So SirSteve took his shots at me... inconvenienced my readers for a couple days... and now it's payback time. You see, SirSteve wanted to shut us up here because he's afraid his sponsors might get wind of what he used to do on-line. For five years now he's been trying to get us to forget everything that happened. Well guess what Steve - the USENET has a long, LONG memory. And why don't we explore what secrets it holds.

Like, let's ask a question... was SirSteve a POTF2 SCALPER???

I can hear your gasps of disbelief from here... "No! Not SirSteve!!!" But not so fast! New evidence has surfaced which may compel you to rethink your position. Let me explain.

We know SirSteve's real name is Steve Comenzo. He admitted this to my web host last week (an admission which essentially rendered his slander charges invalid). We also know a guy posting as Zoman@juno.com was also named Steve Comenzo, based on (among many things) this post.

So what was Steve Comenzo... the "Zoman" Steve Comenzo... doing back in 1997? He was SCALPING POTF2 FIGURES!! Take a look at a sampling of some of the threads Mr. Comenzo posted to RASSCM: (please note: the prices sited sometimes include shipping, sometimes don't)

• SLAVE LEIA MOC $10
• HAN TROOPER (MAIL-IN) $35
• YAK FACE WAVE AND SLAVE LEIA WAVE $8 each
• AT-AT DRIVER CS 12" $35
• ROYAL GUARD & SNOWTROOPER $8
• CANTINA BAND MEMBERS $23 EACH
• ORANGE CARDED JAWAS MOC $25
• 12" SANDTROOPER MIB $75
• 12" TUSKEN RAIDER $30
• GHOST OBI-WAN $15
• CANTINA SHOWDOWN $28
• SE LUKE JEDI $75 (BENT CARDBACK)
• SLAVE LEIA & LUKE CEREMONIAL $15 EACH
• SNOWTROOPER $7
• GRAND MOFF TARKIN $12
• BEAST ASSORTMENT $25 EACH
• DELUXE SNOWTROOPER $19
• LEIA SPEEDERBIKE $16
• POTF2 A-WING $35
• LUKE JEDI & EMPEROR F/X $19 EACH
• KFC CUPS AND TOPS $35 FOR THE SET
• LUKE JEDI SE MOMC $100
• LANDO SKIFF, EMPEROR, BIB FORTUNA, HAN ENDOR SET $75
• POTF2 JAWAS MOC $10

Now I don't know about you, but $8 to $10 + shipping on the newest waves back in '97... I'd call that scalping. Remember, these were the days back when people actually CARED about scalping... when selling figures at a mark-up of $3-5 was frowned upon. When collectors banded together and boycotted scalpers!! And in this exact climate we have Zoman selling dozens of different figures at big mark-ups. I could not find one example of Zoman offering figures at cost.

Hoards of friendless shoppers swarmed to their local Targets this week to take advantage of the low low price of $2.99 for Star Wars Episode 2 Basic Action Figures. Around the aisles were heard statements such as, "Jar Jar sucks, but at $2.99 I'd be stupid not to buy him!" and "Now I can afford to get a Shaak Ti without background card to go with my loose Shaak Ti, carded Shaak Ti with background card, carded Shaak Ti with green lightsaber, carded Shaak Ti with blue lightsaber, carded Shaak Ti with the wrong character information, and carded Shaak Ti with misspelled name! Sh*t. Did I forget the Shaak Ti?"

Take for example my beautiful carded Tri-logo Stormtrooper... I purchased one of Oscar's "Slim" vintage cases to protect this beauty. Slim Cases are fantastic for the vintage collector because they're designed specifically for vintage-depth bubbles. It's a thousand times better than any universal acrylic case... those suckers can be 3 inches thick!! With this you're up close and personal with the bubble... the carded figure isn't swimming in space like in an AFA case. And it'll fit all but the thickest of vintage bubbles (anything thicker than 1-1/4" thick won't fit... I think that's limited to FX-7, Dengar and maybe a few Tri-logos). And at $8.50 a pop (special deals for bulk orders), you won't find a better deal!

