In 2019, I experienced a common fate in the Hasbro Star Wars modern era: lack of new product at retail. It reminded me of the dark times in my days as a Star Wars collector. From 2002-2005 I almost quit due to the "action features" most of the toys had. Sure, the magnetic lightsaber hilt were cool, but the features made it impossible to fit in vehicles plus the "new" figures didn't fit with my POTF2 stuff at all. Then came the super articulated Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Revenge of the Sith line and a new era was born. In 2009-10 I would experience the same problem with the Solo kids Legacy Wave, which was made a last minute exclusive to Toys R Us. Of course it could never be found at TRU! All I wanted was Jacen and Jaina Solo, plus Shaak Ti in her Force Unleashed outfit and Jedi Master K'Krunkh because that was another Jedi badass from the comics, plus the build a droid character was cool. Sigh. I've got Jacen, cheap on eBay but I still need Jaina, just be...

  Hasbro recently announced they will continue making Star Wars toys. They will also be making Indiana Jones toys again, although I doubt this time they will do 3.75 inch toys for Indy again. They did in 2008, and well, I liked them well enough. Or maybe it will be like when Hasbro also had the Star Trek license. Yes, they had the Trek license and did nothing with it. So, is this a good thing for Star Wars? My answer may surprise you. First the good: the 3.75 inch Vintage Collection is highly popular once again. Hasbro has done wonderful here the last couple years, with 2021 being one of the best years for VC toys. Hasbro is one of the only companies who make good figures in this scale. It's not just Star Wars either, Hasbro is also making the best ever Transformers toys, plus are rocking it with Marvel Legends. With the potential of future Indiana Jones toys, likely in the 6 inch scale, Hasbro has a bright future ahead toy wise. Mission Fleet has succeeded in putting out vehicles,...

  Disney Star Wars has been largely hit and miss. The sequel trilogy was poorly handled, miss. Rogue One has been a hit, and is the one most fans enjoy the most. While I liked Solo (for the most part), it was a box office miss. The Mandalorian has been a huge hit, and the jury is still out on The Book of Boba Fett. But one character has benefitted from Disney's takeover and it's one I never expected Disney to get right: Darth Vader. I'm not just talking about the Rogue One hallway scene, they have actually handled him perfectly. Let's go back to 2015. That year, Marvel began putting out monthly comic books for Star Wars, their first time in 30 years. The Star Wars monthly was highly anticipated and issue 1 was one of the best selling comic books that year. But, Marvel dropped something else: a monthly Darth Vader series. For the 1st time, Vader would not only get a monthly series, he would be the main character. This was a comic book first. Vader had starred in a couple...

  This figure is not without controversy amongst the hard core Star Wars fans. That controversy is, does he wear a brown coat or a blue coat? Well, here he is an a blue coat. But this Han Solo has a first time feature that many wish had been carried over into future versions of Han back in the Kenner days. It's a feature that was recently replicated on the Retro Greef Karga figure for the Mandalorian. Han has the standard Kenner 5 POA and is in a standard Kenner pose. He comes with his blaster which fits perfectly into his right hand. But the feature that stands out is his blaster can fit in the holster. Well, sort of. You'll notice the loop on top of the holster. The blaster handle can fit inside the loop, letting Han actually holster his blaster. It wouldn't be until the late 90's/early 2000's until a Han Solo figure could properly holster his blaster in action figure form. With the cold gear on, you can barely tell this is a Han Solo figure. As I mentioned bef...

Before I get into the review, the Hoth Luke Skywalker is a very important figure to me. Why? Because this was the first Star Wars action figure I would own. Amazingly, I still have it. I remember where it was bought, and that place is no longer in business and that building now sadly sits empty. But, you always remember firsts in life. For me, this was it, and it started something that still goes for me to this day: collecting Star Wars toys. Hoth Luke is the first character we see in the ESB (I don't count the probe droid since it isn't really alive). Another first, Kenner poses Luke in an almost pose, you'll notice that his right leg looks like he's leaning forward a bit. Now he still has the standard 5 POA, and surprisingly his head turns well despite the sculpted hat/head wrap. The only accessory he has is a blaster rifle which we did not see him use in the film. You'll also notice he doesn't come with a lightsaber...I'll cover that when I review Bespin...

