I'm doing my best and worst of 2007 all together instead of breaking it all up...
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Best Vehicle: V-Wing Fighter... This beast is to-scale, well constructed, sturdy, detailed, well decorated, and short of a pack-in pilot it's about as good as Hasbro's capable of giving us with a vehicle. At least it's as good as they've shown to be capable of giving us anyway. It's one of the only things I purchased in the $20 range this year.
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Worst Vehicle: Tied: Sith Infiltrator & White TIE Fighter... The Infiltrator's a failure at retail by my estimation (tons have been available all year, while the Jedi fighters and V-Wings have moved it seems), and while the ship is a nice sculpt for the size, its scale is comical compared to any ship in the line really. I rather would've seen the resources put into a Cloud Car which is about as interesting as this, and at least it's OT. Not everything Maul sells, that is apparant.
The White TIE Fighter shouldn't even need explanation really, but the ship is pointless. It's reaching for some asinine nostalgia factor that just isn't there. The TIE's were not white in the film, and the tiny wings are just goofy looking on any TIE Fighter. I'm still perplexed why this was even mixed in, but whatever. It's probably winning over the Infiltrator by the sheer volume of white TIE's there are. Somehow, there's even more than Maul's ship. Both suck equally hard, for different reasons.
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Best Comic 2-Pack: Obi-Wan Kenobi & ARC Trooper... This is based only on what's out for 2007, and right now for me the Obi-Wan/ARC 2-pack is one of the best out there. It STILL consistantly sells out even being repacked for months, and the figures are outstanding. Obi-Wan, while a re-used mold, is outstanding in the first place as a figure, and the added skirt and damaged cloak is a great touch. It's a perfect war-ravaged Kenobi, and even worth having extras of for Clone Wars dioramas and things. The ARC Trooper is just fantastically sculpted/detailed, and trumped his Clone Wars counterpart quite easily. Most of the 2-packs have been nice enough for the price, but this one I still nab one here and there just for the army building aspect of it.
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Worst Comic 2-pack: Anything Marvel. I've had the slightest interest to get the one with R2, but at the end of the day passing because, while a unique astromech paintjob, the Luke sucks. Hasbro's attempts to flesh out the Marvel comics are simply a bad idea... They were storylines that just were as goofy as the art, and nothing I'm overly interested in. Repainted figures made to look like the art, really don't interest me then. Give me new characters/creatures from the newer storylines, with realistic sculpts. That's the ticket to me spending $10.
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Best Vintage 30AC Figure: This one was tough because the vintage figures are almost all pretty spot-on. Sure there's a likeness issue, or a little "quirk" that annoys you, but at the end of the day the figures are all pretty solid and ones you'd hardly gripe with seeing released in a "Legends" type format... My choice for the best though, has to go to IG-88...
While I love the Snowtrooper, and really Han, Luke, Leia, and Bossk are great too, it's IG-88 who takes the cake. He's sporting separately sculpted pipe/hose details, he has no less than TWENTY points of articulation! An outstandingly realistic paintjob with lots of detailing to highlight that sculpt is just a bonus at that point, but it certainly doesn't end there... Oh no! Now you get a blaster rifle, a blaster carbine, and a knife weapon... But that's not it. You also get a bandoleir with removable landmines! And on top of all this, as thin and wirey as IG-88 is, he stands up perfectly, and his joints are all solid... And Hasbro can't do a Battledroid that can stand? bull****! This figure's about as perfect as perfect gets.
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Worst Vintage 30AC Figure: That's a tough call in general, but I'd have to label Endor Leia with that unfortunate honor... The reasoning being that Leia's articulation count isn't quite up to snuff with everyone else in the wave really (no wrists), and my biggest gripe(s) are little "quirks" like I said. First, her pistol's not the correct one. A little annoying because this gun hasn't been done yet, but at the same time it gives us an accurate Leia ANH gun too which is cool. But more annoying to me is her poncho is not the right color. It's just Endor Luke's, which is ok for him, but not Leia.
Leia's still a good figure though by all means. One I'd happily buy with a spiffier paintjob or something down the road, or even the right poncho and gun!
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Best Battlepack: Battlepacks were generally only great if they were exclusive. The general releases were all old and usually had older figures. My favorite though was the Treachery on Salecumi pack... With 2 Clones and 2 BARC bikes, I really think Hasbro took the $20 pack to a neat new level with that. Plus, Hasbro was giving you the Clones you actually wanted, from the movie, so no gripes there from me. The Felucia and Illum packs were nice though in general, but Salecumi delivered something new we wanted since 2005, and that deserves a nod for sure.
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Worst Battlepack: Bantha w/Tusken Raiders... The repack packs I can understand because they're geared not at us, but a completely different audience. However, the Bantha packs were geared more towards the adults I believe, and at their price, they were anything but "fair". While many of us would've liked getting the red set, I know I'm not the only one who passed due to the pricetag and the fact I have 3 Banthas I got that were almost the same price as this one battlepack bantha. The price on this one just wasn't what it needed to be for me to appreciate it.
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Best Exclusive: Target "Battle of Hoth" Ultimate Battlepack... Hasbro's idea for an "ultimate" Battlepack that included a vehicle, a large accessory, and a bunch of figures that could be somewhat interesting to kids and collectors alike, really was a novel one. For $50, these sets were a decent value... My only real gripe with either set was some of the figure choices... But for the turret alone, I loved the Hoth set. A new to-scale Hoth turret's a piece I've long hoped for, and now it's here. I'm trying to sell off half the set actually, but it's the half that didnt' appeal to me, and I still bought the set because I liked it overall. Pretty cool piece I think, and something that has future possibilities I believe.
