DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 17

This chapter will essentially cover several items that were either somehow missed along the way or added in after I covered a certain shelf or section.

For instance, when I showed you all this shelf here and talked about the two Unleashed figures there, I somehow forgot to mention the item BEHIND them:

This ceramic Darth Vader M&M cookie jar that I picked up at Target during the holiday season...it's a very nice piece actually, looks cooler in person though.

Another Vader item, just recently added to the shelf, is this Giant Sized Vader PEZ that I found at an Acme food store marked down to just FIVE dollars! I had passed on this item a hundred times because I thought they were simply too high priced (original tag was $20.00) but at the reduced price it was worth the buy, especially as it also plays the Star Wars theme when you lift his head! ...That and I happen to like PEZ candy...

These next few items you may or may not have seen in the background of several other pictures along the tour. These are some Christmas tree ornaments I found again at Target last December, and they are scattered around the room just as decorations, but I decided they deserved a little more attention.

They include:Death Star & TIE Fighter ornament

X-Wing Ornament

Episode III Poster Ornament

Slave I Ornament AT - AT Ornament

And lastly, The Millennium Falcon Ornament

I have shown this wall before as well, but recently added a few pictures in the form of several 5 by 7 prints that came with a few AMC Models I bought awhile ago.They're little mini versions of some of the classic movie posters, including:

Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back version one and version two

and Return Of The Jedi version one and version two.

I STILL have yet to assemble any of the other model kits these came in. I'll get to it eventually...

I'm ALWAYS looking to find better ways to display items and make the most efficient use of space possible while still having it LOOK good. And I'm always coming up with new ideas, like moving my Mace VS Sideous and Anakin VS Dooku Battle Sets UNDER the shelves instead of on top.

This way they look kind of like little diorama's ...plus I have them mounted well enough to the wall that you CAN actually play with the handles that make them move if you wanted to.I would let you if you came to visit, I really would....

As you noticed, I have a LOT of pictures and prints etc. all over the walls, including posters, signed photos, magazines, and more.

Here is a recent addition just hung up; a Lenticular 3D "Locked In Combat" Poster Card that is a Star Wars Shop exclusive and is limited to a print of 2,500.

As with all lenticular pictures, the image changes when viewed from a different angle, and this photograph really does NOT capture the way the Vader helmet on the right POPS out in 3D effect.

I've been going on a bit of a vintage kick recently, and have decided to go back and try and add some more of the original action figures from the 1978 - 83 lines.

The first few I've picked up are from all three OT films: a 1978 Greedo, a 1980 AT-AT Driver, & a 1983 Red Guard that I found at my local comic book shop. Turns out he has TONS of old opened vintage figures at pretty darn reasonable prices. I will be going back for more soon.

From eBay, I got this one: a 1979 Boba Fett ...this figure actually came out BEFORE the release of Empire Strikes Back, and carded goes for a TON of cash...but opened he is much more attainable, and you know me, I'd have just wound up opening him anyways...

I have decided to use that black wall case that I showed you before to hold my now growing vintage line and I will be slowly moving the other, newer figs out of there to other homes.Perhaps in a later update I will focus better on the figures in there, that picture doesn't really show them well at all due to the mirror. That's why I took the pictures of the vintage figures outside the case, it makes much better pictures.

Some shelves have started to get pretty crowded, especially my Titanium Vehicles shelf, which is why I added two new small display shelves just above it to not only move a few of the vehicles up off the big shelf, giving me more room, but to also showcase two of my favorite ships in particular:

Slave I and of course The Millennium Falcon.

The fourth small Falcon, the one in the back right side, is the new "Ep. III Falcon" as she appeared in ROTS. I just recently added that one.

What else is new...?

Hmmm...oh yeah, I added a new Anakin figure from the "Hero's & Villains" line to my "Anakin to Vader & Back" shelf... I realized I was missing an Ep. III Anakin that wasn't after he converted to "Darth Vader" and KB was having a figure sale so...

You've seen all these Unleashed Figures already on the tour, but I recently found this new shelf at a yard sale for a couple of bucks, and after knocking out a few of the shelf dividers to make bigger spaces and a quick few coats of white paint, it became a nice display shelf for most of my Unleashed figs.

