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04/03/2005: The Star Wars Midnight Madness Mega Event!

Wow, the last post on here turned out to be prophetic. I found out on Wednesday that the Toys ‘R’ Us in Times Square was hosting a special version of the Midnight Madness event — the night where toy stores across the country open their doors at 12 AM to give Star Wars nuts first dibs on all the new Revenge of the Sith merchandise. I’m sure a few of you attended the event in your area, but at this particular TRU, it wasn’t just about toys — it was about costumed M&M’s dressed as Star Wars characters, giant Darth Taters and enough “real” Stormtroopers to take down the city. Quite a night we had — check out the four page report!

So yes, the Sith-craze has officially begun. The stuff is just everywhere. We’ve covered similar phenomena when Shrek 2 and The Hulk came out, but it’s a little different this time, since I actually, you know, like Star Wars. I’ll review as much of the crap as time allows, but let’s start with a big one: tongue-coloring Star Wars Cheetos!

Yes, “Cheetos Twisted” snacks, all dolled up for Revenge of the Sith. Apparently, food companies at large were simultaneously handed research results proving that kids across the world are more inclined to eat things filled with dried food coloring…thus, the Cheetos turn one’s tongue either “Yoda Green” or “Darth Vader Dark.” Incredible. They’ve even got Chester wearing the black helmet and swinging a lightsaber on the package, along with a few other images the serve the church of sacreligion.

Illustrated above, moisture makes the cheesy twirls let go of their inner secret colors, staining everything they touch either green or black. What fun! Though I’m sure many will buy these for the novelty factor, I don’t think every kid at school’s gonna want a lunchtime snack that makes their mouth area look so dirty. As if Cheetos didn’t leave enough messy residue already.

That’s all for now — if you participated in any of the midnight events or hit the stores over the weekend, let us know what you picked up! I plan on hitting TRU everyday till I land myself a red Royal Guard. Disgustingly, I’m pretty excited about doing that.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 135 comments

Just Wow….

Ghosted by SuperRecoome @ 04/03/2005 7:58 PM EDT


Ewww…

Ghosted by Mechageo @ 04/03/2005 8:13 PM EDT


Did Knacks and Kuse make an appearance?

Ghosted by Carri @ 04/03/2005 8:55 PM EDT


Is there a way of telling what cheeto is going to turn your tounge what? If not that’s just going to be a disaster in your mouth.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 04/03/2005 9:02 PM EDT


Matt, first off, as a long-time "Star Wars" fan myself, let me tell you…you are envied. MAJORLY envied. I’m 45 minutes from the nearest Toys R Us, but I’ll hopefully be making a mall pilgrimge within the next two weeks or so, so god willing, I’ll see all those great new toys. What I WON’T see are the guys dressed as everything from Bobba Fett to stormtroopers mingling with a New York crowd on a rainy spring night. That’s the kind of "happening" that only happens once every few years, if that.

And Darth Tater. My god, I MUST have Darth Tater. I’ve been wanting an excuse to replace my much-loved childhood Mr. Potato Head anyway, and here he is. And he even pulls off cute with one of the nastiest villians in film history. Gotta love it.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 04/03/2005 9:06 PM EDT


Here’s a couple of connections…

On Cheetos: X-E covered a Shrek version that used the same tongue-coloring gimmick.

On Star Wars @ TRU: It’s the same TRU that played host to the article where I met Skeletor and Mario Lopez.

Ghosted by Matt @ 04/03/2005 9:42 PM EDT


Star Wars Cheetos: it’s like there’s a party in my mouth, and everyone’s throwing up. What kind of funky focus group did they have?

Ghosted by Road Block @ 04/03/2005 9:58 PM EDT


Isn’t Darth Tater just darling?

Ghosted by eight-bit @ 04/03/2005 10:44 PM EDT


For those curious, here’s what I’ve picked up so far…

Figures: Padme, Palpatine, Dooku, Blue Senate Guard, Chewbacca, Vader, 3P0, R2, Anakin, General Grievous, and somehow, I ended up with two Mon Mothmas. I had the fever.

