Got this mail...

I am sad to say that due to irreconcilable differences between myself and ACTION Online (who hosts and owns the domain), I have to part with my own creation, "SirStevesGuide.com". I started the site back in 1995 as a collector and joined with ACTION Online in 1999, who now owns all the rights to it (it was the best decision at the time to keep the site going). SirStevesGuide.com has always been a team effort from fellow collectors, the staff, the mods and I appreciate all the support I have received over the years. This is not the end of "SirSteve", just the end of me running "SirStevesGuide.com". I will be starting a new site devoted to everything Action Figures and Collectibles rather than just Star Wars and run by collectors, for collectors. I have no idea what is to become of the domain "SirStevesGuide.com" or who will be running it (if anyone). I know I have not been the most active "forum" user but maintaining the site takes a lot of time. I have done everything from the graphics, web design, content, photography and so on which take a great deal of time. That's why I have trusted staff members to take care of the forums. I hate for it to come down like this but it will be for the best in the end. I have met a lot of great people while doing this and I would not trade it for anything.

So one of the older sites bites the dust...  "SirSteve" starting something new then...  That's gotta suck being overtaken by another site and it not going how you wish...  Sounds somewhat familiar though doesn't it?  *cough*CSW/RS*cough*

SSG was one of the first sites I visited many moons ago before I posted online...  Then CSW I finally opened up and started talking.  I'm not sentimental about SSG's demise, I just thought it was somewhat interesting.  I can't imagine it'll stay open so I'm assuming it'll go kaput here.

Times are a changin'... 

This week's review is, as you can see, the Imperial AT-AT Driver resculpt from the "Hoth Wave".  Clicky the image above for the full review and enjoy!

My brief thoughts...  There's a lot to love with this figure and very little not to.  In 2006 we've seen a severely cut-back level of articulation across the board.  Fewer figures are near super poseable this year than we got in 2005's Revenge of the Sith line.  I for one was quite disappointed seeing that most figure's lacked knee arituclation, including some pretty great potential army builder fodder like Major Derlin and General Veers...  Hell, Bail Organa gets it in 2005 and Derlin and Veers get shorted in 2006?  bull****!

So that brings us to the AT-AT Driver...  The sculpting's fantastic and shows again that what you were happy with from the POTF2 line maybe wasn't as cool as you thought.  The great thing to me though is that, while the TIE Pilot resculpt really put its predecessor to shame, I find that the AT-AT Driver's resculpt blends in better with the POTF2 release figure.  That's a great thing to me though.

The figure comes packed with articulation though, and that is where it truly shines.  Ball/socket knees and shoulders, angle-cut elbow joints, wrists, neck, and waist make for a great poseable army builder.

If Hasbro made the AT-AT Driver's articulation the basic line's MINIMUM standard you'd read a hell of a lot more positive reviews out of me.  The 2004/05 POTC Cantina Wave had that articulation (more or less), and they're great...  Hasbro can make this a standard and if people would voice that they want it enough they'd cave and put out the effort we deserve.

Enjoy your AT-AT Driver people!  He's great, and unfortunately he's not the norm for quality this year, so don't expect too many to rival him for greatness.  Sad, but true.  You'll still get figure's with legs no more articulated than the Han Trenchcoat you bought in 1983...  Sucks ass when you think about it in those terms if you ask me.

Finally rounding out the Carkoon Wave... 

This week we're looking at:


Leia's a sign of better things in 2006, but unfortunately she's appearing to be a bit of an anomyly for the most part.  Articulation is out this year but Leia gets the royal treatment from the big H at least.  That's something right?

She's not too shabby otherwise either...  Some minor paint flaws on my sample, but not a whole lot to gripe about.  My big peeve was her right forearm's sculpt, that was it.  Otherwise this was a pretty great figure to me.

Check out my Full Review and chime in with your thoughts. 

Leia's a bright spot in an otherwise dull wave of underacheiving action figures from Hasbro, so enjoy her...  Hoth Wave isn't a huge leap in quality unfortunately. 

Oh Evolutions...  How Do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...

Yeah, all good things must come to an end, and in this case I've rounded out reviewing the Evolutions Assortment by taking my usual in-depth look at the last in the series, The Evolutions: Sith Lords set.

