Finally saw a new Alternator at the store today. It was Silverstreak, one of 'em on the shelf amidst dozens and dozens of Sideswipes and Smokescreens (hmm, all of them are "SS" names, what does it mean?). I wandered around holding him for a while, but in the end didn't bite. I will say if he had come out the same time as Smokescreen I probably would've picked up BlueSilverstreak instead. The silver paint job looks much more like a real car (not glaringly plastic) and I think I prefer the "street edition."

(Who am I kidding, someday I'll own it, but not today...)

I like it.

If you'd asked me twenty years ago what I'd want in Episode III packaging, I would've been all about young Vader and the lava duel, so this is fulfilling all of those ten-year old boy wishes perfectly.

Yet it's not retro at all. If anything it's futuristic. Maybe a little sci-fi, a design element that Star Wars stuff has never taken much advantage of before. I'm looking forward to seeing one of these with a figure inside of it. I'm also looking forward to seeing an aisle full of these at Wal*Mart. With the large character picture on the right side of the bubble, it should be easy to sort through the pegs (as looking at Clone Wars Cartoon figures has taught me).

I feel for the carded people though. It will probably be even more of a hassle now to find a mint package, what with the big round bubble and die-cut top. Mine will all end up in the trash eventually anyways.

Onto Artoo...

I have to say I'm really disappointed in our ROTJ version of Artoo. I was hoping for an ultimate opening swiss-army R2. The "chrome dome" is probably Hasbro's attempt to add perceived value to the figure, but its inacuraccy leaves the Bar2 still a superior figure. The arm is a nice feature, looks like it may connect magnetically from what I can see. I assumed there would have to be a sensorscope, though. I'll have to pass until they rehash it somewhere down the line...

And that's all from an opener's point-of-view. If I were a carded collector, I'd be royally upset with them for changing the card text from the vintage version! If they were going to change something, they might as well have used the much nicer looking "Star Wars" card image with a  ROTJ logo.

<--That's no "extension arm!"

 

First Samuel L Jackson takes over the role of Shaft, now he's bumping Harrison Ford out of Indiana Jones..?

For shame, Sam, for shame...

I saw F9/11 today. I don't come from a Republcan background, but I wouldn't say I'm Democrat either (definitely liberal-leaning, though.) That said, he made some very good points that, had they been brought to light back in '00, might've made the GOP reconsider W as their candidate.

MM's very dry wit is in tact. It was a good film, it certainly stirred some things in my heart.

If you don't want to hear his opinion (and you know already what it is anyway), I'd suggest not going. If you have an open mind, this is a top-rate documentary.

sigh...

I'm right there with you, CHEWIE, wishing playsets were a priority for Hasbro.

There are three big strikes against palysets (as already mentioned and pretty much universally accepted):

1) Too expensive for Hasbro to invest in the toolings

2) Too expensive for the consumer to purchase at the store

3) Not enough shelf space at the retailer

I wish the impetus was there to look beyond these limitations and figure out a way to get us some neat stuff. Just look at Kenner's solutions to these problems twenty years ago: the vintage Death Star was mostly space, defintiely home-assembled, and completed with cardboard walls. The only Cloud City Playset was aslo a cardboard pop-up one that fit into a TV-Dinner sized box.


I'd be willing to take a board-based playset, something you assemble at home and fits in a box no bigger than a board game. Key pieces of the set could be molded in plastic that would then "plug in" to the walls and floors, but for the larger surfaces, I'd take cardboard-like parts printed to look movie-accurate.

The Death Star playset I made for myself (as an example) exists really as mostly flat sticker-covered walls with just a few pieces thrown in to bring it to life (computer consoles, doorways, etc).

It could be made without the toolings, it could be cheap enough to buy, it could take up less space on the shelf.

In short, it could work if anyone were willing to think outside of the (plastic) box.

Uncle Jesse vs Uncle Jesse

I ran into this phenomenon first hand over Father's Day weekend.

It appears the younger generation has the wrong idea about who Uncle Jesse really is...