"Midnight Madness" at TRU - Newark, DE
April 23rd, 2002

You never fully realize how many different generations have been affected by Lucas' galaxy of creatures,
planets, heroes, and villains, until you participate in such a huge event as "Midnight Madness"-

The number of people who show up for these events will never cease to amaze me- people from all walks
of life; people who have to work tomorrow, people just finishing up their work for the day, college students,
little tikes, you name it- they were all there.

I was at this particular TRU today at noon, and with the exception of the huge sign saying that this store
would be "open at Midnight", you would have never known from the inside that such an event was about to
take place.. But during the 2 hours that I waited in line to get into Midnight Madness, I watched as the staff
used their magic to transform the ordinary store into a showcase of Episode II collectibles.

Everyone kept glancing at their watches, mumbling to themselves, hoping that the staff would let us in early..
Well, they didn't. So, we all shared stories of huge collections, great finds in days gone by, collections lost
at yard sales, to pass the time-

Once the doors opened, it was instant mayhem.. People throwing brand new merchandise on the floor,
crowds, pushing, total chaos- the insanity seemed to calm after about 20 min, at which point the staff
began to walk around and pick up the pieces. After about 30 minutes, people seemed to be shopping in a
much more civilized fashion. However, after many messy searches, it became evident that not all figures
of the new lineup were available. It seemed as if different stores received different waves- more on this to
come..

One of the highlights of the evening was an R2 unit built to scale, that drove around the mayhem chirping
and beeping like the real droid. Many pics were taken with the little guy, and his presence at the
event seemed to help make people forget about the pushing and the grabbing that was going on around them.

How would I describe this event in one word? MADNESS is perfect. To label it anything less would be an
insult.. But, I'd push, shove, and fight any day for new Star Wars toys.. - Jim