a99kitten's Musings

As a Star Wars collector, I like to display my collectibles. Having them stored away in crates in the closet is silly.

Now, I have too much to be able to display everything. And some items are not as “displayable” (MIB original toys, etc.) But keeping my action figures stored away in a crate on the closet seemed very wrong.

Unlike a lot of kids who trashed their toys, I kept my original Star Wars action figures in great condition. After I “grew up” I kept them in my Darth Vader case and then individual plastic baggies stored away in a waterproof crate. I have some MOC figures too which are in protective cases (purchased as an adult) but, as a kid, I opened up my action figures and had them set up in my room by “setting” (Hoth, Cantina, Ewok village, etc.) So they were all opened, but kept in great condition.

Sadly, my original TESB open belly taun-taun has a broken harness due to the kid of my Dad’s business partners. He came over with his Dad and found his way into my room. When I went in my room and saw him there playing with my stuff, and he showed me the broken harness, I threatened to end his life if he ever went near my stuff again. He left and told his dad. My dad laughed. Might sound harsh but the kid was a horrible little racist brat who was on the path to becoming a serial killer so some fear did him good.

But these original action figures are actually a great part of my collection. I love them! I have searched and searched for a cool way to display them. But most cases are just simple acrylic or glass cases that comic book stores use and I didn’t really like that aesthetic. Plus it was a point of contention between my husband and I about displaying my Star Wars items.

Then I found it. A site that sold action figure cases for display that were cool (IMO anyway.) The owner allowed me to design the case as I wanted as he made them to order. He had some options on his website but then you could make whatever changes you wanted to it. And he said he will use my case as a sample on his site! YAY!

He just sent me the photo of the finished product this morning!!!

I’ve got the wall space waiting! And am SO excited to put all my action figures in!!! So it was worth the wait to find the right case :)

If you need a case, go here! http://www.figuredisplay.com/

Today Disney (DIS) announced that they bought Lucasfilm. WHAT?!?!?! I ran into the living room to see the TV thinking that I must have misheard it. Wow. Lucasfilm has been held privately by George Lucas since creation. He, along with Copploa’s Zeotrope Studios, were created by these guys as a solution to the big studio system they felt wouldn’t understand them, let them make their films, etc etc.

Now, I have been a HUGE Star Wars fan forever. And Indiana Jones. And since touring ILM twice, I always look to see if they do the special effects on movies. George and his team truly created a new frontier. So when, in addition to the purchase, Disney announced a Star Wars episode 7 in 2015 with additional movies following every 1-2 years my head (figuratively – no Belloq action) exploded. I had given up on Episodes 7-9 after eps 1-3 and George said he was too tired.

Now, I was EXCITED. But a lot of twitter, mostly the self-confessed nerds and hipsters, were screaming NOOOOOOOO Vader-style. Some refused to even comment other than to comment that they weren’t commenting. But why? Disney bought Marvel and I have to say X-Men: First Class and Avengers have been 2 of the most enjoyable movies that I have seen in a long time. If you disagree – you just can’t enjoy fun films and probably prefer art house suicidal self portrait films. So if Disney can find some great talent and get Star Wars back into prime action – I say YAY!

I was reading some of the tweets and stories and was both annoyed and amused by their upset. I mean, you know this is mostly a group of evolutionists who can’t get their heads around their beloved childhood franchise evolving one little bit. That thought made me snicker. And all of them likely grew up loving at least one Disney (and/or Pixar depending on their age) movie, if not the entire catalog.

Now, let’s be clear – if Disney announced they were REMAKING (or even “reimagining”) the original trilogy, that would be a different blasphemous story. That. Better. Never. Happen. But they want to take the story past where it ended which is what George originally intended. And what we all grew up hoping for!

I have been collecting Star Wars (and Indy) related stuff (you know…collectibles) since I was a kid. I have quite a bit. Quite. I’m slowly getting it all out and displayed and thinking of new ways to display it. Now it seems I might need even more room. Although the original stuff will always be some of my favorites. But now I will need to get this poster (that was given to me by a friend) re-framed NOW:

I have bought a FEW Disney Star Wars weekend items over time but have tried to mostly stay away as Disneyana collectibles takes you down a long, dark road to bankruptcy. Or appearing on an episode of Hoarders. I do have Goofybacca though:

And have been on the search for a few years for Han/Donald in Carbonite:

I didn’t think I actually wanted it but then saw it in real life at ILM. Very cool. I have the action figure-sized one but I need the big one. To match Goofybacca of course :)

The fact that George wants to turn his helm over to Kathleen Kennedy and a Disney team, while remaining a “Creative Consultant”, bodes well I think. George is a genius. And he is great. But his constant monkeying with the original trilogy has been maddening. Now, I didn’t hate the prequels like some nerds or “truists”. I didn’t love them the same way as I loved the original trilogy but I can still watch them over and over and enjoy them. And the last 30 minutes of the Revenge of the Sith is pure nonstop awesome.

And let’s face it, George introduced Star Wars to an entire new generation or 3. Little kids walk around with toys and costumes because they think Anakin is a Jedi hero. And Ben is young. Yoda still kicks ass. And yes, Jar-Jar talked funny. If you want to expand your brand, you do what he did.

