Star Wars Xmas continues.

Finished off Star Wars Christmas by watching The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

So the common wisdom is pretty much right on. The Empire Strikes Back holds up really well. Not a lot wrong with it, a pretty great movie. The New Hope hasn't dated as well.

I've always defended Return of the Jedi, but I have to admit that the Ewoks are hard to take. Not so much the concept of them, but how fake they look.

Then Todd and I kept forging ahead and watched the documentary that comes along with the boxed set.

I found it humorous that the "experts" wondered if the new movie would be as huge as everyone expected.

Then again, I thought I'd sell the hell out of the toys. I guess since Christmas is over and the store did really well, I can reveal that the Star Wars toy sales sucked. I'm really surprised.

I took one of the cheap 35.00 lightsabers home to give to Todd and it was big hit. It was just fun to turn it on and hear that sound, and we had a couple fights (I used the saved up wrapping paper rolls.) But, yeah, none of the big toys sold at all, and the little toys sold hardly at all.

Interesting.

Also -- we were shorted all the main characters. And they wonder why the small stores can't compete. Let me tell you, we can compete very well, but not if you don't even let us have Rey or Finn or some of the other major toys. It's pretty disgraceful in my opinion. Then again, should I be surprised that a corporation like Hasbro gives preference to the big box stores? Silly me. (Remember, I couldn't even ORDER these toys until the exact day they were released in the big box stores. This is legal behavior.) Ah, well.

There are so many things that I shrug my shoulders about nowadays. I think the corporations are incredibly short-sighted and poorly run. But the public sees them a ruthlessly efficient. They aren't efficient -- they're BIG.

Thirty years later and Pegasus Books is having our best years and Barnes and Noble and Toy R Us and Topps are on the ropes.

Karma is a bitch.