A little while ago I post my review of the exclusive Star Wars charm bead set available from Thinkgeek. The charm beads are made by Body Vibe, one of SalesOne LLC’s jewelry brands. While I was researching the company and their full Star Wars collection, I noticed two beads pictured on their website that aren’t available from Thinkgeek – the dangle Darth Vader and dangle stormtrooper charm beads. All together there are six charm beads in the Body Vibe x Star Wars collection – so it is puzzling that Thinkgeek chose to offer only four of those six beads as exclusives. I wondered if it was a delay in supply, or whether another store would stock the charm beads – my question was answered when the two beads not sold by Thinkgeek were added to Amazon’s range of Body Vibe x Star Wars items. Not wanting to miss out, I quickly placed my order – Amazon can ship these items internationally.
The charm beads are made from stainless steel, hanging from a ring. While the standard version of the stormtrooper and Darth Vader beads have the Lucasfilm copyright detail etched subtly into the back of the helmets, these have the text ‘(c) LFL’ etched on the side of the ring. The Aurabesh text reads ‘Darth Vader’ and ‘stormtrooper’ respectively, matching the dangle R2-D2 charm. The helmet portions are exactly the same size/sculpt as the regular versions, measuring approximately 12mm tall, or 25mm including the dangle ring portion. These bead charms are fantastic, and I’m so happy to add them to my bracelet.
The charms cost US$28.00 each from Amazon, compared to Thinkgeek’s price of US$34.99 for their exclusive individual charms. I am a little conflicted – I now have five out of the six available charm beads, but the standard R2-D2 bead has ‘cut outs’ on either side that take away from his classic shape, so I feel the design isn’t as good as the rest of the set. I chose the dangle R2-D2 bead instead when choosing my bundle set from Thinkgeek, and the odd number of charm beads works well when wearing them on the bracelet. As mentioned in my earlier review, the bracelet is not made by Body Vibe, but is available from Thinkgeek and co-ordinates well with this set.