Exclusives: Holographic Yoda x3, plus I just ordered two of the Early Bird kits from Walmart’s website. Went to two of the stores on Saturday morning and the people working there had no idea what I was asking for. If you’re interested in that, I strongly suggest ordering from the site before it’s gone forever. Now I just need that Target Lava Vader. :)

Dolls: Ultimate Villain Anakin & Darth Sidious. Didn’t get the Clone Trooper, but he looked pretty rockin.

Other: Darth Tater, some new small Lego set based on Vader’s grand unveiling, and of course, the Darth Vader Voice Changer.

Plus a bunch of food-related items I plan to keep until 2045, at which time they will be eaten.

I’ll probably keep going with the Sith stuff since I’m off to such a strong start, and besides, the packaging is way nicer with these than on most of the figs that have come out in recent years.

I almost forgot how fun this was. Thank the Lord I work across the fucking street from a TRU…how absolutely perfect.

Ghosted by Matt @ 04/03/2005 10:52 PM EDT


Now this is the article I was waiting for!! I didn’t go to the midnight unveiling but I went to K-MART, TRU, TARGET, and WAL-MART yesterday. I only bought the new Darth Vader BUT Target bput some of their "older" stuff on clearance. I got a blue lightsaber for 1.74!!
Hands down, WALMART had the best display. It is no Times Square but at least my town has all of these shops (starwenn, you have my sympathies). They had couple of big displays and a cutout that let you could talk into a sound like Vader.
TRU had a nice display and Target had people taking pictures (XE fans??) and loading up shopping carts.
I guess I will have to nickel and dime the figures for the next 40 years…..

Ghosted by The Manimal @ 04/03/2005 10:56 PM EDT


Oh yeah, I got a TON of food items too and mailed off for some of the KELLOGG’s premiums. I have some of the boxes in the classroom already (!).

Ghosted by The Manimal @ 04/03/2005 10:57 PM EDT


Shit, no TRU within 100 miles. I really would have loved to go to this. I attending the Episode I Midnight Madness in California, and while I was broke and couldn’t buy anything, I had a blast. I can’t believe the Episode II MM passed me by.

Matt, you live in, what, an apartment? With another person? You sleep outside or something?

Ghosted by Mr. Mr. Mr. @ 04/03/2005 11:13 PM EDT


Hey, the target Darth Vader is available on their website now. Hurry, supplies are limited! I’d paste the address to it here but it would totally screw up your formatting, and I wouldn’t want to do that to you. http://www.target.com there is a link right on the front. Plus, what is with you lack of Jedi?? That’s all I bought. Jedi are sweet.

Ghosted by Mike @ 04/04/2005 12:02 PM EDT


The cheese doodles scare me.

Ghosted by Modern Day Pirate @ 04/04/2005 12:13 PM EDT


Everyone needs to check out that link at the bottom of the article, since Ted Leo is pretty much the best thing ever. And the Ditty Bops are freaking adorable.

That article made my night as it was, but Ted Leo covering Kelly Clarkson? Solid gold.

Ghosted by Jeffster @ 04/04/2005 12:16 PM EDT


WHOA. Great coverage, you really captured the mood. Darth Tater is the coolest, but that Obi-Wan M is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

I just saw the ad for the LEGO® Star Wars™ video game today, and it got me a little giddy. I’ve been anticipating Sin Cith and Hitchhiker’s a lot, but haven’t really gotten excited over Star Wars until now. I’ll probably end up going on opening night, but I don’t think I’d be willing to wait as long as I had to for the last two movies.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 04/04/2005 12:45 PM EDT


It was a sad night in the end.
I dragged my poor girlfriend to the local Toys R Us store. One store which in fact I had fond memories of as a kid. In comparison to the May ‘99 unveiling (which there were like 500 people on line) there were about 50 or so this time. I watched as greedy hands and desperate collectors tore apart the store to fufill their sick, dirty, habit. I looked on, only merely to see some of the neat stuff I do not need nor can I afford. In the end I left with nothing. I knew this was a benchmark moment. I had spent too much time when I was younger collecting hunks (of beautiful well sculpted plastic) of plastic that would collect dust in storage. This was the beginning of the end of my youth. It was fun to live thrrough the younger kids buying crap with bright eyes and reckless abandon. I knew it was time to move on. I felt kinda empty by the time I had hit the car. At 26, the saga had ended.

