Toy Bender

I’m back to pretty much not giving a damn about Star Wars toys again, because I have mostly everything I’d want and not much has been shown to get me riled up during SDCC this year. There are a couple of interesting news items that I feel I should report, however. The first is the possibility of a “playset” that would reenact the burning of Darth Vader’s corpse:

Now this set isn’t going to come out, they’re just trying to gauge interest. Still, Hasbro has gotten a little morbid the last few years. First there was torture rack hand, the Lar’s Homestead just before they were shot and possibly burned alive, and now this. Granted, it is kind of neat, but I don’t think I’ll ever have a need for it.

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I’m already behind on Star Wars vehicles that I want need and Hasbro isn’t making it any easier. First up is the “Crumb Bomber“:

I’m really not hot on the name, but I love me some Gunship action. What’s great about this gunship, which will be a Toys R Us exclusive, is that it has been retooled a bit. It’s got doors that fully close now as well as new missile pods in the wings. I’ve never opened the one gunship that I have, so I guess perhaps it’s time to let that one go and get this one. Now that a battle pack is going to come out that comes with a gunner pod, I’m totally all about opening up a gunship and loading it with troopers for display.

By the way, does anyone know if someone is making repro stickers for Gunship art yet? I’m going to need to get rid of the Salacious Crumb and replace it with a sexy Twi’lek or two.

The other cool Star Wars vehicle due out is the Clone Wars style Y-Bomber:

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More poorly disguised shilling in the form of a post, what could be better? Well, actually this post is meant to inform as well as to shill. I wanted to let you all know that I’ve had a couple of sales on Dinosaur Toy Vault so if you are looking for an eBay alternative, you might want to check it out (thanks again Esbat). But then again I’ve only had a couple sales, so you can expect your stuff to sit around for awhile if it’s not in demand and you’re not trying to advertising everywhere you can.

And now on to the shilling! I thought I’d highlight a couple of items that I’ve recently put up. Mostly to mock my past self for my horrid taste in collectibles. How about this:

Oh yeah, these are Star Wars collector’s plates. I was so retarded. To be fair, I knew back then that collecting plates was dumb, but I just dug the artwork so much and there wasn’t much in the way of new Star Wars product in the early ’90s. To be not as fair, I can’t believe I bought Star Wars plates that you can’t even eat off to only have them sit in a closet for over ten years.

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As I stated yesterday I’m working on restoring my vintage Ewok playset to it’s former glory. I was on eBay looking for some of the parts I need when I ran across two actions that fit right into the theme of “eBay Madness”. The first is for this lovely custom Ewok as a Jedi:

I’m really afraid that somehow this will make it’s way into the live action Star Wars show if George Lucas sees this. I love Ewoks and all, but I like to think that they could even more ridiculous than seen in the cartoon Ewoks. If you find yourself wanting to throw money away, then the bidding starts at the low, low price of 14.95.

But if you think this is bad, just check this out!

It’s a life size Ewok costume prop and… I think it speaks for itself. By Crom, those eyes! It’s staring into my soul. The seller says the costume is not endorsed by Lucasfilm. No shit? I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to endorse this abomination that looks close enough to the real thing, yet fails on so many levels.

You know, I’ve been reading a lot of H.P. Lovecraft and I swear it was in one of his stories. I think it was called, “The Thing From the Movie House Scares the Piss Out of Me” or something along those lines.

Aaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!

P.S. I promise I’ll stop talking about Ewoks for a bit.

I get email news updates from a couple of online stores and while browsing through the latest mailing from Brian’s Toys (one of the fine sponsors of last year’s Joes for Tots contest), I saw that there was going to be an Ewok themed battle pack. Well feast your eyes on this beauty:

What? One Ewok!? Granted he’s got a flying rig there, but one Ewok? And two other dudes? That’s like two and a half figures total! I was suitably upset and wrote this on Twitter:

Paul_Rudolph Thanks to @brianstoys I now know there’s an Ewok battle pack that comes with 1 ewok. Woah, Hasbro way to be generous with the ewoks.

