New Feature:  Nomadscout’s Collection Part I

I wasn't inspired (and didn't have time) to do a full gallery and review of something old for today, so like last week, I went through my files and found something I was planning on doing a year and a half ago...

I was unpacking my collection from storage boxes that I had in my garage. Being that it gets to be 500 degrees here in Phoenix, I decided it wouldn't be smart to keep everything in the garage for my first summer here, so I acted like any responsible adult would, and I moved my toys into the house. While I was doing that, I thought it would be fun to take pictures of different factions or groups of figures/toys just so I could feel bad at how much money I've spent on this hobby since 1999, and how much real estate in my house I am dedicating to it.

Part I of this [potential] feature is the CIS, or Confederacy of Independent Systems. A lot of collectors my age tend to pass on a lot of the non-OT stuff. But I love the variety of the very "toyetic" designs that came out of the prequels. And let's face it, the prequels look a lot better when compared to the sequels.

So I gathered just about every droid, ground vehicle, and ship that I had in my collection, and assembled them in one group - something I've never actually done before. I had forgotten I had most of this stuff. The ships and vehicles are great, as are many of the figures. Over the years, Hasbro added tons of variety to the colors and emblems, as these forces evolved during the Saga. Starting out with the Trade Federation (TPM), moving to the establishment of the CIS (AOTC), the Clone Wars, and the end of the Republic Era (ROTS), there was a LOT of product to consume - especially if you were a completist such as I am. Granted, there is some trash here, the vast majority of which is made up of the abysmally sculpted battle droid 2 pack sculpts, which saw multiple iterations/color schemes. The problem is that they warped easily, and the lack of articulation makes most of them useless as they won't even stand. Most of the nonsense in the front of the setup you see in the gallery are battle droids and pieces of battle droids that just don't succeed as action figures. But when everything is set up, it looks like those were cannon fodder to spare the more effective parts of the CIS forces.

Some of the vehicles are true gems, like the Armored Assault Tanks and the Hailfire droids. The MTT (multi-troop transport) was one of those things that Hasbro probably shouldn't have made, but it came right at the end of the Golden Era of modern collecting - in fact it could be partly blamed on ending that era and launching the Dark Times, because the Walmart TPM 3D push was one of the main culprits of almost killing the line, which happened nearly simultaneously with the launch of under-articulated figures, as well as The Black Series 6" line. The MTT is both awesome and horrible at the same time, but it's a cool part of the CIS forces.

Sprinkled into the images here are a few cartoony Clone Wars figures, such as the Aqua Droids and the Tactical Droids. There are also some representatives from the Microseries, such as the IG Lancer Droids. And also shown are some battle droids and Super Battle Droids from the old EU comics, which Hasbro put out in various "expressions" (mostly comic packs). Overall, it's quite an array of offerings from Hasbro.

If anyone notices that I'm missing something in these images, please let me know so I can lose sleep over it. There might be a few items that are not in the images, but I still own - buried somewhere that I didn't catch in time for the photoshoot.

Also, I didn't put any of the CIS leadership in these pics. I'll save that for another day.

I was thinking it would also be a good opportunity for you folks out there to share the Separatist-y parts of your collection that you are proud of. So feel free to post pics of your stuff as well. I'm not sure how regular this feature will be, but at least if I start it off, it might prompt me to get going on doing the rest of it. It's a lot of effort, and I am very busy. But I might as well do something to help Chris out when it comes to doing stuff for this site. Otherwise we might as well change the name to BanthaChris.com. Anyway, hope you enjoy these pics, and I look forward to seeing your CIS collections as well. Part II will be a different faction obviously (whenever I get around to it), so stay tuned. Unless you hate this feature. Then I'll post pictures of my toenail clippings instead.

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