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!

Episode 69 – January Comics Pics

Episode 69 – January Comics

On this episode we discuss our pics for January and chat a bit about our upcoming trip to C2E2! Let us know what comics you enjoyed the most this month and if you are headed to C2E2!

Pick #1 – Star Wars #1

Publisher: marvel comics

Art: John Cassaday

Writer: Jason Aaron

Colorist: Laura Martin

Cover: John Cassaday

Characters: Han, Leia, Luke, chewbacca

Synopsis – The gang’s all back causing trouble for the empire and this time they arrive at a weapons factory on Cymoon 1. Han is pretending to be Jabbas emissary to gain access to the facility, their goal is to blow up the main power core. Luke locates prisoners via the force and frees them. There is a nice little shout out to Ben Kenobi as luke severs the hand of the slave master. As they begin their escape Vader arrives, Chewbacca tries to take him out with a sniper rifle. Meanwhile C3P0 is having his own problems with the millennium Falcon which is nearby in a junkyard and luke decides he has to face Darth Vader.

 

 

Ratings –

Art – 3.75 out of 5

Story –  5 out of 5

Pick #2 – Red Sonja #14

Publisher: Dynamite

Art: Walter Geovani

Writer: Gail Simone

Colorist: Adriano Lucas

Cover: Jenny Frison

 

Characters: Red Sonja, Havan, Fellan, Wizard

Synopsis Starts in a tavern in a town that Red Sonja had recently saved.  The brother of the wizard Red Sonja comes in and asks for her but she had already left.  He then forces everyone to drink themselves to death.  Next goes to Red Sonja where she runs into Havan.  Who keeps calling her princess and thinks he is her apprentice.  You find out that the wizard she killed had cursed her by removing her forgiveness.  She has a flashback to her family being killed.  She is down to killing the last member who had killed her father the crossbowman Fellan.  Apparently he had tracked her down. He is asking for forgiveness but she can’t forgive men jump out of the woods to protect she starts killing them all.  One asks for forgiveness hiding behind Havan.  Havan begs her to go to her soul.  She sees the wizard she kills and then scream.

 

Ratings –

Art – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Pick #3 –  King: The Phantom #1

Publisher: Dynamite

Art: Brent Schoonover

Writer: Brian Clevinger

Colorist: Brent Schoonover

Cover: Darwyn Cooke

Characters: The Phantom (Lothar), Mandrake the magician, Guran

Synopsis: This book continues where Kings Watch left off. with the death of the 23rd Phantom, Lothar picks up the mantle to carry on the legacy and to find the remaining Walker family heir. While not having much luck finding the heir, Lothar has a pirate problem that he needs to address. After some head bashing and bullets, The phantom decides to infiltrate the pirates by posing as Gurans body guard. (guran is playing the part of a warlord)

Ratings –

Art – 4 out of 5

Story –  4 out of 5

Pick #4 – Reyn #1

Publisher: image

Colorer: Paul Little

Art: Nate Stockholm
Writer: Kel Symons

Characters: Reyn, Seph, Baron

 

Synopsis Starts out in a farm where a giant spider attacks.  Out of no where Reyn comes in and kills the monster.  He then thanks his god.  Farmer puts him up for the night but wants him to stay so sends his daughter out to sleep with him.  Next thing you know Reyn rides to town Ledwain.  He sees slaves being brought out to the mines.  Next you meet Seph who apparently is the story teller.  She is a mystic of Tek and can use magic and is attacked but fends off 10 men.  She goes into the bar and berates Reyn for not helping her.  You find out that the Baron of Allwyn had wiped out monks along time ago and they think Reyn is one so they send in troops to get him.  They go to the bar where Seph and Reyn are.  Reyn starts talking to himself everyone thinks he is nuts but he just continues on.  Next him and Seph take on all the troops

 

 

Ratings –

Art –  4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Episode 32 – Star Wars Dark Empire

Original Covers

Episode 32: Retro Comics – Star Wars Dark Empire

On this episode of Retro Comics The Rambler and I review Dark Horse Comics Dark Empire tpb edition. This is the first episode of Retro Comics that Greg joined me on and I think it turned out really well. If you have read Dark Empire feel free to leave us your thoughts on the book. Thanks again for listening!

Interior art by Cam Kennedy

I really enjoyed re reading this book, it was a lot of fun. Do yourself a favor and go read it!

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!