So is the hoth wave out?  I need Luke at least from this set but I don't really collect them so I'm never sure when they hit and where to buy.

Well, given the answers/snide remarks, and condescending attitude out of the guys I've seen running the forums, I'd relegate most of any anymosity to them...  But I know Curto's a nice guy just by talking to him, Shane of course...  They're the guys that, by my POV, don't have much to do with the forums ever though...

It's the guys telling you basically that the rules don't apply to themselves, but they do apply to you...  Or the guys who tell you basically that you're wrong and they're right simply because they "say so" and lock your thread (and/or delete it)...  Those are the guys you just can't respect.  I'm sure even the behaviors on the forums from some aren't the behaviors they'd exhibit to you in person though.  I've never known anyone I've met from this hobby, including the pricks, to be anything but civil in person...  Either out of respect or simply out of fear of actually getting a slap across the mouth for the way some people are known to talk to each other on forums.  Sometimes a monitor makes people think much higher of themselves is what I'm getting at.   

Wow, what an update, and what a fan-friggin'-tastic wave of figures these turned out to be...  I'll sorta start from the weak offerings and work my way down the wave of figures...



Skywalker looks like he may be ok, but he also looks like basically just a figure we'll buy for new accessories.  The knees are T-16 Luke's, which sort of disappoints me because I think a new SA Luke Tatooine is in order after ALL the versions they've made....  However the figure's mostly obscured by the INCREDIBLE poncho accessory.  I hope the final one looks like that, because that's about the best use of cloth on a figure I believe I've seen, short of maybe VOTC Lando's intricately detailed cape.  That really looks like it's plastic at a quick glance, it is hanging/folding so well on the figure.  I'm cool with buying another Tat Luke but I just was hoping they'd take the VOTC articulation and do up a nice "final" one....  This figure isn't so bad I'm upset or anything, but if it didn't have the cool poncho there's a good chance I'd be passing on this one.



You've gotta be ******** me...  Cantina Han, again?  I mean, his decoration does look a bit more accurate but he really needs retired at this stage of the game.  VOTC Han should be the new standard Han recard/rerelease to me, so this figure is the stinker of the lot...  Good for kids, but VOTC's better for EVERYONE.    Hell I'd even still buy VOTC Han for customizing if he was around...  Either way, I figured this one would underwhelm and it did.  Not even a repaint of the hands for the leather gloves?  Hmmph.



I always have liked my Momaw Nadon figure but what a nice resculpt this is...  Personally I'm not always too hot on Cantina Alien resculpts (Though Garindan's up there on my want list because he sucked so bad in POTF2), but Momaw turned out great.  I'm glad to say that I won't retire my other Ithorians either, which is cool for some cultural diversity in my dioramas.  The other Momaw's from the Cantina sets and basic POTF2 look nice and different enough they'll fit in still with this new figure.

His accessories are cool too...  I can't make out the articulation too well, but it looks fairly weak on Momaw unfortunately.  This sucks especially since he was actually sitting in the Cantina at a table, so it would really have been nice on this figure.  That said, the sculpt is amazing...  Articulation looks like it may be weakest of the 3 aliens though, yikes.    Really sharp looking though and good to add to any Cantina...  And I could be missing some articulation points too, they could be very well hidden.  Man that skirt piece looked like softgoods too at first, it's really nicely done.  Momaw looks like he should be asking for change outside the Cantina.



R5-D4...  About friggin' time on this one.  Am I the only one who wishes Hasbro included the other panel piece with "tools"?  Not that we see him use them, but still I just think it'd be a cool extra.  I'm also slightly more of a Preview astromech/R4-P17 sculpt with the retractable leg.  The panel of the VOTC R2, if you're not gonna get the extra panel and tools, detracts from the figure otherwise to me...  Still, this is a very good R5-D4 and I'm glad to have something to do R5 figure customs with and to fill a very big hole in the collection.



Garindan is just a HUGE improvement over the POTF2 figure.  I love that he appears to have a separate belt/holster, and a cool looking pistol (Squidhead's?).  The communicator he snitches with is really neat too and looks removable.  Softgoods robe? I'm there.  I hope his goggles come off to then...  

I am however disappointed to see no knee joints there.  That sorta sucks...  Not a huge issue with old Long Snoot to me, but it's further signs of articulation getting the shaft in the upcoming years and that just simply is a backwards step.  Garindan could use some knee joints incase you want him sitting around in your Cantina or just walking the streets of Mos Eisley.  Not as annoying as it is with army builder figures, but still not a positive mark for this figure.  He looks pretty great otherwise.  I'm wondering what the rest of his articulation is like, and what's doing under that hood.  Never seen his species without the goggles and that outfit.

Oh, and also of note is Garindan's holster has the thigh strap actually there and holding the holster down.  It's everything VOTC Han's holster should've been.  REally cool looking.



