DJ Maul's Blog

2008-12-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

originally posted at Star Wars .com blogs, 12/18/07

Han Solo & Leia Organa sing "Baby, It's Cold Outside!"

Leia: I really can't stay ...
(Han: but baby its cold outside)
Leia: The first transport is away ...
(Han: but baby its cold outside)
Leia: This escape has been...
(Han: Been hoping that you'd drop in)
Leia: ...so not very nice!
(Han: I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice)

Leia: General Rieekan will start to worry
(Han: Your Highness, what's your hurry?)
Leia: Snowtroopers breaking down the door...
(Han: Listen to the blasters roar!)
Leia: ...so really I'd better scurry...
(Han: Goldenrod better hurry)
Leia: ...but maybe just one transport more
(Han: open the shields, I'll open the door)

Leia: The hallways collapsed!
(Han: Baby its bad out there!)
Leia: No way to get back!
(Han: No ship to be had out there!)
Leia: I wish I knew how...
(Han: Your eyes are like starlight now)
Leia: ...to get off this rock!
(Han: On the Falcon I'll take you out)

Leia: I ought to scream bloody murder...
(Han: Mind if I move in closer?)
Leia: ...call you a Scruffy Nerf Herder
(Han: Hey, who you callin' scruffy?))
Leia: We really can't stay ...
(Han: I'm sure I can get the Falcon to start!)
Both: But baby its cold outside!

Leia: We simply must go!
(Han: But baby there's Imps outside!)
Leia: The answer is no !
(Han: Asteroids and ships outside!)
Leia: Your flying has been ...
(Han: The hyperdrive won't kick in!)
Leia: ...so very insane!
(Han: Look out the window at that big rock!)

Leia: Cant this bucket go any faster?
(Han: I'm doing best I can, sister!)
Leia: The Empire is close at the door!
(Han: We'll fly into the asteroids more!)
Leia: Darth Vader's mind is vicious
(Han: Gosh you're just Worshipful-licious!)
Leia: We can't hide in here anymore!
(Han: Never such a weird cave before!)

Leia: I've gotta get home...
(Han: But baby there's Mynocks out there!)
Leia: Say is this ground foam?
(Han: Giant Slug teeth out there!)
Leia: We're drifting in a garbage trail...
(Han: I think Boba Fett's on our tail!)
Leia: ...so don't you see?
(Han: What say we fly to Cloud City?)

Leia: There's bound to be talk tomorrow...
(Han: Lando will have parts I can borrow!)
Leia: ...I don't trust that guy anyhow
(Han: I'm sure he's forgotten by now...)
Leia: I really can't stay ...
(Han: What's Carbonite anyway?)

Both: But baby its cold...baby it's cold outside!

2008-12-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

originally posted at Star Wars .com blogs, 12/17/07

"The Empire Got Defeated By Some Ewoks"

(sung to the tune of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer)

(chorus)
The Empire got defeated by some Ewoks
Fighting back like vicious teddy bears
You may think they're really cute and cuddly
But they will cook and eat you, so beware!

Luke decided to face Vader
And Leia begged him not to go,
Be he sensed some good still in him
So off to the new Death Star he did go.

Meanwhile deep within the forest
Stormtroopers tried to take them out
But the Ewoks were ferocious
And sent chills of fear with their little Ewok shouts!

(chorus)
The Empire got defeated by some Ewoks
Fighting back like vicious teddy bears
You may think they're really cute and cuddly
But they will cook and eat you, so beware!

Now we're all so proud of Vader
When he converted back to Light
But we all know it's the Ewoks
Who really saved the day and won the fight!

Now the bloody battle's over
And the Empire will fall
And we just cant help but wonder
Did they cook the Troopers up, or eat them raw?

(chorus)
The Empire got defeated by some Ewoks
Fighting back like vicious teddy bears
You may think they're really cute and cuddly
But they will cook and eat you, so beware!

Stormtrooper steaks are on the table
And some Biker Scout fillet
And if a Rebel too is on the menu
Well we all know, that's just their way.

I've warned all the other planets
Better watch out for yourselves
For a horde of vicious killers
That look like cute and fluffy little elves!

(chorus)
The Empire got defeated by some Ewoks
Fighting back like vicious teddy bears
You may think they're really cute and cuddly
But they will cook and eat you, so beware!

(sing it, Palpatine!)
The Empire got defeated by some Ewoks
Fighting back like vicious teddy bears
You may think they're really cute and cuddly
But they will cook and eat you, so beware!

Happy Life Day!

2008-12-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

originally posted at Star Wars .com blogs, 4/20/07

"Oh Obi Wan" (sung to the tune of The Crystals classic "Da Doo Run Run")

I met him in the Judlands in the desert sun
Oh, Obi Wan, oh, oh Obi Wan!
He saved me from the Tuskens when he made them run!
Oh Obi Wan oh, oh Obi Wan!

Hel-lo little friend!
Said his name was Ben.
But a name he hadn't heard
In so, so long, long, was Obi Wan!

He took me back to his place, it was just a shack
Oh Obi Wan, poor old Obi Wan
We found the secret message and he played it back
Oh Obi Wan oh, oh Obi Wan!

Rebels on the ropes!
You're our only hope!
Please, come to Alderaan!
Oh Obi Wan, General Obi Wan!

He snuck into the Death Star, shut the tractor down
Oh Obi Wan, sneaky Obi Wan!
Then his old apprentice went and cut him down
Oh, Obi Wan, oh no Obi Wan!

Turned and fired my gun!
Heard his voice say "RUN!"
Blasted off and got away,
'cept Obi Wan, poor ol' Obi Wan!

Hopped into our X-wings and we started to fly
Oh Obi Wan, I miss Obi Wan!
Trying to hit a target just three meters wide
Oh, Obi Wan, help me Obi Wan!

Just once chance of course,
Ben said "Use The Force!"
Blew that thing and we went home!
Oh, Obi Wan, thank you Obi Wan!
Oh, Obi Wan oh, oh Obi Wan!
Oh Obi Wan oh, oh Obi Wan...

{repeat and fade out...}

2008-12-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

originally posted at Star Wars .com blogs, 4/6/07

If I Had A Wookiee (sung to the Peter, Paul & Mary tune "If I Had A Hammer")

If I had a Wookiee
We'd smuggle in the morning
We'd smuggle in the evening ... or my name ain't Han!,
We'd smuggle in spices
We'd smuggle out weapons
We'd smuggle for profit, greed, excitement and adventure
All over this galaxy!

If I had a Wookiee
he'd guard me in the morning
He'd guard me in the evening...or my name ain't Han!
He'd guard me from danger
From morons like Greedo
he'd guard me from bounty hunters, hired by Jabba
All over this galaxy!

If I had a Wookiee
I'd make him co-pilot
I'd make him my first mate ... or my name ain't Han!
We'd fly into danger
We'd fly into battle
We'd fly so fast, we'd break the Kessel Run record
All over this galaxy!

Well I've got a Wookiee
And his name is Chewie
And he is my best friend ... or my name ain't Han!,
And I made him a smuggler
And he is my strong arm
But most of all, I love him like a brother
All over this galaxy!

2008-12-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

originally posted at Star Wars.com blogs, 3/28/07

We Are The Fan Force (sung to the tune the Queen song "We Are The Champions")

(Note:, "Fan Force" is the sorta semi "official SW Nickname" some of have adopted, at least until somebody comes up with something better LOL)

I've watched all six films
Time after time
I've done conventions
And stood in long lines
And lots of toys
I've bought quite a few
I've had my share of scalpers ripping me off
But I've come through

We are the Fan Force - my friends
And we'll keep collecting - till the end
We are the Fan Force
We are the Fan Force
No time for Trekkies
'Cause we are the Fan Force - of Star Wars!

George Lucas has vowed
that six films is all
We brought him fame and fortune
and everything that goes with it
still we want more!

So some of us play games
Some read EU
I consider it a challenge to keep up with it all
And I ain't gonna lose

{We want 7, 8 and 9! And }
We are the Fan Force - my friends
Still live with our parents, but pay rent!
We are the Fan Force
We are the Fan Force
Some call us losers
'But we are the Fan Force - of Star Wars!

We are the Fan Force - my friends
And we'll keep on dueling - it's pretend!
We are the Fan Force
We are the Fan Force
No time for girlfriends
'Cause we are the Fan Force...

2008-12-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at Star Wars.com Blogs, 2/06/07

"Oola" (sung to the tune of The Kinks song "Lola")

I bought her for my palace near the Great Dune Sea
where I eat live frogs and they taste just like crunchy chicken;
like KFC chicken!

I pulled on her chain and I told her to dance,
I asked her her name and in a dark green voice she said, "Oola"
O-O-L-A Oola,
Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola!

Well, I'm not the world's most physical Hutt,
but when she danced for me it made me move my butt
Oh my Oola, Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola,

Well, I'm not dumb but I can't understand
How she dances so good to the Max Rebo Band
Oh my Oola, Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola,
Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola

Well, we drank Corellian Ale and danced all night,
under the Palace firelight,
I picked her up and sat her next to me,
I said, "Little Twi'lek won't you make out with me?"

Well, I'm not the world's most cleanliest Hutt
And when she smelled my breath
well she almost threw up, Oh my Oola,
Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola,
Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola!

She pushed me away!
I hit the trap door!
It opened the floor.!
She fell down with a scream!
And the Rancor ate her, and that pleased me!

Well the gangs all say I always get my way.
But now there's this Jedi that just won't go away, Bib Fortuna
why'd you let him in,a?

Luke killed my Rancor and Solo got freed
Tried to feed them to the Sarlaac 'cause I really got peeved
And made Slave Leia...Le Le Le Le Leia.
Le Le Le Le Leia!

Well I brought them out to settle the score,
But I never ever fought a woman before,
Leia snarled, chain around my head
she said, "Slimy Hutt, gonna choke 'til your dead!"

Well I'm the galaxies top crime lord it's said,
but I should have bargained, now I've wound up dead,
along with Oola...Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola...Oo Oo Oo Oola!

Oola!...Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola...! Oo Oo Oo Oo Oola...!

2008-04-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 27

Welcome to part 27 of "DJ Mauls Ultimate Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Polooza-Fest: 2007 Edition!"...Now featuring for the first time EVER a video webcam segment!!!

BUT before we get to that, let's check out the new editions in the old fashioned form.

It's been a GREAT time for Titanium Vehicle collectors such as myself with several new waves recently released. I added a few more to the ever growing collection including:

General Grievous Starfighter

The Endor variant AT - AT

Anakin's Modified Jedi Fighter - Ep. II

And one of the only NON Star Wars one's I have purchased:

Original Viper Model from Battlestar Galactica Series.

If I wasn't imagining myself zipping around the galaxy in the Millennium Falcon or an X-Wing, I was imagining launching that Viper out of those cool tubes and into the stars...!

I mentioned last chapter about finding two of the three new Marvel Comics sets; at the time I was still missing the Han & Chewie set.

With a little help from fellow GHG member "M68" I got that third Marvel set and she even was cool enough to throw in a nice GIFT for me to contribute to the Toy Room:

This VERY COOL two Sided Darth Vader Puzzle that comes in a really cool tin box!

Thanks Michelle, you so totally ROCK!

Another GHG GET was from my buddy Darth T-Bone, who was part of the actual crew that worked on the Star Wars Rose Parade floats and who managed to score me this beautiful set of Exclusive Rose Parade Star Wars Pins!

VERY SHINY of him!

From SW Shop, my Republic Commando Delta Squad set came in the other week!

Now I COULD have left this unopened, or even partially opened with the display in the back and that would have looked OK too.

BUT you know I have a Clone Army shelf, and so I just had to set them up THERE!

So now added to the Army are:

Fixer

Sev

And Delta Three - Eight, aka "Boss."

Since I already had one Scorch figure, I decided the new one from this set would look way cool IN FLIGHT above the rest of the Army.

Also, since they had WINGS I figured the Geonosian Warriors figures both ONE and TWO along with their Commander Sun Fac should be in flight as well!

One more item to discuss today; an item I scored from eBay for a very decent price.

From the Episode I era I picked this awesome Darth Maul Rubiks Cube!

I loved Rubiks Cube as a kid and somehow I missed this when it first came out during Ep. I. A friend of mine spotted it on eBay and sent me the link, and I scored it for only $1.99 plus shipping.

Now, you may notice it's not OPENED yet.

"Why not?" you may ask...well, I saved that for you.

Want to WATCH me actually open a toy?

Of COURSE you do!!!

I realize the sound is still a bit choppy on this, but I did manage to get the focus a bit better.

I only had ONE shot at opening the toy ON CAM so forgive me if it's a bit off, LOL.

As I do more of these I'm sure I'll get better at it!

Thanks as always for tagging along, hope you enjoyed and I will see you all again soon...or perhaps at the very least, YOU will be seeing ME!

