I know we had a thread going like this in one of the other "line" threads, but I thought with the recent push of the vehicles - plus the introduction/testing out of larger vehicles like the Falcon and AT-TE - it might be a good time to discuss the vehicle subset overall.  It seems like (myself included) when we discuss running out room (or budget) lately, its the vehicles that really eat up the space in collections (whether its on display or in storage).  Has that changed anyone's vehicle collecting habits?  Do you buy them all (at least all new ones, repaints aside)?  Do you stick to one trilogy over the other?  Do you pass them altogether?

Personally, I sort of pick and choose right now - although I will say I've considered dropping the prequel vehicles strictly because of the space (and budget) issues.  I haven't done that yet (nor have I picked up an AT-TE yet), but I will say they definitely take up a lot of room and it makes it difficult for someone like me to display them all (I have a relatively small office to display anything I collect).  Anyways, I think I'd always like to collect the best version of each OT vehicle (if we start getting more "new sculpt" treatments similar to the Falcon), and right now I'm only missing the Sandcrawler and Cloud Car from vehicles that have been made.  I might be facing a bit more of a budget crunch in 2009, so the prequel vehicles - as cool as some of them are - might be something that has to go unfortunately.  I guess you can lump in the new "playset/environment" pieces into this as well, since it is a similar situation of higher prices and larger space takers.

Of what was "supposed" to be out, was there anything you didn't see this weekend?  For me personally, there was a few things I either missed or we didn't get at all in our area yet:

TLC Wave 2 SaeSee Tiin, Padme, and Tessek/Quarren Soldier
TLC Battle Pack - Hoth Speeder Bike Pack
TLC Evolutions - Rebel Pilots 2, Imperial Pilots
TCW TRU Exclusive Holo Grievous

There are some other things we weren't sure about (WM A-Wing, etc.) that I didn't see either, but those might be on the way later.  I will say, I don't think Target got the later Evolution sets because they had a ton on an endcap at our store, and all there was were Fett and Padme sets.  They also didn't have any TLC Wave 2.  I only saw the Battle Packs at Wal-Mart, but they had the Clone Wars bike set and the Hoth Recon set.  Wal-Mart didn't have any Evolution sets out.  TRU didn't seem to have a ton of basic figures stocked, especially for making such a big deal of being the "exclusive" location for MM.

We know that Hasbro is paying fairly close attention to how the Falcon and AT-TE sell, so I was curious how many in our community picked one or both of them up.  Did you buy one, both, or multiples?  Do you intend to get either later on?  It will be interesting to see how these big vehicles do.

Personally, I picked up the Falcon at Wal-Mart this weekend.  I would have liked to get the AT-TE, but just can't afford both right now.  I may try to get an AT-TE later on if possible, although I have to figure out the display/space issue before I do that.  I noticed at the stores though, that the AT-TE is packaged smaller than I would have thought, and should be able to stay on the shelves in the regular action figure aisle regularly the way things are set up.  Anyways, did you pick up either of the big vehicles?

Linky.

Looks like it is on the way after all.  I'm glad I held off on the Force Unleashed one, and that this one is indeed confirmed for next year.  Looks nice.

I couldn't think of the right way to title this, but I'm sure there is a better way.  I was curious what some of your initial thoughts and discussions were like when you first saw the Original Trilogy, whether it was in the theatre - on video - on cable, etc.  What types of discussions did you have on the playground, with your friends, etc. about the characters and universe prior to the days of the internet and the majority of the EU stuff?

I can remember prior to Jedi, even as a young kid, a group of friends discussing what Vader was like under the helmet (especially after the "back of head" shot in Empire).  I can remember the speculation on what Boba Fett looked like under the helmet as well, and his backstory.  I can remember talking about how Luke made his new green lightsaber for ROTJ.  Were the Stormtroopers robots or people?  All of the speculation was part of the fun in those days it seemed.  Did any of you have similar discussions with your friends, family, etc?  What types of things were you wondering about when you first saw Star Wars, then Empire, and finally Jedi?

Either line - Legacy or Clone Wars - what is the item (or items) you are looking forward to the most for this weekend (or for the lucky ones earlier)?  Although I'm looking forward to a lot of it, I'll be entirely unoriginal and say the new Millennium Falcon is the one thing I hope to pick up the most.  There is a lot of great products coming out (AT-TE, starfighter vehicle assortment, Legacy figures, Evolutions), but if I could only grab one item, that would be the one.

