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"What can I BUY????"
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| Home | Episode Guide | Reviews | Cast & Crew | Articles | Features | Links |
So, here's a little guide to Xena Shopping!
Lets start with the sales stuff, I joined the affiliate programs with Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Blackstar.co.uk so any click and orders to these sites from here will earn me 3p or something! However, Amazon are one of the most reputable online shopping stores - I use them myself. OK, so they are not always the cheapest, but service is excellent. Books and CDs are via Amazon.
UK people should know all about Blackstar. They are one of the very best online stores for videos and DVDs.
After XENA merchandise? Well the first place to browse is Creation Entertainment. They run the Official fan club - and produce most of the decent merchandise. You can get T shirts, mugs, lots of excellent photos and the wealthy can even get replica swords and other weapons.However, the BEST place for online shopping for XENA merchadise is Powerstar. I use them a lot, and they are very reliable. What puts some people off is that they do not tell you upfront what your shipping charged are. The reason why is that they calculate shipping depending on what you ordered. Other stores - like Creation - base the shipping on how much you spend. So you'll get a fair deal on awkward breakables like mugs and glasses, but get fleeced if you are after photos. Powerstar package your items, and them work out shipping, and this is nearly always much better value. Powerstar now also do the video box sets. Haven't heard any complaints about them yet...
[This page was written before the DVD explosion. For information on Xena DVDs, click here for my DVD buyers guide.]
The Official Xena and Hercules Online Store (bit of a mouthful that!) also know as Davis/Panzer - are the suppliers of the video box sets. $170 a time, the best bit for some people are the free goodies that you get with them. For non-US customers, delivery is sloooooow. When they say 3 months, they MEAN 3 months. You could walk and get them quicker! Several people HAVE had problems with them, but most people get their goods eventually, and they are nice quality.UK video buyers are sourced by Universal Playback. We have had the first 3 seasons released on VHS, with Season 4 out in August and October, but the exciting news is Seasons 1 and 2 out on DVD this autumn. Best prices on videos from Playback, Blackstar or Amazon.co.uk.
A word of warning here DO NOT, repeat DO NOT order from Stirling Entertainment in Australia. Stirling used to have a good reputation, but last year, they announced they would be selling the XENA video box sets. One of the main incentives to buy the box sets is the extras you get with them. Very nice they are. Stirling promised to be faster AND still supply the extras. Well 9 months after ordering, I have not seen any extras. My box set took 3 months and was about 50% more expensive than if I had ordered from Davis Panzer in the USA.
It wasn't just me, and it wasn't just UK buyers. Many Xena fans had similar experiences. Avoid buying from Stirling.
There have been a couple of XENA games that you might like to try and get hold of. The Xena Playstation Game is fun. I had it and finished it. Read a review of it here.I never tried the Nintendo 64 Game, but find out about it here
Way back in the early days, a CD ROM was released covering Hercules and Xena, called 'The Heroic Legends of Hercules and Xena'. It was the early days of CD ROMs and it was not that special anyway, but find out what it was like here.
There have been 2 Multipath CD ROMs that confusingly, are often listed as DVDs on certain sites. They aren't, they are actually jsut the same as those Xena Webisodes that popped up everywhere last year that took ages to download. I have a brief review of one of the CD ROMs - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Multipath CD here.
A Xena fan's wall is not complete without a Xena calendar to gaze at for 12 months, but finding them isn't always that easy. The very best Xena calendars are made by Creation Entertainment. Always gorgeous photos and often photos not seen before. For customs outside the US, shipping was a barrier, but Creation have a better deal on this year. Check out the Xena and Gabrielle calendars for 2002
Slow Dazzle are producers of a less exclusive, but cheaper calendar, which is printed in the UK, so only available to pre-order in the UK right now. Preorder from 
Amazon.co.uk
There are a couple of other 2002 calendars available via Powerstar