But look what happened!! After a few hours in one of Oscar's cases, my beautiful Tri-logo Stormie transformed into a horrid, C7-YB ROTJ carded Stormtrooper on a wavy, damaged cardback!! I tried leaving it in for a couple more hours to see if it would go back, but it didn't. I'm out $100 on this sucker!!!!

And that's not the only problem I've encountered. I also purchased one of Oscar's custom acrylic Glasslite cases for my MOMC Glasslite C-3PO. I know what you're thinking... "Someone makes a case for Glasslite figures???" I was as shocked as you are! It's damn near impossible to find an affordable case for non-standard vintage cardback... but Oscar makes them all! Hungarian. Meccano Square. Rebo Band. Even custom sizes - all you have to do is send him the measurements and he'll make it for you. And the quality and price are unmatched. This Glasslite case was only $9.10!!

But just you leave your figures in one of them for any extended period and see what happens! With my Glasslite C-3PO, the cardback COMPLETELY DISINTEGRATED!!!! I was looking at it one minute and it was just a pretty as can be... looked away for a minute and WOOSH - the cardback's gone!! I looked for years for a nice carded Glasslite C-3PO with a mint bubble, and NOW IT'S GONE!!!

But the worst thing that happened to my was a problem with my vintage POTF C-3PO proof card. That's right... somebody makes an acrylic case especially for proof cards. No more cutting the bottom corners out of Star Cases to keep from damaging the square corners. No more bagging them in comic book bags so you can only appreciate the front. Now you can protect your proof card in one of Oscar's ultra-thin proof card cases. All the benefits of a top-loader hard case, plus it's the exact size of your proof card AND the front of your cardback doesn't press against the plastic (because prolonged contact to plastic could cause damage). And they're only $7.50 each!!

But damn them to hell THEY'RE CURSED TOO!!! After all the other problems I encountered I figured I'd better check to make sure the proof card was still OK. I went to slide it out of the case and... well... it's too horrible for words!! How could this happen??? WHY??? WHY????

When asked for comment, Mr. Calrissian's attorney refused to answer questions, only stating "My client is not a scoundrel."

According to witnesses at the scene, a speeder being piloted by Mr. Calrissian nearly struck a group of Jedi younglings, and ran down several street cleaning droids. The speeder then ran into the side of Dexter's Diner, damaging the speeder but leaving no damage to the building. Several clone troopers rushed to scene and appeared to have led Mr. Calrissian away.

Palpatine was visibly upset by his lack of total support. "You'd think these peasants would have the sense to just check the box they're given instead of writing another candidate's name on the ballot... is it that difficult to follow simple instructions? The Stormtroopers who ran these polling stations should be shot. Hmmmm... excuse me one second... Hey Vader - Shoot the Stormtroopers that ran those polling stations!!"

Among the write-ins were "Mike Rotch" from Kinyen, "Hugh Jass" from Tatooine and "Ivana Tinkle" from Dagobah. Political analyst Ikbee Ein from Coruscant was particularly baffled by the strong support shown for these unknowns. "It's not unusual for a political outsider - a 'Hugh Jass' - to show up on election day. But nobody expected to see Mike Rotch today. But there you go... plain as day... here's Mike Rotch. What really blows me away is this ballot from Dagobah. Is there even anybody living on Dagobah??? Does anyone know Ivana Tinkle???"

The car is still running as can be witnessed by the exhaust. A woman is either asleep or otherwise out in the front seat passenger side. The guy driving it was over jogging up and down on Rt. 925 in the background. The witnesses said their physical state was OTHER than normal and the police just shook their heads in amazement. The driver finally came back after the police were there and was getting down at the back to cut the 'twine around the load. They told him to get back until it was taken off.

The Ephant Mon was loaded at Toys R Us. Their store manager said they had the customer sign a waiver! Both back tires are trashed. The back shocks were driven up through the floorboard. They estimated the load weight at 3000 lbs. The car is a VW Jetta with FL plates and the guy said he was headed for Annapolis.

It just goes to show, that Ephant Mon is one big friggin figure!!

