Good topic as always Mosnab...
Basic Figures:Loved the news here... 3 awesome waves left before E3 (at least) and all pretty solid figures.
3 Cantina Aliens in a year alone is enough to go apecrap really. 3 in a wave? WOW! Can't ask fr much more than that, plus one of them just happened to be one of my most wanted Cantina Aliens (Dannik Jerricho). Great choice IMO. I'll be happy to get Myo too since he's one of my favrite in weirdness factor.
The other 2 prequal sets weren't high on my list, but Yarua's great wookie fodder (much needed for customizers) and Pablo's looking like he MAY be poseable in a neutral fashion and action pose. I can't argue with that in the slightest. I'm not as big on the final figure f the wave, or the Naboo wave, but I'll not turn my nose to them either.
The other thing about basic figures I liked hearing was the "Super Articulation" word uttered about army builders, and that this trend WOULD continue to some extent. I think it should to a great extent, but at least to some extent. That was definitely a high point for me personally.
VOTC Figures:AWESOME! Simply perfect Stormtrooper and Boba Fett. OK, perfect's perhaps a bit overboard, but they're really great. I loved the looks of Chewbacca as well. Awesome.
3PO and R2-D2 are disappointing to say the least. Very upsetting that these two are this mediocre when compared to the rest of this line. Even LUke's growing n me, and Obi-Wan is superior to 3PO and R2 which, to me, is surprising. Obi was a disappointment, but 3PO and R2 took the cake really.
Also, speaking of VOTC disappointments, the way Matt was treated when he mentioned VOTC reshipments (and the way he was treated in general by the one schmuck) is sad. Very bad business etiquette, which SDCC is basically the equivalent of a public Toy Fair at this point. I'm disappointed in the company overall due to the behavior of an individual.
I hope LandoScoundrel's and Scott's opinion that they're just not "tipping their hand", so to speak is the truth and that the guy Matt talked to was merely a simple ******bag among the more "cool" folks. We'll see I guess.
The idea that there's smeone looking out for "us" is there in my mind too, I just hate hearing what I heard this past weekend.
Unleashed:I have to say I'm indifferent, but yet I'm goinog to break and buy an IG-88 and Bossk if I can find them. Both just look that great. I'm not into separate lines like this, but I'll definitely bite on these two if they're not a royal pain to find, such as this Leia supposedly is.
Looks like Unleashed's getting a beefed up distribution too from what we've heard. All good news I suppose.
Galactic Heroes:This is a great concept, and I hope it diverts SOME of Hasbro's obvious "Kids are the line" attitudes towards this line instead. That's my only opinion on it other than I'm sure it's a cute line for someone with kids that are budding Jedi.
Myself, I have no kids, and I have no kids in my life that wuld be into Star Wars and want these. Since I've narrowed my collecting habits down dramatically I won't be buying these at all, save for perhaps a Bossk figure should it come out or Tarkin (My only character focuses).
Cute though if youo're into them.
12":
Sucks? What more can you say?
Hasbro can't do this line justice ever. THey never will I don't believe. It's not even VAGUELY close to being on-par with even G.I. Joe or even knock-off military companies like Soldiers of the world.
I'd not give a care if this line went the way of the do-do actually. I think it'd divert more in the business year budget towards the basic line. If that were the case, I'd actually be campaigning for 12" to be a cancelled line all together.
There's the old saying, "If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing right", and that saying is apparantly one the 12" designers at Hasbro just never got. Even the "better" figures are still lame.
I'd only buy, at this point, a nice Imperial soldier type figure (any type), or a Rebel Hoth or Fleet, or Endor Trooper. And those would all probably get customized intoo something actually GOOD by myself, using a new Dragon body, and sewing new clothes for him (or fixing Hasbro's).
Otherwise, let it die... Hasbro does nothing to give it true life.
"High-End Collectibles":
General crap like MR, Code3, Sideshow's new 1:4 statues, etc...
Not my cup of tea in general. I find Code 3 to be a company lacking the quality they say justifies their pricetag. I'll judge new stuff as it arrives, but I just can't fathom how they're improving, as they claim they have top-notch stuff already.
MR's just too expensive for me. God knows if I were rich I'd own 2 or 3 of that AT-AT if I could, I'd love to own some of the blasters (STrmtrooper and Fleet Trooper specifically), and I'd likely pick up other items as well. Unfortunately that stuff's too big, too expensive, and just too beyond me at this point.
I mean, I've owned cars that cost less than the AT-AT. That makes ya think on this stuff.
I loved those blinds debuted, but damned if they're not outrgeously priced too.
Lucasfilm Overall: I like the movie title... I like that Lucas gave us that.
I'm disappointed with Lucas's incessant changing of the classic trilogy however, and despite how hyped I am for E3, I'm somewhat let down with Star Wars at the moment. For every cool thing there's at least a single craptastic uncool thing that comes down the pike.
Lucas is the monster Southpark made fun of in an episode about he and Speilberg changing their previous blockbuster films. I wish he'd be catering the NEW trilogy to the old rather than vice versa.
We'll see... My biggest fear is the Stormtrooper voice change in the classic trilogy. If that's nt changed, I'm much MUCH more relieved. That's me though... Everyone has their personal beef on this issue. Some it's the Boba voice, some it's the Sebastian Shaw replacement...
We'll see I guess.
Episode 3 News:
Tons of goodies overall, but the packaging shown between our style guides here at JD.com and Hasbro's packaging debut shown at the Con all were sparks of goodness I thought.
As a non-packaged collector I'm probably a little looser with my opinion on that though. I think it looks good enough... I'm not sold on the card style's change though. I think I like the more squared packaging of previous lines better.
Still, I'm looking forward to a change, and hopefully Matt's suggestion to the Hasbro reps to reuse the OTC packaging later is heeded. It's sound, SOLID advice.
JD.com Coverage: Top notch I feel. I again want to thank Jared (Tydirium) and our own Matt Colman for their hard work. I think these two really busted ass over yonder, and they made a great showing for JD.com.
Also thanks to Scott, Chris, Dave, Brad, and Jeff because they were right there, Johnny-on-the-spot with news for our readers. Top-notch work by them all.
And with that, I think SDCC was overall great.
With very minor issues like the guy Matt ran into, things were really a bright spot in a rather dull year. I'm pretty happy and excited about Star Wars. I just hope things continue to go up, and that there was some serious bluffing by some Hasbro reps there.
Here's to '04 I guess! And bring on '05 and beyond already!