A new wave of vehicles from the Hot Wheels Starships Select line has shown up at a local department store for use down here in New Zealand, so we were excited to be able to a nice new rendition of Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder from Star Wars: A New Hope. This classic vehicle sits nicely alongside the other Original Trilogy spaceships, in particular, that we have from this Hot Wheels collection.

Unfortunately local stockists of the Hot Wheels vehicles have missed a few waves over the last couple of years, so we were definitely pleasantly surprised to see good stocks of this wave, even though it contains three re-packed vehicles (Millennium Falcon, Boba Fett’s Starship, and Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter). The wave does also include a multi-coloured prototype version of Luke Skywalker’s T-65 X-wing Starfighter (Red 5), which we also picked up.

The post Starships Select X-34 Landspeeder by Hot Wheels appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Although we’re very keen collectors of the Black Series line of 6″ action figures from Hasbro, we did miss a few key characters from the early releases, so we were very happy to see new, updated releases of Han Solo and Chewbacca from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in particular, become available at a local stockist recently. We grabbed the whole wave, which included Nightsister Merrin from Jedi: Survivor, and Ezra Bridger and a Night Trooper from the Ahsoka series.

Han and Chewie look great together, and the modern articulation and paint application have given us some great details and features on all of the figures in this wave. In addition to taking a quick look at all of the figures in a video on our YouTube channel as soon as we had them in hand, we have detailed reviews of each uploaded now too.

Check out our in-depth video reviews for each character here:

• Han Solo Black Series 6″ Figure (A New Hope #10)
• Chewbacca Black Series 6″ Figure (A New Hope #11)
• Nightsister Merrin Black Series 6″ Figure (Gaming Greats #28)
• Ezra Bridger (Peridea) Black Series 6″ Figure (Ahsoka #18)
• Night Trooper Black Series 6″ Figure (Ahsoka #17)

The post Our latest Star Wars Black Series Figure Acqusitions appeared first on Villa Varykino.

In the following video, we take a look at our convention program from Star Wars Celebration IV, which contains a grand total of 42 Star Wars celebrity autographs!

We have both been collectors of Star Wars autographs for many decades – it’s a hobby we very much enjoy, with the autographs serving as souvenirs of celebrities we have met or seen at various events, and we currently have over 180 Star Wars autographs, including George Lucas, spread across photos, toys, books, and other collectibles.

Celebration IV, which was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, May 24th to 28th in 2007, was the second Celebration event in the US that we had attended, and was in fact our honeymoon. While we were there, we caught up with a good friend, Star Wars actor Gerald Home, who played Tessek and Mon Calamari Officer in Return of the Jedi and who was attending Celebration as a celebrity guest. Gerald sadly passed away in 2021. I’d known Gerald for more than a couple of decades, since before he started attending Star Wars conventions, and we had caught up with him in person previously when we visited his home town of London, as well as each time we crossed paths with him at a Star Wars convention. At Celebration III he introduced us to many Star Wars celebrities, during the convention and after hours, but at Celebration IV, knowing that we are avid autograph collectors, he went one step further and went around as many of the guests that he could that were in the autograph hall with him, and got them each to sign their respective photos in a copy of the official Celebration program, as a gift for us.

The resulting souvenir book is now an absolute treasure for us, commemorating the celebrities we saw at the convention, the experience of the event itself, and our friendship with Gerald.

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Over the years there have been a lot of Star Wars cards and stickers released exclusively in New Zealand, particularly in conjunction with food items and related promotions. I recently re-organised my collection of vintage, Original Trilogy-era, NZ-exclusive cards and stickers into new protective sleeves and a new folder, and have but together a quick video tour.

Sets covered include R2-D2 Space Ice stickers from the Tip Top Ice-Cream company (as well as the follow-up set of The Empire Strikes Back paper masks from the same company), Return of the Jedi ewok stickers from the Tip Top Ice-Cream company, Allen’s and Regina Star Wars and Return of the Jedi bubble-gum cards (the New Zealand equivalent of Topps trading cards), Twinkies Empire Strikes Back stickers, Kellogg’s Cornflakes Return of the Jedi stickers, Confection Concepts Postacards, and Quality Bakers bread cards.

