Ferrero Chocolate Star Wars Twistheads

The last time we saw Star Wars toy premiums from Ferrero Chocolates they were cute little blue hippos parodying our favorite characters. Brand new for 2013 is a new set of figures, tasked with a new twist.

The Next Large Star Wars Vehicle Is Coming!

It's finally here! Over 10 years in the making, Hasbro has brought the giant Trade Federation MTT (Multi Troop Transport) vehicle from the Star Wars saga with an obscene amount of action figures. 21 action figures are packaged in this thrilling set, including 20 Battle Droids and the Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi as seen in The Phantom Menace. Not only is the vehicle huge, but it's designed with a noble purpose in mind: crushing Gungans. The electronic battle and Droid sounds will make the action all the more intense as you fire the vehicle's missile launchers and pivot the cannons in battle. Most impressive of all, the giant vehicle has an auto-deploy feature which can send your Battle Droids off to war. You've never seen anything like this before!

After 1,200 Users, Somebody Should Have Said Something...

The original screen design is straight out of 1996. Hand drawn on graphing paper, the ultimate data interface was refined for nearly three years before finally written in 1999. The user base crossed 1,000 collectors at Celebration IV in Los Angeles in 2007. Five years later, after the invention of smart devices and availability of high speed communication, the popularity of the database tapered. After a year of discussions with collectors about what they really want, the Star Wars Collector's Database has been retired and the new Star Wars Collecting Catalog has been released!

Put Star Wars Under Your Tree This Christmas

Hallmark has come out with a way to make every gift a Star Wars treat this Christmas. You can wrap it in LEGO Star Wars paper, tie it into a Star Wars gift bag, and put a Star Wars gift seal on it to show how much you care.

If you try to apply non-collector logic, it would seem pretty silly to document food items whose lifespan can be measured in short years instead of multiple decades, even with unwarranted care given for preservation. These marshmallow lollipops have a best by date of mid 2012. That means that by the time the next general merchandise identification guide is published, they will likely be molded, melted bags of unhealthy, inedible goo.

Spin Master made the collecting news earlier this week with what might well be the final shipment of Star Wars Mighty Beanz to complete their series. Today we've found their next excursion into the world of blind packed goodies for the budget minded collector.

Star Wars Halloween Candy Now At Stores Near You!

About a month ago we saw some lollipops for sale on eBay in the U.K. According to the description they were 'candy from the USA' with Clone Troopers pictured on them. Ever since that auction, we've been hunting for the elusive sweet treats, and we found them! During our search, we also came across a pair of talking candy dispensers. While the dispensers are probably too pricey to give away to most trick-or-treaters, their timely appearance is probably not a coincidence in the midst of the candy crazed season.

Mighty Beanz Series 2 -- The Rules Have Changed

Most American collectors, conditioned to a fast and furious pace of collecting, have simply given up collecting Star Wars Mighty Beanz. After the two initial waves of Series 1 hit the pegs, no new beanz seemed to be turning up. The series 1 checklist was filled with systematic holes, leading some to speculate not that there were rare beans to be sought or future waves coming, but that collectors had been duped into thinking that there were more coming than there actually were. Even the pack-ins for the storage cases kept numbering higher and higher with no explanation of the holes in the numbering system.

For those who clung to hope of redemption, a third wave of series 1 beanz appeared overseas in Australia and New Zealand. Desperate to complete their collection, buyers were paying twenty dollars (and more!!) per bean. And when that third wave dried up? Holes remained. Completionist dreams all unfulfilled.

For many frustrated collectors of Star Wars mighty beanz, that was the end of their story. For the rest of us? Today we learn that there are more...

Topps Continues Force Attax Outside of USA

After the great success of Star Wars Force Attax in the UK, France, and Germany, Topps has released their next series of the popular trading card game. Series 2 has a base set of 192 cards, or 240 cards inclusive of their master set... with two limited edition cards release so far.

Printed checklists seem to be scarce, so we've posted our own to help collectors and players of the game identify the cards that they are still needing to track down.

Star Wars Power Plate Checklist Now Available

After buying a gravity feed box of Star Wars Power Plates (Series 1) from Target, we opened the first 'blind pack' to find a 2.25''x4'' metal mini license plate with a magnet mounted to the back. The quality for $1.99 is superb. The only thing it seemed to lack was a checklist inside the packet. After opening a second (''LUMINOUS''), still no checklist.

A quick read of the packaging indicated that the checklist could be found online at topps.com. A 10 minutes search of the site turned up a bit of information about the set, but no checklist. There are 30 plates advertised to be in the set, and much to our joy, we were able to pull all 30 from our box! So if you too are having some difficulty locating a checklist, look no further. A checklist for the 30 plates you're searching for and their images are all posted right here!

Collect All 24 - or All 48 With Variations

In 2010 Topps produced their first series of Dog Tags for Clone Wars. It was a set of 24 dog tags, with an additional 24 tags randomly inserted with 'rainbow backgrounds'.

For 2011 they have kept their same theme and collection set style (24 standards with 24 variations to chase). Each $2.99 packet contains one random dog tag, a matching character card, and a checklist. The backgrounds for this set are red, green, and blue.

We purchased a full gravity feed box from Target (35 packets) and were able to get 23 of the standard 24 dog tags, plus two of the rainbow tags. Fortunately, the basic dog tag we were missing was Jango Fett, and he was coincidentally one of the rainbow tags in the box.