The guy is Rafael Credico from Sao Paulo, Brazil. I purchased a Droids Glasslite C-3PO off of him after seeing his post in the GalacticHunter Vintage forums. It was a very smooth transaction... I paid through BidPay.com, faking an auction #, and the cost was only $14 (compared to $40+ through Western Union). A week after I paid Rafa sent me an E-mail asking if I received the box yet, and informing me that he sent me two different 3POs to choose from! The reason: "Due the fact that you collect mainly nice C-3PO in all variations, I decided for myself to send you also my other one C-3PO for you to choose which is the best for your collection," and "I know what is to be collector, and I want that you have the best C-3PO Droids figure of the ones that I have available nowadays."

I was blown away by his generosity... so I decided to give him a plug. He still has a bunch of Glasslites available. And take a look at the kind of product you'll be getting...

First of all, his packing is INSANE! Double-boxed. Wrapped in bubble wrap. Sandwiched between two pieces of Styrofoam cut to protect the bubble. Cardback sandwiched between two sheets of special paper to keep it from touching the foam. I've never seen figures so well-packed. They arrived showing no signs of wear from their international journey.

The C-3PO I chose is just gorgeous. It was much nicer than I'd hoped. The other one was nearly as nice... the only real flaw being some lifting on the interior edge of the bubble on one side (a trait VERY common for Glasslites). Take a looks at some photos.

So now I have it encased in one of Oscar's acrylic Glasslite cases. It displays fantastic. If these cases weren't cursed they'd be the best things on the market.

She came back and was very friendly, smiling and apologizing for my wait (this WM is a ghost town at 1am on a Monday). Then she take the flier and rings me up. I caught the price on the led display on the register and did a double-take. With tax it rang up at $7.41!! I slid my card, punched in my pin and took off running before the clerk changed her mind. I was looking at the receipt, and in addition to the $9.99 price match, it listed a $3.00 "price adjustment."

I spent some time trying to figure out where the heck that came from. I've had a couple Wal*marts price match then deduct an additional 10% of the difference. But never an additional 30%! So I came to the only logical conclusion... it must have been my stunning good looks. This clerk was a young woman... she was pretty cute (not that I was looking or anything... but when you find a young, cute, female working at a Wal*mart at 1am you can't help but noticing)... She must have been taken in by my good looks and hooked me up. At least that's the story I'm sticking to...

And how is it shaping up? Crappy. Well, not completely. If you take a look at just the Collection 2 lists it looks like Hasbro has knocked one out of the park. we'll be treated to figures such as Lama Su, Barriss Offee, Padawan Younglings and plenty of droids and aliens. All great choices for the first year after a movie release.

But looking down the Collection 1 list I felt that I was reading a list of 2002 figures. More Anakin, Obi-Wan, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Mace and Darth Vader. And a Flying R2-D2? Maybe that list looks like 1999's list.

And another Jango Fett? Wait, TWO more Jango Fett figures, one deluxe and one Jango Fett Clone Wars. We already have five Jango Fett Figures this year alone, counting the Deluxe. Granted he's a cool-as-hell bounty hunter but he got his head handed to him, literally, in AOTC. Why do we need more figures?

There are still some valid characters that I feel should have been included in the regular release somewhere like Poggle the Lesser, Beru and Owen and Cliegg Lars. And if they were going to do Padme again, why do her in the white outfit again? Why not choose from one of the MANY dresses she's seen in throughout the movie.

I understand the need to mix core characters in to keep the casual fan interested but this close to the movie, IMAX and DVD I would think that lesser characters would still be fresh in the mind and would be a draw. Bring out the classic characters and inundate us with the resculpts in 2004 when it's really an off year, right before gearing up for a wham-bam Star Wars movie finale in 2005.

Check out this thread:
Invisible Reseals

To summarize, someone set out to test the dependability of AFA. They intentionally sent a resealed figure to be graded. They asked AFA to check it for tampering. AFA did not detect the reseal and sent it back graded.

