Okay, Kristin Chenoweth did a hell of a lot better singing the National Anthem for the NFC Championships than Steven Tyler's massacre offkey version. But I guess comparing those two is like comparing apples to oranges.

Word. Miss Noodles is way hotter!

Yeah, the prison guards and imperial looking dudes were cool. I also loved seeing the Jedi Turbo Speeders in action again, perfect time to dust those things off.

The writing in general for that episode was incredibly weak and sloppy though.

You have an ultra secret plot to kidnap the Chancellor and in the first five minutes of meeting some new inmate you start blabbing about the whole operation to him?

And it never occurred to anyone on the Jedi Council that it MIGHT be a bad idea to pretend that the Chosen One's master was murdered and not let him in on the secret? The same guy who has all those attachment/loss issues?

I've officially come to the conclusion that I don't like anything about the Cad Bane character. They make him too infallible. He's the smartest guy on the show perpetually.

Has anyone seen one clearanced in a brick and mortar for less than $39?

I saw a report of someone getting one for a ridiculous $12.50 and ever since then I have been obsessed with finding one for that price.

Geez...six days with no Clone Wars posts! Time to turn this mutha out! 

FINALLY found the motherlode of new swag this morning at TRU, fresh off the overnight truck. They had all the new Deluxe sets, plus the new Class II vehicles as well. (All non Clone Wars of course, so I left them)

More importantly, they had 2 fresh cases of the new TCW figures out! Word of caution - I almost missed these entirely because they stuck them on 2 high-up pegs way down the aisle from where the "old" TCW figures continue to pegwarm. So it might be worth your while to peruse the aisles carefully.

I picked up the 3 for-sure new figures: Anakin, Phase II Clone, and Jetpack Cody, plus 2 new-ish repacks of Cad Bane and Chewbacca. They definitely tweaked the paint job on Chewie, and it looks like he comes with an extra side-arm now too, so that was a solid "Yes" for me. Bane looks a little tweaked, not exactly sure how, but definitely has a different weapons assortment. (So yeah, I'm a sucker - you got me Hasbro!)

The new packaging is pretty much the atrocious eyesore I expected, but it a lot more trimmed down and fragile-feeling than I anticipated. The game die is now black and the figure stand is now beige. (WTF?)

Oh, and they all rang up for $9.99 each! Ouch! Kinda wish I had found these at Walmart instead, I foresee a future exchange.

The only thing they didn't have were the new battlepacks, which was a bit disappointing. Guess I will keep stalking Wally for these until they show up. Probably just as well, who knows how much those things would cost at TRU...Wally seems to be sticking to the old price point for now.

Good hunting!

I saw my first Darth Maul packaged SW toy today...the talking Yoda plush. 

Like Dressel said, none of the stores around here appear to be stocking any of the new lines yet. I keep reading about all these great finds too and it seems like I'm in one of the few places that has adhered to the street date at every single store. Bastages.

We got a few cases of the TPM wave a few weeks back at Target but no new MH or CW. No new Deluxe, no new vehicles, no new battlepacks.

Sigh...it's really not that easy.

This is another one of those PITA promotions that requires you to install malicious third party software er, a "printer installation" packet just to print out the stupid thing.

If, like me, you are one of the many people in America who hold a steady office job, you are pretty much screwed because if your company is even halfway on the ball they will have pop-up blockers, firewalls, etc which will completely prohibit you from being able to print the coupon at all.

I would have tried it from home but I don't have a printer hooked up right now. So thanks for nothing, Hasbro. 

I get the appeal, but somehow the prospect of futuristic sci-fi without aliens always seemed like a bore to me. They don't even have anthropomorphic robots! 

Anything that gave us Summer Glau is ok with me though.