Am I alone in finding it Ironic that Hasbro's been so laxidasical in making competitive levels of articulation in their modern line, and yet they'd possibly even consider improving the articulation in these vintage-esque guys?

I mean, a line that for all intents and purposes won't have any following from kids would have "improved articulation" which is something kids seem to like in their toys (And me too, but some of the best selling toy lines are heavily articulated).  I just find that odd, and that's one of the things I find irritating about it.

If they have the time/resources/desire to improve figures that are 20+ years old, why aren't they improving all figures in their modern line and drawing in more attention to it through better product?  

I for one would much rather have a Hoth Rebel Soldier from Saga who could hold his rifle and be posed standing at attention or running into combat, rather than a Vintage Hoth soldier who bends at the knees and elbows...  I just find that ironic and fairly backwards thinking on Hasbro's part.

Oh well, I'm off to play with my new Super Articulated Clone some more.  He's out whipping off my vintage figures right now.

And I too would agree that the old 4-packs were pants and did NOT sell well.  They were marked down here as I recall even.  TRU takes its dear sweet time to do markdowns though, so it's no small thing to hear they cut the prices on that set.

I just don't see the mass interest in these that people think they may have...  

I personally would only have a SLIGHT interest in vintage-esque characters that weren't made in the vintage line.  A Grand Moff Tarkin for example, or Rebel Fleet Trooper...  Simple straight re-releasing vintage figures as they once were is of absolutely zero interest to me though.  It cheapens the whole idea of vintage collecting to me.  It also is catering to what I consider a slightly "lazy" demographic who want instant vintage gratification whereas others have been piecing collections together for years, and take pride in that.  

I hope this isn't too much of a big deal really, and that it just passes by us and we can forget about it.  I hate seeing resources go into things such as this when they could be going into the main modern lines where they're much more needed.  

If they'd perfected modern figures and were cranking out their 100% best quality on EVERY figure, I'd not care as much, but right now I think this is just one more thing to detract attention from the modern line and it's really unnecessary as well as rather uninteresting to me personally.

Got my first today.  He's great, and I can't put the guy down.  He's even sitting on my mousepad as I type this.  This figure simply rocks all.  

99 more to go and I'll be happy.  

How's this one for a Union screwing people at X-Mas time though...

My mother cleans for USWA Local 1138 in Leechburg, PA.  This is my father's Steel Worker's local union, and my mother takes care of cleaning their union hall.

It's a relatively piddling job...  She did it in the evenings for only about an hour and made a minimal monthly salary but it was a little extra for my mom that she needs.

So, this past year we come to find out the Union's representatives have steadily and slowly been screwing the Union out of $...  Taking unnecessary trips to expensive resorts for "meetings".  Not sharing rooms with other members but rather everyone getting a single room...  Little unchecked crap like this.

This year, they realize that they're going into debt.  They restructure some things (None of the reps took a paycut though) and asked my mother to take a 50% paycut yet STILL do the same ammount of work, PLUS they're planning to rent the Union Hall out to the public and expect my mother to take on t hat work without any increase.

So my mother refused and accepted a 50% paycut with also a 50% job description cut.  

Fair right?

Well, the one guy...  William Ahl, is a trustee and my mother's supervisor.  He's one of the doofuses renting the hall out to a group he belongs to that does square dancing or line dancing.  Some stupid **** like that.

He demanded my mother start cleaning more...  My mother refused and old "Bill" and my dad almost came to blows over it.  

Then, this week, my mother was again demanded to do something.  Meet with them at 4 p.m. an evening she wasn't supposed to work.  She went in, and they fired her...  Told her "Your services are no longer  needed...  But you're not fired".  

One guy, who is completely ball-less, was profusely apologizing.  Bill Ahl was there and was just snide and rude to my mother.  

We've since found out the secretary also went behind my mother's back and is "helping out" by doing some cleaning in her own office to help the Union (She did it to save her own job).  

HOw's that for a merry X-Mas?

Needless to say there's a couple mill guys who have gotten wind of my displeasure with them and are now avoiding their usual hangouts.  

And Bill Ahl walks approximately 500 feet out of his way to get his coffee now because he works in the same building as my father and is too afraid to go near him even in the building.  

It's not so bad if they'd just have said to my mother that after 14 years of working without ever missing one day that they simply couldn't afford to pay her any longer.  What's bad is they out and out lied to her, tried forcing her to do work for nothing, and are taking absolutely NO blame for their situation themselves.

Well, that and they're all really 2-faced cowards to boot.

The funny thing is that my mom's getting 6 month of unemployment that is the full price she'd have made every month anyway, so basically the Union goofed itself over in the long run and will be paying out part of that themselves.

Bunch...  of....  morons.

Damn, you guys are lucky!

I haven't found ONE yet, and I'm really into having like 100+ of some army builders (these bad boys included).  I liked Forceguy's point about the hips not being ball/socket.

Maybe if we get a super articulated Scouttrooper someday, he'll have the ball/socket thigh/hip joint so he can ride a bike AND stand off of it?

Now that would be impressive...  Not that this clone isn't, but FG had the same idea I did that it's indeed not a "perfect" figure still, and that extra ball joint at the hips would go a LONG way on this guy as well as almost any other figure.

A guy at Scum posted tonight that you could only get maybe 3 good poses out of them...


Riiiiiiiiiiight.

3 & 3/4" or 1:18-ish is my scale of choice.  

Much like the esteemed Lord P of L, I feel environments and vehicles are important for my figure lines I like.  Scale's also important to me, as is articulation.  The 3.75"-ish scale allows for to-scale vehicles in most instances (Even if Hasbro decides NOT to do things that way) and some decent playsets are possible.

I've found more an outlet for those things through customizing than Hasbro actually doing them.  21st Century Toys and BBI thrive on to-scale vehicles to their military lines though, and the quality/fun shows through in them.  I got a P-47D Thunderbolt Fighter from World War 2 (21st Century Toys, at Wal-Mart) just today and it's an impressive toy to say the least.    Easily can picture it hanging above a D-Day battle scene dropping its bomb on a Tiger Tank.

I chimed in at 11/50...  I too was proud to still be a man, and since diagonal stripes aren't likely to be on anything I own in the near future, looks like I'm staying that way.

I thought I would score much lower actually, haha.  I found out I'm not nearly as picky about how I look as I once thought.