You can also read more about each of these sets on the SWNZ, Star Wars New Zealand website.

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This past weekend we attended Armageddon Expo, a national pop culture convention held across New Zealand, this time in Palmerston North, on August 3rd and 4th. This event is a 6 hour drive south from our home city, and the first day of the convention coincided with our daughter’s birthday, so it was a special family weekend trip away.

Check out our highlights video from the event –

We always love attending Armageddon Expo events around New Zealand, as there is always lots of Star Wars entertainment to see and collectibles to buy.

A last minute guest announcement two weeks before the event was especially exciting for us – Ivanna Sakhno, the actress who played Shin Hati in the Ahsoka live action series! Ivanna is currently here in New Zealand working on another film project, and was able to fit in an appearance at the convention over the weekend.

Our daughter is a huge fan of Shin Hati, so after gathering costume supplies, we helped her put together a Shin Hati costume, all made in the week before the convention. She had a great time meeting Ivanna in costume, a really special birthday treat for our daughter. Ivanna was absolutely lovely to meet in person, and of course we had to get her autograph as well for our collection.

We attended Ivanna’s main stage panel, which had a few stormtroopers from the local NZ 501st Legion garrison there as supporters. Ivanna talked about her experience filming the Ahsoka series, sharing some great stories, and also spoke about working with the late Ray Stevenson who portrayed Shin Hati’s master Baylan Skoll.

We are always impressed by all the wonderful Star Wars costumers in attendance at every Armageddon Expo, and we love to stop and take a quick photo of as many Star Wars costumes as we can find around the convention.

As usual we spent a fair bit of time at the Star Wars costume club booth, as we are members of both the Rebel Legion and 501st Legion groups. It’s always a great spot to catch up with our friends in the clubs, check out all the wonderful Star Wars costumers gathering for group photos, and groove to some iconic cantina music.

Shin Hati herself Ivanna Sakhno also stopped by the booth to take a group photo with Star Wars costumers, an absolute highlight.

On both the Saturday and Sunday of the convention, a cosplay parade was held on the main stage, where fans can show off their costumes, whether they are bought or made, all are welcome at any skill level, and there’s always a fun variety of Star Wars costumes in those shows.

We had fun browsing the wide range of dealer booths around the convention floor, to check out the variety of Star Wars items available.

At the Retro Nerds booth (previously known as Cameron Percy Antiques), we had fun browsing through their range Star Wars items, and checking to see if they had any figures on our shopping list. From vintage figures to prequel era figures, Black Series and Funko Pop! Vinyl, there was lots to check out, so we always end up spending a while at this great booth.

The Palmerston North convention is a little smaller than our home city Auckland event, but there was still plenty of great booths to browse. We spotted Micro Galaxy Squadron vehicles, Star Wars Shatterpoint sets, Star Wars Unlimited starter sets, lots of Funko Pop Vinyl figures, Star Wars board games, jewellery including earrings and pins, Star Wars comics, and assorted carded figures at several different booths.

We always check out the cool lightsabers at the Kyber Forge booth, I’ve got my eye on a few neat sabers there. In the end, our picks from this event were Funko Pop! Vinyl collectibles. We found the Galactic Convention exclusive Hoth Princess Leia figure, and in a great bundle deal, we got the Luke Skywalker and Han Solo each with TaunTaun deluxe figures – I love tauntauns, so happy to finally add these two to our Funko Star Wars collection.

Palmerston North is a long drive from home for us, but we always have a great time at each and every Armageddon Expo convention. A last minute Star Wars costume project for our daughter came together so she was able to meet a favourite Star Wars actress in costume, an absolutely special moment for her on her birthday.

We are so grateful that Ivanna was able to make time in her current filming schedule to attend the convention. It was a really special weekend for our whole Star Wars obsessed family. While we catch up on sleep from the long drive home, we are already planning for the next Armageddon Expo in October – in our home city this time.

May the Force be with you!