2008-04-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 26

The very first day of 2007 and what do I spend it doing?

Why, taking you all through yet another leg of my seemingly never ending "Virtual Tour!"

So, let's go over the last of my "gets" for the year 2006!

Let's begin at the Titanium Vehicle collection, which is still going strong.

Several new releases hit the shelves the past few weeks, and some really great ones; so let's check them out:

Amidala's Star Skiff (from Ep. III)

Rebel Blockade Runner (Tantive IV, EP.V)

Obi Wan Ep. II Style Jedi Fighter that comes with a separate, attachable Hyperspace Docking Ring!

Endor AT-ST

Darth Maul Sith Speeder Bike

And last but not least, the Darth Vader Starfighter which obviously was NOT in the films and is an EU ship but is a really beautiful ship, nicely detailed.

Oh, and I had need of a stand for one of my Titanium Vehicles elsewhere, and I had two TIE fighters, so I borrowed the stand for a TIE and then decided to take that TIE and fly it with fishing string just for fun.

Another item that got "flown" was this C3PO in Ewok Throne figure...I figured since I do not have The Force to make him float, fishing string would once again have to do.

Back to the Titanium line for a moment...I thought I was done with these but after seeing it on the shelf and deciding there just wasn't enough IG-88 stuff out there I decided to go ahead and pick up the IG-88 Titanium Figure.

Another I wasn't sure I would buy until I wound up finding it was the Darth Vader TIE Ultra Titanium Vehicle. This will probably be the last of this series released, as all info points to this line being discontinued.

Every once in awhile, I still buy a regular action figure, just for fun, especially if it's a character I don't already have in any other version, so that's why I wound up grabbing this Kit Fisto Action Figure to go with the rest of my Jedi collection.

Two more new action figure sets have just recently been added: The new Marvel Comics Two packs!

I found two out of the three in this series:

Darth Vader & Rebel Soldier

Tarkin & Stormtrooper.

Each of these sets also comes with a reprint comic book of the original Marvel comics adaptations!

I think I will be leaving these IN the packages however; they are simply too beautiful to rip open and will display far better as is, IMO.

The third in this series is Han & Chewbacca, which my friend and fellow GHG Member Michelle aka M68 has already found for me and will be sending my way shortly! Thanks Michelle!

Speaking of "Thank You's" I have a very special one to send out at this point, to our friend and fellow blogger Jedi Melinda Wolf!

As some of you may know already, she recently conducted a raffle giveaway of stuff for the holidays and I was one of the last winners, and just a few days ago received her package of goodies, and boy was I thrilled!

Check out the awesome stuff she sent me:

Lego Magnets Set

Lego Red Guard Key Chain.

Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith Sticker Book.

Star Wars Saga 2007 Calendar that has some amazing picture inside, perhaps I will show one a month through the year as I blog.

And lastly, an item that technically is NOT Star Wars and yet IS:

a "Dagoba" organic chocolate bar!

I can't decide if I'm going to eventually eat this or not, LOL...

Thanks again Melinda, for your wonderful generosity and for making this Star Wars geeks collection just that much more special! You are now an official contributor to the web-famous "Maul Cantina" collection!

A few more items still to cover, so let's move on next to some holiday items I found at discount the day after:

Star Wars 2 pack ornaments sets!

I got these at half price, and at this point can't decide whether to open them and hang them around the room or leave them in the package along with the Display Box I also managed to score with them!

I scored another display box as well, this one for the Star Wars Dashboard Drivers which I stuck in the box there for fun. Again I haven't quite decided the final display for it yet.

Hey, remember way back in the tour when I showed you that Darth Vader EVA Lamp? Remember how I complained that they stuck the wrong colored bulb in there? No? Well anyway...with Christmas bulbs everywhere this time of year I finally found a RED bulb and put it in there and NOW check it out! ...Looks MUCH cooler don't you think?

One last item to cover for this chapter and it's a great one:

12" Boba Fett trilogy Collection Figure

I found this just a few days ago at a Target, on a clearance rack, mixed in with a bunch of assorted crap far away from the regular Star Wars displays.

Upon picking it up, I discovered why it was on the discount rack: The back of the box was ripped to shreds!

"Well, so what? " I said to myself, "I wind up opening most of my stuff anyway!"

So I flipped it over to search out the price, and imagine my surprise when I saw THIS!

If you can't quite make that out, or think you're eyes are deceiving you, it reads "$1.86."

Yep. ONE DOLLAR, 86 CENTS!

Unbelievable! I couldn't believe my luck, but when the cashier rung it up and it still scanned at that price I almost flipped!

I tossed the shredded part of the box when I got home, but managed to keep the rest of the package in decent enough shape that it makes for a great display along with the opened figure!

My LAST score for the year 2006, and it was a doozy!

2007 is already shaping up to be an exciting year, what with the 30th Anniversary to celebrate, C4 coming in May, new TV shows in the works and the start of filming the next Indiana Jones movie officially announced!

This will make it an AWESOME year for us Star Wars fans and especially us COLLECTORS as I'm sure there will be a TON of new, exciting stuff to hunt for this year!

Bring it on! Happy 30th Anniversary everybody, let the celebrations begin!

2008-04-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 25

Well here we are at a milestone: The 25th chapter in my virtual toy room tour of "The Maul Cantina!"

Bet none of you knew I could milk a concept this long...except maybe Stooge...

Anyway, as with the last chapter, this one will feature lots of new stuff but also show a few more changes that have happened over the weeks and months since the last time something was featured in the tour.

For instance, when I first featured my new set of M-Pire toys, they were displayed on this shelf here.

Once I got the new display shelves for the Titanium Vehicles and moved things around, I wound up using the old display stand for the M-Pire figs, and they are now displayed here instead.

Another change; when I put up some new shelves, I wound up moving many of my pictures to the wall located behind my desk.

This allowed me to put up new shelves on the other wall, as I didn't want shelves behind my desk on the chance that I would knock things over when I got up out of the chair.

Some pictures are also there that you haven't seen yet, mainly because they weren't Star Wars related, but I show them now simply for fun:

An autographed picture of Lou Farrigno, the original "Incredible Hulk" from the TV show that I loved as a kid. He appeared at a comic convention I attended in Philly a few years back, very nice guy.

Another cherished autograph, the late great James Doohan, aka "Scotty" from Star Trek.

While I am not a hard core "Trekkie" I like the show, and attended a Trek Con many years ago and met him there, and even got to chat with him a little. It was strange to hear him talk without the Scottish accent though!

While I didn't get to meet this next crew personally, I am still thrilled to have their autographed pictures in my room: The cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000, one of my favorite TV shows ever!

I sent away for and received two signed photos: One of Joel and The Bots, and the other of "the Mads" Dr. Forrester & TV's Frank!

Ok, let's get back to Star Wars, and since we're looking at pictures let's show my newest Acme Archives key Cel, just arrived last week: Shaak Ti.

She is of course hung with the rest of the key cels which are taking up more and more wall space with each new one.

Some more brand new items, just purchased last week, are the latest Clone Wars Series of Bust Ups.

There were six in this series and I grabbed all in one shot:

Anakin & Obi-Wan

Yoda & Clone Trooper

Snowbunny Padme and Grievous

Since I got MORE of these Bust Ups, I figured it was time to move things again and now they all reside here along with my stuffed items that have also been moved here.

A real bargain I found last week was this Darth Vader Breathing Sound Effects Box that was made to put inside a Halloween mask and make the infamous "Vader breathe" sounds. Originally tagged at $3.99, I got it for 70 CENTS.

I plan to try and rig it to the door of the room somehow, so that when you walk in you will hear Vader breathing. I will let you know if I get that to work.

I found a nice surprise the other day while cleaning out a few things down there.

Shoved aside in a small box that I hadn't gone through in awhile were some items I had all but forgotten about.

I told you how my wife had given me her original vintage figure collection. What I had forgotten about was this stack of original, vintage 1983 Return Of The Jedi collectors' cards!

They aren't in perfect shape but not too bad. They were in storage for a LONG time and got a bit musty, but I have now put them in some nice plastic protector's pages and they should be fine. There are about 50 or so all together, not a complete set but a nice addition to my vintage stuff anyway.

A few last items to close out this chapter are some items that while technically are part of the collection, are the FEW items that aren't actually stored IN the toy room.

First, an item I've had hanging in the car window for several years now:

My Millennium Falcon Window Hanger.

This is attached by a suction cup and hangs just under the rear view mirror. The picture was taken at night, looks kind of cool, doesn't it?

As for the last item: I just recently upgraded and got a new cell phone, the new "Chocolate" phone from Verizon....a great phone, but it needed...well, a little something EXTRA.

So, I went hunting and sure enough, I found an awesome Star Wars Darth Vader Phone Skin for it at Verizon's website.

The skin covers the back as well, and you may have also noticed the screen wallpaper is of course my new "DJ Maul" artwork provided by nob01, which was discussed in more detail here.

My ring tone is, of course, "The Imperial March."

Thus we bring part 25 to a close. As the new waves of stuff arrive in time for the holidays, expect to see me updating again soon as I keep the collection growing.

Until next time, my loyal readers. Thanks, as always, for the support.

2008-04-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 24

Here we go again..." - C-3PO

As always, I welcome you back to my virtual tour of the "Maul Cantina," a toy room that is always in flux...new stuff being added, old stuff being moved around, new displays being put in.

Before I get to the NEW stuff, I just figured I'd show you a FEW (not all) of the changes since the beginning of the tour, and compare the old to the new to give you an idea of what's been altered.

For instance, let's take a look at my OLD display of my Burger King Ep. III Toys.

I was never happy with how this shelf turned out; oh sure they all fit nicely there on one shelf, but I didn't like that you couldn't really see them all that well.

I found this really awesome display seller on eBay and purchased these two clear plastic display risers that fit perfectly and the toys display much better don't you think?

I also picked up a few of these in a slightly different size to turn my Old Titanium Vehicles Display Shelf into a much better New Version that makes them stand out more I think.

There have been plenty MORE changes, but let's get to some NEW stuff now, shall we?

Since I was on the Titanium Vehicles, let's start with the new additions there:

I must be getting weak minded in my old age as I am starting to buy variants of vehicles I already have, which I always said I would not do...variants such as this Wedge Antilles X-Wing Titanium Vehicle that is pretty much identical to the other versions with minor paint color variations and some "battle damage."

Still, it makes a nice addition to this reworked display shelf that now features several Titanium X-Wings.

A more noticeable variant is this New Republic Gunship Titanium Vehicle which is now the third version of this ship along with the other two seen there.

That of course makes a nice addition to THIS reworked display shelf that now features several Republic Gunship Titanium Vehicles.

We also now have a BLUE Naboo Starfighter to go with the original yellow version, but my favorite repaint has to be this new Clone Wars ARC Fighter variant that is really beautiful close up.

Two more Titanium's to cover is this Gold Painted TIE Fighter and also a Gold Millennium Falcon!

Where, you may ask, did THESE come from???

Yep, I found the new Millennium Falcon Transformers Set with the two "Special Bonus" Gold Titanium Vehicles packed in!!!

I had major reservations about buying this, even WITH two cool TV's inside, as I'm not a big Transformers fan, but I must say this thing is pretty dang cool. Lights, sound effects, fun to play with...and it's the Falcon for crying out loud!

It of course starts out as two "robots: The Chewie 'Bot and of course The Han Solo 'Bot.

After of course transforming both sections they snap together and, after a few final parts added, become The Millennium Falcon.

The cockpit even opens to reveal a tiny Han & Chewie inside!

So what else is new in the collection? How about some more Unleashed figs!

Took me forever, but I finally found the two new Walmart Exclusive Unleashed figures:

Luke Skywalker Unleashed

And of course Darth Vader Unleashed (ESB version)

Also just added is another Titanium Figure to the shelf, this time the Clone Trooper Titanium Figure.

I passed on the Grievous and C-3PO ones, at least for now.

I FINALLY got a Clone figure that I have been hunting literally MONTHS for, the RED Clone Commander who now finally joins his green and yellow cousins thanks to the efforts of my buddy Darth T-Bone, who if we are lucky will soon be starting a toy tour all his own...trust me, you think MY collection is impressive? Wait to you get a load of HIS!

T-Bone also thought of me when he recently visited Vegas and sent me this way cool Darth Maul M-Pire Pin as a GIFT! Thanks again T-Bone, have I mentioned lately that you ROCK...?

As I write this I'm just NOW realizing that I should have updated the tour weeks ago, as apparently I have TOO much material for just ONE chapter!

So instead of making this any longer winded, I will close for now but leave you with the promise that there will be a new chapter VERY soon, as I've already done all the photo work so I just need to WRITE it!

So until we meet again in chapter 25, May The Force, as always, Be With You.

2008-04-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 23

Welcome back my friends, to the tour that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside... (All apologies to Emerson, Lake & Palmer there.)

So, what's new in the Maul Cantina since last we met?

