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by Mike Fichera, RTM |
Last night, we may have seen a glimpse of things to come. Lines. Across the country, thousands were on line waiting...waiting with other eager, anxious fans. Star Wars fever is reaching a crescendo this month as the countdown towards May 19th, the opening of Star Wars:Episode 1 marches on. At the end of this line, however, there was not a box office. Rather, fans were on line for their first chance at Hasbro's new line of Phantom Menace toys! RTM was there in the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania last night and barely made it to work this morning alive! Midnight Madness struck selected Toys R Us, Kay Bee, FAO Schwartz, and other stores across the U.S. |
My adventure began at 11:30pm. Heading out to the King of Prussia mall, camera and adrenaline ready, I set out on the highway leaving loved ones and common sense behind. Ready to hop onto I-76 west to the mall, the dark side of the force pulled me towards exiting onto I-76 EAST, where you cannot turn around for another 7.5 minutes. ARRRG! I'm late!!!
I made it to Toys R Us outside of the mall by 5 minutes to midnight. I thought 5 or 10 other eager fans who had no use for sleep would be there. Boy was I wrong! The lot was packed, and a line stretched out along the wall of I'd say 75 people. I can only imagine the lines wrapping around the block for the tickets in a few weeks! As I snapped some pictures, the crowds welcomed me with "Hey! That's evidence! Destroy the film!"
The crowd waits patiently outside
TRU
(apologies for this poor picture - the 1 hour developer put half
on one picture, half on another!)
There, I met some anxious fans and some friends of RTM and the Buzz Board. Hey guys!
Buzz Boarder answers,
"How many of each are you getting?"
12:00 struck. Out came security - Imperial Troopers!
These guys meant business and were there to make
sure the store opened not a minute too soon.
Commands from Imperial officers squaked over their comlinks. They weren't too pleased with my photography, but I quickly recalled the ol' Jedi mind trick. The feeble-mindedly muttered, "This isn't the geek we want...Move along! Move along!"
One guy did made the mistake of mentioning words like "Endor" and "Ewoks" and "sticks and stones". No toys for him. He was never seen again.
"Star Wars..nothing but STAR WARS, yeah!"-Bill Murray
Well, the crowd calmly walked inside, single file, and walked to the display area. Nah, there was a big ol' mob scene in the front of the store! I figured "hey, I bet they're in the back too, where nobody is going!" Well, like my move down I-76 East, my sense of direction was off. Nothing in the back - everything was up by the displays in the front! Banners were displayed, music was playing! What a sight! I really didn't know what I wanted. Not much, I figured. One or two...or three...or, hey! I found 3PO! Maybe just one more...
"Adventure...excitement...a Jedi craves not these
things."
"Anyone want their picture for RTM? Anyone? Just somebody,
turn around...please?"
Most of the activity seemed to be by the action figures, understandably. That "Darth Vader Parachute Launcher" seemed to just be sitting there unnoticed.
The new Star Wars Legos were there. 12" figures were hard to find. Vehicles, Micro Machines, deluxe lightsabre swinging figures, CommTech readers (to make the figures talk to each other)...it was just awesome.
Three collections were available:
Collection 1 Assortment #84085
Collection 2 Assortment #84095
Collection 1 Assortment #84105
"Dang!
Another box of Furbys...unless...there are Furbys in
Episo....nahhhh!"
I bought *ahem* more than I wanted to...and it was off to Kay Bee and FAO, located across the street!
The mall is huge and was mostly empty, but you could follow the force and find your way through the maze! Several stores I was surprised to see open were Gene's Books, Waldenbooks, All Wound Up,The Wall, and Suncoast Motion Pictures. It's more than just toys folks!
 "Come on! I'm with RTM! I'm not gonna hurt you! Just turn around!" |
 Friendly KB employee showing off "the most expensive one we got!" |
KB had their action figures in the large bins and kiddie pools for easy pickins. It was 12:30 by this time, and things were calming down a bit. While at KB, I noticed the new lightsabres! Cool! I also noticed some kids brandishing their new lightsabres in the halls...I think I'll go over to ....
The folks at KB told me how they've stashed the goods away for a week with a big sign saying "Don't open!". There apparently a big fine if you did. So shame on you out there that peeked! They were ready to stay open till 2 or "however late it took" - and still be back to work by 10am the next day! That's dedication!
FAO Schwarz! The Schwarz was strong here, and the beautifully decorated store made me weep for my childhood.
It's the "Big" floor piano! *sigh*.
 The FAO storefront shot I never thought would come out. Go Mike! |
 The nicest FAO guy gave me a smile despite his lack of sleep. Give it up for the man! |
The new Epic Force Han, Chewie, and Ben, plus the FAO exclusive
Slave Leia and waiter R2.
A FOX news camera passed by, on their way to Toys R Us. What, no interest in RTM? Can't take the competiton, huh?
So, I headed home with my bag of goodies and in serious need of sleep. Wait, was that my exit?!!
5/3/99
Mike Fichera, Raving Toy Maniac.
Please let the boy sleep.