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Worst Exclusive: I think this was easier to determine for me than the "best". The worst to me was the SDCC Shadow Scout... I passed on this overpriced, and uninspired piece of fiction from Hasbro. In part of their ongoing series to paint anything in white armor black, and call it a "Shadow whateverthefrick", I just could not justify the price + shpping that Hasbro was looking to get for these. Add in that they even used the older Speederbike sculpt that lacks detailing they updated, and I'm surprised as many people bought these as did.
It's a nice figure ironically, just a ****** concept, with a ****** accessory, and for a REALLY ****** price. I told Hasbro to bite me, and passed on this one. Cut the price in half and I'd consider it.
Honorable Mentions include: K-Mart Tin Sets (WTF? The first ones are still there lingering!), Battlefront 2-packs (yes, make me want to buy $35+ boxes to get guns I want, and a repainted Gonk!), and attaching anything compeltely "new" to the convention exclusive circuit... I'm still irked Concept Figures became the "in" thing to attach to the shows. F you Hasbro.
![Angry >:(](https://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/Smileys/classic/angry.gif)
I'd have much preferred repainted Clones here than new stuff, but that's me. I hate paying $16+ shipping for any figure even if it's a really cool one.
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Best 30th Anniversary Legends Figure: This one's tough... I have to admit that 2007 had a LOT of Legends figures I was actually anxious to get ahold of. My vote goes to the Pit Droid 2-Pack though. With these being some of the most demanded figures by collectors, and Hasbro seemingly going out of their way to get us all 3 variants with all 3 accessories, in all 6 sculpts, I'm pretty impressed really. I still can't track down the Orange striped set even. It's killing me...
![Roll Eyes ::)](https://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/Smileys/classic/rolleyes.gif)
Honorable Mention for me goes to the AOTC Clone Troopers/Officers, as well as the CLEAN Sandtrooper variants. The clean variants are outstanding Stormtrooper figures and the first time a basic "Sergeant" Trooper was offered, and the AOTC Clones were simply in short supply till this year. I needed more at a fairer price than the EE Clone packs sold for, and gladly picked up more as I found them all year.
![Smiley :)](https://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/Smileys/classic/smiley.gif)
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Worst 30AC Legends Figure: This one's not so tough... I can't stand the Battledroid 2-pack. Hasbro picked two of the weaker Battledroid figures in the line, and put them in a pack. The idea of getting two is great, and really for your money and these being "old", I don't give Hasbro credit for giving you two... They're pretty much pure profit items. Hasbro used a weaker sculpt that stands no better on its own than the recent Battledroids have. Had they included the Security Battledroid sculpt, or the Boomer Battledroid sculpt, I'd be more impressed and actually would've bought these had I seen them. Hasbro can do better with these as they have proven, they just went with the figure that had the least "cost" to it, and it's really a poor figure to army build unless all you want them to do is stand in line in your droid factory.
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Best Basic 30AC Figure: I cannot pick one... Here's a quick list: Rebel Honor Guard, Hermi Odle, Concept Chewbacca, Concept Snowtrooper, Elis Helrot, Airborne Clonetrooper, Galactic Marine... These are all amazingly great figures. All are super articulated or damn close, and all feature great sculpts, paintjobs, and accessories. 2007 was a year filled with GREAT figures. Often, even the ****** figure in a wave was still decent, and surpassed 2006 standards! That's no small acheivement on Hasbro's part.
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Worst Basic 30AC Figure: Wave 7.5 from this year has been what I would label as the "letdown" of the year. But really, only the Rebel Vanguard and Holo Vader stand out as "meh" from the wave. I'd add though, that Tatooine Luke (as a figure, not the Vaporator) is quite a stinker, Ceremony Luke needed some spiffier deco, the Lava Miner needed a little more articulation, and so did Biggs Academy (and clean up that blue). Not everything was roses in 2007, and those are some of the letdowns. Hasbro did an outstanding job this year in general with the basic line, but those figures all have something amiss with them, be it deco or articulation or a quality issue... That's still not bad though when you look back at the year's offerings.
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Best Hasbro Idea: Coins, Cool Multi-Packs, & Quality Increase. Hasbro gave us interesting pack-ins that are a collectible unto themselves, they gave us cool multi-packs like the Mandalore set, and the big thing this year is that the line overall saw a MAJOR increase in quality as far as articulation, accessories, and features went. Way to go Hasbro... It's been one of the best years ever for cool figures, and I'm excited for 2008 if it's anything like 2007.
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Worst Hasbro Idea: Ultimate Galactic Hunt. Hasbro's UGH promo is anything but positive. The promotion doesn't seem to drive sales from the perspective that it's "appealing" to anyone but a limited few in the adult collecting world, and the true negative is the side-effect UGH has had on the hobby. UGH + a popular line in general = Scalpers have increased. Pittsburgh didn't have much to gripe about really compared to other parts of the country as scalpers go, but in 2006 and 2007, there were noticeably more of the "comic book guy" type people perusing the toy aisles, and rarely did you see them picking up much more than the "rare" one. I used to not run into these people, and now I too have stories like, "I saw some guy pull a whole peg of figures off into his cart so he could sort through them while he walked through the store". And yes I did see that... I've now seen people squeeze past children in the aisle to look for the gold coin figure... UGH has drawn a group to the hobby that largely overlooked Star Wars before. They now see the dollar signs Hasbro put out there for them, and that's negative to the hobby I'm afraid, and to collectors in the aisles as well as how collectors are perceived.
I was going to do a wave-by-wave best/worst, and I may still. It'll take time though. Each wave has at least one really kick ass figure though, and most have one that's "meh" too. Usually still buyable though, which says a lot for the year!