Review : LOTF : Bloodlines (part2)

I kind of like the way this book turned out. At least Karen did not start a sonnet in the Mando'a language like Tolkien did in the Elven songs. Well, she did slide in a war chant in her previous book. And from the way she wrote Republic Commandos 2, I would have thought she might try to extend the lore of the Mandalorians into this book. .... phewww. Saying that, there were some plotpoints that still puzzled me till now. First, Thrackan Sal-Solo was introduced as the bad guy in the first book and he gets offed with a double tap in this second book. First killing shot was from Fett's estranged granddaughter and the second from an estranged Han. If Thrackan is to have a cameo and gets killed equally fast, why not just create a new character and then kill that character off? Why use Thrackan? Then, there's the manner in which Jacen was easily accepted to be the Galactic Alliance Guard commander-in-chief and as Rogue squadron Flight leader. He resisted being attached to any political group, except for being a Jedi, during the Vong war. Doesn't the GA top guys even worry on why Jacen's sudden change of heart? Boba Fett's involvement in the whole situation is still murky. I hope by the next 2 books, we'll know why his character is given some prominence. And that side plot of him trying to find the other clonetrooper? Yes, I know its to find a "cure" for his degenerative condition. But if thats the only reason, then in my opinion, keep that tale for an ebook. Then, the last few pages when Lumiya teaches Jacen on the final step to become a Sith Lord. He will immortalize his love. It's something about sacrificing a loved one or ones. Bl**dy h*ll, shouldn't that be a big flashing alarm with noisy sirens to knock Jacen into perspective of how “same” he is going to be like his grandfather before him.. duhhh!!

Review : LOTF : Bloodlines (part1)

I’ve finished Bloodlines and frantically writing this review. Sorry if some of the words doesn’t make sense. Swamped with other stuff right now. This is spoilers packed, you have been forewarned. Bloodlines; another apt title for the 2nd book of the Legacy series. Lineage is now the talking point for this book. Fett’s leadership to the Mandalorian people whilst being not in touch to the culture himself is in question. His search for his own daughter Ailynn gets him close to being dead. Then, there’s Jacen accepting the inevitability of becoming the Sith Lord; in his words, it’s for the good of the galactic universe. Hmmm ... where have we heard that before? … ahhh yes, Vader. Thus Jacen ultimately follows in his grandfather’s footsteps. In this 2nd book, he kills his 2nd victim unnecessarily and it happens to be Fett’s long lost daughter. Oooo ... this is getting good. Han and Leia, sort of disowns him for that. Jacen, who becomes the commanding officer for Rogue group puts Jaina under court marshall for not following his orders in shooting an armed civilian vessel fleeing from the DMZ. 13yr old Ben, Luke’s only son, is now Jacen’s padawan and unknowingly being groomed to become a Sith apprentice. Mara and Luke realises Jacen's transformation but is unable to rein Jacen down. They try their very best to get their son to return to the academy for proper Jedi training. In the warfront, Correllia is under siege by the Galactic Alliance. Coruscant is under martial law for non-Coruscanti. Strikes and riots are rife on Coruscant, egged on my dissidents. Terrorist are being weedded out by secret police headed by of course, Jacen again ... in the name of justice and the good of the majority sentiments.

At last ,a Tie-Bomber ...

I'm giddy as a school boy. After a lot of near misses, haggling on overpriced market and a lot of patience, the tie-bomber has come home to roost. All this is made possible by a fellow collector and SW forummer Tyderium who went out of his way and held on to the bomber for 2 weeks for me. Kudos to this good samaritan. The best part about this story is, this tie-bomber yearns to come home to ME. In a very convulated way, I tried to haggle for this same bomber from another seller ... hmmmm ... way back in Mar 06. But we couldn't get to a deal and it went off. So 6 mths later, via Tyderium, the tie-bomber is now in my hands. If this is not Patience is Virtue kind of thing ... I do not know what is...hahaha So as it is, all my titanium vehicles is up to date! Proud to say it. Whatever is missing are the ones recent in the market. Woohoo!! A Tie-Bomber!!! Sunday off for everyone ...

New Titanium wave announced

Joy to the galaxy. New pics of new moulds of titaniums has been announced. All I can say is ... hyperspace rings ... mmmmm!! When will this wave 15 come to retail? I have no effing idea.

