May 3rd Report

Midnight at TRU

It really started earlier Sunday night. I decided to take a drive around right before the stores closed to see if anyone would jump the gun. I drove past TRU east at about 8:00pm and saw that there was a short line started already - YIKES!! I would later find out that they were in line at 6:00pm already. I decided to go home, get packed up and head back so that I had at least a halfway decent spot in line. Jenine and me got in line at about 10:00pm with about 20 people ahead of me. Dave P. was there and we spent the time talking about everything Star Wars. The line was growing. At about 11:30pm the good folks from Borders brought us some Wookie Cookies. They were pretty good, I might have to get that book. The line had 100+ people in it when the doors were opened. The mad rush began. People were grabbing whole armloads of figures out of a tub near the front of the door, others raced past with carts (like I did). Although everybody was civil, there were just too many people to get figures the way you would want. Jenine took care of the cart and the 12" figures while I dashed into the crowd, grabbed figures and came back to the cart to unload. Talking with a checkout person today, he said that they sold over $10k in the first hour. This seemed low to me. He also said that the average person spent $150-$200 while I was 3rd highest at $500. Someone else spent about $750 while the guy with the cash spent over $1000. Off to TRU west to see what they had, not much. Talked to Mitch and Necklace, bought a few things and came home. Three and a half hours worth of sleep and I was back on the road again.

Classic Figures

There was a little bit of Classic to be found. The most notable was the 12" Leia Ceremonial. The picture shows the front and back. I only saw them at TRU east and Target east. Talking with Necklace, he didn't think that TRU west had got them. Also to be found were a few cases of Beru Wave at K-Mart south and Wal-Mart east.

EP1 12" Figures

By far the hardest to find, they are also the best. I only saw the regular 12" at both TRUs and Target west. The large portrait edition of Amidala on the bottom shows both the front and back of the box. Due to the crowds and all of the confusion, Jenine grabbed 2 Qui-Gons and missed the Darth Maul. That will give me something to look for. The regular 12" were $19.99 at TRU while the large portrait edition will set you back $59.99.

EP1 Figures

Figures, figures everywhere. If you were a store, you had figures. Variations up the wazzoo. I found most all of the variations for the individually carded figures that are listed at POTF2.com. The only ones that elude me are Gasgano .00 and the Deluxe figures with .0000 inserts.

Ships and Beast

There were plenty of ships and beast packs to be found. Most all were of the latest variation. I think that they are priced pretty nice for what you get. I haven't opened any up, but they seem better to scale than the old POTF2 ships.

Other Hasbro Figure Like Things

Lots of other stuff to be bought. I can't see why any parent would buy this stuff, they would seem to be the biggest mess makers.

Role Play

Many good things to act out your favorite scenes. The light sabers were all .0200 while the other items weren't marked.

Action Fleet

The Action Fleet stuff seemed to be only at a few stores. I was surprised at the choice of ships that they did, 2 good ones and 2 boring ones. Sebulba's Pod is great. The mini-playsets are near impossible to find in decent shape and I am still looking for one.

Die Cast

The die cast ships are great. They should have done similar ships in the Action Fleet line.

Puzzles

OK, maybe I am alone being a puzzle collector, but these puzzles are excellent. They are far better than those from the POTF2 era and hearken back to the vintage days.