Toy Bender

If you grew up in the late seventies to mid-eighties there’s a pretty good chance you remember running around your house with a big plastic Millennium Falcon in your arms while you did your best to mimic the sounds of space flight heard in the Star Wars films.

The toy company that made that classic Millennium Falcon had done such a great job that it’s been remade with only slight alterations off and on up to the present day by the company that now makes Star Wars figures, Hasbro. Lately though, there’s been rumors that Hasbro has had a new Millennium Falcon in the works. As much as the vintage Falcon worked with it’s myriad of features, it is simply too small to please adult collectors i.e. huge nerds like me. This new Falcon promises to be much bigger and better and if the image found on Galactic Hunter.com* is any indication, bigger is definitely better:

This Falcon looks like it can fit four figures in the cockpit, something that Star Wars fans have been wanting for decades. It also features new and improved interiors, missiles in the front, and a more movie accurate cannon on the top. Judging by the size of the seat there and the fact that most Star Wars figures are around 3 1/4″ inches tall, you can make your own guess on how huge this set might be. There’s also no indication so far that the back opens up, but if it does this set would be every Star Wars toy collector’s dream come true. There’s no word on price, either but judging on other large Star Wars releases in the recent past I’d say it’s well into the 150 plus range.

As exciting as this image is, Hasbro hasn’t officially confirmed that this image is 100% legit. Galactic Hunter says they got it from a trusted source, so only time will tell.

*If you go there click on the pic to get any even higher resolution.

Thanks to: Poe Ghostal of Poe Ghostal’s POA for the heads up.

I’ll be honest. The last round kind of sucked. Everyone let off on the nerd gas pedal, but this week there’s a few uber-geeks that decided to floor it. There’s also some great questions that have some informative answers, but let’s be honest. We’re only here for the cringe inducing questions.

(more…)

Here we are again! This time we’re on round fifty and I’m sad to say that a lot of the questions have been toned down in nerdiness by at least two or three notches. Still, if you like Star Wars there are some pretty decent bits of info that came out of this round so read on, my friends!

(more…)

Last week while working on the Hasbro Answers Nerd Questions I discovered that there was some sort of exclusive SDCC set involving Darth Vader communicating with a holigraphic Emperor head from a scene in The Empire Strikes Back, which Yo Go Re of OAFE.net called, “Darth Vader Gets A Phone Call” and I’ll use from now on. The image of the set is now available so we can all get a good idea of what this thing is (click on it to make it larger):

(more…)

It’s hard to believe that the next round of Star Wars Nerd questions is here. Really. It only seems like yesterday that we were assaulted by massive social retardation and yet here we are again. This round was particularly interesting because it seems like most sites pumped up their nerdery by a factor of ten. Are they competing for the coveted Ultra Geeky Award^TM? Most likely not, because no one has sent me an angry email over it yet. Let’s see how long I can go before it all blows up!

(more…)

Nerd question time again, peeps! Even if you don’t like Star Wars toys you really should give this feature a read. It will teach you a thing or two about nerdom and the more you know, the more you’ll be prepared for the post apocalyptic nerd wars.

(more…)

I’ve been thinking of ways to display figures factoring in my limited space considerations. I ran across a site called The New Sand Crawler Workshop.com where they make shelving units that serve as dioramas for Star Wars figures. It’s some neat stuff, considering it’s all made of wood.

If you search around the site a bit you’ll see some rather simple (but still cool looking) dioramas like this one that’s based on Empire Strikes Back:

The sets get more elaborate from there. Here’s an example of another Empire Strikes Back shelf that looks fantastic:

(more…)

In my recent post about the new Lego Gunship, reader XeQUae made mention that he had two of the old (and ultra valuable) Lego Gunships and he modified it so it can be an AT-TE carrier like in the one of the best scenes in the entirety of Attack of the Clones.

(more…)

Thanks to our fine friends at Wizard Universe.com (and a chap named Zach Oat), I got some Star Wars lego info from that very fine website. The biggest (news for me at least) is that the Lego Gunship will make a return.

(more…)

Here’s the final and third part of the Toy Fair Star Wars coverage. Thank god.

Star Wars Clone Wars

There are scheduled to be a minimum of 23 Clone Wars figures dropping in 2008. Collectors will might note that some of the figures will sport some sort of gimmicky action feature. If you take a look at that horrible arm on Yoda, you’ll know what I mean.

Obi-Wan Clone Armor

Here’s the animated version of Mr. Wan in his clonified armor. Nice.

(more…)

There was a lot of new Star Wars info that came out of the 2008 Toy Fair. In order to make sure I got everything, this is the first part of the non-clone related Star Wars news. Part two will follow shortly. Now let’s get to it!

Star Wars Legacy Collection

The Legacy Collection is the waves that contain figures either seen in the films or variations of characters seen in the original films. Wave one will street on 7/26 and consist of the following 8 characters.

Wave 1

Han Solo

Hasbro went with a neat theme on this one, the main characters are from a scene in Return of the Jedi that got cut. Where can you see it? Not on the DVDs, because George Lucas is an asshole.

(more…)

It’s great to finally see all the rumors that have been floating around the past few weeks finally confirmed (or slightly disproved) by the recent 2008 Toy Fair, especially when it comes to Clone Troopers.

AT-TE

First off, I’m pretty sure regular readers of this site will know how obsessed I am with the AT-TE. Jedi Insider was able to secure some pictures of the thing and it looks amazing. While it isn’t quite as big as I thought it might be, the thing is pretty damn large. It looks like it comes with one Clone Trooper, although it’s of the animated style variety. Be sure to head over to Rebelscum.com for the rest of the pics.

(more…)

It looks like the rumor I reported about the AT-TE was true, all magnificently true. (Also true are a lot of the other items that were in the original rumor list)

STAR WARS AT-TE

(Approximate Retail Price: $99.99; Ages 4 & up; Available: July 26, 2008)

Star Wars fans and collectors will travel at light speed to toy stores for the chance to take the new six-legged CLONE WARS vehicle for a spin. Measuring two feet long, the AT-TE can transport an amazing 20 clone troopers and is packed with galactic sounds and firing features.

I knew I was right to up my loose clone trooper buying habits. This is so fantastically awesome that I’m ready to cry and laugh at the same time, just like every time I make love.

Now where are the pictures Hasbro?

Thanks to Poe Ghostal for the press release link.

Oh man, Star Wars website Jedi Defender has posted some juicy Star Wars related rumors. The best ones have got to be the ones related to the nearly confirmed AT-TE. Supposedly it will hold up to twenty clone troopers and has motorized doors that open up to deploy said clone troopers. It also has some electronic sounds and lights to enhance your play action. Not that I’d play with one… no… never… The expected price tag is around a hundred bucks, which isn’t too bad if it’s as big as the rumor is indicating.

Expect to hear confirmation on this rumor and the other ones on their site during Toy Fair, which is right around the corner. Personally, I’m praying this is true and I’m upping my clone buying in anticipation of having enough loose clone troopers to fit into one of these bad boys.

If your curious what the packaging will look like for the upcoming Clone Wars series of figures (based on the new Clone Wars animated series coming in July), wallah! Here’s what you will see hanging on pegs for the single packs of figures:

This is a pretty striking design. I love the Clone helmet look as expected from a guy who likes Clone Troopers way too much. The white scheme also works pretty well with the look of the previous Clone Wars animated series packaging.

(more…)