Unfortunately we've been having a LOT of technical issues the last few weeks that lead to the bad gateway errors.  It's getting harder and harder to keep this rusty bucket of bolts afloat.

Apologies again for all the Bad Gateway errors lately.  Things are not going well on the "keeping this thing alive" front these days.  Hoping it's not time to fully pull the plug but it feels like we're inching closer to technical obsolescence each day...

The genie doesn’t usually go back in the bottle, and I doubt any savings will be passed along until companies feel confident that they won’t just see new tariffs in a month or six or a year, if ever.

It could happen if we ever see true stability again. We’re likely a three or so years away from any realistic chance at that though.

Final Round voting link ->. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7QGmpfovSPV6_5arOtCcX-4Gxzg4aHyWbNoaVKPS-G6Y_pQ/viewform

2023 - Luthen loses in the first round (in top 10, not in top 6)
2024 - Luthen loses in the third round (in top 4, not in final 2)
2025 - Luthen makes it to the final round (top 2)

Is this finally Luthen's year?

ps. Luthen is the ONLY character in the 2023 Top Ten that did not get a new figure yet (the others were Tonnikas, Hammerhead, ANH Ben, ANH Luke, Vanth, Baylan, Shin, Asajj, ROTS Anakin).

it's so dumb that we have to continually tell Hasbro "GIVE US THESE MAIN CHARACTERS FROM FILM/SHOW".  These fan polls used to be about drawing attention to "background weirdo #15" not main characters, but I forget that's where we are now in TVC.

So the final two is a showdown between "GIVE US THE MAIN CHARACTER" and "background weirdo #15".

Maybe it's a wasted vote, but my heart leans "background weirdo #15" in these cases.  If Arleil is in that unannounced Cantina 4-pack, I guess I'm wasting my vote, but I will always vote for a weirdo background alien from the OT over anything new.  Sorry/not sorry.

Here are the vote tallies for the semi-finals:

Luthen Rael - 662
Arleil Schous - 484
Baze Malbus - 478
Kleya Marki -476

That vote spread between 2nd, 3rd and 4th place was ridiculously narrow!  But I'm glad to see that Luthen was the clear favorite here.  And I'm hoping that carries through to the finals.

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The finalists - Luthen Rael VS Arleil Schous

I guess I forgot about the added articulation.  I can’t imagine knee joints being responsible for like
A 60% increase in costs on its own, so probably a mix of the two. 

Also all the articulation in the world doesn’t make these anything more than beater toys for kids, and a little side mission for dummies like me.