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12-30-2006TargetTarget comes through again in the clearance aisle. I stopped in last night to find that both Shuttles were gone, which is good as I'd probably have bought one, but they had just stocked a case of Mace Windu's Attack Battalion Battle Pack. Better yet, 50% off or $9.98. I came home with two sets. They also had three of the $20 Unleashed Battle Packs in the clearance aisle for $9.98 as well. The Mace Battle Pack had been stocked once before but had been off the shelf for a couple weeks now. The Unleashed Battle Packs, though, were never stocked at regular price. That's at least three Star Wars items, along with the Snowspeeder and Kit Fisto's Jedi Starfighter, that came directly out of the back room and went on clearance. Bad for Target, good for me! Wizards of the CoastA new ad for another expansion set of minis has been found and reported over at RebelScum.com. Called "Alliance and Empire," the set is set for a May 2007 release and will include 60 pieces including new characters and re-sculpts of older ones. This set will have square bases to celebrate the 30th Anniversary. Sounds like a fun set but I think maybe I need to just pick up the minis that I want to actually play and stop buying boosters. That might be a lot more economical in the long run. HasbroJediDefender.com is reporting on the new Stormtrooper for 2007. This will use the VOTC sculpt but will include a removable helmet and Jango Fett head sculpt. The figure looks pretty good but, honestly, I like my OT Stormtroopers anonymous. 12-29-2006 Treachery on Saleucami Hasbro4-inches.de scoops the fan sites again with first photos of a new Battle Pack titled Treachery on Saleucami. It includes that Commander Neyo and one of his troops that they broke last week. The set also includes two BARC speeders and comes in the new 30th Anniversary packaging. The set looks to be very cool as both troopers are using the Super Articulated Clone Trooper molds. It's either the Clone Wars figure or ROTS #41, I haven't paid that much attention. Either way, great set. I'm guessing it'll sell in the $20 range along with the Starfighter vehicles. Now let's see if Hasbro can find their way to a follow-up 2-pack with Stass Allie on a ROTJ speeder and another trooper. SideshowBib Fortuna is now shipping from Sideshow so if you ordered, he should be here pretty soon. They've also updated their web site with production photos of the Salacious Crumb Creature Pack. Salacious has some basic articulation and looks really good, as do all the creatures from the set. According to the newsletter, Sideshow has gone with sturdier material for both Jabba and Salacious and added articulation to both. Look for updated photos of Jabba "soon," according to the newsletter. Master ReplicasI don't post much about MR as I don't collect their items and don't follow their lines but they did update their blog with some 2007 product updates and news about their merger with Corgi. First, on the merger front, things have been finalized. Corgi will be producing die cast vehicles and figures, MR will have prop replicas and a third brand, what used to be Cards, Inc., will have gifts and toys. For 2007 look for a new FX lightsaber, Yoda! Also they'll have Chewbacca's bowcaster, an ANH Stormtrooper helmet and a Red 5 X-Wing studio scale replica. The last item is listed as a "TIE Fighter Episode IV Helmet Scaled Replica." I'm not 100% sure if that's a helmet or a TIE vehicle? Probably a helmet, it's just listed a little differently than the Stormtrooper bucket. Ralph McQuarrieDreams & Visions Press updates their web site with more info about "The Art of Ralph McQuarrie" book that will be coming next year. They have a couple pictures of a mockup of the book, which will be huge. It looks to be a pretty awesome book but even the "entry level" books is going to run about $125. TargetThe clearances in the toy aisle are underway and I did notice a couple Star Wars items last night. The biggest deal was the last two exclusive Shuttles for $41.88 each. They also had two action figures from the Greatest Battles and Heroes & Villains lines, Padme and Darth Vader, for $3 and change. Of course all the Christmas ornaments and candy are 50% off as well. Under new items, Target had restocked some Galactic Heroes figures and electronic lightsabers. I spotted a Mace Windu saber sporting the new gold and silver coloring which, although the sculpt is