PixlBit

Happy Force Friday Pixlpeeps! So last night was the night to stand outside in my little piece of Southern California and wait for Toys R Us to open. I wasn’t about to wait in line of more than an hour and since I live in a small town I knew there wasn’t going to be much of a line.

 

At 11:00pm some random guy was standing in the parking lot taking a picture of his local Toys R Us. Yeah that’s the line. The local news this morning said they sent a news crew out and Target along with Toys R Us had no line. The only time there is a crazy line for something here is when Apple releases a new iDevice and the Apple Store has the line.

 

That’s me! The closest you’ll see thing you’ll see me dressed up is a pair of sneakers with neon. I don’t own any T-Shirts involving movies or TV Shows. I would however wear an Underwood 2016 shirt.

 

This was my view at 11:15ish. The last time I stood in line for something Star Wars was when I waited in line for Jedi tickets. At this point our phones had either snake or Blackjack so there was a bit more conversations with each other. Now the solo folks (like myself) spent their 45 minutes on Twitter or Facebook. I may or may not have glanced at other people’s phones.

Around 11:20 these two guys showed up behind me and the line started to grow. The two guys became those obnoxious guys who were yelling, “Who brought beer?” “Look at the size of the moon” and other random things. The last one was a line from Star Wars. I can guarantee you these guys were probably in their late teens because of the way they were acting. They were trying to get people engaged into their antics by calling out people. I think I got some of it when they said “hey you listening to cRap?” I had my headphones on listening to Adam Carolla. Yeah I was getting crap from a dude who looks like he just discovered The Ramones, earlier that day with a jean jacket without sleeves and some patches. I can’t wait for this guy to take a Poli Sci class and all of a sudden become an expert in politics.

11:30-11:40 Toys R Us manager came out, and gave us the information about what’s going on in store. The poster, and Lego Brick will be available when we leave the store. Obnoxious guy yelled out “what about (insert name of random beer)?” I was certain he was going to yell out PBR, or Rolling Rock. The manager played it off. At this point the line stretched out to the empty lot next to the store.

Ten minutes to opening the folks in front started getting up, the vibe started to get more festive, and my podcast was about finished when the manager came out and informed us that there would be another line inside for the Star Wars aisle. There would be 10 people in line at a time that would be let into the Star Wars aisle, and there was a bouncer.

 

Here is the second line. It was just like Disneyland, where once you enter the attraction you think you’re ready to hop on a ride, just to see another line. The two tables next to the entrance is like the impulse shelves at the checkout lines. The “bouncer” was telling us that they were not allowed to purchase anything until everyone in line bought their items. I was going to offer hiding a Lego set but this is the guy who wouldn’t sell me Iron Man sets, so I decided against it. Once in line I went straight for the Star Wars stuff. It turns out there wasn’t much here which sucked but I went over to the regular Lego section just to make sure. After that I was done and headed for the checkout where I got my promo stuff.

 

Oh funny thing is when I went to use the hash tag (pound sign) ForceFriday on Twitter an X-Wing shows up

 

Bonus Star Wars Pickups!

 

Here is the two-sided promo poster.

 

This is the special poster Toys R Us was giving out. Hey its that funky 3 sided lightsaber.

 

 The Special Lego Brick

 

From the impulse table I picked these two packs up

 

I wasn’t there for the Micro Machines and didn’t pickup the full sets but the blind bags looked interesting.

 

I got an X-Wing and that funky speeder bike. It’ll make more sense once I watch the movie.

 

I added a Darth Joker Poly Bag (I saw that they brought more out)

 

And the one set I wanted…and as a bonus it was at retail and no Toys R Us add on tax

 

Most likely I won’t build it until Monday because family is coming into town. I know this isn’t one of the hard to find items like the Black Series figures, but its something I wanted to add to the collection. I missed out on Slave I, twice but this is the other iconic set from Lego. I didn’t buy the 2012 release because it was too similar to the 2004 set I have. This one overall looks like a similar build except they fixed some things.

