Yo man!

Happy Birthday to Matt, and let us all hope and pray he isn't dancing, judging by his picture there.   Have a good one though bud, you earned it!  Drink lots and have a blast. 

Get lotsa Star Wars stuff too...  Anything, just get SW stuff or it won't feel "complete".

And of course, take it easy bud, and enjoy your day!

The show sorta bit...  It wasn't a wash, just saw a lotta disappointing things throughout the day.

First, I kicked the day off with 2 Hotwheels nimrods up my ass at Target waiting for the store to open before I popped over to the Toy Show.  I can't say I've ever had to deal with guys like this, even in our hobby, but what a couple of douchebags!  I felt like backhanding the one for being RIGHT behind me. 

The second I pulled into the lot and got out of my car to go in the store (I thought it was open), I see these maroons JUMP out of their cars and practically run to the store's door.  I was closer, so I stood there waiting on them to open it up so I could just run in and leave, but man they acted like they were 10 years old wanting to push past me.

There were only the three of us there!  How dumb is that?

Anyway...  Oh yeah, the show.

I got random junk bits and pieces.  Vintage was sporting some ok boxed stuff I saw...  Carded stuff I'm always diappointed in though as it's always damaged in one way or another.  Boxed I'm more relaxed with though so there's stuff I considered picking up.

What was really disappointing was the modern and what people wanted for basically junk.  Episode One figures for $6 or $7 that were $1.99 clearance at one point.  Lame.

I basically got none of the E1 army builders I wanted because people just wanted outrageous money for stuff. 

Second disappointing thing I witnesses was where basically every new figure in the area went if you didn't get to the stores in time.  TONS of new modern stuff.  One guy had a box about half the size of the folding tables FILLED with modern figures that were just released.  AT-RT Drivers, Obi Pilots, Tarkin, Ask Aak, Mena Tills, Zett, etc., etc... 

And Clones.  Guys with SA Clones for $15 and $20...  Target Clones for $35 and $40...  Clone paint variants (Green Commander, etc.) for $25 or more...

I just hate those ********, plain and simple.  I have nothing but snide remarks for them when they try making their deal with me while I look at their stuff.  One guy said, "I'll sell you that for $20" (about a Green Commander), then went on his schtick about it being an exclusive and limited edition item.

I looked at him, laughed, told him he was wrong and that I'd pick it up for $6 when I see it at the stores, and simply walked away.  I have such an urge to bitchslap some of those guys though, seriously.

I love seeing the old GIJoes and stuff though...  I like checking out vintage, though I didn't pick anything up this time, and I like getting deals on older modern stuff or loose stuff.  I picked up a couple loose ROTS figures for as low as $2 each, and I nabbed a bunch of droid customs fodder in a "3 for 10" table.

Got some Army of Darkness fig sets for 3 for $10 also, and wish I'd bought at least 3 more now. 

Got my Vader w/Med Table (also selling for $30+ at the show) from Dave for $10, and a bust-up of Leia I'd been wanting.  Nabbed the 3 plush BK things from Todd that he's been holding for me forever...

Drank some good beer, had a nice cup of soup, and that was the day...  Got some sun on the way home with the top down, and the gf made me shishkabobs!

Not a bad day, other than the scalpers/dealers leaving a sour taste in my mouth.  Seemed like more than ever.  Riding the ROTS wave I guess.

Never saw Eddie Munster or the Soup Nazi...  Saw the Batmobile though.  Yippy ****.

Oh!  I did get a couple ornaments (Destroyer/TantiveIV, and a nice see-through one of the ANH Poster) for cheap.  Love that poster too, that's a sweet little item.

Fun fun fun!

I thought I read something about the resources being well integrated at least...  So that'll be good if it's teh case.  Like if yout ook a planet known for ores/mining, you have that for better ship production...

I like the concept of being hated by who you "control" too...  But I don't want to see too much interaction with the civilian population unless it's them acting to support or revolt against who it is controlling them.  Like I said, that's cool in a Civilization or Lords of the Realm, but when you get to Star Wars things become so vast that micro-management of civilians and their happiness becomes redundant and annoying.