totally wrong, is at least an attempt at aping an Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith hilt. I almost walked out with a Shuttle last night but couldn't quite bring myself to do it. If I stop by there tonight and any are left I think it's going to be an entirely different story however. Tomart'sIssue 150 of Tomart's Action Figure Digest was on the shelf at Borders last night and it's a great Star Wars issue. They have part 6 of their Kenner Legacy series as well as a 6 page spread on the Lucasfilm Archives. They also have photos of some late 2006, early 2007 Hasbro toys, GG Clone Wars Bust-Ups and a couple of their new animated maquettes. It looks to be a very good issue so add it to your library. 12-27-2006HasbroA few cool tidbits popped up over the weekend including pictures from 4-inches.de of a new Commander Neyo for 2007. Following up on the interview with Derryl DePriest for RebelScum's Force Cast, Lee's Toy Review posted their own Q&A session with the brand manager for Star Wars. It's on their web site as it didn't make the most recent issue of the magazine. Of note is that the Wal-Mart exclusive wave of TSC figures should be shipping in February and it sounds as if they'll be a featured product with end-cap placement. With Wal-Mart, you're mileage may vary. Gentle GiantMy Chewbacca bust arrived yesterday from Razor's Edge and he looks amazing! There were some reports of damage on the various forums but my Chewy looks fine. I was worried mostly about his bowcaster but it's not broken. Best and Worst of 2006It's approaching the end of the year and that means it's time to recap the year that was in Star Wars collecting. What were the best figures, busts and events? Read the Best and Worst of 2006 at CreatureCantina.com. Look for it to be posted on the Articles page here next week. Toy RunsOn my journey home (and back) for the holiday weekend I took the opportunity to hit up some stores for a little last-minute gift buying and to see what was about. Good news, stores were actually stocking right up till the end with new Star Wars merchandise. The Ithaca Target took the opportunity to stock the newest TSC figures including all of the Clone Troopers, Kit Fisto, Maul, Chewbacca and the Battle Droids. I saw them all on the shelves both Saturday and Tuesday. They also restocked some of the Unleashed Battle Packs but the rest of the aisle was wiped out including lightsabers, Titanium and the Shuttles. They were down to two Shuttles on Tuesday. Wal-Mart in Binghamton still had some figures on Tuesday but the vehicles and many of the 4-pack tin sets were gone. Gone also were the few Titanium vehicles that had been on the shelf. Although there were some action figures on the pegs nothing stood out as being a hard to find figure. Not sold out were the role-play blasters which were stuffed onto nearly every shelf in the action figure part of the toy section. Also dripping off the pegs were the Transformer figures. One odd thing I spotted on the shelf was a .45 scale Yoda lightsaber from Master Replicas. I have no idea what that was doing in the store or where they'd stocked it, but there it was. Target in Binghamton also had sold out of many things but they did still have action figures left. I should mention that the Star Wars Titanium vehicles have been extremely popular as they've sold out of every TRU, Target and WM store that I've been in. I think both Target stores had the new AAT and Hailfire vehicles in, both in the Thirtieth Anniversary packaging. Toys-R-Us had some Endor 2/Naboo wave figures on the pegs as of Saturday. They also had a lot of their exclusive TIE Fighter but were cleaned out of both the X-Wing and AT-AT. I saw one exclusive Republic Gunship in the store on Saturday but I wouldn't be surprised if that's lone gone by now. My biggest score of the weekend was on Tuesday which, as the day after Christmas, was the first day of the big clearances. I stopped in a Hallmark store and picked up the four ornaments; Anakin Skywalker vs Obi-Wan Kenobi, Imperial AT-AT, Clone Wars 3-pack and Luke Skywalker with Yoda. All for 50% off. Basically I scored $90 worth of swag for about $45. Gambling by not picking any up before Christmas paid off this year. I think they flew under the radar a little. I'll probably hit the local Wal-Mart and K-Mart later today to see what's lying about. 