We’re about two weeks away from Rogue Friday, when the first round of toys for the new Star Wars movie will be officially released. Earlier this week, I spotted an Imperial Death Trooper hanging out on the pegs at WalMart with various other figures from the 6″ Black Series.

Last year, I would have tried to buy the Death Trooper & been excited (or disappointed) about seeing it in person a couple of weeks before most other people. I was still trying to collect both the 6″ and 3.75″ lines back then. Midway through The Force Awakens line, I realized I can’t afford to keep doing that…the 3.75″ figures have been around for almost all my life and that’s where my loyalties lie.

So, I looked at him for a minute… put him back on the peg to snap a photo and left him there to thrill or disappoint another Star Wars fan. (Last year, WalMart put stuff out early but the registers wouldn’t allow the cashiers to sell it ahead of the street date.)

I’ll wait for Sept. 30 to arrive. Maybe I’ll try to get to continue the tradition that dates back to 1999 of lining up at midnight outside Toys R Us, maybe I’ll skip it. I’m just looking for six single-carded 3.75″ figures and a couple of two-packs, if my understanding of what’s going to be available in the first wave is accurate… and a couple of those are not even from the movie.

I kinda wish I could wait until the movie comes out to decide if I wanted the figures… I really don’t need any more Constable Zuvios. But I don’t need Jyn Erso becoming the next Rey on me, disappearing off store shelves by the time I’ve had a chance to find out who she is beyond the glimpses offered in the trailers.

I’ve lost a little bit of that sense of wonder that I had when I got Ree-Yees and an Emperor’s Royal Guard before I saw Return of the Jedi, or when I bought all of the Phantom Menace stuff at the first midnight toy sale event… or even last year, when I first say Zuvio, Sarco Plank and their friends.

Here’s hoping the movie brings some of it back.