Well...LOTS.

So, let's get right to it shall we?

Last chapter I showed you this Darth Vader Dashboard Driver and mentioned I was looking for two more that were out.

Well, I eventually found them, and here they are:

Yoda Dashboard Driver

C-3PO Dashboard Driver

Now that they are a complete set, I found a home for them HERE on this shelf.

Many of the items behind them have already been featured on the tour, but there are two new items there, cheap but cute:

These Liquid Candy Lightsabers I found at Toys R Us. There's a Vader and an Obi Wan saber, and the plastic blades themselves were full of a sweet, syrupy concoction that frankly made me nauseous after I ate them...

We also covered my new M-Pire figures last chapter, and at that point I still needed these two, which I now have:

Darth Vader & Clone Trooper M-Pire figures.

I couldn't find them on shelves anywhere, but got them from eBay for a fair price. Yes, eBay isn't ALWAYS evil...

I've added four new Titanium Vehicles recently; first up is the Leia Speeder Bike, which has now officially joined the chase.

Next is the Swampspeeder Muddy Repaint Version ... you can see the original version just behind it for comparison.

Also added is another Y-Wing Paint Variant from the new waves. The newest one is on the far left; the other two are the older variants.

Lastly in the TV's we have the Mace Windu Jedi Starfighter which is pretty much like all the other Jedi Starfighters, except of course it's PURPLE!

Besides the SMALL Titaniums, I have also added a few more of the larger, Ultra Titanium Vehicles.

I found the AT-AT Ultra Titanium on the shelf, again at TRU.

This one is now part of a totally NEW shelf I put up JUST for these larger sized vehicles.

The other new Ultra I acquired was a bit harder to find in stores, so I wound up ordering her from Hasbro's website.

I am of course talking about Millennium Falcon Ultra Titanium Vehicle, which if you remember way back in the tour I had high hopes of them making...somebody listened to me I guess...

Speaking of new Falcon items, another cool find was this Japanese import Millennium Falcon Georama which I found online.

It's very similar to the Gentle Giant Bust Ups; it's plastic and comes in small pieces that need to be assembled...in this case, pretty much just the landing gear. It's next to one of the Falcon TV's to show scale.

Once I got these two new Falcons, I decided it was time to dedicate a whole shelf to her!

As you see, I moved over all my Titanium Falcons and the Action Fleet Falcon as well, and put them all next to my Code 3 Falcon...sort of a Falcon shrine if you will.

Speaking of shrines...last tour I showed you my new Boba Fett Unleashed figure.

Well, I also just added this new Boba Fett Action Figure with way cool Jet Pack Flames display stand to the mix, and so also decided that the notorious Bounty Hunter needed HIS own shelf as well, so I moved over the Titanium versions of Slave I, the Titanium Boba Fett Figure and also my Applause Fett to the shelf...all items featured in past chapters if you missed them.

I keep saying I'm DONE collecting Action Figures and yet somehow still keep BUYING them, like this Hologram Darth Maul figure, or this cute R5-D4 figure...and of course my Wal-Mart Early Bird Figures Set finally came in!

I do still like to also go back and add some vintage figures when I can, and I just recently found this really nice vintage 1980 Lando Calrissian figure that still has his weapon and the plastic cape intact!

I mentioned the Gentle Giants Bust Ups earlier; I got a few more GG items, this time from their Mini Helmet Collection. You have to buy them randomly, so you don't know which one you have until you OPEN it, which I do NOT like, but I took a shot and got 3PO there and a Rebel Helmet...I REALLY want a Vader one, of course.

Speaking of Vader, I tend to avoid any ¡"Holiday" type SW items, but I couldn't resist this cute Darth Vader Snow Globe that I found at Target. Wind it up and it plays "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

WOW, this has been a LONG chapter, but it's almost over, promise. Just a few last items to cover, really.

As you may remember I also collect the Code 3 3D posters, and managed to get the 2006 Comic Con Exclusive Howard Chaykin Promotional Poster mini 3D poster when it was also available for a limited time online. This is a faithful 3D recreation of the original 1976 promotional poster, released at Comic Con a full year BEFORE Star Wars actually hit the theaters.

Also recently added two new Acme Archives Clone Wars Key Cels to the room, the Count Dooku Cel and the Asajj Ventress Key Cel which I JUST got two days ago!

And lastly: Who here DOESN"T love "The King???"

I am speaking about the one and ONLY Elvis Trooper!!! ... who was kind enough to send me his very own trading card! I LOVE unique items for the collection and this one certainly qualifies!

Well, that wraps it up for this chapter. To all my loyal readers, as well as to any new ones, I say: "Thank yew, thank yew ver'mush..."

2008-04-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 22

Your ol' pal DJ has been busy the past few weeks, working mainly but still chasing down toys when and wherever I can.

I figured I'd start this chapter by delving into some items I've actually had for quite some time, but that only got a quick mention in one of the earliest chapters.

So let's take a look at this reorganized shelf of action figures.

When I initially showed these figs they were in the wall display case (except for the "Anakin To Vader" fig in the background there ) and I only showed the one picture of it because it was impossible to get a good shot due to the mirrored backing in the display, which reflected the flash of the camera.

Later, I moved these figs OUT of the display case to make room for additions to my vintage figure collection, and I moved them to the shelf that USED to house my Clone Army collection ...things are ALWAYS moving around in The Maul Cantina!

Most of these figs come from the mid 90's lines, which is when I really started getting back into collecting on a regular basis.

So finally let's get a closer look at them:

First, several figs: Chief Chirpa, Wicket ,Lando & Chewie.

The Ewoks came together in a two pack much like the pair of Jawas & Ugnaughts I featured earlier.

Next, two older & two newer figs:

Grand Moff Tarkin & Emperor Palpatine / General Grievous & Obi Wan. ...Grievous is from the ROTS line, Obi Wan from The Saga line

Next we have the three stages of C-3PO , the golden version actually being the OLDEST fig of the three. The grey patchwork version is of course from Ep. II and the "naked" 3PO from the Ep. I line.

Judge NOT by their size these next two figs:

R2-D2 and Yoda.

This R2 was one of the first (if not THE first) of the 3 & ¾ inch figs that was electronically rigged to beep & flash, much like some of the newer versions in The Saga line do now. It originally came with a Tatooine stand that has disappeared in storage somehow.

Next is one of my fave's and a very RARE fig to find: IG-88.

He came as part of a two figure pack that also featured Boba Fett (who appeared earlier on the Clone Army shelf) and also came with a cool Shadows of The Empire comic (also featured earlier in the tour.)

I don't think I have EVER seen an IG-88 figure released since then, at least as far as I know anyway.

Back a little further we find several versions of Luke Skywalker including the "Luke in Stormtrooper disguise' fig and another favorite of mine, "Jedi Luke" from ROTJ.

Since I somehow had an extra Yoda, I decided of course to put him in the backpack of the Dagobah Luke figure. ...he fits in there really well actually.

Next to the Luke's are, of course, several various Leia figures including the fan boy fave Slave Leia. The "Leia in Boushh disguise" figure is from the new Saga line, the rest are again older figs from the 90's lines.

Next to Leia is her man Han Solo.

I'm not sure how I wound up with two of the same versions of Han there but that's how collecting goes sometimes.

Lastly, in the corner there we can find Admiral Akbar and some Rebel Soldiers figs

Now that I finally have THOSE covered, let's move on to some NEW additions to the collection.

As you should be more than aware of by now, I am an avid collector of the Titanium Vehicle line, and recently have acquired three more from the latest waves coming out:

The B-Wing Fighter shown along with its smaller Micro Vehicles cousin.

The Executor which features a little tiny Star Destroyer alongside it for "scale" and is again displayed next to it's smaller, plastic Micro Machine version.

Here's one I've been waiting literally YEARS for them to come out with:

The TIE Interceptor! ...I was thrilled to death when I saw they were finally putting this one out to complete my TIE fleet collection!

I am also a huge fan of the 12" Unleashed line and Hasbro has recently wised up and re-released two classics:

Boba Fett at The Sarlaac Pit ...

...and General Grievous.

These are new Target Exclusives releases, but are actually repacks of the originals from a few years back. I put the Boba Fett next to my Vader Unleashed, just because.

The only new addition to the Clone Army so far has been a new Shocktrooper fig from the new releases...I think it's GREAT that Hasbro is re-packing lots of the Trooper figs although many collectors I know are upset because they spent way too much on eBay for them thinking they'd never see them again!

Patience is a virtue, kids.

This next addition is kind of odd but very cool:

A Darth Vader Dashboard Driver from Wal-Mart

He can be attached by velcro strips to your car dashboard and "speaks" several classic phrases when you push the button, stuff like "Don't make me DESTROY you!" or "The Force is STRONG with this one" or "I have you now!"

The sound is VERY LOUD for such a little item, with very clear digital samples. There are also Yoda and C-3PO versions I am still hunting for.

We all know by now that the individual OT DVD's are now out, featuring the UNALTERED versions of the films on bonus discs. The versions here from Wal-Mart feature these great Graphic Novel reprints of the original Marvel Comics adaptations.

Reading these comics truly brings back some great memories from when I was a kid. It's a treat to have them back in the collection even in this reprinted form.

The last few items we will explore today have a bit of a story:

Just a few days ago I cam home to find my wife had bought me some presents...three packs of the M&M "M-Pire" figures!

Now I had passed on these for quite some time as I thought they were cute but over-priced. But recently KB Toys has had them marked down at a "buy 3 for $10" deal. I'm assuming that's where she got them. She was nervous about buying them as she figured I'd probably already had them, not knowing that I had seen them all the time but decided to pass on them in my efforts to curtail my collecting habits...she always says I buy too much stuff, lol.

Anyway, after she got me the set of three, I decided to go back and get a few more, just for the heck of it.

So I went from having NONE of these to a small shelf full of them!

The three my wife bought me were:

Anakin & Palpatine

Chewie & Mace Windu

and Grievous & Obi Wan

I bought four more sets later on:

Boba Fett & Han Solo

Luke & Leia

Darth Maul & Count Dooku

And Amidala, C-3PO & R2-D2 ...this was the only one that came with THREE figs instead of just two. I guess they figured R2 was too small to count as one fig.

There's only ONE more set of these I REALLY want at this point and of course can't find: The Darth Vader & Stormtrooper set. (Now you know why I chose the picture I did for this blog, don't you...?)

I suppose I'll find them eventually...

Well, that wraps it up for now. Thanks as always for tagging along; I hope I wasn't too long winded this time but it HAS been awhile since the last tour.

Until I spend enough money to warrant yet another tour blog...May The Force Be With You.

2008-04-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 21

Hey teen gang, I'm back!

Yes, the return of DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Polooza Fest-arama Jumbo Jamboree!!!

Today's edition of the tour features the most recent additions to the collection since the last chapter.

Let's start with one of the most anticipated items for most collectors:

The George Lucas In Storm Trooper Disguise Figure!

For all of the aggravation I went through in getting this one and for all of my complaints on how Hasbro handled the promotion, I'm VERY satisfied with the figure itself and am happy I sent for it.

I displayed him with the five other UGH figs and will keep him in the box along with the rest of them.

Another new figure that I had on pre-order for months finally arrived:

The Star Wars Shop Exclusive Shadow Stormtrooper.

He has been displayed near next to my Clone Army shelf (covered last chapter) and I haven't decided yet if he remains in the box of if I open him at some point.

Speaking of new Troopers, a very special addition to the Clone Army is also here:

The 06 Comic Con Exclusive 501st. Stormtrooper!

Now you may be asking "Deej, how the heck did you get that figure? You didn't actually GO to the Con did you?"

NO, I wasn't at the Con, nor did I manage to score him in the very brief online sale.

BUT, it helps to have a FRIEND who DID go to the Con and offered to help me out....a very special THANKS goes out to Darth T-Bone for getting not only this figure for me, but for grabbing several other items for me at the Con as well!

What other items?

Well, how about the 06 Comic Con Gold Darth Vader TIE Titanium Vehicle which looks MUCH better in person than this picture shows...very shiny indeed.

He also managed to grab me the two new Acme Archives Clone Wars Cartoon Key Cells:

The Anakin Skywalker Key Cell which is a limited edition of 1000, and...

The Darth Sideous Key Cell which is the most limited edition yet, with only 500 made!

I missed out on the VERY limited online sale of these so there is NO WAY I would have gotten this one without T-Bone's help!

You so totally ROCK, dude.

I have a total of six of these key Cells now, and just to give you an idea of how they look together here is a picture of all six Key Cells on display.

Not only did T-Bone grab me those items I asked for but he also threw in a few Con Freebie items in my package, including:

Han Shoots First Button promoting the upcoming OT DVD release.

Hasbro Saga Collection Poster with all the figs from the Saga line.

A very cool Master Replicas Promotional Poster featuring some of their current and upcoming SW items.

