Back in 1997, George Lucas finally delved back into the Star Wars saga after a long lay off, by bringing to us the suped up versions of the Original Trilogy movies, otherwise known as the Special Editions.  So what did you think of these revised versions of our classic movies?  Love em'?  Hate em'?  For me, it's a fair amount of both...

A New Hope:
Pros:

• The entrance to, and development of, Mos Eisley.
• The Falcon's dramatic exit from Mos Eisley.
• The re-inserted Biggs footage from the Rebel Hangar.  Really helps to develop Luke's friendship with him, and Luke's subsequent pain when Biggs gets nailed by Vader.
• The final Death Star space battle.  These changes were just awesome!  It blew me away what some better camera angles and more manueverable flight paths could do to this footage, much of which was completely revised.  My absolute favorite Special Edition change(s).

Cons:

• Greedo shoots first.  Ah, this is a killer (no pun intended).  Completely changed our outlook on Han, and therefore his character development.  Instead of being a ruthless, rogue smuggler who kills first and asks questions later, we now simply have a guy acting in self defense.  It really diminishes the overall change and turnaround that we witness and appreciate in Han's character throughout ANH, and the remainder of the Trilogy.  Instead of evolving from a really bad dude into pretty decent guy, Han just goes from OK to pretty decent.  Not to mention the fact that it's completely assinine to think that a top of the line bounty hunter can't even come close to shooting a guy sitting stationary two feet directly in front of him.  Even an Imperial Stormtrooper can shoot better than this.  Gives Bounty Hunters a bad name.  A terrible change by George.
• The added Jabba footage.  I don't take issue too much with the scene itself, as it does enhance and explain the overall story line.  It's just that the new CG version of Jabba was/is absolutely TERRIBLE!  Furthermore, Han's stepping on Jabba's tail and getting away with it, just greatly lessens the overall evil and dangerous aura of Jabba.  It makes Jabba look like a pathetic sissy to let Han walk all over him without repercussion.  Still not quite sure what I think about Boba's new early cameo into the Saga...

The Empire Strikes Back:
Pros:

• The extended Wampa scene.  Always fun to see more action with nasty creature involved.
• The Falcon's extended arrival into Cloud City.
• The much greater development and design of Cloud City, both inside and out.

Cons:

• Removing Luke's line to R2 when he gets spit out by the Dagobah swamp creature - "You're lucky you don't taste very good".  What's wrong with that line?  I thought it was quite applicable, and tastefully comical coming from Luke.  Replaced with some boring, meaningless line.  Why?
• Luke screaming like a little sissy-girl as he drops down the Bespin core/shaft.  Again (like Han), a HUGE change to the character development of one of the main players.  Instead of Luke letting go of the Bespin Gantry in the face of his nemisis, and peacefully and bravely giving himself to the Force, we now have Luke screaming like a frightened 6-year old girl all the way down the shaft, almost looking like he accidentally slipped off the Bespin Gantry.  Instead of a brave Jedi becoming one with the Force, we now just have a crying little punk who got his butt kicked by his Pops.  A very bad edit by George.
  
  
• Vader's new voice.  Though I liked the new Imperial Shuttle scene added in, I can't tolerate another actor voicing any of Vader's lines except for James Earl Jones.  Having someone else speak just that one line, was painfully obvious and very unfortunate.

Return of the Jedi:
Pros:

• The new ending Celebration scene.  I liked seeing all of the various SW cities/planets celebrating the defeat of the evil Empire.  Tied the galaxy and saga together quite nicely.  Also, though I enjoyed the previous Ewok Celebration song, I find John Williams revised end theme here to be much more elegant and suitable for the magnitude of what has just occurred and for the final notes of our beloved saga.

Cons:

• The new musical number Jedi Rocks.  Ugh.  This unfortunate addition just doesn't have a place in the Star Wars world.  The previous Lapti Nek song was just right for Jabba's Palace - subtle and eery, but somewhat hip and cool at the same time.  This new song and dance routine just makes me want to yack.  Watching the microphone go clear down the throats of the lead singers is just not necessary either.  The entire number just cheapens the whole dangerous aura surrounding Jabba's Palace.  Save this crap for a Disney flick.
  
  
• Flirting Fett.  I just don't care to see the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy hitting on Jabba's freaky back-up singers.  Not necessary, and it lessens the mystique of an otherwise very cool character.
• The Little Shop of Horrors Sarlaac Pit monster.  I don't mind seeing some tentacle looking things crawling up and out of the Sarlaac's mouth area (pit), but that whole crazy CG beak/mouth looking thing flailing about just makes me think of Rick Moranis talking to his humanistic plant in The Little Shop of Horrors.  Not necessary, and again, it lessens the mystique of an otherwise very cool and scary space creature.

And as a general point for all three movies, obviously the Special Editions brought about nice improvements in the overall picture and sound quality, through the rigorous restoring of the film print and soundtrack.  Also, the great majority of the smaller, more subtle details that were added in throughout the movies were nice improvements as well, even if they weren't as noticeable to the average viewer.

It's really hard to say overall what I think of the changes made in the Special Editions, since I really loved some of them, and really hated others.  I guess it's a toss up.  But I'd fashion a guess that we may not even be seeing the Special Editions again in the future, even when the Original Trilogy finally hits DVD.  I'm willing to bet that George has even more changes in store, once he's done with Ep. 3 (as rumor has it), that will tie the whole saga together even more, in what will be labeled as the "Definitive Edition" movies (and possibly including another theatrical re-release).  And maybe, just maybe, if we're really lucky, ol' Uncle George will prove that he actually listens to his fans, and will magically make Greedo's blaster shot disappear...  But only time will tell...