More Transformer trash

Since I had brought up transformer news in my previous entry, I have more garbage news of this SW line. As you probably now know from my rants, Hasbro has been coming up with rehashed = repainted SW toys ranging from clone figures to vehicles to titaniums. Now transformer SW toys has been given this adultrous treatment. Hasbro has actually came up with photos of 2 of their previous releases of the Darth Vader transformer and the clonetrooper transformer. Just take a look. Between these 2, actually like the Tie transformer better, but of course ... not good enough to purchase it though. And the clone transformers; Both looked kind of fugly. Sorry for the french.

Titanium Transformers

With the premature excitement of the 4 titanium vehicles that popped out 2 weeks ago and nothing else, my attention for titaniums was attracted to new waves of the Transformer series that came out last week. I was really looking forward to the new Optimus Prime, but he was no where to be found. Maybe a collector's favourite? But all of them gone?? I smelled scalpers and the stink they have left. With Prime missing, I bought the other "better" looking transformer in the wave, Smokescreen.

Gold Wing Squadron

I went to TFH a few days ago to get my reserved set of the gold tie fighter and falcon. Now, this is what I call A New Hope. The circle is now complete. My GOLD WING flight has just landed. Woohooo!!!

Titaniums ... totally new

Yes, you heard me. No repaints! All new moulds. This is the set I've been waiting for since the SDCC news came out last July. Aren't they a beaut? But, will our retail be bringing them in the same time in December? Past waves has shown to be a letdown for SW fans. My bets are now with TFH or the other specialty toy store to bring them in. Sigh ....

Bloodlines ... bought!

It took me a while to enter this but here it goes; I've bought Legacy of the Force Book 2 : Bloodlines. I have been reading it for the past 3 days and it reads alright. Maybe I'm a bit biased now towards Karen Traviss, the writer. I didn't really like her writing-style in her second book on the republic commandos. Hopefully, this book will elevate her a notch up in my favourite SW writers list. Don't worry, review will come up after I complete this novel as always.

Titaniums have reached our retail?

I've read news from the SW forum that I frequent to, that some titaniums have been spotted at retail stores. Today, I've been to 2 outlets but I ain't seen shit ... pardon my pun. But reading on, the list might be small, about 4 different vehicles only ... and all of them I've bought quite some time ago. But the most puzzling thing is, the vehicles comes from different waves. It's a hotchpodge of vehicle waves. The blue A-Wing, B-Wing, Interceptor and the Sandcrawler. Maybe the SW store manager has wisen up and chosen the ones that WILL sell. Good management in his part but I hope he doesn't micromanage too tight until I'll missed the ones that I want.

Worst news ever!

Bl**dy H*ll! I've just read that Hasbro will NOT be making any new Ultras anymore! Rebelscum: Have you stopped the Titanium Series Ultra line completely? If you have, may I ask why? I think fans would be more interested in larger capital ships, like about the same scale as the Ultra wave. Ships like the Venator-class Star Destroyer and the Invisible Hand would sell easy. And possibly unreleased ships like the action fleet Death Star and Star Destroyer? Hasbro: We are discontinuing the Line as of Fall 2006. Unfortunately, sales have not met expectations for this size/scale. This is very frustrating news for me. I've grown to love and collect these die-casts and they died by market sales. Hasbro really blows. My opinion of why these line failed was how Hasbro package the consignments for each lot of wave. And this was more so to their Slave1 and Snowspeeder sets. For every 1 Snowspeeder, they packed 3 Slave1s. How in heavens name can the retail market push that many Slave1s to consumers? Thats why in ALL retail (OG,METRO,TuysRus,Seiyu) you can find Slave1s still warming the shelves unsold. The other ULTRAs are seldom seen because their ratio factor in consignments are reasonably match to SW collector's expectations. Man ... I was really looking forward to an ULTRA Star Destroyer or even Jedi Starfighter. But thats life .. it goes on.

Superstar Destroyer!!

After a week of watching the retail sector's lack of interest in pushing new titaniums, I took it upon myself to just ignore this lapse and bought the Executor and the blue A-wing at $18 each. They have been at TFH for quite sometime now, at least a month back; I had put off buying them. In the back of my mind, I told myself to just wait for a while. Wait for the GSS (Great Singapore Sale) to end. I was prophesizing that’s when the retail scene would start to kick off. Wait a while when the recent 5-pack titaniums starts selling. And they didn’t.... I think the only thing that's certain now is if I waited for fungus to grow on my toes. Don't these just look great? Hurray for patience!