Also this Gentle Giant Star Wars Bust Ups Poster which I still have to find a spot on the wall for.

Speaking of Bust Ups, I finally picked up a couple of these very cool little models. I found my local comic book shop sells them and so grabbed two of my faves:

Darth Vader & Clone Trooper Bust Ups.

I may grab a few more in the future as funds allow, although I doubt I'll try for a complete collection as there are far too many to keep up with.

This next addition to the collection was a find by another friend of mine, Oocleenee:

The Wal-Mart Exclusive Early Bird Figure Mail Away Package.

When this first came out back in 2005 I had passed on it, as I thought it far too expensive for figures I'd have to mail away and wait for, especially when there was so much other stuff I wanted ON THE SHELF and ready to take home.

Well, here we are almost a year later and my buddy Oocleenee finds them at his local Wal-Mart on clearance for just 10 bucks!

That was a far better deal and I was happy to grab one too! I still haven't gotten the figures in yet but when I do I will of course feature them in a chapter.

In the last chapter I showed a few Shocktroopers from the Target Exclusive "Skirmish In The Senate" set and mentioned there were also Yoda & Sideous figures with a Senate Pod in that set.

Well, it took me awhile to get it just right but I of course HAD to hang it on fishing line for a cool scene recreation. It's hanging just above my Titanium Vehicles shelf.

Speaking of TV's, only one new addition to that collection so far, the new Blue A-Wing Titanium Vehicle to go along with its older red version.

There are more new Titanium Vehicles coming this fall that I will be on the hunt for, these are some of my most favorite collectibles.

A couple of last items to round out this chapter...this next item I found in a discount bin at a food store for a buck:

Revenge of The Sith Pencil Set ....yea, I know, they wrote that $1.00 price in black marker on it which sucks but what the heck...

The last item today is an item I've wanted to add back into my collection for a very, VERY long time:

Marvel Comics Star Wars #1 comic book first print edition from 1977!

I got this one from eBay for a pretty fair price. It's not in MINT condition but is in overall pretty good shape for an almost 30 year old book!

As a self respecting Star Wars collector AND a comic book fan, I don't know how I managed to wait this long to add this piece to the collection.

Well that concludes this chapter of the tour, and as always I thank you all for following along and for your support.

Until next time!

2008-04-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 20

Welcome back yet again, to DJ Mauls Ultimate Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Part 20!

I mentioned in the last chapter that I've been revamping my Clone Army shelf, and it's finally done...or at least done enough to give you all an update.

Some of these figs you've seen before in the past tour, but there are a LOT of new additions as well. So let's get right to it.

I moved the Clone army from its original shelf for several reasons. The first being I was running out of room there and also wanted to just expand it out for better viewing.

So I set up a brand new shelf, and here it is!

Obviously, the major NEW addition (and another reason I moved the army) is the TRU Clone Wars Republic Gunship which of course I hung from some fishing line for display purposes.

I usually do NOT buy these large ships, in fact this is my first, but after MUCH debate I went for it as I thought it a must have for my Army.

Manning it of course are clones from the TRU Hunt For Grievous Battle pack that I found just last week. Four of them visible here, the fifth one better viewed from the other side.

I like these figs but wish they were more posable, they are hard to get into any real "action" poses. I will keep tinkering with them when I have time...I JUST set them up in the ship yesterday in fact.

I LOVE the grappling lines that hang down from the back, so I of course HAD to hang a a Utapau Trooper and Battle Damaged Trooper from them for cool effect.

Another major addition is the Execute Order 66 Lithograph from Official Pix, a Comic Con "Exclusive" that was also available on line, which is how I scored it.

I tried to set up the clone figs I have right under their pictures in the lithograph but I don't have ALL of them...yet.

Again, some of these figs have been featured before but let's run through them again:

Commander Bacara

Commander Gree

another Utapau Trooper (one of my few doubles)

Commander Bly

Green Clone Commander (does this guy have a name? I'm sure you Clone Army aficionados can help me out there. )

Commander Cody, an NEW addition and a LONG time in the hunt, but I finally found him!

the AT-RT Driver

Vader's Legion Trooper

Two Red Shock Troopers from the "Skirmish In The Senate" Battle pack. The Yoda & Sideous figs from that set will show up later in the tour...

Cruising across the rest of the shelf we can find:

The White Clone Pilot, AT-AT Driver, Imperial Snow Trooper and Biker Scout figs.

Three different Sandtroopers

Republic Commando Scorch which I know many have had trouble finding, but he's coming out again as part of a SW Shop set so look that up if you still need him.

Jango & Boba Fett, plus one of those little blue Boba Fett Holograph figs.

the AT-TE Tank Gunner

A Red Clone Trooper with Gun from the Ep. II figure line and another blue holo fig, a Stormtrooper.

Three Imperial Guards the red one on the right from the older POTF2 line I think.

the Black Clone Pilot, flanked by two TIE Fighter Pilots & the Firespeeder Pilot and in the background there, a brand NEW addition (just two days ago in fact):

The Death Star Gunner!

A couple of last items:

Remember awhile back I asked you all whether or not I should open a few of those "exclusive" troopers?

Well after much debate, I decided screw it, and OPENED them!

BUT I didn't want to totally destroy the packaging, so with a little creative cutting I managed to get the figures out but keep the packaging nice enough for display purposes.

So, here they are in their OPENED glory:

the Target Exclusive Utapau Clone Trooper,

And the Star Wars Shop Exclusive Covert Ops Trooper!

Did I probably destroy any resale value on them? Sure, but who cares? They look way too cool to leave all packaged up like that.

I also decided to open the Ep. III DVD Collection Box Set of Clone Troopers. I found they come out of the package quite easily without damaging it at all, so I removed them and set them up on display with the rest of the army. The box itself is still intact on the same shelf with the others in that series.

This will be a constantly growing display...Hasbro has a LOT of new clones coming up in 2007, and I will of course be on the hunt for them along with many of you.

If this keeps up I may need to add yet ANOTHER shelf just for clones!

That will do for today, but I am working on yet another chapter or two in the near future, as there are several new items I haven't yet covered here.

They will have to wait for next time.

Thanks as always for tagging along.

2008-04-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 19

Hey all. Welcome to Part 19 of DJ Mauls Ultimate Toy Room Tour, a continuing journey through "The Maul Cantina," my basement room dedicated to all things Star Wars!

Yes, I "borrowed" this idea from Steve Sansweet...

It's been a busy few weeks for your old pal DJ, but after a short break I'm back with yet another chapter,. However, don't feel obligated to go read all the other parts first. You don't have to have read any of them to follow this one, so don't panic new tourists!

OK, so what's new you in the collection this time around?

Well a few interesting items, let's start with one of the most recent additions and one of the best:

The Gentle Giant Darth Vader/Anakin Reveal Bust.

An Entertainment Earth Exclusive, it's my very first Gentle Giant piece, and I truly think it's a work of art.

The detail on this is amazing, especially in the eyes which seem almost alive and in the detailed scarring around the head area.

It took awhile to decide where to put it but I finally decided it looked best on this shelf here along with my MR Mini Sabers etc.

Oh, I almost forgot, the Certificate of Authenticity that comes with it is in the form of a beautiful trading card with the edition number on the back. I put it in the plastic case to keep it in top shape.

Along with the Vader bust, Entertainment Earth also sent me my free Clone Troopers Mouse Pad, a neat little promo give away that now decorates my office desk.

I also just recently added another Acme Archive Clone Wars Key Cell; this one is the ARC Captain Clone.

I was very happy to get this one, especially when I found out I almost screwed up my pre-order and was afraid for a moment that I had missed out. Fortunately the site took care of my mistake and made sure I got it! Whew...

This next item is one I was searching for what seemed like forever:

The Unleashed Shocktrooper Figure.

I was hunting every single Wal-Mart I could find for this one, with no luck.

Then I had an online friend here help me out. He found one in his area, knew I was still looking for it, and picked it up and sent it to me. All he charged was sticker price plus shipping.

Thanks Oocleenee, you ROCK.

I added a couple more vintage OT figures into the collection as well.

Another stop at my local comics shop and I grabbed these three:

a 1983 TIE Fighter Pilot, a 1984 Emperor, and a 1978 Death Star Droid that is more than a bit worn but it was the only one in the box and for two bucks I decided it deserved a nicer home.

Picked up two new Titanium Vehicles since the last update, the Republic Cruiser, which I've been waiting a LONG time for them to re-release, and the Luke Skywalker Speeder Bike, ...there is a Leia version coming soon, which I of course will add to the chase.

Two relatively cheap but fun additions to the collection are these Darth Vader and Chewbacca Spin Pops.

They are both battery operated. Along with spinning the pops of course, the Vader waves his saber up & down and Chewie waves his bowcaster. I found them both at a local TRU, and passed on them several times before finally picking them up. My buddy Oocleenee needed the Chewie pop so I got one for him, then decided to grab both myself just for fun.

That's it for today.

I'm hoping to have my next one ready soon. I'm still working on reorganizing my Clone Army shelf and waiting for a few more items to come in for that as well, and I'm also reorganizing another shelf of action figures.

When they are where I want them to be I'll add them to the tour.

2008-04-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 18

I told you it wouldn't be long before I was back with another installment of DJ Maul's Ultimate Toy Room Tour Of Tours Festapalooza Extravaganza!!!! Now with only HALF the fat!

I'm not going to link to all 17 other chapters at this point. If you are new to the tour and wish to check it out, you can start at part one and then follow the link provided at the end to the next chapter, and so on.

When I wound up the last chapter, I mentioned that there were several things that I had only kind of touched on in the course of the tour that I could come back to in more detail later, and this chapter will do just that by covering my collection of Star Wars comic books.

A bit of a sad story though first.

When I was a kid, I was VERY into comic books and of course that included the original Marvel Comics Star Wars series. I had most of the original Marvel run from ANH up through and after ROTJ.

The problems started when my mother went on an anti comic book kick. She was...well...a bit TOO zealous in her religious beliefs, and decided comic books were sinful.

So, I would come home at times to find many of my cherished books simply disappeared. We fought long and hard about it for awhile, but eventually I was told to either sell them or they would be thrown out.

So, one day, I reluctantly carted almost all of my old comics down to my local comic book dealer, who proceeded to rob me blind for them.

I did manage to save SOME by hiding them at my cousin's house. Sadly, the Star Wars collection was not part of that.

The sad part is, many years later and my mother admits NOW she "may have been too strict" about that....gee, thanks mom.

Still, I love her....she IS my mom.

I have more or less drifted AWAY from comic books in the past few years, but I still pick up some here and there to read, just for fun.

Anyway, after the Marvel Comics line died out, Star Wars was missing from the comics world for several years, until the license was picked up by newcomer at the time Dark Horse Comics.

Their very first Star Wars series (if I am not mistaken) was the now classic Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 - 6 that came out in 1991.

It was followed by a sequel, Dark Empire II in 1994. I think both of these series are still being reprinted in trade paperback form.

This was all right around the same time (give or take a few years) that the EU was really starting to take off, what with novels like Shadows Of The Empire (also a fantastic video game!) and the Timothy Zahn series which was eventually adapted into comic book form by Dark Horse, of which I only have the first two issues (1995) for some reason.

Dark Horse also created some of their own, original additions to the EU, with stories like Tales Of The Jedi (1993) and it's follow up Tales of The Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising (1994)

When the prequels came along, of course Dark Horse was there, not only adapting Episode I (1999) as a comic series but adding four solo character issues featuring stories that took place OUTSIDE of events from the film.

Episode also gave Dark Horse the chance to focus stories on new characters, such as Darth Maul, who got his own mini series, of which I have issue one and issue four (2000) ...I don't know why I'm missing the two in the middle, I may have to fix that soon.

When Episode II came out, again Dark Horse made a four issue film adaptation (2002) and again a few solo stories of some new characters, Jango Fett & Zam Wessell.

And of course, more recently, we have the Episode III adaptation, (2005) this version the trade paperback edition, which I purchased while at CIII and had signed by the writer Miles Lane & artist Doug Wheatley at the Dark Horse Comics booth!

Of course, there have been lots of great comics featuring characters old and in some cases brand new but all of which feature some fun, amazing Star Wars Tales.

While I haven't been able to keep up with ALL of the various series, I still enjoy them here and there, and recently I just started getting back into the comics with the release of the new series Star Wars: Legacy which so far I've been impressed with and will probably try and keep up with each issue.

Besides the comic books, there are also a few books I've collected along the way, only some of which I showed in an earlier chapter.

The rest of my book collection includes the three Prequel novels, and also a few more EU books like Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter and the two "bookends" to Episode III, Labyrinth Of Evil & Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, both by James Luceno.

Also, I have the Han Solo Trilogy of novels by A.C. Crispin, that feature Han's origin as a child right up to where he meets Luke & Ben at the Cantina.

