Category: Movies

Triple Force Friday

October 4, 2019

Today, as you all know, is Triple Force Friday! This means it’s the day product is in stores for not one, not two, but three upcoming Star Wars properties: the new film (The Rise of Skywalker), the TV Series (The Mandalorian) and some game no-one cares about. Naturally I hit the shops after work, giddy with excitement. What did I buy?

Target was mostly underwhelming. Yes there was a spiffy endcap, but isn’t it just the same basic design as the last two films?!? Also you can see that the shelves weren’t exactly bursting with choice, especially when you ignore (as we all should) the Funko stuff. They had a pittance of new figures like these:

As well as two lego sets, a t-shirt, some stuffed droids (?) and one or two instantly forgettable other things. Nothing grabbed me and I left empty-handed.

Barnes & Noble was my next stop and as you can see they had a nice little display. Overall it was better than Target with more variety including what looked to be a giant spoileriffic book that I didn’t open. I did learn though – from the packaging of the figures, that the new film will feature a speeder chase on a planet called ‘Pasana’, non-Tattooinian Jawas (!) and this dude:

I was mildly excited by the stuff at Barnes & Noble but not enough to buy anything, and left empty-handed.

Walmart was my next destination and the less said about what I saw there the better. Given that Walmart was hyped (by who?) as the go-to destination for TFF one would imagine they would have something. But no; it was the usual barren wasteland of no Star Wars toys. This was depressing to a fellow with money burning a hole in his pocket so to alleviate the despair before I left for the mall I picked up $20 worth of soup:

At the mall I skipped over to The Disney Store which – finally! – had a nice display. They had clothes and figures and hats and lightsabers and a few other things including these for a staggering $50 per set:

Fifty dollars for three medallions just like the ones that came free with POTF figures in 1983?!!? Who’s going to buy these??? And they had three sets! Madness I proclaimed loudly as I walked out empty-handed and beelined for the LEGO store.

Now this is what I was looking for! They even have a TFF sign! But look: just look at that Star Destroyer kit!!! So what if it’s $700 and so big that there’s literally no-one alive that would have a place in their home to display it? It’s a beauty indeed and would be so much fun to build. That the sort of lunacy one expects to see on a day about Star Wars product. Oh and they had this too:

(Yes I know the photo was taken at Target, but they had it assembled at the LEGO store and it’s truly the stuff of nightmares.)

Anyway I bought nothing at LEGO, which means on Triple Force Friday after a couple of hours going to all the usual stores I left with… nothing!

So I went and dropped over a grand on an iPhone 11 Pro Max so the trip wasn’t a total waste 🙂

Supreme Leader Snoke

September 14, 2019

The ‘big bad’ in the last two Star Wars films was this guy, Supreme Leader Snoke:

He remains a mysterious and somewhat controversial figure, and everyone has a theory about him. I wonder with The Emperors (apparent) return in The Rise Of Skywalker later this year if some of our outstanding Snoke questions will be answered?

I doubt it.

At any rate, recently I found this in the clearance aisle for $2 and couldn’t say no:

Apparently this wasn’t the first time I took a liking to this figure since when I got home I saw it on my shelf! I’d bought it again, albeit for an 85% discount. So – and considering it had been years since I had done so – I decided to (shudder) open this one!

Look at that lovely gold cloth robe! Look at the detail on the sculpt down to the obsidian ring on his left hand (although the scale of which unfortunately doesn’t allow for a legible sculpt of the Dwartii tunes inscribed on the band). Overall, at first impression, a good figure.

However – and this is a big disappointment – it can’t stand. The feet are just too small and the center of balance too high enough for him to stand. This is perhaps why he’s almost always sitting in the films?

Anyway let’s see what’s under that cloak:

Not much about Snoke has been officially revealed (or likely even established) but apparently his gold robe was inspired – at the design level – by Hugh Hefner! His name is also an obvious derivation from the fact that initially he had serpentine features. But in the end he’s an old disfigured alien wearing a flashy bathrobe and slippers.

As a figure he’s incredible poseable:

And with no small amount of effort and the cloak removed, I even got him standing:

Sadly an idle breath in his direction knocked him down.

His cloak was returned, and he’ll now forever live in a box. Unless you want him, in which case please say so in the comments.

As a Star Wars character it’s unsurprising that even such a minor (albeit important) character as Snoke has seen many different figures:

Even if we’ll never actually know who he really was, at least there’s a toy of him to please every type of fan 🙂

The Drive-In

June 27, 2019

For about ten years now we’ve been going to a local drive-in many times during the summer.

We usually bring some food and snacks with us but always get the delicious French fries they sell as well. They sell all sorts of snacks and have an ice-cream stand as well.

We always try to arrive right when the gates open, which is 60-90 minutes before the first film. Time passes reading or playing phone games as we listen to the endlessly repeating tape of 1980s radio that they’ve been using as their intro forever.

It costs $10/person for two movies and for the low price we frequently see movies we’d never go and see at the cinema. They do a decent job of pairing films by genre/rating and nights with children’s or Marvel films always the most popular.

Originally the picture was a little fuzzier and darker than a normal cinema but they upgraded to a digital projector a few years ago and now it’s sharp and bright. The audio is broadcast on FM radio and is super-clear and perfectly synced. It’s obviously not as fancy as a cinema, but it’s perfectly adequate for all but the most special films.

Of course it’s outdoors, which means the weather sometimes gets in the way. I love when it rains (KLS doesn’t!) but we’ve had a few gigantic thunderstorms over the years that made it seem like we were watching a movie underwater! But the best was the evening with fog so thick we could barely see the screen. It was funny, but we left early 🙂

Last week I noticed that I’d never blogged the drive-in despite a decade of attendance. We attend so frequently now we almost prefer it to the normal cinema and may even buy the season pass in future years. If you’ve still got a drive-in near you, why not go and enjoy seeing a movie under the stars!

Robot Claw