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Date Posted: 23/04/02 23:25:46 GMT+10
Author: Goktimus Prime
Subject: Star Wars Episode II Thread (OT)

Okay guys, with Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones (yes, the title still leaves a sour aftertaste on the palate) only three weeks away, I've decided to create this thread for anyone who'd like to talk about this movie and other Star Wars related material.

I know that a lot of us will probably be buzzing about with the Star Wars hype within coming weeks, so rather than allowing Planet Sabretron -- a Transformers discussion board -- to be overrun with Star Wars related posts, I've made this thread here. (yes, I'm repeating myself just to be sure)

So if anyone here has any opinions, comments etc to make about Episode II or any other SW related stuff, please do so by adding a reply to THIS thread, rather than starting a new one of your own. If you do so, you won't need to attach the letters "OT" at the end of your subject headers, as this entire thread will be Off Topic anyway. :)

Right, let's get the ball rolling...

Star Wars toys came out here yesterday at midnight, and most of the really good stuff (like the electronic light sabres) were sold out by 2am. Despite the fact that I live only 2km away from a TRU, I did not attend the midnight opening. Silly me. Ah well.

I came into my local TRU at around midday, and within only 12 hours of sale, all the electronic light sabres were sold out. So were certain figures like Hangar Duel Anakin Skywalker, Coruscant Chase Obiwan Kenobi, Dark Lord Count Dooku and Kamino Escape Jango Fett. Slag, I wanted those guys -- screw the crappy deluxe versions with their flippy springboard gimmicks.

I did pick up an Outland Peasant Disguise Anakin Skywalker and an Arena Escape Padmé Amidala. I wanted to get some electronic light sabres, but since they were all sold out, I grabbed myself one of the cheaper non-electronic light sabres -- although it has no light and sound gimmick, the handle is more accurately to scale and the light sabre blade can fully retract into the handle. And unlike the Episode I non-electronic light sabre, it has a latch gimmick which keeps the light sabre blade in place until you release it! Woot! The only weird thing is that they swapped the blade colours around -- Qui Gon Jinn's light sabre comes with a blue blade and Obiwan Kenobi's comes with a green blade. Bizzare. Anyway, my flatmate and I reasonably happy with the light sabres, because we're planning on using them for our cosplay on May 16. More on this in a moment.

I only own two Episode II figures, but so far they've been a disappointment. The Episode I Jedi were really cool because they sported additional points of articulation at the elbows and wrists. For some reason, Hasbro has decided not to do this for Anakin Skywalker, this he only features six points of articulation. Big feckin' deal... Lego people have seven points of articulation. It's pretty sad when a toy is less articulated than a Lego man.

The cool thing is that he does come with the Old School light sabre gimmick -- the one were the light sabre blade slides in and out of his right arm! Woot! Although the novelty of this wore out on me after a few minutes when I soon remembered WHY Kenner has never used this gimmick since 1978: (1) the light sabre blade looks too thin, (2) not only is the light sabre permanently attached to the toy's hand, but it is permanently fixed in the same position of pointing directly forward. I can't make Anakin wield his sabre in any cool positions. Then there's his god awful cloak... it's plastic, including the sleeves which utterly restricts any arm movement. Boo. His "force" gimmick is pretty weak too. It involves him being able to attract a nearby (REAL nearby) gun via a weak arse magnet in his left hand. Once the gun is about half a millimetre away from Anakin's palm, it will be magnetically drawn into his hand!! Of course, at this range, Anakin might as well just wrap his fingers around it and pick it up normally... nuuhh...

Padmé Amidala has been a bit of a disappointment too. First of all, the chain does not come off her left wrist. If you think this is a good thing, then you are sick and twisted. Secondly, her Quick-draw action is lame. There's no way to cock her arm in position, it's just in a state of perpetual "gun draw" -- in other words, the arm just automatically springs up and will forever remain up unless handled. This means that Padmé can NOT be posed into any other position other than having her right arm stick out! GGYYYAAAAAAAAARGH! How am I supposed to play with this thing?? And the playset she comes with... uuhh... let's not even go there.

Overall, these toys feature really lame gimmicks, and I wish they would've sacrificed the gimmicks for better articualtion design like they did with the Episode I Obiwan, Qui Gon and Darth Maul figures. *sigh*

Btw, has anyone else noticed that Hasbro is using the name Devastator in the Star Wars universe (apparently it's the name of an Imperial Star Destroyer)?

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