Too much Madness!

Almost 24 hours later, I'm POOPED. And I'm planning to go to a Ren Faire tomorrow...with a couple of stops at WM and Target again, natch ;).

I went down to a TRU near my house where members of the local Fan Force/501st were going to have their shindig. I skipped the Midnight Madness for AOTC; it was on a weeknight and the only TRU having a Midnight Madness in Fairfax County wasn't close enough. I didn't want to go to work all groggy and tired, so I just went to a couple of stores the next day after work. The Midnight Madness for TPM was of course, insane.

I got there by 9 p.m., dressed in my Anakin Jedi costume and Jedi cloak. There were four other Jedi; the rest were Impies. The line to get in was real short when I got there but had stretched around the corner and halfway down the side of the store. Not bad. I had fun chatting with people. Inside the staff was slooooow getting things stocked. It was ridiculous. By the time they let people in at midnight, they hadn't finished stocking everything! They were still opening boxes. Now the store was supposed to let us costumers pull things first but it of course didn't work out that way. So I had to get some elbows in the face to get at some figures. A lot of people were literally buying at least one each of EVERYTHING. Yes, EVERYTHING. There was this Mexican family that completely got into the act, piling their basket high with goodies. Unfortunately, they didn't understand that they could have bought cases of each figure assortment and saved themselves the trouble of having to pick through the figures on the pegs. They checked out right in front of me...grand total was $400.

At TRU, I got:

Lightsaber Attack Anakin
Slashing Attack Obi-Wan
Pregnant Padmé
Anakin Changes to Vader
Two 100 piece puzzles (one with Obi, one with Ani)
Vader helmet mini water bottle
some round lenticular tin with Anakin/Vader
some liquid lightsaber candy thing

By the way, if you want to know what I look like, click on the links below and look for the Jedi with the Louis Vuitton bag ;). Hey, I needed to carry my keys, wallet, etc. somewhere!

http://public.fotki.com/MaraJade/tru_midnight_madnes/midnight_madness_146.html

http://public.fotki.com/MaraJade/tru_midnight_madnes/midnight_madness_147.html

The next morning, I rolled out of bed early, got some free green tea infusion at Jamba Juice thanks to a coupon, and drove to Target. It was 8:16 a.m. and I thought there was no way in hell I'd get one of the 48 Lava Vader figures. I promised somebody I'd try to get one, so it wasn't really for me per se. As it turns out, I was #18. So I got a Lava Vader. Go me!

Then I drove to a WalMart that was supposed to have one of the tents in the parking lot. Since it was 9:15 in the morning, I had the joint almost to myself. The staff inside the tent was having a blast running around and being silly. Me, I was zonked out from going to bed so late and getting up so early. I'm not 20 anymore!! I walked out of that WM with:

Darth Tater
"Jedi" poster
Lava Berry Pop Tarts
Star Wars cereal...on sale at two for $5...coincidentally, there are two different SW cereal boxes! How 'bout that!
ROTS 16-month calendar...can't beat $5.94!

But I was looking for more items. So I went to another WM and picked up:

Air fresheners (only 50 cents each!)
Three of the 50 piece mini puzzles
A new plastic container to fit more puzzles

Was I ready to pack it in? Nope! I went to Suncoast and found a set of stickers and a set of tattoos. Then I capped it off with a quick jaunt over to Borders. All I bought there were an Insider to send to a friend/trading partner in Germany and Non Sports Update magazine because of the free ROTS preview trading card. I saw a book called The Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters but I decided to hold off on it for now. Ditto for any spoilerific books. I'll buy the ROTS novelization for the Matthew Stover book signing later on this month; the others will have to wait until after I see the movie.

Here's what I still want to get:

Slashing action Anakin (a.k.a. Eyeliner!Anakin)
Jedi Kick Obi-Wan

I lost or misplaced my Target coupon, which is why I didn't buy any other figures there today. If I find it tonight, I can get those figs for $4 each tomorrow, since the figs go on sale for $5.

Here's what I might get even though I'd planned on getting them later:

Unleashed Anakin
Unleashed Obi-Wan

Wait for sales/increased fundage:

Mon Mothma
Shaak Ti
Luminara Undali
The tin set puzzles
All of the board games

Here's what I passed up on:

Ultimate Villain 12" Anakin/Vader--This piece is awesome but due to my very limited budget and its high price, I passed. Maybe when the gravy train flows again or it's on sale, I'll get it.

WM Exclusive Early Bird Kit--There were a ton of these available at the first WM. Frankly, I saw no value to them whatsoever.

Target Exclusive Figure/Cup sets--I collected all of these last year but I wasn't impressed with the artwork on the Obi-Wan one. I'll wait until they go on sale or something.

Disappointments:

What, no bookmarks this time? And no Padmé paper dolls?! I guess they didn't want little girls playing dress up with a pregnant paper doll. Might give 'em the wrong idea. I'm surprised more stores weren't selling stickers. Only Suncoast had them at all. I didn't see any home items either. I guess those will roll out later.

ROTS t.v. spots, Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards, and Saga Journal

The new t.v. spots look great. One is a mini version of the teaser trailer, the other's cool too, but "Tragedy" is the real clincher. Not only does it feature the new track "Battle of the Heroes" (it sounds a tad like "Duel of the Fates"), it reveals how much of a gut-wrencher this film is going to be. I don't know which line is more chilling, Anakin's or Padmé's. All I know is, it's going to take all of my resolve not to yell at the screen, "Anakin, you freakin' moron!" Padmé isn't going to be the only one with a broken heart :(.

I sat through Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards. That show sucks. Even for a kids' show, it sucks. In recent years it has been an excuse for Tinseltown to plug films, t.v. shows, and so on that might appeal to a young audience. For instance, they put Jessica Alba on the show because she's in the child-friendly comic book-based Sin City. Oh, that's right! It's rated R! Silly me. It must be to promote Fantastic Four. Of course, Lucasfilm/Fox has to play the game like everyone else so they got Hayden along with Vader, Threepio, Artoo, and Chewie to present an award for favorite male "singer." I say "singer" because all of the nominees were rap/hip hop acts. Well, okay, so Usher does sing, which is why I guess he won. Anyway, Vader's rap moment was cute and props to Hayden for shushing those damn screeching kids. Me, I'd say, "Shut up, you spoiled Hollywood spawn!" Hayden as always, looked hot. Dang, he's too lovely. It was rather surreal seeing Usher up there with a bunch of SW characters.

In any case, I have to question the appropriateness of some of the stuff nominated or promoted on the show. I mean, Chingy? This guy's record has one of those parental warning stickers! What stupid parent buys that crud for her children? I remember some years ago, the family-friendly TPM was snubbed from this awards show but they included the scatalogical fun of "Austin Powers."

Saga Journal has updated. Here you can read my new essay about Princess Leia and the Woman Warrior:

http://www.sagajournal.com/lpwomanwarrior.html

And you Anakin fans will love, love, love Reihla's great new essay "Mad, Bad, And Dangerous To Know: The Case For Anakin Skywalker As A Byronic Hero":

http://www.sagajournal.com/rmadbaddangerous.html

Plus there's a nice review by a_p.

Remember...tonight spring forward!