I think it's always fun!  Granted, at times it can get more challenging and/or frustrating, but that's just part of the hobby and you have to accept that.  We all know that we're not going to score on every toy hunt we make, or get every exclusive right off the bat for cheap.  Things like that are what keep the challenge alive, and it's that challenge that keeps you on the edge of your collecting seat and adds drama and fun to the hobby, in my opinion.

What was Tom Hanks quote in A League of Their Own, in regards to playing baseball?

It's supposed to be hard, otherwise everyone would be doing it!  The hard is what makes it fun.

Or something to that effect.  Same holds true for me when it comes to Star Wars collecting!   

I thought about buying these at K-mart the other day, but Luke's face looks terrible, and the Fett and Stormtrooper just aren't quite nice enough to justify a whopping $30 for each of them.  Also, why couldn't Boba have just a little bit of a neck?

I think if I see these ever drop down into the regular 12" price range, I may just bite.  Though I'll admit that the new packaging does look pretty cool!

Haven't heard any word on anything beyond the 3 VOTC 12" figures to date.  I assume I haven't missed any important news on the future of this line, correct?  A real nice Vader would've been a nice addition.  Surprised he didn't make the original cut.

Hope you had a great birthday Bob!  So, what'd you get?

All excellent points there, and most of the same gripes that I have with the new changes (as if the S.E. changes weren't bad enough).  I'd also include the new Jabba shots and Greedo/Han sequence from ANH as well.  They're an improvement over their respective S.E. scenes for sure, but neither is to the corrected point that I think they should be at now, with yet another chance to fix them having been lost.  I think Mr. Lucas has definitely lost his touch and/or mind, unfortunately.

Still can't believe he won't listen to all of his loyal fans literally begging for the original versions of the OT on DVD.  

That is part of the whole puzzle with this thing.  He is listed as part of Wave 1....but Wave 1.5 is the one that is shipping out to retailers and e-tailers.  I have a feeling the original Wave 1 may be a casualty and just get written off.

Definitely looks like it so far.  Most puzzling indeed, to have Mr. Re-released/Rehashed Tatooine Luke get left out of the mix for once.  I've seen a good amount of the other ANH VOTC figures, so it's rather ridiculous to me to leave the most main character of the entire saga sitting on the sideline, just because Hasbro totally screwed up another case assortment.  

I read in one of the Comic Con write ups somewhere last month that someone asked Hasbro in the Q & A there what the deal was with their ridiculous case assortments, and they said something to the effect that they were spot on with their market research showing what people wanted and in what quantities.  Yeah, right.  

But considering Hasbro's market research is usually done with just "kids", who they still think are the ones supporting the line,  , it's not surprising that they're always a mile off on what they should actually be putting into their case assortments.  What's sad, is that they're probably never going to learn, based on the fact that they're still making the same mistakes, if not worse ones, that they were making YEARS ago, which are often the cause of our many favorite pegwarmers over the years, as well as all the VHTF figures during that period of time too.

The bottom line is that it sucks that people can't just order by the case, and get what they need of the new figures.  You'd think at least two of each new figure in the initial case that's shipped to retail (or e-tailers) wouldn't be such a hard thing to figure out.  I think Hasbro intentionally shortpacks key figures, or leaves them out entirely, forcing their various purchasers to have to buy additional separate cases to get them.  That just stinks.

Over the past 10 years, I've never seen a kid buy a SW figure myself.

Crazy carded rehashes galore in this OTC line.  So are we still really just dealing with the two new waves of 7 new figures and that's it?  Definitely disappointing if that's indeed the case.  I'm sure there's going to be a few new waves that we don't know about yet prior to Ep. 3's release, since there's just too much time in between.

But I've gotta say that these new OTC cards are really sweet!  I'll definitely be picking some of them up just for aesthetic reasons.  Just too nice to pass up.  Weird that Hasbro goes through all the effort to nail the perfect packaging, and then puts NO effort into the figures themselves.  Very strange.

What the hell's with the blue jumpsuit on Boba?  I thought Hasbro figured out that was WRONG when they corrected it from blue to green in the 4" line with the Pit of Carkoon figure last year.  

Give me a light green or grey, and I might buy one.  Blue - no way.  Hopefully they fix that before it hits stores though.

More and more rehashes.  I suppose if these come free (or cheap) with the new DVDs coming out, I'll pick them up.  If not, not a chance in hell I'm buying them.  Just another silly marketing gimmick by the folks at Hasbro.  I agree with the comments above, just stick some NEW figures in there (like the VOTC ones) and that would change my mind real quick!