or at least we can hope...  Keep in mind the Tact. Ops debacle.

I hope everyone had a good holiday with family/friends today and in the coming day(s)/week(s) as well.

I had a great time, with lots of amazing gifts from my mother/family and my girlfriend... 

I got Sirius Satellite Radio and it became a Sirius pain in the ass to get hooked up.   I live in a deep valley a ways outside the city limits so getting signal was fun.  At about 9:00 X-Mas night I was on my porch roof trying to get good signal for my home installation kit, haha.  Oh joy...  I'm glad I don't have Satelite TV is all I gotta say.  As a surprise I found out the radio I got has a replay/record feature too, that's cool.  My buddy said it's a little better than his because of that, and that it's a new feature I guess on new radios.

Anyway I got a car kit too and since I drive a convertible this is going to be interesting to figure out how I'll mount this.  I gotta ask my buddy what he does with his antenna for it because he has a Jeep...  His options are even more limited than mine, but I'm reluctant to put this on the outside if I can avoid it.  I'm hoping it can mount to the roof bracings and get good signal, or mount to the dash even.

My mother also made me a sock monkey with a fez.  It kicks as much ass as I can possibly fathom.  It has a vest too, but the Fez is really funny.  And out of sheer luck it fits my cats too, which is even funnier.

My mother also picked up the Twins set for me and another Royal Guard as well as 2 Clone Evo (grey/white) sets, and as a big surprise she got me the Vader Voice Changer...  I'd wanted one but always was hesitant to spend the $, but now I got one and it is so neat.  My oversized cranium does not fit so well though.  Fun nonetheless.

I got a number of sculpting tools and bits too for customizing.  Syringes, scalpels, dental tools...  Even a pen sized butane torch.  Lots of useful goodies for a hobby I have increasingly less time to commit towards, but hopefully I can make time.

As an early gift my mother gave me an FX Luke Jedi saber as well, and I love it... 

I got a bunch of Star wars ornaments.  My girlfriend got me the Vader head and ship set from Target, and she also gave me the Yoda Snowglobe early for X-Mas.  The snowglobe's one of the nicest collectibles out this year I think.  My mother got me the Halmark Vader that talks, and it's a really nice ornament.  This was also the first year I put up my own Star Wars tree.  Just a small artificial tree for just my SW ornaments and junk.  Figured it was time.

My girlfriend got me an, I can only fathom, expensive flatscreen monitor.  I gotta get it hooked up before i go to bed just to check it out.  She got me the "Sith Happens" T-Shirt too, and a Mr. Hanky plush. 

There's a lot of other stuff I'm not mentioning, I'm just so tired...

I got my gf a good bit...  A DVD player, lots of clothes, some things for at work, a fireplace grill/fence thing she'd wanted, and a jewelry set that has a piece to it I'm waiting to give to her for valentine's.  I got her boys the light/sound Dooku and Vader sabers too, and some figures I'd gotten before everything became impossible to find (thank god I bought early for them).  Fun watching the boys whack at each other with the sabers.  

It was a great holiday and I have to be thankful I don't have much driving to do...  Was just with family X-Mas Eve, then at the gf's late that night, then X-Mas day was home with my parents and one brother and then down to the gf's again late when she got home from her sisters, and it is a short enough drive.  It was a good couple days, and now time to start paying bills. 

I wouldn't count on it at this point...  The best thing to do was take the DPCI before they went on the pegs and try to get either a helpful (IE: Rare) employee at Target, or one who was confused but not argumentative, and get one for you from the stockroom when they came in...  I went around and got mine that way and it worked best.  I also got my TIE Fighter and Assault on Coruscant exclusives that way (just to be safe, as nobody knew how "rare" either would have been).  I got the first Clone the same way too, and I know other guys scored Evolutions sets that way...

My technique is to ask an employee in the back, if they deny you go to one in the middle, then one in the front if you're denied again, and lastly hit the customer service desk if all else has failed.  The CS Desk I've never been denied at.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/search-ng.gsp?search_constraint=0&search_query=Clone+Evolutions&ics=20&ico=0

Happy Bday Holo-E, hopefully it doesn't cut into your X-Mas loot!  I always wondered how folks with bdays so close to the holidays celebrated the 2 so close together.  Always seemed like it would take something from the holidays or from the birthday.

