In Pittsburgh, the reigning champ is STILL the Hoth Rebel Sooldier.  This guy's dominating pegs at Wal-Mart stores, a few Targets, and TRU's he's at times the only figure it seems.

NOT good.

Had this figure been a GOOD figure, would he be sitting?  I somehow doubt it.  If he'd had a neutral pose, incredible arm articulation, a proper height, and a nice sculpt, he'd have been one of the hottest figures for army builders in '03/'04 I believe.  He might've even required repacking to satiate demand.

Throw a working holster w/removable to-scale RFT gun, and a removable hat and you'd have a figure you couldn't have kept on the pegs IMO.  SA would've made him so hotly demanded it'd have taken army builder sets to make people happy I think.

In the same vein, some Wal-Marts in my neck show signs of the Yavin wave backing up, but I think you'll see them move eventually.  Antilles seems to back up then trickle off slowly.  "Dutch" and TIE Pilot never last.  Dodonna's always left last.

I see the Hoth Soldier everywhere though, save for a few Target stores who had been emptied prior to OTC shipping.  

It's really terrible.

Now, WM has pegwarmers exclusive to themselves...  The Younglings/Yoda E2 repacks, and the female Jedi repacks (Aayla Secura and Barris).  They are EVERYWHERE at Wal-Mart.  I honestly can't think f a Wal-Mart that desn't have at least one of those figures, and most of them have entire pegs full of them.  One WM in particular near me has the normal peg hooks filled with them, and then n an Endcap they have a TON of stuff from the end of Saga like Hoth, Yavin, Star Destroyer, and Jabba's Palace waves.  

Endor was there, I guess, but sold out.  The rest are just hanging around...  They're stripped down, and there's less every time I go, but it's an ENTIRE endcap, so it's slow dwindling at that store, and there's still those repack Jedi and Younglings in the regular area just sitting on 10 pegs or so full.

I've found the guns to be pretty rigid in cmparison to others actually.  Han's didn't pull as much detail as the Cantina's, but the 2-pack Han's gun (virtually identical, with only minor differences in the sculpt) is far more detailed than both and a really rigid plastic.  Go figure.

Leia's stormie blaster's rather nice thugh...  As rigid as any ofo those things are.

Oh my...    

Now I actually like Leia.  She's my favorite behind Han only so far...  I think the likeness is as close as any ANH Leia, and the articulation looks good.  She's not "great", but properly scaled and all.  

Han, to me, is the only clear winner in the first series unfortunately.  He's the only one I can't find any real complaints about.

Leia's missing gun, footholes, and the articulation being slightly lacking were my gripes on her.

Obi's artiuclation, hood, and sculpt all kinda bit to me, but he's doable as an Obi in a speeder.  That's good I guess.

Luke's, to me, like Obi.  Cool ideas and bad execution.

I'm surprised how many don't like Leia...  I think she's as good as we'll probably get of her in this outfit.

I agree.

For every plus Luke has, there's a negative.  It acutally seems that Ben's more "winner" than Luke overall.

The thing about Luke is that there's such a slew of him in this outfit, he's somewhat passable as at least different.

Still, I'd rather have seen:

-Sculpted Shirt...  I don't get Hasbro's DESIRE to articulate his torso like this really, and the coat's so rigid on him that the torso's only cool with the shirt off.  This is an instance I wholeheartedly think Hasbro went overboard with softgoods.

-Improved Height...  TOTALLY agree here.  I've seen people mention his height being accurate, but I think Hammil's about 5'8" or so?  Unsure exactly, but he's definitely not this small.  He's short though...  But this figure's a washout.  So is Pilot Luke in height.

PERFECT Luke height is Saga Jabba's Palace Luke.  In comparison, this LUke's a good half a head + shorter, and in 3.75" terms that means a LOTTA midget going on.

-Better Headsculpt...  I think, had this figure seen all the above improvements, that he'd not be bad enough to warrant a complaint on the head, but at this point he is.