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I thought it might work best here.  I've been thinking about trying to assemble a smaller "high end" (at least high end to me) collection of some of the main characters from the OT.  The two lines I've been looking at are the 12" Sideshow figures and the Gentle Giant mini busts.  I'm not sure how many here collect both (or either one), but I was curious which line you think might be the best way to go.  I know its all a matter of opinion, but I always enjoy reading other people's thoughts.

The characters I was thinking about picking up over the long haul are the following:

ANH Han Solo
ANH Luke Skywalker (Tatooine)
ANH Princess Leia
R2-D2
C-3PO
Chewbacca
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Darth Vader
Stormtrooper

Maybe later on..

Lando Calrissian (Bespin)
Yoda
Boba Fett

Anyways, I realize many of these haven't been touched on in either line in some cases, but I figure they will be eventually.  As for my personal collection, I only have Han/Chewie mini busts, and Han (Bespin) 12" (with the ANH Han on the way in the next week or so).  With Sideshow's price increases, it seems like GG might be the more affordable option for me - but then again, many of the mini busts I would have to backtrack on and that could get pricier (or even cheaper too) in some cases.  Who knows, with all this Hasbro stuff coming up, I might not be able to afford either line - but I was just curious what some of you thought.  I'm not nearly as educated on these lines as many of you, and I appreciate any help you might have to offer.

I remember around the time of the first VOTC being announced, many of us were talking about wanting "definitive" (sculpt/articulation/paint) versions of the main characters in their "main" outfits, and we started to get that with the VOTC line.  Since then, we've even seen Hasbro mention wanting to put out the "definitive" figure of a certain character or characters.  Although there can always be advances in the figures (just see the big differences from POTF2 to today), it seems like many of them are starting to get close to perfect.  Which figures do you think are perfect (or close enough) that you'd just like to see them re-released every so often in the basic line, not necessarily needing a "new" version any time soon?  Or do you feel like they could all use improvements?  It seems like we're getting quite a few really nice figures, and some that could maybe just use a minor tweak (ball jointed elbows most often) and we'd be there.

Barring any big changes in sculpt/articulation or overall figure quality - here's a few off the top of my head that I'm pretty happy with:

VOTC Han Solo (ANH)
VOTC/EB Chewbacca
VOTC/Tantive IV Stormtrooper
VTSC Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot)
VTSC/Droid Factory/TLC Battle Pack Han Solo (Hoth)
VOTC/Evolutions Boba Fett
VTSC Snowtrooper
VTSC Biker Scout
VTSC Han Solo (Endor)
VTSC Bossk
VTSC IG-88
TSC Princess Leia (Boussh)
Evolutions/TAC/TLC Darth Vader
TAC 4-LOM

ROTS Obi-Wan Kenobi (Pilot)
Clone Wars/Legends AOTC Clonetrooper
ROTS/Evolutions Count Dooku
Evolutions Jango Fett
Evolutions Qui Gon Jinn
ROTS - Most of the Jedi Figures
Evolutions Anakin Skywalker (AOTC)
ROTS Clonetrooper(s) - SA White and Repaints (Shocktrooper, 501st, etc.)

Better with Minor Tweaks...

VOTC Lando Calrissian (Ball Jointed Elbows)
Evolutions Darth Maul (Ball Jointed Elbows)
VTSC Bespin Luke Skywalker (New Head Sculpt?)
TAC Anakin Skywalker - ROTS (Ball Jointed Elbows)
Evolutions/O66 Palpatine (Neutral Head Sculpt?)
R2-D2 (VOTC version is ok, but repainted R4-G9 would probably be about perfect)
TSC C-3PO (Pretty good, but after the new 4-LOM and build a droid C-3PX, it could probably be improved upon)

There are probably a few others (VTSC Tuskens, VOTC Leia, VOTC/OTC Yoda, etc.) that are pretty good as well, but maybe there are some differences that some people would like to see.  Of course, there are other great background/supporting characters/figures we've gotten, but I was trying to mainly stick with the bigger names and main supporting players from the movies.  I know there are some I'm forgetting too, but I thought it would be neat to see everyone's opinions, and determine which versions of the "big guns" we still need to get.