#60: Star Wars Legacy Collection Obi-Wan Kenobi

I didn't get back into collecting Star Wars toys until Revenge of the Sith came out, so although I have a couple of clone war Obi-Wans this is my first Obi-Wan from any of the earlier movies, in all his Jedi mullet glory. Until I got this figure, I assumed that Obi-Wan's outfit was the same throughout the movies, but comparing it to a Revenge of the Sith version reveals that there are differences, although not immediately glaring.

If I could only get one Obi-Wan figure, this wouldn't be it, but it is a very good one. Like the more recent version of the RotS version, this Obi-Wan has the extra hip articulation that I wish Hasbro would use more often. He can do the splits! His accessories are an older style lightsaber and a communicator which can be attached to his belt. Now that I have this version, the only phase of Obi-Wan's life I'm missing is a padawan version. Conveniently, there is a new version coming later this year. I hope that one has a robe!

Still no skeleton, but I've got other new goodies

Over a week after crystal skeletons have supposedly started to be sent out, I am still waiting for mine. Maybe by next week.

In better news, I did just receive a package from Entertainment Earth, in spite of the post office's efforts to not deliver it. So that leads us into a Star Wars week, which will be officially kicking off when I update later today. Star Wars week will lead into my birthday, so yay.

#59: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Ransack

I finally got around to picking up Ransack, and I'm glad I did because I really like it. I've never had a Scout Class Transformer, so it is interesting to have one that is about the same size as my Star Wars figures. Obviously not the same scale, but about the same height. For me the big selling point here was that he turns into a bi-plane. For whatever reason, I've always thought bi-planes are cool, so as soon as I heard about Ransack, I decided to get one.

The bi-plane mode is pretty good looking, and the propeller spins. The Decepticon symbol on the wings is combined with an iron cross, which is a pretty snazzy piece of design. It seems appropriate that a WWI era Decepticon would take the form of a German piece of war machinery. It would be interesting to see more WWI style Transformers.

In robot mode, Ransack is a strange, gangly looking thing. I suppose he looks more old-fashioned or low-tech than other Transformer robots. He looks kind of skeletal, and his legs aren't symmetrical. I like the way his wings hang off his back, it's sort of like he has a cape.

This probably won't be the last Revenge of the Fallen toy I get, but if it is, I won't be too disappointed.

Second week of June

Since the postcard claimed that my crystal skeleton would be sent on the 10th, I am counting down the days until mine arrives. Today is day two, and so far, nothing. I'm not sure where they'll be shipping from exactly, but three days is what it usually takes for mail to arrive cross-country, so maybe it will arrive tomorrow.

Part of my one of my orders from Entertainment Earth shipped today, so I have that to look forward to sometime next week.

Speaking of Entertainment Earth, they had a Twitter based trivia contest today that I won. Yay, store credit!

#58: Hot Wheels '66 Batmobile

I know that some people shop at grocery stores with surprisingly good selections of toys, including action figures and the sorts of things that I collect. My local grocery stores tend not to carry things I'd want to buy, although I did buy an Optimus Prime and Megatron two pack last December at my usual grocery store. Today, I made my second toy purchase from a grocery store.

There was a display box of Hot Wheel cars on a shelf, and this was in front and immediately caught my attention with the Batman logo on the card. I have heard that Hot Wheels collectors are among the most dedicated, and I would assume that a Batmobile would be a hot item for them, so I guess they haven't started checking out this grocery store for their Hot Wheels fix. Counting myself lucky, I took it.

When I was young, I had a lot of Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars, and the like. Most of the toys I collect these days reflect the toys I was into back then, but I haven't really been on any nostalgia trip for Hot Wheels. Because of this, the Batmobile will only have my Spam racing car for company.

Anyway, this is a cool little car. It's the Batmobile that Adam West drove, which will always have a fond spot in my memory. According to the Hot Wheels wiki, there have been previous versions of this, with more paint apps on the car. It does kind of look plain on the front end without them, but I'm not too broken up about it. My only real complaint is that the red stripe along the right side of the car is a little misaligned. I'll just have the other side face forward. I'm not hip to the world of Hot Wheels collecting, so I don't know if this is a rare car or not. Either way, I'm glad I found it, even if I didn't even know it existed until I saw it.

It's June!

