April 23rd Report

Well, the big day of merchandise is here and gone. I definitely did my fair share to keep the wheels of capitalism going. Since none of the Madison area TRUs opened at midnight, I decided to drive up to Baraboo and visit their 24 hour Wal-Mart. This turned out to be a good move since I was able to spend 2 hours digging through their figures without anyone else being around. I then headed back to Madison and filled in gaps from what I didn't see in Baraboo. Wal-Mart seemed to have the best selection with TRU having quite a bit of stuff as well. The two Madison area Wal-Marts both had Tie Bombers and Snowspeeders, but I didn't see them anywhere else. Target didn't devote that much space, the K-Mart in Madison didn't bother putting their figures out, and the two Shopko stores that I stopped at were dry as well. During my 12 hour shopping spree, I got a chance to meet many of you and hear your first day stories. Generally speaking, there isn't as much merchandise this time compared to Episode I. That said, it seems like there is more of the things they did release. More figures, more variations, more deluxe, more puzzles. Noticeably missing is the Galoob stuff. I was hoping to find some Action Fleet ships, but didn't. I loved the die cast ships they used to make; it doesn't look like I will see any new ones. Looking forward, I'm glad there isn't a restaurant tie in, but there is one for cereal (which is cool). The Frito-Lay tie in seems pretty good. The little cards are pretty neat that they pack in with Cheetos. I don't know how hard to get the Clone Trooper card is (the rare card according to the packaging), but I got it first time. The Topps cards are out there, but they are loaded with spoilers (more so than last time).

Figures

The one staple of most every collection is the carded figures. I was able to find the first 27 (numbered just above the figure's name on the side) and Ray H. reported that he was able to get Mace Windu (#28). The figures are great. Most have loads of articulation or lots of accessories. It is hard to believe how much better they are than even the preview figures. Better still, Wal-Mart and TRU have them priced at about $6 which is a dollar cheaper than the Episode I figures were when they first came out. There weren't too many figures that were in extreme poses. I like the metal light saber hilts even though I hear the Force effect doesn't work that well. Numbering the figures will help people who only casually collect them keep track of what figures they may have missed. For those who collect variations, there are more than you can imagine. I will bet that a lot of variation collectors will discontinue the practice now.

12" Figures

This is one area that had a smaller selection than when Episode I came out. This time around there are only three figures and nothing to fill in the void left by the Amidala dolls. One thing I noticed is that the leg armor for the Clone Trooper figure isn't attached too well to his legs. I thought the one I picked up was bad, but all of those that I saw today were the same.

Ships and Beast

There are four ships and one beast pack this time. Noticeably missing is the figure pack-ins that has typically been in these. I haven't opened any of these, but Anakin's speeder looks pretty cool and I want to see how three figures can fit into the cockpit of Slave I. The one thing I noticed about the speeders is that their packaging is a little flimsy making it hard to get one in mint condition.

Playskool

This is something new. Instead of Jabba Glop and Battle Bags, we get some cool deformed figures and ships. I only saw these at the two Madison Wal-Marts and they had them in limited quantity. They are larger than you may think and will be near impossible to find on a mint card. There are two more sets coming soon that I was hoping would have been on the shelf.

Role Play

Many good things to act out your favorite scenes. It looks like the Obi-Wan Kenobi Lightsaber is short packed.

Puzzles

OK, maybe I am alone being a puzzle collector, but these puzzles I can't pass up. There are more this time, but they are smaller. Most seem character based except for the ones in the tins.