A day after splurging on my Star Wars The Black Series Snowspeeder with Dak Ralter (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary) collectible, temptation once again gets the best of me!
This time around, I caved to the lure of the Dark Side – or the endorphin high from finding (and buying) a new Star Wars figure to add to my collection – and pre-ordered Hasbro’s upcoming Star Wars The Black Series Luke Skywalker & Yoda (Jedi Training) two-figure set, which comes out on September 1 as part of Hasbro and Lucasfilm’s commemoration of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back‘s 40th Anniversary.
I’ve been collecting Star Wars action figures for 42 years; I received two of the original 3.75-inch “micro-action figures (Artoo Detoo and See Threepio) and the Landspeeder for my 15th birthday in 1978, and my fondness for Kenner and (later) Hasbro has been one of the few constants in my life that has gone unchanged.
I was never a completist-type of Star Wars collector; even when I tried (and nearly succeeded) to get all of the original Kenner 3.75-inch figures, I never tried to go after everything Kenner or other licensees had to offer. I never, for instance, went after the larger 12-inch figures Kenner made of some of the major characters. And even when it concerned the collection I was interested in, I stuck to the rule of “If it wasn’t in the movies, I’m not buying it.”
I’ve pretty much cooled down on collecting Star Wars “stuff” since the 2010s. Mainly because it’s not an inexpensive hobby; the basic Star Wars The Black Series six-inch scale figure has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $19.99, which in today’s economy isn’t that much more expensive than a figure of the same scale and quality might have cost back in 1980….once you factor in inflation. I do have adult responsibilities now, so every time I splurge on something I have to mull it over before I hit the Order button at Amazon or Best Buy or anywhere else that I buy Star Wars movies, books, figures, or other…stuff.
I actually spied this upcoming release yesterday when I was finalizing my order of the Snowspeeder with Dak Ralter and the Luke Skywalker (Snowspeeder Pilot) figure I added to complement it on Amazon. (The algorithms on Amazon are probably something that Emperor Palpatine created for Jeff Bezos as a sideline from ruling the galaxy, because they are truly seductive digital creatures!) Amazon showed me this and a bunch of other hard-to-resist figures (including, natch, a 40th Anniversary Star Wars The Black Series 6-inch scale Boba Fett!
When I saw this rare two-pack of Luke Skywalker & Yoda (Jedi Training) my first reaction was, “Nah. I shouldn’t. Nice figures, but I am running out of space to store my collectibles!”
However, the inner teen in me isn’t exactly sober-minded or a devotee of the “moderation in all things” philosophy, so I was plagued by thoughts along the lines of, “Sure, you don’t want this super-cool two-figure set now when it’s relatively affordable, but later, when you do want one, it will be available only through third-party sellers who will want an arm and leg for Luke Skywalker & Yoda (Jedi Training), and you’ll be unable to afford it then.”
So, yep. I did it. Again.
To borrow – and totally mangle – a line from another favorite film from my youth:
“We’re gonna need a bigger house.”
A Certain Point of View, Too 
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