This shelf is hung on the wall where the autograph pictures used to be; they have been moved down to a wall behind my desk.The room is long but not too wide, so I've tried to keep from mounting shelves BEHIND my desk for fear of knocking stuff over whenever I get up, so it was better to cover that wall in posters and pictures and mount the shelves further down.

What do I have left to show you guys...?Ah HAH.One last one for now.

In case you aren't aware, the "Darth Maul" avatar I use is the figure from the Galactic Heros line...you've seen them, those cute little toys designed for the REAL younglings...anway, it was recently brought to my attention that, with ALL the stuff I have, i do NOT have that particular Darth Maul in my collection.

I have since rectified that mistake, as I bring you an item I JUST bought today:The Darth Maul & Obi Wan Galactic Heros set.

Well...I guess that about does it...at least for awhile. That being said, I can promise you there will be MORE of these coming, whenever I have enough material to warrant it.I can also tell you some plans I have for the future:I've already moved my Clone Army to another shelf...AGAIN.I have a few ideas for it, and when it's ready of course I will share.

And I still have all those figures in that black case that I never really highlighted very well...I have a few ideas for displaying them as well, so that's another one.

Plus, you know me, I'm ALWAYS adding something new, and I just can't keep it all to myself now can I...?

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 16

Welcome back to part 16 of DJ Mauls Virtual Online Star Wars Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Po-looza Fest World Tour 2006! Now guaranteed to create Spiritual Resonance & Harmonic Convergence throughout the known Universe!!!! ...Or your money BACK!

I've always had a thing for cartoon cels but have never really been able to AFFORD them, as most are very expensive.That's why I fell in love with the Acme Archive Key Cels, as they are beautiful pieces at pretty reasonable prices.

The first one I managed to get was the Obi Wan Key Cel from Star Wars Shop.com. The actual FIRST one made was a Yoda Cel that was sold exclusively at CIII...I had it IN MY HANDS but put it down because I was tight on funds and had other items I wanted. It was selling for 25 dollars; it's now on eBay for over 200!!!

Under Obi Wan is the more recent Padme Snowbunny Cel also a SW Shop exclusive and sold out quickly...I wonder why...?

The Mace Windu Cel is still available at Acme Archives Website in very limited amounts.

Next to them is one of my favorite art pieces, a Lithograph print of The Millennium Falcon production art signed by Ralph McQuarrie that I scored at CIII. Mr. McQuarrie, due to health issues, could not attend CIII, but his people had a booth set up for him and were selling various hand signed prints, and of course I had to get The Falcon print. I know the pic here isn't the best (dang camera flash!) but trust me it's a beautiful print.

I did an entire chapter of the series on store displays early on; here is a recent addition to that collection, a K-Mart Ep. III banner that was falling down in the toy aisle and had a small rip along the bottom. Looked like it was about to be thrown away so I asked for it and they let me have it. A little tape along the rip on the back end to hold it together and there you go.

I still need to get a real frame for this next one; it's an Ep. II DVD release flyer from Wal-Mart, advertising the upcoming DVD. It's just a little 8 by 10 paper print but I grabbed it at the store and have kept it ever since.

Star Wars items have even managed to creep over onto my desk. I forgot to take a seperate picture of it, but you can see a cheap plastic Vader Halloween Candy holder there by the phone that I use to keep all my pens & pencils in.

This Darth Vader EVA lamp is one of the cooler items on the desk, although for the life of me I can't figure out why the light bulb included inside is YELLOW and not RED...eventually I will find a red bulb and make this right!

There is a little story on this next item, my Darth Maul battery operated alarm clock.

I was in the market for a new alarm clock and decided to see if I could find a Star Wars one. After much hunting I couldn't find an electric one but found this Darth Maul one on eBay, which was a European exclusive and never sold in the states. His face, BTW, glows in the dark! I actually DID use this as my official alarm clock for awhile (no, it does NOT play SW music) until I found a regular electric one and this went to the Toy Room.

Also on my desk is a framed photo of me as "Tux Vader" at CIII.

I didn't have a lot of money to spend on an expensive costume, so I bought the Darth Vader Voice Changer Helmet, and some awesome Darth Vader custom gloves that I also found on eBay, combined them with my old DJ tuxedo that had tails in the back and a pair of leather pants I borrowed from my dad and created a costume for Darth to step out on the town with!