  So far, the review of The Book of Boba Fett has been mixed. Some like it, some don't. Well, actually a lot of people don't. But, I have thoughts as to why that is. Now, I haven't seen the episodes, mainly reviews and reactions to the episodes, so take that into account. We all have enjoyed what Favreau and Filoni did with The Mandalorian, and say what you want to now, they have been shown to be good story tellers. So yes, it's slow now. But this series doesn't feel like a 100 yard dash, but a marathon. So here are my thoughts: 1. Hard core fans have their own thoughts about Boba Fett. Yep, admit it. You all do. In the movies he barely spoke. In the animated Clone Wars series we got glimpses into the type of man he would become. We want him to be cool, dispatch enemies in cold blooded fashion, and being a badass. I am at the age when I remembered reading about Obi-Wan and Anakin's fight in the ROTJ novel, and had this image of how it went in my head. Then seein...

 Let's see if this works....

  The OT (original trilogy) is a yearly event for me. Sometimes I watch it when it's on TV, even though I have the DVD's and Blu Ray versions. I first saw Return of the Jedi in theaters at the age of (let's just say I'm old enough to remember it!) in 1983, at movie theater inside a local shopping mall. Needless to say I was hooked! Especially seeing Princess Leia in that bikini outfit...wow! I later saw Star Wars (aka A New Hope) on it's broadcast premiere on CBS, that even had a follow up show hosted by Mark Hamill. A family friend recorded it on a Betamax and I watched the tape so often I'm surprised it didn't wear out. Also, add finding a working Betamax to my list of needed items! A while later I saw Empire Strikes Back and well, I didn't like it much. But once I saw them in order, ESB became my favorite one. Definitely had the best music of the three. Best toys was obviously Jedi, but I'll get back on topic. For the 10th anniversary (or close to...

  While technically I got this figure in hand before Christmas, and it should be considered a 2021 release, this is a figure that will soon start showing up in stores in 2022 (if it already hasn't). For a little over a decade, give or take a year, collectors wanted Bo Katan in the 3.75 inch scale ever since her 1st appearance in the 3rd season of Clone Wars. Yet her live action appearance in The Mandalorian is what paved the way for her to finally get an action figure! In the 6 inch Black Series. However, now she's in the Vintage Collection and while her Black Series counterpart is a great figure, the VC version is better. It's also one of the best VC figures ever made (100 percent true!), and will set a new tone going forward for 3.75 inch Star Wars figures for years to come. With 16 POA, Bo is easily one of the most articulated 3.75 inch figures you will get. But what makes her truly unique and special is she actually has ball jointed and not ball socketed hips, which m...

  Finally the Kenner Star Wars cards get wrapped up here, with the one, the only, Boba Fett! For many, this is their favorite Vintage Kenner figure, and it is a great figure no doubt! No other Star Wars carded figure has this much detail except for Darth Vader. Plus there is a story that may or may not be true about this figure, depending on your point of view. For the story, time to read on, but first, a musical number by MC Chris because, well, I'm humming it as I type: https://youtu.be/fqiasBVGtX8 First thing's first: the figure itself. Standard 5 POA, and comes with a different colored Imperial blaster. He has no cape, but has a jetpack molded onto his back, with the rocket glued on to it. Yes, there is a story behind it, more on that later. The first version showed up in 1979, and is a lighter blue suit color, as he was in the Holiday Special. In 1980 for The Empire Strikes Back, his suit is a darker blue color. The green chest paint, yellow boots and red visor are the sa...

  The High Republic just celebrated it's 1st anniversary and while I wanted to be fair and give it a chance, it just didn't really connect with me. I never really got how a ship breaking apart in hyperspace could harm millions, possibly billions of people across the galaxy. While this is the first time we have a look into this era (232 years before The Phantom Menace), and we have some familiar characters like Yoda who we already know a little bit about, we also have a lot of new characters. Jedi like Avar Kriss, who is the most powerful Jedi of her generation, Marchion Ro, a villain who rules the Nihl, a group of what appears to be space pirates/anarchists. While those are compelling and interesting characters we also get plant life who mimic the Borg (and Yuuzhan Vong to a lesser degree) and a navigator who is a rock (Geode). Yeah. So what should it be about? Phase 1 is coming to an end. Do I have any clue of what's happened? No. Do I care at this point? No. So how can t...

