what I do.

2. Next year, I might want to read this record and take a good serious look at whether or not I need to make any changes in the hobby. I look back upon last year's budget (I kept track of my spending last year) and I realize I spent a TON of money on Star Wars stuff.

This blog will help me (and potentially others) to realize whether or not it's all worthwhile. This won't just be a list of amounts spent on which products, it'll be a list of the effort put into finding the items, the anticipation and the enjoyment when I actually receive them.

Join me as I chronicle an entire year in the life of a Star Wars collector. Here's hoping it won't be too boring.