Hunting For Fighter Pods

The month of September was spent looking for my new favorite line of Star Wars toys. The Star Wars fighter pods series is now in its 3rd wave as of this month in the United States. Series 1 originally was released in February of 2012 and the 2nd wave began hitting stores in August 2012. I began hunting them down in September and my quest was to find as many of Series 2 as possible before the month was out. I consider myself very lucky because I actually was able to get my hands on every figure that was not in a special exclusive pack.

In the midst of hunting down Series 2 I also was on a quest to complete my Series 1 collection. I was actually able to find the last set that I needed to complete the set of vehicle launchers, the Jedi Starfighter. I am missing a few figures from Series 1 still but not many. The one thing that is hindering that collection is the exclusive Darth Maul tin that can be found at Target. I have been looking at my Target stores but I have yet to find the tin. For obvious reasons the tin is needed so that I can complete the collection however, I really want the pack for the Darth Maul figures and Ziro the Hutt.

This is how I went about collecting Series 2. I first went out to a Target that I know does not get a lot of toy traffic just to see if they even had any fighter pods in stock on the shelf. To my surprise they actually had quite a few of the 4 packs. They did not have the blind mystery bags or any of the vehicle packs. So I grabbed a few and began checking them off of the checklist that they give you in the package. The next time I went out to get some I went to a bigger Target that was more likely to have more product but also gets shopped more. Turns out the selection was pretty sparse but they did have mystery bags, the 4 packs and that is where I found my series 1 Jedi Starfighter. I picked these up and was very excited to open the mystery bags. There are 6 exclusive figures in this wave that can be found in the mystery bags and I was fortunate enough to get 2 of these figures. I picked up 4 mystery bags and I got 2 exclusive figures. The 4 packs I got were mostly new figures but it was at this point that my duplicates started accumulating. I made a video to show the opening of the mystery bag figures and it can be found right here.

The next outing to find the ominous fighter pods was with my 11 year old nephew. We first went to Toys R Us and that was a pretty disappointing trip. Not only did they only have a few series 1 fighter pods but their selection of Star Wars merchandise was not that impressive. I have begun to really not hold much stock in Toys R Us or at least the one closest to me as it is always trashed and does not have much in stock. They did have the Ewok set though which I almost bought. My only reasons for not picking it up are because I am on a fighter pod only mission.

From here we went to a different Target and we were able to find a few 4 packs of Series 2 and the BARC Speeder Bike/Pirate Speeder Bike Pack. The next day and last day of the month I went one more time to one of the Targets I had been to already and I found a spectacular find, Series 3 mystery bags! There were only 2 but I was shocked and very excited so I picked them up and 2 more 4 packs.

These last 4 packs would complete the collection of individual figures with hologram Palpatine and a Shock Trooper. It is safe to say that the one major dealer I did not go to was Wal-Mart and had I gone to  one I may have been able to find the other vehicle packs that I am missing and possibly more blind bags. I believe I am missing 8 figures in total from Series 2. The figures I am missing are exclusive to the vehicle packs and the mystery bags. I am also fortunate to have my hands on 4 figures from Series 3. All this means for me is that October may be a month of hunting down Series 3 and I am still looking for that Darth Maul Tin from series 1.

The most interesting thing I found with Series 2 was that there is a variant of Cad Bane. I first found out about this via Adam Pawlus at Galactic Hunter.com he posted some pictures of it so I knew to be on the lookout and I was actually able to get my hands on both versions.

It is still unclear if this was done on purpose but the version that has silver guns and silver bands on his hat was in a 4 pack and the version with black guns was in the speeder bike pack. However, I did see the Cad Bane with black guns in a 4 pack as well. If you can find both I would definitely try to get them both.

It was a fun month of hunting but it looks like I am in for another month of it with wave 3. I will keep you updated over at Fangirl Next Door with videos of my collection, pictures and updates. If you are looking for these cute little guys then happy hunting they sure are fun to knock over!

Teresa Delgado

Star Wars nerd at heart and a pop culture fanatic. Fangirl blogger, movie and book reviewer. Avid reader and film goer.

I love penguins!

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