Happy Halloween

And in the spirit of a Geeky Halloween, I present the Zombie Stormtrooper. Available November 2010, you can add this to any geek's Christmas pile who happens to enjoy both Zombies and Stormtroopers. The piece will set you back about $74.99, so this may have to be their big Santa item.

Apparently there more of them then I thought.

Oh Yeah! - Medicom: Boba Fett

Have you already seen this? I saw it the other day and really got a kick out of it.

Distributor: Medicom Toys
Type Vinyl Collectible
Size 9.25"H
Price $99.99

Zimm's Two Cents
Not a statue but a really cool collectible toy. I sometimes wish that I was a true "Star Wars" fan or a "Trekkie", as I would have bought one of these items over the years, but alas, I am neither. I can't really explain or tell you which one is better.

That doesn't keep me from seeing some really cool collectible items, and this is one of them. I guess I really do enjoy the 'cartoon' styled characters - no matter the genre.


Robert's Two Cents
I'm definitely the Star Wars fan in my family. I like it. While it is a tooned version of Boba Fett, it's still true to the character. I especially like the battle damage on his armor. Good touch. My only qualm is I probably am not willing to spend $100 for a piece of this size or even $80, so I'll probably pass.

What the.....Bobble Head Monster Mashups!?!

• Darth Vader Frankenstein
• Yoda a bloodthirsty gargoyle
• Stormtrooper Skeleton - I thought of a Zombie first. Click here to find out why.
• Chewbacca Wolfman

How did this come to be? (Both you and I ask.)

• Halloween
• Bobble Head
• Star Wars

Combine all 3 and you get the Star Wars Bobble Head Monster Mashups.

Knowing some Star War geeks personally, I figured that there are quite a few of these that will add these to their Halloween decorations.

Release Date Sept. 2010
Price $11.99

What the frack! A Lamp! A Darth Vader Lamp!

Is this not the ugliest thing that you have seen? Why the frack would anyone want a lamp this ugly in their room?

Yes, yes.

It doubles as an alarm clock and speaker, but that does not justify the $41.99 someone would fork over for this thing.

What makes this story even worse, is the fact that you could even order (or choose) Boba Fett and/or a Stormtropper.

Egads!

Robert: If it weren't for the lampshades, maybe, just maybe, I'd consider the Boba Fett for my 3 year old. But the lampshade creates a block head effect that I'm not sure I'm buying into.

Sith Lords

As Zimm pointed out, I scored a sweet Darth Maul bobble head for my office. A muse and mentor, he watches me from the bookshelf behind my desk. (Two faculty and a student have pointed out that his stare is creepy--even though he has been in time out.)

I just found a picture, though, I need to have enlarged and framed.

http://thegreatgeekmanual.com/blog/picture-of-the-week-even-sith-lords-get-the-blues

It is a helpful reminder.

Bayard

Not Need a Plush Do I

Sometimes, things should just not exist. Then there are times that things should not talk to you.

Flashback: Teddy Ruxpin. I didn't have one; however, I do admit that it would have been fun to creep out both of my brothers.

I think this is one of those times.

Yoda 'plushy' phrases include:

• 'When 900 years you reach, look as good you will not.'
• 'For 800 years have I trained Jedi.'
• 'Do, or do not. There is no try.'
• 'Concentrate, feel the force flow, yes.'
• 'Judge me by my size do you?'
• 'Size matters not.'

With comments like that, Yoda might end up on my 'stress relief' pile.

Yours for $39.99 around July 2010.

Just be nice to him.

Legacy: The Hidden Temple

Finishing Legacy: The Hidden Temple (volume 5), my initial opinion from the first volume remained: beautiful drawings portraying a loop of the same story.

Still, I am taken by the subtle criticism of the Jedi in the graphic novels and the later set of movies. The order’s attachment to the light side of the force—actually its zealous rejection and denial of the dark side—reflects an idealism that is ill-suited to the harsher realities of life.

Yoda and Obi Wan warn Luke against returning to his father. Obi Wan warns Anakin against giving into his emotions. Everyone warns Cade against everything. The play on Eastern notions of detachment are clear. But at some point we move over to the realm of repression. Building a hidden temple just in case? They're hiding under their sheets with a flashlight.

As Krishna told Arjuna, detachment is essential. But a key to detachment is disciplined action. People must act in the world with all of its uncertainty. The Jedi (both Lucas’s and Dark Horse comics’) would not have stopped long enough to listen to Krishna's admonishment in their rush for higher, safer, detached moral ground.