Ghosted by Jerry Horror @ 04/04/2005 1:06 AM EDT


I also must express my affections for The Ditty Bops. I work at Barnes and Noble and their CD has been one of our plays for a couple monnths. First time I heard it, I said to all my coworkers that I’m marrying those gals.
About Star Wars, I don’t have much to say. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, they say. As for me, ignorance is bliss. On the other hand, I have a Darth Tater and I love the little fella.
Matt, I must give acclaim to your Leia’s-failure-to-rescue-Han reference. It’s a moment not much discussed, but always revered, and always relevant.
By the by, I read the last three pages of the novelization–the twist ending is that Anakin rejects the darkside creating a timespace paradox in which IV, V, and VI never happen and dissappear from store shelves across the country and from our minds.

Ghosted by inkmage @ 04/04/2005 1:33 AM EDT


When I was a kid the Jawa figure was the hardest to come by. We used to wait at K-Mart until they put new ones out.

Ghosted by Joe in OH @ 04/04/2005 1:43 AM EDT


I am currently eating the "Darth Mix" peanut dark chocolate M & M’s. I can feel my brain dissolving.

Ghosted by phunqsauce @ 04/04/2005 2:01 AM EDT


That was a fantastic read! Darth Tater needs to be one of an entire line of potato Star Wars toys. I’d kill to see a potato Han riding a non-potato Tauntaun.

P.S. I think these are two typos, and normally you appreciate those being caught:

"One to keep, one to open and one to sell one of you poor freaks for three hundred dollars."

"… along with a few other images the serve the church of sacreligion."

Ghosted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 04/04/2005 4:58 AM EDT


There’s something special about seeing a box containing Darth Vader with a message on the packaging saying: "WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD".

Ghosted by Photoboy @ 04/04/2005 6:47 AM EDT


Eddie — thanks!

"Sacreligion" is a gag word that sounds better than it reads.

The other one is jumbled a bit, yes, I’ll fix that later, yes.

Photoboy: Hell yes.

Ghosted by Matt @ 04/04/2005 9:11 AM EDT


I always thought that a good Star Wars food tie-in the Lucas people overlooked was the Han Solo frozen in carbonite chocolate bar. Maybe some kinda white chocolate Han inside the dark chocolate carbonite. Then I could eat him. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Now I know why they backed off from it.

Ghosted by Dags @ 04/04/2005 9:18 AM EDT


Ah, you didn’t manage to buy Aayla Secura, which I tore apart the local TRU on Sunday looking for. If you’d found one, I’d have to kill you. Oddly enough, they had plenty of Luminaras, which was the figure I kept looking for for episode II and never managed to find.(Granted, the ep III sculpt of Luminara stinks compared to the ep II one. The entire reason I wanted her was because of the dynamic pose.)

Anyway, regardless of the movie, Episode 3 has already provided a few positives. It has made dark chocolate M&Ms commonly available.

Also, Twi’lek boobies.

Ghosted by Regault @ 04/04/2005 9:26 AM EDT


I too, indulged myself, but not to the same degree as the more fanatical.

I got up and headed to Walmart at about 730 on Saturday morning.

After perusing the figures there (still wish i’d've grabbed a jedi starfighter) i headed to Target, where i had a $1 off EVERY figure coupon. Granted, the prices BEFORE coupon amounted to my $1 off being good for $.25 off the Walmart price, but hey, it’s a quarter. If anyone wants to argue that logic, please send me your quarters!!!

I picked up the Target Exclusive Vader, Yoda, Grievous (standard, not deluxe), Grievous’ bodyguard, and Ayla Secura.

Can anyone tell me which figures (aside from the store exclusives) are supposed to be the hard to get ones???