I JUST yesterday said out loud, after seeing a Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 billboard in San Francisco, that Twilight was probably going to be the last midnight movie I will wait in line for 2 hours for and care to stay up so late for. And now look – it seems there will be more :) OK, I can do it! Although I will still probably prefer the 10pm “midnight” show like we are doing for Breaking Dawn Part 2 :)

So to all the nay-saying geeks and fake geeks who just like to complain – I say a pox on you. Wait until we see what they give us before you have your nerdtearsattack. You might just enjoy it. You’ll probably hate to admit it though.

I am pretty sure that I will love it. And am damn sure that I will give them a chance. And will probably be as excited as I have been today until it gets here. In 2015….tick tock…tick tock…..I am about as excited as when I was a kid by this :)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/43860706-d0e3-11e1-8957-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz21CAv0YGt

….”have we found out how many Jedi Knights there are in England and Wales?

We don’t yet know. Almost 400,000 people stated that their religion was “Jedi” in the 2001 census, making belief in The Force the fourth most popular religion. I have no idea whether Jedism is an evangelical religion or not. If it is, that number might well have risen.

It all seems rather confusing to me.

That’s just an old Jedi mind trick.”

That is pretty darn funny if you ask me. I hope the 2011 census shows even more! :)

The best parody ever!! I saw a little of this while at SDCC last week but never saw the entire thing. A friend just posted it on FB and reminded me of its awesomeness!

I also posted the original below so you can compare (yes that is the Biebs) :) Also…now I want to sit down and watch all 6 movies again!!!!

OG:

What makes even funnier (for me anyway) is that this song followed me everywhere while at Comic Con! In the hotel elevators, in the hotel gift shop (where the shop girls grabbed me and we all danced to it all arond the store while people stopped and watched us which made it pretty damn funny! And fun!), in the places we ate. I could not escape the song. And I think I had heard it a total of 1 time before going to Comic Con. So the fact that it now has a Star Wars parody ensures a special place in my SDCC memories :)

I like this version waaaaaay better than the original song :)

I just read the Kindle single “Comic-Con Strikes Again!” and I LOVED it! Super quick read. But if you are a Con attendee – you will giggle :) The writer hits it SPOT ON. The frustrations, the lines, the commercialism but also the pure fan joy :)

He also hits the nail on the the head with his note about Star Wars:

“Star Wars is the closest thing the culture of Comic-Con has to a single story that unites it: the myth that can support endless allusions that will be universally understood, at least here. Not a lot of us know who, say, minor Biblical characters were, as we might have a few centuries ago, but we know Jango Fett.”

So true… :)

If you have a Kindle, it’s $0.99. And short. If you’ve ever been to SDCC, you will laugh. If not, you will probably shake your head and wonder what is wrong with us attendees. Entertaining either way :)

Vader’s silence (and then action) is a WAY more powerful tool to relay to us ignorant audience members what is going on with Vader’s conscience (and soul…and midichlorians…and whatever else) than him saying anything. Grrrrrr….

I love ya George, but you REALLY NEED TO STOP MESSING WITH CLASSICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sigh…all I can say is good thing I still have the original original trilogy. WHERE HAN SHOT FIRST!

Just got this poster! A friend bought it for me. It was created for a special screening of Fanboys by Austin Books and Comics at the Blue Starlite Drive-In. That would have been super fun to go to!

If you’ve seen Fanboys, you will understand it a bit more. But really all you need to know and understand is the Star Wars universe triumphing over the Star Trek universe :) I love the bits of bright red used for Han’s Corellian bloodstripe, the Imperial guard, Rebel flag, etc.

I much prefer this version since I’m generally against anything regarding the French Revolution :)

Received my “Shadows of Tatooine” Han & Chewie (by Raymond Swanland) from Acme Archives today. Love it!!! Just as gorgeous as it was at SDCC. I got #42 of 95. Not bad. Not the #2 I wanted at Comic Con though. Who does that putz think he is buying it before me?! :)

They did a fantastic framing job! And after taking my Hoth Chewie in for framing and leaving my kidney (I only need 1 right?!) to pay for it, I appreciate the framing job Acme did for the cost.

The picture doesn’t do it justice but I am leaving the plastic cover and corner protectors on until I hang it. I’ll take another pic then!

Now….just need to decide where to put it….entryway right?

So…what do you think the odds are that I *won’t* pre-order this ASAP?

Cool Star Wars collectible …check
Han Solo and Chewbacca…check
Nifty Millennium Falcon case…check
Double purpose = actual 1oz silver coins….check

Sonofa…(altho  that’s actually Indy’s line…)

Silver Han and Chewie

I wish the shipping wasn’t so high. But put out by the New Zealand mint (ya know US Mint…really? Are you asleep at the coin press???) so have to bite the silver bullet on shipping if I want them…contemplating…

In fairness to to buying them, they would fit in 2 important buckets of mine: Star Wars collectibles AND silver coins :)

http://www.nzmint.com/starwars/millennium-falcon-coin-set?nocache=1