Revenge of the Sith Launch

If you've been living under a rock for the last month, here's what happened this morning (Saturday, April 2nd).

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005, is the official release date for 'Revenge of the Sith' merchandise, which includes books, comics, toys, groceries, and a million more things you didn't think it was possible could be Star Wars-ized.

316 branches of Toys R Us in the US, 11 branches of Toys R Us in the UK, and 24hr Wal-Marts will be opening at midnight on April 1st with exclusive offers and events. For Singapore, there was an exclusive Episode III Product launch at TRU United Square Atrium which me and a few other guys attended.

It's not just the toys. M&Ms did a tie-in too and came up with this uber cute packaging that came with a free sun-screen. Picked it up at the Shell station along Pasir Panjang Road after a hefty lunch:



About the event proper, we only headed down at 11pm. It was supposed to start at 12, but we figured, 'Hey, I'm sure there ain't so many star wars geeks in Singapore that have the time and money to go all the way to Thomson right?' Boy were we wrong... By the time we got there, we were already out of the top 50. In fact, we were out of the top 200. Haha. There was already a Channelnewsasia crew there interviewing people and lots of the media people taking pictures. Here's a brief outline of went on last night/this morning:



It was quite crazy. 15 minutes to 12 and the entire line snaked around the floor of the atrium. There were stormtroopers. Royal guards and 4 mat Darth Vaders. Ugh. The Vaders were gross la. They were like holding onto Yoda, Count Dooku and some other Lightsabers OTHER then their own traditional red ones. Pffft. Apparently TRU Singapore treated this launch as a 'testing' market thingy. Meaning if response was good, they'll bring in the line. If not, they'll drop it. Coz SW:ATOC apparently flooded the shelves and didn't move. So if they decided not to bring in anymore ROTS figures, tonight would be the only night to get them. Apparently collectors still loved the figures the best. Once the 'opening ceremoney' was over at the stroke of midnight, fans mobbed the figure pegs. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera. But watch Channelnewsasia long enough, you'll probably see some part of it. Kinda like the time I went to the Oscar Movie Marathon and was mobbed by the same crew. Ugh. These were the figures people were killing each other for.



I made a horrible mistake of squatting down to reach the figures on the lower pegs. Coz these guys were queuing up since 1pm in the afternoon. Boy did their feet stink. Eech. Managed to grab a General Grievious, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker in Dark Jedi get-up. Got a bunch of extra Anakins. Any fans here can get em from me at $17.90 S.R.P. I just need to get my money back. *whine*



Amazingly I don't know why TRU had the bright idea to flood shelves with Lightsabers. When they were unveiling the shelves and pegs, it was pretty sad to see an entire three compartment shelf filled with lightsabers. No collector buys them. They're too expensive for the kids. But well. A completist would get everything. The good thing about this batch of lightsabers is that they can change colors from blue to red. Symbolising Anakin's change from good Jedi Knight to dark Sith Lord. Pretty cool. And expensive.



Another boo boo at the launch were the LEGO starwars and the candy dispensers. Nobody were interested in them. Period. But the Ultimate Villian set (above) flew off the shelves even though it carried a hefty price tag. Similar to the 'Anakin to Vader' 6inch version which sold out in a matter of minutes, this baby was literally gone in 1/2 hour. Very nice though if I had the bucks to spare. But such a toy is better left opened. And I don't bear to open one, nor buy two at a go. So well. Forget it la.



In total, we chalked up a grand $500+ within 1 hour. It was weird. Everybody seemed to be in a buying frenzy even though usually these toys wouldn't sell. I had given up on Star wars collecting since the Freeze Frame versions but I guess it's just the moment kinda thing where everybody was grabbing SOMETHING so I HAD to buy some stuff too. I did get the pretty nice Star Wars UNLEASED figures that had an interlocking base (cost me $40 each, 3 total $120!):



All in all it was a pretty interesting day. I guess after playing around with my 'Anakin change into Vader' 6inch figure, I'm really looking forward to Episode III. Comforting too to note that Starwars still has such a huge fan base in Singapore. Some people literally dragged their entire families out for the event. Saw like at least 2 old ladies. Not to mention like a family of 5 (including 1 grandparent) queuing up early for the exclusive Yoda. Now all that's left is for George Lucas to deliver. This had better not be another Phantom Menace nor Attack of the Clones.



Oh yeah. Check out CNA long enuff and you might see Tenny hefting his giant vehicle boxes and queuing up and paying. The crew seemed to like him alot to the extent of following him around and snapping pictures chronicling his entire payment process. Go figure. Oh. And we got this poster free!



Now if only they had Knights of the old Republic 2 for Mac. My life will then be complete.