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UPDATE: Sold out.
Coming up at 8:00 AM Pacitic on Monday: Star Tours StarSpeeder 3000 Vehicle Play Set. It's huge - with a display stand, and a carded Rex, and apparently the entire ride of the original 1987 edition of Star Tours playing on the screen. It seats a ton of figures (who may not fit, but that remains to be seen) and is basically like having the ride concept on a shelf in your house.
Fresh from the Disney parks (a few years ago) is today's Figure of the Day: Vendor Droid (White, Droid Factory). This one has what looks like a price scanner on his head. The white version has a brown printed pattern on it to look a little worn, which is weird for a robot that works in stores. The model first showed up in The Clone Wars, and hasn't really made many appearances since. If you have one, you probably got it at a Disney theme park. Read on!
Memorial Day weekend was full of bounty at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California as new swag has shipped and arrived in their Star Traders store. Of particular interest to collectors would be the new Star Tours sets and Mickey’s Jedi Starfighter. But these aren’t the only pieces that caught our eye.
Our pal Shannon Cosman hit up Disneyland in Anaheim, CA this weekend to bring us some shots of new park merchandise! Highlights include New Droid Products from Thermos, several awesome close-up shots of the droid part bins, and what seems to be a Mickey Mouse Pillbox which has to be seen to be believed - seriously, click through and check this stuff out!
Thanks to a tip from our pal and friend to all collectors Chuck, we now know that Downtown Disney's Once Upon a Toy Hasbro store now has the Droid Factory set up. This means you don't have to pay to get into Disney Hollywood Studios, as Once Upon a Toy has no admission fee. From the pictures it looks like it's a much better set-up filled with bins on four sides (rather than just one) and best of all, you won't have to shell out $100 to get into the theme park to waste 2 hours of high-quality ride time to attempt to collect them all.
Hasbro announces two new Star Tours exclusive multi-packs that will be available beginning in May 2013 at Walt Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando (to debut for Star Wars Weekends) and at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim soon thereafter.
Ahhh this is a good one. Thanks to my pal Shannon for helping me to get the Black R6 Series Astromech Droid, one of my favorites from the new Droid Factory at Disney Hollywood Studios Orlando. Is it worth tracking down?
This week in Galactic Hunter Video Theater, let's look at something that's technically a video with the original Star Tours. The 1987 theme park ride was basically a short film on a motion simulator, and probably prompted about as much fan discussion in the 1990s as the movies did in the 1980s. (We didn't have much to go on.) So click on through to see the original Captain Rex (an uncredited Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens) in a rough video capture, after the break.
This is a good one. The Yellow R6-Series Astromech Droid was probably my favorite from the ones I was able to get in Orlando last month, because it looks just familiar and just different enough to be awesome. It's also in some really gonzo color. Is it worth tracking down?
Given the nebulous nature of what constitutes an actual full figure, the Red R9-Series Astromech Droid is more than a little arbitrary. We'll be viewing the Star Tours Droid Factory figures as unique characters, defined by the dome. (The body is, of course, up to you.) This one is bright red, almost orange, with a rich silver texture and a softer sculpt than his brothers. Is it worth the trip and obscene price on eBay?
While a recent addition to Star Tours, this Signal Droid seems like it could have stepped right out of 1985! With big lights on his hands and a hover stand, it's a new mold which, in and of itself, is amazing. Read on!
Another Jedi Mickey Mouse is one of those nebulously "official" figures which maybe fits in your collection. Or maybe not. Read on!
The biggest chatter of the year comes from Florida, where Droid Factory is being deployed at Disney Hollywood Studios. You can build your own Astromech Droid, but what does the whole set-up look like? Our pal Chuck sent us some awesome images over teh Twitter, and you can click through to see them (and follow him) after the break.
First up, one of our pals on Twitter tweeted us last night that the Star Tours Astromech Droids would run about $12.95 each, or 2 for $18.95. This article shows more pictures of retooled heads and other changes, and the claim that only the R6, R8, and R9 heads are exclusive is something of a half-truth-- remember, the R5 droids appear to have no antennas this time around, plus all the droids have holes in their head.
