My Yoda puppet signed by "Weird Al" Yankovic is now listed on eBay

Well, I'm now a liar and worse.

A little over ten years since I vowed that I would never, EVER do it, I am indeed selling my much-loved Yoda hand puppet signed by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

It's really out of my hands (no pun intended).  For reasons which I don't care to disclose publicly, some financial resources have come to be required.  That's just the way things are right now.

So last night the listing for "1980 Star Wars Yoda Hand Puppet Signed By "Weird Al" Yankovic went live on eBay.

Mom bought me the puppet in 1980, a few months after The Empire Strikes Back came out in theaters.  I was six years old and distinctly remember that night at the toy store.  Long story short this puppet - which has maintained PERFCT condition despite the years and miles traveled - went with me to a book signing by "Weird Al" Yankovic in June of 2013.  Al's eyes lit right up when he saw it!  And he was very glad to sign it.

It's Star Wars.  More to the point it's Yoda.  And it's been on the hand of and signed by the greatest parodist in the history of the arts.  For those reasons and more, it's a very precious possession of mine.  And now I'm prepared to let it go.

I thought long and hard about how much I'm asking for it.  This is such a unique item, and it really does matter to me that this will go to a good home.  In the end I had come up with a substantially larger figure.  However eBay's system doesn't think I'm a "power seller" just yet and it's restricted me to bidding starting much smaller.

So if any of this interests you, click on the link above and learn more.  If you would like to bid on it, I wish you all the best.

 

 

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Scammers trying to hijack the eBay action for the Jablonsky-signed TRANSFORMERS Score

Someone... or someones... out there is trying to run a scam involving our auction on eBay for the copy of Transformers: The Score signed by Steve Jablonsky.

Last night, through the item's eBay page, I received a question from Crystal, (which you can read for yourself toward the bottom of the page, just below the big photo of the signed CD). Here's what she told me (and I've put this scammer's name and e-mail address in bold)...

Hi Chris. I got a message through my e-mail from Mr Rhichar (rhichar2dgerer@gmail.com). They said they were you and that I won the CD by default. I figure its a scam. I know you are selling it for a good cause. If you would like I can send you the entire e-mail. I figured it wasn't you. Thought you should know about it. Crystal (aka Uniapeg)

Here's the answer that I gave back to Crystal...

Dear Crystal, That's not me. The only regular e-mail address associated with this auction is my theknightshift@gmail.com one. This dude "Rhichar" is a fraud. If you could, yeah please forward his e-mail to me (again to theknightshift@gmail.com) I'll go over it and might post something accordingly to warn people about this. And thanks!! :-) Take care and God bless, Chris

And earlier this morning Crystal sent me not only the original e-mail from Rhichar but another one from someone who might be a different person. Here's "Rhichar"'s e-mail...

Dear Buyer ,

I'm the seller of the item that you've recently bided through the eBay system.
Item name : Transformers: The Score (CD) signed by Steve Jablonsky Item number: 150172275487 and i`ve just been contacted by the eBay staff who informed me that due to some reasons the eBay policy automatically proclaims you to be the winner by default.
I need your agreement on this so I can contact eBay to confirm you that you're the winner, otherwise I'll relist the item. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I need an answer asap.
What is your price for my item ?You have oportunity to purchase my item if your offer is resonable for me !!
Waiting for your answer!
Best regards!

And here's the other one that she received, from ardeifoc@ (gmail.comardeifoc@gmail.com)...

I have for sale: Transformers: The Score (CD) signed by Steve Jablonsky Item Number: 150172275487
My price is negociable.
If you are interested just give me a fast reply on this email address and you will find all the info that you want.
Thank You For your Time

Okay well obviously, these aren't from me. And the only way to contact me about this auction is through either the CD's eBay page or through my real e-mail address which is theknightshift@gmail.com. It's only through those two that there'll be any correspondence from this end (the one holding the actual CD) about the auction.

And the only party that is getting this CD is the one that wins the auction and pays the money for it. There won't be anything shady or underhanded going on involving it, and that's why I'm posting this right now: to warn others that there are some bad people out there trying to unfairly profit from it. And to reaffirm - if it needed it - that this auction is one for a good cause and because of that, I'm full-blown committed to keeping everything above the boards and open to scrutiny.

With all of that in mind, I hope that this can remain a fun and memorable lil' event :-)

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