The post Highlights from Armageddon Expo Palmerston North August 2024 appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Today in NZ it is June 9th – Natalie Portman’s birthday! To celebrate her role as Queen Amidala in the Star Wars Saga, I want to highlight a particularly special Queen Amidala item in my collection – the Limoges Queen Amidala porcelain trinket box. A rare piece from The Phantom Menace era, it is one of my most prized Star Wars collectibles.

It is hard to find much verified information about this rare piece. During my research, I found that it was available from FAO Schwarz in the United States, around the release of The Phantom Menace – 1999 or possibly 2000. There was also a Limoges Yoda porcelain trinket box available at the same time, though I do not own that piece.

Limoges is the name given to porcelain items made by manufacturers in and around the city of Limoges, France. This particular item features a logo bearing the text ‘Atelier de Limoges’ and ‘Les Ateliers de Limoges’ – I am uncertain if this seal is specific to the manufacturer of this Queen Amidala item or a general symbol used by manufacturers in the city of Limoges (like the way the term ‘champagne’ is used for sparkling wine made in the region of Champagne, France).

The packaging box –

My Limoges trinket box came with a blue cardboard box, with a black and metallic gold seal on the top lid that features the printed logo/seal of Atelier de Limoges – Limoges, France. The bottom of the box has the original barcode price sticker from FAO Schwarz – US$225.00.

The Certificate Of Authenticity –

Inside the box there was also a small certificate of authenticity, with information regarding the history of Limoges porcelain trinket boxes, and how to care for the item. This appears to be a generic card supplied by the manufacturer with all their items, as there is no mention of Lucasfilm or Star Wars on it like we would expect today.

My particular box was filled with blue tissue paper, with the Queen Amidala trinket box inside some bubble wrap – I am unable to confirm if this interior packaging is the original, or whether there was anything additional like polystyrene etc. that had been discarded some time ago by the original owner.

I am especially happy to have the original box for my item, and it is in such good condition as well!

I acquired this piece a few years ago now, and it stills looks as brilliant as it did the day it arrived in the mail. It is absolutely stunning in person – the vibrant colours, the glossy finish, and of course, the fine hand painted details. After spending a few years hunting for it, it was so exciting when it finally arrived in the mail, just as beautiful as I dreamed it would be.

The porcelain trinket box measures approximately 9cm tall (3.5″) and 5cm across at the base (2″) – standing slightly shorter than a standard Star Wars 3.75″ action figure.

Queen Amidala is depicted here in her Throne Room gown as seen in The Phantom Menace. The costume details are replicated here so well in miniature form, from her iconic headdress to her vibrant red gown with oval lights – which of course are just painted here, they don’t light up.

For a small hand painted porcelain figure, it still amazes me at the level of detail – especially around the face and headdress. The iconic white and red makeup, the gold details of the headdress, it’s all here in tiny hand painted form.

The gold pattern down the front of Queen Amidala’s dress here is not completely accurate to the original costume design – but I am impressed with how much detail is included here for a hand painted design.

The underside of the trinket box is clean white porcelain, with the seal/logo of ATELIER DE LIMOGES FRANCE’. There is some hand painted text in French – ‘Peint main’ which translates to ‘Hand painted’ – and the signature of the artist, which I think reads A.F. in script/cursive handwriting. I love the hand painted text for the Lucasfilm copyright mark – it really adds to the unique handmade nature of the item.

When viewing the underside of the trinket box, you can see the clasp is a little off center in relation to the hinge – to be honest I don’t know if this is intentional or not. The clasp is metal, and works via tension, which holds the box closed very well. I find it a little tricky to open my particular box, but I don’t mind – I don’t open it very often at all, and would rather it be tight than loose.

The gold-toned metal bands run around both opening edges of the trinket box section. The metal has a slight antique finish – though I am unsure if this is the original finish or it has weathered a little over time.

I love the use of the Fleur-de-lis symbol for the clasp here. The Star Wars royal Naboo symbol takes inspiration from this classic French symbol, so I love to see the reference used here so clearly on an item made in France.

Once opened, you can see inside the trinket box. The Queen Amidala figure on the top is hollow, and is formed as one piece with the lid, not a separate figure placed on top. The inside has a glossy white porcelain finish.

