The Hunt Is On - The Vintage Collection Figures (Triple Force Friday Edition)

First they came for Action Fleet. Then they came for Micro Machines. Then they brought Micro Machines back... only to take them again. Now, The Rise of Skywalker is set to be the first Star Wars film without its own dedicated line of 3 3/4" figures. Instead, this scale will be served exclusively by the ongoing Vintage Collection. All of this means that my once broad collecting focus has now narrowed down to one single line of products. At the very least, it's going to make this upcoming Triple Force Friday a lot less painful on my wallet.

There's both good and bad in having the Vintage Collection as the sole 3 3/4" line for TROS. The upside is that we'll be getting the best possible versions of these figures - including comprehensive accessories, super articulation, and gorgeous Photo Real face treatments. The downside is that we'll be paying more per figure, and will likely see a far more limited range of characters available (at least to begin with). There's also the issue of distribution. Stores here in Sydney are still clogged with pegwarmers from April 2018's first wave of the rebooted Vintage Collection, with no sign of the subsequent seven waves released since then. If it wasn't for the secondary market, my Star Wars action figure collecting would have ground to a halt well over a year ago.

Hopefully the full product reset on Triple Force Friday will see stores at least stock the first TROS wave of figures. With that in mind, I've now assembled an updated list of the Vintage Collection figures I'll be attempting to hunt down.

The Force Awakens in Concert (Sydney, Australia)

Ever since moving to Sydney earlier this year, my wife and I had been looking for an excuse to see a show at the Opera House. The perfect opportunity presented itself last week when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra presented a live performance of The Force Awakens.

Set to a rear-projected screening of the film under the sprawling curves of the Opera House, this was about as good as it gets (at least, short of seeing the score conducted by John Williams himself). It was a great way to start building anticipation for the release of the final film in the Skywalker saga this December.

Now we just need to squeeze in a rewatch of the The Last Jedi. Maybe on Triple Force Friday?