Tag Archives: Luke Skywalker

Wales Comic Con Strikes Back – part 1

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Wales Comic Con

Saturday 23rd April to Sunday 24th April 2016

Glyndwr University, Wrexham

It was time for another fun family day out in Wrexham, for Wales Comic Con.  Time to charge up the landspeeder and head over for more sci-fi shenanigans at Glyndwr University…

Following on from the success of last year’s events, Wales Comic Con is now spread over a whole weekend.  This was a good move, as there seemed to be less crowds this year  – without losing any of the welcoming spirit.

Tell your lad hes been a naughty boy!
Bane
Captain America Minion
Stunning Morticia
Aladdin and Jafar

We headed over on the Sunday, and though the weather wasn’t as amazing as this time last year, it still managed to remain fairly decent.  No matter, there were plenty of things to see and do, both inside and out, at the Con.

Although the guests weren’t of particular interest to me personally, it was nice to see a good amount of celebs in attendance.  The celeb who I was most thrilled to see was none other than Justin Lee Collins, who I didn’t know was there.  Most of the females in the vicinity seemed to be very taken with Jason “Aquaman” Momoa…

Eddie
With the troops
Flight crew
Deadpool
Captain and Cat

The amount of merchandise on sale appeared to be greater than previous, which was a bonus.  We splashed out on a few items, namely a cuddly Harley Quinn doll, a Walking Dead mug and some (delicious) peanut butter fudge.

The highlight, as ever, were the Cosplayers – dressed as all manner of characters from every facet of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror that you could imagine.  Yet again, the ingenuity and creativity on display was astonishing.  I took load of photos, which you can see here.  Despite my best camera having gone to the great Jessops in the sky, they mostly turned out OK.

Princesses and a scoundrel
Joker and Two Face
Harley and Winter Soldier
Fantastic Ariel
Fred

So a big thank you to everyone who posed for a photo.  Everyone was very friendly and happy to be photographed – they were all super stars!

Speaking of Cosplay, my daughter Eloise was dressed as Princess Leia again and looked fantastic!  Quite a few people commented how great she looked, and asked for her photo!

Punisherette and Two Face
Princess, Luke and Yoda
Disney Princesses
Anarchy at the Con
Supergirl and man

This was also the first time I tentatively dipped my toes in the water of costuming at an event also.  After having been chided by various people at Sci Fi Weekender for not dressing as Tony Stark, I decided to give it a go.  I wore the same Black Sabbath that Tony wears in the film, and relied on my beard for the rest.  It was OK and a couple of people knew who I was supposed to be.  No one asked for my picture though…

Robert Downey Jr?
Loki vs Thor

I should also say that the staff seemed to be very helpful and efficient also.

All in all a grand day out for the Platinum Al family.  Looking forward to more later in the year!

The Wales Comic Con website is here.

It turns out that I have loads of half decent photos from Wales Comic Con.  Stay tuned for part 2 soon!

Penelope Pitstop
Mr Kent
Harley and Ivy
Wicket and Leia
Call of Cthulhu

Star Wars Day – X-Wing Fighter Photos

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Happy Star Wars Day!

It’s the 4th of May, and to celebrate Star Wars Day I thought I’d share with you some photos of something from my toy collection.  I’ve been collecting Star ars figures since I was five years old (a very long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away).  So it’s about time I featured some of those toys at the Virtual Hot Tub.  And what better time than now?

We have here a fairly recent item, Hasbro’s X-Wing Fighter released in 2013.  This was an exclusive for Toys R Us stores, luckily we got it in the UK too.  Any fan can tell straight away that this is actually Biggs Darklighter’s ship that he flew in the Battle of Yavin.  Biggs was Luke Skywalker’s childhood friend from Tatooine, though the assualt on the Death Star in Episode IV would be his last mission.

Box image
The toy

This item was release when Hasbro were re-visiting the classic packaging desing from the 70’s/80’s with their Vintage line.  It nicely mimics the original box artwork, but is updated with new shots.

The ship itself is a joy.  Nicely recreated in plastic, with loads of detail and nice features.  The wings open into attack position; the landing gear deploys and hides away nicely; and there’s even a hidden proton torpedo for if you get close enough to the exhaust port.  This X-Wing is larger than the original toy from years gone by, and more accurate in scale.

My absolute favourite feature of this ship is in the cockpit.  Yes, the targeting computer pulls forward and into position for the pilot to use the view finder!  Awesome.

Also shown here is the Biggs Darklighter action figure from the 2013 Black Series.  He’s a nice sculpt, though as I already owned a previous (very good) rendition of this figure I nearly didn’t buy him.  I’m glad I did – the older version doesn’t fit in the X-Wing cockpit, but this newer one does.  Removable helmet too!