Just recently added to the collection is Betrayal, the first in the "Legacy Of The Force" series that again, I just may keep up with as it's a great read.

Besides the EU stories & novels, I also have two Star Wars technical books each of which feature various blue prints of the ships & other technology from the films, and also The Star Wars Cookbook that was another gift from my wife. It's got some cute recipes for "Wookiee Cookies" and lots of other stuff.

There's even this cute little Ep. I "Who's Who Pocket Book that's a tiny little book that tells about each character from TPM, that was a gift from a friend.

Lastly, let's look at a few more magazines I've collected over the years that got missed the last time.

There's a couple of Episode I covers from Rolling Stone Magazine and also this one from Premiere Magazine, and of course Ep. I made the cover of TV Guide as well.

And when Episode II came out, Vanity Fair featured this great cover of Hayden & Natalie in character.

I think that's all of them at this point, unless I again somehow missed something, in which case I'm sure you'll see it eventually.

2007-08-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

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...?

2007-08-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-16T17:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-08-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-07-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 12

Ok, where did we leave off?Oh, yes, we were covering this shelf unit here.

We covered the first two shelves last chapter, so now we reach shelf three, which features The Complete Burger King Toys Ep. III Series One and Two.

Now, depending on who you talk to, these BK toys were either the FUNNEST toys to collect or the HARDEST. For me, it was relatively easy. My local BK let me buy each weeks wave in one shot and the manager even told me what day they were coming in, so I basically went to BK once a week and completed my series pretty quickly. The only one's I had to get on eBay were a few from the very first week that I missed because I didn't know the promotion had started.The second wave was even easier, as I was ready for it that time.

I won't do a picture for each single one, but a few close ups will do, including:Boba Fett & Han In Carbonite

C-3PO and R2 D2 from both waves.

Vader's TIE, the X-Wing and several other of the ships.

The Falcon, Landspeeder, and Naboo Starfighter

Darth Sideous Wave 1 & 2 Out of ALL of these, the "hardest" ones to get were the Darth Vader chase toys.

Only FIVE Vader's were packed in each box per wave, so the Vader's were THE hot, hard item to find for most collectors. For awhile they were going for way too much money on eBay.Again, for me, well, call it luck or skill but I managed to score them both rather easily.

Another cool score from the BK promotions that I managed to get easily were the BK Lenticular 3D Gift Card set of 6 that came out along with wave 2 of the toys.(Note: There are three trading cards along the top that I stuck in this page just to fill it out, the BK cards are the middle and bottom rows.)I got all six (one for each film) the day they came out for a dollar a piece.later, I learned that they were SUPPOSED to be purchased with a MINIMUM ten dollar gift credit on EACH card (that of course could be redeemed for food, but who really wants to pre-order 60 dollars of BK food???) so again I got REALLY lucky with scoring these dirt cheap!

For fun, in the background I also hung up the Wave One and Wave Two checklists. And just along the side, for no real reason, is the awesome Target Gift Card that lights up AND makes Vader breathing noises!!!

Let's now head to the next shelf down... Here we find the Six BK Watches , also part of the BK Ep.III promotions; these came out the same time as the second wave of toys.

Along each side of the watches are Darth Tater and his ever loyal Spud Trooper guard.

In the background you will find the Ep. I Widescreen Collectors Edition Video that, while now being outdated by DVD, came with some nice collectibles including a book inside and the film cell you see on the left.

Next to that is an old ROTJ Storybook Album that has a photo book inside and came with a cassette to listen to the story...the cassette has long been MIA.

One more shelf for now, as we reach my collection of Star Wars Novels & magazines. I won't highlight EACH book or magazine, but just several favorites:

My ORIGINAL Paperback OT novels ...some of the few surviving SW items from my childhood, worn and torn certainly but still cherished anyway.

Two more vintage books here, Splinter Of The Minds Eye & Han Solo At Stars End. "Splinter" was the very FIRST "EU" book, and has been debated as to whether it's "canon" or not by many fans.

A couple more vintage items here:The Empire Strikes Back Collectors Edition Picture Book And the Star Wars Storybook that, if I'm not mistaken, was the first book to feature this now CLASSIC shot of Vader on the back cover.

Just a few more, as we look at a few more recent magazine covers like the Star Wars Insider Simpsons Parody Cover and two Mad Magazine SW covers that are pretty funny.

Last one, for now, is the cover of the Celebration III Convention book.

I may go back and feature the rest of the books and magazines in another tour blog at some point, but the next installment will take us still further along as we explore the wonderful world of...well, you'll have to check back next time for that!

2007-07-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 11

Chapter 11...no, I'm NOT filing for bankruptcy, although some people think I spend too much on Star Wars stuff and SHOULD be broke...

Today we move along to yet another bookshelf full of stuff.

At the very TOP of this bookshelf we find the very cool Ep. I Action Banks Set which, if you never saw them, are three separate banks (Obi Wan, Darth Maul, & Qui Gon) that when connected interact with each other. Press the button and they speak lines from the movie and battle each other with their light sabers, complete with sound effects.

I really LOVE these things and have a little story to tell about them:I first saw these banks on shelves when Ep. I first came out, but passed on them several times because they were, quite frankly, too expensive...almost 30 bucks each if I'm not mistaken.Later, much later, a friend and I were wandering the mall and happened upon a KB Toys that had them marked WAY down to just FIVE BUCKS EACH! Unbelievable!BUT...they only had Obi Wan and Darth Maul...Qui Gon was no where to be seen. No way I was buying TWO out of three, how incomplete is THAT?So I asked the guy if he knew where any other KB Toy stores were that may have the Qui Gon. To my surprise he was more than happy to help and called several other stores in the area for me. He found a store about 40 minutes away that still had one on the shelf and said they would hold it for me IF I could make it in that night.I asked my friend if he minded going for a drive, he said no problem and off we went!It was worth the effort for that price and I'm glad I got the complete set.

OK, back to the tour...Next to the banks is three matching Ep. I figures that went along perfectly with the larger banks.

Under the banks, we find the next shelf full of interesting items:

On the left side are three Master Replicas .45 scaled sabers in the display case that for picture purposes, I removed the plastic dust cover from for a better look.These three are all Jedi sabers: The top one is a GOLD Anakin Ep. III mini saber that was SUPPOSED to be the SW Shop "Black Chrome" edition but instead I got the rare GOLD chase version...very lucky there!Under that one is the "As First Built By" version of Obi Wan's, and on the bottom Luke's from ROTJ.

On the far right side are three more MR Mini Sabers, these three all Sith:Top: Darth SideousMiddle: Darth TyranusBottom: Darth Vader, Ep. IV

In the middle of each of those display cases is the Collectors Society 2005 Darth Maul Mini Saber which is the complete version available when you signed up for the Collectors Society membership. It's sold out now and no longer available. just for fun I added this Darth Maul figure to go along with it, I think this is a really good likeness of Maul.

OK, you already saw it in the background, but here's a closer look at my Celebration III Exclusive Talking Vader figure. I, like many others, waited for HOURS in line for this figure, but it was well worth the wait. I'm THRILLED with the forethought they put into the packaging. Not only can you press the button in the front to make him speak, but you can also change the batteries in the back with OUT having to open or damage the packaging.The Exclusive star cases that were sold along with this figure at CIII were sold out by the time I got there, and so far I've refused to pay the jacked up prices for them on eBay. While I would LIKE a star case to keep this one better protected, I'm not willing to pay some scalper triple for it just because he beat me to it in the line.I open almost all my items...this one however, stays the way it is.

A few more items from CIII can be found here:My CIII 4 Day Pass & Lanyard The Celebration At CIII Party Slave Leia Coaster that was one of several items in the door baggie giveaways.

Some other little items floating around this shelf include my Star Tours Pin from the gift shop at MGM of course, a Vader Pin from SW Shop & Cingular Vader Viper Keychain, another little CIII freebie.There is a second Vader Pin on the other side; these were actually a three pin set from SW Shop, but my dad has the third pin on his Harley Biker hat...it's a Vader In Flames.

Another little item here is my Vader Fan Club membership card and also one featuring Yoda. Apparently I forgot to take a close up shot of it, but that Vader head you see hanging above the display case is a Christmas ornament I found at Target not that long ago.

Next shelf down is one of the TRUE prides of my collection, and without a doubt the most EXPENSIVE item I ever bought, but I simply had to have it:My Code 3 Millennium Falcon Die Cast Model.

She is truly a thing of beauty as these next few close ups will show:

Falcon close up 1

Falcon close up 2

Falcon close up 3

I was going to take some pictures of her with the removable panels off so you could see the detail inside but that would have required me moving her off the shelf and I don't like moving it too much as she's VERY heavy and I'm afraid to DROP her!Maybe I will do that in a later blog...

To finish out this shelf (and this chapter of the tour) I'll cover the last few items here:

Death Star With Darth Vader Complete Galaxy set and on the other side is the Dagobah With Yoda.

On each side as well are these Mos Eisley Cantina Shot Glasses, again a souvenir from my trips to MGM in Florida.

The next installment will finish out this shelf as we check out some BK toys and some books...Until then, as always, thanks for coming along.

2007-07-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 10

Continuing on to the next shelf down , we find another shelf of various action figures.

Again, where able, I've tried to set them in scenes or poses, such as this one of Yoda VS Dooku.

Behind them you will see several Padme figures from all three PT's as well as Capt. Panaka and a Palace Guard.

Next we have the Three Faces of Palpatine, ...Senator, Chancellor, and Sith Lord.

Next to them are several Jedi including Yoda, Ki Adi Mundi, Shak Ti and Adi Gallia.

In the one corner we find Obi Wan & Grievous battling it out, and next to them the Yoda VS. Battle droid Set.

Towards the front we find Mace VS Sideous and being attacked by Force Lightning. Prince Xizor is somehow there watching as well.

The last shelf on this book case contains just a few more items:

The Star Wars Original Trilogy Set On VHS ...these are the UNALTERED versions, BEFORE the "Special Edition" releases that I also have there on the other side. Now of course we have them on DVD but I kept the VHS sets as part of the collection now. Eventually VHS will be as obscure as the 8 - Track.

The Mace Windu Sneak Preview figures which was a Fan Club mail away offer exclusive. Another Sneak Preview toy from Episode I is the Gian Speeder & Theed Palace Set that I may still open someday and set up but so far never got around to it.

Here we have Millennium Falcon hand held video game that my mom once again found for me at a yard sale or flea market or something...it opens up from the top to access the game.

I featured this picture before to show the Chewie display, but now I want to focus on the figures that run down the side of the shelf. The Holographic Leia Comic Con Exclusive that was eventually made available online for a short time... long enough for me to get it anyway.

Jango Fett Ep. II Sneak Preview figure. ... one of the first Ep. II figs released.

Aasajj Ventress Clone Wars figure ...one of the very few EU characters I have, but I always love a good villain and she was one of the better ones.

Darth Maul Ep. I figure still in package, ...I'm not sure WHY. I actually have another of these, opened, and the package on this one is far from "mint" but I guess I just figured I'd keep him carded because he represents the beginning of the PT's for me in collectibles.Plus the card features Maul as part of the art as well, and some day I may try and get Ray Park to sign the card.

Oh, a few other items that run down the OTHER side of the bookshelf:The Ep. I Comic Book Mini Series from Dark Horse, in a limited edition, sealed four pack.Shadows Of The Empire Comic Book that came with a Boba Fett VS IG-88 two figure pack collection.Below that is a photo copy of a Darth Vader sketch signed by the artist that I picked up at the Dark Horse Comics booth at CIII.It's only a photo copy, not the original sketch, or I'd have framed it better, but I still like it.

I also grabbed this Episode III Comic Book Adoption Cover poster while at the Dark Horse booth as well, and I neglected to mention when I showed this picture before that the Ep. III comic you see there up front I also picked up at the CIII Dark Horse booth and had signed by the artist and writer.

I'm going to finish this one out by (sort of) giving you an idea of where I'm heading next...The next book shelf over still has a TON of items on it to cover, but for now I'll just show you this photo of the side to which I've displayed all the certificates that came with the Code 3 3D posters I featured in part seven of the tour.

2007-07-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 9

Funny, when I started this virtual tour, I figured it would take three, maybe four blogs. Here I am at part NINE and I'm still not really even close to being done yet!

This installment will move down from the Clone Army shelf to the next shelf below.

As you can see it's still more action figures. This shelf consists mainly of Star Wars alien species. On the advice of Bravo 225 I decided to TRY and be a bit more creative in the poses of my figures, which means I had to go back and re-shoot this entire shelf...gee, thanks a LOT, Bravo...

Anyway, whether I succeeded or not is up to you I suppose.Ok, Let's get to it.

The figures here are a hodge podge of assorted aliens and humanoids, from all across the galaxy. The setting is a party that could be in either The Cantina, Jabba's Palace, or somewhere totally different, you decide.

