Congratulations...

Of course, not that we need TOO many clones of Scott running around the Earth (Good lord, perish the thought!)...

The only thing I can say disappointed me about this news is no Hermi Odle, who was the one Jabba's Palace character I truly was interested in.

Not that the others are BAD announcements.  They'll be great additions to the gang of uglies already produced.  I just wanted Hermi Odle more than anything else from JP.

The pictures shown are amazing, though I'd like to have seen Luke without the cloak too (I love the cloth cloak by the way!  FINALLY some Soft Goods stuff so our figures can be posed!), but it's looking nice even with the cloak on.

Nice touch on the blaster too.  I wonder if we'll get a Gammorean with working holster some day?  Wouldn't that be a dandy extra to put the blaster in, and recreate the scene all together?

The R2's definitely got signs of greatness.  The 3rd ankle appears articulated as do his outer ankles, which is a good sign (His just having a retractible 3rd leg is a good sign).  My worries lie in the tray and serving spout.  What's left on his dome if the spout is removeable?  And does the tray come off even (If it does that's a really tight fit).  If there's only a tiny pinhole on top of his dome, and the tray removes then I agree that this could very well be the finest R2 ever.

It would be the R2 that the Flying Saga R2 SHOULD have been, with removeable accessories and a heavily articulated astromech body underneath.  We'll just have to wait and see if Hasbro thought this figure out properly.

The R1 droid, tied with Luke, was the highlight image to me...  I've seen Luke before so I wasn't so gaga over that, but that R1 is just sweet.  I wonder if it'll be a single carded figure or what he could come with?  Kind of bland for an individual figure just the way they've been packaging things of late.  Still, it's a new droid that looks amazing.

Isn't it ironic that we'll get an R1 droid before we received a decent R5-D4 figure?  

I would've never predicted that one personally.

And the list of figures was just great!  A truly "A list" of characters I think that MANY collectors wanted (Even if my Hermi wasn't on it).  Bubo's probably my favorite announcement cuz he bites at people, but the whiphid iisn't a bad choice either, and just the # of people who've made a custom of him s hould warrant Hasbro to make an "official" one.

Now I hope next time they go to the skiffs and crank out some new goons, and Hermi Odle of course from the palace.  The skiffs could use some "new" guys though, like Sgt. Doalynn, a Human guard, the cackling Nikto, Weequay Skiffmaster, etc...

The articulation count goes a lil sumpin' like dis...

2-shoulder
1-neck
1-waist
2-thigh/hip
2-knee
2-ankle
2-wrist
2-elbow

For a total of 14 points.  

What of that is ball/socket, is anyone's guess...  It could be every major joint though, judging by the image (I blew it up trying to get a good look).

Here's to hoping for greatness...  I just hope the "natural" pose is very neutral, unlike that damn red clone's pose where his bow legs and arms clenched tight at his sides (because of no ball/socket shoulders) meant he was limited to only a handful of poses, and they were ALL action poses.

Blah!

I agree with others that this set's turned into an improvement.  The only thing though is that I only want the 2-Horn variant.  Which at this time seems the most difficult to find.

Luckily, my area dried up as far as Bounty Hunter sets which SUCKED.  Fortunately they sold mostly.  Sad that the sporatic spottings of them became instant pegwarmers though.

The Imperial set seems to sell in a trickle...  There's definitely less now then a month ago.  I may nab another to do my "army building duty" and help clear this crap out.

And then just hope I get a non-broken-horn variant of the Hoth set at some point.

At that stage, unless they REALLY rethink how they do these 4-packs, I'd be content to see them go the way of the do-do...

If they became army building sets, or if the figures saw HEAVY retooling, such as new legs or whatnot, I could go for new sets.  Until that point, these are just not that great for me to want more.

I still dunno what the hell JW.com or Alltroops are even.

For those interested, this is one of those things I've personally picked apart in my normal meticulous/anal manner, in hopes to create a database of the exact uniform structure to the Rebel Alliance.  

Their uniforms include:

1) Brown-Green (More brown) uniforms...  Fairly simple, long/straight-leg pants over boots or shoes, simple button-down (ill fitting) tunic, and open "cargo" pockets on the pants.  No "ornaments" like flashy buttons or chevrons.  Tan "ballcap" style hat with yellow/red emblem of some sort (diamond-shaped?) in the center.  They appear to be a low-level officer of some sort...  Maybe akin to black tuniced Imperials in the films?  Large "Star Wars-style" belt included, either black or brown.  (most common uniform style in the ceremony scene...  MAY have hat variations where only a seeming "commander" type has the emblem, I forget and don't have images handy to check).

2) Brown-Green (More brown) Uniforms...  A more complex uniform with pockets, chevrons, dark brown or black buttons.  A better fitting uniform, more in-line with an officer's uniform.  Long-brimmed tan hat, and an "ascot" or scarf of some sort at the collar.  A large SW Style belt included again, either black or brown.  NO emblem on hat.  (Officer WITH the medals in a case is one of these officers)

3) (POSSIBLE) Tan-ish uniform...  Only ONE guy at the whole set-up it seemed.  Was standing on the opposite side of the viewscreen to Dodonna when he was going over the battleplans.  Only viewable in widescreen and edited shots.  His uniform's similar to #2's uniform, but lighter.

