I have always been a fan of the Kenner Mini Rigs, ever since I saw them as a kid at the toy store in the old Astro World theme park. My brother got the Desert Sail Skiff, and I chose the ISP-6 since it looked a lot like Shuttle Tydyrium, only smaller. Sadly, moving to new homes led it to be lost. So, I just accepted that I would never again get one, and if I found it loose, it would no doubt be incomplete. But, a local comic con a few years ago had one Kenner Holy Grail (Darth Vader's Star Destroyer), could I possibly find another one at the same con as it took place in the fall instead of spring? Yes! Two vendors had them, both complete, for 2 different prices. Vendor A had it for $40, and let me handle it to see if everything worked right. Vendor B had it for $50. Not much difference between the two. Only the stickers were peeling because it's been nearly 40 years since they were applied. I chose Vendor A in the end, but Vendor B also had something from my childhood that I ...

  https://youtube.com/shorts/LDorWh58h7c?si=odsWD3xqpcuashmk In that short, George Lucas explains why he didn't want the studio (in this case 20th Century Fox, which is currently owned by Disney, who now owns Lucasfilm) having a say on how he made his movies. Say what you will about GL: he had a vision, and told a great story. Dialog, well, his weakness there is obvious. But, Lucas made sure as long as he was the one making Star Wars movies, it would be his way, free of studio influences. And when he sold his studio and film properties to Disney, what did they do? Influence the story. Sigh. What Disney is doing is what Lucas feared the most. I won't go into the mess that was the Sequel Trilogy, that's well known. But, all the problems came from the people running the studio. Star Wars wasn't meant to be run this way, and it showed. At its heart, Star Wars represented the best in independent filmmaking: the creator drives everything! Story, budget, even merchandising i...

  In the US this upcoming week is Thanksgiving, which for me is a holiday to watch typically bad NFL games since it's always the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions that host games against teams on the opposite ends of themselves. The Lions are having a great season and are hosting the Green Bay Packers, who historically have been a good team, but aren't this year. The Cowboys host the Washington Redskins, currently known as the Washington Commanders, and the Commanders stink. The night game is the only one worth watching: the San Francisco 49ers vs the Seattle Seahawks. To pass the time, I spend the day with family and eating a meal together (which is the best part of the holiday, the family time, not the food). It is also a time to be thankful for the good fortunes experienced this current year. I am thankful for everyone who reads this, and hope that you are doing great! I'm also thankful that my family is doing well, and early next year I have another nephew arriving a...

  There is a new Vintage Collection poll out there, and while it is similar to the VC March Madness Tournament, this new one is different. You can find the link at  Banthaskull.com in the Last Figure Standing article to participate! The rules are simple: list your 10 choices, and label them from movie and scene, or from a Disney Plus show, or video game. So, I'll post my 10 choices here, with an explanation of why I want these particular figures. My list may surprise you with some of my choices, particularly since I'm not a fan of the projects some of my figures come from. All of these figures should be all new sculpts, not sure if that is the contest rule, but it's mine for the sake of this post. 10. Rey (Throne Room Duel, The Last Jedi). I bought a custom figure of this a while back, but in my opinion this is THE definitive Rey. She is as close to being a Jedi, and already having Praetorian Guards and Snoke, it would be nice to have a super articulated version of this fi...

  Back in 2001, Hasbro made Squid Head, now known as Tessek for the Power of the Jedi toyline, and it was a remarkable improvement over the Kenner version. Better sculpting and paint apps showed how far toy design, and painting had come in the 17 years between releases. But as the Vintage Collection 1.0 came, no Tessek. It went away, and came back still without my favorite alien from Jabba's Palace. But Hasbro had plans: put him in a 4 pack! So, I sold some plasma and used that to buy the 4 pack (exaggeration: may not have happened!)! Tessek sports the standard 17 POA, and has newly sculpted head and hands, and midsection "belt". The rest is a clever kitbash using Cal Kestis's legs, and arms from an unknown to me figure. The upper body movement I had no issues with, but the lower body was different. Initially on the upper body the elbow joints were tight, but after moving them for a few minutes they were fine. The lower body though, those knees were tight. I almost pu...

  Hasbro Pulse's 10/27 Fan Stream did little for Star Wars, but a lot for GI Joe and Transformers fans. With the MCM London Comic Con happening in Great Britain, Hasbro had some massive reveals for both the Black Series and Vintage Collection  along with something I thought I'd NEVER see from Hasbro! I will not cover every reveal, just the ones I found interesting. And by having a full week to go over things, I can settle down and think clearly about what I liked! The only photos I have are for the VC reveals, not the Black Series or pipeline reveals. VINTAGE COLLECTION -A couple repacks: Cassian Andor (no image) from Rogue One gets a photo real update, as does Finn from Episode 7, but he finally makes it into the VC. Honestly, I plan on getting both in the near future. I collect mains on cards, and Finn is definitely a main, but I have 4 already, and got them for $5 a piece. Cassian badly needed photo real (so does Jyn Erso). The good news is these won't be at retail but ...

  The new battle cry for the Vintage Collection is to #MakeTheMains and while this mostly applies to new versions of Luke, Han, Leia and Ben Kenobi from A New Hope. But, with the new addition of barbell hips to the VC, it makes older versions of the main characters look bad. Bespin Luke, Bespin Han, Hoth Leia, Endor Leia (just to name a few) look like crap compared to new figures like Darth Vader, and BOBF Luke Skywalker. But, there's a problem: the cards. Some of those older figure re-used the same Kenner cards. I've solved that problem, as I'll suggest alternate images that can be used. This will be the first of 3 posts over the coming weeks as both the Prequel and sequel eras have mains that are needed.  This list will NOT have ANH versions of Luke, Leia or Han as we already have a ANH Leia coming soon. But this list has figures of the main characters that need the new barbell hips as collectors want mains to be all new sculpts. I chose Home One for most of the ROTJ look...