Topic: Germany

[Darth More]

Tamer: Let me know if you can find one R2 in good condition. I can keep my eyes open for you and could send it to you nationally when I come to the U.S. next year or who know when.
Same with the MTT.

[Darth More]

Imagine Walmart had NO action toys for Star Wars at all. Well, some might say that's been the case for years in many U.S. brick and mortar stores...

real,- goes out of business by the end of January 2021. And the decay has begun: No Hasbro Star Wars toy on pegs anymore. However the Fortnite section keeps growigng...

[Tamer]

Yepper based on my lack of retail stores and the bad stuff that was in em I just have gone to full time online ordering. Some days I do miss the thrill of the hunt. I still remember driving all over the find the evolution packs and actually drove by a tornado to get my toys r us Rotj exclusive Walker. Good times.

[Darth More]

STARZONE / alias Comics

Cologne, Germany

On Sunday I visited my buddy Peter in his Comic Shop in Cologne. All stores, except for bakeries and restaurants, are closed on Sundays in Germany. And if this wasn't enough, he met me at his shop for almost three hours even though it was his brother's birthday and he hadn't slept much the night before.
One can always have a great chat with him, he's such a genuine & grateful guy.
If you're in Cologne, you should definteily check out Starzone/alias Comics:
https://goo.gl/maps/XrDbdC34UNNmekEc9

When FialaFernbrugg visited me here in 2010 to go to JediCon with me, we also went to Cologne. But back then I hadn't known Peter's store (I wish I did).










He also got some rare sample/prototype figures in his drawer:





I found way too much at his store. So many boxes to discover and rare figures from decades ago. It's like a cave of treasures. I ended up spending 95€ and I could've found much, much more. I think they were well spent:



A week before at the jumble sale I forgot to take that Hobbit/Dwarf 5-Pack and Indy Jones on horse. So he put them aside for me. I knew I was missing that Geonosian for 5€ and later found out that it is from the TLC Arena Showdown packs - they were extremely rare here in Europe. It was a nice surprise to find some accessories like the AT-TE's turret missle. He gave those Astromechs's domes to me as well.

I had never seen these sets in person before. These were loose in box for 20€ each. I just had to take them. He told me he sold them sealed for 60€ each not so long ago.





It's interesting how different the face of Princess Leia looks on the packaging compared to the actual product. I'm sure some lucky prototype collector got this glamshot figure somewhere in his/her collection.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Customizer's note:

The box of this multipack with figures of The Hobbit faded quite a bit during its exposition to the sunlight in the shop window. But also Bilbo's jacket turned from red to grey. I haven't seen this pattern of damage before. Peter gave it to me for 10€ instead of 15€. I was going to repaint the "yellowed" jacket anyway so I chose this set because it's harder to sell to other customers.But at first glance I wondered if there was a grey variation of Bilbo that I hadn't known. Fortunately the 4 dwarfs didn't take any visible damage from the sun, yet.







To find out more about yellowing click here.

- Philipp

[Tamer]

You buddy Peter has some awesome stuff. I would have had a hard time not getting that castly grayskull. Man, such neat stuff. Some real treasures. Glad you found some goodies.

[Darth More]

He does! And he also shared a special story with me:


A snowball fight with Boba Fett and Chewbacca


Back in 1998 Peter and a few other members of the German Star Wars fan club went to a convention in Böblingen, close to Stuttgart. That's where the major fraction of the German automotive industry is at, too.
The charity convention was from December 5-6, 1998, which actors Jeremy Bulloch and Peter Mayhew attended, too.
Peter said Jeremy spontaneously made a snow ball when they were outside all together and started a snowball fight. Can you imagine to have so much fun with two men, who became that famous with their excellent acting?
That's one special memory if you ask me. Especially in loving memory of Peter Mayhew. I was lucky enough to meet him on Celebration Europe II back in 2013 and I will keep his autograph in good memory 'til I become one with the force.

[Tamer]

Those are some good memories.

[Darth More]

Yes, that was a special story to listen to. When I met a friend downtown in Dusseldorf I was surprised to see a HMMWV:






It's very rare to see one here in Germany - at least where I live. I'm sure there are some in Rammstein and other military compounds here. But it's even rarer to see a military vehicle owned by a private person.

If you want to see a HMMWV and other vehicles in 1/18 scale, be sure to check out RC-1136's customs!