4) Rebel Technician...  Tan/light grey jumpsuit.  High collared, wears a RFT helmet WITHOUT neckguard.  In ROTJ they had their pantlegs tucked into the boots, and in ANH they had them over the boots.  It's assumed it's not significant.  Seen wearing headsets or no headgear at all also.  

5) Rebel Fleet Officer...  Captain Antilles uniform...  The only known variation to the uniform is the long trench-coat, which may have just been an added accessory that Dodonna just happened to be wearing to keep equipment and such in the pockets...  Something akin to a Doctor's smock or something?  The coat didn't seem to be of any significance though, and all officers with the tan uniform may have that coat for all we know.

6) Fleet Trooper...  Standard Non-Commissioned troops...  Blue shirts, black tech vests, grey cargo pants, lace-less combat boots, white domed helmet WITH neckguard and black visor...  We all know these guys right?  They suck...  Well, Hasbro's figures of him suck anyway.

7) Fleet Tech Officer...  A C/O of a Tech unit perhaps?  In ANH the "Tech" that talks to the fighters attacking the Death Star via a headset wears a Rebel FLeet Trooper-style shirt (same cut/collar) that's the color of a Tech's uniform.  Also has on pants that match the same color and a brown belt.  Definitely a unique guy, and seems more important in the Yavin war room as he's in direct contact with the fighters.  Also seen in the Briefing scenes standing/observing.

Rebel Pilots...  Tons of em at Yavin, like possibly hundreds.  Most with powder blue emblems and black visors.

9) TONS of EU stuff to sift through...  When I do my lil compelation of this material I may take "artistic liberties" with EU material though, as it's hardly coordinated.

10) ROTJ uniforms don't change much in some cases, then there's unique officers like Mon Calamari, and Madine's group, but they could be separate branches of Alliance military...

I count Madine's uniform style as that of the Alliance Spec. Forces (Which EU coincides with on his background anyway), and that they're almost a separate branch of the military from "Alliance Fleet Operations".  This would go with the theory that the Alliance tries not to openly engage the Empire in open combat because they get trounced easily.  

Basically, if need be the Troopers of the Fleet are deployed in situations, and they perform the "brunt" of the work being done fot he Alliance military, but the more active group in combat is Spec. Forces and they are a separate entity of the Fleet Forces because of that.  

Like our own military, the Marines go into HUGE situations like our attack on Iraq, but the Spec. Forces are constantly coming and going from various parts of the world for various combat situations.

I list Dresellians and Tibrians as separate species not willing to devote themselves to the main body of the Rebel Alliance, but still allied with that force...  Consider it like having Canadian troops standing next to U.S. troops at a briefing for D-Day...  The Canuck guys will look different, and aren't a part of the U.S. military which is a larger force, but they're fighting the same cause...  

OK, that's a lotta crap I just posted.  Sorry.  If I can ever get scans of any of these uniforms that are clear, I'll be more than willing to post them, or send them over to someone who can post them rather.

few more small things of note...

21st Century, who have all but dropped off the retail map, have recently shown new items, but only airplanes.

P-47
P-40
Winter Messerschmit (Wheee!)
etc., etc...

Images are up at GP's site if you check in the forums...  I'd dig up a link, but at this point I'm too lazy to do so, and 21st's sorta pi$$in' me off with their constant barage of airplanes that  don't sell because they're outrageously priced.  

However, 21st DID MENTION (not show, which to me the proof is in product photos but whatever) their troop carrier, which will be based on the trucks that had the front end of the Dodge Command Car basically...  Heavily used in the Battle of the Bulge.

They also mentioned that they're trying to get the BoB figures out, which I hope that means OUT IN FORCE because I have army building to do with those and 21st's doing a poor job of getting the troops deployed for EITHER side (Damn I want those Germans but I need a whole slew of U.S. guys too!)

They also mentioned the Japs and Marines are on their way eventually, but I forget when.  I'm thinking they said next year...  Oh Joy!  That means 5 years from now in 21st's concept of time/space.

Still, if the Japs are half as good as those Leatherneck's prototypes looked then we're in for something special.

I hope 21st gets their head out of their collective rear-end and finally realizes (After this next onslaught of planes) that PLANES AND BIG TICKET ITEMS DO NOT SELL AS WELL SO STOP PRODUCTING SO MUCH OF IT AT ONE TIME!?!?!?!?!?!

I'd much rather they just put out 2 or 3 planes a year total, and an equal # of land vehicles, and then on a monthly or bi-monthly basis crank out new waves of figures.  

If we got new figures constantly, the line would be so much healthier.  The way they clog shelves with high-end items though, they shoot themselves in the foot.

It's like Hasbro putting out new $40+ ships en masse and wondering why there's no shelf space for anything else.  Blah!

Damned if 21st needs a wake up call right now.    Thank goodness BBi's been there to keep the interest alive in 1:18 military stuff.  Hell even Dragon's more on the ball than 21st lately.