Hem Dazon has been one of my top wanted aliens from the Cantina...  He and Bom Vimdin.  I don't see Bom which sucks, but Hem's looking incredibly freaky and based on Expanded Universe designs of what the Arcona look like physically.  That's pretty cool and looks like it'll make Hem one of the more absurd looking aliens in the Cantina which is just what he should be.

Hem's pistol looks to be a resculpt for a to-scale version of Ponda Baba's/Rebel Hoth Trooper's sidearm.  That's cool and needed for the line...  Hem's definitely got the angle-cut articulation at the arms too, however it appears that once again knee joints were omitted, and this time on a guy who was definitely in the Cantina.  Like with Garindan I'm disappointed.  Hasbro's Cantina Wave at the end of OTC was really what the standard should be for figures at this point unless they're robed Senators where the articulation is pointless.  

Hem looks pretty awesome though, and I'm happy to be adding this one to the Cantina.  That diorama's filled up FAST in the last couple of years.



Sandtrooper...  Weird looking figure, I can't make out what's what there.  Looks almost like new thighs, but re-used Commtech Stormtrooper everywhere else with a Sandtrooper Pauldron?  I like getting black pauldroned Sandies though since they are the "grunt" supposedly, that's cool...  The stick's neat, looks like the Dewback rider's but smaller.  The sculpt's really hard to say if it's just the Commtech 100% or not though.  I'll take a couple if I can find them to mix up the group but I'd obviously have preferred the Evolutions Sandtrooper.  That would've been the ideal choice for them to use, and obviously not the choice we'd get for a re-release...  

Great wave though, lots of holes filled with this one...  And of course the obligatory Cantina Han re-release and the CT Stormie sculpt used at least in part.

EDIT:

OH yeah and there's a Darth Vader there...  great.

The Target Clone's a different sculpt.  It's the Clone Wars SA Clone...  The Shadow Troop is the same.  The #41's an entirely new sculpt.  The legs are a little better for posing due to how the hip is sculpted, that's the easiest way to tell them apart.

So I was popping apart a #41 SA CLone the other day and I noticed something...  This seemed to answer a question I have pondered and I know others were wondering so I thought I'd post about it.

The belt, which I guess is upside down?  Well, I don't think Hasbro ever flipped the belt becuase there's notches in the rim of the belt that hold it in place on the figure's waist.  The notches are for some tabs that are part of the figure's waistline to fit into, and it would have required changing the mold (which really isn't possible, it would require a new mold actually) so the belt could be reversed.  The tabs/notches to keep the belt in place are what kept the belt from being turned rightside up during production runs.  At least this is what i'm guessing. was the cause ultimately.

Just thought some may find this interesting...  I can't see Hasbro changing the molds at all, not worth the cost to them, and the belt wouldn't sit right otherwise.  Makes sense to me.

Couple more updates...

First it seems a series of Operation Market Garden Paratroopers is on tap.  The Market Garden mission was, for the unaware, a major military disaster after D-Day, and so far there's one figure in that get-up and the Merril's Marrauders set features Market Garden sculpts with various heads for the Pacific Theater Commando's, which i guess is inaccurate (I know little about MM's).  The 21st guy at the forums has hinted to Market Garden Para's as a series and I'm AOK with that honestly.  It's overlooked too much.

At the same time, the OTHER Battle of the Bulge "new" figures are pictured at 21st's site.

Two autumn cammo German Tankers but with removable hats/earphones, so that's really cool, and the one dude's sporting the Commander's cap, so kick ass.  I hope they're in white too though, I prefer it for BotB scenarios.

There's also a re-issue of the Open and Closed coat Germans with unique paintjobs and markings including their coat's cuff insignia.  VERY cool little detail, adds to the figure, and adds to diversity.  Gear doesn't look different though.  I'd really have liked an MP-40 guy and a closed coat rifleman honestly.

There's also a new US guy in either the Officer/Tanker's jacket or the Mackinaw coat, with 101st markings.  He has the tilting-head Paratrooper figure's head, and a folding stock carbine which is cool but I THINK they weren't in use after D-Day or drops in general, but rather guys who wanted a carbine got a solid stock.  I could be wrong though.

The other head is the Pvt. Wilson Para head which is my probably all-time favorite XD headsculpt.  Another great rifleman and great diversity added to the US ranks.

The US Bulge figures are going to be one of the most diverse and varied lines 21st's done...  Cool to note too that with all these extra torso's potentially being packed in with figures, and if you have leg/lower torso's around, you could really flesh out your ranks with just buying one figure.  I know I have some fig parts aroudn I'm going to use.

Cool stuff, and 21st is rockin' the figure market it seems by just mixing/matching parts FINALLY.  Smart business move.  Hasbro should learn from this and make wise part swaps like this.

And watch out for baggy sweater airhockey hustlers...  They're out there.

Yeah, this is a much cooler exclusive Jeff...  I don't care for the height, but I wholely expect a new fighter pilot sculpt at some point that's probably gonna be shorter.  Then I'm all for random head/helmet figures coming out using that body as the base.  Cover EU too, sounds good to me to get some Rogues, ya know?