Let's check out The Band first, featuring vocalists Joh Yowza and Sy Snootles up front, and Droopy McCool & two Bith band members.

One of these Bith figs was the one that came with Droopy; the other was the Fan Club Mail Away Exclusive.

As a special treat, Yak Face has joined in the band, or maybe he's just using that battle staff as an air guitar!

In the back, entertaining the lads, are Jabba's Palace Dancers. This is one of the several "Cinema Scenes" packs. But wait! What's THIS? Seems Aunt Beru has suddenly jumped up on stage and started dancing with the girls!!! Looks like someone must have spiked her blue milk...!

Apparently Beru's sweet moves have over excited this Ketwol alien who is so drunk he seems to have lost his PANTS.

Seems there's a bit of a disturbance over on the left side of the "room." (The three aliens against the wall on the stand is another Cinema Scene three pack.)Lot's of weapons drawn; looks like Bossk is reminding Lak Sivrak to pay his bar tab...Garindan the Long Snoot is sticking his nose in as usual, while Nien Nunb seems to be minding his own business, staying in the background behind Ponda Baba.

Meanwhile Fode & Beed, are calling the fight like the true announcers they are.

Apparently after The Clone Wars ended Dexter Jettster found himself unemployed after The Emperor had all alien life forms removed from the food service industry, but his talents were NOT unknown and Jabba immediately hired him to be his head chef.Behind Dex staggers a drunken Tarfful, who also found himself in dire straights after the Clone Wars, barely avoiding being dragged into slavery, he too wound up working with a smuggler and spending a lot of time in Cantinas...go figure...

With all the turmoil in the galaxy, it's nice to see that two different species can indeed get along, like these Ugnaughts & Jawas here who seem to be having fun just dancing the night away.

Conversation picks up as two galaxy famous Pod Racers, Gasgano & Ody Mandrell enter the party...rumor has it Gasgano lost an arm in his last Podrace and has been trying his best to conceal it because he still needs to race to pay off his gambling debts to Jabba The Hutt, who, as usual, is presiding over the entire party.

Oola is dancing up a storm for Jabba's pleasure, as Salacious Crumb looks on and laughs his usual annoying laugh. (Oola & Salacious were an exclusive Star Wars Insider offer set.)Lando is also there, dressed as the Skiff Guard again, because he thinks the military look will help him with the women...poor deluded man.

And always at Jabba's side is Bib Fortuna, who's whispering something about some guy who's outside, trying to get in, say's he's a Jedi...?Recovering from the death of his beloved Rancor, MalaKili can be seen twisting the night away back near Jabba's tail.

Finally, lurking in the far corner is Jabba's Gamorrean Guard for the evening, who is anti social as usual and prefers the corner of the room where he can keep an eye on every one. Somehow the poor simple creature still thinks it's a GOOD bodyguard.

Well, kids, it's closing time...you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.Until we meet again for part ten...

2007-07-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 8

Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside (That's Emerson, Lake & Palmer kids, your musical lesson for today from your old pal Deej, )

Well, here we are at part 8 of the tour.

Today we arrive at yet another shelf full of a variety of items, mainly action figures.At the top of the shelf, though, we first find these:OT SE Burger King Toys picture 1 which features the balancing Cloud City, Yoda/Vader cube, SW Puzzle Cube, R2 D2 with Princess Leia that fits inside him (It's supposed to be her "hologram;" I guess they hadn't thought of the hologram figs like we have now.) the Yoda was the "3 and Under" kids toy for the younglings.

OT SE Burger King Toys picture 2 features the rest of the set: The Balancing Boba Fett, The Millennium Falcon Rev Up Toy, and the "Exploding" Death Star, which was recalled shortly after release as some one deemed it "dangerous" for young kids...I'm still not sure WHY, nothing actually explodes. When you push the lever it spins and the sections split apart and there's a little sparkler inside that makes tiny sparks...cool, but hardly dangerous.

In the middle of them is the Celebration III Antenna Toppers Set complete with the Vader Topper that one could only get with an advanced purchase of the four day pass.I actually bought two sets of these, one for my wife's aunt, who collects antenna toppers. Since I could only get ONE Vader, though, I kept mine, but eventually decided to try and find her one to complete her set, and I did on eBay for a pretty decent price.

The next shelf down is one I'm sure you army builders will enjoy:My Clone Army Shelf. Inspired by many, MANY of you collectors out there who collect clones, troopers and variants of, I decided to start my own collection of them as well, and to my surprise I REALLY started getting into it. My army I'm sure is not nearly as big as many of yours, especially since I started late with it but it's growing slowly and surely.I took plenty of pics of these, so let's get to some:

Picture one shows a few older Stormtroopers, and a pair of TIE Pilots behind them. I've had these for quite some time.

Next to them, Jango & Boba Fett, ...OK, technically Jango is NOT a clone, but since he's the daddy of them all I think he belongs there too.

Moving along next to them are An Ep. II Red Clone and the blue tactical Ops / Vader's Legion Trooper ......

and next to them, Republic Commando Scorch and Utapau Clone Trooper, ...

Behind them, three more clones including Commander Bacara, the Green Clone Commander, & the AT-RT Driver.

Behind them is the Star Wars Shop Exclusive Covert Ops Trooper and opposite him on the shelf is the Target Exclusive Utapau Shadow Trooper. I have been VERY tempted to open BOTH of these, despite their so called "rarity."

In front of the Shadow Trooper are three Imperial Guards, two of them from the Ep. III line, and the Red Guard on the right an older figure from the POTF line I believe. (editors' note: since my figs are all opened I don't always remember which exact line they came from, so I reserve the right to be wrong in these matters... )

In the back middle we find several more troopers including: Imperial Snow Trooper, Fire Speeder Pilot, Commander Bly (in yellow) and the new Scout Trooper from the Vintage UGH line.

In the middle we next find the AT-AT Driver and Commander Gree and next to them the Battle Damaged Clone Trooper and the AT-TE Tank Gunner, which, as he is one of the few with a removable helmet, I decided to display with his face showing.

Just newly added, so new in fact that I just now had to upload his picture (which is why you didn't see him in the background on any other shots) is the new Black Clone Pilot from the new "Heroes & Villains" line.

That pretty much covers my clone army so far. I know there are quite a few older ones I missed out on, and I also know there are more to come in newer lines. As it grows I will add updates to the blogs in future installments.

At this point I'm not interested in collecting doubles, but that may change ...I've already seen the new versions of the Clone Trooper & Bacara in the new Saga lines hitting the shelves; at some point the urge to pick one up may strike me, who knows?I think

I'll end this segment here, but as you can see I've barely covered this shelf. The rest will come next time.

Special note: I wish to thank the fine folks at RebelScum.com for their excellent work in cataloging all the figure lines; their information was invaluable in helping me put a name to each clone figure, as like I said it can be tough to remember once the packaging is tossed out!

Until next time...move'em out, troops!

2007-05-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 7

Yet another chapter of my online Toy Room tour, thanks as always for being on board.

Today we get to plenty of good stuff, as we've now reached the right side wall along the tour.

The centerpiece to this section is my Master Replicas Darth Vader Ep.V FX Saber, with the display stand mounted to the wall.

The saber is lit up here but it doesn't look nearly as cool as it should in this picture. I picked this up at CIII last year, and hands down the FX sabers are the funnest, coolest "toys" to play with EVER. I'm hoping to add the Darth Maul FX to the collection someday soon.

Here is a close up of the saber hilt which gives you and idea of the detail on these.

On the wall behind it, you saw my collection of the Code 3 3D movie posters. Let's take a closer look at each one:

Code 3 Ep. III 3D poster - full sized...I got this when it was still limited as a "Best Buy" Exclusive but now it's for sale at most Code 3 outlet sites.

Code 3 Ep III 3D Mini ...I love the way the saber comes out of the frame. The blade is actually removable so that it wouldn't break off during shipping. Smart move there.

Code 3 Ep IV 3D poster, style A version,...this is actually the first of the full sized one's I bought, and my favorite.

What actually got me STARTED with these, and was the first one I actually bought, is this one:Code 3 Ep. V 3D mini poster which was a CIII Exclusive and VERY limited and hard to get now.

I was so impressed with how well this was made I decided to get the entire collection. Even the mini one's are very heavy, and while they look fragile are actually contructed very well.

Code 3 Ep. V 3D poster, full-sized....the classic "Gone With The Wind" style poster. Check out the tiny little lasers coming off the tiny X-Wings on the top right corner.

I knew this one would sell out: Code 3 REVENGE Of The Jedi mini poster that recreates the original name and poster for Ep. VI before Lucas changed the name at last minute.

So of course I had to get the Code 3 RETURN of The Jedi 3D mini as well. I think this was the 10th anniversary poster if I'm not mistaken. If you look closely, you'll notice Vaders saber is blue and Lukes is red. This aparently was a mix up on the original poster and Code 3 kept true to it for the 3D versions.

Of course there is a Code 3 Ep. VI full sized 3D poster as well.

And lastly, the Code 3 Ep. IV 3D poster, style D ...also known as the "circus style" poster. That's the entire set for now; I'm hoping they someday make these for Ep. I and II as they are the only films not covered yet for this series.

Now, here's a shelf I'm sure many of you have been waiting to see: My Titanium & Action Fleet Vehicles shelf.

Since there are so many, Some pictures will include several vehicles, others will focus on individual ships:

picture 1 includes many rebel ships: X-Wings, Y-Wings, and A-Wings etc.

picture 2 features the three Jedi Star fighters, green, yellow and blue.

I also have here the large Ultra Titanium Republic Gunship and the Ultra Titanium X-Wing...both of these, unlike the others you saw earlier, came with stands instead of the plastic display cases. I actually like the stands better, they are easier to display.

Here's a closer look at the Clone Wars Gunship TV which features the cool paint job from the cartoon series.

This next one is an older Action Fleet TIE Interceptor which, unlike the ultra TV's, is PLASTIC, not metal. I'd love to see this as an Ultra TV or even just a small one!

Here we have Darth Mauls Sith Infiltrator and it's smaller. Micro Machines plastic version. I was so happy when they finally made this one; I wondered why it took them so long.

Moving along to the riser, we have some Imperial TV's including the Death Star, Imperial Star Destroyer & more

Next down are some of the TIE series including Vaders TIE and the white chase TIE TV

Next we have three different Millennium Falcon TV's including the plain white one from the 90's series, the newer, darker "battle ravaged" version and the "raw metal" version from the five pack.

Next to them are three versions of Slave I including the silver UGH chase, the Ep. II Jango paint and the Ep. V Boba Fett paint versions.

Down at the bottom, more TV's and some Micro Machine items as well, including some tiny pod racers etc.

Moving across the shelf we have still MORE TV's and Action Fleet stuff, and yet MORE next to them.

This shelf half includes:Jabbas Skiff Action Fleet vehicle

AT - AT Action Fleet vehicle

Millennium Falcon Action Fleet with Han & Chewie up there working on her as usual.

Slave I Action Fleet...check out Boba in the cockpit and the tiny Han in Carbonite that fits in the cargo hold.

B-Wing Action Fleet with the smaller "prototype" version that came with it. Again, for clarification for those who don't know, the main difference between the Action Fleet vehicles and the Titanium Vehicles is that the Action Fleet is all PLASTIC, while the TV's are METAL. I prefer the TV's but The Action Fleets are cool too.

Under Slave I you may spot a Micro Machines Outrider with tiny Dash Rendar figure. I wish they'd make a TV of this ship; I know it's EU but it's an awesome ship and was fun to fly in the Shadows of The Empire video game.

A few more:Action Fleet Escape Pod

Darth Maul On Sith Speeder I can't remember if this is an "Action Fleet" vehicle or from a different line but either way it looks pretty cool and fits right in on this shelf. Again, I'd like to see a metal TV version soon.

The Titanium line has been one of the funnest and my most favorite to chase down and collect. I'm hoping they continue this line and I can add even more in the future.

You may have noticed some of them have blue stands, the others black. The ones on blue stands are all older versions from the 90's series. The new line is obviously the black stands. many of the new versions out are exact versions of the older ones and if that was the case I did not buy them as I already had the old versions. The few exceptions to this were the variations on The Falcon and Slave I and the X and Y Wings with paint variations...if it's different enough of a variation I'll get it. I also have a few other doubles because I bought the Five Pack for the Raw Metal Falcon.

I think that's plenty for this time, but don't worry I'm not close to being done with the tour yet.

Another teaser for you: Here is where we're heading Next Time!

Until then, May The Force Be With You...

2007-05-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 6

I'm back, with another leg of the online tour of my Star Wars Toy Room.

Before I get to the last few shelves on the Big Shelf I figured I'd take another detour off the beaten bath and present to you a section I just had to call:"Fun With Fishing Line!"

That's right, fishing line, as in the stuff you have on the rod and use to catch fish.I'm not the first collector to come up with the idea of hanging items from the ceiling from fishing line, I know. But it was an idea I just recently started exploring and I wanted to show the results so far.

