Star Wars – Force Friday Toy’s: Elite Speeder Bike

Next up we have the Elite Speeder Bike with a special edition Storm Trooper and side arm. I have to say I think this is the coolest vehicle in the series. For a speeder bike this one has a lot of updates. “Reserved for the most experienced scouts and high-risk missions, these Elite Speeder Bikes have been upgraded with heavy blasters and powerful new engines.”

The Pros:

• (5) Blasters, (2)Heavy Blasters: mounted, (2) Medium Blasters: adjustable, (1) Light Blasters: adjustable
• A bedroll behind the seat(non removable but its so cool that its there!)
• Very detailed toy
• Unique Storm Trooper with bendable legs(at the knees) and arms are molded differently than the standard storm trooper
• Open the instrument panel to reveal the engine(maintenance time!)
• Awesome paint scheme: Gloss Black, Red-orange, greys and Silver and a painted instrument panel
• The Speeder also separates in the middle to continue the exploding theme for the vehicles

The Cons:

• The figure doesnt fit very well on the speeder, kind of a half standing pose
• Like all of this series of Storm troopers his legs dont move very far and you wont be able to sit (L  shape position)
• The figures hand doesn’t fit on the speeders handle controls (I think I got one hand to hold on but didnt want to push it because it might break a thumb off like the old days)

Ratings:

Rodney – 4.5 out of 5

Is it perfect? No it isnt, but over all I really like the design of this speeder and the look of the storm trooper. From a collectors stand point this will look awesome on a shelf with the storm trooper threatening some poor deluded alien.

My son – 4.5 out of 5

From his point of view he thinks its a cool speeder but was a bit annoyed at the trooper not fitting on the bike. It was fun watching him load a trooper on to the front of it like a stretcher. I think he wants a troop transport!

#forcefriday #forceawakens

Star Wars – Force Friday Toy’s: First order Special Forces Tie Fighter

 

For our second review we take a look at the 3.75 First order Tie Fighter w/ Pilot. We had the x-wing already so you have to have an enemy vehicle to fight with. This ship retails for $39.99 which I think is a reasonable price for a toy this size and it looks pretty good. So lets break it down:

The Pros:

• Very detailed vehicle with figure and room inside for a co pilot
• Front and rear view ports (rear gunner seat) – Plus you can look through the ship to get the pilots view point! My son loved that.
• Each wing can be launched off the ship via buttons on either side of the cockpit. (battle damage feature)
• (2) launch-able missiles from one button
• Very nice pilot figure with removable helmet and side arm

The Cons:

• Spring loaded connections for the wings are rather touchy, bump one or just having the fighter sitting on the floor a wing would fall off.

Time to tell you about our issues with the Tie Fighter, so far we have gone through 2 ships( returning the second one today).

1st Tie Fighter – Left wing would fall off the ship if you tapped the upper or lower edges of it and sometimes it would fall off as you are “flying” around. Now granted the release button for both wings are easy to accidentally hit do to there location on the bottom of the toy. This one clearly had a defect in the connection point. Also there is a movable antenna on top of the ship, on this one the plastic which the antenna snaps into was weak and broke.

2nd Tie Fighter –  On this one the wing connections appear to be working better than the first. Unfortunately the button that launches the missiles kept catching on something internally until the missiles wouldn’t fire at all.

Keeping fingers crossed that when I exchange this one today the new one will work properly. For those of you worried about the wings, I found that if you press the button to jettison the wings and reattach them a couple times they seem to hold to the ship a bit better.

Ratings

Rodney – 3 out of 5

I really want to love this Tie Fighter but it does have flaws, plus I dont like my toys to fall apart! But a new generation and new series of toys. I will admit I do like the idea of the “exploding Tie fighter”, I just wish they had designed the wing connections a bit better.

My son – 5 out of 5

“I love this one! Shooting the missiles is the best!” Once again he makes me realize that kids have the best perspective on toys. If they are fun to play with, it doesnt matter how much you spent on it or if a piece of plastic broke. Thats called battle damage! Just remember its a toy and if you buy it for your kids they will love playing with it as much as you did when you where a kid.

 

Update 9/5/2015: So I picked up the 3rd Tie Fighter and this time everything is working properly! The wings fit snug and dont feel like they will fall off if you bump them. The missile launcher works as well. I wish this was the one I had picked up first, I would have given it a 5 out of 5!  I know some of you arent as pick as me but I figure if you are going to spend $40 you should get your moneys worth.

Star Wars – Force Friday Toys: Poe’s X-wing

So the other day I thought to myself, “Self, you need an X-wing”. Well my mind wasnt wrong, I have never owned an x-wing from any release of the toy line. In fact the only ship I ever got was the Snow speeder from the Empire strikes back(I still own it and it works great!). After reading about all of the new toys I decided it was time to spend some money and I have a six year old boy who agreed with me completely. For a complete list of toys check out this link .