This is the only KNOWN mistake. It's the only time someone has admitted that they sent in a reseal. For all we know there could be HUNDREDS of reseals out there that were undetected by AFA. PROVE ME WRONG!! The person who sent this in did it as a test... she had nothing to gain but proving her point. But there are people out there with MUCH to gain from AFA-graded figures. There are dealers out there selling AFA graded figures for thousands of dollars. I ask you this... who do you honestly think would be more careful in preparing a reseal for AFA... someone who wants to prove a point, or someone who could realize thousands of dollars in profit?

I must admit when the list was revealed my wallet breathed a sigh of relief. The list is reminiscent of a sitcom in its final season, you know when they do all those "remember when" episodes. You get five minutes of new dialogue and 25 minutes of old episodes. So how and the hell does it relate to the Saga line, we get figures we've already seen, this years vehicles we already purchased with carded figures we've already bought too. Two words - THIS SUCKS! It appears that the well of creativity at Hasbro has run dry. Ok so maybe not all of it is a rehash of stuff, but for those of you who like numbers, facts and figures... 10% new plus 90% old = one lame ass toy year. Matter of fact 8 out of 10 dentists surveyed said this is the year they'll be able to fill gaps in their WATERWORLD collection.

As an astute businessman I am clouded by the shroud of Hasbro's new strategic plan. It makes absolutely no sense at all. The only assumptions I can draw are that one: they want collectors to stop collecting, or two: they want to put scalpers and e-bay out of business. I just don't get it, but if you have any good ideas, please feel free to e-mail me at shawn@creaturecantina.com so I can quit breaking and burning the toys I already own.

More Bad News...

Much like Santa I read the list and checked it twice, and low and behold you can't re-release this many figures and leave one mainstay out. Yup that's right, where the F*#* is Darth Maul? The travesty... this cannot be... nooooooooo! I was so looking forward to at minimum a deluxe, a 3 ¾, a 12"-er, one with new vehicle and possibly another hologram. Damn the man! Oh well maybe Hasbro will pick up the slack in 2004 and dub it the year of the Maul...

So Hasbro if you are listening here are my ideas for 2004:

1. Hats: You know like Watoo and Luke floppy hat! Put a lid on 'em and voila!
2. Repaints: I like to call them Expanded Universe
3. Midget pack-in: Who the hell doesn't love a little circus freak... I call them Younginz!
4. Facial Hair Stormtrooper-troop builder sets: I call this the Galactic Goatee Empire.
5. Holographic figures: With zero points of articulation... I call this the Saga SUCKER line!
6. Vac-metalize the original 12 figs on the 25 Anniversary Card back... ooh wait, scratch that... it's a good idea... forget I mentioned it... sorry!
7. Darth Maul with politically incorrect cigarette smoking action... I call this Paul Maul... Woo Hooo
8. X-Wing, Snowspeeder, Landspeeder, A-Wing, B-Wing, Y-Wing, Tie Fighter, Tie Bomber: All newly packaged... see reason (5) above. Just in case you were stranded in a Pennsylvania mine shaft and missed getting them the other three times.
9. Accessory Sets: Complete with all the weapons we've misplaced over the years. Now we have the opportunity to buy and loose them again. Also see reason #5 again.
10. If you made it this far then start the list over again... there I think I've made my point abundantly clear!!!!!!!

All figures, vehicles and accessories for 2004 will be exclusive to Target department stores and quantities are extremely limited (about one each per store). Ok, you're right that last sentence isn't new information. Well I'm out of ideas and unlike Hasbro I think I'll wrap it up for this week. Stay tuned for next week's story when I retype this one and give it a different headline!

From: Little Birdie
To: cable@creaturecantina.com
Subject: Our buddy Sir Suck
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 15:10:20 -0600

I figure you'd appreciate this more than anybody else I know.

Steve has been doing a bit of ebay work with his new ebay ID. scgiles

http://cgi.ebay.com/=1786590028

Taking advantage of collectors, one sale at a time.

Regards...

Very interesting... could it be that one alter-ego wasn't enough for Mr. Comenzo (as regular readers know, Steve Comenzo sold POTF2 figures at a big mark-up a few years ago using a secondary E-mail account: Zoman@juno.com)? Could it be that he created a new secret identity to sell the latest hard-to-find exclusives on eBay?

