Ok, so it's my fault. 

There is a well-documented history, both recent and historical, of Clone Wars figures that are extremely hard to find at retail outlets. This dates all the way back to the last red/white wave with Hondo and Aayla. A lot of poeple NEVER saw those figures. Granted that was the last wave before a packaging reset, but the problem has continued. Many people have never seen a Season 3 Ahsoka on the pegs, or a Commander Colt, and that was like 5 waves ago now. Those figures have been in circulation, albeit crapy circulation, for months now and it is not getting any easier to find them.

These newer waves have a short shelf life. They do not hang around long and NEVER seem to ship in quantity. The distribution is extremely spotty at best. Whether it be Hasbro or the retailers themselevs, the new product is just not making it out to the consumer. So if anything it is this reality that creates the exaggerrated sense of urgency on the part of collectors.

If I had any confidence Seripas would be as easy to find as Season 3 Obi-Wan, I would not sweat it, believe me. But anyone who is playing close attention to this line will know this is not the case. There are no guarantees anymore that all the figures will be plentiful going forward. For all we know hasbro is cutting back on the production numbers to create more of a demand.

So I don't think you can blame collectors for wanting the new figures as soon as they start hitting, that's the midset that has been created because of the awful distribution situation. Fans should not have to ever resort to paying "scalper prices" or ordering cases full of old figures they no longer need. Not everyone has the luxury of overspending in this economy.

Is an online collector's forum not an appropriate place to vent about toy distribution? These are the same complaints that have been going on for months, so I don't get why that should come across as abrasive to anyone. I don't come in here to start a bunch of crap, really. My only point is that things seem as bleak as I can remember as far as the distribution situation for this particular line. It makes me wonder if we won't see a similar "carry-forward" strategy for some of the harder to find figures from this line as they are doing with TVC next year.

Dan, thanks for the lone voice of support.  Pete - I know you have my back on this too.

Found remnants of TCW Wave 10 at a local Target today. All they had left was a Hondo and a couple of El-Les'. They must have gotten in two cases. I picked up the Hondo, although I really have no use for him so will probably return. I already have an open one and a carded version from the first run.

I just checked this store Friday and they had nothing, so this is really a kick in the nuts in the worst way. You can't even get to this store on a weekend the traffic is such a freaking nightmare.

Naturally I ran around like a maniac and hit four more stores on the way home to no avail. So it looks like I missed my chance on these. God knows how long it will be before I see anything new on the pegs again.

I keep thinking things have gotten as bad as they can get, but then they get worse. It really did not use to be such a losing proposition trying to find new figures. It's crazy, you can hit multiple stores every day for weeks and still completely miss everything you want by taking ONE Saturday or Sunday off. Plus this whole "one Target got the new stuff and the other 13 around here got jack squat" is just baffling to me.

I keep hoping things will get better but we're almost into October now and these last few waves have been out since August, and I've yet to complete a single wave. I've never even seen remnants of Wave 12. It's just not fun anymore.

At least they clearly and thoroughly explained their entire thought process behind their decision.

Oh wait, they didn't.

I will never cease to marvel at the irony of the biggest site being the worst. (Really, in every possible way)

Yeah, I had a smimilar experience, where I proved my local status as King Geek.

Here's the deal: Walmart has a big display for these things that is shaped like an AT-AT. I saw them roll it out from the stockroom last night right after midnight. It was already pre-packed, but only with the OT/PT sets, not the Complete Saga. These things were nowhere to be found out on the floor.

Come to find out, there were only 5 copies of the Complete Set behind the check-out desk. FIVE. I was 4th in line. Luckily no one is front of me bought multiples, so I got one.

Here's the best part: When I got up to pay for my copy, I asked them if that long cardboard box the copies were sitting on behind the counter contained the free poster that was supposed to be given away to the first 50 customers. Blank stare. "Posters?" They opened it and sure enough I got my big-ass lizard riding Fett poster. All 3 dudes in front of me walked away emptyhanded because their Geek-Fu was not as strong. 

So yeah, you may have to ask for the free swag, and maybe even need help actually finding the Complete Saga set.

Now, on to the good stuff:

I was able to watch all 50 minutes of deleted OT scenes last night before passing out. They range from awesome to sucky, but overall worth the price of the set alone, IMHO.

The most interesting scene is the one with Biggs, in that it gives you an different sort of perspective on the Empire and why people are actually rebelling against it. He has a neat line about the Empire "nationalizing commerce in the inner systems" or something like that which I found pretty cool. That dude is not a great actor though, the whole scene plays out rather stiffly. And Carnie and Fixer are a couple of Jag-offs, for real.

I loved the extended Cantina scene, with Han and "Jenny" and the good old bloody flipper hand on the floor.

I also loved the cut Wampa scenes, although I agree that thing looked pretty unrealistic. The whole shtick about 3PO pulling the sign off one of the holding pens and jacking up an oblivious snowtrooper who wanders in after him is priceless.

Loved seeing the fate of Lobot, although that was a bit of a quickie.

Loved the lightsaber building scene, that was way cool. Ditto the sandstorm scene, Lando looks badass with his goggles.

REALLY loved the added interior shots of the Falcon during the Battle of Endor, where they actually show Rebel troopers manning the gunnery stations. This would have been a good one to keep in the final cut, IMO. It never made sense to me how Lando and Nien Nunb could be doing EVERYTHING from the cockpit by themselves in that battle.

Great little snippet of Han's reaction to the classic "You rebel scum" blast: "Scum?!?!" 

Awesome scene with the Imperial officer telling Vader he is not allowed in to see the Emperor. That one almost gave me chills.

The pilot 1-on-1 sequences seemed hokey to me. The actors do not seem to have a good grasp of the dialogue. One of the women looks like she is about 75 years old. (The rebellion must have really been hurting for pilots) I did love the "Fried Calamari line" and something about "this is the last time I fly Lucas airlines"...LOL.

The only deleted scene that REALLY disappointed me was the death of General Veers. It's like not even a real filmed scene, sort of a cut-up with storyboards, animatics, etc. I was hoping for some kind of shot of Hobbie's snowspeeder actually hitting the At-At.

Ah well, it was fantastic nostalgia to watch that stuff, can't wait to tear into ANH tonight after the Clone Wars premier!

Sounds like Walmart is the best bet stateside for picking this up tonight at midnight.

I'll be there!

So where can I pick this up at midnight tonight? Is Walmart my only option?

I would appreciate it if someone could point out where Vos appears in EP 1. I would like to see that but prefer not to watch that movie ever again if I can help it. TIA~

They just need to stop jamming the pegs meant for the Clone Wars and Vintage figures with all that Legends garbage. The 3 closest Walmarts around here are at least 70% Legends swag right now. One case of that junk will hang around for months...it's obscene.

And I've still literally NEVER seen anyone buy one of those figures.