Today was ‘Force Friday’, which was the heavily marketed release day for the first toys from the upcoming Star Wars film. It was a bit of a big deal, and while many shops had midnight launch events I stayed in bed and waited until after work to spend my cash.
Everywhere I went the in-store advertising was abundant, with special props going to Target for their full size animated BB-8 droid (lower left in the photo) as well as the way they replaced some of their register belts with Star Wars scrolling text belts:
I’ve always been a Star Wars fan. It has never waned, and I can’t deny a tremendous anticipation for the new film. I’m also a sucker for merchandise of all sorts, and spent a few hours today driving around several stores since there seemed to be different stuff everywhere.
So what did I buy…?
That’s the boring stuff. Two action figures, a mini model of one of the new Tie Fighters, and a placemat 🙂
Slightly more interesting was that balloon. I bought it since I hadn’t seen (and liked) the Drew Struzan art on it 🙂
Those are ‘collectable game pieces’ sold blind in packs of five. The games is a bit like dominoes but we love the fact they are magnetic! With the addition of a few tiny little magnets our fridge will now be covered in flashy Star Wars hexagons!
Avoid the blind-packed micro machine toys. Even at $2 they are terrible. The one shown is The Force Awakens heroine Rey on some sort of speeder.
Dog tags are always fun! I guess this confirms C3PO to be in the new film.
The less said about the above the better…
…but wouldn’t it make a fine Christmas gift?
This was my second favourite purchase of today. One thing I was surprised by was how much new merchandise of all sorts there was – not just Force Awakens stuff. These Lego kits are based on the old Bionicle style and look great, but Grievous is far and away the best of the bunch.
My favourite purchase was this children’s meal set, which will now be added to our cupboard alongside five (!) other SW meal sets dating back to ’99 when Episode 1 came out!
Look at that plate! Look at the cereal bowl with Kylo Ren and Phasma on it! And what about the First Order Tie Fighter on the cup?! Lovely stuff all of it 🙂
As I said: lifelong fan!
That’s something I didn’t buy: a $150 four foot talking Vader model. Pretty cool eh?
There’s one item though I should have bought, and probably will, and that’s the new Lego First Order Tie Fighter. I guess I just love the black and white design too much!
So readers, what did you pick up on Force Friday?