More Titaniums announced

A bit late in bringing out this news ... got sidetracked these past few days. It seems that for every 1 step forward I take to find new titaniums, Hasbro sends me 5 steps back. Just 3 weeks ago, I 've got my hands on 3 titaniums from a wave that was already on retail but went quiet, 3 months back. 2 weeks ago, the next wave started to go on retail in the US and the next 3rd wave was announced (this is the Superstar Destoyer wave). NOW! ... the 4th wave is showcased by Hasbro to be next in line. I put my hands up and sigh deep in exasperation.

Review : LOTF : Betrayal (part 2)

Okay,... enough of the trivia portion. From here onwards there will be major spoilers from the novel, so if you aren't ready, please move along somewhere else. The title Betrayal is really apt for this novel. The act of betrayal is stamped all over the novel. When you have heroes of the rebellion like Han Solo and Wedge Antilles fighting for the enemy. When you have Leia passing on information so that the enemy can succeed in their mission to blow up the Alliance HQ. And the biggest shock of all, with Jacen killing another Jedi so that he can succeed in becoming the next Sith Lord! All of them having their own reasons or morals for their own actions. The best scene of the book (there were quite a few actually) was when the sith phantom used phantom images to pit Jacen against Luke and Ben Skywalker against his mother, Mara Jade in lightsaber fights ... Each person seeing a "mutated" self of their loved ones. Although being several light years apart but still incurring real injuries against their "adversaries". Scary scene, ... phantoms that hurt people. Overall, I loved this book. It is a great opener for the next 8 books. I just hope the other 2 writers can sustain the level of writing by Allston.

Review : LOTF : Betrayal (part 1)

I think I have to separate this review into 2 parts because there's a lot to write. So to start off, I'll write about some light hearted scenes / quotes found in the book, especially to fanboys of the 6 films; When Han suggested that C3P0 remove his millions of language & interpretation functions so that 3P0 can calculate some analytical process faster, C3P0 retorted that he might turn more aggressive ....... like becoming more sarcastic and verbally abusive. Well, 3P0's interpretation of aggressive is always "extreme" to say the least ... hahahaha! Then, there was a scene where Han wanted Luke's help by saying "Save me Luke Skywalker, you're my only hope". Mimicking Leia's plea in A New Hope to Obi-Wan Kenobi .... that was funny. Another reference to the film was when Leia said that it was Han who shot first. This was when a group of assassins barged into their rooms. The sound bite was a dig at Lucas who had to change the cantina shooting scene to show it was Han who shot Greedo first. A funny scene happened when Luke tried to infiltrate back to Corellia. He went in through customs as an actor-impersonator of Luke Skywalker...yes, that's right ... as Himself. You think that’s incredulous ... read on. Somehow, the security officer doesn't think Luke looks like Luke – JediMaster / WarHero on the account of him being too short to impersonate the Original Luke. Go figure. So there he was, pride-driven, trying to convince the security officer that he can be a Luke Skywalker. The next part coming up soon.

At-At Nice-Nice ...

I've scrounge around the net and got myself a high resolution picture of the Ultra At-At in its packaging. Another saliva dripping moment. Oh why, oh why aren't you in retail yet!!!

Betrayal in the house

Finally got the book today. The cover looks better than the digital photo on the right. After numerous calls to the bookshop, and the shopkeeper who insisted that there were no new Star Wars book, as told by his supplier, called me up last Friday to tell me it's ready for collection. One thing to note, the back cover has these 3 ominous lines: "A dark enemy stalks Luke Skywalker and the Jedi" "A devastating war threatens the galaxy" "A dangerous destiny summons Jacen Solo" Oooo ... this book will be a good read, I can feel it. I'll give you a review buzz when I'm through with the book, ... as always.

More book news!!