-Personal Beef...  Notice the part of his lower torso with a ridge?  I'm really not sure what the deal is, but his torso below his waist is pretty ugly.  A nicely sculpted piece here would've really helped the torso look a lot better in my opinion.  Minor, under the shirt, but important to me.  With him being shirtless and all...  Or the option there.

Some great pluses though...

The leg articulation, and really the articulation overall, are outstanding.  Equaled by Han so far only.

The ball/socket hip though, indeed, would rock on a biker scout, Endor Leia, Endor Luke, EU Rebel Biker Scout (just throwing in a personal want), Dooku on Bike, Anakin on Swoop, etc...

Great figure possibiliites, and Hasbro's now gone the extra mile and proven they CAN ball/socket a hip joint without it looking like a G.I. Joe.  NO Company has done that this well in this scale.  To that end, my hats off to the innovator there.

I personally (tooting my own horn) was pondering this EXACT execution for customizing.  They need only have the post, on the inside, have a rounded edge so it's a little more "fluid" when posed.  It kind of locks into place now as it is, which his awkward when posting him.

Again, this articulation boggles my mind why they even did it, but they did it better than one could have even hoped for.

Too bad the SA Clone and other figures in VOTC DON'T have this joint too.  It's amazing.

Jared making the best point of the thread...

I just wanted to interject a moment.

I made a few compromises. I wanted to be as close to the original as possible, but let's face it: I'm not the same shape as either Bruce Boxleitner or Jeff Bridges (the actors who played Tron and Flynn, respectively). I'm somewhat overweight, as you see (one drawback of wearing spandex is that it does nothing to hide one's obesity). Therefore, I decided to make myself a character in the same universe, but not one of the known characters, which gave me much more latitude in what I could do with paint and other design items.

The guy acknowledges his shortcomings physically....  I give him credit, and honestly, I feel bad that he's had so much ridicule.

The thught of ANYONE who dresses up at a con being chastised anymore than anyone else is kind of sad really.  It shows caddiness in our own hobby really.

The only thing the guy should rethink BIGTIME is the fact he has the most horrendous moose-knuckle I've ever had the disgusting displeasure to witness.  He really SHOULD be wearing a cup, and I guess this is smething he didn't think of.

In the final costume though, just because he's heavy, he's been made fun of by people who were doing the same damn thing...  Perhaps they're in better shape, but they're still equally "losers" in their own right.  

And this is 100% not a slight on them.  I'm thinking of joining the 501st as an Imp. Officer...  Dressing at cons, etc.  If I do, I'm no better than he is though, just maybe in better shape.

And since he openly says "it hurt", I feel bad about it, and that he had to put up with it...  Guy's just trying to have fun.  

He'd be better off in THIS thread if he didn't have the moose-knuckle shot though.  I'd be fixin' up those "pre-dress" outfit shots BIGTIME.

I'm torn on Yoda myself...

It looks definitive, and I like the softgoods, but if it's really puffy, I dunno.  

With Dagobah Yoda coming out at the same time, he's a REALLY tough figure to surpass.  It is, probably, as good a Yoda as you can get without getting one with awesome softgoods.  

I'm torn.  

I nabbed Luke today.  Freaky figure.  I'm digging the ball/socket hips.  A first and really something I'd love to see down the road on other figures (anyone on a speederbike, namely), and I dig the bare arms.  Best bare arm fodder available.

The torso's oddlly sculpted, but it really didn't need to be.  That's disappointing.

I'm at the Hampton Inn where Bob's staying too.  I was able to book a room smewhere between the minimum time they allow it at HI for you to book rooms in adavnce, and the point when LFL/whoever blocked reservations by taking up all kinda space at hotels near the convention center.

I unfrtunatelyt hink I get in on Thursday, not Wednesday like most of who I know of are doing.  That means I'm either cming out a day later, or perhaps getting my reservation bumped up a day?

Anyway, got a nice room I guess, right there...  I'll be seeing whoever I can, dependant upon my commitments at the show with FFURG, and of course here with JD.com.