Goof Off would take that off right away, but be wary, it'll eat plastic if you're not careful too.  It takes any paint off thought Anton, just be careful.  I use it all the time.  I take unit insignias off some of my XD figures with it too, and they're a similar material to the blast mark I believe (a decal).

As far as getting the blast damage tod isappear, mine all disappear, so that's a weird one...  I do have a spot here and there that won't disappear.  I figure it's a manufacturing defect with the decal...  It's my only guess.

I do tend to rate figures against each other, and some figures get a "pass" on certain criteria I hold in the utmost importance for other characters/figures.  I know I certainly don't hold "Senator" figures in the same class as Jedi and army builders...  I look for more out of one than the other and I expect Hasbro to deliver a quality toy with both, but one I just hold in higher regard...  I guess it's just a preference.

For my tastes, a "good" figure has a minimum articualtion of 12 points of articulation.  My "standard" I'd set for Hasbro if I could run the show is the Cantina wave's articulation...  IE:

-2 standard shoulder joints
-2 angle-cut elbow joints
-2 standard wrist joints
-2 standard hip joints
-2 ball/socket knee joints
-1 ball/socket neck joint
-1 standard waist joint

This articulation woudl apply to Cantina aliens, Imp./Reb. Officers, etc...  Basically third tier characters with less "action" sequences but who you still want poseability with them that goes beyond the old standard 6 points.

Improvements would be made here and there ABOVE the standard for Jedi, some main characters, and army builders.  Super Articulation (IE: Pilot Obi-Wan articulation duplicated) would be used sporatically...  A main character in one of his costumes here and there, an army builder here and there, and that figure would see subsequent rerelease till the line's death.  Other versions would get retired short of maybe re-use in battlepacks or some such.

The improvements to my "standard" would be like maybe ball/socket shoulders instead of standard shoulders, or ball/socket elbows instead of the angle-cut joints.  These would be generally reserved for figures where it makes sense though...  Like ball/socket elbows are better for a character with a rifle than angle-cut elbows are, so angle-cuts would go to Jedi characters mostly.

Articulated Ankles would ONLY come on super articulated figures...  A ball/socket ankle is not necessary on figures like the Neimoidian Warrior or Utapau Warrior who can't bend their knees...  Same with Bacarra.  The knees outweight the ankles, and those were dumbass (and costly) decisions on Hasbro's part.

Now...  That said, the characters in the Lucas pack are actually pretty cool to me...  I do believe them to be boring however.  They're not "action" packed characters, they're Senators...  And Senators are boring.  Mon Mothma is the only figure I can find right now and she's proof they're boring.  She's a good figure though...  And this is where the hypocrite in me comes out.

The Mothma figure rocks, I love it, but she's boring as watching paint dry.  She's as good as a "Senator-Ish" figure is capable of being though short of really cool accessories...  That's where I really hold the spotlight on these types of figures.  Their accessories make them...  Not their articulation.  Their robes inhibit poseability and honestly I like them being as poseable as they can be but I know leg articulation is generally out the window with Meena Tills or Mas Ameda.

I like Mas Ameda, he has some of the best arm articulation of any figure, but he's still boring overall.  Same with other Senators...  I'd put Bib Fortuna in this category, and I like how he looks and I love to get him and to me he can't be better really.  The same rule applies to the Lucas Collection (short of Zett who I believe is a weak figure due to the lack of knee articulation).  The other figures are GREAT...  They suck for their price, but they're really nice looking figures.

For me, a set of 4 SA (or near) Hoth Rebel Soldiers, or Rebel FLeet Troopers, or Scouts, or some such would have been more of a "Wow" factor for me...  Army builders are what I love more in the line than anything, but I'm cool with background figures like the Lucas clan too.  But when I started playing with Obi-Wan Pilot or the VOTC Stormtrooper, I couldn't put them down really, so they're more "important" in my collection to me I guess is a good way to put it.  I'd rather get SA Rebel Troopers than anything...  Hell I'd probably take a set of all 3 Rebel Troops Super Articulated over anything else and I'd be content if the line died then and there after I got my fill of those.  The rest would just be icing on the cake in my eyes.