New Stuff in New Zealand

[Buzz Bumble]

That promotion has probably finished (although may come back time to time until Christmas (then after that any left-overs drop to half price or sometimes less). I don't know how big or heavy they are, but since there's chocolate pieces in them they're likely a little heavy.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Some new finds in today's brief travels here in New Zealand.

Kmart (not related to the US version, but I think is connected with the Australian version) has some new figures in the horrible plasticky 12" range, priced at US$19.90 each:

• Luke Skywalker
• Clone Trooper
• Rebels Darth Vader
• Rebels Ezra Bridger
• Rebels Agent Kallus
• Rebels Stormtrooper

Farmers (a chain of department stores, sort of a high-class Kmart) has two new 6" Black Series figures, priced at US$55.72 each:

• Speeder Bike with Trooper
• Jabba the Hutt

A junk mail catalogue from Spotlight (a chain of arts and crafts stores) is advertising two different Star Wars kids' furnishing fabrics for making cushions, etc. They're pictured with other fabric designs, so not sure of the price for these (30% off, now US$9.47 to US$13.92 - presumably that's per length, usually it's something like 1m).

 

[Buzz Bumble]

A few finds in yesterday's travels - no doubt most of it can be found at places like ThinkGeekcom at cheaper prices (especially once you add in New Zealand Post's over-bloated international shipping rates).

The Whitcoulls book and stationery shops have a new kids' paperback book Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire - Edge of the Galaxy (US$11.72).

Electronics Boutique (EB Games) games and collectibles shop has a few bits and pieces, although only one of most of these (the branches are all quite small):

• Mr Potato Head Yoda, US$39.08
• Vinyl Bobblehead (R2-D2), no price sticker
• Plastic Cup (R2-D2 or Vader), US$7.81 each
• Coasters (set of 6), US$10.94
• Glass Tumblers (set of 6), US$31.26
• Glass Tumbler (single), US$23.44
• Thermal Lunch Bag (R2-D2), US$19.53
• Glass Wall Clock, US$31.26
• Lava Lamp (yes a Star Wars Lava Lamp ), US$54.71

Toyworld toy shop also had a few bits along with the usual old 3 3/4" figures and Lego sets:

• Lego Zip Bin Carry Case (Yoda or Lego Millennium Falcon), US$31.25 each
• Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar (#75056), US$46.89
• Lego Star Wars Minifig LED Lites (Yoda, Jango Fett, Boba Fett, R2-D2, Admiral Ackbar, Chewbacca, Captain Rex) - not sure what price these were, some were stickered as US$19.53 and some as US$15.63)

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I haven't seen them myself in the shops, but apparently tins of toffees have turned up in Countdown supermarkets (which is owned by the Woolworths company, so they might be in those branches in Australia). I was given a tin by somebody, who told me there were two different ones, but only one is mentioned on the Star Wars NZ forum where the image was "borrowed" from...

The Stormtrooper helmet is slightly embossed on the lid from underneath with various levels, giving a minor 3D effect. The 15cm diameter (or about 6in for those still using ye olde measurements) tin contains a plastic bag with a measely 10 individually wrapped toffees ,,, so the price of about US$3.90 for the tin is a bit excessive on a per-toffee basis.

The label on the back of the tin says:

Toffees - Made in Mexico
Tin - Made in China
Imported by Park Avenue Foods Pty Ltd, Australia

No wonder they cost so much. They've travelled more than I have!


I've also been told that there is a small My Little Princess desk calendar at the annual Calendar Club stalls that pop-up for the Christmas season. There maybe be other Star Wars calendars coming, but the computer was down when they asked the person running the stall about others (last year there was only one wall calendar).

 

[darthskellington]

Neat. Store around here are starting to get their Xmas food offerings, so I'll be curious to see if there are any US counterparts to those tins. Almost everything food/candy related is made by Galerie here.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Some stores here have had Christmas stuff (including confectionery) on the shelves since August! Easter items will no doubt be out not long after New Years Day.

The weekly food magazine included in the newspaper had Halloween recipes one week and then Christmas recipes the next.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I found three new "books" today. Two are "build your own R2-D2" paper model books (one model includes a LED light for R2's eye) and the third is a Star Wars cookbook with three lightsaber handles with blade moulds for making frozen ice lightsabers (although you could also use them for making jelly or chocolate treats as well).


