Quote from: Jesse James on March 24, 2010, 03:20 PM

My threshold was $6.99.  $7.50-$7.99 was my breaking point where I had to make more severe cuts, and to be totally honest I was cutting back at $6.99 in the duplicates department, so I just made that more severe when the price went up yet again.

Isn't that funny, how as little as .50 per figure can sway one so easily from going overboard with purchases?

I think my tipping point was after SAGA2 ended, I seem to recall the price on those was $6.63 at Wal-Mart - when Legacy hit the next year, the price was $7.46 or something close to that.  That's when it hit me that enough was enough on the overbuying.

I think the price increases in non-movie years are PART of the problem, but not the sole problem.  Look at the other economic factors that are affecting people (jobs, higher fuel costs, general economic pressures) and I think you'll see a number of reasons why people felt the need to either cut back or drop out.

All of the Marines in the series appear to be from the 1st Marine Division, albeit from different regiments.  But it's clear that the notable Marines in the series like Leckie, Phillips & Basilone were all involved in the Guadalcanal campaign.

There's a huge contrast between the Marines of The Pacific and the men of Easy Company in Band of Brothers.  Easy Company and the 506th PIR were constituted in the Spring of 1942.  That unit trained together and shipped to England as a unit until they were dropped into Normandy in June 1944.   The Marines on the other hand were either from existing units or men who enlisted immediately following the Pearl Harbor attacks.  The Marines landed on Guadalcanal 9 months after Pearl Harbor.  So to compare the units in terms of their time together may not be an appropriate comparison.  But I suspect that over the course of the HBO series the characters will be developed so that the viewers will be able to identify with them more.

Nick I think I am glad you brought up that you had an uncle in the ARMY in the Pacific.  They were on many of the islands that the Marines were on, but not in the numbers so they ddin't get the recognition.

I was glad to see some mention of the Army landing on Guadalcanal in last night's episode.  But it only highlighted how woefully undersupplied the Marines were, and how difficult the conditions were for them to deal with.  I haven't been able to watch the full episode yet, but the situation looked pretty grim at times.

The interesting thing about the live action series?  According to IMDB and some recent reports the live action series could debut as early as the 2011/12 television series.  That in itself is interesting.  A live action series that debuts in 18 months might be a boon to the line.  And it could revitalize interest in the Expanded Universe, too. 

Ultimately though, we have to wait and see what happens.  There's a serious possibility that the vintage style packaging could be strong enough to bring some people back into the fold.  But we'll also have to wait and see if the economy rebound and gives collectors a little more breathing room with their personal finances.

The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Chris Evans was offered the Captain America part, but they haven't confirmed the story with either Marvel or Evans' agent.

I think we can attribute the mismatched numbers to the Toy Fair cards being mockups.  FWIW, one of the Boba Fett's on display at Toy Fair was the VOTC version.

The info that JTA received from Hasbro was sent out as a followup to the most recent Q&A session.  That info is only a couple of days old compared to what we saw at Toy Fair.

Historical perspective is something that definitely needs to be taken into account with The Pacific.  The US was attacked and that got the American people mobilized.  Men were enlisting in record numbers after the Pearl Harbor attack.  And there were many instances of men taking their own lives because of their 4F draft status.

And in the leadup to this battle?  American forces were being defeated across the Pacific theater in the early months of 1942.  American positions on Wake Island, Guam and the Phillipines had been taken by the Japanese in the leadup to the battle for Guadalcanal.  The situation on Guadalcanal grew more dire as the battle progressed.  The Marines were left to fend for themselves because the Navy ships offshore were driven off by the Japanese.  It makes the Marines lack of mercy seem more understandable.  But it was also shown that Japanese wounded would try to take as many Americans with them, too.

I'm also curious to see what some my uncle who is a WWII veteran would say about this.  He was in the US Army's 25th ID.  He survived the attack on Schofield Barracks by some of the Japanese forces that hit Pearl Harbor.  And he fought with US Army forces on Guadalcanal.  He told me that Terence Malick's film The Thin Red Line captured some of what happened there.  But there's so much more that he's left unsaid.

And is it me, or does The Pacific merit it's own thread?

Are they going to develop into elite 1200 yard + RB's?  That remains to be seen.  But even though I'm a Giants fan, Rex Ryan has made the Jets somewhat worth watching.