I can't say that I blame him in the least.  After hearing "George Lucas raped my childhood" from way too many fanboys, why should he subject himself to more of that crap?  It's become an abusive relationship where the fanboys have not grown to understand George Lucas's philosophy on filmmaking, and the spirit of innovation that he has used to move the film industry forward.  He improved visual effects.  He improved audio and visual presentation.  He's been a driving force with CGI and animation.  And he and Steven Spielberg essentially created the blockbuster.  And in that spirit of innovation he has been guilty of trying to improve things in the movies where he originally felt like he had to compromise.  That has not been as well received.

In contrast, what are the credentials of his detractors?  It's all well and good to sit back as an amateur critic, but when you criticise someone's work, you had best have something to bring to the table.  Because at the end of the day, how many of these fanboys have become filmmakers and have made something better?  Where are their mountains of credits as screenwriters, directors, producers, etc?  GL has definitely inspired a good number of people to get into filmmaking, but I suspect that they're not the ones who spend many a waking hour on the TFN message boards pouring over every flaw they perceive in someone else's film.  On the contray:  they've been inspired by Star Wars but are embracing their own creativity to do something new.

I have always felt that Lucas faced an uphill battle with the Prequels.  Because he brought the films to kids, and they loved them.  Having that kind of baggage of living up to a generation's worth of expectations is something that almost nobody could accomplish.

Quote from: Nicklab on January 14, 2012, 07:07 PM

Found the Search for Luke Skywalker BP on clearance for $7.48 today.  HINT:  check the clearance aisles.

Jesus that is worth it just for the hoth rebel. With free taun taun accessory. Thanks I will check my targets.

The Han Solo is just gravy on top of it all.  Now of course, if the coat was only BROWN....

Bumping this up.  I was in the store and saw the new LEGO set "Ewok Attack", and I noticed that it features one Ewok that we haven't gotten from Hasbro.  This one is called Tokkat, and it could make for a good Hasbro Star Wars addition to their Ewok offerings.  Lumat certainly seems to be in the proverbial "parking lot", but you have to think that Hasbro also wants to touch on some new Ewoks, too.  Tokkat might be a good candidate.

Given WalMart's checkered past with exclusive figures, I felt like this Tunghori deal was a better option.

Oh, and I scored a clearance priced Search for Luke Skywalker BP for $7.48 today.  Good times!

The Battle Droid looks a tiny bit short, but that screen cap is deceiving.  Some of those Battle Droids are more in the foreground than some of the other characters, and that makes them look taller than those characters who are further from the camera.  And naturally, the handmaidens are on the short side. 

There is only one Battle Droid head that is close to a Naboo Royal Guard which might give a clear indication of the true height of the Battle Droids compared with an average adult male character.   In that case it looks like the Battle Droid might be 3 - 4 inches taller than the Naboo guard.  Based on that, I think the height issue with this new Battle Droid is negligible.  And if you think that we're going to see ANOTHER Battle Droid resculpt within the next 2 years that would correct this height discrepancy, I think that may be an overly optimistic expectation.

I thought TRU had been around $17.99 or so for the Deluxe Vehicles.

I've still got 100 or so pages left in Dance, and I'm trying to drag that out a bit.  And I'm going to go back and give Game of Thrones a proper reading since I skipped over it, having seen the HBO series.

But the stories of Dunk & Egg seem worth checking out, since some of those stories do get referenced in the novels.  Egg being the brother of Maester Aemon, of course.
 
Lord knows that it's probably going to be a little while until George R.R. Martin gets around to publishing "Winds".  So I'm trying to find some additional reading material to fill that waiting period.

That's a pretty decent look at The Winds of Winter.  It's following an established storyline from Dance, but doesn't give too much away.

In the meantime I'm trying to find some other things to read in the interim.  That being said, has anyone read The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword or The Mystery Knight?  I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I've been pondering what my first digital book purchase might be.