Maythe force be w ith us

MORE than 50 Star Wars fanatics queued for hours to be among thefirst to buy merchandise from the latest blockbuster film.

One ardent fan waited for more than 10 hours to be first throughthe door of the Toys R Us store at Cribbs Causeway - one of 10nationwide to open at midnight to launch the merchandise for StarWars Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Another left his family on holiday to be at the special opening.

The eagerly-awaited Attack of the Clones hits cinema screensworldwide on May 16.

Once again it features Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and NataliePortman as Queen Amidala. Hayden Christensen stars as AnakinSkywalker.

As a special treat to fans and collectors attending the midnightopening, Toys R Us was giving limited edition silver Darth Vaderfigurines to the first 50 customers through each of the 10 stores'doors.

The figurines were created specially for the 2002 New York ToyFair to commemorate 25 years of Star Wars.

That was enough to persuade 18-year-old A-level student ChrisEastwood to queue for more than 10 hours at the store.

Clutching his prize, Chris, of Portishead, said: "That's the wholereason that I came out here. It was cold and quite boring and I'm abit annoyed I overestimated what time people would be turning up."

Richard Moss, aged 32, had left his wife Lorna and newborn babyKatie on holiday to be at the store.

Richard, of Portishead, said: "I drove down to Center Parcs atWarminster this morning to go on holiday and then drove all the wayback - I wasn't going to miss this!"

A fan since the original movie in 1977, Richard said the specialDarth Vader figure was an attraction but he also wanted to see whatelse was on sale.

"It's just nice to be here.

Once you are grown up you can go out and spend money on thisstuff, which is the advantage of growing up."

And Richard insisted he wouldn't be seeing the dark side of wifeLorna for deserting her while on holiday.

He said: "She sent me! She said it was fine. She's a big fan aswell. That's why I married her!"

Among the other shoppers were Richard Cussen, aged 29, and IainJarvis, 24, who have made their own Star Wars film for the internet.

Richard, of Bristol, was searching out anything connected with theJedi Knights, while Iain, of Birmingham, was buying up anything to dowith Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Iain said; "We're also worried that George Lucas might not haveenough money.

We don't want him having to eat TV dinners of anything."

All 63 Toys R Us stores nationwide are stocking more than 170different Star Wars products from the new movie, including characterfigures, new action fleet vehicles, new light sabres, and new LegoStar Wars items, plus everything imaginable from pyjamas andcostumes to stationery, games, puzzles, computer and mobile phoneaccessories.

In just 30 minutes on Monday night, the Bristol store had soldhundreds of pounds' worth of merchandise.

Among the new favourites being snapped up were new figures ofQueen Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, alongside new characters such asJango Fett, Dexter Jettster, Plo Koon and the Super Battle Droids.

Store manager Robin Payne said the special opening had gone"fantastically".