I personally don't label the EU figures as "rare" at all, but not because I found them at retail. I didn't either. Not one... These were not common at all in Pittsburgh, that's for sure.
But they were made (All of them) widely available at the Fan Club for a reasonable price, and for quite a long time actually.
The 2 that kept selling out at the Fanclub were Darktrooper and Spacetrooper though, as I recall, and they even eventually made it to the point where a month later you could still log on the site and order a set of those 2.
Next in line for selling out was Kyle, Mara, and Thrawn... The Sentinel, Luke, and Clone Emperor seemed to be the weakest sales-wise of the EU series.
I wish we got some new EU figures... Jedi Knight/Outcast Kyle baby!!!