Part 1 – Poe’s X-wing Fighter w/ Poe Dameron

First up is the Box art which is amazing on all of the new toys, features a very cool painted battle scene, its very eye catching. The X-wing itself is very simple and has a nose cone and laser cannons that are designed to come off the craft if it takes “Damage” (i.e. the boy drops it or smashes into something).

The Pros:

• A very nice redesign of the classic X-wing with the new BB-8 astromech behind the pilot
• Cool new paint scheme, although having it look like the x-wings in the trailer would have made more sense.
• They use the same mechanism to open and close the x-foil wings as previous versions
• Poe Dameron comes with a removable helmet and side arm which fits nicely into a hip holster.
• It has a fire-able missile on the bottom of the fuselage – Good range!

The Cons:

• The X-wing has no sound effects
• It took us a while to get the canopy closed while Poe had his flight helmet on, but if you move his legs further down it will close. The figure fits very snug in the cockpit( i didnt mind but my son got mad a few times because he couldnt remove him from the x-wing.
• I wish the front landing pad was spring loaded like the old school snow speeder. This one has a simple pull down model.

Ratings:

Rodney – 3.5 out of 5

This is a solid fun toy, but it does have a few drawbacks from a 42 year old mans point of view. I would have like to see some electronic sounds, spring loaded front landing gear and a few more stickers for the body. At $49.99 you dont get much for the price, that being said, if you can get it for $40 buy it.

My son – 4 out of 5

He doesnt like the sculpt of Poe’s face “hes got an ugly face and the guns are all bent. They wont shoot straight!” But other than that he loves his X-wing!

2014 ENnies – Voting begins

I just finished voting for my favorites. Head over to the ENnies site and vote for your favorite RPG,s

 

Episode 30: RPG Corner – Dark Side D6 Campaign

 

Episode 30: D6 Star Wars

 

On this episode our gaming group joins us to discuss characters, the campaign and playing a dark sider. Sit back take a listen and let us know if you have played a dark side game or have played the West End Games Star Wars RPG.

 

THE CHARACTERS:

Name: Dorian  Species: Thackwaash

Gender: Male  Age: 24

Dorian is a very strange character, jedi hunter, multiple personalities, multiple allegiances. Lord Palataus used him as an involuntary test subject for his Sith Alchemaic experiments. Player: Darnell

Name: Django  Species: Human

Gender: Male  Age: Mid 20’s

Django (the “D” is silent) has had a hard life thus far. Fallen Jedi, traitor, mind controlled by a ruthless Sith Commander named Keth, the group is not sure if he can be trusted. Can any Sith really be trusted? player: Adam

Name: Marn Haas  Species: Falleen

Gender: Male  Age: 16

Marn is a powerful Sith Assassin who wears no armor and will destroy anyone who gets in his way. player: Greg 

Name: Viktor  Species: Anzati

Gender: Male  Age: 300

Viktor is an immortal Vampire that works as an Imperial Agent. Not much is known about this being, he keeps his secrets close and feeds on his enemies. player: Uriel

Name: Calek  Species: Shistavanen

Gender: Male  Age: 28

Once the Captain of Lord Palatuas personal guard / commando, Calek volunteered to be a test subject, gaining great dark side powers. But his love for battle is only eclipsed by his need to continue his masters experiments. player: Rod

Name: Sierra  Species: Farghul

Gender: Female  Age: 16

Former prostitute turned brothel ship owner, this lethal feline beings agility and cunning is more than a match for her Sith companions. player: Kayleah.

Name: Rar’Tok  Species: Stanex

Gender: Male  Age: 18

This Sith Marauder loves light sabers and has a knack for making deals and gaining knowledge he can use down the road. player: Chris

 

The story is yet to come….

The Return of Fall Gaming!

After a short summer of game table construction and a long hiatus from any Star Wars role playing games, we are finally playing again! Tomorrow we embark on a custom WEG D6 Star Wars (2nd ed.)Dark side Campaign with Uriel, Greg, Chris, Kayleah and Myself begin our career as evil doers in the great Sith empire. Uriel and I are sharing GM duties, splitting up the games into missions, playing a character in one and GMing the other.  More details to follow!

Pre-Order The new Dawn of the jedi Novel

Del Rey Books is releasing a tie-in hardcover novel to Dark Horse Comics’ ongoing Dawn of the Jedi series on May 7, called Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi — Into the Void. The series is set 36,000 years before the events of the original Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope and concerns itself with the events that led to the foundation of the Jedi Order. 

“On the planet Tython, the ancient Je’daii order was founded. And at the feet of its wise Masters, Lanoree Brock learned the mysteries and methods of the Force—and found her calling as one of its most powerful disciples. But as strongly as the Force flowed within Lanoree and her parents, it remained absent in her brother, who grew to despise and shun the Je’daii, and whose training in its ancient ways ended in tragedy.