Ghosted by bad karma @ 04/04/2005 10:08 AM EDT


It seems the red royal guard and #33 and up are the harder to find ones. If you really need your star wars toy fix head over to rebelscum.com that’s rebel scum, not rebels cum. I don’t wanna sound queer or anything, but i think the second one is pretty funny.

Ghosted by Mike @ 04/04/2005 10:12 AM EDT


This would have been cool if it was true. I kind of hoped it was. Check out the March 31, 2005 entry. (or pick up the latest Wizard Magazine)

http://comicriot.blogspot.com/

Ghosted by JLAJRC @ 04/04/2005 10:23 AM EDT


Regault, i just noticed you were tearing up TRU for Aayla. I’ll sell you mine…

…for $300. =)

Ghosted by bad karma @ 04/04/2005 10:27 AM EDT


Wow…just wow. I suddenly realized that Lucas is going to need to buy another ranch to store his money.

Ghosted by Jeff Mack @ 04/04/2005 10:38 AM EDT


Thanks Mike!!!

Wish I’d've had this list on Saturday! Most of them were at my fingertips.

I didn’t know…i didn’t know…

Ghosted by bad karma @ 04/04/2005 10:45 AM EDT


I bought Darth Tater on Sunday but I think I might have to go back for the Blue Royal Guard, it’s too cooh looking.

I bought Palpatine for 50 cents at a yard sale that same Sunday.

The 12" Anakin looks cool from far away but when you really look at it you can tell it’s a rehash of a 12" 90’s GI JOES that are more like a muscled up Ken doll then a posable action figure. They are cool, but not 50 dollars cool.

Most of Wal-Marts toy section is Star Wars! Two main aisles are filled with large box displays filled with legos, action figures, and books and there are lots of stand-ups everywhere in the store. Then there are two sections in the action figure asile with star wars. Very neat.

Ghosted by Kennef @ 04/04/2005 11:23 AM EDT


Matt Great article, having had to stock our local tru star wars feature zone, I swore I wouldnt look at another figure for weeks, , lol. WRONG! came home and read your treatment on Ill keep my eyes peeled out here for a red guard for you. Thanks for making it worthwhile to stock those shelves with all those yodas.

Ghosted by Fast Framin Tessa @ 04/04/2005 12:31 PM EDT


The missed opportunity? Not finding a way to photo all three Vaders ogether! Were I there, I would have used all my secret power to tweak Fate and get them together, but on retrospect, waayyy too many heads would have ’sploded. What I miss most, from the first blitz back in the 70’s, is the metric tons of rip-offs. Literally overnight, the bags of army guys, cowboys and indians, and their tanks and horses, were replaced by aliens, robots, and starships that hurt like hell when you stepped on them with bare feet.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 04/04/2005 12:33 PM EDT


I just watched the Episode III trailers for the first time… how… mind-blowingly awesome!

I wasn’t expecting the level of anticipation I’m currently experiencing.

Ghosted by Carri @ 04/04/2005 12:33 PM EDT


My entire weekend was consumed in a mix of alcohol and toy buying…I was at the midnite madness at our TRU, and one of the 12 who were lucky enough to get the yoda. Then on the way home I blew out a tire on my car…by the time I got home I was so angry I just stayed up all nite and headed to Target first thing the next morning for my lava vader…and yes I also snagged the Darth Tater…which is now my 2nd favorite thing in my SW collection

Ghosted by oldschool @ 04/04/2005 12:44 PM EDT


Hi Matt! Thanks for such an excellent coverage on the debut of the Sith craze! I got meself a Darth Tater too recently, way before it was out officially in stores. :) I am a great appreciator of what you do on XE Matt, but with all due respect, when are you gonna do away with the Xmas decos already? :P

Ghosted by Fairy Mahdzan @ 04/04/2005 12:50 PM EDT


I wasn’t one to be bothered by the Christmas decorations, but now I’m fully behind a campaign to tear them town and throw up some SW theme and start a countdown to Vader.

Ghosted by Carri @ 04/04/2005 1:01 PM EDT


That was a great enrty! I was the lone Death Star Gunner in Times Square that evening. And yes, I was caught up in the excitement too!! I’m glad this was a positive experience for you. It’s always nice to help provide the illusion of the Star Wars Universe to grateful fans! Thanks again for the kind words.