I thing building strong militaries is cool, but I still don't want there to be any real way (or at least it's incredibly difficult) to become just a giant military juggernaught that's unstoppable.  Games just aren't fun if youhave no challenge from your opponent.  That was a problem with Force Commander and almost every RTS up till the "Total War" series (and even then, there was always a point in TW where you knew your winning was inevitable).  Force Commander though, it came way too early...  It was fun at the time, but it's noticeable in every strategy game so I hope they're trying to curb that... 

I will say, I always still liked mowing down my opponent even when I was unstoppable.  FC tried to curb that by making you want to conserve forces (as much as possible) toc arry over to the next mission.  That was a good idea often unrecognized (And something that EAW seemst o have incorporated in their game).  You could build troops from a weak rookie level to an advanced military if they could survive...  I liked that aspect, especially when you played as the Rebels in FC where unit conservation became kind of important since you were often limited.

The Imperial every Star Wars fan LOVES to hate is hands down Grand Moff/Governor Tarkin.  The destroyer of planets, the cruel executor of the Emperor's "New Order", the scurge of the galaxy...  Eh, I'm getting carried away.


Governor Tarkin only had one previous figure based on his appearance in A New Hope and remains high on my list of resculpts I'd like to see at some point in the modern line...  His Revenge of the Sith figure isn't too bad though, and shows what potential for a new Classic Trilogy Tarkin exists.

The new Tarkin shows the character in his younger days, though he still closely resembles a walking corpse...  Just with better hair.

Hasbro nailed a lot of detail on the figure though, he's a solid base even for a potential classic styled variant of the same character, however I would like new legs/boots as the pants and footwear don't match up to the ANH style of Imperial Uniform...  I guess over 20 years or so the Empire changed their style somewhat.

He's not perfect...  He's a sign of the slipping levels of articulation on Collection 2 figures (nobody can tell me that a more flexible "skirt" and poseable knees isn't something they'd like on this figure just so he could sit and command people to do bad stuff), but overall he's a nice effort from Hasbro.

Anyway, go Read The Full Review, and as always hop on in and share your opinions with us. 

Since I've written this review, I will add that I have not seen the Tarkin wave of figures again...  Not once.  Granted, Hasbro's pipes seem to be pretty clogged (they need figure fiber I guess), but I hope you've got this figure in-hand because I haven't caught one on the shelves since that first day I saw about 8 of him...  *poof* all gone!

Enjoy folks!

She still is pretty good too...  Good for her.

The mention of Build-A-Rama came up in another thread and I thought I'd point out that they DO have some little bits for Sci-Fi dioramas (I think even the real-world stuff like oil drums and such can carry over to Sci-Fi too though).

Dunno if you guys have seen them though, so here's pics of the sci-fi stuff.  Kinda neat.  If you do buy this stuff, push the owner (Mark) to do more Sci-Fi things...  Give him ideas, but bare in mind he works in resins which are costlier in general to produce items, and he does this stuff himself so things can get expensive if you go "big".

http://www.build-a-rama.com/catalog_sci_fi.shtml
Cargo Crates & A Generator Thingie
 

I don't mean to do too much advertising for the guy as he's not a sponsor, but I do believe he's good for the hobby...  Mention where you came from, push the Sci-Fi stuff and that you'd dig seeing other items...  You just might get it (this stuff came about after I hastled him about simply DOING Sci-Fi stuff so he does listen some).

Mark is definitely a nice guy to deal with though, he does great work too...  Just look at the more expansive military lines.  He even does figure accessories too, so imagine what he could do for Star Wars figures even!

Yeah, those are a dime a dozen here now too...  It's a pretty weak little set too.  I worried that it would be the last item to really gauge interest in playsets, and it's not gonna leave a very favorable impression.  Whatcha gonna do though, ya know?

Like other GOOD ideas executed poorly, this one'll just be labeled as "Well, yeah, those don't sell well, so we're not doing any more of them".