Thanks guys.

Pet insurance is a definite for any pets we have in the future.  We've spent a fortune on our senior dogs this past year... I'd have to total it all up but it's probably a hair into five figures.  But I had it in my head that I could keep them around a few more years and it was worth it.  Between the surgery I detailed last year on the last page, two corneal debridements, the neck issues with Dante (that may have been brain tumor all along), the diarrhea with Emme... it's been constant.  Pills, extra walks, baby gates to prevent further injury, acupuncture, herbs, surgeries... I did everything I could imagine and after it was all said and done this happened, and the other one might be on her last legs.  I've already gotten a few recommendations for next go around, one of which was Trupanion... I'm told for $45 a month you get 90% coverage and it doesn't expire when they get old as long as you keep up on the payments.  If I'd had that, I'd have probably broken even in the long run, but the cost would have been spread out slowly over 12-13 years.  And, if it had been covered, I'd have just gotten the MRI to be sure before putting him down. 

Next time...

Well we had to put down our younger Boston, Dante, on Saturday morning.  He was 12 and we got him at about 8 weeks old.  He'd been having lots of issues lately that we thought were related to ruptured discs in his neck but ended up culminating in really serious seizures on Friday night.  There are other symptoms that I'm not going to bother everyone with, but the basic course of action was to spend $1000 on short-term treatment and then another $1500 on an MRI that was nearly certain to show a brain tumor.  So we made the call.  The awful thing was that he'd been a month without pain symptoms in his neck and we thought he was close to being ready to get out of the crate and get on walks and all that good stuff so even though there were warning signs, we thought it was just a neck injury - so this really feels like it came out of nowhere. 

I have no idea how people handle this, but we're plodding along.  I'm gonna miss the hell out of the little guy.

That demo speaks with big money at the box office.

We're talking about Star wars, not Divergent.  I'm 35 and saw TFA 6 times.  You guys probably saw it more than I did.  Turn Han Solo into a movie for tweens and it's not going to do as well as it should.

What Dave said is basically it.  My brother in law is an insurance adjuster and basically explained to me that if your expensive collectibles were damaged or stolen they're just going to see "Star Wars Action Figure" and pay you what a Star Wars Action figure costs.  Doesn't matter if it was vintage Yak Face or 1995 Leia.  I got the impression that this would mean whatever the current retail price is, so I don't know if they'd see your vintage figures as being based on 1980 prices or 2016 prices.  I sort of remember concluding that if a figure costs $8 to $13 right now, I'd be happy enough with that kind of payout if things went to hell and didn't worry about it as much.

There are other companies that I have heard are reputable that specialize in insuring collectibles only. 

I THINK this is the one they were discussing at Rebelscum the last time this came up that I noticed:

http://collectinsure.com/

But I'd have to go through and double check somehow.  I started trying to come up with a number for my collection to get it insured separately but it's fallen to the back burner lately.  Between Hasbro, Lego and Gentle Giant, I'm terrified of what the number actually is, and worried that I'm really under insured on that stuff.  This might be the reminder I need to get back into that research.

I vote for no movie too.  You don't just reboot Han Frickin' Solo. 

Jayson hooked me up with a handful of the Build-a-Weapon parts I was missing.  A+ as always.

Aren't coincidences the hallmark of the entire series? Heck, if those two gunners on the star destroy blew up R2's escape pod like they were suppose to there wouldn't be a story.

It's not coincidence and it's not plot holes. 

This reminds me of how someone I know was bitching about Rey being good at everything, and my reaction was basically that that's why she's the hero of the story and that there's a reason we don't make Star Wars movies that feature restaurant owners on Coruscant serving food to space tourists or cab drivers on Corellia taking people around some random city. 

Besides, if various characters don't cross paths or end up in certain situations then there's no story.  It isn't called the Force, it's called suspension of disbelief and it's sort of required for almost any big exciting tale to be told.  Anyone who wants to pick huge epic action / sci-fi story that's being told in about 2 hours apart can do so with relative ease, but that doesn't make it a good use of their time.

Do we know if these will be in stores at all yet?  I was hoping they'd be more normally priced...