Here is the one picture I took during the sale, so you can get an idea of the chaos that was going on. Also, next to it, is a picture of the tattoo Chris got at the show. I don’t think the Florida humidity was helping things that night, but it was certainly worth it as he won the tattoo contest the last day.

Here’s a picture of them all lined up in the store.

From left to right we have POTF2 Imperial Gunner (1996), Episode 1 Jar Jar Binks (1999), Revenge of the Sith Kit Fisto (2005), Thirtieth Anniversary Collection Mustafar Lava Droid(2007), Legacy Collection Darth Sideous (2009), and Legacy Collection Vader (2010)

and just below the figures, the one thing I did buy, is the 3D Jabbas Palace from 1998.

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I’ve been doing a few things in preparation for the event. The first thing I wanted to do was beef up my camera gear a bit, so hopefully I can get some good pictures of things going on. At a convention like this, I feel that a backpack is an important item to have. I had a previous backpack which was great for holding a laptop, but didn’t have the compartments for a DSLR camera and lenses.

Here’s the backpack I decided on and bought a couple weeks ago.

The bottom half of the bag opens up with a compartment to hold a camera body, a couple lenses, and I’ve also got my flash in there. The nice thing is that the zipper opens up from the side so I can actually just release one of the straps over my shoulder and get right to the compartment to get to the camera quick without putting the bag down.

The other thing I wanted was a laptop compartment. This bag has that too and will hold a 15″ laptop. For celebration though I’m going to see how it goes with just the iPad. I figured that will give me a little extra room in that compartment for paper items that I get at the con. I’ve also got a card reader for the iPad, so I can dump my photos on there when it gets full.

The top compartment also opens with a good place to store snacks and things of that nature to keep me going during the day.

This time, with the iPad, I’ve taken all documents that I would need ie hotel, airline, maps, etc in digital form. Here’s a shot of the exhibitor floor map loaded up.

It’s going to be here now before we know it.

AFA is a toy grading company that collectors can send their items to. They look for any flaws on the item and assign it a number grade. They will then seal the item into an acrylic case and inside the case is the label with the grade number. They began this service around roughly 2001 and at the time they only graded items that had never been opened before. In 2005 they began grading loose unpackaged figures, but at the same time they also started the U grade.

That is pretty much all that you need to know before starting the article.

AFA U FAQ Link

I’m not completely against AFA as I can understand why some collectors like to have their items graded, but it has never been for me as I feel I can determine myself if the items I own are in good condition or not. I do feel the U grade is destructive to a hobby that I’ve enjoyed most of my life and I hope this article can help some of these U collectors realize the damage they are causing that can never be undone.

Here’s a video that gives an idea of what happens behind the whole operation.

This is the only info available right now.

Star Wars creator George Lucas will make a special guest appearance at Star Wars Celebration V this August in Orlando.
This will be the second Celebration appearance, and only the third Star Wars convention appearance for the writer/director, who last attended Celebration III in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2005.
Lucas will appear onstage at a date and time yet to be scheduled during the four-day run of the show, which takes place August 12-15, 2010 at the Orange County Convention Center.

The Empire Strikes Back is considered by many fans to be the best of all 6 Star Wars films. It had a much darker story, introduced Yoda, and had a great cliffhanger ending. It also introduced some of the best toys from the time period, like the AT-AT shown here from my collection, which is getting a new release later this year. The music of the film is also one of the best scores from any of the movies as it introduced many of the themes that are associated with Star Wars today, with the main to being, The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) and Yoda’s Theme. The film also introduced the fan favorite character Boba Fett. At the time, I think most thought he would have a bigger role in the movie. Boba Fett was first shown in a cartoon from the Star Wars Holiday Special in late ’78. Later, he was offered as a mail away offer from Kenner to help get kids excited about the Empire toys roughly a year before the film was released.. The character ended up with very little screen time, but he did what Darth Vader couldn’t do, capture Han Solo. I think the little screen time he had actually helped the character thrive. Kids could make up whatever stories they wanted to about him and his origins. Later in the 90′s he was featured in many books and comics which also added to the character.

Tonight we’ve decided to celebrate by having a little BBQ and watching the film. I’m trying to decide if I want to dig out the Laserdisc player and watch the version closer to the theatrical release or just watching the Special Edition version. We’ll also be going to celebration V in Orlando later this year which will be heavily focused on Empire.

Here is one of the original Trailers for Empire. It is pretty interesting to watch as some of the special effects weren’t finished, like the lightsabers.

Now for the history lesson. In the late 70′s Boba Fett was offered as a mail away figure and one of the features he was supposed to have was the rocket firing pack. Before the figure was released, a 4 year old boy, choked and died because of a simular missile on the Battlestar Galactica vehicles. Because of this event, toy laws were changed. Kenner at the time tried a few different style launchers, but it was still deemed unsafe. In the end they removed the rocket firing feature, glued the missile, and when kids received their figure it included an apology letter. They even offered kids a replacement figure if they weren’t happy with the situation.

Several prototypes with the firing launcher did survive and made it to the collector market. They are considered Holy Grail collectors items as they come with roughly a $15k+ price tag and in limited numbers.

The new figure comes with a longer rocket in order to still comply with safety laws, but it is a great nod for the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes back.

Here are pictures of my original mail away version with the apology letter, the slide shown at the Hasbro Presentation, and some official photography for the figure.

Or in this case the Star Wars figures. This has been on my want list for a very long time and I finally got one and a steal of a deal. Here is the story behind this piece. Kenner Toys got the Star Wars license to make the toys roughly a month before the movie was released in theaters. There was no way to get the toys out in time, so they did a few things like puzzles and repackaged a few of their earlier toys and slapped the Star Wars name on them to hold people over. By the Christmas season of 1977 they still did not have any toys ready, so the President of Kenner Toys, Bernie Loomis, decided to sell this “empty box” known as the Early Bird Certificate Package. It was a way to remind people that the toys were coming and it also provided a way for kids to still have something Star Wars under the Christmas tree that year.

According to the Steve Sansweet Book, Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible, 600,000 of the envelopes were sent out to stores and about half of them sold. The rest would have been sent back to Kenner after December. Even though only half of the enevelopes sold, it was still considered to be a successful promotion as it kept the idea of Star Wars toys in the public mind and when the figures were finally released, retailers couldn’t keep them in stock.

Okay so here is where the good deal I got comes into effect. This one showed up on ebay a few days ago with a buy it now of $65.00. An envelope and stand in this condition will normally sell for $160-$200, so without even thinking about it, I clicked the buy it now button. The nice thing is that it also included another playset cardboard display. I should get roughly $30-$50 by flipping it, so when you take that into account, I basically got a vintage early bird envelope for the original 1977, $13 retail price in 2010. The other nice thing is that it came with the mail away form for the mail away display stand in unused form and the original toy booklet. Collectors pay a pretty penny just for these pieces of paperwork. The booklet features pictures of the actors rather than the toys like later booklets. These two pieces of paper weren’t included in the envelope, but with the set of figures when they arrived in the mail. I hope to add the followup figure set sometime in the future.

Below are some pictures of the Kit I bought, the followup figure mailer from another collection, and the original 1977 commercial. Also, here is a link to a video of Steve Sansweet talking about the Early Bird Kit and showing the one in his personal collection.

Here are a few good online resources about this.
Bernie Loomis Remembered on starwars.com
Early Bird Certificate Package on theswca.com
Mail Away Offers: Early Bird Package on theswca.com