Interested in the set? READ MORE to see the visual checklist!

Instead of waiting for the new Star Wars Jedi Force mini figures to appear at our local retail store we pre-ordered from Entertainment Earth and today our box arrived! We ordered a full case of the Jedi Force mini-figure 2-packs (wave 1) and mini figure vehicles. (Sadly, the deluxe vehicles weren't in stock when we ordered; although as of this moment they do appear to have been stocked and are now available!)

Star Wars Collectors Love To Collect...

If you are looking for the updated article with the most recent photo checklist, click here.

There is little initial hesitation for Star Wars collectors to jump right on on a new line -- especially if it involves lots of inexpensive items in blind random packs. It puts some fun and adds some challenge back into the art of acquisition.

Spin Master released their product "Mighty Beanz" in 2003 and it's going strong. Researching some of their existing line, I'm finding some of their more rare and popular beans sell for $5-$10 each. Today they have joined the Star Wars universe.

Whether by design or by chance, their Star wars collection has a veil of misinformation around the contents. The introduction of the set is a television commercial / website from which you can order a Darth Vader storage container with five exclusive beans for $24.95 plus Shipping, Handling, and in most states tax. Since the storage canister without the five exclusive beans is available at retail for $19.95, five bucks for five exclusive beans is a great deal. To get yours, Click Here and then come back and keep reading...

UPDATE: Photos added to checklist. Click through to see new additions. Details of Darth Vader #4 and Darth Vader #80 are also shown.

UPDATE #2: From WordPress reader Rory Wade: "I bought 6 packs today at a Walmart in Oregon and found the 6 Clone Wars beanz are inserted 1 per pack and the packs have a label on the left side indicating they are a Clone Wars Wal-Mart exclusive." **Thank you, Rory!

UPDATE #3: Patrick has written in to guide us to a pictorial checklist which allowed us to fill in the missing gaps up through Beanz number 60. Thank you Patrick! For those of you who are following along, our checklist has been updated.

It's STAR WARS DOLLAR TIME again!

Get ready to rumble! It's that time of the year when teachers, moms, and collectors all converge on the same spots and scour them clean of every 'one dollar' Star Wars item. Those who are experienced with this phenomenon won't even finish reading this article. They're grabbing their keys and heading for the door on an impromptu toy run. If you've never encountered this before, or are patient enough to read on for the shopping list, continue reading to see where to find the treasure and what is waiting out there for you to chase down and pick up. If you were to pick the magnets off the backing and sell them individually, they're roughly eight cents each - a real deal! Clone Wars has already eclipsed the old Ewoks cartoon in both episodes and merchandise. With offerings like this for a buck, it's easy to afford goodies for your students, children, or even the kid next door!

Version 3 Released Today!

Wish Base version 2.10b has been the 'latest stable release' database for Star Wars collectors for over five years. The past 18 months have seen what started as a facelift and resulted in a complete redesign of the popular application. Data sets are updated twice a month with over 61,000 pre-configured Star Wars collectibles to choose from and over 30,000 photographs available online.

Create Your Own Heroes For The Clone Wars!

Say Hello To Bimini Bay Outfitters Ltd!

Last summer rumors escaped that there was Star Wars fishing gear on it's way! On June 2nd we pulled a 2005 Revenge of the Sith fishing pole off of eBay (STORY HERE) and we figured that was end of it. We were wrong. The rumor was true. There WAS more fishing gear coming and now it has arrived!

Sakar International Star Wars Household Electronics

Friday we posted the news that Sakar International had released a large list of consumer electronics with Star Wars / Clone Wars branding. After a long weekend of photo editing, we are thrilled to bring you up-close images of each item.

These Aren't Your Father's Toys

Although costly, many Star Wars collectors have done a respectable job keeping up on the latest releases of Star Wars toys. While many groups focus on 'whats next' from Hasbro, Sideshow Collectibles, etc. it's time to have a look at the latest wave of Star Wars household electronics to hit the streets. If you know a Star Wars collector whose toy collection is full, or an eager fan who doesn't collect toys you're not going to want to miss this report!

Star Wars Battlefront II Figures Return!

If you missed the Clone Set or the Droids set of the Star Wars Battle Front II exclusives from Previews, don't worry. They've both been released again. They're still 'exclusives', but not by Previews!

Star Wars Fandex Deluxe is a perfect meeting of format and content, bringing all the virtues of Fandex to the super galactic saga of our times, delivering an obsessive deck for the obsessive fan (and the perfect cheat sheet for parents who want to know what their kids are talking about).

In the most recent Clone Wars 3D cartoon episode we got to see Ahsoka Tano take on General Grievous in a 1:1 lightsaber duel! But that isn't what we're talking about here.

Hasbro Hedging Bets On New Collectors

Hasbro knows the cost of redesigning packaging is much less than the costs involved in producing new toys. With the release of the New Clone movie on DVD they also seem to be hoping to tempt new collectors (or kids who simply want to play) into buying figures that have already been made available several times in the recent past. The boxes may be different, but the figure selection, mold, and even the paint applications are all the same.

When the holiday season makes it's way around the calendar each year, "peace in space, goodwill toward others" are the feelings expressed by beings all across the galaxy - from the highest Jedi Master to the most humble desert scavenger.