Scarif Stormtrooper: A New Hope

here's a sort of good news for me, i read about it last February but i did not have the time to post about it immediately..
there might be another chance for me to acquire a 3 & 3/4 inch scale, highly articulated Scarif Stormtrooper..
i saw it via Rebelscum, in a feature regarding the 2019 New York Toy Fair..
it showed that Hasbro's The Vintage Collection line will also be releasing a 3 & 3/4 inch scale Scarif Stormtrooper...

the first release of the highly articulated 3 & 3/4 inch version was with The Black Series line..
even though there was one figure which was sold through eBay within my country before, i was discouraged to buy it because of its price..
as of now, there are still lots of 6 inch scale Scarif Stormtrooper available within my country, and what i notice is that they are cheaper compared to the smaller version..
so that's the reason why i can't consider buying a Scarif Stormtrooper which costs more than Php 800..
but i don't know if i'd still have the same mindset once The Vintage Collection becomes locally available...

the first thing that needs to happen, is for the figure to actually reach my country..
it'll be a tough challenge for me if sellers will only sell it as part of a bundle, because i'll have to dispose of the unnecessary figures once again..
so it'll be better if i'd be able to buy it as an individual piece...

---o0o---

also, regarding my eBay store..
i was about to sell my last available item there, but unfortunately the buyer backed out (again)..
i can no longer recall how many buyers did that to me - bidding or buying my item first, and then convincing me later to agree to their own terms... :(

Batteries' Limit

here's a late post..
it's about my discovery last week..
and a day after that, i underwent a surgery, that is why i was not able to post about it immediately...

anyway, here's the story..
i was performing the general cleaning of my room when i remembered about the batteries of my old version of Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi (my only battery-operated Star Wars unit)..
and for some reason, i just had the hunch that i need to check its status..
so i took the time to see how it is doing..
from the outside of the figure's battery compartment, everything looks fine..
the lightsaber's light is still functional as well..
but upon checking the inside, i was surprised to see that after a very long time of being there, the batteries had started to corrode...

let's see..
so this Ben Kenobi figure makes use of two (2) x 1.5 Volts A76/LR44 button cell batteries..
and it has been utilizing a certain Alkaline Cell GPA76 ever since i bought it..
i had this figure from as early as 1998, and i must say that it was really impressive that it remained operational for more or less 20 years..
but unfortunately, batteries don't last forever...

in a way i felt lucky that i had that hunch to check on it..
because of that, i was able to save my action figure from possible battery leakage..
i mean, i have seen it happened to other toys and devices before..
and it can be really messy and hard to clean or restore...

here's what it looks like when i disassembled the figure..
there were a few rust-like stains in the removable cover of the battery compartment, but it was still easy to clean though..
the corroded batteries had left a light greenish discoloration on the metal conductor inside the action figure (that greenish thing near the figure's left shoulder), and i was not able to completely clean it off..
the greenish discoloration is one of the usual results of having a corroded battery inside a device, and it is really hard to remove..
for the batteries, both had started to become a bit rusty, and one was a bit bloated already...

here's a closer (but blurred) look at those corroded cell button batteries..
thankfully, i was able to remove them on time...

2018 Most Wanted

so i still haven't found anything new to add to my Star Wars collection...

first reason, is because Hasbro is mostly releasing less-articulated figures lately..
second, is because it's hard to look for local toy stores or sellers who have the interesting units..
third, because it's scary to import the items from other countries nowadays, due to the possibility of having to pay massive taxes... :(


i'm still eyeing on the 3 & 3/4 inch scale Darth Revan..
Hasbro has already released a very nice 6 inch version (it actually looks better), but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the price of the 3 & 3/4 inch scale..
so far there's a single source within my country, but i can never consider its price..
well, maybe if i acquire a lot of money out of luck, then i'd probably consider that rate...

plus, the recent addition to my targets is the more articulated version of the Scarif Stormtrooper..
this one is actually a Squad Leader, and it's from the Black Series..
it was love at first sight after i saw this Stormtrooper's helmet..
the helmet is actually the first thing that i consider when buying a trooper action figure...

all featured photos in this particular post belongs to Rebelscum.com ..
so the credit goes to them...

plus here's a link to my WishList ..
just in case you know a local seller or toy store who has any of my target item...

Gungan Warrior Sold!

and there goes another one..
my 6th successful transaction as a seller on eBay ..
it was August 8, 2017 when me and the buyer were finally able to personally close this deal..
it was my 2nd time to do a meetup..
and now i only have 1 item left to sell...

