My wife and I do our weekly shopping at a local Wal-mart equivalent called Aeon. I was browsing the liquor aisle selecting the ingredients necessary for White Russians (I had just re-watched the Big Lebowski and felt the need to imbibe as the Dude imbibes) when my phone rang. I was a bit startled to hear my wife's voice as we were in the same store. But I followed directions and hurried over to the refrigerated section to find her hurriedly piling bottle of Pepsi Nex into the shopping cart.
Pepsi Nex is not my favorite soda. In fact, I don't really drink the stuff, except that every once in a while they put out special collector's bottles that come with little mini figures. A while back it was characters from 20th Century Fox properties and the figures included Officer John McClane (Die Hard), an Alien as well as a Predator, and assorted others. The figures are about an inch and a half tall and are generally from the same mold, although the color schemes are different. The arms and legs are articulated and each figure has a small clip protruding from the top to allow attatchment to a key chain or cellphone.
I am a collector. By this I mean that not only do I occasionally I fail my saving throw against shiny, but that when I fail said throw, I have to have the entire collection. I am rarely content with only a single figure, rather, getting the entire set becomes something of an obsession. Thank God I never got into Pokemon.
So, when I saw my wife holding the bottles of Pepsi Nex and realized that this summer's collection was Star Wars, well, I had to have them all.
Yoda, Chewie, Wicket, and a whole host of Imperial baddies have accompanied select bottles of the diet cola. These figures, like the previous collections are fairly decent quality although they seem to be prone to paint chipping. My collection sits on the shelf above my desk, although, unfortunately, I appear to be stuck at 13. Still missing are R2, 3PO, and an anonymous figure bearing the logo of the New Republic. But I'll find them. Sooner or later, I'll find them.