It was kind of silly, and was meant to be, and I got a lot of (good natured) laughs with it at CIII.

And believe me, mine wasn't nearly the silliest costume there.

Oh, and I actually bought the Vader FX saber there at CIII to help complete the look. I was going to buy a cheap plastic one, then saw the FX and was sold immediately on it.

Another purchase made at CIII was this very cool CIII Logo Baseball Cap that actually has tiny miniature light bulbs in it that light the logo up! A little tiny switch inside the hat brim turns it on and off.

As we reach the end of this chapter, I have just a few last items to add, the five Vintage Cardback UGH figs that contained the tabs to mail away for the "George Lucas As Stormtrooper" figure, and the recently released Target Exclusive Demise of Grievous figure.

The Vintage UGH figs will remain in their packages, seeing as how they basically charged EXTRA for the "special packaging" but I will probably open the Grievous fig at some point...I have an idea for a display with him and an Obi Wan figure I may work on at some point.

As I said I'm always adding items and tinkering with displays...in fact I'm in the process of re-working my Clone Army shelf AGAIN!...so there WILL be more chapters of this tour, if not as often. See you again soon.

Oh, BTW, the beauty of this "virtual tour" is that the tour never closes...you can always view it again as often as you wish, and I don't even charge admission!

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 15

Well, here I am again, back with yet MORE pics and stories from my Star Wars Toy Room.

We left off with the Cups & Mugs shelf, so now let's continue along the top shelves that run across the right side wall, and we get to one of the first Lego sets I ever bought. It is, of course, a Darth Vader Lego and it was not too easy to assemble, but I managed it somehow. Looks like his chain has come loose a bit, I'll have to go fix that later...

Next to him starts my collection of vinyl figures from Applause; most of which were GIFTS!

For instance, this Darth Maul Applause fig and this young Anakin Applause fig were both gifts from a friend of my wife, who thought I might like them...she was right!

The rest of these...Tusken Raider Applause

Boba Fett Applause

Darth Vader Applause

Han Solo as Stormtrooper Applause

Wedge Antilles Applause

and R2-D2 Applause ......were all gifts from my MOTHER, who found them at a flea market or thrift store somewhere and grabbed them all for just a few bucks! The only two that I bought myself were this Prince Xizor Applause that I bought several years ago and this larger Darth Maul Applause that I actually just bought TWO DAYS AGO at my local comic shop...for just five bucks!

I usually don't go for the large 12" figures, especially as some of them can be rather expensive, but how could I possibly resist the Ultimate Villain Darth Vader Figure that came out last year...especially when you can remove the helmet to reveal his face!

It comes in the "Jedi Anakin" outfit but of course I wanted to display him as Vader, so I changed the outfit. This took a lot longer than expected, especially getting his BOOTS on...that took me close to a half hour alone! Seriously!I did feel rather odd the whole time....here I was, a full grown adult male, sitting at my kitchen table undressing and re-dressing a DOLL!!! Anyway, I kept the box there behind him as it holds all his Anakin gear, so it doesn't get lost.

Two new Unleashed figures are up here as well:Han Solo as Stormtrooper and Chewbacca from Ep. III

Bless my mom and her trips to the flea markets; here's another of her finds that she gave me, an item I probably never would have purchased myself: A stuffed Jar Jar Binks doll which again I believe is from Applause.

A GREAT collectible from the Star Wars Weekends of 2005 was this Darth Mickey Beanie that was going for HUGE money on eBay for awhile...I suppose he still is. I managed to get him online from Disney itself for regular price as part of some special offer they emailed me.

Next to Mickey are three M&M Star Wars Plushies, The Emperor, Vader & Luke.The Luke was a gift from my daughter. I had passed on these but she wanted to buy daddy something while out shopping with mommy and picked him, and of course I loved it. BUT, Luke looked kind of alone up there so of course later I grabbed the Vader, and then found the Emperor marked down enough to make me grab him too. I think three of those are enough though.

Did everyone manage to get all those Collector sets that came out whenever a Star Wars DVD came out? I did....well most of them anyway.