The official site has just announced another book to be released. Timothy Zahn will be writing this novel, which takes place during the time between Episodes IV and V. I've always liked Tim's writing although his last one "The Outbound Flight" was a bit pale in comparison with his other writings. Other than his Star Wars books. I've read his Conqueror's trilogy. Here's an excerpt from the official site; "Luke Skywalker is still new to all this Jedi business. Han Solo isn't sure how much he's willing to commit to the Rebel Alliance. Princess Leia is trying to help run the Rebellion and wondering why Han is so infuriating. The young Mara Jade is one of the most valued agents of the evil Emperor. And a team of stormtroopers goes rogue, deciding to mete out justice their own way.." And this is the cover of Allegiance; Del Rey Books has scheduled to publish this hardcover release on January 30, 2007.

Unified Search in America

My BESTEST buddy in the world is now in the states. He's the coolest guy ever. Man, if you need a dependent, he's Mr Dependable. Wait, wait ... did I get that right? hahaha ... I've got to keep this up because he might be reading this too. Okay, okay ... enough of the bootlicking. Well, a close friend of mine has become my bounty hunter. I've been egging him to try and find me the new wave with the repaint of the Millenium Falcon which has just came out about 2 weeks back and some others which I missed. He has just informed me that he has acquired the Falcon repaint and is searching in earness for the rest. Wooohooo!! ... a whoop of joy! I hope he brings me more good news when he comes back. Welcoming you back home, buddy!

Sith Spawn ...

The official site has just announced a yet untitled hardcover novel on ... Darth Plagueis the Wise. Mannn!!! ... it seems that the Sith will return stronger than ever. First, a book on Darth Bane, the source of the Rule of Two and now the history of Darth Sidious' (aka the Emperor aka Chancellor Palpatine) mentor. The scant news that the official site has to offer was that this new book will be written by James Luceno and it will be out in stores in 2008. I loved his New Jedi Order books, especially his Unifying Force book. All of this is happening because Palpatine uttered these words to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. "Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend." More news when I read them.

Falcon Fetish

I finally have a decent photo of the Ultra Millenium Falcon... And after you get past the packaging ... Slurrpp ... saliva dripping sight.

Patience is virtue ... really

You know how I've been grousing about not finding the AAT wave for 2 months plus. How my patience was wearing thin. How I've been losing hope on finding these on retail these days. Well, would you believe it that I have them finally. And it cost me cheaper than retail. Here they are. Although one of the packs was dented a bit ... who cares, I'm opening it up to display later. The AAT had a small paint scratched, I'll fix it with a little DIY. So it seems people shy away from these slight "imperfections" and the specialty shops wants to get them off their shelves. And that's what happened, the 3 titaniums costed me about $35ish. That's like $11.60 each. About $3 off from normal retail price. I told you patience is a virtue. Going around other specialty shops, I saw a rare tie-bomber titanium selling at $28 ... gaghh!!! not today ... the dark side will not get me today.

New Titanium wave announced

I've been going on my shop-runs sporadically, hoping to grab any new titaniums, be it the minis or the ultras. Everytime a big fat ZERO. I've a feeling, the retail shops would eventually bring them all in mass orders and not by a single wave everytime. Well, thats what I'm hoping anyways. As of now, a new wave has just been announced. The one that really caught my eye is the Superstar Destroyer with an attached Star Destroyer. Although the scaling looks way off, it does serve a comparison to the enormous size of the Executor, Vader's flagship. The wave with the AAT droid tank has been out since 2 months ago but has gone dormant. I've been searching for these since the dawn of time, but nevertheless, my perserverance is still strong... hahahahha ... as if. The next wave with the Falcon repaint is out already in the US. This wave, the repainted falcon looks very, very nice. Well, thats the story of lost/missing titaniums ... And to add to the frustration on my downward spiral, this one concerns Ultras now, a specialty shop has started selling ultra At-At and Millennium Falcon. But the retail shops OG/Metro/Taka has not gotten on the bandwagon yet. More frustration and deep anguish seeps in ...