The Brent Behrenshausen Collection

The Brent Behrenshausen Collection, exclusive to The Joey Mays Story, has been uploaded and completed. You will find a Q&A section with Brent on his introductory page. You can also view over 50 pictures of his private collection.

Pictures Updated!

I have completed the renaming of all of the pictures I took over the weekend. I will now update some of the pages so you can see my stuff!

Updated Pages
Bobbleheads
Clone Wars - Animated
Gentle Giant
Master Replicas
Original Trilogy Collection
Power of the Jedi
Titanium

Updates Progressing Slowly

Unfortunately the updating is moving at a snail's pace. I just haven't found the time to do it all. I have to rename all the pictures I have taken so I know which to upload. I took well over 250 pictures so this is going to take a while. I figure I am about half way through. Brent's collection page has been updated with his Q&A. His picture page has a link to pictures on Picasa but, as you'll notice, the album is empty. I will be uploading his pictures before 5pm today. I hope to have my collection organized with pictures by Friday at noon. We shall see. Stay tuned for the latest.

The Weekend Has Come and Gone

Well the weekend that I had been looking forward to for over 6 weeks has arrived and passed. It was a lot of fun but I wish I had another day, mostly because everything felt rushed. I didn't get much time to relax and just sit with my family and friends. Adding that extra day would have smoothed things out. I have already built that extra day into my next trip home (first weekend in August - Macungie Toy Show and Fantasy Football Draft).

With that said, everything was great. The NFL draft was all I could hope for (read my recap here), as was the exchange with Brent and the Franklin Institute trip (more on each of those in the next few hours). Pictures and posts will be coming at a rapid pace over the next day or so.

My Star Wars collection experience was a bit overwhelming. I underestimated both the amount of stuff I had and the amount of time I needed to document and organize everything. Unfortunately all of the documentation was not accomplished so there will be some pictures missing :-(

UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY TODAY! I will post progress reports to let you know when sections and pictures are available. Stay tuned.

The Day Has Arrived

Tonight I leave Indiana bound for Pennsylvania. I won't be landing in Philadelphia until after 10pm (and arriving home until close to 11:30pm) but it will be great. I am going to miss Kelly a lot but I haven't seen my dad since the end of February or any of my friends since early January. It will be a very busy weekend (as outlined below) but well worth it. I am so excited!

Expect loads of updates on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. I will try to post how things are progressing. I will be uploading hundreds of pictures of my collection as well as Brent's collection.

The Home Stretch

I have been waiting for this week for a long time. Since March 14th to be precise. On that day I purchased my airline tickets to travel back to Sinking Spring, PA on Friday, April 25th. As much as I hate to leave Kelly, I am very excited for this homecoming of sorts. Here's why:

1. Family - I will get to some so members of my family for the first time since late December/early January. I left the Reading, PA area on January 2nd for the journey back to Indiana and have not been back since. I saw my parents and sister, as well as my aunt, uncle, and cousin at THON at the end of February but no one else since the Christmas break. I am excited to see my grandparents and the rest of my family this coming weekend.
2. Friends - This goes along the same line as family. I have not seen any of them since the Christmas break either. I will most likely see all of them this weekend and we are doing some things that are mentioned below.
3. Star Wars - As my main collection page says, I got back into collecting last August at the "Toy Show" during Das Awkscht Fescht in Macungie, PA. I dug out and dusted off my old collection over Thanksgiving and Christmas and have been adding to it over the last few months (which I have mentioned here numerous times). Well I will finally get to put everything together and organize the collection in my room this coming weekend. It will be a long and sometimes tedious process (a lot of photos need to be taken) but well worth it in the end. Expect a lot of updates next Tuesday and Wednesday.
4. Star Wars Exchange - I have somewhat become Brent Behrenshausen's distributor of Star Wars items. We joined forces to purchase a set of each of the first three waves of 2008 Thirtieth Anniversary Collection. This guarantees that we will have the figures we want from each wave without having to hunt them down in stores or pay egregious prices on the secondary market. I have seen waves one and two in stores but not wave three (the newest Saga Legends). Since I have a weekly toy run to Target and Wal-Mart (bi-weekly to Toys R Us) I have picked up some other figures for Brent as well. The trading and purchasing will happen Saturday morning. I'm glad to be giving these items to Brent as well as getting some money back. Lord knows I need it ;-)
5. NFL Draft - This is my favorite event of the NFL year. Yes, more than the Super Bowl (what can I say, I haven't been around when the Dolphins last played in one). The draft brings hope to all franchises, especially the one at top. That just so happens to be the Dolphins this year. They are drafting first overall for the first time since the 1960's. It could take another 40 years for it to happen again. I am going to bask in the glow since the focus of the NFL world is on Miami. And when they do something shocking and/or surprising I will be even more happy. My dad and I are having friends and family over for a little draft get-together. Corinne (my sister) will be cooking some appetizers and desserts while we order or make some pizza for dinner. I extended the invite to all owners in my fantasy football league (defending champion, holler). The draft starts Saturday at 3pm. It's gonna be crazy!
6. Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination - Bryan, Brent, Greg, Corinne, and I will be traveling to Philadelphia on Sunday morning to go to the Franklin Institute. Currently there is a traveling Star Wars exhibit there. It appears to be quite a masterpiece. It is a collection of items from the Lucas archives that contains actual props and replicas from all six movies. This is an expanded version of an exhibit that was on display at the Smithsonian in the late 1990s. I was at the Air & Space Museum either a few days before the exhibit opened or a few days after the exhibit closed. I could see into the area where it was displayed but that was it. I am extremely excited to see it in all of its glory. And now it has the prequel stuff! Plus, the day we are going the 501st Legion is trooping so you know what that means...pictures with troopers!!!