From the Episode III sets:Ep. III Set 1

Ep. III set 2

Ep. III set 3

From the Star Wars OT-SE DVD Collection:

OT set 1

OT set 2

OT set 3

From the Clone Wars Cartoon Season Two DVD collection:

Clone Wars season 2 set 1

Clone Wars season 2 set 2

There were sets like these for Clone Wars Season One that I apparently missed; perhaps someday I will hunt them down if they are not too expensive.

Wow, there's more stuff on this shelf than I thought...rolling right along...

Next up, the new Titanium Figures that came out this year.

The first two that came out were Darth Vader and also Boba Fett, ...there are two versions, the painted colored version and the "Limited Edition" Silver Finish version. This is when I sometimes HATE being a collector...yep, I bought TWO versions of essentially the SAME toy, because I bought into the "LIMITED EDITION!!!!" tag and thought they might be rarer and decided I needed BOTH versions. After a short while I realized that the silver versions are FAR from "RARE," in fact they're still all over the shelves as I'm sure you've all seen. Still, they are cool, just check out the close up of painted Vader and the close up of painted Boba Fett , both displayed with helmets removed to show their faces.

The next two to come out, The Sandtrooper and the bounty hunter Bossk I only bought the painted versions of...I learn from my mistakes sometimes.

Oh, BTW, obviously I removed the clear plastic covers for these because I was getting too much glare from the camera flash, but normally I keep the covers on to keep the dust off.

Wow, that was a LONG shelf!

I hope this is as much fun for all of you as it is for me...it's also helped me get a grasp on my collection in a way I never really had before, and made me dig back for information on exactly WHAT I have and WHERE it came from for many items I had sort of forgotten the history of.

Anyway, until the next chapter, as always thanks for following along!

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 14

The continuing saga of DJ Mauls Ultimate Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Polooza World Tour 2006 Fest-a-rama Drama continues now in chapter 14...I know, I didn't think it would take this long either!

In the last installment, we covered the Ep. I Fast Food toys collection. This time we continue along those lines, as we reach the Plastic Cups shelf.

The first one here is a Ep. III Vader Sippee Cup that I found in a food store for a few bucks.

Next to him is a 7-11 Yoda Slurpee Mug from Ep. III that sold rather quickly and disappeared out of most 7-11's before fans even knew about them.

This next item is sticking out of the Yoda mug, but I decided to take a better picture of it, it's a Vader Twisty Straw from CIII...cheap but cute.

Now, I had also mentioned last chapter about how one had to go to three different fast food restaurants to complete the Ep. I toy collection. This was also true for the Cups & Toppers line they released at the same time; there were 12 different cups to collect across the three separate fast food chains:

R2 - D2 ...out of all of them, he is my favorite one.

Nute Gunray & Boss Nass

Capt. Tarpals & Jar Jar Binks

Watto Sebulba & Anakin ; shown here Podracing side by side.

Queen Amidala Darth Maul ...a close second in the favorite department.

Mace Windu . (they should have made a PURPLE straw for him )

And last, of course, is Yoda.

Also on this shelf are several other cups:Here is a Star Wars Trilogy SE Movie Theater Soda Cup that actually glows in the dark!

This one is a Darth Maul Ep. I Theater cup and next over an Anakin Ep. I Theater cup & Anakin soda cup from Taco Bell.

Along with the Yoda mug, there were FOUR different lenticular Slurpee Cups from 7-11 released during Ep. III that also featured a plastic Darth Vader topper:

7-11 Vader cup 1

7-11 Vader cup 2

7-11 Vader cup 3

7-11 Vader cup 4 For what are essentially cheap plastic cups, these things look amazing.

I wouldn't normally keep these next two, but just for the heck of it I kept a couple of the small, paper soda cups from BK, one side features Ep. III characters and the other side OT characters. I don't keep these because I feel they will become WORTH anything....basically they're glorified GARBAGE, lol...although I DID rinse and clean the thoroughly before displaying them, of course!

Oh, one last cup left, another BK. plastic soda cup again from the Ep. III era.

That's it for the cups, but just to finish out this shelf let's cover a few action figures that wound up along here:Lott Dod, Nute Gunray & Rune Haako

Boss Nass, Capt. Tarpals & Oom-9

several various droids including ASP-7 Droid, 2-1B Medical Droid, two pit droids and a Destroyer Droid.