Seriously, this doesn’t even qualify as a battle pack. I know times are tough and they’ve moved from giving us five figures to four or three and a neat pack in, but come on already. This is two and a half figures and a piece of plastic that’s been released several times already.

Yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn’t care so much about an Ewok, but awhile back I made the commitment to myself to rebuild my vintage Ewok village to be faster, stronger, and all of that. I need as many Ewoks that I can get my hands on to populate the thing and you’d think an “Ewok Battle Pack” would basically take care of my needs. Hell, they’ve packed two Ewoks on a single card, so you’d think that even now that they are down to four normal figures that they could stuff at least four Ewoks in there plus a bonus into an “Ewok Battle Pack”.

At least this gave me a reason to break any kind of record for the number of times “Ewok” was mentioned in a single post on the internet.

I hate to keep writing about my collection of toys and everything related to it, but please bear with me. This is the first time I’ve had all this stuff together in years. Anyway, as I’m digging through everything I discovered to my horror that I have way too many Millennium Falcons. Check this out:

That’s three on the right which are from the classic variety and this is not counting my vintage Falcon that is missing many pieces and is in storage. Then to the left is the big ass Falcon that I was so happy to get last year. How does one end up with three essentially identical toys? Well the first one was the one of the bottom that I purchased way back in the day simply because I could. Since I was strictly a MOC collector it’s remained in the box ever since. The one above that was purchased at discount at a convention because the box sucked. I figured that I could open it up and enjoy it. The final Falcon on the top there was a gift from my parents who saw it at Sam’s Club and got it for me for Christmas. It’s actually my favorite boxed version, because I think it looks neat with the extra characters on top there. I guess that now I’ll have to add two more toys to the sell pile.

Does anyone else have this problem? I mean, do you ever come across a bunch of stuff you realized you didn’t have and even worse, end up with doubles or triples?

Due to the fact that I don’t collect Star Wars figures as much as I used to, I haven’t done many of these round ups. After going through all my figures to pick out ones to sell I’ve becoming interested in Star Wars figures again. Strange how that works. Anyway, I collected a few of my favorite questions from this last round of questions to Hasbro.

Over at Jedi Temple Archives someone is really picky about their orange colored figures:

Jedi Temple Archives: Would you consider a Battle Packs set that would include a take on the 212th Attack Battalion as seen in Revenge of the Sith? And if you did, would you be able to better match the orange color used on the armor so it is more authentic to the film? It almost seems like a no-brainer since the other Battle Packs that have focused on Order 66 have been such great sellers and disappeared quickly, like Betrayal On Felucia or Treachery On Saleucami for example. I am sure collectors and kids alike would love to see these Utapau troopers out again (especially since they have not made it into the Saga Legends line yet). And perhaps you can guarantee collector support if you recolor the orange or provide us with different battle damage applications.

Hasbro: That is a great suggestion for a Battle Pack, and one which we’ll consider for the future. Interesting comment on the orange coloration - we had not heard that one ourselves but will look into it. Thanks.

You know why they hadn’t heard it before? Because nobody with a life gives a shit.

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Well so far my sell off of a good portion of my Star Wars figures (and a couple of other toys) has been fairly successful. I realize that you might not care how much money I make on my toys, but I figure this might be interesting to any other collector’s who might be thinking about doing the same. As a recap, my plan (after suggestions from Toy Bender readers) was 1. Post items on here for sale. 2. Sell figures through my cousin for her kids. 3. Build a store on eCrater and see how I could do on there.

So far I haven’t had many offers from Toy Bender directly, but our friend Esbat of Fugitives from Reality has a father who collects and he purchased some items. I’ve also sold my 12″ Alien and I have a feeling that I’m going to regret that someday.