So that is an overview of my weekend. Any and all time that is available I will be working in my room on my collection. I have a lot to organize, store, and document for the site here. I have to create an updated checklist of what I have now and what I still need.

The weekend will be here before long. I should be in Sinking Spring around 11pm Friday. So excited!

A Covert Operation

If you recall this post and this post you will remember that I have been searching for some higher priced items outside of the figure realm. The second one talks about this great company called Gentle Giant that produces wonderful busts, sculptures, and statues of Star Wars characters. Besides adding a few of their miniature "Bust-Ups" I have been secretly tracking down a few of their larger, more expensive items since November. After a purchase over the weekend I am pleased to announce that my Gentle Giant Return of the Sith (or troopers with Phase 2 armor) trooper collection is all but complete. I have found and bought all five of the exclusive Clone Commander busts (Cody, Gree, Bly, Neyo, Bacara). I also previously purchased the Shocktrooper bust (and it comes with a Shocktrooper bust-up!), the standard white clone, and the 501st Legion Clone Trooper.

Click to enlarge.

My favorite is the Cody bust. He comes with a holographic emperor! That is sweeeeeet. Gree has the coolest armor in my opinion so he ranks right up there with Cody. Of all of the busts I now own I have to admit that my favorite may be the Shocktrooper.

Click to enlarge.

The coloring detail and battle-damaged look are awesome. I have a tough time picking my favorite type of trooper. I usually jump back and forth between the Shocktrooper, Utapau Shadow Trooper, and the 212th Attack Battalion.

Picture of different arms and weapons.

The busts are approximately 8 inches in height. One of the coolest features of the busts and bust-ups are that some come with interchangeable arms and weapons! I haven't seen any of these in person yet (I go home next Friday!) but I know they are going to look AMAZING in my collection. I really hope I have a room to put all of this stuff in when Kelly and I buy our first house...

501st Clone Trooper bust.

The First Ghostbusters Post

But believe me there are plenty more to come. For the first GB post on The Joey Mays Story we have a sweet comic from Truck Bearing Kibble.

Click to enlarge.

Nice. I like it. I'll have to look through that site for any more GB references.

2008 Target Exclusive Order 66 Figures Found

After a successful trip to my local Target on Friday, I returned on Sunday morning to see if they had put out the in stock Order 66 2-packs. A few registers down from the entrance I got my answer. They were sitting there...with a kid hovering around them! I could tell they had displayed a limited stock so getting one of each may prove difficult, especially with a young kid looking at them. I approached the checkout area with the 2-packs and realized the young kid was looking at the other Transformers stuff and not the Star Wars items. I noticed that they had placed 2 full sets out (presumably Saturday night for a Sunday debut) and that someone had already scarfed up half a set (why get half?). So there was one complete set left and then an extra Set 1 (Anakin and ARC Commander), Set 2 (Obi-Wan and ARC Trooper), and Set 4 (Emperor Palpatine and Commander Vill). Naturally I grabbed the last remaining full set. Feeling good about scoring these a week before the street date (April 13th), I ventured back to the toy section to see if anything new was there. They actually hadn't stocked anything at all since Friday. Oh well. I got what I came for.


Now that I have the new Order 66 2-packs the only items I'm looking for are the 2008 Saga Legends wave (a trooper collector's heaven - Commander Neyo, Utapau Shadow Trooper, Covert Ops Trooper, Shadow Stormtrooper). Since The Force Unleashed wave only debuted at my Target last week I'm going to assume that the Saga Legends won't be around for at least 2 weeks. That's a shame. It is an amazing wave. The 2008 Saga Legends will be the last retail items I purchase for a few months. Nothing new is set to debut until July 26th!

New Figures!

I stopped by Target after work yesterday and was able to grab a few figures I needed to add to my collection. They had parts of TAC 2007 Wave 7.5, 2008 Wave 1, and 2008 Wave 2 (The Force Unleashed). This is the first time I saw TFU wave at retial so I snatched the three I wanted: The Imperial Jumptrooper, the Imperial EVO Trooper, and the Shadow Guard. The rest of the wave was there minus Battle-Damaged Darth Vader. With the 2008 waves they are repacking some of the 2007 figures with stands instead of coins. I grabbed a 7th Legion Trooper with stand since he is a trooper variation. I used the DPCI numbers to check on the Target Exclusive 2008 Order 66 2-packs. They were in the stockroom! Unfortunately they weren't on the floor yet and I don't like asking employees to pull things from the back. I can wait. I'm heading back Sunday morning. I believe they stock shelves Saturday night and sometimes put out new items, like the Order 66 2-packs. The street date for the 2-packs isn't until next Sunday (April 13th) but my Target here in Indiana put out the Aayla Secura Starfighter and Battle of Kashyyyk Battle Pack more than 2 weeks early. Maybe the 2-packs will make an appearance tomorrow?

My Star Wars Collection Updates

I have added two new pages today: Wanted and For Sale. Like many of the other pages they are not complete. I think the titles are pretty self-explanatory but the Wanted page will list items I am actively searching for to add to my collection. If anyone has the item(s) or know where I can get it for a reasonable price, leave me a comment or send me an email (JMays1454@gmail.com). The For Sale page includes items that I want to sell because either (a) I have extras or (b) I no longer need it for my collection. To fulfill (b) the item is most likely a non-trooper item. The pages are currently empty but, like the rest of the pages, will be chock full of pictures and updates on April 29th and 30th. Just over three weeks until I am back with my collection!