TF Views

andersonh1 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 19, 2025 9:47 am It pays to keep an eye on Ollie's if you have one nearby. Found movie deco G1 Preceptor for $10 today. I always love a bargain G1 reissue.

I admit to a jealousy for those who have Ollie's. We've never even heard of it up here.

Sabertrio Vektra Lightsaber
I had a Darth Maul lightsaber as a kid, but it kind of disappointed me. For an early 2000s lightsaber toy, it was fine, but I always wanted something that looked and sounded more authentic. And not necessarily based on a movie prop. I know Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland has that workshop where people can build their own custom lightsaber with interchangeable parts. And those do look pretty cool. But the Neopixel blades and sound effects with the 3rd party companies I think are overall better. Out of all the designs I saw from various companies I researched, I liked the Vektra design from Sabertrio the most, and I got a Krosgaard pommel because I liked it more than the Vektra pommel. Really happy with the result. This is exactly the sort of lightsaber I wanted as a kid.

Nintendo Switch 2
This has become a very expensive month for me... But given the opportunity, I couldn't pass up getting one while I had the chance.

Sparky Prime wrote: ↑Mon Jul 28, 2025 6:46 pm Sabertrio Vektra Lightsaber
I had a Darth Maul lightsaber as a kid, but it kind of disappointed me. For an early 2000s lightsaber toy, it was fine, but I always wanted something that looked and sounded more authentic. And not necessarily based on a movie prop. I know Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland has that workshop where people can build their own custom lightsaber with interchangeable parts. And those do look pretty cool. But the Neopixel blades and sound effects with the 3rd party companies I think are overall better. Out of all the designs I saw from various companies I researched, I liked the Vektra design from Sabertrio the most, and I got a Krosgaard pommel because I liked it more than the Vektra pommel. Really happy with the result. This is exactly the sort of lightsaber I wanted as a kid.

Nintendo Switch 2
This has become a very expensive month for me... But given the opportunity, I couldn't pass up getting one while I had the chance.

Generations Rattrap is a great toy. I still have it and it looks great with my Kingdom and Original Transmetal Maximals.

My ex-wife and I did the lightsaber experience at Galaxy's Edge and there's way more to it than just a lightsaber. There's the experience itself obviously and you do get to choose your parts, but you also get to choose the color crystal inside it. And you can buy the various colors and swap them out if you when ever you want. BUT, there's also the Holocrons. There's Jedi and Sith Holocrons, and if you put those same crystals from the lightsabers in the holocrons, they work like an electronic Magic 8 Ball, you can ask it questions and in a character's voice they will answer some sort of "yes" "no" or "maybe". My two red crystals are Darth Vader and the Emperor, the blue on is Luke Skywalker, both green ones are Yoda, etc. Character can very with color (ei: Green can be either Yoda, Luke, or Qui-Gon Jinn).

Shockwave wrote: ↑Tue Aug 12, 2025 3:06 amMy ex-wife and I did the lightsaber experience at Galaxy's Edge and there's way more to it than just a lightsaber. There's the experience itself obviously and you do get to choose your parts, but you also get to choose the color crystal inside it. And you can buy the various colors and swap them out if you when ever you want. BUT, there's also the Holocrons. There's Jedi and Sith Holocrons, and if you put those same crystals from the lightsabers in the holocrons, they work like an electronic Magic 8 Ball, you can ask it questions and in a character's voice they will answer some sort of "yes" "no" or "maybe". My two red crystals are Darth Vader and the Emperor, the blue on is Luke Skywalker, both green ones are Yoda, etc. Character can very with color (ei: Green can be either Yoda, Luke, or Qui-Gon Jinn).

I'd still love to go to Galaxy's Edge for Savi's Workshop. I've seen several videos on Youtube of people who recorded their experience making their lightsaber, and it looks like a lot of fun. The kyber crystal being able to change the blade color, as well as the Holocron functionality is a really nice touch. The lightsaber I have unfortunately doesn't have a kyber crystal. I would have liked a built-in crystal, some of the lightsabers I looked at did, but that wasn't an option with the hilt I got. Still, there's a setting mode to change the color of the blade between 16 colors. It's also got different sound fonts, blade effects, sensitivity for blade clashes, volume, brightness, gestures to activate or deactivate the blade and it can also be plugged into a computer to further customize if desired.

Anyway, I just got Samurai Troopers (aka Ronin Warriors) Inferno Armor Ryo from Sentinel Toys. I was a fan of the anime (fun fact, a new series is going to premier next year), and I remember as a kid seeing the Ronin Warrior toys at KB Toys but never got any of them unfortunately. As I recall, they had a few removable armor pieces, but they were kinda misproportioned, looking bulkier than they did in the show. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I decided to get this more modern figure when I noticed it was on sale. The armor is fully removable and is a lot more accurate. Swappable parts also gives it more expressions and poses. To be frank, I am a little disappointed with it. It's a great looking figure, but some of the pieces pop off way too easily, which makes it frustrating to assemble and pose.

I've been buying a few of the DC Finest line of reprints lately. A lot of them just repackage material that's already been reprinted elsewhere, but there are some volumes that are partially or entirely new material, or old comics that I've wanted but didn't have. The main draw of this line is both the price and the fact that it's selling DC as a brand, and draws from all over DC's long history and the various genres they've published, not just super-heroes. The volumes are $40 each for typically 500-600 pages, but I've been buying them from InStockTrades for half that. They don't number the volumes either, they put years of publication on the spine and on the back so you see where these stories fit in context.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Finest ... paperbacks

The ones I've bought so far:
- Aquaman: King of Atlantis - six years worth of 50s and 60s Aquaman, mostly new for me (some of it was in the Archive edition)
- Blue Beetle Challenges the Red Knight - All the Charlton Comics Blue Beetle comics, both the Dan Garrett and Ted Kord comics. Steve Ditko drew the Ted Kord stories... makes me feel like I'm reading early Spider-Man. Nice to see Ted as a straightforward hero rather than the goof from JLI
- Hawkman: Wings Across Time - Silver Age Hawkman
- Justice League of America: The Return - the last 20 issues of the original JLA series, the second half of the Justice League Detroit era. Nowhere near as bad as its reputation would suggest. I enjoyed it for the most part. Feels like proto-JLI with less humor and a few classic JLA members and a lot of B and C-listers. J. M. DeMatteis even writes the last six issues of the series.
- Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore - The well-known story where all the Kryptonite on Earth is destroyed and Superman has his powers lessened by a sand creature created by the incident. But it's more than just those issues, it's every Action Comics and Superman issue from I think Oct 1970 through November 1971, so it's a little over a year of early Bronze Age Superman. Every single issue is drawn by Curt Swan. I liked the Sand Creature story better in context with all the issues around it, and enjoyed reading so much new material.
- Superman Family: The Giant Turtle Man - This is crazy Silver Age storytelling. It collects issues from Jimmy Olsen's and Lois Lane's series and alternates them. The Turtle Man story is just one story from a book full of craziness. Needless to say, I've never read any of this before, and it's just fun.

I will definitely be buying more from this line. 500-600 pages for $20 (or even the full list price of $40) is a great deal.