Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Mos Espa Collection, 2012 (+13 days). The viewing figures for the site have actually been immense over the last two months, for whatever reason, so I figured you may like to read a post that isn't merely holding station for images... So, new acquisitions!

I guess this is the New Hope collection. Well, minus a Han, Chewie, Leia, C-3PO, Stormtrooper and all those other irrelevant characters :D... These and my OTC Dagobah set are the only non-POTF2 modern figures I have, and the temptation to open these is huge. But! The Vader is unpunched and sealed in a starcase. I don't exactly know what that means for it as a collectible, but it does look nice, and, let's face it, the packaging is one of the biggest draws of the Vintage Collection (if you know of any significance about ol' Darth being packaged like this, please let me know in the comments).

So, I think this might be the first time in my life I'll buy two of a figure to keep one carded. To make that argument ten times harder than it would be though, check out this review of the Vintage Collection Darth Vader over at Chase Variant, a rather excellent toy review blog I came across recently.

The Episode IV Blu-Ray pack is a different prospect. As much as I'd love to open the package and start populating a Jundland Wastes display, as well as framing the nifty mini-poster, this set was bought before I'd properly consulted my finances post-student loan installment. As such, these are staying boxed until I get part-time work, or else I'll have to sell them on to eat come April! Sad times... But a nice looking set all the same.

And finally, because this wouldn't be a Mos Espa collection blog post without an action figure shot...

You may have seen this on my Flickr. Photographing vintage figures isn't going to be a new direction for me, but this guy is in honour of my upcoming weekend catching up with old friends and playing X-Wing vs TIE Fighter until the small hours of Sunday morning. Being geeky may be, y'know, geeky, but it's also incredibly fun :D

RS PIC POST***

Hello, I need a URL to post my pictures from for a message board, and doing it here is far easier than setting up a whole 'nother new account. Anyway, more Dagobah box pics!

Yoda!

Back again! I wasn't too happy with the way the previous Luke and Yoda shots turned out, so in a fit of Sunday inspiration I grabbed the figures and marched down to the park.

I much prefer this over the older one here. The tree and background looks good, and I got lucky with the lighting, and got there just as the sun had pretty much set. Also, as proof that the POTF2 Yoda figure does have legs...

One day I'll expand on it to have a swamp filthy X-Wing flying over his head whilst the John Williams score plays as loud as humanly possible over the top...

Slight Change of Tack... DINOBOT ATTACK!

As my obsessions shift every now and again, I find it hard to stick to one particular theme. And so, on a different note (but from the same album), I present... The Dinobots!

I had no choice but to start with Swoop, as he's my favourite; in fact, when I was a kid I made up a song about him. I still remember the words, but they will never be published. The G1 Swoop was impossible to find when it was out (edit: this may explain why) and I never had it, so when the Emcat got me the Transformers Animated Grimlock for Christmas, it didn't take me long to make amends...

Snarl used to be called Slag, and it's a name he's going to keep in my collection. Since the Dinobots were reduced in number for the animated line, I can understand why the moniker Snarl was used instead - it's cooler sounding, and potentially less offensive to us sensitive Brits... Don't get me wrong though, if Sludge and Slag/Snarl/whatever they call him are also re-designed/released, I'll be all over them.

Eyes Of Evil

My enduring memories of seeing Return Of The Jedi for the first time are of Endor, specifically the speeder bike chase and the Ewok tree village. However, given how young I must've been when that happened, I'm amazed I didn't have anything from Jabba's Palace seared into my brain, Bib Fortuna in particular. The red eyes, the tailed head, clawed fingers and creepy way he touches up R2 - although I guess he loses his air of maelovence when we encounter Jabba, and realise ol' Bib's actually a weak-minded fool...

This is the second picture I've got up here with Boba Fett relegated to the background - I think he'll have to take centre stage at some point.