a99kitten's Musings

I blog about a WHOLE LOT of stuff :)

In honor of San Diego Comic Con, that I am sadly missing this year :(, I have been staring at my collectibles for the past few days. Sometimes I just like to take them down and look at them. Truly renews my affinity for them.  I usually get something new at the Cons when I go. And I have to pre-order at least 1 Con exclusive each year. This year, even though I am missing it, a friend is picking up my pre-ordered Gentle Giant Darth Vader helmet in PINK! YAY! But still quite sad I am not going. There really is a crazy fun energy there and I ALWAYS have a great time. I won’t be this stupid next year and miss it again…

But as I was perusing the Sideshow Collectibles site for their convention pre-orders I saw their new Millennium Falcon. Wow! This is a pretty awesome collectible!

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=900584&utm_source=news-scroll

Sideshow's Falcon

Sideshow's Falcon

I love all things Millennium Falcon – mostly because I love all things Falcon’s Captain and co-pilot :)  I am definitely a sucker for these particular character/ship purchases.  I have a dangling tiny Falcon suction cupped right under the rear view mirror in my car.  And Chewie is my co-pilot after all :)

Chewie is my Co-Pilot sticker

Chewie is my Co-Pilot sticker - have the Diesel Sweeties t-shirt too :)

I have the Code 3 Collectibles Millennium Falcon which is sold out on their site so no link to theirs – but here is mine!:

Code 3 Falcon 1

Code 3 Falcon 1

Code 3 Falcon 2

Code 3 Falcon 2

Rebelscum.com has a great description/specs: http://www.rebelscum.com/code3millenniumfalcon.asp

It’s a GREAT piece. I remember when I bought it and how excited I was! I believe it was the 3rd or 4th relatively pricey Star Wars collectible I bought.  I had been collecting mostly the action figure/toy lines up until then. Of course, I think that’s right around the same time Gentle Giant, Master Replicas, Sideshow and others all decided that little geeks grew up to be adult geeks who had cash to spend and the same geeky passion for Star Wars. Damn that George Lucas!!

When I went and visited ILM in the Presidio in SF (thanks to a friend who was AWESOME and hooked me and a few other SW nuts up with a tour), I got to eat lunch in their very generously-subsidized employee cafeteria and felt no guilt due to the thousands and thousands of dollars I have generously given up to the Lucas cult over the years :) (p.s. It’s awesome there – please hire me!!!)

Me at ILM in front of Yoda Fountain :)

Me at ILM in front of Yoda Fountain. Yes...in my Han & Chewie t-shirt :)

My Code 3 Falcon is proudly on display in my office and it always gets a lot of attention from new employees or vendors who come by :)

Of course, I also have the (released 1979 I believe) Kenner Millennium Falcon – in original box – from The Empire Strikes Back. This is the old Kenner commercial for the Falcon. This one is for the Star Wars version but dang cool:

I did most of my original toy collecting right before and after (and forever after) this movie (TESB) came out. Had more allowance to spend :) And yes, I kept them all unplayed with (had them on display in my room) and kept the boxes.

I love my old stuff. I take it out and look at it sometimes (like the giant dork that I am.) But it generally stays safely packed away in my home office closet. My home office is my dedicated Star Wars/collectibles room (there and my work office!) I have 1 large bookshelf full plus some of my framed posters, my Master Replicas lightsaber rack, and a few things on the desk. What I want…someday…is a dedicated room for my collectibles with glass cabinets to house my old and pricey stuff. Again…DORK! But really – how many Hummel, Lladro, doll, art, watch, etc, etc, etc. collectors are there out there?!?!? NOT DIFFERENT! :)

I also covet the Master Replicas Falcon.  It was $$$ ($2800 plus tax and shipping) with only 500 made. They sold out at MR then. There were a few that Harrison Ford signed which I would have given up a kidney for…every so often I check eBay for them and they are still going for $$$. Hmmm…I only really need ONE kidney, right??  Here is my pic of it from SDCC 2006:

Master Replicas Falcon

Master Replicas Falcon

Close up this thing is AWESOME! And it’s big! Like 3 feet wide! Sigh…there is one on eBay right now ending Thursday. The bank probably wouldn’t mind if the mortgage payment was short $3000 – right? Right??