  The last new vehicle for the VC I bought was the Rogue One Hovertank. It's impressive! I missed out on the Troop Transporter from the Mandalorian only because I needed to pay bills. But, with the most recent VC vehicle being Anton Merric's X-Wing having an MSRP of over $100, fans have said that's too high a price. Oh, the Hovertank? I found it at Ollie's for $20. It should have retailed for $40-$45. It was at $50 for retail. The Mission Fleet line, while geared to kids has reasonably priced vehicles, albeit in the 2 inch figure scale. But what about the signature line of 3.75 inch scale? Well, it's time for the hard talk. Let's face it. Mission Fleet is where it's at for the vehicles. The toys fit inside the ships, or other vehicle and I don't know many collectors who don't keep their figures in the vehicles. Unless it's a troop transport or something like that. In my hollowed out Big Millennium Falcon that mostly sits empty while my Force Awak...

  To keep things interesting in the Kenner line, they released 2 other droids. After all, in making C-3PO and R2-D2 they needed a way to reuse the molds and get some of their tooling costs back. So, a couple new head sculpts, some paint, new stickers and you have 2 brand new droids, one of which can function in 2 different environments! R5-D4 is best known as the droid who had a bad motivator, while the Death Star Droid actually shows the Sandcrawler droid on the card image. It even has the same color, although on the Death Star there is a droid of this type, but painted a different color. But he can fit in with the Jawas, despite being painted silver, plus your Stormtroopers and Death Squad/Star Destroyer Commander figures quite well! R5 is almost like R2 except for the head, and the sticker on the torso. He still makes the same cool clicking noise R2 makes when you turn his head, and of course is missing his 3rd leg. While he is a great display figure, it wouldn't be until 1983 w...

  If there is any cantina alien that as a child that grabbed an eternal foothold into my imagination (besides the Tonnika sisters who are long overdue on getting action figures) it is Hammerhead. He was the most unusual looking alien in the cantina, and while I easily could have added him to the Walrus Man & Greedo review, I couldn't. He's just too special to me. Hammerhead is not in a screen accurate outfit, something that was common in the Star Wars carded Kenner era, he doesn't wear a turquoise colored tunic. Kenner would solve this nearly 20 years later in POTF2's release of Hammerhead using his name given to him by West End Games in 1987, Monaw Nadon. He has the standard 5 POA, and comes with an Imperial blaster which he holds best in his right hand. His buck, interestingly was not used on another figure (to my knowledge although they could have altered Walrus Man's buck to make him, fan theory alert! LOL!). Also, to get him to fit in the card bubble, his h...

  So, I decided against doing my fan fiction which involved Rey going back in time to stop the rise of Abeloth, and this would of course put the sequel trilogy in an alternate universe.  I had the first story plotted out,, and will share that plus the other 2 parts which I had only begun to summarize. I had intended to only use Abeloth from Legends but it became necessary to use a couple Legends characters as the story progressed. Part one of the story would have begun with Rey Skywalker  and Finn confronting Abeloth on Chalindra, the new captial of The New Republic. Abeloth would kill Finn, and destroy Rey's lightsaber. But before she could absorb Rey, Rey is taken into the World Between Worlds by the spirit of Anakin Skywalker. There, Anakin shows Rey how Abeloth was able to form a connection to Palpatine, just as she had formed a connection to Ben Solo. When Palpatine first died, Abeloth awakened but was weakened. She took over the body of a woman who served the Emper...

  Since he debuted in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, albeit in animated form, Boba Fett has captured the imaginations of Star Wars fans everywhere. Who was he? What's a Mandalorian? Why does he hate Han Solo? Those were some of the questions asked about him. In Legends, he was Jaster Mareel, a Mandalorian warrior who protected Concord Dawn. That was until Attack of the Clones dropped 20 years ago, and we learned he was the unaltered Clone of Jango Fett. Yet at the age of 10, Boba became an orphan when Mace Windu beheaded his father in the Geonosis arena. Now with The Book of Boba Fett streaming on Disney Plus, the obsession with Boba continues. Of course I'm going to talk about the toys first! Boba debuted on a Star Wars card, but wouldn't appear in that film until 1997's Special Edition. The paint and sculpt is simple, and he has a Stormtrooper blaster, not his rifle. In 1996, he came out in POTF2 in film accurate colors and a not so film accurate blaster rifle. H...