Same with me... I've not bought the Falcon yet myself, hoping for a sale at some point. First it's too big for me to find a good home for it in the collection right now, but second it doesn't fit the "scale" rules I go by so it took a backseat to the AT-TE which I've vowed to force into the collection somewhere, haha.
As far as the comment... Well, sites have editors for a reason, and usually editors jobs consist of showing some tact with the questions asked by any given site. I don't think much was shown there by telling Hasbro "your sets are lame" in the Q&A. I'm the last guy to feel Hasbro can't take criticism, believe me, but we've found the more constructive and mature you ask the question, the usually better response you get from Hasbro... And that question was just asked in an inanely boneheaded manner any way you slice it.
To be honest I think the Sarlacc Pit is pretty damn cool... I'm looking forward to it, but the Lars Homestead I feel is a tad dull and I'm not sure I'll spend $50 to get one. Would I like one? Hell yeah... It'd look great next to the Landspeeder and some vaporators obviously. Who doesn't think that? But is it enough for me to spend $50 or whatever to get it? At the moment, no... The Pit though is more likely where I'll put my money. I just dig it.
As far as people's opinions of Sandtroopers here, I don't see a ton of bashing them on our site... Actually I don't see anyone really talking about them at all, ever, so I don't get that notion at all. Some of their members aren't friendly with some of ours, and that's the extent of our interaction basically. No huge deal there... This isn't about who likes or dislikes their site, it's about a question asked in a pretty dumb manner regardless if it was Curto asking it, or as the case may be one of the smaller sites asking it. It came off mostly as a slap in the face of the Q&A overall, which isn't good for anyone IMO.
I think some sites try too hard to "act tough" in the face of Hasbro... I don't know how to word it really I guess, but I just get that vibe by some of the questions some sites let through. I think civil discourse is more appropriate, especially dealing on a professional level with a company like Hasbro. People need to keep in mind that despite some mistakes, there are guys on that board doing their best. I don't think they're offended, or they'll quit the Q&A or any of that horse ****. That's blowing stuff out or proportion. I do think simple tact and cvility requires that, even if you have a beef, you should try to be constructive in your confronting Hasbro with a question about it.
Their answer seemed pretty much to match what I've always thought too... These aren't playsets. They're more like a big assed accessory (IE: The Hoth cannon or logs), to complement your figure. Let's face it... That Lars dome is no different than the boxes that came with the Death Star Technician... They're no different than getting some plastic barrels, or whatnot. The Sarlacc is like getting the Dagobah Dragon thing, or a Rancor... To me that's a beast and almost counts as a figure.
A Death Star that stacks with hallways and opening doors and this and that though, that's a playset... And it's not comprised of two or three injection molded pieces (IE: Simplicity), but rather a complex design, with "features". I believe I read the dome's biggest feature is it has a molded table in the middle of it? I thought I recalled that from somewhere. That's not a playset at all. It's a big(ger) accessory. And it's gonna cost you $50 to buy that big accessory I guess.