But this Sideshow item is fantastic! I wish I was going to SDCC this week so I could see it (they MUST have a prototype there on display!) Very pricey though…but they are offering it as a FlexPay (their version of lay-a-way!) option…I think my husband’s head would explode. But then more room at home for my Star Wars collectibles!! Hmmmmm….. :)

Now if only Sideshow would GET ON IT and make the Premium Format figure for Chewbacca (to go with my Han and Leia)!! But Han and Chewie collectibles really deserve a posting of their very own…

For history on the Falcon (is to a real ship!) you can peruse Wookiepedia.  I love Wookieepedia because…well…it’s called Wookieepedia: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Millennium_Falcon

This is HYSTERICAL!!!  Take a minute to read :)

7 Classic Star Wars Characters Who Totally Dropped the Ball

Received the news letter from Gentle Giant, Ltd. last night. 2 new Star Wars products available for pre-order and I want them BOTH!

The Trash Compactor book-ends look very cool! And I missed out on the Han/Greedo bookends (which annoys me!) so these are calling my name..

Gentle Giant bookends

Gentle Giant bookends

And then the Hoth Leia mini-bust. I really should order this as I already pre-ordered the Hoth Han mini-bust and they really belong together :)

Gentle Giant Hoth Leia mini-bust

Gentle Giant Hoth Leia mini-bust

But THEN they also announced their Comic Con exclusives. I am missing it this year (boo!) but a friend said he could pick something up for me if they let him.  I am still waiting to hear back from them if they would…but really…a pink Darth Vader mini-bust! I love Star Wars, I love pink – go me :) And to support breast cancer (doesn’t Darth Vader scream philanthropy??)

Darth supporting ta-tas

Darth supporting ta-tas

But at Star Wars Celebration 4 in LA a couple years ago, they had a full exhibit of artists renderings of Darth’s helmet. And one of them looked similar (there were SO many cool ones)…

Star Wars Celebration IV - Darth Vader helmet exhibition

Star Wars Celebration IV - Darth Vader helmet exhibition

Must start figuring out how to get these GG items!!! :) They really make my favorite Star Wars collectibles. Sideshow does a good job with the Premium format but Gentle Giant’s got a lot of different lines and they are just so cool!

I’ll post pics of my GG collection soon!!

Heh! This is worth watching for the awesome 70s-ness of it all :) Donny and Marie as Luke & Leia (they KNEW they were brother & sister before we did!)  :)

Donny & Marie do Star Wars :)

This short clip is awesome!! I never watched Magnum, P.I. but grew to like Tom Selleck from his stint on Friends :) And Han Solo…well…he’s my hero :)

Han Solo, P.I.

Plus even funnier since Tom S. was supposed to be Indiana Jones but CBS wouldn’t let him out of his contract to do the movie…(sorry Tom, Harrison IS Indiana…)

From StarWars.com:

This is a short, old video starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford (swoon) and Carrie Fisher (in her Slave Leia bikini!) plus C-3P0, Chewbacca, Boba Fett and more!

I love watching old video like this.  All the promo stuff they did for the original trilogy is always fun to watch and makes me smile…:)

Click on link below:

Return of the Ewok

I saw my favorite movie ever 29 years ago today. I stayed up almost all night watching commercials and tv spots showing clips. I was so excited. I knew “never tell me the odds!” was a favorite quote of mind that night.

I made my Dad promise he would take me and not stay at work late. None of my friends were into Star Wars. Most of my friends were older than me so were starting to think about dating, sneaking into R rated movies, etc. But me…I was definitely making my Dad take me to the afternoon showing and then to Burger King to get the glasses! (I bought 2 of each – 1 to use and 1 to save and still have them!)

We had a great time. My dad wasn’t late, we played Asteroids at the theatre while waiting and loved the movie! And even though he hated fast food, my Dad took me to BK afterwards. And I just realized as I typed this that he took me to my first viewing of all 3 of the original trilogy. We didn’t do much out together as a family – he worked a lot – but we did this.

Then I saw it 10 more times in the theatre with as many different combo of friends and family/parent’s friends that I could muster. And then countless times on VHS, re-release, DVD, etc.

But it all started 29 years ago today with my Dad taking me. :)

(And still my favorite movie poster of all time! Will always have a prominent place in my home!)

Happy Birthday “The Empire Strikes Back”. :)