 

From earlier today I went to Target to check out what they had for their Force Friday and the Lego buildable figures are gone. I should have bought them last night but the Darth Vader had the Toys R Us tax (regular price is $30, Vader was like $33 or 34), anyways I did find a car that hasn’t been seen in around these parts in awhile

 

 

 

Chris Watches…

Below Deck: This is my absolute favorite Reality Show that’s not named The Challenge. Its on a super yacht in the Caribbean and every episode involves another wealthy group who are usually crazy, and how the crew deals with them as well as their own quirks. This is the show where I learned about Resting Bitchy Face, and how if a pan is on fire, toss it into the sea. There are four new crewmembers this season, and they seem ok, and fit into the usual mold: The chef who thinks they are the best thing on Earth, fun drunk girl, laid back deck hand, and guy who thinks his talents are being wasted. This season should be fun and they have been teasing that old chef Ben is going to make an appearance.

Big Brother: I’ve come to the realization that common sense does not work in the house. Instead of taking out the obvious final three in Austin the wrestler, and the Twins, the house is being played by Vanessa. She thinks she’s going to make it far but in reality the only one with real power is Liz. She has her sister Julia in the house, and they vote in a block, and her Showmance Boyfriend Austin who will run into a wall for this girl. Vanessa should be the next target to get booted out of the house.

 

Reddit knows about the Big Brother Drinking Game. There should have been other things like Meg hurting herself or getting hurt, the use of the term “Brass Tacks”, and Steve talking to himself.

 

Chris Roams Around…

While at the touristy Target (everything is little more expensive at this Target) I spotted this

 

A couple of days before Force Friday. I knew if I brought it to the register I would get denied because of the street date. At least Toys R Us has stopped putting Lego sets on the shelves early. Speaking of Toys R Us 

 Apparently someone has been listening to me about just releasing the Stack Down Universe figures. It’s a shame that this doesn’t include the Rock, and some of the newer wrestlers but at some point I might get this.

 

 

*I’ve decided to not have a Chris Takes Pictures portion in this Quick Hits because I think I’m going to hit around 30 pictures in this blog.

 

Pickups!

 

Music

Earlier in the week I went back to the mom & pop and they had new stock. Plus it was early in the week and the mall was empty so I could browse in peace. From the Buy 5 for $1.99 each, get 5 free

 

I decided to give Wilco a try and found four albums. When checking out the employee is a big Wilco fan and told me about them. After checking up on them apparently some of them were in Uncle Tupelo. I have Uncle Tupelo’s Greatest Hits album and I enjoyed it so this could be one of my pleasant surprises.

 

At this point I’m just trying to complete the Glee Collection. The music is hit and miss but I think I own like 9 different Glee Albums.

 

Another box set missing the actual box, but the music is the important part. Some songs on these CDs will fill some holes in my K-Earth (LA Oldies Station) playlist. Jodeci is an album I remember in stores but never bought.

 

Yup Kenny Rogers and Bob Marley. The Bob Marley CD is another album printed in Holland. That’s the only reason I bought it.

 

Million Dollar Quartet sounded interesting considering the group is Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash. This Pearl Jam single reminds me of the dorms.

 

Apparently I miscounted my CDs and only got 19 instead of 20. The Kenny Rogers Double CD threw it off. Oh well.

Last week I added these new CDs to the library

 

I bought Carly Rae Jepsen on the strength of her poppy goodness of her previous album. I never saw Fifty Shades but there are a couple of songs on this soundtrack I wanted. Can’t go wrong when Target had the deluxe version for $9.

 

Free Music!

From Google Play. All you need to do is sign into the Google Play Store with your Google Account (Gmail) and you’re golden

 

Can’t go wrong with free.

 

Non Lego Block Toys

Since the Weekend Swapmeet was a bust for me (I thought about getting an old school Oregon snapback, but closer look and the stitching was bad.) I found this at K-Mart on Clearance

 

This was released was a little too late because The Shield has already broken up.

 

The creators of this set also included an update to the instructions to use some extra. The instructions are HORRIBLE. Lego does such a good job.

 

The Shield Truck

And The Shield

Alright Pixlbit I need to do some cleaning. Have a good 3 Day Weekend. For you folks outside the US, take an extra day off and celebrate Labor Day with us!

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris

 

For this week’s song I am going with this track by a Hawaiian group Hapa called He’eia. I remember listening to this song awhile back and really liked it but didn’t know the artists. Flash forward to earlier this year, when on PBS they kept showing this special/fundraiser Over Hawaii where this song was used. Thank goodness for Shazam and I added it to my iTunes Library.