The dish/tray section of the trinket box is fairly flat, so it won’t hold much beyond a piece or two of small jewellery, like a ring or necklace – though of course I do not use this as an actual box for storage.

On the inside of the lower portion of the box, there is a hand painted red Naboo symbol, slightly above centre. Across the symbol, the text ‘QUEEN AMIDALA’ is hand painted in black.

It took me a few years of searching to acquire this piece – and now it is one of my most treasured items in my Star Wars collection. The unique hand painted nature, combined with the mysterious history, really make it special.

If you have any further information about this item, I would love to hear from you! Did you see it for sale at FAO Schwarz in store or in a catalogue, or perhaps even bought it yourself back in the day? Do you know when exactly it was released, how many were made, or where they made to order? Was the Limoges Yoda trinket box made in similar quantities – or is one rarer than the other? I would love to know more about my beautiful Limoges Queen Amidala porcelain trinket box.

May the Force be with you!

The post Limoges Queen Amidala Porcelain Trinket Box appeared first on Villa Varykino.

After what seems like far too long of a writing period, I finally finished and published my first Star Wars reference book, entitled SWNZ Guide To Toltoys NZ Vintage Star Wars Action Figure Cardbacks. The book is written to complement similar content on the SWNZ, Star Wars New Zealand website, but includes a lot of new material and photos.

The guide book is a comprehensive guide for collectors and fans of the Vintage Star Wars action figures and the cardbacks they were packaged on, that were released specifically in New Zealand during the Original Trilogy era (1977-1983). This is a topic that I have been researching for decades, but my passion for which really goes all the way back to my childhood when I was already collecting and archiving the packaging materials my Star Wars toys came in.

It can be purchased via Amazon. In fact, in its first week after publishing, it became the no.1 Bestseller in its category on the local Amazon site.

New Zealand/Australia:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0473706458
United States (affiliate link):
https://amzn.to/4bRWAIH
United Kingdom:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0473706458
Rest of the World:
Search SWNZ Guide on your local Amazon site.

The cardbacks of vintage Star Wars action figures are a big part of the vintage nostalgia phenomenon, with their bold logos and famous chrome “racetrack” border. These packaging items are, in fact, often seen as collectibles in their own right. During the early years of Star Wars mini-action figures, when many licensed Star Wars toys were being bought into New Zealand by Toltoys NZ Ltd, imported figures were sometimes packaged on locally printed cards in kiwi factories, resulting in unique collectibles that differed from the rest of the world.

This unofficial guide introduces the history of Star Wars in New Zealand, and covers the relationship between Toltoys NZ Ltd and its United States and Australian counterparts. A chapter is dedicated to each of the main categories of New Zealand Star Wars action figure cardback packaging, including Star Wars Toltoys Logo cardbacks, New Zealand 21-back, 32-back, and 48-back cardbacks, with 90 colour photos to illustrate key features and differences from the Star Wars packaging seen in the United States and elsewhere. Includes detailed info to help you identify and collect Toltoys NZ cardbacks, with a full character/cardback matrix, along with new photos of very rare specimens.

The post I wrote a Book – Guide to Toltoys NZ Star Wars Cardbacks appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Today we open up the Hasbro The Vintage Collection Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure 2-pack, which includes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Showdown) VC290, and Darth Vader (Duel’s End) VC291, for a closer look at their details, articulation, and accessories.

We both really enjoyed the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, especially the climactic battle in the final episode. When this TVC box set was announced, we knew we had to add it to our collection!

Check out our unboxing video –

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Showdown) – VC290

The Obi-Wan figure is wearing his dark brown Jedi robes from the end of the series, and comes with three accessories – blaster, lightsaber hilt, and lightsaber ignited with blade. The accessories fit well into their attachment points (hilt on belt, blaster in holster), and the figure holds the lightsaber well.

I think the facial sculpt does a good job at capturing Ewan McGregor’s likeness, and the hair is styled just like Obi-Wan. The figure has good articulation, and can hold a variety of cool lightsaber combat poses – though I will put this figure on a stand for extra stability.