Now, from her solitary life as a Ranger keeping order across the galaxy, Lanoree has been summoned by the Je’daii Council on a matter of utmost urgency. The leader of a fanatical cult, obsessed with traveling beyond the reaches of known space, is bent on opening a cosmic gateway using dreaded dark matter as the key—risking a cataclysmic reaction that will consume the entire star system. But more shocking to Lanoree than even the prospect of total galactic annihilation, is the decision of her Je’daii Masters to task her with the mission of preventing it. Until a staggering revelation makes clear why she was chosen: The brilliant, dangerous madman she must track down and stop at any cost is the brother whose death she has long grieved—and whose life she must now fear.”

You can pre-order the book now at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com

The return of DC NATION and Star wars the Clone wars

FINALLY! After roughly four months, DC NATION finally returns to cartoon network with new episodes to air starting tomorrow morning(1-5-13). Young Justice Invasion and Green Lantern- The animated series are two of the coolest newer cartoons on tv today. Warner Brother has also added new animated shorts to the DC Nation line-up, which might explain the long delay since last fall. All I know is i am really glad to have Young Justice back! DC NATION starts at 9:00am central time Saturday mornings.

Also dont forget to watch the Clone Wars tonight on Cartoon Network! New episodes! Fridays at 7:00pm central

West end Games- Star Wars Finds!

 So last weekend I was on the hunt for more Role Playing Game books for my office shelves and I hit the jackpot! I found The Dark Empire, Shadows of the empire and The Jedi academy Source books. The best part was getting three for the price of two! The cashier forgot to ring one of them up! I got all three for $16

Star Wars – Dark Horse Comics

With the Disney’s acquisition of Lucas film and everything that goes with it, we knew it was coming:

BlueSky Disney posted dec. 17th

“Starwars has a large, expansive universe beyond the films…

 From television, games, toys, clothing, books to comics, the galaxy George Lucas created is vast and filled with boundless opportunities. If you love Star Wars and you collect comics, then you know that Dark Horse Comics has had the licensing rights to the Galaxy Far, Far Away for a long, long time. And they’ve done some very interesting, and quite high quality tales over the years.

 One of the things that many people wondered after Disney boughtLucasfilm was how long will this relationship continue? Especially since the Mouse owns Marvel, the largest comics publisher in the world. Well, it appears we now have the answer. The Suits in the know have determined that no new contracts will be given to Dark Horse after the current ones expire. So all new projects after 2013 will be handled internally by Marvel.

 It’s not known yet if titles will be worked into the regular line up, or will Marvel create a special branch of the company that deals with Star Wars. It’ll take a couple of years for the old deals to work there course, but the stories that Dark Horse have coming down the pipeline will be the last. And you can expect anything new from Marvel dealing with Star Wars to arrive around 2015.

 Interesting year for that to happen…”

I have to say that even though I knew the Franchise was going to MARVEL at some point, I am a bit sad. I have been reading the Dark Horse Starwars comics since 1990. Tales of the Jedi was my gateway comic! Like an addict I had to have more and DH delivered. 

But, lets not look at this as a bad thing. Maybe a move back to Marvel will be a good refresh for the expanded universe. Keeping in mind that they might drop DH from the comic-verse history, but I think that wont happen, mainly because it would be damn hard to make people forget about 20+ years worth of stories. 

The Marvel relaunch will coincide with episode 7 and all we can do is hope for some really good stories. =)




Now back to Dark Horse and their current and upcoming books for 2013!  Star Wars:

Dawn of the Jedi – The Prisoner of Bogan #1

Lost Tribe of the Sith – Spiral #4

Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist #1

Agent of the Empire – Hard Targets #2

Star Wars #1                                                   Jan 2013 

This is Star Wars as you remember it . . . and as you have never seen it before! We’re taking you back to those heady, adventure-filled days following the destruction of the Death Star—when the Empire ruled, the Rebels were on the run, and the galaxy was a dangerous place where anything might happen!

* Writer Brian Wood (The Massive, Conan the Barbarian).

* Artist Carlos D’Anda (Batman: Arkham City).

* Cover artist Alex Ross!

* Classic era, classic characters, all-new Star Wars!

Read the Newsarama interview with Brian Wood

Dark Times – Fire Carrier #1                            feb 2013

Jedi Master K’Kruhk is on the run with a group of young Padawans. In a galaxy suddenly hunting Jedi, they are forced to land on an Imperial-run planet, hiding in the refugee camp, among other beings who were displaced by the Clone Wars. But K’Kruhk senses there is something wrong!

* Is K’Kruhk the last hope for the Jedi Order?

* On the run from Vader!

I love the Dark Times stories, definitely pre-order this book!

Legacy – Prisoner of the Floating World #1     Mar 2013 

Exploring the galaxy . . . Solo style!

Despite her famous heritage, Ania Solo is just a girl trying to make her way in a galaxy gone bad. But it all gets worse when she comes into possession of a lightsaber and an Imperial communications droid—and discovers she has been targeted for death!

* She’s Han and Leia’s great-great granddaughter introduced to the Legacy saga!

* In the aftermath of War, the Solo clan lives on!

* A new ongoing series!

* From the acclaimed creators of Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes!

So as you can see there are a lot of really great Star Wars books continuing into 2013 and launching next year! Also a ton of collected editions to keep you reading star wars books for a long time to come.