12-23-2006Gentle GiantGentle Giant launched their new web site yesterday. It's very straight forward and easy to read and it loads quickly. They've also upgraded their store software as well. It's quite a stark contrast to the previous site, almost lacking in style compared to before. One upgrade that's not so great is their new Gentle Giant Collector's Premiere Guild. It's a $50 a year club that gives people chances at purchasing con and event exclusives. Membership also includes gift of some sort but no word yet on what that will be. Even if it's a bust they have so many licenses now it's not guaranteed to be a Star Wars character although the details aren't all out there yet. Although they have the "free" gift, I hate the idea of basically spending $50 so that I can then spend more money with them. And still you're not guaranteed an item, you still have to fight with the other Guild members when it's ordering time. The first test of the new club will be the black and white maquettes. Apparently they're going to be done lottery style though. I guess they'll pick out names and offer the maquettes to them and then if those people pass, offer to others. Keep an eye on the site for more info on that. One thing, it should definitely cut down on all the chuckleheads that were signed up with the old club with 2, 3 or more email addresses. That served no purpose but to slow down the exclusive order process for everyone. We'll see what more information comes out. If it looks like I'll need that membership in order to have a shot at a really nice bust next year then I may join then...but probably not. HasbroThe most recent Force Cast from RebelScum.com had an exclusive interview with Derryl DePriest who is the Star Wars brand manager. It's about a 45 minute interview and they did cover a few interesting pieces of info including that Hasbro is looking at 2008 as a potential release year for an AT-TE. DePriest also confirmed four characters that will be coming in the comic 2-packs next year. First up is a pack with Anakin and A'Sharad Hett who is a Tusken Raider Jedi. Actually, I guess he's a human who dresses (and lives with?) like the Raiders. I haven't read the comic. The second set is Bultar Swan and Koffi Arana. I have no idea what comic they were in but I think Bultar Swan was in AOTC in the Geonosis arena. She'll apparently be dressed in Clone armor and Koffi is the dude that kills her. Merry Christmas!We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope there are plenty of Star Wars toys and games under the tree for you all this year. Look for new updates after the holiday. 12-22-2006HasbroTwo days in a row now I've found new figures at Target, very surprising. Although, it's only been one at a time. Last night I found a holo Commander Cody which I snatched up. It's a decent looking figure so I was happy to find it. Still 9 Shuttles on the shelves and at regular price. I'm thinking their either going to get wiped out over this weekend or, if there are any left, this time next week we'll see some red clearance stickers. Surprisingly enough the Unleashed Battle Packs became a huge seller at Target. They've all disappeared and haven't come back. The role play lightsabers are always popular and are wiped out. It's been a good year, I think, for Star Wars toys. Gentle GiantFinally got my notice from Razor's Edge Collectibles that my Chewy bust came in. Paid up the balance due and he should be here some time next week. Can't wait! 12-21-2006HasbroThe newest wave of figure, I believe it's 8, showed up at the local Target either Tuesday or early Wednesday. The only figure left by the time I stopped was an R5-J2 which I picked up. I was surprised to see it as I wasn't expecting my store to get any more figures before the Christmas holiday. I'm also not sure how many figures in this wave I'm going to pick up. Probably Holo Cody and the AOTC Clone Trooper Sergeant at least. Master ReplicasMR set the edition size on their limited edition Darth Vader helmet at 2,500 pieces. If you have an extra $900 to splash out I'm sure it'll be a great looking helmet. 