The Jedi are sterile, ineffective, blinded by the light. (I know. I know)

Anakin does balance the force; he brings it back from the goodie-goodie, ineffective, unable to spot the poser Sith side. Luke dresses like his father only after he has kinda sorta compelted his training; he obviously has some Bogan bouncing around in him. And Legacy's Cade? He dares to ask "How dark is a murder that ends a genocide?" The inglorious bastard.

Good things come from the dark—besides romantically inclined vampires. Lovecraft, Batman, Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman's Nobody, the backseat of any family sedan.

The Skywalker clan embodies a revitalization and relevance the other Jedi seem unwilling to face. Interesting. But not worth another 15 bucks.

Recommendation? I agree with Robert. The series is just an extension. More of the same. Watch the movies again, and save your money for The Unwritten.

Bayard

(It just struck me. Is the title an oblique play on Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, the basis of the original Star Wars?)

Star Wars Legacy

Knights of the Old Republic put me off of Dark Horse's Star Wars series (especially after Robert's comments). I was determined not to return—until a free copy showed up in my mail. And even then, Legacy went to the bottom of the pile.

I finally gave into my curiosity. The draw was too strong.

It is not Fables or Dark Knight. And although the narrative moves quicker, more smoothly than League, it lacks some of the complexity. May be.

Some of the costumes are outlandish, and the characterizations unoriginal (the shapely females, the hulking men, the bizarre super villains reminiscent of death and demons). Nevertheless, the drawings are rich, almost thick on the page.

Thing is, the narrative catches me even as it echoes the original Star Wars trilogy. (Did they have to include R2 and a Wookie? Show some discipline guys.) In the same vein, I overlooked and continue to overlook the shortcomings of Hamill’s wooden performance in the original trilogy.

Lucas’s original coming of age story is intriguing, complex. And the same appears to be true with Legacy.

A young Jedi’s epiphany leads to a denial culminating in a bold new direction. At least, that seems to be the direction the graphic novel is headed. Based on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth, Luke operates as a mythic hero. Luke’s battle with the dark side and his reconciliation with his father dovetail with Campbell’s description of father atonement, one of the supreme ordeals a hero must undergo in the process of his quest. The hero comes to terms with his past, reinvigorating it even as he does so.

The work is a myth. (Nothing new here.)

So where does this leave Cade and Legacy? I am not sure. It is still too early. I am in the midst of his battle with the Sith and emperor (volume 3). Will he go through a similar supreme ordeal? No way to tell.

My fear is, though, that the graphic novel will bog down in a drawn out series that refuses to reach or recognize its conclusion. The quest must end—with success or failure. The hero can only remain on the journey for so long before he is lost in the other world, the world of adventure. Even if he capitulates, Parzival-like, the hero must either find the grail or oblivion.

Yes, I know the series has been out for a while, and some of you know the answer to all of this. For me, though, it is intriguing. Will this work transcend pulp fiction in the same ways Lucas was able to transcend his genre? Will it capture the mythic?

Or will it just keep rambling on like an Oscar recipient?

Bayard

Knights of the Old Republic

Sinking farther into my graphic novel addiction, I gave in this afternoon and spent my latest Border’s coupon on Dark Horse Comic’s Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement—passing over the newest installment of Fables.

Knights’ premise is what sold me. Set thousands of years before Star Wars: A New Hope the series chronicles the struggles of a young, falsely accused padawan. The graphic novel offered me the opportunity to delve farther into the Empire, the Republic. I was intrigued. At least for the first page.

The writing flounders—“Hang on a moment. My robe’s stuck.” What? “Hang on a moment”? The guy’s not putting his shoes on for a run to Mickey D’s. He’s a padawan surrounded by war, corruption, Sith, and other bad stuff. Flat and incongruous, the dialogue feels like one liners pulled from a bad Syfy movie. Climbing aboard a ship, a Jedi tells the foolish padawan, “Well, the war awaits. See you around, Zayne.” Uh, yeah. The exchanges stumble back and forth between awkward slang and misplaced formality.

Ching and Foreman’s artwork is beautiful; Atiyeh’s coloring is lush and vibrant. Their work combines to create an unimaginative knock-off of Lucas’s films. The same characters with the same robots occupy the same positions. Supposedly, the events are set millennia before A New Hope—not the weekend before. Has the galaxy’s technology been at a standstill for 4,000 years? How did the senator of this ancient world get a hold of Luke’s landspeeder?