Total From Toy Bender: $45.00

My plan to sell my cousin my cheap figures went way better than planned. Not only did my cousin and my Aunt buy a whole lot of figures for her kids, but other Aunts and cousins got in on the action as well.

Total From Family: $99.00

My eCrater site “Dinosaur Toy Vault” has so far netted me nothing, but I kind of expected that. First people have to find eCrater, then they have to trust that I’m legit, and then they have to want what I have. Those are some pretty big hurdles, but maybe it will eventually lead to a sale.

Total from eCrater: $0.00

It’s nice getting some cash for my things and so far I haven’t really let anything go that I regret (except maybe the Alien), but but the only problem with all of this is that I never realized how many figures I had until I put them all together. I’ve sold over thirty carded figures and the peg board wall that was reorganized with toys that I want to keep has more figures on it than when I first started. By Crom, the horror that is collecting.

The boring details of prices I got are after the break. Now keep in mind that if I sold anything for way cheaper than it was “worth” I don’t care. It’s gone and I’m happy:

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I’m no Captain Planet and I hate the new trend to label everything “green”, but I don’t think our society should needlessly waste resources. There always is a bit of talk surrounding toys and their packaging in this regard, due to the fact that some toys create a lot of garbage. I don’t normally think about this issue, but I recently got a hold of of my first Star Wars Evolutions pack* and was pretty much disgusted with the amount of waste. First though, let’s take a look at the package before opening:

Not a bad presentation, but what always bothered me a bit was the size of the box. It’s incredibly long for only the figures. There’s a little note on the box showing that the big square to the left contains additional accessories. I figured with the size of that square you must get some neat stuff.

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Well by popular demand, I present the Toy Bender dealer booth. Imagine you’re in a large show floor packed with aisles of cardboard tables full of toys. The stench of B.O. in the air. In the midst of all these tables is mine. There’s mostly Star Wars stuff with a couple of random things positioned nicely on top of an old Empire Strikes Back bed sheet. I’m stuffing my face full of nachos. My wife is wearing a low cut top to attract more nerds to buy my stuff. Okay, I think the scene is now set.

The items below might not be all of the things I’ll have for sale. There’s quite a few low cost items that may go to actual children. Crazy, I know! I’m also digging through things and making hard decisions over the next few weeks, so if I add more I’ll update.

Please let me know of your interest at: Paul.toybender@gmail.com for anything you see here you like. Shipping will be as low as possible and based on where you live and if you want boxed items loose, so ask me if you want an idea. Also, if you don’t think a price is fair, make me an offer! That’s what you do at conventions! So really, I don’t want to hear if something is too expensive.

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After coming back to Wisconsin I’ve finally been able to start consolidating my collection of toys. You see, I’ve kept most of my toys in my old bedroom. Moving from apartment to apartment would have destroyed the majority of my stuff that I kept in the packaging, so it was just easier to leave it there.

While taking stock of everything that I have, I’ve decided to trying to get rid of a lot of my Star Wars figures as well as a few other miscellaneous toys. I came to this decision because I just have way too many toys and there’s a lot of them that I don’t even like anymore.

As I’ve checked what my things are going for, I’ve become depressed. Don’t get me wrong, I never purchased any of my Star Wars figures thinking they’d be worth money some day, but when I actually need money it’s sad to see that I’d be lucky to get a dollar for many of my figures. Regardless, it’s got to go. To tackle this task in the easiest possible manner and to get as much as I can for it, I’ve come up with three ways to sell my stuff:

1. eBay: There’s a few figures that I think I can get a good price for, so I’ll take my chances with eBay. I really hate the site and all the fees, but I really don’t have any other choice to get the best possible price for my toys.

2. My cousin: The strange thing about housing the majority of your toys in your old bedroom at home is that when your relatives come to visit, they take their kids to the room to admire the toys. One of my cousin’s kids is a nut about Star Wars and is completely in awe of the room. Who better to want to spend his well earned milk money on the figures that aren’t worth more than a buck or two?