Ghosted by Diane (TieDi) @ 04/04/2005 1:51 PM EDT


RE the Boba Fett costume

Because I’m a dork, I’ve got the Boba Fett figure from EpII hanging off my computer. That dude’s costume is an almost perfect reproduction of that figure, down to the crotch plate damage.

It does look a little off, if you’re comparing it to the original Fett figure/character, but it’s an exact copy of the EpII Fett.

Jesus I’m a dork.

Ghosted by That Guy @ 04/04/2005 1:53 PM EDT


holy jesus, mother and sith!!!! (yeah, that’s not a typo)

I hadn’t been so stunned since I found out that the Alien kubrick toys open their mouths to let the tiny second jaws come out…

I’d have given at least five of my 20 fingers/toes (no matter which) to be there and to take a Darth Tatter with me…

It’s the biggest and most amazing Star Wars orgy I’ve ever seen and I’m sure the general cosmic feeling had to be simply awesome.
oh my oh my…can’t wait for the release…

and this time I’ll go dressed up as Darth Vader…it’s the last oportunity to do do…I’ll be a geek for the last time :)

Ghosted by melonian @ 04/04/2005 2:38 PM EDT


Well, I went there during the lunch break…

Incredible. Tons of collectors (kids too, but mostly collectors) were still lurking around. TRU’s taken to just throwing hundreds of action figures in giant bins…kind of silly, because nearly half of the packages got so busted up that I can’t see anyone possibly buying them.

Picked up a Clone Trooper, Super Battle Droid and REGULAH! Battle Droid.

It’s safe to say that, at least in my area, the red Royal Guard and Grievous’ bodyguard are two of the toughest to find. Haven’t seen a single of each yet.

Ghosted by Matt @ 04/04/2005 2:50 PM EDT


Just got back from lunch, and stopped by Wal-Monolith to scope out the toys. Now, I really want Darth Tater! And Greivous’ stylin’ mono-bike! And both the TV games! Anyone who lives close to my part of Oklahoma might want to swing by the Anadarko store to see if they have any thing you can’t find anywhere else. We may be out-of-the-way, but at least we’re hard to find.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 04/04/2005 2:59 PM EDT


Matt, as you know, I work in a KB store here on LI (the West Babylon store if you ever trek out here).

And we had a LOT of Grievous’s Bodyguards here. And I did come across a Red Palace Guard. The nerds that were in there either bought it and I didn’t notice it (I rang them up) or I put it away and couldn’t find it again.

Amd I have not seen the Blue Senate Guard here. One of the rarest figures here was regular Vader.

Ghosted by Invader Norbert @ 04/04/2005 3:05 PM EDT


I’ve seen plenty of Vaders here, yet TRU was limiting sales on him and Grievous to one per customer.

Ghosted by Matt @ 04/04/2005 3:11 PM EDT


Target offers a $900 Vader mask. I’m curious, is anyone here, or anywhere for that matter, fanatical enough to spend that much?

Also, interestingly, the Halloween costume version of the mask from amazon.com costs around $55, which is more than twice as much as the much cooler voice changing toy mask.

On an unrelated note, am I the only one who roots for the empire when they watch the original trilogy?

Ghosted by Jeff @ 04/04/2005 3:53 PM EDT


Apperently, I’m always cheering for the wrong side when I watch certain westerns.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 04/04/2005 3:57 PM EDT


Heeeeey, I saw a few red guards. Why are they so special now when a few years ago they were out and weren’t so popular?

Ghosted by Kennef @ 04/04/2005 4:04 PM EDT


Kennef: Plastic robes suck. Cloth robes rock.

Ghosted by Matt @ 04/04/2005 4:27 PM EDT


I was just at wal-mart and they had a bunch of vaders, I saw a grievous bodyguard, but what I’m really jonesing for is a red royal guard. I love those guys. And cloth robes are totally bomb ass sweet!

Ghosted by Mike @ 04/04/2005 5:03 PM EDT


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