TOYS: The force is cute in this one

TOYS: The force is cute in this one

Oh man, they're so freakin' cute. I have a new addiction - the Star Wars Galactic Heroes toys, which are about 2"-2 1/2" high miniature action figures of the Star Wars characters, done in a somewhat cutesy style with exaggerated features. They're different than the standard Kenner figures, with less articulation, and a smaller line of about 10-20 figures I think. And at the age of 33, I am buying them every chance I get. The first one, of C-3P0 and Chewbacca, I convinced myself I was buying for Baby Peter (sure, they say ages 3-8 on the package, but he'll appreciate them later). But somehow or another I ended up finding the ultra-cute ruthless killer bounty hunters Bossk and 4-LOM in the mini-figure format, and well I do like my bounty hunters, and anyway that's how I've come to have several jaunty cute-ified Star Wars figures around the computer at work. Their tiny size makes them quite compelling to touch. I like to fondle them during particularly stressful periods. I do this covertly. Frankly, I love how they make bounty hunting mercenaries and intergalactic despots like Darth Vader adorable - it's kind of like finding a Barbie doll of Osama Bin Laden, when you think about it.



Like pretty much every red-blooded American lad in my generation, I had a fine collection of Star Wars action figures in my day, back when "somewhat disappointing prequels" wasn't even a conceivable thought. It wasn't the biggest collection on the block but it was decent, at least until in a momentary lapse of sanity I sold half of them in a yard sale circa 1982. Aaarrgh! Anyway, while I still pick up an occasional action figure now, there's too danged many to collect and maintain that you're only doing it for ironic kitsch value rather than, say, because a small glowing piece of your soul is forever trapped back in the toy aisle of Rascoe Drugs circa 1981 or so, searching for that brand-new Imperial Snowtrooper figure.

The mini-figures are a perfect solution. Cheap - $5 per package of two - and small and portable, without little teeny-tiny accessory guns and such that end up in the vacuum cleaner, and really, there's nothing wrong with having a few toys in one's life, is there? Is there?