80 is far too many for me to keep up with, especially with 50% being rehashed.  I will hopefully be getting some figures from the next two waves that I want, and then I am backing off, and only buying the figures I want, fit into a theme etc.

As far as the line . . . with no movies and if the TV series does not do well, we'll see how the line goes over the next 2-5 years. The key is how well do the major box retailers support the line ie Walmart and Target. When Walmart doesn't carry the line, I hate to say it (Target will quit before Wally) but the line will then be close to dying if not dead.

Any news coming out of UK Toy Fair from Hasbro? I was hunting tonight with a friend and NPR was interviewing manufacts about developing and selling toys. I'll have to look around for some info I guess.
One interesting point that was made though, was that it is getting more and more difficult for toy companies to sell "dolls" or "action figures" because kids are getting older at a younger age and wanting computer, dvd, and other electronic stuff at a much younger age.

This wave has hit Targets here in the greater SLC area 3 x now, and they have now hit Walmarts 2x as of today. Should mean more people are being able to get figures.

I would agree that though serious collectors have been able to get figures, the casual collector or kid probably has missed out on the figures that have come out. Hasbro is not shipping in quantities that ensure that there is enough product out there, and yes, the other rows of figures are sitting and peg warming. It is rather weird. Usually after a movie year we have a hard time finding product at all. I fear some may be 2 or 4 waves behind before much longer.
Another thought is what happens come summer? Typically in a non-movie year the waves in the summer are very hard to find as retailers back off inventory anticipating the fall/holiday season.
I guess on the other hand though, we might see what we saw with the last Saga wave where they ship and serious collectors got the figures. Then that fall, they reshipped everything back out in sufficient numbers so everyone could get em.

Just wondering if anyone has seen a deal for a PS2 (newer thin one) for less than $149.99? My very old double decker finally got the final Disc Read Error. It has had this issue for about 18 months now and thanks to an online guide, I have been able to fix it everytime. Alas, this time, it just won't fix.
I know some of you will say wait, the PS3 is coming out buy I won't be buying the PS3 for between 12 to 24 months after it comes out for several reasons:
1. I won't pay the new price up front and will wait 2 to 3 years for the price to come down.
2.  I rarely buy new games when they are released. I wait for them to drop to the $19.99 or $29.99 price in order to save money. It is my experience by waiting for the new console to drop in price, some of the games I want I will be able to pick up for between $19.99 to $29.99 or even lower. This also gives software companies time to put out enough of the new games for the older games to drop in price.
3. I like to have a much wider selection of PS3 games than the 20 that will be there for the first 3 to 6 months.
So, for the next year or two the PS2 will work for me. Anyone know where I can pick one up cheaper than $149.99? 

Let me start by also saying I am mainly interested in the figures that ReHashbro is going to release. Vechiles are not a major interest of mine, so not a lot of questions there (except kudos for the ARC-170 which is a very nice ship).
I'm going to try to use the viewpoint of a 11 almost 12 year old boy/young man (my son) to make a few points on playsets. First, I took him by DeanPaul's to drop off an AT AT driver I had for DP. My son saws DP custom generic be all or whatever you want and he LOVED it! I haven't talked enough to DeanPaul to tell him, but all I have heard all week is how cool that is and how I need to build one. Take away. Kids will get into playsets but sometimes I think by being specific, we limit imagination. Making playsets that kids can use as whatever they want may allow kids to use their imagination to create their own stories in the SW universe (which is really what kids do. They might play DeathStar escape, but more importantly, they would make up their own story about whatever playstation is made up).
My other point is playsets need to be designed for both kids and parents. IF we buy a playset, and I play with my son, the playset gets used (he loves his Mustafar set because of this). So the playset should appeal to kids and adults somewhat.
So I guess my two points are probably not realistic, but I would like to see some playsets that are generic or general that allow kids to use their imagination in the SW universe. Second, I really would like playsets to appeal to both kids and adults. Unfortunetly, I think for this to happen, I will have to customise my own.

Last point. My son saw some of DeanPaul's playsets that we don't have; Dagobah/Yoda's tree; Rebel Transport, Ewok Village and I can tell you now if those were modified and re-released, not as a collector, but as a father of a son who LOVES Star Wars, I would have to buy those. Those are smaller in size, and though not generic, they do allow for some use of the imagination of the kid. So I would like to see a question or two asked about playsets that are pratical, somewhat generic, and smaller in size. What are the plans for those? Guess if I want em, to the Classifieds, Ebay or customizing I go.
I would agree that huge playsets don't sell, and we see that time after time. Thus I don't think we'll see them though they are cool to play with.

I have a different take on the final 12 and the final in any wave. First, I think it depends on geographic area on how many you find. Some areas seem always able to have product, while others struggle to find product. Second, it depends on one's ability to hunt at the most appropriate time. In October, I found plenty of the final 12. This is because I now teach and I have off track time during the year so I can hunt at opening at Target and hit Walmarts when cases are brought out at night. Thus I found every figure in the final 12 mutiple times, and bought them for either myself, or for other local collectors. That brings me to the third point. Locally here in SLC, we have a forum where we can post our wants or we can PM each other with wants. So, lets say that I found 20 Tactical Ops over a 3 week period, and I helped 6 collectors and myself to those 20 troops (so roughly 3 each) that wiped out 5 cases of the Tactical Ops. Thus anyone who came into that store or stores after me, would never find the final 12. Having said that I guess the fifth is that I know once I had reached the amount I wanted, I quit hunting, though product was still showing up. And I KNOW that other collectors who are not on the local forum or who are not active on our forum, hunt, and find product for themselves and others, which reduce merchandise since they hunt at case time and at opening. The last point is that though we saw and received product here in Utah, it was usually only one or two cases at a time (except for after Thanksgiving; Kmart had em in abudnance the day after, and one Walmart put out 8 cases in one day of just the Tactical Ops with the Jedi repacks). So with limited product out, and people hunting at night and at opening, and with collectors helping other collectors out, and with other hunters out there who are either collecting for themselves or for others as well, the amount of product left for those who do not maximize or cannot maximize the time of the hunt becomes extremely limited, if available at all. Usually only R4 was left by the end of the cases, and those didn't last long either.

Quick quesiton on the AT AT drivers. I know there are two per AT AT, but would they ever operate out of the AT AT as a squad? If so, how many? I seem to always see 4 AT AT's work together so are 8 drivers a squad with a commander? Or is the commander one of the eight? Thoughts or insights would be appreciated!