Darth Vader (Duel’s End) – VC291

The Darth Vader figure has unique battle damage from the series finale – a slashed open helmet revealing Anakin’s face inside, burn/slashes to the chest box, a slashed hole across the back of the cape, and a weathered cape edge. The figure comes with two accessories – lightsaber hilt, and lightsaber with blade (though the peg for the lightsaber hilt didn’t fit into the attachment hole on this figure’s belt).

I really like the unique battle damage on this figure – but the best feature is the broken helmet. Inside we can see Anakin’s yellow Sith eye and scarred head, and the top of the helmet is removable to see the full head sculpt underneath. Really great detail and painting here!

I wish the Darth Vader figure in particular stood up better (my figure will definitely need a stand), but overall, I really like the details and sculpting of these two figures. That slashed open Vader helmet especially looks amazing! What a great way to add that climactic fight scene to our action figure display!

May the Force be with you!

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This past week we had the most magical time on board the Disney Wonder cruise ship for the inaugural New Zealand sailing! The ‘Magic At Sea’ cruise was the very first cruise that Disney has ever offered from New Zealand, spending four days at sea (no port stops) where guests on board celebrated all things Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars!

The 4-night cruise started in Auckland on Tuesday 21st November 2023, and arrived back on Saturday 25th November 2023. We have always wanted to go on a Disney cruise – we just never imagined we would be able to go on one, and from our own city. It was everything we could wish for and more!

We will be writing up our full cruise adventure here on our blog, starting with day 1 –

Tuesday 21st November 2013

Our day started at 4.00am – we wanted to go down to the harbour to see the Disney Wonder coming in to New Zealand for the first time ever. We were tracking the ship position online, and found a great spot to see the Wonder in person! The ship looked beautiful with all the lights, and of course those iconic Mickey Mouse funnels!

After watching the Disney Wonder sail into Auckland, we headed back home to quickly finish our packing. We live pretty close to the port, so we still had plenty of time to pack, and double check we hadn’t forgotten anything. Our boarding time was 12.30pm, so before we knew it we were loading our luggage in the car and driving down to the port – and there she was, the Disney Wonder!

We quickly found our way to the boarding area, after taking a few photos of the Disney Wonder in port. We’ve never been on a cruise before, so we were expecting a lengthy boarding process – but it was quite quick really, lots of lovely helpful staff.

Before we knew it, we were stepping on board the ship and into the atrium. We were welcomed aboard the Disney Wonder! Goofy was there greeting guests from the stairs.

We were a bit overwhelmed, and didn’t know where we wanted to go first! So we sort of followed other guests, and wandered down the hall, where we were welcomed straight into Tiana’s for lunch. We were definitely hungry and excited to have our first meal on board.

We got our drinks and bread service, and lunch menu to order our meals.

• K – Leafy House Salad, Vegan Pennette Pasta, Raspberry Sorbet
• M – Beef Empanadas, Chicken Cesar Salad, Welcome Aboard Sundae
• J – Beef Empanadas, Pennette Pasta, Welcome Aboard Sundae

Kristy’s lunch –

Matt’s lunch –

At lunch, we were told our room was ready, so we decided to go drop off our carry-on bags. After a bit of navigating, we found our room – our checked luggage was already waiting for us outside the door. We dropped off our carry-on luggage, did a quick tour of the room, and set off to explore.

4pm – We attended the mandatory safety briefing on deck 4 (section G). Took a little while, but after being reminded about life vests and life boats, it really did sink in that we were on a ship about to sail out to sea.

4.45pm – Found a spot on deck 10 to watch the Sail-A-Wave deck party. This was our first time seeing Mickey Mouse and friends on our cruise, which was so exciting! We finally heard the ship horn tune, which brought tears to my eyes – we had heard it in videos many times, but we finally got to hear it in person, which was simply magical.

We wanted to see the ship leave port, but after waiting a while we still hadn’t started moving (the ship was still moored to the dock), so we took a few deck photos then went and saw the characters in the atrium.

In the atrium, we met Pluto! We got hugs, photos, and autographs (I got an autograph from Pluto in the back of Juliet’s book, as I didn’t have one yet). While in line, we noticed the water moving past us out the windows – we were finally on our way!

