It sounds like most of you are going the preorder route, along with the fact that Entertainment Earth seems to be the popular choice.  I have never ordered from them before, but I don't think I have heard anything but good things about them.  I also have never ordered a "case" before, which kind of scares me because we usually don't put that large of amounts on our credit cards if we don't have to.  In the past I have ordered/preordered through Kebco (because of the single figures), but although I am patient...my recent orders have been really, really slow.  But, I have gotten pretty much everything...eventually.  I keep holding off to see if we find out that these won't be as limited as we have heard, but from what I have been reading, it is really just pointing to one shipment, although unclear how big of a shipment it is.  I just get this feeling that they might be tough to find regardless of how many, since they might only be coming once.  Figs such as Vader, Fett, Yoda, and the Stormtroopers especially.  Actually, with the lineup of characters, they could all be popular buys for casual fans and collectors alike.  Thanks for all the opinions everyone, I might have to bite the bullet and order a case (if the wifey doesn't care )

Welcome Ook!  Glad to have you in the forums here.

I've just been trying to keep up with what is coming out in the future, and what was shown at Toy Fair (via TheGD and LOTRGuide).  There is still a part of me who would like to get a few more of the main characters, not a huge collection, but just a handful.  With what you collectors know that is upcoming, or what you have seen, who would be the best ones to pick up and/or wait to come out?  I kind of like when they do super-poseable versions (as long as they have great likenesses), and was leaning towards those.  Here are the characters I'd like to pick up:

Strider/Aragorn - Just about got the Pellenor Aragorn, but wasn't sure if I liked the "screaming" face.  Any better ones available in your opinion?

Gandalf - I have been leaning towards the Gandalf the White version.

Legolas - I have the Rohan Armor version, any ones that are better?

Gimli - From the pics, the ceremony version looks kind of good I thought (and is super-poseable?)

Frodo - not sure, I thought I saw that a super-poseable one was coming up?

Sam - no idea, I hear the boat one is good.

Merry and Pippen - I was thinking the "armor" versions from ROTK, any thoughts?

If any of you have any advice for me, I really appreciate it.  I'm not nearly as up on this line as Star Wars, so I always look to the experts with any questions.  My wife isn't crazy about my collecting budget the way it is (spent over $100 on SW stuff this year already, which is high for us), but if I can pick one up here or there...I'd like to have in mind who I'm looking for.  Thanks for any info everyone.

This encompasses both Star Wars and any other lines/props, etc. that anyone might collect, so I hope that this is the right place for this.  For awhile, i was finally able to have the majority of my stuff displayed (thanks to some new shelving), although my vintage Star Wars stuff is still packed away.  However, space is becoming an issue again, so I have started to look at stuff that might be able to be packed away for now.  Anyways, I was curious how much of your collection(s) you are able to display, and if you can't display it all, how you decide on what gets put away.  I guess one example of things I have been doing, if there has been a superior sculpt/figure offered in the modern lines (POTJ/Saga), I have packed away the same figure's POTF2 counterpart (mostly the buff versions).  I am also considering packing away my small (6 figure) Marvel Legends collection, as well as possibly some Episode I stuff.  I finally this weekend got around to pitching a little bit of my boxes from Star Wars stuff, and flattening out all the rest that I could, to free up some space in our storage tubs for anything I might need to pack away.  The space I have to display stuff just isn't large enough I guess.  I was just wondering what some of you do, or have done.

As far as I could tell, Wave 3 never did show up anywhere around here.  I've never seen any portion of that wave, and to be honest, Wave 2 came and went pretty quickly too.  It is funny, I kind of thought these figures would end up being pegwarmers...but I don't see anything from this line hanging at any of the stores around here anymore.  I didn't really end up collecting the line itself (with the exception of one SA Clone from a friend, and ARC, and the Yoda)...but I was surprised at how well it sold.  Actually, most everything from Star Wars seems to be selling well around here anymore (with the slight exception of the Bail Organa wave at TRU).

Hasbro addressed the shipping of these "vintage" figures, but it didn't totally clear it up for me at least :

Question: How will the Vintage figures be distributed?

Answer: Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys “R” Us, among others, are all planning to carry them in multiple ratios.

Multiple ratios, does that mean multiple waves as well?  I guess I'm just curious if these are going to be "miss them and tough turds" the way it sounded before.  Also, I see they don't mention re-releasing them on regular cards...but I suppose they wouldn't do that since it might endanger people skipping the $10 versions to wait for the $5 ones.

I posted this with a comment about the vintage figures in another thread, but thought more people might see it here.  Hasbro has posted a "Q and A" at their site, although it is somewhat brief.  You can check it out here:

Hasbro Toy Fair Q and A

Empire Strikes Back - For many of the reasons stated earlier in this thread...Hoth, Bespin, Dagobah, first appearance of Yoda and Boba, just the best one overall in my book.

Return of the Jedi - I know many don't care for it, and maybe it is the fact that this was my first "Star Wars experience", seeing it in the theatre when I was almost 7...but I like this movie.  I really like watching the Jabba's sequences at the beginning of the film, Speederbike chase was cool (I even like the Ewoks), and the final duel/space battle are both great.

A New Hope - I'm an OT person, so these three are the top three to me, and they are all pretty close.  I could watch any of them every day probably and not really get tired of them.  I think for me too, ANH would be higher if I had saw it in the theatre too (of course I didn't see the original ESB in theatres either, but anyways).  Some of it might be that this is the only one that has been on television a lot too, so I've seen it more.  It is a great movie though, and the one that started it all.

Attack of the Clones - To be honest, in 2002 this would have been #2...but that was maybe because of the "newness" of it.  When I first saw this in the theatre (several times), I though it was amazing...especially the end part of the film.  Every time I have seen it, however, I've cringed at those "Sound of Music" scenes too.  I do think Hayden has done a good job though.  A good movie, and I do enjoy it, but it mainly ranks here because it just simply isn't the OT...not quite the same, but still good.

Phantom Menace - Again, when I first saw this, even though it was different...I still liked it.  Mainly because it was "new" Star Wars I think.  I really can't bring myself to watch it anymore, just because I don't stay interested for the most part.  The final Obi/Qui Gon/Maul duel is awesome though, and I could watch this portion several times.  I still like it, because it is Star Wars, but it is by far my least favorite.

I'm really looking forward to Episode III.  From what I have seen and read about the film, it sounds like it will easily be the best of the prequels, and I hope it bridges well into the OT.  I think each of the prequels seems better and better, the more things start to look similar to the OT (or characters pop in).  First we had the droids, Obi, and Anakin in Episode I (and Jabba, Palpatine too I guess), then we move on to the Fett family/Clones and more OT-looking ships in Episode II, now in Episode III we will see a few more OT characters, or similar looking things (I won't mention them specifically here, because some people are more spoiler sensitive than others...but many know who I'm talking about).  I'm looking forward to seeing Ep III though, I hope it satisfies as many fans as possible, and Lucas is able to go out on a high note.