This week's haul:

A very decent 12" C3P0 no broken parts, just some paint chips but he displays super well.

The obvious problems with these Threepio is the finish , of course. Mine has chip paints inside the legs but you actually have to "look" to see them.

He's got his stub on his head which i find his broken a lot on many copies i have seen on Ebay. This is a plus. I guess i could hunt for another copy of him and interchange the legs on the one i got for better ones but i would not do that i think. Opening an x-wing is one thing but opening a figure like this is like defacing it , i think....





















Finally managed to get myself a Luke Bespin lightsaber for a decent price. I actually got it with a figure for 15$. So there i was with no Bespin Luke at all and i was miserable about it because i just could not find a decent one, then i bought four and then another one and find myself with 5 of them now.




And Luke VTC which i think is in the top five for best card and figure in this line. Might be the closest we get to have a re-issue of the Farmboy Luke card... Please Hasbro make it happen soon!





And Boba's Poppa! Poppa Fett!

Nice pick up with that 12" 3PO. I envy that due to the condition of the one I have I am waiting for that review too!!!

The Champ of lightsabers is here!

Stats:

weight: 493 grams or just a tad over 1 lbs so it is quite heavy!

It is made of really thick metal. I would say that the thickness of the parts is over 1 mm easy.

length: 27 cm or just a tad over 10.5 inches.

The saber breaks apart in 3 so if you happen to have one part that gets damaged you can find an extra piece to replace it.

My saber is is extremely good shape. no rust at all. In some places it shows scuffs and such but it gives it that authentic look.

Now i need 3 other parts to finish the hilt.

I need the t-tracks that makes the hilt.

Gino's t-tracks

I need a bubble strip from inside a choice of 3 very rare and expensive old 1970's calculators.

Bubble strip


I need to set a d-ring at the bottom of the saber.

D-ring

The unboxing!

Great it came!!! Looks good and I'll be watching to see the mods you add to it.

Quiet time this last few weeks.






Spent many long hours on ebay trying to find a Luke Hoth that was in decent shape. I had found one but the paint while good left a little bit to desire so i found another one with better paint but the limbs are slightly pinkish. This put me back at least 50$ when all said and done.

This is one of the hardest figure i had to deal with. I had to buy 2 copies to say that i am satisfied. Kenner did a very poor job paint on those in the old days. Thus you really cant get a copy without at least one rub off somewhere, especially on the buttocks for this one. Thin paint applications that rubbed off too easily. Cant blame them, these are 30 years plus toys and have been handled or played with many times so it is a challenge to get a good copy. Plus the white limbs are either yellow, pinkish or just plain dirty which complicate things.

Find a high grade Challenge Factor : 8/10

My new scale of high grade Challenge Factor being 1 is easy to find in high grade versus 10 is almost impossible to find in high grade unless it was just removed from card or box.

Making of Empire Strikes Back Review Book:



amazon.com stats:

Hardcover: 372 pages
Publisher: LucasBooks (Oct 12 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345509617
ISBN-13: 978-0345509611
Product Dimensions: 30 x 3.5 x 27.9 cm
Shipping Weight: 2.3 Kg

no paperback ( as far as i know )


Is it worth it?

a big Hell yeah it is!

Once again you are being transported behind the scenes of the making of the movie. This time around the flow of the book is better and more fun and more intimate.

There are tons of anecdote on how a lot of things worked out wile making the movie. This time around you are very closed to the experience that the director had during filming. His high, his downs, his successes and struggles to make everyone happy.

The books follows more of less the format of the previous book, but it better laid out and you can jump in and out of the book easily which makes the reading experience more fun.

here are a few themes from the book:


How the script came to be and it it was fine tuned.

Choosing director

Going to Finse to shoot the Hoth scenes.

How the director worked

How the creative worked.

George Lucas' involvement during the film.

Financial woes during filming.

Stages used or built to make the film.

How Dagobah was made.

How the special effect were made.

Publicity

Music

Post production

Release.

Things have been fairly quiet for me lately but i am still trucking on.

I got a cantina playset

a POTF EV9D9

a tauntaun with an almost flawless box.

a Cloud car pilot on its way

and

ill pay for tomorrow ( i hope ) high grade imperial dignitary that has not paint rub on the nose. He's coming from england so it may take a while to reach me.

I am really closing in fast on a loose collection. I would say that by years end if there is no hicups that i would be close to being done. Without the specialty figures like blue snaggie. viny capre jawa or a dt Luke...


