MarvelousNews has some nice hi-res pics up of the first wave of the Secret Wars comic packs.  These look pretty nice, and I definitely hope to pick these up.

Wolverine is a no-brainer, but the rest are easy passes for me.  I already have a cap, spidey doesn't look any better than the S1 version and do we really need another version of the Torch already?  I'm actually pretty dissapointed in these choices.  They could have put in cyclops (repaint the Wolvie Origins one), Black Suit Spidey, etc. instead of remaking torch or just repacking Cap.   

TRU has far fewer stores nationally than both WalMart and Target.  So I don't see them as a significant player.  WalMart has been the single largest toy seller in the US for some years now.  TRU's pricing seems like they're trying to boost their profits from GI Joe.  But that's where I tend to see the most GI Joe stock.

You don't see them as a significant player?  I view all of the outlets I can buy my stuff from pretty equally - I'd easily switch from buying at Target to TRU if they had better prices.  I guess it all differs by region.  In my area, TRU has the absolute worst supply of Joes.  There's also a Target store 5 miles in any direction, whereas our Wal-Marts are in the boonies and seem to re-stock a lot less regularly than Target. 

That's an interesting point on paying the licensing fee for Star Wars items.  I'm sure that does factor into the pricing, though I feel like retailers could drop back down to $7 on Star Wars at any time if they felt unit sales were dragging.  SW has the biggest and most loyal collector base, so I'd guess that its the line that is least sensitive to price changes/higher prices.

I picked up these goodies over the weekend.  Had to use the DPCI Jedi Mind Trick to get all of them though...

I'm not the customizer behind either of these, but here's a shot of a custom turbotank I picked up and some custom (kubrick knock-off) clones I got from someone a few years back...

Here are some updated pics of my carded figs.  They are in a line of acrylic display cases, which are ridiculously hard to take a shot of with a flash (for me anyway).  I've set each of them up with a more modern version of the character to show the difference between new and old.  Still missing a couple of Ewoks though...

Can you please reopen the out of context thread?

But its not pleasing to the (my) eye when its that small.

Any word on when or if the out of context thread might reopen!?   

Oh wow $40 for the Rancor?  That will be hitting the clearance aisle for sure. 

We'll see.  Seems like a lot more people are interested in this one than the TFU version.