12-20-2006SideshowMy Sideshow Darth Maul showed up last night and he looks really good. The head sculpt is dead-on Ray Park from The Phantom Menace. The outfit is up to the usual standards and he comes with 5 lightsabers in various stages of activation and battle damage. One shortcoming of the figure are the hands. Because of the gloves they pop off rather easily. But the outfit and sculpt make up for it. With this release Sideshow has fixed the arm length for the shorter figures so I'm hoping we get a new Luke Skywalker either in his Tatooine or Bespin outfits. I like the neutral facial expression on the figure but this is one time that an exclusive head would have rocked. One with the pissed off, teeth bearing, I'm gonna kick your ass expressions! Overall a solid figure and I can't wait to have some room to display him going head-on with Qui-Gon Jinn.  2007 Rose Parade Pin LucasfilmIn anticipation of the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, which will have George Lucas as it's Grand Marshall, two pins are being released to commemorate the Star Wars presence. They both look pretty cool and for only about $7 each they aren't priced that badly. 12-19-2006Gentle GiantIf you're one of the chosen 200 that GG has on their Christmas list then you should have received your new 2006 bust. Actually, it's more of a statue this year. It's Max Rebo with his red ball organ. With a Santa hat and flashing Christmas lights, this statue even plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Don't be surprised to see this turn up for sale to the general public, sans hat and lights (and maybe a new tune), some time in January. That's how it went with Salacious Crumb last Christmas. HasbroEntertainment Earth and other sites have the Republic Commando Battle Pack in stock and ready to ship. Guess it's about time to put in an order for that somewhere. 12-16-2006Gentle GiantI'm not sure if this was announced before, I don't pay that close attention to all of the releases, but Action Figure Xpress has a new exclusive Clone Trooper bust for sale. Priced at $54.99 this Trooper has a grey pauldron and comes with an extra unmasked Clone head. It's limited to 2,500 and is looking at a May 2007 release. As of this writing there are still some for sale but if you're interested you may want to jump on it quick. Not quite my type of thing, but now that they have a cool clone head sculpt can a rockin' Commander Cody be far behind? Now that's a bust I would order. HasbroYesterday was Friday so that must mean more pearls of wisdom from Hasbro. This week, only one; 2007 will see packs of 40+ figure stands from HasbroToyShop.com. Better news, they're only going to be $9.99 for a set. They'll mix in all 6 films plus EU for the logos. Very cool. 12-15-2006Big News from HasbroThe first wave of 2007 30th Anniversary figures are going to be delayed until March. Unless Hasbro can do something to get them out sooner, we won't be seeing them on 1/1 like they were initially predicting. That's a good break for some of us looking to save cash fro things like C4, but still, that leaves three months with no new product. Maybe that will mean easier to find Wal-Mart exclusives and Target will have time to cycle through the last 16 or so regular release TSC figures. Gentle GiantAccording to GG's blog, Chewbacca, General Grievous and Darth Maul mini busts are starting to ship to distributors and retailers. Be on the look out at your comic store. TargetTarget is pulling out all the stops to try and make the toy aisle look full for the last push to Christmas. They moved most of the Shuttles down from the top stock area to bottom shelving near the GI Joe figures. The 3.75" figure pegs are pretty full and it looks like they're pulling stuff from the back to keep them that way. There was even a Gragra figure on the pegs last night and I haven't seen that figure in a while. Star Wars seems to be selling well, though, as people have even knocked out most of the Hoth Unleashed environments. There's only one set left and still no $10 battle packs. The only thing that hasn't shown up are 3" Titanium vehicles. Since Wednesday all the store has done is stock more Titanium Transformer figures. Poor. I guess that means I probably can't expect more SW Titaniums till after the first of the year. Last Christmas this Target store had a ton of the first wave 8" Sigma Six figures and it appears as though most of them have been sitting in back because a huge amount of peg space was devoted to them last night. If you're looking for an original Spirit figure my store has the hookup! I'll probably hit Wal-Mart up today, not holding out much hope of finding anything new on the Titanium front, however. 12-13-2006HasbroSome interesting and some not-so-interesting news showed up yesterday including 2007 product listings and more 7" Unleashed characters. In the less than interesting field we have those Unleashed. Not only will the Revenge of the Sith Anakin and Obi-Wan figures be coming back but so will the very scarce Stormtrooper. Only this time the Trooper will be in the new favorite color, black, as a Shadow Stormtrooper. Please, someone make it stop. At least not all was lost. A forum posting listed some interesting info on the 2007 30th line of figures including wave 4 figures (with UGH Gold coins) and some vintage figures. Listed for vintage we have the following:
I'll be happy to see a Luke Bespin as that's one of my favorite outfits of the original trilogy. I'm not psyched to see yet another Han Solo figure. I can only think of two vintage decos they haven't done, Bespin and Hoth. I'd be happy with either but I'm not really looking forward to buying another version of Han. Let's move on to someone new. The two bounty hunters are promising but, I have to say, Zuckuss totally deserves a vintage style figure! And just how much better can you make IG-88 anyway? I hope he isn't the C-3PO of this vintage line. There was also some new 2-pack comic news including a Stormtrooper with R2, Obi-Wan with Alpha and a set listed as Komari Vosa and Vilmarh Grahrk. Some speculation in the forums is that Komari Vosa may be incorrect and this will actually be Quinlan Vos. Others, though, think that maybe he was pulled in favor of a single carded figure and Vosa is his replacement. We'll see what happens. The rest of the list recounts the Saga Legends waves and some vehicles we've already seen confirmed. That UGH gold chase coin wave could be troublesome but we'll have to wait to see about that. SideshowI received my shipping notification for Darth Maul last night. He should be here next Tuesday, just in time for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to this figure. If you purchased a Bib Fortuna then you should be on the lookout for him in the first part of January. Sideshow is expecting him to arrive in LA in the next 10-15 days. Master ReplicasWell, their new Collectors Edition line of replicas didn't last long...exactly one release of Qui-Gon Jiin's saber to be exact. MR pulled the plug on the CE line yesterday but says they'll be back in 2007, after their merge with Corgi, with new product categories. Gee, releasing less expensive, open ended editions of lightsabers that collectors already own and which they paid $300+ for? I have no idea why this could have failed... 12-12-2006TargetThe Christmas shopping season is in full swing and a few Star Wars items are doing well, at least at my local store. And you may be surprised to find out which toys they are; Unleashed Battle Packs. That's right, over the weekend every Unleashed Battle Pack sold out of my local Target store. That's both original (Hoth) and prequel trilogy figures. Not many, if any, of the Hoth environments sold, however. Galactic Heroes and electronic lightsabers were also huge sellers with most cleared out by last night. There were quite a few Transformers on the shelf but I don't know if they had been refreshed or just not touched. The large Han and Chewbacca Millennium Falcon seems to be selling, though. Attacktix seems to be moving steadily if not in huge quantities. The $20 Starship line is down to a couple Mace Starfighters and a Vader TIE while the Mace Battle Pack is gone along with the 4-pack tin sets. Not selling; exclusive Shuttle, Titanium 3.75" figures and Force Battlers. There's also not a lot of movement in the 3" Titanium section because the Transformer figures are tying up all the peg space. And what vehicles there are, that actually belong on the Star Wars pegs, belong to the Battlestar Galactica side of the line. We haven't had any Star Wars Titanium vehicles since wave 11...wave 15 is starting to show up just to give an idea of how far behind we are. Friday when I hit up Target they had put 12 Shuttles in the top stock area of the toy aisle. Come Monday there were 11 left and that store was packed this weekend. It's just not selling here. I think I'll probably see it hit clearance unless something drastic happens in the next two weeks. Hasbro, in their latest Q&A, put a fork in the Unleashed environments/vehicles but I'm ready to put a fork in the 3.75" Titanium figure line. I'm really not seeing it sell well at any store I've been in. Maybe there's some part of the Midwest where these are a hit, but not in central NY. K-MartI was in K-Mart last night for the first time in probably 3 months...and I was reminded why. They had no 3.75" TSC figures in the store. There was exactly 1 VTSC Greedo figure, several Jedi Temple Assault Battle Packs for $29.99 and I spied at least one 4-pack tin set on the top shelf. It was rather disgusting. On a positive note, if you have a K-Mart that's actually carrying Star Wars toys, they're all 10% off this week. I might actually go back this week and snag the Sigma Six Snake Eyes with wolf. They're $14.99 and 10% off as well, making K-Mart cheaper than either Wal-Mart or Target...if only by about $1.50. That'll cover sales tax though. 