The set is fantastic from top to bottom...  Darth Maul's the weakest in the set, but when your weakest is only that way because of angle-cut elbows, you really can't argue a whole lot.  Dooku and Palpatine both chime in as super articulated incarnations of their characters, and Maul does too besides his elbow joints.

With lots of softgoods accessories like skirt extensions, capes, and robes, the trio are quite poseable. 

As with the usual though, some extra accessories or more neutral headsculpts would have been appreciated, but not necessary really.  Check out the review though to see what all hit and missed with this, be prepared to read for a little while though, and of course come back and chime in with your thoughts.

To me, it's probably the best set overall out of the Evolutions series...  Quality in this set wasn't matched by the other two, so while the characters weren't necessarilly the most looked forward to, the execution was quite nice and shows Hasbro stepping out with their best foot forward in action figures.  Big ups to Hasbro for another knock-out in the short-lived series...

Now will they make more?  The question hangs there unanswered and nobody seems to want to ask Hasbro if they're considering this for the future.  Personally, if I had their ear you know I'd be nagging them about MORE Evolutions figures folks!  You know me, ever-persistant and all that crap.

A new review is up and running for your reading fun, plus a little viewing pleasure...  I was surprised how many people I talk to who passed on this figure, because this was one of the surprise hits of 2005 to me and thus I felt a full review of it was still a worthy story. 

I speak of the Japanese Exclusive, Remote Controlled R2-D2 figure from 2005...  Or "RC-D2" for short.

This was one of the greatest little surprises to come down the 3.75" line in quite a while...  Not that he was really even an official part of the U.S. line but still it's a great figure no doubt. 

Besides the RC feature working quite flawlessly on a smooth surface, the figure is a sharp sculpt and accurate size for the basic figure line.  If you had a big "Death Star" diorama set up as an obstacle course for R2, I could see this even translating into a really cool little game...  Of course I'm just thinking out loud here.

Anyway, the figure's a good sculpt, great paintjob...  The action feature is probably the best in a series of bad "gimmicks", so I even enjoyed that.  And I noted in my review that this is probably the last truly innovative R2-D2 we'll ever se...  What more do you do with this character afterall, ya know?

So if you don't own this, I'd track one down...  Read the full review though, see what all I'm talking about and I have to say a HUGE vote of thanks to our photo guru Jared for the kick ass little video clip too.  Check out the review for the Video of RC-D2 in action, even if ya just hate my writing and opinions.    The video made it all worthwhile to me, hah.

Thanks guys for looking.

Amidst my cleaning out I've got a lot of the Deluxe 3-pack Clones for sale that I found...

-5 white firing from hip
-1 white prone
-1 white firing aiming
-3 white kneeling (a 4th that has a broken hand I'll throw in)
-2 Yellow Commanders
-1 Red prone Captain
-1 Green Kneeling Sergeant

That's about 14 3-pack Clones for sale...  I'm asking $20+shipping for all 14.

This topic has been moved to Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.

http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=10790.0

Ok, we're back thanks to the more tech savvy staff here working hard.   Yours Truly can't do **** with html.  Hell, I thought that meant hotmail for a long time actually.

Anyway...

This time around we're looking at Anakin Skywalker (Slashing Attack) with "Sith Eyes" Paint Variation...  long title huh?


I have seen this guy a couple times actually...  Not a lot, but about as much as I saw Black Clone Pilots which was disappointingly infrequent.  At the same time though, this Anakin figure ain't no cool EU Clone either...   

Anakin's best feature are his bitchin' red fireballs he has for eyes, and I'd say his arm articulation is passable...  Better than average.  His legs suck though, and Hasbro loses my praise at that point.  Lacking knee joints would have made this a very good general Anakin Skywalker figure actually...  And also the leg's sculpt in a sorta leaning/action pose really hurt the figure as well.  Basically, if you want flaws you'll find them primarily in the leg region.

Read the review and enjoy...  I've been slowing some with reviews because A) I'm busy, B) I'm real busy, C) unlike others I am on the short end of finding stuff generally despite how much I hunt...  That's collecting in Pittsburgh,  D) With the final 12 a lot of stuff was repetitious at times.  Fear not though, I've got final Evolutions on tap, and hopefully Saga not too far away god willing I find them relatively quickly.

And if a fire gets lit under my ass I may get to other stuff too...  I've got things I meant to review but didn't get to, so hopefully I just get to at some point.

Thanks for reading guys, and Happy Festivus to you all.