Knights was a boring, tedious disappoint. I finished the thing, though. (I owed it to my coupon. I owed it to Fables.) The long list of titles in the back of Knights tempts me, calling to me with promises of past Sith machinations—not the least of which, I suspect, is pawning off poorly executed graphic novels to unsuspecting geeks.

Yoda: "Master Sushi, Master the Force, You Will."

"Learn to use chopsticks, you may."
I am just getting into Sushi; however, I never really had that much encouragement to learn out to use chopsticks. The great part is that it is a set of two - one Luke pair and one Yoda pair.

Sometimes it is great being a geek.

Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks set : Yoda & Luke Skywalker

Too Geeky ... Motion Activated Yoda!

USB powered Yoda! From up to 6-9 feet away, Yoda's light saber will light up, and he will pronounce one of six possible phrases.

The phrases include:

• "In the end, cowards are those who follow the dark side."
• "A disturbance in the Force, there is."
• "Retreat! Cover you, I will!
• "Still much to learn, you have."
• "So certain of defeat, are you? Hmmm…"
• "Rush not into fight. Long is the war."
• "Only by surviving it, will you prevail."

With the Dr. Who USB port and now Yoda, I will eventually run out of USB ports or have cords all over the place.

Coming in September 2009
Price: $27.99

Robert's Two Cents: You could always daisy chain them around your desk.

Star Wars Slave Leia Mini Bust

As we expand into the ether regions of geekdom, I spotted this bust and had to give it a post.

Type Min-Bust
Ship May 2010
Price $59.99

Zimm's Two Cents
I have never understood the fascination with Princess Leia and this outfit; however, growing up with Star Wars, this piece jumped out at me.

Points in Favor

• The detail. Her face captures Carrie Fisher (from the eyes to the to the cheekbones) perfectly. I don't tend to like statues or busts based on an actual person.
  
• The chain coming down from her collar.
• Great colors. From the Vibro Ax, to her lips, to the
• The little things are what make this bust. Look at the Vibro Axe or her looped earrings, or the purple dress part of her bikini.

Points Against

• I don't really see anything wrong with this piece.

Recommendation: If you are a Star Wars fan, then this is one for the collection. Hot Buy. I may have to buy this one for my younger brother.

Robert's Two Cents
Wow! That looks like Leia's face. Usually these types of pieces are so lifelike. Plus I get to mention Slave Girl Leia and Vibro Axe in the same sentence.

Points in Favor

• Wow! The Vibro axe is sweet!
  
• I was in love with slave girl Leia when this movie came out.
  
• At least as lifelike as anything in Madame Toussad's.
  

Points Against

• Nothing!
  

Recommendation: Hot Buy. I would have killed for this in 1983. I was only eight, but I still would have killed.

R2 D2 Trashcan

I finally found a trashcan I want.

ThinkGeek has this trashcan. Now if I can just get a Landspeeder lawn mower, I'm all set.

Product Features

• Office Sized Trash Can is A Detailed Model of R2-D2
• Stands 24" High
• Step on R2's center Foot and his Head Pops open to Accept your Trash
• Removable Interior Can with Handle Makes Trash Removal Easy
• Durable Vinyl Construction
• Japan-only Fully Licensed Star Wars Collectable

Entertainment Earth Exclusive Boba Fett with Han Solo in Carbonite Maquette

This one is an Entertainment Earth exclusive, so if you want it you will have to go here.


Produced By Gentle Giant
Type Maquette
Release Date July 2009
Price $119.00

Robert's Two Cents
It's a cool piece and would look great in any Star Wars fan's collection.

Points in Favor

• Cool pose from a cool scene from a cool movie.
  
• The details. The base is decent. They have the "smoke" from the carbonite freezing procedure and everything.
  
• It's Boba Fett.
  

Points Against

• Price.
• It's not overpriced, I just don't want it bad enough to pay $119.00.
  

Recommendation: Neutral I like it, but at that price I'd have to want it a lot more than I do to pick it up.

Mighty Muggs: Wicket the Ewok

Okay Robert, you tell me, but is this what you mean by a Mighty Mugg being cute?

This one is way too funny! And yes, he is cute too.

Robert: But he's an Ewok. He's supposed to be cute. I may have to get him to hang with my Chewbacca Mighty Mugg. Makes me wonder what a slave girl Leia would look like....aaahhhhhhh!!!!!! Now I have to go scrub my brain.