As announced months in advance the Forbidden Planet, "The Cult Entertainment Megastore", was busting at the seems with the crowd of fans and collectors that patiently waited in line for more than three hours, before the announced 5pm deadline arrived. This is nothing short of strange, or unexpected, since all previous two venues of the World Tour (in the US and Japan) were also as crowded as the London's event.

The megastore is located on London's West End on 179 Shaftesbury Avenue and any visitor or passer-by could simply not suspect what was going on, Star Wars-wise, just by looking at its unsuspecting facade (my photos are proof of that!). It was actually on its backstreet that the fun was mounting to cardiac levels. On the store's front — and inside, even — it was apparently "business as usual".

Sometimes a 3-hour plus queue can have its good(?!) moments as everyone had more than a passing chance to meet the person next to him or her and discuss Star Wars (what else is there to discuss?) and the Celebration Europe convention one day in advance.

The event's organizers also did their share at alleviating fans from the many hours spent standing. People were randomly chosen to have their mugs (sorry), busts scanned inside the premises as a result of which you could be further eligible to become a part of Star Wars lore and have your scan chosen to be made into an exclusive Clone trooper mini bust. Besides these exciting moments, T-shirts were also distributed from time to time.

A little before the 5pm time came, the line began to move forward as if anticipating the many goodies inside the "vault", but it did so at such a slow pace that the queue was already circling around the block into Shaftesbury Avenue when it did!

When my turn arrived (yep, I also went in line) FP staffers announced the distribution (max.) per person:

• 2 Commander Bly mini busts (Forbidden Planet exclusive)
  
• 1 Luke Skywalker & Han Solo bust-ups 2 pack (World Tour exclusive)
  
• 1 Yoda & R2-D2 maquette (World Tour exclusive)

No problem by me, since I went solely for getting me one Bly. Period. Around 06:30pm I finally got my Commander Bly box (it's # 1244/2000, by the way) which was delivered and signed by the man behind Gentle Giant, Karl Meyer (no limos in sight this time, apparently). It was a very nice chap to talk to, but out of respect for the people behind me we had to cut the small talk short.

Overall, roughly some three hours had passed when I had the second GG World Tour exclusive clone commander in my possession (after Gree; Commander Neyo from the Blister store in Tokyo escaped me). The Forbidden Planet venue was already history for me and the next day, Friday 13, would bring me even better and fonder Star Wars memories. But that's another story. A story you regular Rebelscum.com visitors have already been able to follow from our extensive coverage.




In a few days' time, we at Rebelscum.com will be updating our Photo Archives Gentle Giant section with more detailed photos of this much sought after — and incredibly detailed! — piece of Star Wars memorabilia.