The first item I decided to hang was an action figure: Obi Wan with Assassin Droid from the Ep. II collection. This figure of course recreates the scene where Obi dives out the window and grabs the droid, which proceeds to fly him all through the skies of Coruscant.I got the fig to stay up on a regular stand, but decided he would look so much cooler in mid flight. That one was pretty easy.

A bit tougher to hang was this old Millennium Falcon toy ship that weighs quite a bit. Arranging the fishing line so that it hung just right was tricky but I got it where I liked it.This version was the one released in the 90's, and as you may have noticed is a bit beat up and some parts are missing. My mother found this at a flea market and thought of me. I will eventually get around to restoring the missing parts (I've seen the cockpit part on eBay, I just haven't gotten around to buying it yet) but despite her obvious flaws the Falcon has always been my fave ship so I kept her. She wouldn't really fit on any of my shelves so hanging her seemed the obvious choice.

Next to the Falcon is this Ep. I Droid Fighters Launcher Toy that I cant remember if I bought or if it was a gift...it's not something I normally would have purchased so maybe someone gave it to me. Anyway, the three Droid fighters are attached to a handle piece and when you pull the trigger buttons it launches the fighters. Again I wanted to hang this so that they appeared to be flying in formation with each other.

Another toy I had laying around that begged to be "flown" is this Boba Fett that is actually an extra one of the OT SE Fast Food Toys I had; it's the "Balancing Boba Fett" and it was missing its stand so I had nothing to "balance" him ON. But like I said I never throw anything SW away if I can help it and a little fishing line helped rescue him from "missing parts" obscurity. (I also have a Balancing Fett WITH the stand, you'll see that later.)

Last item on the Fishing Line tour is this one I just recently added: a Darth Vader TIE Fighter model from AMT models.I just put this together last week and had decided even before it was finished and painted that it would look coolest "flying" across the ceiling.I also purchased a few other models (they were on sale, buy one get one FREE, how could I pass?) such as the X-Wing and the TIE Interceptor. When completed I hope to "fly" them as well in some type of space battle poses.

And now let's get back on track, with the last few sections the big shelf.First, let me show you two new items I JUST picked up last week, and for lack of a better spot, for now they are added to the top of the big shelf:

Anakin VS Dooku Battle set

Mace VS Sidious Battle set

I found both of these marked down from $24.99 EACH to just $9.99 each, and the store also had them special tagged as a "Buy One, Get One FREE" offer, so they actually cost me just 5 bucks EACH! I LOVE a good bargain!!!

Back down to the remaining shelves, next we have: my LEGO shelf. So far I've stuck to the smaller LEGO items. I'm not a total collector of these but sometimes grab one for fun. My daughter likes putting them together as well so sometimes I buy one, she puts it together, then it goes in the display. Such was the case with the Grievous & Obi Wan set there.She also did the big TIE fighter in the back. The little tiny TIE up front was a fan club offer I think...again, a freebie. The little yellow Jedi Starfighter was a Pepsi promotional one. The other there is a little mini Falcon, and my favorite one is the Anakin to Vader transformation set. Very cute.

Next shelf over: some Lord Of The Rings items

The Gollum statue and the Minas Tirith are both from the Extended DVD Collectors set (I also have the Argonath bookends, but they are upstairs in the entertainment center, book ending the DVD set.) The other figs in the back are regular toy figs of Gollum, Gandalf, & The Witch King. As much as I loved LOTR I simply could not afford to delve too deeply into these toys AND keep up with SW stuff as well, so I settled on three favorites.

The comics books on the sides there are a three issue adaptation of the LOTR prelude novel "The Hobbit." ...they are actually quite rare I believe.

The next shelf over is MORE LOTR items including the complete Burger King LOTR Toys set The four BK mugs are also included in the back. The 12" Aragorn fig was a gift from a friend which was much appreciated.

The next shelf is an assortment of Non Star Wars toys that I've collected. As I said I pretty much stick to SW stuff only, but once in awhile I'll spot something that I think is just too cool and grab it.I won't go through EVERY item here, This is too long now as is, but let's highlight a few:

Spawn Hot Wheels Car that was a Wizard World Comics Con exclusive I got maybe 10 years ago? Very rare, very limited.

Evil Ash Army Of Darkness Fig I had to have just because.

Silent Bob In-Action Figure that I grabbed about two years ago again at Wizard World, and had personally signed by Kevin Smith himself. I really need to star case this one, so far the signature has held up though. Plus, you gotta love an action figure with a cigarette in it's hand,

The next shelf over, last one on the big shelf, is another assortment of Non Star Wars stuff, mainly some BK toys from Toy Story and other assorted cartoon stuff. (side note: Big Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what "Deep 13" is from...)

One item I'll highlight here is this Toy Story 2 Hot Wheels set that was a mail away offer from Cheerios cereal. (Held to the side of the shelf through the miracle of "Poster Putty! )

That's it for today. As usual I appreciate you all tagging along and I hope you enjoyed it.

2007-05-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 5

Welcome back, fellow Star Wars fans, to DJ Mauls Star Wars Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Po-looza Fest World Tour 2006...now with Splenda!

Picking up where we left off, let's continue along the big shelf and move on to the next shelf over.

This shelf features the Aayla Secura Unleashed fig which again I think captures the character really well. I'm a big fan of the Unleashed figs.

Next to her is the Arc Fighter Ultra Titanium Vehicle

Next is the Darth Vader Transformer that changes from Vader to his Advanced TIE Fighter. Out of all the Transformers, again this was really the only one I was interested in, hence the only one I've bought. I'm a sucker for cool Vader items.

This next item is another from Disney MGM: The Star Wars Die Cast Parade Car with C-3PO & R2 D2...this I've left in package as it displays well enough as is.

Underneath that is the Star speeder 3000 from Disney's Star Tours ride, exclusive to the Disney MGM store.

the last few items on this shelf are some Yoda & Chewie and Darth Vader Lollipop holders. I've long since eaten the lollipops.

Ok, next shelf over holds still more items.

1st: A C-3PO keychain flashlight and a Darth Vader Ink stamp, just a couple of cheap little items I found somewhere.

In the back is my Star Wars Pez collection in a store display box.

I'm pretty sure I have every variety of the Pez dispensers out so far, some of these I found several years ago and others are the more recent releases after Ep. III. The box is yet another store display I managed to rescue from being recycled. To display them better, I build a little riser out of wooden blocks so that they all fit in rows and are visible better.

Up front is the Droid Tri Fighter Ultra Titanium Vehicle ...so far I have all the Ultras TV's released, I'm hoping they make at least a few more, like a Falcon version.

in the next corner is the 500th Figure Darth Vader.If you read my earlier blog on Openable/Closable Action Figure Packaging, you'd know how I feel about cool packages that open and display well. This one is well done, because the top comes OFF allowing access to the figure without destroying the integrity of the package itself.

Next shelf over... ...the big item is the Darth Vader Mail Away Cookie Jar, one of three that you had to send away for, you'll see the other two shortly.

Next to that is the Darth Vader M&M mug ...I almost made this my regular coffee mug but it's non microwavable and I like my coffee HOT.

In the back is the Anakin / Vader Corn Flakes Cereal Box just for fun. I opened the box from the bottom to remove the cereal bag and keep the box flaps relatively intact.

Next shelf over......

R2 D2 M&M mug & two cereal Light Saber spoons and the Chewie M&M mug...I think the only one I missed of these is the Yoda mug...they were Target exclusive items as far as I know.

I love this next item: the R2 D2 Mail Away Snack Bowl from Crispix cereal. The head flips upside down to make the snack bowl, and the base has an on/off switch and makes R2 sound effects.

Here is a close up of the Crispix Box...again the cereal has been removed, I see no need for BUGS in my toy room.

last few items: the blue and red M&M Light Saber candy holders; these actually light up!

last item on this shelf: The Japanese import Remote Controlled R2 D2 that is SO fun. Again, they did a great job with the packaging, as R2 and the Light Saber controller can be removed and played with without destroying the package. When you're done driving R2 all over the floor, you can put him right back in the box for display. if you have one of these and never opened it, what the heck are you thinking? This toy BEGS to be played with.

One last shelf for now: The R2 and C-3PO Mail Away Cookie Jars...these are from the same offer as the Vader jar, you had to collect proof of purchases from specially marked Keebler products and send away for them.

Here are some close ups of R2 Jar and the C-3PO jar and here they are with the lids off.

In the back are the C-3PO and R2 Corn Flakes Box and a Keebler Cracker Box featuring the mail away offer for the cookie jars.

I'm still not done with this shelf, but the last few items will have to wait until next time.

2007-05-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 4

Here we are, Part four of DJ Mauls Virtual Online Star Wars Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Po-looza Fest World Tour 2006!

Today, we will view a wide variety of stuff, Star Wars AND Non Star Wars...for today, we tackle The BIG Shelf!

As you can see, this shelf unit takes up the entire wall. No, it wasn't custom made. I actually found this at Ikea, and while I measured it beforehand to make sure it would fit, I didn't realize how TIGHT it would be after final assembly! My father assisted me assembling it, and BOY was it a trick getting up against the wall!The selling point on this unit, for me, was the fact that it not only holds a LOT of stuff, but I also use it to store my comic book collection in those clear plastic crates that fit perfectly into the shelf units.

Where to begin? I suppose let's start at the TOP:

First item on the top left side is a Hulk With Punching Action figure that I purchased BEFORE I saw the horrible, horrible film and realized these figs were NOT going to be worth pursuing further!

Next to that is my South Park Wind Ups Collectors Pack that I grabbed strictly on a whim...saw them on the shelf, loved them, bought them, that simple. These were released shortly after the show first started, I don't know if they still make them.

Hanging on the wall there, you may have noticed that silver Falcon. That's the case to those watches you may have seen. My mom found the case (empty) at some flea market and grabbed it for me for like a quarter. I hate to throw ANYTHING Star Wars away so I mounted it to the wall there just for fun.

Next, a couple more NON Star Wars items:X-Men: The Movie Wolverine fig Wolverine: Origin fig. As you may have noticed already, besides Star Wars I was REALLY into comic books for a long time. My passion for comics has sort of faded over the last few years, and I don't really buy new ones anymore, but I still have my old collection and a few items such as these Wolverine figs, which has always been my favorite character.

Out of all my NON Star Wars items, my fave would HAVE to be this one:

Movie Maniacs 4: Jaws Deluxe Boxed Set from one of the OTHER "Greatest Films EVER."

This is SUCH a cool item, and the packaging is so well done I can't bear to open it, but here is a closer look at Jaws, in the process of sinking The Orca.

Ok, ok, back to Star Wars stuff: My Vader Voice Changer helmet that I wore at CIII as part of my costume...I'll get to more on that later.

Millennium Falcon AMT model that I assembled all myself ...this is an older version; I bought it from eBay because I could never find a Falcon model on the shelf in stores!

This next item isn't Star Wars, but I'm sure the rest of you are fans of this one as well:Indiana Jones 12" Figure exclusive from Disney MGM. Along with Indy on the shelf is an Indy antenna topper (also from Disney MGM) and issue 1 of Indiana Jones from Marvel Comics. I love the fact that the figure so closely matches the cover of the comic. Also, the map in the backround was part of the packaging for the figure that seemed to work well as a backdrop for Indy, as he IS a world traveler!

Next over: Ep. III Vader VS Obi Wan tribute shelf This shelf features The Target Exclusive Lava Reflection Vader & Obi Wan figs that, YES, I did indeed wind up opening.Originally I WAS going to leave them sealed, but then decided they would look MUCH cooler opened along side their Unleashed Vader & Obi Wan cousins.

In the background are two interesting items:My Celebration III Hotel Card Key , a cool souvenir from my trip, and...The Target Ep. III Figure Release Post card that I got in the mail informing me of the upcoming Ep. III figures release date & sale. I've seen some other folk's collections online and seen this so apparently I wasn't the only one who thought it looked AWSOME.

Next shelf: More Unleashed Figures....I truly love these figs, wish I had discovered them earlier. First one, obviously, is the Darth Maul Unleashed which I've seen now going for over 80 bucks OPENED on eBay...it's a mad world!Next to Maul is Darth Vader and it's the newer version that came out last year. I know there were several versions of Vader from Unleashed, all more or less the same. I love the way he seems to LEAP off the stairs, you'd think the fig would tip over but it's very well balanced.

Next shelf over: still MORE stuff which I'll get to one by one:

First: Sidious VS Yoda Unleashed, again an awesome fig that really comes to life.

Boba Fett's Slave I Ultra Titanium Vehicle...I like the new cases these come in, but they DO make it harder to display because they take up more space...oh well.

Grievous & Vader Force Battler Figs...I'm not sure why I bought these, I think I grabbed Grievous because I couldn't find the Unleashed version, and the Vader I grabbed because, well...he's VADER. But for the most part the Force Battler collection didn't really move me and these were the only two I wound up buying.