Biggs figure before I opened it…

To finish things off, I added R2-Q2 – the droid who flew with Biggs in the Death Star attack.  There’s a handy slot behind the cockpit for rhis R2 unit to fit into.  R2-Q2 is from the 2006 Astromech Droid Pack Series 1.  He’s had a long wait for his ride to show up.

I waited a while to pick this ship up, and eventually the price came down in TRU.  It would have been worth paying full whack for though.

Enjoy Star Wars Day everybody.  May the Force be with you!

Star Wars Episode VII – Why I’m not thrilled about the sequels

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Those of you who know me well, will know that I am a fan of Star Wars.  Just ever so slightly.  Oh alright then, I’ve been completely obsessed with that galaxy far, far away since I was five years old.  You may be surprised that this is my first Star Wars themed blog post on the Virtual Hot Tub, infact.  However, you may be more surprised about my feelings for the new Star Wars sequels.

I remember being sat at this very computer on that day in October 2012, when Disney announced it’s acquisition of Lucasfilm – and the planned seventh episode of the saga.  I was not impressed.

Not that Disney being the home of the saga bothered me.  At the end of the day, Star Wars is a kid’s film – and what better home for it than the House of Mouse?  I have no problem with that.

Final Episode

What bothers me is setting the new films after Return of the Jedi.  The sixth episode has been the final episode for a long time.  Sure, I wanted to see more films back in 1983, when I was a kid.  But as I’ve grown older, I’ve been happy with the conclusion of the series.  It’s an upbeat ending.  The Empire is defeated, the Alliance is victorious – peace and freedom from oppression is restored to the galaxy.  It’s exactly what the story needs, and it’s perfect in it’s intention (if not always it’s execution).

But if that’s not the end, then what’s next?  If the battle against evil goes on, then to some extent the sacrifices and hardships of the “middle” trilogy lose some of the potency.  Of course, in a real world, conflicts and rivalries continue.  But this isn’t the real world, it’s a fairy tale – a big, outer space fairy tale.  And there was no “Snow White 2” or “Revenge of the Wicked Step Mother” when that story arc came to an end.

EU-rrghh

I guess I’m most afraid of the horrors of the Star Wars Expanded Universe taking hold in the film versions.  I did read a lot of EU stories – novels and comics – before Episode I was released.  After that, I gave up on non-canon works as they often featured contradictions to what was appearing on screen, such as the origins of the Death Star.

Much worse than any slight inconsistencies, however, were some of the bafflingly bad concepts splurged onto the page by EU creators.  A criticism of the Star Wars EU is a topic for a whole blog post of it’s own – and I admit it’s not all bad.  I was never a huge fan of the Thrawn trilogy (too much of Zahn’s own creations with ridiculous names, not enough film characters), though other series were much worse.  The big problem I had with the EU though, was the lame device of bringing back the bad guys – Emperor Palpatine returns!  Boba Fett didn’t die!

Oh, come on.

I enjoyed many of the comics and the books set within the time frame of the original movies.  And I think this is where the big problem lies: all those brilliantly dastardly bad guys are dead.  How are they going to replace them?  One thing’s for sure – the new writers have a hell of a lot of work to do.  Let’s hope they steer clear of the EU for inspiration.  I don’t even want any sly nods to keep the fans happy.

New Talent

So talking of the new talent: is JJ Abrams up to the job? To be honest, I have never seen anything that the guy has done, so I can’t comment.  The good news is Lawrence Kasdan, who scripted Episodes V and VI, is back onboard. Thank God.  Why was he never involved in the Star Wars prequels?  Any help with answering that conundrum much appreciated.

Another interesting rumour (or more-than-rumour, these days) is the return of the original cast.  There’s been a huge amount of interest in the return of Hamill, Ford and Fisher to the saga.  I’m not sure about this either, sorry.  Baby Darth Vader in Episode I was hard enough to accept – do I really need to see a 65 year old Luke Skywalker?  I’m not sure about seeing my childhood heroes as old people.  I’d sooner they were timeless and forever as they were at the end of Jedi.

Who else will we see return?  R2-D2 will return, it has been reported.  So what about C3PO?  If we have Luke, Leia and Han, then surely we will need to have Chewie and Lando?  Please bring Chewie along, Lucasfilm – you can’t let him die in one of those awful books!

A New Hope

I don’t want to be totally negative about this new venture.  One thing that does excite me is the news of stand alone movies, possibly featuring lesser characters.  These stories could – and should – occur within the time frame (or immediately preceeding) of the earlier six films.  Again, Episode VI should be the end, but I’d love to see the early years of the Rebel Alliance.  That would be very cool.  More on this in another blog post…

Whatever adventures we experience with Episodes VII to IX, I want to be optimistic.  I’m a Star Wars fan, and I hope my fears above are wrong.  I have my doubts, though I would love them to be cast aside.  Will that happen?  In the words of one wise being: “Difficult to see.  Always in motion is the future.”

Let’s hope the Force is with us.