Most all sources claim he's been on Dagobah since the fall of the Jedi...  Guess he's just chilling out in the swamps I suppose.

Wow, now that's a nice breakdown of the rumor list there Scott!  Even better than the one above there I posted in.

Great work with all the pictures.  That's making things a LOT easier to follow since some of the names were vague to me!

My top 3 are still Hermi Odle (I want him to come with apples!), Death Star Trooper, and Stormtrooper...

I just hope the latter two have super articulation and great army building features like working holsters and removable headgear ('cept maybe the stormie).

Hem Dazon's a nice one too since he's my top Cantina Alien personally, and Dannik Jerricho's my second most wanted Cantina Patron.

I'm only slightly disappointed by the lack of army builder-type figures, though there are a handful like the Cloud Car pilot and figures who've already been confirmed for next year I suppose.  

I'm curious just how much of that gets made...  That' seems like a LOT of figures for even a movie year to see.

I just got my FC mag and was flipping through...  Insider had a lot of "new" images this go-round, but nothing we've not seen before aside from Red 1, and the AT-ST Han.

The pics of the other figures are really clear though, and I have to say that Gold Leader and the TIE Pilot are 20x as great as I thought before...  Gold Leader appers to have some extra articulation in one arm at least...  The TIE Pilot's bordering on "super" articulation.  Why, I do not know, but he does sport a lot of joints so far including ball/socket knees.  Good for him!

Now if they'll only make everyone else that great!  Fleet Trooper, Hoth Reb. Trooper, Scouttrooper, Hoth Stormtrooper, and regular Stormtrooper, I'm looking at all of you!    Oh and Endor Rebels too dangit!

But anyway the Red Leader images aren't anything to write home about.  The pilot's crammed into the ship and it's a distant shot so what he's exactly looking like is impossible to tell by these images.  Almost looks like a bigger (removable) style helmet, but after those possible prototype images leaked that Scott posted a while ago, I'm not gonna hold my breath for a decent pack-in with that fighter.

Oh, and the socket for an astro is empty, so no word there either though I'm wagering no R5 for him.  Maybe carded someday, or we can hope at least.

The clear images of all the other upcoming Jabba's Palace and Tatooine figures look great though.  The articulation on some of those figures is far beyond Hasbro's norm...  Now if they'd only keep this up all the time, and for all figures.  

Lando Skiff's still gotta be one of my favorites just in images so far.  WOW!

I'm actually somewhat excited to get the figure because it's a prime army building/customizing (Head swaps) opportunity for me.

I've been a proponent for a new AT-ST pilot for a long time and this Han makes a fairly decent looking generic pilot.  Head swaps will abound though for me, as the helmet is indeed removable (with chin strap, whippee!!!), which rocks.

He's partly rehashed from the Imp. Officer it seems, but has a new left arm (at least) and what appears to possibly be new legs as well, though they're not articulated any differently.  They do appear to be less spread apart than the POTJ officer's were.  

The right arm appears rehashed, as does the body.  

It would've been nice if Hasbro included the TIE pilot legs from the pack-in Bomber pilot, as they do fit the Officer sculpt perfectly and are articulated at the one extra point at the knees.  

The helmet looks great...  It's big, as are the goggles, but as you can see in this photo below, the helmet's supposed to be really big.  They nailed it as far as I'm concerned (Though the chinstrap's white instead of black, not a biggie to me though).



So, all in all it's not a shabby looking figure at all I don't think...  High on anyone's list?  Not likely...  Necessary?  Not really...  But decent and good fodder/army building?  Yeah, it's ok.

I still want an Endor Han with a removable trench coat though, and neutral pose, and decent articulation, and working holster...  

I'm holding slight hope they are setting a high bar with this SA Clone personally.  Waiting to see some improved Soldier figures in this same style now.

The thing with the army builders though, is they can repeatedly release them...  Single characters they'd have more trouble with, but you kn ow if I got a Super artiuclated Han Solo for instance, I'd personally be excited for some "dynamic" looking Han's released at a later date...  And that definitive Han could always be recarded as the need was seen, like with their "Flight to Alderaan" repackaged figure.