On the wall in the back, a treasure: Marvel Comics: Star Wars # 68 featuring Boba Fett's first time gracing the cover! I USED to have a TON of the old classic Marvel comics as a kid, how I lost them would take an entire other blog to explain...

I'm going to do one more shelf for now.

Snow Speeder Ultra Titanium Vehicle Aasajj Ventress Unleashed fig ...again, I love the way these figs come alive, and how she's almost "leaping" off the shelf!

Ep. I Sneak Preview: Battle Droid On STAAP...this was the very FIRST toy released for Episode I. Its on a clear plastic stand so it appears to be flying.

Lastly, my Ask Yoda Toy & Lightsaber that my wife bought me a few years ago as a anniversary present.What, you may be asking, is wrong with his EYES? Sad story: Apparently, while he was in storage, the heat melted the rubber around his eye sockets... Still, he works, and I can't bear to toss him just because of a little damage...I'm still trying to figure out a way of fixing him, I suppose i could try super glue...?

That's enough for today, still plenty more to get to on this shelf alone in future installments.Hope to see you then.

2007-05-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 3-D!

Welcome back, To DJ Maul's Star Wars Toy Room Tour Part 3-D!

Today I am going to veer from the beaten path...my original plan was to simply go from wall to wall, shelf to shelf and walk through each item in order, but decided it might be more fun if I shake things up a bit.So part 3 will concentrate on a segment of my collection that, while not VAST, is to me, unique and interesting: Star Wars store displays.

A brief explanation: My main job is mobile disc jockey (available for weddings, birthdays, etc. ) but I also work part time for Edys Ice Cream. My job there entails a route of several stores throughout my area, where I go in and basically make sure the ice cream shelves are full. This is NOT as fun as it sounds.Anyway, when Ep. III came out, there were a LOT of various food promotions tied in, and I'm sure many of you saw quite a few interesting display cases set up in your local food store.Through luck, timing, and persistence, I managed to get a hold of a few cool items.

Let's start with:

C-3PO cardboard display

Chewbacca cardboard display

These cardboard pictures are both from (I believe) the same store display case. If memory serves it was a Keebler cookie display. I found both of these in the back of the store near their cardboard crusher; the main display box had already been destroyed but these were still intact and sitting along the side. I asked the store manager if I could take them, since it appeared they were ready to be thrown away anyway, and he said go ahead.(Side notes on other items in pics: the posters next to C-3PO are again more freebies from magazines. The little green Yoda above Chewie is another of those cheap Halloween masks I found, same as the Vader one I turned into a light switch cover.)

Directly below Chewie's feet lies this item:A Star Wars Toy Lightsaber display box that I found in a Wal-Mart.

This box was originally used to display the plastic toy light sabers. While shopping one day I saw this on the shelf, empty, and on a whim took it to the register along with my purchases. I simply told the cashier this was an empty box on the shelf and asked if I could take it, and again she said no problem, it would only be thrown away anyway.For awhile this box sat unused, as I was unsure what to actually DO with it.While setting up the room the box seemed to fit perfectly in the space there between two bookshelves, and then I finally figured out what to put in it!The box currently holds quite a few of some of my more "special" comic books; one's that I have had signed at conventions etc. including the movie adoption of Ep. III that you see out in front. They fit perfectly, displays nicely and offers easy access to them as well!

Back over closer to the C-3PO display, are a few more display items.

The first one I'll address is the Star Wars Ep. III cardboard banner from the toy aisle at Target. There is a second one gracing another shelf on the other side of the room as well.

Again, really just a case of good timing. They were being taken down as I walked into the aisle and I boldly asked if I could have them.

Next we have:a Defeat The Dark Side M&M Display posterand also a Defeat The Dark Side M&M Cardboard display banner ...I moved the items that sit in front of this for a better view, you'll see those items later on. Both of these came from a local Pathmark food store, and again, just lucky timing to come across them as the display was being torn down.There were SO many other amazing displays I saw over the several months during the build up to and release of Ep. III, including an AWSOME Vader Kellogg's display case that would have held a lot of figs quite nicely, but I was never able to get my hands on them. There were several that I inquired about at some stores but was basically blown off by the store managers. But I am happy that I managed to score at least a few.

I'm hoping with the upcoming Unaltered OT coming to DVD this fall there may perhaps be more promotional tie in's and store displays to find...They may not be worth all that much, as many are NOT in "Mint" condition by any stretch, but I think they add a unique touch to the room and are items that not EVERYONE is able to find. Now some of you may be saying "Well, heck, Deej, you can get pretty much any display you want to, just go shopping on eBay!"You're right, of course, but to me that's not nearly as fun or interesting. Besides, the only thing better than a Star Wars item is a FREE Star Wars item...none of these displays cost me a dime.

On a final note: Let me take this moment to extol the virtues of Poster Putty.

Poster Putty is an amazing product that allows one to stick all SORTS of items, including paper, cardboard, & plastics, to walls without having to use tacks, tape, or other items that may damage the item.Pretty much everything you see hung to the wall (with the exception of heavier items like picture frames of course) is attached with Poster Putty. Not only does it hold posters and the like very well, it also is removable, reusable, and will NOT damage your item in the least.Look for Poster Putty at your local office supply store, and tell them DJ Maul sent ya...

(Legal Note: The above endorsement for Poster Putty has been done without their consent and in should no way be construed as a commercial endorsement by either party. "Poster Putty" isn't even really the NAME of the stuff I just forgot what it's really called... )

That's it for part 3. Next time we'll get back on the path and continue on the journey to the next shelf together....wear comfortable shoes, it's a long walk...see ya next time!

2007-05-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of DJ Maul's Star Wars Toy Room Tour Extravaganza Polooza!

Let's kick things off by starting with the wall to your left after entering the door.

In this picture, you will see a cheap plastic Vader Halloween mask hanging slightly askew on the wall from the light fixture.Below this cheesy mask lies:The Vanity Fair Star Wars Special Collectors Edition which came out just last year. (2005)

For those of you who may have missed this, you missed a real treat, as the cover folds out! to reveal most of the major players from all six films!My copy has been signed by several of the actors: Dave Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Meyhew, Billy Dee Williams, Matthew Wood (Grievous voice) and even collector extraordinaire Steve Sansweet. All signatures were attained at Celebration III. I someday hope to get ALL the actors on the cover to sign...a Holy Grail quest if ever there was one.

Moving on, next door to the magazine is My first ever attempt at building my own diorama.It's Vader VS. Obi Wan on The Death Star obviously, and if you want more details as to how this was built, I wrote a whole diorama blog on it just a little while ago.

The Obi Wan is I think from the POTF line, but the Vader fig. is actually from the Ep III collection, which Im sure the purists will give me crap about...

Now, moving further down, let's explore the shelf below the diorama.This is my: Anakin from padawan, to Jedi...

...to fallen Hero...

...to Sith Lord, to redeemed Jedi shelf

......the figures tell the story of course.

Underneath this shelf hangs my Anakin Changes To Darth Vader deluxe figure which I haven't opened so far only because there are SO MANY small parts that could be lost!

Further along this same wall, we next come to my Action Figures Wall Display Case which I found on eBay for a decent price.It currently holds 24 various figures, from several series but most of them from the mid 90's or so. The order and content of this case may change in the future as I add more vintage figs to the collection. Here is the same case from a different view, this thing is tough to photograph because the flash reflects off the mirrored backing but if I don't use the flash it's too dark....anyway...

Speaking of vintage figures, up top we can find a vintage 1983 Jabba The Hutt sitting up next to an extra Han fig and a few Rebels that are there until I find a better location.

Below the wall case lay some real treasures: My vintage 1977 OT figures on the mail away display stand.Want a closer look? of course you do:

vintage figs close up 1

vintage figs close up 2

vintage figs close up 3

Directly next to the stand is a vintage 1977 landspeeder and a 1983 dog chewed Ewok fig

These figs are a bit dilapidated, and many are missing accessories like weapons etc. but they are still one of the prides of my collection.

How I came to own these makes for a nice (but short, I promise) story.

I did indeed have a few SW toys as a kid, but was never a COLLECTOR until many, many years later. My old toys had long since passed into obscurity.While dating the woman who eventually became my wife, she learned of my love of Star Wars and had her mom go hunting in their attic for her old toys, and sure enough mom found them all, including the stand, still stored away! What an AWSOME gift...of COURSE I had to marry her... The only one that was missing was the Jawa, and I eventually found one on eBay to fill that hole. The rest are all a gift from my wife that she owned as a kid.

I'm going to finish out this round of the tour with the last few items along this wall:

Celebrity autographed photos part 1

Celebrity autographed photos part 2

These were all obtained at various conventions, several I got again while attending CIII in 2005....Amy Allen was a sweetheart, and man is she CUTE, too...

Besides the Vanity Fair cover, my favorite autographed item is this one:Dark Horse Vader VS Maul comic book signed by both Dave Prowse (Vader) and Ray Park (Maul) on the same day at a comic book convention in Philly. Several other fans hunted down this comic and had it signed as well after seeing me do it, which I thought was funny.

Last items on this wall closes the tour for now:Wall of Clone Wars Cartoon figs

Now as you will see, I open almost ALL my figures normally, so why have I kept these sealed so far?I'm not sure, perhaps it's the cool cartoon art on the packaging, or that I just haven't come up with a better display idea than this for these figs yet. For now, sealed they stay.

So ends part two of my virtual tour. Time for a snack and a quick restroom break if needed, then soon we'll move on with part three.

2007-05-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

DJ Mauls Ultimate Toy Room Tour Part 1

Inspired by Steve Sansweets online video tour of Rancho Obi Wan, I decided to tackle the process of organizing and photographing my Star Wars Toy Room to take my fellow collectors and Star Wars geeks on a virtual tour as well.

While my collection obviously is NOT as extensive as Mr. Sansweets, and I dont have the use of video (yet) only still pictures, Im hoping it will be at least somewhat entertaining.

So...welcome to DJ Mauls Star Wars Toy Room Tour, Part One!

To begin, let's examine the process of building the room itself: (to view the pictures simply click the links.)

This is what the room looked like before.

When I first moved into this house, the basement, while large, was unfinished, only studs marked where walls had once been. Still, I needed space to store my stuff, so I adopted one section, slammed up some cheap shelves, and set it up as you see in that picture. No walls, no ceiling, cheap lighting, ...a real mess.Eventually, years later, we got under way to re-furbishing the entire basement, including the area that was to eventually become my Toy Room.

Here are just a few of the "room in progress" pictures:

Room in progress 1

room in progress 2

room completed.

Now that the room was finally done, it was time to start adding in my collection.

The very first item I put up in the room was this one:A Custom Made Darth Vader Light Switch Cover that was made from a cheap foam rubber Halloween mask I found at a CVS. I painted the actual switch cover red, cut a hole for the switch to come through above Vaders nose, and glued the mask to the switch plate. Came out rather well I think.

I wont drag out the process, but obviously before I could set up the toys, shelves and display cases needed to be added. This was done over the course of a few weeks, some from old shelves and bookcases Id already had, and some newer ones purchased especially for the room.because of the mish mosh of shelves, i decided to keep things uniform looking and painted them all white.Next, boxes were dug out of the attic, toys opened and cleaned, and the process began of finding everything a home.

Eventually the collection was unpacked, and This is the room now completely set up.This toy room ALSO doubles as my office space; This is the room view from the other side and you can see my work desk and chair in the far corner.So not only does this room allow me to store & display my toys, but since I also use it for business purposes its a tax write off! Sometimes it all just works out.

Ok, just a few more pictures for now, the REAL tour will begin in the next installment, but I'll leave you with a bit of a teaser:

1: Above the door, a Darth Maul Saber that I hung up with some wire, here is another view from a further angle. I actually just found this saber this October (2005) at a Halloween shop. It's an old Ep. I toy that somehow wound up on the shelf many years later. the package was almost destroyed and later I found out one side of the blade wont light up, but for 2 bucks it wasnt a bad deal, damaged or not. Still looks cool.

Just a few more pics for now, I'll leave you with a few posters:20th Anniversary ROTJ poster on back of the door

Dark Horse Comics Vader poster also on the back of the door.

Episode III Poster Book Posters of Obi Wan & Yoda

Episode III Poster Book Posters of Anakin & Vader

Clone Wars figures poster

I dont really COLLECT posters, most of these posters were either free giveaways or came with a magazine, My Insider / Fan Club subscription or something like that.In the case of the Episode III Poster book, I couldnt resist when i found it marked down from it's $9.99 price tag to just 50 CENTS!

This marks the end of the first chapter in my tour. I've only scratched the surface here, and I will do my best to get the future installments up as soon as I can.

Next leg of the tour will take us a bit deeper, getting into some of my action figs including some vintage 77 ones.See you again soon for part two.