12-11-2006HasbroThe comic book 2-packs have started to show up at Toys-R-Us stores and should be around to the various other retailers soon. So, be on the lookout. New info from the weekly Hasbro Q&A confirms what many have been seeing at retail, the Unleashed ships and playsets are not selling well. Because of that Hasbro has no immediate plans to do more beyond the currently available Hoth Snowspeeder and playset. Contrary to a previous answer that implied we might see the entire vintage line of figures re-sculpted and released on vintage-style cardbacks (VOTC/VTSC), Hasbro cleared that up this week by saying that there are some figures they'd probably never do in that format. I'm kind of glad for that. Seriously, the draw is the card art as much as the figure (see VOTC C-3PO or VTSC Greedo, both of which have had as-good-as if not better versions in the regular line) and when some of the Return of the Jedi vintage figures can be had for $15 why would I want a VOTC/VTSC version for $10? Give me a decent figure version on a regular card for $6 and I'm happy. If you're a fan of the Titanium line you may be happy to know that Hasbro is scrapping the current X-Wing mold and will be doing a new version with movable wings and retracting landing gear. Now we'll be able to buy our favorite X-Wing paint scheme all over again! Gentle GiantThe official site has more info on the Lego-styled maquettes coming from GG next year. Head over to starwars.com to check out the article and photos. 12-7-2006
Acme ArchivesMy Shaak Ti Character Key arrived on Tuesday night and it looks great. Shaak Ti is one of my favorite Jedi characters from the prequel trilogy and the key really captures her as she appeared in the animated Clone Wars cartoon. It seems that Acme sold out of the 1250 piece edition which kind if surprised me. But, don't forget that Razor's Edge still has stock of their Asajj Ventress key available and Sideshow is still taking pre-orders on Kit Fisto. Hasbro Original Trilogy RISK If you like the Star Wars board games that have come out over the last couple of years then you'll be happy to hear about a new one; Star Wars RISK: The Original Trilogy Edition. It appears as though this was just announced but, according to the article on starwars.com, it should be out in stores now. Maybe it'll show up under the Christmas tree this year! 12-6-2006TargetOne of the clearanced Snowspeeders popped back up on the shelves last night after looking like they had sold out over the weekend. The Shuttle has been moved from a front end cap to the back aisle since Monday night but it doesn't look like any have sold and they weren't showing any clearance tags. Target also had some of the new Galactic Heroes on the shelf including the Han and Luke Stormtroopers, Wedge and TIE Pilot and Obi-Wan with Sandtrooper. The Wedge figure actually looks really cool. Hasbro) 2007 30th Anniversary Wave 2 BigBadToyStore.com comes through with some of the first on-line photos of the second wave of 2007 30th Anniversary figures. Included in the wave are a McQuarrie concept Boba Fett, Death Star Trooper, Han Solo pilot, Luke Skywalker celebration, Rebel Sentry Honor Guard and Biggs Darklighter. The McQuarrie Boba Fett looks very nice but the Death Star Trooper and Biggs and Luke figures aren't too shabby either. Plenty of articulation on these figures so I'm happy with them at this point. New photos of the Unleashed Battle Packs have surfaced. The next theme is "Trouble on Tatooine" and we can expect Tusken Raiders, Sandtroopers, Jawas with droids and our heroes including Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, Chewy and the droids. 