Gungan Warrior..
another item which unfortunately acquired some mold-like formation inside its packaging..
i wanted to sell it a price not lower than Php 500.00, but i had some changes in mind since the mold-like stuff started to show up, so i lowered it to just Php 400.00..
i was about to adjust its starting auction price to Php 450.00, since the condition is not that bad..
but someone has already placed a bid for it..
and eventually, this item has been won through the auction...

its logical value is also Php 542.00..
but the circumstances has lowered it to only Php 400.00..
so that's a Php 142.00 loss for me...


my last statistics was:
Number of Units: 119
Total Value (in Php): 59,760 +
Estimated Rate (in Php): 502.18

and after selling my Gungan Warrior, my Estimated Rate (Total Value / Number of Units) went up again:
Number of Units: 118
Total Value (in Php): 59,360 +
Estimated Rate (in Php): 503.05

Orrimaarko (Prune Face) Sold!

so here goes my latest transaction as a seller on eBay , that's my 5th by the way..
it was July 24, 2017 when i finally let go of this item..
now that's just about 3 months since my last deal..
and now i only have 2 mint items left..
with 1 just awaiting for the instruction of its current buyer...

Orrimaarko, a classic Star Wars character, who has also been bought from my store numerous times..
but none of those previous bidders really committed to buying it..
i originally intended to sell it at a price not lower than Php 500.00, since he is a popular classic character..
but unfortunately for me, some mold-like stuff formed inside its packaging..
i thought to myself that, yes it is in MINT condition and the card still looks excellent, but who would want to buy it with those silly, dirty-looking stuff inside...?

and so i decided to lower the starting auction price to just Php 400.00..
its value is actually Php 542.00 if i'm to strictly refer to the bundle to which it belongs..
but Php 400.00, i think, is good enough for something that is no longer at top condition...


my last statistics was:
Number of Units: 120
Total Value (in Php): 60,160 +
Estimated Rate (in Php): 501.33

and after selling Orrimaarko, my Estimated Rate (Total Value / Number of Units) went up again:
Number of Units: 119
Total Value (in Php): 59,760 +
Estimated Rate (in Php): 502.18

i'm almost running out of items to sell on eBay..
and i'm thinking of what else can i offer online...

The Sweating Jabba

Thank You! :)

first of all, i would like to thank everyone for helping this blog reach 20,000 Hits..
i know i haven't had a good update for a while..
but that's because it's hard to search for my target action figures within my country, plus the latest 3 & 3/4 releases of Hasbro are not fully articulated...

---o0o---

(you may not notice it due to the low quality photo, but those shiny things on his belly are the 'sweat')

and for the actual update..
i have some more bad news for myself, aside from the occasional molds.. :(
it was only this July 2017 that i was able to check on my Jabba action figure again, i believe 2016 was the last time that i did..
and i was surprised to see that its lower body was very wet, with water (sweat) droplet-like particles..
i'm not sure what it was, but it's only during this year that i experienced such thing..
what i noticed is that it's extremely hot now in our country during the Summer season..
probably the result of climate change and the continuous industrialization and commercialization in our city..
and for the past months, i unintentionally placed my storage cabinet near the window, and so it was exposed to sunlight..
the lower body of Jabba is made of rubber material, unlike its upper body and most of the Star Wars action figures..
in addition, the paint material also seems different..
so i'm assuming that the 'sweating' has something to do with the rubber or the paint, because it's the only part of Jabba that became wet..
i wiped it off my action figure, and the liquid substance kinda felt sticky, and it was also erasing some of the paint...

after that, i checked on all my other Star Wars action figures, and everything looked good (well, except for the occasional molds on some of them)..
as a temporary solution, i was forced to move my storage cabinet inside my room where it can no longer get caught by the sunlight..
i just hope that it will do the trick...

Luminara Unduli Sold!

it's already my 4th successful transaction as a seller on eBay..
that's only 4 months since i last sold one..
and i'm happy that all my LOOSE figures for sale are already sold out..
but i still have 3 more to go...

again, this is another action figure that has been bought from my store, like 3 times already..
the second to the last buyer who bought it was hard to communicate with..
he was almost not replying to my online and text messages when he did a BUY IT NOW..
but suddenly, a week later or more, he was rushing me to do a meetup because he happened to be in my area..
but too bad for that buyer, i was not able to read all his messages as soon as he sent them to me...

and regarding this latest deal..
it's the first time that i did a meetup, with me being the seller..
but it turned out okay, coz we did it in a bank, so i was less worried that anything bad might happen during the transaction..
i was able to sell this particular unit for Php 250.00, while it logically costs Php 223.00...


my last statistics was:
Number of Units: 121
Total Value (in Php): 60,410 +
Estimated Rate (in Php):  499.26

and after selling this Luminara Unduli, my Estimated Rate (Total Value / Number of Units) still went up:
Number of Units: 120
Total Value (in Php): 60,160 +
Estimated Rate (in Php):  501.33

now i'm already above my preferred average rate of only Php 500.00 per action figure, regardless of their size...