Either way though, I do think they have an option  now to either keep the standard alive and wow us with all the army builder figures, or they can neglect others...  The articulation's great, and ball/sockets seem to disguise well on cloth/flesh as well as armored figures (Look at Bespin Duel LUke's knees for instance).  I think they really could just milk a single profit for repeated release and wind up making MORE over the long run really...

And like I said, I'd take a dynamicly posed version of the same super articulated character then and not be as critical since I had the definitive version for the army building and whatnot.

I ran out in the madhouse today to see this...  I got Assajj for the markdown, and A-Wings were $20 which is what they retailed for online isn't it?  But they were $30 in stores I believe.

I nabbed another, so I've upped my flight to 4.  I'll make it a damaged A-Wing I believe.

Looked like remains of Wave 3 CW figures but no Super Art. Clones.  Sonnovagun!

I only have one of the freakin' things, ugh!  

BEST
3.75" Basic:

Squeaking in under the wire it's the Super articulated Clone.  

This figure proves Hasbro is capable of much MUCH more with their modern line then they have been putting out, and hopefully the Super articulated Clone is a sign of good things to come for "action figures" in this line.

Close second are the Imperial Officer Head variants.  I love thems army builders.

3.75" Deluxe/Ultra:

I'm going with the General Riekean figure on this one...  Not because of any great attributes to the figure itself, and honestly I think this could've been a regular carded figure for all the more you get, but I am just happy to get Riekean and his tactical screen finally.  I mean, I'd buy t he screen alone in bulk I think.  $10's pricey but for something you REALLY want it's worth it.  Even if it's not even an eye-popping figure or accessory.

Vehicle:

Easily the A-Wing Fighter...  This Target Exclusive came in at a low $20 pricetag, and it was made WIDELY available initially as an online exclusive throught Target.com, and later released to mass retail.  A smart move by Target as they were able to estimate their needs better on this toy.

To top it off, the ship is a wonderful EU repaint, and it accentuates one of the few vintage molds that truly held up over time as accurate.  It's one of the only to-scale vehicles in the entire line, and that's not shabby for a 20-ish year old mold.

The pack-in even added variety to our pilot ranks, and this was a no-brainer to buy.  I got 3 myself and will buy a 4th or 5th if I see them drop in price.

WORST OF 2003!!!
3.75" Basic:

Jedi Throne Room Duel Luke...  Good God, this thing is everything WRONG with Saga's early incarnation all rolled up into one craptastic figure.

-Terrible action feature that DOES ruin the figure
-Terrible action pose that equally helps ruin the figure
-Terrible face sculpt that takes its share in ruining this figure
-Terrible accessory (the base) that doesn't work, typical of the features of the Saga line

His only redeeming feature was a nifty metal Jedi Luke sabre.  That's it.  

CRAP!

3.75" Deluxe/Ultra:

Not a whole lotta Deluxe's out really, but I'm going with the Escape Pod C-3PO.  

The Pod sucks because it's so underscaled, and an item this size really should have just been done properly scaled and pay the extra $5 it would've taken to make it that way.  I'm not fond of underscaled things, and the pod 3PO comes with is just way too small.

3PO himself is also a rehash, and while I like that sculpt, I think for $10 you should get a little better than a rehash they couldn't vac metalize due to the plastic used, and an escape pod accessory that sucks.

Bacta Tank Luke is how to do an ultra accessory.  The Escape pod however, is not.

Vehicle:

Hmmm, t his one's tough since not that many vehicles have been put out really.  

I'm going to go with the re-release of the Republic Gunship and Jedi Fighter though.  Even with the popularity of Clone Wars, this re=release duo suck.  Both still sit stagnant, though the fighter moves somewhat.

They just weren't needed so soon after their original incarnations shipped and some even sat on clearance still in stores like KB (I can still get their exclusive Obi/Fighter set for like $10 there I think).

A close second though is the TIE Fighter.  A true kick to the collective balls of the Star Wars fans, this fighter featured a corrected cockpit rear-end, but the solar panels were left untouched (The one thing most everyone WAS asking to see changed).

Sure, we wanted a cockpit change too, but WTF was up with screwing us on the solar panel issue?  And now ANOTHER TIE is rumored?  WTF again!?  Bit of a crappy deal on that one.

Hell, I'd almost put that TIE above the Clone Wars rehashes now that I think about it.