A big JediDefender Happy Birthday goes out to JD member stan today!
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(please scroll down to the end of this ever growing thread to add to or view the most recent Birthday wishes and salutations...)
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...to JD forum member max_one, who turned the big 28 today!  I'm sure you can get some age pointers from Scott Pearson, if you need any max, since he's got a whole 3 weeks on ya'!  Of course who am I to talk, considering I've got over four years on the both of you!  

Hope it's a great one, and you get a ton of cool Star Wars loot!  Party hard!

Holy bajeezus!  We're going to be getting a General Dodonna and a Captain Antilles!  That is unbelievably awesome - especially for us "old schoolers"!  I think it was an incredibly cool move on Hasbro's part to decide to issue both of these ANH Rebels, even though technically Antilles won by 9 votes.

If there indeed were some type of voting irregularities, which I still contend was likely the case despite Hasbro's explanation, all I've got to say is GOOD JOB to the fella who calculated out a virtual TIE, and I wish you all the best in future polls as well.  I saw someone mention this elsewhere - perhaps next time we can get a five way tie at 20% each and get ALL 5 of the choices!  

If the poll was legit, then a big high five to all of the fellow fans and collectors out there who caused this "miracle of figure birth" to come about!  Though I wanted Dodonna to win and voted for him, I really wanted both of these figures to be made, so I'm in heaven right now!

The question is whether they'll be released together in a 2-pack, or on separate cards.  I tend to think that Hasbro might find a way of putting them in a "Rebel Heroes" 2-pack, just to keep the "Fan Choice Figure(s)" award label in one place.  And just as an FYI, these two characters wear virtually identical outfits in ANH, other than their coats and helmet, so there shouldn't be any RFT rehashes here.

I'm curious which coat Dodonna will come with - the long trenchcoat from the end ceremony scene, or the more regular looking flight jacket that he's got on throughout the final battle scene (don't recall which he was wearing in the planning scene).  I'd prefer the trenchcoat myself, especially since it will differentiate him a little more from the Antilles figure.

Well, however the whole thing went down, I'm one happy dude 'cause I got the best of both worlds!  Unfortunately, now we've got to play the waiting game for well over a year before we get these two, but I suppose I can be patient.  At least we'll get that cool looking Concept Stormtrooper in the meantime to tide us over...

You've seen the new boxed pix of Anakin's Swoop by now, so what do you think?

I think the swoop looks quite nice - very movie accurate, aside from one thing: that stupid seat belt!  I realize what it's purpose is obviously, but none of the other Speeder Bikes or Swoops have had them, and their respective riders stayed mounted for the most part with no problems.  Oh well, I guess it's nothing a pair of scissors or an exacto knife can't fix...

As for the Anakin figure, probably not even worth wasting my time commenting on that craptastic super-duper-pooper-trooper!  I mean, he is in the pooping action stance, is he not?  Pretty similar to the recent Deluxe Force Flipping Anakin.  Then there's the obvious omission of Anakin's cloak, which he's wearing on his Swoop ride towards his date with his Darkside destiny.  Not to mention the lightsaber (possibly dedicated?) and the always useful "Lightsaber Slashing Attack" for your late evening Swoop cruise around the desert.  Ugh...  This one's just brutal.  Why even put the figure in there in the first place if they're going to go about it like this...?

But like I said, the Swoop looks excellent!  

Though the "kid" figures are not usually my favorites, when I heard they'd be releasing a couple Padawan 2-packs, I at least had hoped they'd go with the cooler looking alien kids.  Hasbro didn't disappoint here!  Excellent choices.

They might be a bit shorter than your average figure, but getting two, nicely detailed figures in these sets is some pretty good bang-for-the-buck!  It's very cool that all 3 Padawans can hold their lightsabers 2-handed (why can't the regular Jedi figures do this for cryin' out loud?).  The helmets are a nice touch, but will be extra cool if by chance they are removable, which they just might be since they're listed as accessories to the Padawan figures at the Hasbro site.

I would've really liked to see some training remotes in there as well, but apparently Hasbro's dead-set on never giving us any of these in the 4" figure line.  I'm sure this is due to safety restrictions, but if the thing's the size of a freakin' pea, what's the big deal if a kid did munch one down?  It's not like the tiny little thing would even get lodged in their throat!

I'm really looking forward to the Ashla and Jempa set.  Excellent detailing with these two!  The Chian figure is equally nice, but his accompanying Yoda Master still doesn't quite look up to snuff to me.  Still not a very good AOTC likeness in the face, and his waist articulation looks pretty bad, though I realize it's necessary to sit in his hover chair, which is also included (finally).

All in all, big thumbs up for the 3 Padawans.     Another Yoda...blah...

Well, maybe Rainman was right: K-mart sucks.

Or at least their financial planners and business operations managers do.  They just announced that they're still struggling to emerge from last year's bankruptcy, and therefore will be cutting another 35,000 jobs and 326 stores!  You can read all about it right here at CNN.  For a complete listing of the stores affected, click here.

So hopefully that favorite K-mart of yours that you hit while you're out on your figure hunts ain't about to bite the dust!  Only a couple left anywhere around me in L.A.  I just hope Hasbro doesn't do anything stupid like give them an exclusive this year (like the rumored Slave 1/Jango Pilot set)!

I've got to say that the Rebel Tech figure itself is pretty weak - just some rehashed figure parts moshed together to make this guy, but I'll take him anyways.  But with these Target accessory sets, it's really the accessories that make or break the set (ala the still HTF Scout Trooper set).  There's a few decent and unique pieces included with this one, in the various ladders and the batons.  I trust Hasbro was wise enough to verify that the ladders actually fit up against the various Rebel starfighters properly...

Certainly not all this set could've been, but so far these Target sets have generally been less than exciting, so the expectations have decreased somewhat now that we have an idea of Hasbro's goal with these.  Bummer...

We all obviously collect Star Wars stuff (since you're here reading this post), but what else do you all (and your significant others) collect?  As for me, I also collect:

• "Greatest Hits"/"Best of" CD's (about 800 from the 50's to present)
• DVD's (see DVD thread)
• Baseball Cards (1950's - 1990ish)
• Coins (mostly just domestic)
• HO Model Railroading stuff

I think that's about it for me...

As for my wife Patty, she doesn't collect squat, and it drives me NUTS!  Everybody should collect something!  I really wish she'd pick a hobby or collection, as it would make it a ton easier for me to randomly buy her stuff on my own for her birthdays, Christmas, etc.  She's the only person in either of our families who doesn't collect anything.  Weirdo... (but don't tell her I called her that)!  Oh well, I guess she can keep pretending that she collects Star Wars figures, since she winds up pimping me so much of the new stuff before I ever manage to find it in the stores!  What a gal...

Hey everybody!  I'm looking to buy a new computer pretty soon, since the one we've currently got at home is about 6 years dated now (P2 266 Mhz).  We've got a Compaq right now, and have generally been pretty happy with it, but are open to exploring some new options.  I'm inclined to stick with either Compaq, HP, Dell, or Gateway.

What do you all have and are you happy with it?  Any computer geeks (no offense) out there who have some good insight on what I should be looking for?  What brand names do you most recommend?  How 'bout monitors as well?

Thanks for any input - I greatly appreciate it!