I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

I would think the major gripe with the "twist" is that a major villain from the Iron Man universe essentially doesn't exist.  I suppose a true Mandarin could show up later, but I think that ship has sailed.  I don't see why Kingsley's version couldn't have had the magic rings.  I think the depiction of AIM fit very well in the movie Marvel universe.  I don't think you could have brought in a character like MODOK into the movie.  I think they did a good job with most of the Extremis elements as well.  I'm not sure I would have gone with the Killian arc as they did though.  Overall, I think the villains have been the weak point in the Iron Man trilogy as a whole.

I don't know if Episode VII will do Avengers type opening weekend numbers.  The prequels left a sour taste in the mouth of the casual Star Wars fan.  The only reason TPM made the most money was because it was the first Star Wars film in 16 years.  The poor story certainly hurt the box office of AOTC and the poor story of AOTC hurt the box office of ROTS, which was easily the best of the three prequels.

The saving grace for Episode VII will be signing the big three to appear in the film.  I think that will get people who were turned off by the prequels somewhat excited.  However, you are going to get the "they are too old" crowd.  The story will really be a key in all this.  Disney cannot afford to have a boring trade dispute/political story line.  There will need to be an enemy that is a credible threat to the Jedi and a lot more action than we saw in TPM.

When new movies were announced in the 90's, I really wanted them to make the sequel trilogy back then.  At that point, the major stars were not "too old".  Ford has always said he wouldn't play Solo again, but I bet Lucas could have at least got him to cameo for a death scene.  The other reason was so that nine episodes would have actually been made.  At that point, I never though Episodes VII through IX would be a certainty if Episodes I through III were completed.  Until the Disney sale, that was the road Lucas went down with his revisionist "I only intended to make six movies" statement.

Lucas is new Spoiler Source: Big 3 returning

If you get the entire quote from the Bloomberg article, Lucas goes from saying they were signed, to they were in final negotiations, to who knows if they would have signed.  He seemed to really backtrack on it after he initially let it slip.  I think the most interesting thing is that Lucas was actually going to go forward with the sequel trilogy on his own as a means to showing the franchise was still profitable for any potential buyers.

As long as RG3 is back at 100% by August, I will be happy.

Unfortunately, any new item will not have a discount.  They do give you points for each item that you purchase that you can use to discount future prices.  However, there are a couple things to note.  First, you don't actually earn the points until about 30 days after the purchase.  Second, if you use points to purchase an item, you do not earn points on that item.  In that respect, it is better to use points on a cheaper item or to save up enough points to purchase an item for free or near free.  I believe you get one point per one dollar in item price and each point is worth a penny.

In terms of Hot Toys, if they are anything like the Marvel line, they usually sell out and hold their price on the secondary market so finding a bargain is quite tough.

I don't think both books 4 and 5 would be split into two seasons.  I would think you could get away with either two or three seasons between those two books and I would think those seasons would be combinations of those two books.  Since they are concurrent stories, I don't think viewers would be happy not seeing certain characters for a whole season since they would only be in one book and not the other.

Can you spoil the secret?  At what second the scene occurs?

It is the final scene on the Japanese trailer with the hands up against the glass.  It is probably paying homage to the end of Wraith of Khan when Spock dies right in front of Kirk.