It seems almost too much to believe... could SirSteve be so brazen? He's already been caught selling figures over cost under an alias and dealt with the repercussions. Would he have the gall to do it again? In this day and age? With so many people watching his every move?? I'd find it hard to believe, but my birdie is very reliable!! And I would find it an improbable coincidence that scgiles would have a repackaged TIE Bomber up on eBay only hours after this vehicle was featured over on SSG.

Let's assume that it is SirSteve selling these exclusives on eBay under this scgiles ID (Steve Comenzo Giles?). Now, it's bad enough to eBay an exclusive instead of selling it at cost to a fellow collector... it's ten times worse to create an anonymous eBay account to do it without anyone knowing! If it's true, it's the height of hypocrisy to run a Star Wars collecting website while doing this incognito on the side!!

I mean, it's not like SirSteve hasn't auctioned exclusives on eBay before. But then unlike previous ToyFair Darth Vaders that SirSteve sold on eBay, these auctions don't say they're being sold to raise money for batteries or charity! I assume this money is going right into somebody's pocket.

And there's a lot of money to be made. We can't go back too far, but just since September "scgiles" auctioned two Toy Fair Vaders (one loose that he received on a damaged cardback from "overseas"), and two Jorg Saculs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem=1788141596
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem=1786590028
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem=1770492567
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem=1761026144

For the first time ever I'm posting two new works of art at once! Why would I halve the number of potential hits to my gallery in such an unwise fashion? It's simple... these pieces go together!

The story started almost 3 years ago, when these two drawings were "requested." The commissioner asked if I could do two characters in one drawing, which as we all know is a no-no. So I proposed an alternate idea... how about two single character drawings that can be displayed side-by-side? He went for it. Then he delayed paying a deposit on them until another guy E-mailed me and asked for one of his two characters (as you know, characters listed on the "requested" list are available to anyone... whoever agrees to pay the deposit first gets it).

The first bit of evidence came from several E-mails I received stating, "scgiles IS SirSteve!" Among them was an E-mail from the guy who won the loose Toy Fair Vader off of him. He told me that the seller in that auction went by the name "Steve Comenzo." I confirmed that the guy's E-mail matched with the account of the winning bidder, so we can confirm he did indeed purchase this figure. You can check out his comments on the deal here:
http://www.potf2.com/potj/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1282

Look for the post by "judgejedi."

Admittedly that's not concrete proof (no offense to judgejedi). So let's dig further. One of the first things I thought to check when I received the original E-mail tip about scgiles was to look where the images in those auctions were hosted. That brings up a gold mine of evidence! Where is the image of Jorg Sacul from this recent auction (item=1788141596) hosted??

http://www.sirstevesguide.com/images/ebay/commander_jorg_c.jpg

That's right - right on SirSteve's web server! If you look back at all his previous auctions, you'll see images hosted on the SSG web site.

But is this enough evidence to prove the identity of scgiles? Hardly! Steve could simply be doing scgiles a favor or something... lending him web space. So we need something stronger... something absolute! And I think I found it. Go to the "Seller Search" page on eBay located here: http://pages.ebay.com/search/items/search_seller.html
Do a search for sirsteve@sirstevesguide.com and see what comes up. Houston, I think we have concrete proof.

As stated last week, it all started back in 1997. I myself, graduating high school, eager to pursue a career in radio... while at the same time inspiration hit a strapping young lad in the Steel City by the name of Bill Cable. Crayon box in hand, sketch paper by his side, this soon to be Van Gogh of the Star Wars world scribbled his first Star Wars sketch. I am proud to say, I have obtained a copy of Mr. Bill Cable's earliest work.

Uhh..yeah, this is from 1997, folks. This is no practical joke, mind you. It is an actual, factual piece of work from Mr. Cable himself. What's extraordinarily admirable is how long and how far he has come from such... grade school-esque artwork, to sit on his throne as the King of all Star Wars fanart! What's even more astonishing is how he chose to work so perversely, throwing all his college teachings right out the window.

