In a way, I was glad to finally see something "out of the ordinary" happen with the Bucks' win last night.  Plus, they are a tough team not to root for sometimes I think...the perennial underdogs this year.  I was glad to see the T'Wolves win again, hopefully on their way out of the first round at least..or further.  Garnett....20-22-10?  Ridiculous.  Lakers are looking tough again too, when Shaq can score 7 and they still win pretty easily.  I don't think Houston can hang with them.  Kind of expected the Mavs to do more against Sacto too, although I guess we're only two games in and more could happen.  Nice to see the Heat continue to do well, thrashing New Orleans last night (63 points?).  I remember when N.O. was one of the favorites to come out of the east at the beginning of the year.  Have fun in the West next year guys .  Like you guys said, Spurs/Duncan turning it on at the right time....they are looking tough.  Let's get to Round 2, see some even better matchups .

Oh...and a side note...congrats to LeBron James on ROY, Ron Artest on DPOY, and Hubie Brown on COY.  Although there were others who could stake claim to those awards, I think all three are quite deserving.  I'm hoping KG can get the MVP this year, I really think he deserves it.

I agree, I've always thought that too.  The LOTR figures look great in the 6" scale and everything, but if they would have been Star Wars-size, I would have bought into these big time.  Just helps with display/space issues, and that scale works well for ships/playsets, etc.

Nice post Jesse, and good points.  The make or break for this set for me is really the Endor Han Solo.  I've wanted a really nicely done version of this figure for a long time, and I wasn't exactly satisfied with the POTF2 one.  It was pretty much my favorite vintage figure, and I'd like to see it done justice in the modern line.  I really like your idea, I think they could cobble together a nice figure, then include a nicely decoed soft goods trenchcoat and I'd be happy.  It would be really nice to get a well-articulated Biker Scout out of this too, but it most likely won't happen.  I didn't think of it at first either, but really how much sense does it make to include a non-posable scout in a set with a bike (that he can't even sit on?).  Hopefully Hasbro will surprise us and make this set closer to what it could be.  It seems we're all understanding about them "modifying" older figures, just if they do it right.

I'm limiting my collecting this year to only Star Wars and Marvel, but I noticed that Mezco has some good pics up of their first wave of Family Guy figures.  I always enjoy this show, be kind of cool to have a Peter or a Stewie...and the evil monkey that comes with Chris is a must .  You can check them out here:

Mezco's Family Guy Figures

I'm hoping they go halfway decent with this one as well, especially if it means getting a somewhat decent Endor Han.  I have the POTF2 one, so if that is all this set includes, I doubt I pick it up.  If they try some sort of kitbashing, maybe using that new AT-ST Han head with another body, w/trenchcoat, then I'm probably in.  I missed out on the POTF2 Logray, and I'd always like to add another Ewok to the display.  I have the Wicket, so he could always get repainted...or donated to one of our nephews.  Hopefully it is the POTJ (Clean) Biker Scout, you can always use another one of those.  Overall, I agree, I hope they go back to the earlier quality of these sets.  If they are able to get a little creative with some kitbashing at least, it might turn out ok.

For any of you who currently read Star Wars comics, I was looking for opinions on what is out there right now.  I have recently been getting back into comics again (Spider-Man in particular), after 10+ years off, and I was wondering what you might recommend.  I have been looking through DarkHorse's site in their Star Wars section...and from what I am gathering, Republic covers Prequel era stuff, and Empire covers OT-era stuff, is that right?  Also, I see there are Infinities (looks like ROTJ just finished up), and Star Wars Tales (which I think I read here is only a quarterly release?).  I am most interested in OT-era stuff, are there any books in particular that you might recommend?  I have also heard great things about the 80s Marvel re-releases, and I might look into those as well, but I was wondering about current comics too.  Thank you for any advice you might have.

Glad to see the Wolves win last night.  Cassell went off, and played a heck of a game.  And KG was, well KG...30 and 20.  I only got to see the second half because we had a hail storm here in town that knocked out half of our cable channels until around 10:30ish.  Glad to see the playoffs started, although most of the Game 1s were blowouts (with the exception of Hou/LA and Mia/New Orleans.  Spurs/Grizz and Lakes/Rockets game 2's tonight .

Also, TNI has news of the "tallest" Minimate to date, a Tower Records exclusive Sauron.  You can check that out here:

TNI's Coverage of Tower's Exclusive Sauron