So what did you all think of the Special Editions...

Sorry to hear that Sarge.  It always pains me when a fellow collector has been ripped off when buying, selling, or trading Star Wars stuff.  There's just some real dishonest jerks out there who will always be looking to con someone out of their hard earned dollars.

I've fortunately never been shafted on the boards or eBay yet (knock on wood), but have been pretty close several times.  I've never had to go through the Paypal claim routine, but if what you're saying is true, that's a completely assinine rule on the part of Paypal!  There are many auctions or deals that tend to drag out for one reason or another for quite a while, so for Paypal to invoke a 30 day limit on claims is absolutely LUDICROUS!

Other than sharing your pain, I wish there was something more that I could do or some advice I could give to rectify your situation, but unfortunately there is not.

The baseball bat idea might not be too bad of an idea though...  

Good luck.

Yeah, this is starting to get really old now.  I was sure we'd start seeing the removal of the dreaded action features by now, but with the recent change to the upcoming Boba Fett figure, this is obviously not yet the case.  I was praying that this year, a non-movie year, would equate to a return to a POTJ-like line, more geared towards the "collectors" and/or adults, rather than the eight year old kids.  No action features, more articulation, better sculpting, more background/obscure characters, more Original Trilogy characters, etc.....

I can tolerate the less than exciting packaging, if it means transferring some of Hasbro's resources into the actual figure or figure cost instead.  Don't know if either of those two scenarios are actually happening though.  I've always wanted a return to the Vintage style cardbacks though (as well as card fronts), which kept a beautiful running checklist, with a visual picture of every figure released in the line to date.  Unfortunately, that'll never happen, since Hasbro wants to use the cardbacks to show off all of their "awesome" action features instead.

As far as overall cost goes though, I'd be thrilled to pump out another dollar or two for each figure if it meant getting a BETTER product, with better sculpting, paint detail and application, articulation, neutral poses, movie accurate (no action features), less rehashes, stronger plastic, etc.  Some nice, authentic O.T. playsets are also badly needed (Cantina, Death Star, Jabba's Palace).

I also don't buy into the idea that the 4" line is just too small to properly articulate or sculpt figures in.  Hasbro has proven that they can do it with some figures like 300th Fett (despite stance), Ephant Mon, Palpatine, and Bespin Luke (though his wash paint job sucked).

We recently learned that Hasbro apparently does pay attention to the online SW forums, when they announced the Fan Choice winner, and said they've "heard a lot of rumblings" about potential voting fraud.  Well, the only place they could've found that out about our rumblings is by reading through the various site's forums.  So if they're indeed perusing the forums, why oh why can't the see the rest of our thoughts in here, and notice the incredible hatred that we all have for the action features, and some of our other gripes as well...

I realize that there's an inherent production time for each figure, and that some figures may have already been in the manufacturing process long ago, when our action feature gripes first started up with the release of the new Saga line, and therefore nothing could be done for them at that point.  But, I think that we've passed that point now with some of the future waves that we're starting to get sneak peeks of now.  The action feature gripes should've been heard loud and clear by the time this new Fett went into production, which proves to me that they're not going away yet...  Hopefully soon though.

But with the upcoming release of the Clone Wars line, and rumored accompanying animated series on one of the kids cable channels, that just might mean that Hasbro will still be shooting for the kids market for quite a while to come.  I pray that I'm wrong about that though...

Is it too late for Lucas to grant the figure license to another company, so we could just start all over again from scratch...  

BTW, I collect only Star Wars, but when I pass some of those other figure lines in the toy aisles, I often find myself stopping to stare and marvel at what they have to offer, and scratching my head wondering how Hasbro can be so far behind the curve.  I love those Muppet figures and some of their Playsets are amazing!  After 25 years of collecting (with a few years off in the late 80's), is it too late for me to switch allegiances to something else?

Please wake up Hasbro.  This (Saga) nightmare has gone on long enough...  

Francois -
That's a very reasonable price listed for the 101 regular carded figures, 1 Theater Luke, 1 300th Fett, and one Leia 2-pack that you've got pictured there.  That's well over $500 retail value you've got up for sale...

I think the problem is that most people have a lot of those figures already, so they don't want to purchase the entire group of figures as one huge lot.  You should try breaking them up a little, either by line (like you already have them), or even by individual figures.  Maybe list them individually for a little while, and let people pick and choose the specific ones they want, and then list the remainders in lots.

Good luck!

Yep, that's the whole lot of them Dale!  I thought it was probably all 7 of those actually.  Sorry Kris, but it looks like only a few of those are actually going to wind up really being "vintage", from the cartoon shows.  But at least now you know...

I still have no idea where those few guys came from...  Do you have them in hand?  Are they bendy, or hard plastic figures?  Any articulation?

BTW - heading to Disneyland in a couple hours for ya' Dale.  Wish me luck!

I also think that a number of those figures you have pictured at your site and listed as Vintage, are actually some very current items that the Star Traders stores have been selling over the last several years (Chewie, Vader, Stormtrooper, Yoda).  I think they're just some cheap little "bendy" figures.  I've seen some very similar to these for sale in Disneyland.  I'll check to see if they've still got them in stock tomorrow when I'm there...

As for the company...I don't know, but I'd guess it's either Hasbro (or formerly Kenner) or Disney who makes them.

Sorry for the confusion folks, but obi-dad's correct.  Please follow the link he gave to the actual prize give away page, which can also be accessed through our main page.  You can find the full contest rules there.

We're just posting the announcement here in the forums for all to see.  This isn't where you actually enter the contest though.  Again, sorry for the confusion.

Now hurry up and go try to win yourselves some Star Tours droids!!!