However, Bill has honed his skill, and is now held in the same high regard as the great David Dorman. Yes ladies and gents, no number of cease and desist orders will slow down the artwork juggernaut that is Bill Cable. As long as the passion for art (and his passion to out SirSteve to everyone on his questionable acts ever week), still burns. There will ALWAYS be another Cable Original for our viewing enjoyment.

Here's to 50 more originals... and of course... 50 more C + D's.

I'm going to start off by plugging some eBay auctions. I have almost 60 Battle Beasts figures and 175 M.U.S.C.L.E. Men up on eBay right now in a bunch of lots. Over 40 of the Battle Beasts include weapons! So, if you collect more than just Star Wars toys, be sure to check out these treasures from our childhood (and note that I'm selling these under my real name...):

JUST IN AT ESSENTIAL COMICS...
MASTER REPLICAS DARTH VADER`S SABER
WITH DISPLAY CASE
$299.99
All PSWCS members get a 5% discount if they call in their order (570)-655-5989

If you haven't guessed by now, the latest drawing is of the most valuable vintage figure of them all... VLIX! And to be honest, I don't know Vlix. I know he was a fat guy in the old Droids cartoon... a cartoon I can't remember one thing about. So I was doing web searches forever... learning about who he was and what he did. And what I learned drastically changed my approach to the character. Initially I was going for a Godfather-esque pose, until I learned Vlix wasn't a leader... he was a THUG! A knee-breaker! A body guard! So my mental image had to change, and I like where it went. This drawing allowed me unprecedented freedom... along with very high risks. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Case in point, Billy Dee Williams. Ol' Lando the Scoundrel. Played a mack daddy in ESB, then got demoted to playing dress up in ROTJ. What a way for the token black guy to go out. So, where did Billy Dee's Star Wars rich resume land him along Hollywood's elite? Doing malt liquor commercials..getting chased by a big ass, blue cartoon bull. Anything for a buck right.

Hell, Mark Hamill?! Luke Effin' Skywalker..career is over after the original trilogy! Is it because he would more than likely be type casted right into Sci Fi flicks? Yep, pretty much. Don't you guys remember the blockbuster epic...never mind..he wasn't in that..BUT..he WAS in..nope, not either. What the hell do you expect from a 51 year old guy that could be easily mistaken for Jim Breuer's father??

Anyway, he whored his voice "talents" all over Hollywood, and ended up doing pretty well for himself in the cartoon voice..er..industry..?

Next example is Carrie Fisher. Ya know, the last I heard of her, she was in an Austin Powers movie. I guess she was smart and knew she could sit on her lazy ass and milk the royalty cow for the rest of her life. Smart move, Car.

Which brings me to Chewbacca...good ol' Chewie. I heard he turned down about every script sent to him! Tons of Sasquatch documentaries, Shaggy Dog movie knockoffs, an adult film or two. Guess it's a dog's life for him..er..whatever the hell he is. Guess he'd rather groom himself with his tongue than make a buck or two.

Harrison Ford. I can't knock Harrison because he was one of most elite actors in Hollywood. He only gets eviler as he gets older, which he doesn't show very much. Indian Jones, What Lies Beneath, Six Days/Seven Nights. He's an accomplished actor with a broomstick of a bed buddy. Buy that girl Calista a carrot stick, Harry! Jesus..

To end this piece, a little "Did You Know?" tidbit. Unless you're some uneducated fool who still thinks Brodie Taylor played Jango Fett in Episode Two, check this out. Temuera Morrison, Daddy Fett himself is a little more accomplished an actor than you may think. Currently, he is the most prominent Maori actor in film today. Attack of the Clones, Six Days/Seven Nights, Island of Dr., Moreau, Speed 2, Barb Wire, From Dusk Til' Dawn 3, Vertical Limit, Crooked Earth, and last but not least, honestly one of the best movies I have ever seen, "Once Were Warriors". He plays "Jake The Muss", an alcoholic, abusive, abrasive father who is described as being a slave to the drink and very short tempered. He is the ultimate villain in this movie, and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of strong dramatic performance.

I think the "best" far outweighs the "worst" this year but there were some definite stinkers. I'm sure you won't agree with some of this list, but hey, not everyone gets to write for CreatureCantina.com!