Anybody going to the local Malaysia Rogue One midnight product launch this Thursday night/Friday midnight?

A little bit of a rant today since I’m in the mood. Hah!

I’ve been going to Hasbro’s Star Wars product launch since 2002’s Attack of the Clones event at the very same Toys R Us/TRU here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Why I didn’t attend nor partake in such a similar event prior to the release of The Phantom Menace is beyond me (oh wait, could it be possibly because I was still that nerdy university student at the time who didn’t have much excess moolah to buy action figures?).

Whatever it is, the story is still the same after a good 14 years later.

You get in line early, probably a good 2-3 hours before the actual product launch. Some of us might arrive way too early at 9.30pm-ish and find that the queue line hadn’t even started to form yet thus inevitably making us the ultimate dweeb for over estimating things. Some of us might under estimate things and casually stroll in front of the TRU at half past 11pm and find that the queue had made its way past the half kilometer mark inside the shopping mall.

Then there are those a***heads aka the dreaded scalpers who thought that they could be ahead of everyone’s game. Thinking that they know someone on the inside e.g. a TRU supervisor or Hasbro’s staff on duty, they can technically ‘reserve’ whatever they want without actually queuing up like everyone else does. And yes, I’ve seen these ‘inside persons’ reserving the stuff for these scalpers much to the dismay of those forming the long lines outside of the TRU store.

We’re most probably gonna see some sort of price hike since it’s actually a norm for Star Wars product prices to be jacked up from time to time. Slapping some ridiculous price points on highly demanded soon-to-be-launched Star Wars action figures etc seemed to make sense in the economic view. So expect your wallet (or credit card) to be burned…..really hard.

If you’re at the back end of the line then brace yourselves to be green with envy for those who came in at the very front who’d get their stuff much quicker than youse at the back and checking out at the cashier counters early. Watch how they seem to proudly dangle their loot as they strut pass you to make their way back to their cars. This would also be the point when you’d be setting your hopes high as you decipher what items are available inside the store from the shape of their plastic bags (and could be yours too once it’s your turn to enter the TRU premise) to come home with you.

Once/if you manage to get the stuff that you want then most probably Hasbro is gonna throw in some freebies (I’m betting on posters as usual) into your tote/plastic bags when you check out at their cashiers for you to take home. By this point many of the action figures and merchandises would be ‘sold out already’ thus leaving many collectors at the very tail end of the queue cursing their luck and the thought of having to resort to eVilbay to get the stuff that they want starts to linger in their already clouded mind (“Buy stuff on-line you must NOT when tired you are from Hasbro’s zombie-like sale!”).

After all is said and done you’d find yourself back home at about 2am-ish with the horrific thoughts of being at the office in mere hours with your zombie-like appearances complete with sagging eye bags and red eyes. All worth it for the love of new Star Wars action figures? Heck yeah…..(so we thought).

The much sought after (then) First Order Stormtroopers is now dumped throughout all retail stores and TRUs alike everywhere, not even a year after being released. It was also marked down to a record low of RM40 (that’s about USD9.50 by today’s forex rate) each during a recent warehouse sale but nobody seemed to be wanting it anymore.

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Weeks later we’re probably gonna find out that the same ‘sold out’ stocks are being replenished (sometimes in abundance) not only at TRUs and other retail stores nationwide. So getting your stuff earlier than everybody else can give you that cheap thrill if that’s your cup of tea.

To each his own I guess, yea? Now excuse me while I ponder and make my decision. Should I get all hyped up and join the madness that is Force Friday later today (Malaysian time)?

I still have time to decide.....LOL.