We went up to the deck and took photos of Rangitoto Island, as the ship was finally sailing out of Auckland and out to sea.

In our research, we had read that the merchandise stores usually open an hour after leaving port – so we went to see if they had opened or if people were lining up yet. We could see all the fun inaugural sailing merchandise through the windows, but the doors were closed. A crew member said they needed to wait until the ship reached international waters, which would be in the middle of the night, so the stores would open at 9.30am the next day.

The stores were right next to the Walt Disney Theater, so we waited for a few minutes before the doors opened and we found seats for the Golden Mickeys show at 6.00 pm. The 1 hour show was awesome, there were so many great characters included – a great celebration of Disney films for the first day of our cruise.

After the show, we headed back up to see the view from decks 9 and 10. We could see Auckland shrinking into the distance behind us as the sun was setting.

After admiring the view from the the top decks, we headed back to our room, to get changed for dinner at the second seating.

8.15pm – Dinner at Animator’s Palette!

This was the rotational dining restaurant we were the most excited about, as we had heard so much about it. As we sat down at our table, we were given our drawing sheets – and we suddenly remembered we hadn’t practiced any figure drawing before our cruise! Oh well, we grabbed a marker and got stuck in, having fun with our character drawings.

After handing back our completed drawings, we got our menu for the night.

• K – Arugula Leaves Salad, Black Bean Chipotle Cakes, Dark Choc Mini Cake with Strawberries
• M – Chicken and Walnut Salad, Lemon-Thyme Marinated Chicken, Warm Sticky Date Pudding
• J – Sliced Serrano Ham, Lemon-Thyme Marinated Chicken, Lemon Icebox Pie

Kristy’s dinner –

Matt’s dinner –

We went back to our room to put our Animator’s Palette drawings away, where we found our first towel animal (Kangaroo). We then ran back to see Goofy and Rapunzel in the atrium but they were just finishing their meet and greet, so we went for a wander around the ship.

Another trip back to our room for a quick pitstop and rest, and we checked the itinerary to choose our next activity. We decided to head to Azure for the Silent DJ party. We each got headphones with three channels to choose from, with lights to indicate the channel (red, blue or green) so you could see what your friends were listening and dancing to. This was really fun – we all danced past midnight!

Once the party wrapped up, we decided to go for a bit of a wander, before finally heading back to our room (with soft drinks from the self serve machines), and ordered fries with ketchup from room service – it came quick! Fun end to an awesome day. After writing down my itinerary notes from the day, we finally got settled for bed at 1.30am – what an amazing first day of our first Disney cruise.

Our day 2 blog post will be up soon – check out all our Disney Wonder blog posts here

The post Disney Wonder Inaugural NZ Cruise 2023 – Day 1 appeared first on Villa Varykino.

At the Star Wars Celebration Europe event in London in April 2023, we presented this panel entitled New Zealand collectibles: Tip-Top, Toltoys, “Taste the Magic“, and beyond, as part of the Star Wars Celebration Collecting Track program. It is now online for public viewing.

This version contains the same slides and details, but has had the audio re-recorded for clarity, to compensate for the ambient noise in the main convention hall where the Collecting Track stage was located. In it we discuss the range of Star Wars collectibles, companies, and promotions that are unique to New Zealand, across the eras of Star Wars collecting – topics include Toltoys figures and packaging, Tip-Top Ice-Cream promotions, Kellogg’s stickers, Twinkies stickers, Allen’s & Regina trading cards, Confection Concepts, Bing Harris Sargood Ltd, Pizza Hut, KFC, Pepsi, Mainland Products Ltd (“Taste the Magic”), Folio posters, and much more.

This was the fifth presentation I have given at a Star Wars Celebration event, and the fourth for Kristy – we very much enjoy talking about our specific Star Wars passions, and hope you enjoy this topic.

• For more details about the collectibles covered in this video, visit this SWNZ article category.
• For more about Toltoys NZ Ltd, visit this SWNZ page.
• For highlights of New Zealand Star Wars collectibles, visit – this SWNZ article category.

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