[Darth More]

Comic Treff

Duisburg, Germany


Back in April 2005 I discovered Star Wars action figures in a Toys "R" Us on Long Island, NY. My family and I visited our relatives there and by the end of that day, the Star Wars fever had already caught me completely.
When we returned to Germany after 2 weeks, I had still no idea what else existed other than the 14 figures I already got in the USA. Nor did I have much clue about the internet. I was 12 years old. So I looked on ebay, which my best friend introduced me to. By the end of the year I had even discovered the photo archive of rebelscum - my biggest discovery before FialaFernbrugg told me about imperialshipyards. It was a woderful time.  I especially enjoyed finding out all about the different Clone Trooper variants out there.


It was my dad who told me about Comic Treff in Duisburg. His sister bought comics of Star Trek and other titles from Belgium when she was a student. I will never forget the first time I went into this comic shop with him. He bought me Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter in blue and Obi-Wan figure and Plo Koon's Jedi Starfighter both from the ROTS line, which had just hit Germany. I got many figures, battle packs, comic packs and other vehicles there. And there are countless good memories I associate with this place.

If you're around, you should definitely check out Comic Treff! Chances are high you'll find some rare treasures there:

https://goo.gl/maps/p812S23QLHFHujtf7














Some items here are 10 or even 22 years old. But they also got some orginal Kenner vintage figures:


And of course they also have the latest stuff for you! 


Here's what I got: The Prequel to Jedi: Fallen Order for 15€ and a CD from The Beastie Boys:



 

[Tamer]

Great store. I can see a lot of nice things in your pics.

[Darth More]

Thanks for leaving your comment Tamer! This comic store certainly is the one place I connect most collecting memories with...good times!

[Darth More]

Store report: MEGA MONDAY EDITION



Dresden, Germany

Mon, Aug 31, 2020



Mall 1:

Smyths Toys


The LEGO 71028 Harry Potter Minifigures Series 2 is being released on September 2, 2020. And SmythsToys keep the street date - so nothing new on the shelf, yet. But still a huge selection of blind-bags!




Before we go to the STAR WARS section, let's just appreciate how much Wrestling action figures have improved over the years...I was just blown away by the realism of their prints and took a second to take a closer look at their faces:






STAR WARS









They received two full cases of "The Child" - one sold right through for 13.99€ each!







LEGO



The summer wave of sets hit shelves here, but the 71280 501st Legion Battle Pack sold instantly at 29.99€ MRSP. It's so high in demand that LEGO have trouble to get sufficient supplies out there - at least here in Germany!


Jurassic World


I made the giraffe and finally got the Spinosaurus from the top shelf because its price went down by 3€ to its old price of 29.99€:






Mall 2

KAUFLAND

Stopped at 2 stoes, had to get some groceries and the second one was on my way to the next mall.






The MRSP for this Mandalorian Battle Pack is 12.99€ here in Germany. The last wave was 16.99€ so this price drop is surprising. However Kaufland put it on shelves for a regular price of 9.99€. With the current 3% less sales tax due to corona (it's 1
still 16%), the new price tag is 9.74€.



T€DI

Found some Hot Wheels at two different stores of this dollar store chain:







Mall 3:


Müller



I dig this TOP GUN set!





POP!



More Star Wars ships on the clearance isle for 30€ instead of 50€...



JW


The Brachiosaurus went down to 59.99€. Due to the pandemic, the German government reduced the sales tax from 19% to 16%. I got an extra 10% off coupon so I could get this giant beauty for just 52.37€. Still quite some money, but I think it's well worth it!




Took Wedge with me for 17.46€ with the extra discount.





GameStop

Take a look at all those Funko POPs!



25% off all action figures through September 29th!



Mall 4:


Müller




SpieleMax


STAR WARS

[Darth More]

Finally found some Tamiya paints at Conrad electronics here in Germany. They were 4.08€ each. Special thanks to forum member FialaFernbrugg for the hint!





Now, I finally got the right colors to mix the yellow for the 327th Legion and the 212th Attack Battalion. Make sure to check out the how-to videos of forum member CenturionsCorner on YouTube:

(Double-click for full screen view and minimize again to watch the video embedded on here or vistit his channel directly.)

t=10s


Also made a quick stop at TK Maxx:

A single TIE Fighter for X-Wing was STILL 16.99€ and they say it was 35€ elsewhere. And that's their strategy. Such a rip-off:



I can guess where Hasbro got this Mission Fleet idea now...

[Tamer]

Nice, glad you found your paint. Excellent reminder about Centurions Corner too. I wonder if he is still making vids?

[Darth More]

Oh, yes he does! He shared his latest video just yesterday:


Star Wars The Black Series Commander Fil Clone Wars 6 Inch Custom Clone Trooper Bootleg Review