Also my copies of the two latest novels arrived today: Kenobi and Razor's Edge. The Kenobi book has a very short story in the back called Incognito, but it's not in the chornological list at the front. Does anyone know where that fits in??

 

[darthskellington]

Cool. I just picked up Razor's Edge at Walmart this week. Although I'm way behind on SW books.

According to Wookiepedia, Incognito was first printed in SW Insider magazine. It, as best I can tell without getting too spoiled, occurs prior to Kenobi. It involves his journey to Tatooine, whereas the Kenobi novel proper takes place once he is already on Tatooine.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Thanks for the Incognito timeframe.

You think you're way behind on the Star Wars novels. I've been collecting them, but haven't actually read most of them ... I have read the original 1980s books (the movie novels, Splinter, and the Han Solo and Lando Calrissian Adventures).



Yesterday's junk email from an importer of overseas food items claimed to have Star Wars M&M products, but when I visited the website there were only three Star Wars M&M fans (Vader, Boba Fett, and Stormtrooper). They also have the Star Wars Angry Birds gummi packs.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

The Whitcoulls book shop chain is having a "20% off kids' books" sale, so I went yesterday to get a copy of the Rebels book Servants of the Empire (#1): Edge of the Galaxy. Lukcily I went to one of the smaller branches and also found the Rebels kids' book Ezra's Gamble, which isn't at the bigger branch I usually visit, so I picked up both books.

I also got a 2015 desk calendar (by US company DateWorks) from the Calendar Club pop-up stalls in the shopping mall.

 

[darthskellington]

I snagged Servant of the Empire as well. Looking forward to reading it. The Clone Wars Secret Missions books were similar in nature, focusing on new characters that had little to do with the larger Clone Wars plot, but still had neat stories to tell.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Yep, I've got some of those Secret Missions books ... I know I'm missing at least one though. Plus at least one Clone Wars book (called Defenders of the Republic) in a similar style, but not part of the Secret Missions series.

There was also a set of similar young Boba Fett books (which I'm also missing some of) following his adventures after Jango's death in the movie - being "adopted" by Aurra Sing.

 

[darthskellington]

Yeah, I don't have any of the Boba books yet. All those series like that are pretty good (from what I have read, or heard). The later books in the longer series are always harder to track down as they had lower print runs.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Yep. I discovered that problem decades ago - I've got some of the original Knight Rider and A-Team novels, but the later books in the series never got down here, so I'm still missing a few.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I haven't seen them yet, but reportedly the Star Wars HotWheels cars have turned up here in Farmers (and possibly The Warehouse) branches - both the rather silly movie-themed cars (on movie-poster-style cards) and the marginally better custom character cars, both currently priced at a "sale" price of NZ$7.99 (US$6.22).

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I saw the Star Wars HotWheels cars today. The movie-themed cars (actually priced at NZ$4.99 / US$3.88) are just a very silly cash-in exercise. The custom character cars are sort-of cute as cars, but still a bit silly as Star Wars items. I'm not going to bother buying either series.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I went to the local Scholastic book distributor's warehouse sale yesterday and picked up a couple of cheap kids' books:

• Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy storybook (NZ$5 / US$3.88)
• The Wrath of Darth Maul hardback book in cardboard sleeve (just NZ$1 / US$0.78)

They also had a couple of activity / colouring books, the 2014 Star Wars Annual, and an origami Yoda book (something about a Fortune Wookiee), but I didn't get those.

 

[darthskellington]

Nice finds.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

We've had the Hot Wheels movie and character cars for a while, but one chain of toy shops is now advertising character car 2-packs and a "Destroy the Death Star" track set.

The first of the 2015 Lego Star Wars sets have also appeared in shops recently.

Other than that, and the Rebels Visual Guide book, there isn't much new around here at the moment.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I saw two new Rebels "chapter books" in the book shop today - Rise of the Empire and Droids in Distress. They look like they're "novelisations" of the TV episodes (three or so episodes per short book) and aimed at slightly younger kids than Ezra's Gamble and Edge of the Galaxy.