The Wave

Yesterday, I talked about Yak Face, and how I found him at a local Ross. About a week ago, Rish told me that he'd found Yak Face as well as the rest of the wave of figures at his Ross and bought them all up. The rest of the wave consisted of the characters that we knew as children as Klaatu, Barada, and Nikto. This got me excited, because I didn't have those guys...I almost did, but it's a long story, and I don't.

So, I went out, drove around to all the Rosses nearby, and found nothing. I was frustrated and vowed to stop wasting so much of my time running from Ross to Ross in search of things I might never find. I needed to cut back and just go when I usually go, and if the things I wanted were there, then they were there.

So, I did that, and yesterday, the first breakthrough occurred. I found Yak Face...or Saelt-Marae if you'd rather. That meant that the wave of figures was showing up in my Rosses now. This morning, after dropping my kid off at school, I figured I'd run to Ross, since I was halfway there an all...really I was more like 1/5 of the way there, but who's counting?

It was miserable weather, pouring rain the entire time. There was standing water on the roads everywhere, and I had to splash through a thousand puddles to make it to Ross, and of course, they had nothing. Discouraged, I got in the car with the full intention of going straight home, but instead, I turned the other way and went to the next Ross.

The weather continued to be terrible. I could barely see out the window. "Why am I doing this?" I wondered. Watch me die on my way to Ross, and that'll be just what I deserve. I took this picture of the rain, just to show y'all that I'm not making it up.

I made it to the next Ross, which had a pretty full parking lot, requiring me to run through the parking lot while getting thoroughly soaked because there were no parking spots open close to the store. However, inside I found some Star Wars Vintage Collection guys! 

Of course, they had Yak Face, who I had already decided I wouldn't buy again, because I just don't like the character's design enough to try making customs. They also had Barada and Nikto, however...although now they are called Kithaba and Nikto (Skiff Guard). That was pretty exciting. They actually had two Niktos and one Kithaba, so I bought them all.

Here's the traditional picture in the car.

It was kind of dark, because of the cloudy skies and rain, so I decided to wait until I got home to take a picture of all of them.

The Nikto (Skiff Guard)s cat take their hats off, so I did one with the hat and one without for the picture. I'll probably see if I can't paint the clothes on one of them to set them apart in case they ever appear onscreen together. Or maybe I'll just take that Nikto head and put it on some other body. We'll see. As time goes by, though, I'm really gathering a bunch of aliens for my Ankletown Station. It's gonna be pretty darn good when all is said and done.

I still haven't found Klaatu, so I guess I'll still keep circling around all the Rosses looking for him. Maybe I'll get lucky or maybe I won't. When it comes down to it, beggars can't be choosers. If I insist on only paying $4 for my Vintage Collection figures, then I'm bound to miss out on some. I guess that's the breaks...at least I don't break the bank that way.