So, when are we due for some more updates here?  Don't leave us hanging like this Muftak!  Hopefully you're settled into your new place by now and you've delved back into your Cloud City project.  Your fans await!   

My fans...

My toys are still not settled to satisfaction at the new place. Way less room than I had before (on account of the fiance moving in and all, but don't tell her I said that!) so I no longer have both a workroom and a display room. It took forever just to get the Death Star back out and situated.

And so much to do while there is still some summer in the air..! Cloud City hasn't even been unpacked yet, but I am hoping to get to some of that stuff in the next couple weeks. Plus I finally found a Cloud Car Pilot at the store, so my motivation is coming back to me.

In the meantime, here's a Cloud City Prequel to enjoy instead...my first diorama from two years ago, which I built to gear up for the Death Star.

I remember seeing the Toy Fair image of the first bunch of POTF2 figures in a Wizard Magazine sometime in the spring or summer of 95 and feeling my heart skip a beat.

They were real...modern...Star Wars figures!!

At the time I was collecting odds and ends of toys: Aliens stuff and X-Men stuff are what I remember mostly. Sometime that September I was at the local TRU and saw a handful of the new Star Wars toys on the pegs. My first grab consisted of Luke, Han, Chewie, Ben, Artoo, and Vader. They were all that was there. A few weeks later I found a couple of Stormtroopers and a Leia. Then a Landspeeder and an AT-ST.

I skipped out on the X-Wing and Falcon ,but eventually picked up a TIE. I liked the toys a lot...even the big EU extra weapons everyone came with. The lightsabers seemed a little long, but they were see-through colored plastic so I forgave them.

And those bios on the back of the cards...what an extra! I had been playing the RPG for a few years prior, and it was neat to see all the info from the Sourcebooks carried over to the new toys.

My Mom actually found C-3PO and Boba Fett for me not long after (half-circle Fett, that I proudly opened up and stuck on my shelf with all the others.) I had seen pictures of the New Fett on a Toy collecting magazine (no idea which one anymore) and thought--Wow!! It looks like a model or something! I had no idea it would be out so quickly. In the comic magazines they touted the return of Star Wars toys, and I learned what would be coming next.

It wasn't long before I had that next batch of figures,  Yoda, Lando, Luke Pilot, TIE Pilot (the hardest one for me to find back then!) Hoth Han and Dagobah Luke all hit here that same winter. Then it was a long wait, eight months or so, till Shadows toys hit.

I collected the entire POTF2 line steadily and displayed it all, until I moved into my own place in Summer '98 and had to pack everything away. Most of that old stuff still hasn't come back out. I "took off" from collecting for a couple years then, until 2001 or so when POTJ started to heat my enthusiasm back up. By then I was online alot of the time, and found the RS/CSW communities just before the big merge. And I've been with it ever since.

Those are all just phenomenal. Seriously...I'd buy that Bib Fortuna in a heartbeat!

Even though it's all identifiable parts (for the most part) your use of them is absolutely great. You take the pieces of that Jedi Warriors 3-pack and make 'em look good!Hasbro could sell 3-packs of sets like these and I'd eat up whole cases at a time.

Greta work all around CHEWIE! Even the backdrop is outstanding!

I nabbed an OTC Greedo...  I have to say, he's really nice.

I second JJ's sentiments. I saw an OTC Greedo today and WOW[/b] what a nice paint job. I didn't pick him up though--I already had a VOTC Vader and Luke in the bag and I just couldn't justify an extra of a figure I already have a few of.

That VOTC Luke really took by surprise. I had no desire or intent to ever pick him up, but when I saw him in real life he looked like really an amazing figure--the soft goods did not come out nearly as wonky as the pics seemed to convey. I bought him and popped him open and I have to say it really is a nice figure.

Vader is up there too. His chain is a little distracting, but if you tilt his head down in a "menacing" pose it lays nice, and even turns with his head. More glittery than I'd expected, I might have to take a Sharpie to it. And my god, that cape--it's enormous and billowing but light and hangs great. Just a great Vader, almost really worth the 10 bucks in and of himself.

So, so far I've only passed up Ben and Yoda VOTCs. The Jedi can't get no love from me.

I remember now.

I remember how it started...

Best. Chewie. Ever. Looks like Hasbro has another winner.

Too bad he doesn't have ball jointed knees though.  

Fear not, Diddly:

He has pivoting thighs, ball-jointed knees, and standard articulation at his ankles and hips.

As for the separate bandolier, I did indeed assume it would have to be for the articulation to work. I suppose it could very well be a part of one of the three sections (if it were I'd guess the shoulders--but look at how it drapes over the left shoulder joint so well...) Matt is correct to point out it isn't listed as a separate accessory, though, and they did list Luke's shirt and belt as such so...

I'm holding out that it's removable. From nothing other than my own sheer willpower, if necessary.

...you-know-whats.

I am really trying to be a fan of the new "head on a stick" articulation. It sounds really neat in theory, it looks a little wonky at the jawline of most of the figures, but it does give the heads more posablitity.

The deal-sealer ought to be the ease of popping off the heads. The Clone Wars Asajj Ventress figure was able to have a nice removable cloak thanks to the feature. Dagobah Luke actually comes with two heads to make use of the easy head-pop.

But why for the love of all that's holy does every neck post need to be a different size?

I tried to play around this afternoon with some simple stuff--Dagobah Luke's head on VOTC Han and vice-versa, but the necks are two different sizes and the results are awkward. So I tried Ozzel, yet a third size. So I tried Dagobah Yoda. He's actually pretty close to Ozzel, but why in the world would I want Yoda to be wearing an Imperial Admiral Uniform (unless he's in disguise..?)

Way to go Hasbro. One step forward, two steps back.