12-5-2006 Darth Revan Darth RevanWizard updated their web site today with photos of the new Darth Revan figure. They have all the angles covered including a close-up of his face. Head over to their site for the photos. The figure looks to have plenty of articulation and a very detailed outfit. So far it looks like a good Fan's Choice figure. On the same page you'll also see some nice photos of the comic book 2-packs that are starting to show up as well as Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter Double DisappointmentFirst up in disappointing news, Slave1.jp has photos from Sunday's World Character Convention in Japan, including a couple of the Ambush on Ilum Battle Pack. Remember when Hasbro announced that the Padme would be an all new sculpt? Well, it may be new but it's looking like Hasbro screwed us. There doesn't appear to be any knee articulation and the leg stance sucks ass. You can see her in this photo on Slave1.jp's web site. The right leg looks to be permanently bent backwards with an ankle pose fixing it there. The left leg is slightly more neutral but probably designed in such a way as to balance her. Her arms are posed with the right straight out with her blaster and the left looking as though it could be brought up in a double grip. You can't really tell if there are any wrist or elbow joints but looking at the angle of the right hand I would say no. If any of those observations are true, this is going to be a one-pose action figure. Terrible. First I was completely pissed that this was going to be a regular action figure and not an Animated Clone Wars style sculpt. Then it was discovered that we'd have to pony up for a Battle Pack and not a carded figure. The only bone Hasbro threw me was that it would at least be all new and not a bashed figure based on the Droid Factory Escape Padme. Now, I wish it had been based on that figure. As bad as that Saga figure was it might just be a step up from this one. Shame on you, Hasbro, if you've wasted your time on an action figure that's almost universally asked for! 2007 Saga LegendsThe second wave of disappointment comes with the announcement of the 28 figure Saga Legends line for next year. RebelScum.com debuts the full list of 4 waves including all 10 Fan's Choice figures. Good news, the foreign 2-pack Pit Droids will be in the line as will RA-7 and plenty of Clone Troopers including a ROTS-41 based 501st Clone as seen at San Diego back in 2005. A much needed upgrade to the two mediocre releases so far. Disappointing, however, is a lack of plain Stormtroopers. It's an interesting mix including 17 prequel characters, 10 original trilogy and 1 EU, the Dark Trooper that won RebelScum's bracket tourney. Unfortunately 12 of them were available just this year with at least 10 available on pegs right now. There are 9 Troopers of various flavors (not counting running changes on the Clone officers) while 12 could be considered army builder figures. Technically 9 of them have never been carded before but that number is subjective as we have had 501st, Shock Troopers and Sandtroopers on cards, just not these figure versions. By my estimate 10 of the figures are the best version available of that particular character. Although none are really terrible, I still don't know if they deserve to be in this line as "legends." The characters may be legends, but the figures, not so much. HasbroThe new Lee's magazine is out and the McQuarrie concept Boba Fett is on the cover. Pictures may hit the major news sites soon but, if not, I'll try to grab an issue. Also on the inside are photos of the new 2007 Biggs Darklighter, Death Star Trooper, Rebel Honor Guard and Han Solo. All of the figures look brilliant and are must haves for the collection. So far the 30th Anniversary line for 2007 looks incredible. I'm thinking I might be out some cash next year. Hopefully the good stuff will wait till C4 is paid for. The new Toy Fair is out at hobby shops as well and includes photos of the new Darth Revan figure. Looks intriguing. Having not played any of the modern Star Wars games I wasn't sure what to expect from the figure but he looks cool so far. AcmeShipping notices have arrived for the Shaak Ti character key. Should be here in a couple of days. Can't wait! SideshowDarth Maul is ready for processing and credit card authorizations should start hitting in the next 9 to 11 days. This is, of course, for the Sideshow exclusive so if you ordered yours from another vendor your mileage may vary on this info. 12-4-2006Fan's ChoiceRebelScum.com's poll is over and they've picked the favorite figure from the entire Hasbro line since 1995. The winner is the Expanded Universe Dark Trooper. The Dark Trooper? With over 1000 individual figures to choose from, covering a span of 10 years, this is it? That's the figure the majority of fans that visit RS.com want to be remade in 2007? I fear for the longevity of the hobby. 