I am also collecting the 6 inch black series toys and i got a couple of beautiful Boba form that line.

Ill post pics later of all of this.

got these gems Today. I am over the moon right now!

They are close to Mint figures. I thought i was going to get scammed but both sellers came thru and sold me a gem..

Another milestone passed on the POTF figures... Now i dont have to worry about the imperial Dignitary. He is perfect!







Leia's eye looks weird but it is just the angle she is fine.

I just paid for a Warok and Luke Battle poncho , they are both coming from Belgium.

crossing fingers that they arrive safe and sound and that they are decent.

I ll be at 10 out of 17 of the original POTF figures when these 2 arrive.

My spreadsheet is telling me that this would give me 87 different figures so far. But that includes the figures with multiple incarnations like Han Solo Big and small head and the Bespin Guards and 3rd leg R2 -d2

Wow Bud, your collection is amazing, I love all the vintage boxed vehicles, beasts and playsets that you have, and all in fantastic condition. Your loose figure collection is coming along really well also, and over half way now with those expensive vintage POTF figures. Congrats on an outstanding collection mate, both in minty quality and large variety!! You must be very proud mate    

I am actually. Very happy with what is going on. As long as i don't get sidetracked by playsets or other things i guess i could say that i could get POTF done by start of summer... not including yak face... ill have to find ways to raise cash for him.

Got these gems today from Belgium. High Grade Luke Endor and Warok or Lumat... i can never remember those 2.

I had the good fortune to open these with a friend that is very dear to me. I usually do my unboxing after i eat my meal ( lunch or supper ) so if i am not happy with what i have received i dont eat on an upset stomach. But today i broke tradition because of my friend.. I just wanted to show my friend how crazy i am.



















As you can see i live on Hoth!   

The funny part is if i had tightened the picture more on those snow banks and cropped everything else out of the pics, it would really looks like the snow dunes of Hoth.  look at the ripples in the snow bank...  amazing!




see? kinda cool isn't it?    

Just come to Canada for your future Hoth scenes Uncle George, we'll do them in my backyard!

Bud this is the first time I gone right through you thread

I really enjoyed it and its very cool how you have documented all your individual purchases like that. The detailed photos are great and must have taken some time.

The snow scene above is brilliant! Kudos

This is what i have as of 03/2/14  give or take a few items i may have misplaced. I have impressed myself. The boxes have their toys inside, nothing is mint but in very decent collectable condition. Sorry about crappy shaky camera... hard to have good camera work done on a smartphone...


they muted the sound and reduced the visual quality....  

it looks better if you crank out the quality!

Modern collection

Been quiet for a while... lot of stuff going on so i did not have as much time to post as i used to.

Slave 1 Boba Fett Legendary's spaceship.

Been eying this one for a while.

A nicely used decent Slave 1.

Ewok village

Good job scoring the Slave I and Ewok Village MIB!   

I also liked that video limelight that you did a while ago.

For those wondering what i am doing, well i am taking a break from vintage collecting...

Several reasons:

-At this time i am a bit fed up and burned out so i am taking a break since its more of a chore than fun now.

-I have found a passion for transformers ( which i have always liked ) and i am gathering a few generation 1 toys repros. I have Optimus, Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave now.

-I also collect the modern current stuff from Hasbro but there has been a bad drought of new items which left me burned by Hasbro and a little disgusted about the whole Star Wars toy collecting thing so i said to myself to better move away and slow down for a bit.

- Also the new movie is gonna come out soon and its gonna be a major flood of new toys to get so maybe its time to start to put money aside for that time since i know Hasbro will want to milk the movie to the max and i will want these toys.

I am not quitting.. just a little break for the moment...

I will start posting again when i pick up new items here and there.


cheers!

New update:

Still have vintage collection on hold... sadly...

My budget is spent on the new current stuff. Black series and rebels which is eating a lot of my money and it is something i don't want to miss. It is only gonna get worse when the new movie hits and you have like a gazillion things coming at you all at once. Gonna be fun but costly.

I am also writing short novellas that i put on smashwords and amazon. Just look up the name Nomi Nivag and you will finally learn my real identity.

I have not abandoned Star Wars for sure....

Hope to talk to yous all again soon.

If i don't get back here I wanna wish a Happy Holiday season and good year to all my gunnery friends.

Bud