Collection Diary 06-15-05

Bringing the Collection Diary back on Target

At Toys R Us, the 'main' Star Wars display has been reduced to a single island in most stores, and at Target, the Star Wars aisle has been reduced to 30%-50% of it's pre-movie glory. Just because the action figures have slowed down in sales, don't believe for a minute that the collectibles have reached the end of their releases.
Today's new store finds started with the JAKKS Pacific R2-D2 controller game set. The five built-in Star Wars games in this controller are the same five that were included with the Darth Vader controller released in April. JAKKs marketing had a skifter up their sleeve when they planned the release of their controller line. The R2-D2 controller has a port in it that the Vader controller lacked. That port is for new "game keys". A Game key is a mini cartridge that plus into the controller, offering more games to play. Yet to release are General Grievous and Yoda controllers. So, what features will they host to entice collectors to pick them up too? It's very hard to telll... the Dark Side is clouding everything.

Even the Jedi have to eat. Qui-Gon accepted Anakin and Shmi's hospitality in EPI, and Luke (without much grace) agreed to follow Yoda back to his hut for a bite of goo stew. If you're a Jedi on the go, Zak Designs has the answer for you! For your travel kit, they produced a 2-piece tableware set consisting of a spoon and fork. (Need a knife too? That's what your lightsaber is for.) Zak Designs also produced a set of 3-piece dinnerware set. Okay... so it was designed for younglings... just leave them in the box, and they are officially an Adult Collectible.

Toys R Us was my next stop, where I found this bagged ARC-170 set for $5. It seems to be the correct scale and type of kits as The Lego Group had been producing in the platic blister packs. For the $3 savings, I'm just as happy with this new style of bagging.