I'm really happy to hear that there is still a possibility of the Playskool line continuing.  We've kind of been thinking the 2-packs might be happening, with the survey Hasbro sent out and ebay prototypes, and I really hope this happens.  Hopefully they won't be impossible to find, or are offered online somewhere at least.  The first round of sets in 2002 were carried in odd places it seemed, and were kind of spotty.  I hope these are easier to locate.

I noticed this morning that UndergroundOnline (UGO) has several videos from Toy Fair that are kind of fun to watch.  I just thought I'd post it in here if anyone was interested.  The consist of the rep(s) from each company explaining their toy line for the year.  They have Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Marvel Legends, Justice League, The Batman, and others.  It is kind of fun to hear how they describe/talk about their respective lines.  The particular page here is Lord of the Rings, but when you click to view the video, it will bring up a viewer that lets you choose other videos as well.  Here's the linky:

UGO's Toy Fair Videos

LordoftheRingsGuide.com has posted a couple of new minimate images from Art Asylum....Gollum and Uruk-Hai Swordsman.  You can check them out here:

New LOTR Mini-mates

This line looks like it could be really cool.  I have always wanted to have a LOTR collection, and really like the Toy Biz figs...but maybe this would be a more "manageable" collection due to the size and my display space constraints .  These are supposed to start showing up in April/May-ish right?  What figures have been confirmed for the first wave so far?

Yeah, I agree Scott.  Now if we could only get a Derth Nader (spelling?) from the Mark Hamill Muppet Show .

That's a lot of the same thoughts I have too MisterPL.  I find it hard to "care" about the characters as much.  Also, it seems like I like each movie a little more, mainly because there are a few more recognizable things from the Original Trilogy (a few more in AOTC), and likely even more in Episode III.

I also agree with you about the visual effects.  I am someone who really thinks they are done well, just watching a few seconds of Phantom Menace the other night on Fox...it does (with the shadowing, etc.) actually sometimes look like those battle droids and gungans could really be there.  But, at the same time, it is just too overdone.  Maybe I was just a stupid kid, but I really didn't have any problems with Yoda, Jabba, etc. just being puppets back in the day.  I believed it I guess, and I actually think they still look pretty realistic...at least as much as aliens can.  The story should have been the main focus, and the acting....and the visual effects are secondary and will take care of themselves.  A good example of this is the Lord of the Rings movies.  These were all tremendous films, and had a lot of visual effects (and great ones)...but it wasn't the focal point of the movie because the story and acting was so great.  Great points MisterPL, enjoyed reading them!

I know there gets to be a lot of OT vs. PT debate, and this topic has been discussed before, but I was just thinking about this a little bit today.  I too am one of many of you who believe the OT is infinitely better than the PT, although I do enjoy the PT movies for the most part as well (especially looking forward to III).  I'm not a big fan of Phantom Menace, and honestly, if it wasn't Star Wars...I probably wouldn't ever watch it really (I rarely do anyways).  I enjoyed Attack of the Clones a lot when it first came out, and do think it is a good Star Wars movie...its just not quite the same for some reason.  Nostalgia might be a big part of that, but for many of us there is more.  What do you think the Original Trilogy had, that the Prequels are missing (for you personally)?

There are many things that we can point to probably, the "magic" and story being two main ones.  We'll cover a lot of them I'm sure, but I thought I'd bring up something I have been thinking about...characters.  I was thinking today how so many characters from the OT are iconic.  Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, R2, 3PO, Vader, Yoda, Fett, Lando....these characters are all, for the most part, common knowledge in the world today.  Plus, one thing that might have helped this is that...with the exception of different clothing, they were the same character...age wise, etc.  With the prequels, we have Anakin as a boy, then ten years later (with a different actor), and now leading into Episode III (which will probably be our favorite version of Anakin from the prequels).  It seems that with many of the characters, there is too much jumping around (Maul..Jango...Dooku...Sidious).

Another thing about characters is the fact that in the prequels, many come and go.  We had Darth Maul (who many really liked), but then at the end of the movie, he's gone.  Next we have Jango, then he's gone.  Dooku appears, and by his absence in the OT...he's most likely gone as well.  We'll also have another baddie in Episode III, that I'll leave out of the discussion because of spoilers.  In the OT, you associated "evil" and "bad" with Darth Vader.  The character, the costume, the music, etc.  I think it is hard to build that association with some of the prequel villains, for the main fact that they aren't around long enough too.  Much can be said of the "good guys" too, although I do think they (and Ewan McGregor) have done a nice job with Obi-Wan Kenobi in these movies.

I guess maybe it is unfair to compare them, because in a way...they are different trilogies.  The OT seemed a little clearer-cut "good vs. evil" movie, while the PT becomes more blurred with Anakin's transition, much of the behind the scenes "secretive" stuff (Palpatine), and maybe isn't quite as cut and dry.  Although I enjoy the entire saga, and really look forward to Episode III.....something just isn't the same with these prequel trilogies.  Since I'm an NBA fan, I often use this analogy to my friends who ask me what I think of the movies:  To me it is like Michael Jordan...I was a huge Jordan fan when he was with the Bulls...he was just the greatest to ever play....then when he came back with the Wizards, I followed him again...and still liked him, he was still good (but older), but it just wasn't the same.  Sorry for my extended ramblings, one of our servers is down at work so I don't have much to do right now...and this is just something that I've been thinking about.  I'd be anxious to read any of your opinions/suggestions.

That's funny Scott, my wife and I were actually doing the same thing this past weekend.  She has been on me about getting rid of some of the cardboard "crap", and I had a rubbermaid container full of them too.  I did purge a little bit of stuff, but still have a long way to go.  I don't know why I think I need to keep the cardbacks, I just do.  I really need to just dump it and forget about it, but for some reason it is hard.  I thought about getting rid of all (or most) of it...just keeping examples of each type of packaging I have, and then starting fresh and keep the OTC cardbacks coming later this year, since they are a little bit "spiffier".  It really shouldn't be so difficult to throw away cardboard and the packaging, should it?