Star Wars

New Star Wars Toybox Figures

It’s been a while, at least it feels like it since we’ve had some new Star Wars toybox figures. I gotta say, though, I’m not super impressed with these. I’m happy to finally have an Obi-Wan figure, but the Darth Vader looks exactly the same as the one that’s already been released and since it’s two full figures in a pack that means this is $25. I don’t know about you, but inflation has hit my family hard and while a $12 purchase could be kind of justified, $25 is outside of my impulse buy limit. Oh well.

Luke looks like a deer caught in the headlights lol. It’s nice to have a different version of him, cause this is more than just a repaint job, but his face was phoned in. R2 looks the same, but this is the first time we’ve had baby Yoda (Grogu) available outside of his bassinet. Still, this one is even more expensive at $27. How have I been priced out of toys??? lol

Oh well, it’s nice to still see them coming out. I’m just going to hope that when my financial situation changes that they return to the look of the original ones that I preferred. The whole Disney Infinity aesthetic. You can see it with the Darth Vader figure, but it’s clearly a lot less visible in the Obi-Wan and Luke figures. I would say it’s harder to do that look with Baby Yoda, but I’ve got a regular Yoda that nailed it.

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The Love Hypothesis

The Love Hypothesis

By: Ali Hazlewood

Blurb:

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Review:

The Love Hypothesis started out as Kylo Ren/Rey(Reylo) fanfic before it was made into a novel. I’m not much of a fanfic reader, but I was informed of this on TikTok and because of that I couldn’t not see it the entire time I was reading. That is not a ship I sail, but it in no way impeded my enjoyment of this book.

I’ve read a book a day this month and this was by far my favorite. I love the trope of pairing the grouch with the sunny person, but only when the sunny person isn’t an idiot. Olive is definitely not an idiot. She’s a PhD student with an inferiority complex.

Adam also doesn’t kill his father in an effort to prove where his loyalties lie. He’s an asshole, but only because he wants people to do their bests. His misunderstood.

There’s a great meet cute. Lots of cute and funny scenes and the “villain” gets what’s coming to him. It also seems to be a standalone story. I loved it.

It would be amazing if this was made into a romantic comedy movie staring Adam Driver, but, considering some of the scenes in the book, I would understand if he wouldn’t want to do it. It is incredibly clear who is being lusted after in this story.

5/5

Disney Toybox: Shadow Trooper & R2-Q5

We’ve got a new stormtrooper in the Disney Toybox Star Wars line. They are some of my favorite figures, even though they aren’t the best at standing up. This one is less stylized than past ones, but I feel they’ve been moving away from the original Disney Infinity look. Which is a bummer as that’s what originally got me started collecting them.

This is considered a two-figure set, so because of that, it’s more expensive than others. The new price of $26.99 is ridiculous in my opinion, though. Since it’s Star Wars and pretty cool looking it could disappear from the online store fast. If it doesn’t, I expect it to drop in price fairly quickly. Depending on how many they made I don’t see a lot of people spending that much on a stormtrooper, no matter how cool looking.

On the back of the box, there’s a picture of a Boba Fett and Stormtrooper pack. The stormtrooper looks like one that’s already been released. However, the Boba Fett looks different from the previous one.

I’m still a bit shocked at that price. I realize we’ve had supply shortages, but that seems crazy. For comparison, the Ashoka Tano and Captain Rex set is only $18.99. I hope this isn’t a new price point because I will definitely not be continuing my collection at that price.

New Toybox Figures and Sets!

First off, thanks to spitfire9467 for emailing me to let me know these were finally showing up on the Disney Store online.

Second, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I’ve got a Captain Carter figure. You have no idea how excited I am for this one. I loved Agent Carter. A pic of her is my avatar in a lot of places. I loved the Agent Carter tv show and I’m pissed at how they retconned that with Endgame. Anyway! The figure looks like it’s going to stand up better than other female figures. It also looks to be one of the nicer MARVEL Toybox figures in that there’s some character in her face.

Captain Marvel comes paired with The Hydra Stomper. He lights up and the helmet flips up to show a bust of Steve Rogers. There aren’t any pics of that on the website except for the small pic of the bust on the box. Since he’s so big and it’s two figures this is one of the more expensive at $35. Still, CAPTAIN CARTER!!!!!!!!!!

I was aware that she was coming and it makes sense with the release of MARVEL’s What If? cartoon on Disney+. Their episode was really good btw. I was not expecting a new Mando and Baby Yoda (Grogu if you want to be technical). Their figure set did sell out pretty fast, but why the addition of the ship? Could we not have had an updated figure with Baby Yoda no longer in the bassinet? Oh well. It is nice to have an updated Baby Yoda. Mando looks to be the same. The ship lights up, shoots missiles, has a removable carbonite freezing chamber, and a secret compartment. I’ve never gotten one of the big toybox sets, but if it’s anything like the Playskool sets the removable parts will get lost if played with for more than five minutes. Their set is only $5 more than the Captain Carter one. I’m starting to think they might be price gouging on my love of her. Hmmmm…

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

Director:

Richard Marquand

Writers:

Lawrence Kasdan

George Lucas

Starring:

Mark Hamill

Harrison Ford

Carrie Fisher

Billy Dee Williams

Ian McDiarmid

Blurb:

After a daring mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebels dispatch to Endor to destroy the second Death Star. Meanwhile, Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side without falling into the Emperor’s trap.

Thoughts:

The changes that George Lucas has made to Return of the Jedi have made it almost unwatchable. The musicians in Jabba’s palace are so bad that I can’t even look at the screen when they’re on. Changing the music at the end means that I end the trilogy without that nostalgia hit that brings back all the happy memories from my youth. Not to mention the new song is just plain boring when compared to the old one. Then there’s the replacement of Sebastian Shaw’s Anakin with Hayden Christensen. It is all infuriating.

I had never seen these new changes until the blu-rays. When the six movie box set was released on blu-ray, my husband and I watched it straight through one day. Ending the series without listening to “Yub Nub” left a fun experience on a sour note. Return used to be my favorite Star Wars movie as a child, and now I couldn’t tell you the last time I watched it. I get angry just thinking about all that was done to it.

Once again, I will be there on day one when they release non-fucked up versions of this film. My husband has a theory that George Lucas made a deal when he sold Lucas Film that Disney couldn’t release the original cuts in his lifetime. If that’s the case…

Anyway, this was the end of one of the most influential series of my childhood. It makes me sad that I couldn’t enjoy my re-watch.