Last item on this shelf is the Darth Vader Action Bank ...very similar to the Ep. I banks, it plays The Imperial March and moves, and says stuff like "Impressive...most impressive! But you are not a Jedi YET!"

Just one last thing to cover on this shelf, and that's the two BK Ep. III Kids Crowns I hung along the edge of the shelf just for fun...yep, again, good ol' "Poster Putty" works wonders here!

Still quite a few chapters to go, tour fans, so stick around!Now, if you'll excuse me...seeing all those soda cups again has suddenly made me have to PEE...

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 13

Welcome back, to lucky Part 13 of DJ Mauls Ultimate Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Polooza World Tour 2006 Fest-a-rama!!!!! Now in Convenient Carry Cans!

Last chapter we went over the Burger King toys and other items released for Ep. III.Chasing them down was easy for some of us, and difficult for others, but no matter how hard you think chasing THAT series down was, it was NOTHING compared to the chase for a complete run of the Ep. I The Phantom Menace Fast Food Toys Series.

To complete the entire series of 29 toys (including "Children Under 3" alternate toys), you had to go to not ONE, not TWO, but THREE different fast food chains: Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut!That's a LOT of fast food!

The COOL thing about this series is that each toy came in an individual cardboard box, and when all the boxes are put together it forms one large picture.

There were three different waves:

The Naboo series

The Tatooine series

The Coruscant series

The last few boxes you see there on the end are the boxes for the Childrens alternate toys, which also had some of the same puzzle piece pictures on them as well, but for display purposes I didn't need those pictures so showed the other sides instead.There were ALSO a series of plastic soda cups with character toppers; those will be covered in a later chapter.

Since I'm on this wall, let's explore the rest of what's around that shelf.Here is a Ep. I Game board also a part of the Ep. I fast food promotions. One was supposed to collect a pog style game piece for each picture in a block to win a prize. I still have several of the game pieces in a little baggie somewhere. Never got enough to win anything.

Running down the side of the bookshelf there are some great magazine covers.

The first one here needs a set up:You've all heard of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, right?What you may NOT have heard of was a short lived comic book parody call "Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters."Yes, you read that correctly.And so I present to you, from 1986, the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters In 3D Star Wars Parody Cover!

Under that one, something a little more recent, from 1999:Games magazine Star Wars / Sgt. Peppers Parody Cover featuring lots of SW characters and plenty of other sci - fi classic characters. See how many you can spot.

Under that: Darth Vader on the cover of Time Magazine for Ep. III.

Under that, another Time Magazine, this one features Yoda on the cover from Ep. II.

Another great cover, this one from TV Guide, is the Lenticular Ep. II cover featuring Anakin & Obi Wan that, when you look at it from another angle, becomes Vader and old Obi Wan!

Yet another excellent magazine cover is the Darth Vader Rolling Stone Cover again from Ep. III.

Next to that magazine, just because I could, hangs the Darth Vader M&M Candy Tin that I managed to attach to the wall with...yep, you guessed it...the wonder of POSTER PUTTY!!!

Even with a large room like mine, space is ALWAYS a consideration, and every available inch needs to be utilized just right.So, let's take a look UNDER the shelf for a few items, such as this Attack Of The Clones 4 Pack Figure set that I may still open at some point, again I really just haven't gotten around to it yet and hung them there for the time being.

The next item is another gift from my wife, this one an anniversary present from many years ago;The Masterpiece Edition Anakin Skywalker 12' Figure that opens to reveal Anakin Skywalker as he appeared at the end of ROTJ

It also features a book , Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader that was written by fellow collector Steve Sansweet!

Under that box sits a few games, the Star Wars Classic OT Trivial Pursuit and Ep. I Monopoly games, and along side of that is yet another freebie Poster from my Fan Club Membership hanging on the side of my file cabinet of all places...again, maximum space coverage.

Hanging along the edge of the fast food toys shelf is another Star Wars Store Display Banner to match the one on my Titanium Vehicle shelf, and under that on top of the file cabinet you can see my Ren & Stimpy stuffed toys that I've had for years...Ren talks when you pull his belly button and Stimpy makes...well, RUDE noises when you squeeze his stomach.

I'm gonna wind it down for now, and as always I thank you for tagging along.