At last we arrive at June. Do you know what that means? It means my birthday is in a few weeks.
Aside from that, it means that it is time to resume my Crystal Skeleton Watch. Back in April, I received a postcard informing me that the crystal skeletons would start shipping on June 10th. Assuming that things go on time, I may have my crystal skeleton sometime next week. Finally!

Now that the Revenge of the Fallen toys are out, I need to get over to Target so I can pick up a Ransack. Or if I'm feeling lazy, maybe I can find one at Rite Aid, for double the price.

I haven't seen any pictures of it, but Playmates will be releasing a Harvester as part of their Terminator Salvation line. It's going to be 16 inches high and in scale with the 3.75" line. This is a toy that is definitely tempting me. It's a giant, killer robot that's in scale with a lot of my toys, so it's pressing my buttons. I'm not sure if it will ever hit stores, or if I'll have to order online, though. I'm guessing the TS line doesn't have enough legs to last in stores too much longer. We'll see!

#57: Star Wars Legacy Collection Princess Leia

This is Princess Leia as she appeared at the very end of Empire Strikes Back, aboard the medical frigate. Aside from the arms and the head, this is the same figure as the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Leia, which I bought a month or so ago. In fact, the similarity is the reason I bought this figure. I felt the VOTC Leia was lacking in the arm articulation, while this one isn't, so I bought the Legacy Collection Leia so I could do a head swap and have a properly articulated bun-hair Leia. The skin tones are not a complete match, but it is close enough. Otherwise, anything I said about VOTC Leia applies here.

#56: Star Wars Legacy Collection Captain Needa

I have a lot of troopers, but not many officers. I have Grand Admiral Thrawn, Juno Eclipse, and Grand Moff Tarkin. Now I have Captain Needa as well. This is the guy that loses the Millennium Falcon after it lands on a Star Destroyer, and is then subesquently Force choked to death by Vader. I think this is a new sculpt as previous Imperial officers have had less articulation. His legs look a little funny, but otherwise this is a good figure. Due to the way it was packaged, the end of his gun is bent downward at an angle, rendering it ineffective. It looks like the hat is a separate piece that was attached slightly off center. At the store, there were two Needas to choose from, and the other one had its eyebrows painted on in such a way that he was displaying a comical expression of surprise. I decided to go with the more serious looking one.

Street date

Revenge of the Fallen toys officially go on sale tomorrow. For the most part, I am not particularly interested in the movie line, since I don't really like their aesthetic. The only toy I got from the first movie's line is the leader class Brawl. I got that because it doesn't really look too crazy for a movie design, and it's a big tank. As far as RotF toys, I want to get the biplane because I dig biplanes (I'm guessing it's a character that's not even in the movie) and the toaster. Yes, there is a Decepticon that turns into a toaster! His name is Ejector. That is so ridiculous that I cannot resist.

There are reports of stores out there that have broken the street date for the Revenge of the Fallen toys, and today I discovered that Rite-Aid is one of them. Among their Universe and Animated Transformers, there was a single RotF toy, a deluxe. I don't remember which, it was either Sideways or Sideswipe. One of the similarly named silver cars. I know that drug stores that carry toys tend to have exorbitant pricing, and Rite-Aid is no exception. They are charging $17.99 for a deluxe class Transformer, and $11.50 for a Star Wars figure. Outrageous! I am kind of tempted by Cyclonus, since I haven't seen one in stores for a few months, though.

If any of you are planning to buy Revenge of the Fallen toys this weekend, I wish you happy hunting!

#55: Terminator Salvation T-1

One of the positive things that can be said of Terminator 3 is that it gave us the T-1, from which all Terminators are apparently descended. More akin to a tank than a human, this isn't something you'd want to run into in a dark alley. Or anywhere, really. The T-1 is part of the six inch line, for which it is curiously undersized. It works well with the 3 3/4 inch figures, though. It's a bit large to be sold as a 3 3/4 inch figure, so including it with the six inch line makes sense.

The T-1's articulation is limited to swiveling its rear wheels, its torso, and its guns back and forth, so it seems like it would be easy to avoid being shot by it by either crouching down, or perhaps going up on a balcony. Also, the ends of its guns shoot off, which is an odd move for a pair of machine guns. Clearly Skynet had a lot of improvement to make before it got to the T-800.

As I've mentioned before, I dig killer robots, and this is a cool addition to any mechanical army. An army of these would be cool, but they're not exactly clogging the shelves, so buy one when you see it if you want one.