3. Brian’s Toys: I’ve only ever purchased a few things from them, but as a generous sponsor to the Toy Bender Toys for Tots contest last year, I feel that they’ll be a trustworthy buyer for a couple of my things that I don’t want to mess around with on eBay. However, I’ve heard that I will be ultimately disappointed by doing this. Would anyone like to give me some input on this?

You know what I don’t buy any more? Star Wars vehicles from the original movies. There was a period when I went nuts if I found a B-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE Bomber, etc., but once I had them in the early ’00s, I was pretty much set. I’m not one to buy several versions of the same vehicle anymore. I’ve somehow grown an unruly lot of Hoth Speeders without really trying and I don’t want to do that again. However, my policy may change when I see a “new” TIE Fighter in stores which is currently in the works. Hasbro has finally gotten around to changing the interior of the classic fighter of the Empire to better resemble the movie model.

They’d made the change to the wings awhile ago by making them much bigger and thereby more movie accurate, but I didn’t want to shell out 40 bucks for the wings. This interior change to the classic TIE is just what it needed. Combine it with the wings and you have a sure fire purchase. The price better not increase for this change though. The TIE isn’t as value packed as many other toys of the same size.

And while we are on the subject, let me share with you with some sadness from my childhood. Even though I had tons of Star Wars toys when I was a kid, I didn’t have a single TIE fighter. It’s strange and very sad to think that I had hours and hours of Star Wars play time without a single epic X-Wing on TIE fighter battle.

There should be some sort of government mandated reparations for that level of suffering.

It wasn’t really that surprising that Hasbro recently announced that it’s Titanium line would be ending after ‘09. They certainly haven’t seemed as hot as they were when they were first introduced. What went wrong?

I was really into the line when it first came out, but there were a few things that quickly became apparent. Number one was that there was an endless parade of repaints. Secondly, when the line started getting mixed together with Transformers and later Marvel ones by inept retailers, I was pretty much done with the whole thing. It was insane trying to find new Titanium vehicles in a sea of Beastmaster Optimus Prime peg warmers. Another nail in the coffin would certainly have to be price. At six to seven bucks a pop, comparatively speaking they are a pretty low value to other toys in that price range. I’d much rather have a G.I. Joe figure over a metal ship.

Is there anyone else who is going to miss the Titanium Series ships?

It’s the return of another old feature this week! The return isn’t due to the fact that I’m nostalgic to sift my way through dozens of nerdy questions for you, but because I really couldn’t think of what else to do today. Hopefully, someone still digs these things.

Galactic Hunter asks a question about the Big Millennium Falcon:

Galactic Hunter: We know that the BMF (Big Millennium Falcon) is getting cleared out at some stores as part of the post-Holiday clear-out, but it is an open stock item that will continue to ship, right? Are there any upgrades planned for this piece in the foreseeable future?

HASBRO: Wal-Mart and Target have taken to clearance out the Millennium Falcon since they do not have a home on the latest planogram. As of now, it’s likely that Toys ‘R Us in the U.S. will carry another run of them in the Fall in the new red/white packaging. There will be no upgrades to the Millennium Falcon if it does ship again; it’s likely that this version will be the signature version for some years. The good news is that the large vehicle program was indeed a success and we look forward to the first Turbo Tanks hitting shelves around August 1.

Awesome, just in time for me to not be able to buy them. What’s nice though it’s that Hasbro is finally admitting that the big vehicles of last year were a success. It took them awhile to confirm it. If they don’t do as well this year, I hope they factor in the economy.

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Here we are again with the rest of the Wondercon 2009 coverage!

Wondercon Pictures:

Since I’m both lazy and I have a crappy computer, I don’t have many interesting pictures to share. However, Savage of Old Man Musings was a picture taking maniac. You can check out his photos on Flickr here. Great White Snark is also showing off his pics and you can see some of them here with more to come in the future.

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