12-3-2006SalesK-Mart and Toys-R-Us both have sales on Lego this week, buy one set get one set at 50% off. Not a bad deal, especially since there are three larger sets on the shelf now with the Star Destroyer and Jabba's Sail Barge. KubrickThe latest carded 'brick is out and it's a convention exclusive Shadow Stormtrooper. Limited to 1,000 pieces it's selling this weekend in Japan at the World Character Convention. Check out the photo on JediDefender.com's web site. 12-2-2006HasbroThe redemption deadline for the VTSC Lucas Trooper has been pushed back to February 28, 2007. Apparently some retail stores still have stock of the VTSC figures available and they wanted to give their customers the chance to still redeem their stickers. In other good news we get this awesome tidbit in the weekly Q&A session (Thanks JediDefender!): Q: Is the Snowbunny Padme figure from the Target exclusive "Ambush on Ilum" Battle Pack an all-new sculpt? Is she heavily articulated or pre-posed? W00t! In other interesting answers Hasbro pretty much said yes to an AOTC Jedi Starfighter with hyperspace ring! Not too shabby. Ralph McQuarrie"The Art of Ralph McQuarrie" will be coming from Dreams & Visions Press in April 2007. The 400 page book with have art from McQuarrie's work on the Star Wars movies as well as book covers and technical sketches. The book is limited to 2,000 copies in three versions; unsigned slipcased for $125, 250 signed and numbered slipcased for $300 and 52 leatherbound copies signed by Mcquarrie, Dough Chian and Ken Ralston. No price on the leatherbound version but I'm thinking it might give that new "Sculpting a Galaxy" deluxe edition a run. It'll officially debut at Celebration IV but will go on pre-order on January 1, 2007. I have to say that I'd love a copy of this book. I'm sure it will rank up there with the "Chronicles" book but $125 might be a little too much with CIV to pay for. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to he pre-order but, till then, check out the press release on JediDefender.com. 12-1-2006HasbroThe latest wave of Titanium vehicles have been found at retail. This is the wave that contains the awesome AOTC Jedi Starfighter with Hyperspace ring as well as Maul on Sith Speeder, Senator Amidala's Star Skiff and two new Battlestar Galactica vehicles; Scar Cylon Raider and a 1978-style Colonial Viper. The latest waves of figures have been found in the US as well, not just Asia. So, be on the lookout as you're doing your Christmas shopping. Stay on TargetI stopped in Target last night just to do a quick run through the toy aisle and pick up the new Clerks II DVD and found two awesome clearance deals. After hitting the action figure aisle I was casing the clearance end caps when I saw a guy and his girlfriend walk by. He was carrying the exclusive Snowspeeder and she had Kit Fisto's Jedi Starfighter. It was a surprise because up till now my store had never stocked either one. As I walked towards where they had come from I found and end cap with about 12 JSFs and 6 or 8 Snowspeeders...all on clearance! Needless to say I snagged one of each. The Snowspeeder rang up at $14.98 and Fisto's JSF was $9.98, both about 50% off. I think they actually came directly out of the back and went on clearance. Very odd. But, when the huge Shuttle is on the front end caps for $60 with two figures the Snowspeeder at about $30 probably wouldn't look like such a great deal anyway. Make sure to check your stores! Toy ShowDon't forget this weekend's Pittsburgh Toy Show. Running Saturday and Sunday, the show is in it's usual spot at the Pittsburgh Expo Mart in Monroeville. The PSWCS will be there collecting toys for the 501st so if you have some extras, or find something at the show, it would be awesome if you could help out with this great cause. The 501st Garrison Carida visits children in hospitals throughout the year and hands out these toys to cheer up the kids. SideshowSideshow has announced the edition size for their 1:4 scale Premium Format Luke & Yoda Dagobah training set. It will have a worldwide edition of 1,150 pieces. Head over to their site to put in your order today. Home | AT-AT Driver | Republic Gunship | Features | Multimedia News Archive | Links | For Sale | About
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