Disturbing.  You should've stuck with just selling children when you need cash.

It was scary but I think we've all thought about it when the kids have pissed us off.  

Wait, don't let the lil lady read that!   

I tend to look at the assault on the bunker on Endor's moon as being very believable really.  They even show physically how the "damage" occured.

Like the opening "volley" from the Woks showed that the arrows were hitting some chinks in the armor...  The armpit, crotch, etc...  There's weaknesses there for arrows to have an impact, especially if the Woks are accurate.  Native Americans were NOTORIOUSLY accurate with their bows, some capable of a throat shot from horseback, so there's some possibilities there with projectile weapons.

Also note that when the EMpire is "stung" they bite back right away and the Ewoks show they have weaknesses too...  They're uncoordinated somewhat, the blaster weapons show their damage tremendously...  The Ewoks were maybe feining the weakness somewhat to draw the walkers out to their traps (smart move on the Ewoks part if this is the case), but the Empire definitely had reason to fear the Ewoks.  They were seemingly outnumbered tremendously too, and surrounded, which no matter how technologically inferior, that's a bad situation to be in (again citing Native American battles with whites, such as the Battle of Little Big Horn, where whites were tremendously outnumbered and outclassed by the natives).

As far as melee weapons and armor...  I said this once at another forum about this discussion, but basically my comment was to throw a helmet on, like a motorcycle helmet, and let someone smash you on the head with a stone axe or some similar weapon.

I bet you are at least dazed, if not actually having your skull broken open to some extent and go unconcious.  It's amazing how easily a blunt object can incapacitate a person, much less a flurry of many blunt objects thumping someone (even armored) in the body/head.

In the Middle-Ages, as mail armor was phased out for plate armor, the plate armor had to be overcome.  Arrows didn't puncture it well except at the joints...  blades glanced off it generally, so the blade was actually not so much for puncturing as it was for crushing.  Thus weapons like maces and cudgels became much more prized.  The pike/pole-arm would become one of the most devastating weapons to knights because it featured usually all the tools needed to open those living tin-cans.  A hook to dismount the knight, a "spear" tip to puncture at chinks in the armor, and an axe-blade to crush/chop at the armor.

In general though, "crushing" bone became more important than getting through that armor, and I think that would applie to the Stormtrooper armor. 

Stormtrooper is a term coined during World War I actually (for those curious).  The STormtrooper was actually an elite trooper trained to quickly attack an enemy emplacement, take over, and hold it till reinforcements arrive.  They were the original "Blitzkrieg" really.  They were specially trained, had special gear (some homemade actually), and were skilled in close-quarters combat since they were basically in trenches fighting with the enemy.  They were also known as "trench raiders".  During WW1 they had armor chest plates for that close-quarters battling and helmets of course, but these things didn't stop bullets or all forms of hand weapons.

The Stormtroopers DID carry cudgels though, used their spade as a weapon, carried trench knives, and usually a handgun over a rifle...  They meant to crush and incapacitate enemies quickly, as did their enemies intend to do to them, and a spade smashed off that chest armor probably would at least take the wind out of the guy...  Or smashed over the helmet or whatnot.

Anyway, long-winded post there.   The end result is that armor is good for protection against glancing blows from melee weapons, a glancing shot perhaps from a blaster, but in the end it really doesn't offer you a ton of protection.  It's like Kevlar for our troops in the field today, or up-armor kits for our military vehicles.  They MAY save a life, but there's no way they'll always (or at times even often depending on weapons and circumstances) protect the wearer or vehicle.  It's not possible (yet) really.

I'm passing.

If they'd made a Vader figure building a SnowTrooper-Man, I'd actually like it and it would match the rest of the line made to resemble the cards...  Since it does not, it's neither here nor there to me, and I'm gonna pass. 

If effort were put forth though to copy the card I'd be all into it.

My list and why:

-T-16 Skyhopper...  While the interior needs major retooling (flight controls would be fantastic), the ship is arguably one of the first to-scale new sculpts we've gotten in the modern line.  It's got a ton of detail, and while I'd have liked one with an opening hatch off the side and realistic flight controls/interior, it is to-scale and that makes the interior a customizing project to me.

-A-Wing (POTF2)...  The A-Wing was to-scale from day one, and Hasbro actually put it out with improvements.  The side guns push in and lock into the "fixed forward" position (I never have bought any bull**** EU that says the A-Wing has pivoting guns.  Didn't in the film, so no reason to other than a toy said so).  The ship's landing gear were much sturdier than the vintage ship, the paintjob was fantastically accurate to the prop it was designed on...

And holy hell a 100% newly sculpted pack-in figure?  Yeah it's not accurate, but it's a WHOLE NEW SCULPT!  Where'd those days go huh?

-A-Wing (Target/Saga)...  The repaint of an EU Green Squadron A-Wing is just amazing that it even happened.  The markings are nice, even if the ship wasn't anywhere on-screen.  As noted above, the ship is accurate in scale, and improved in some of its features with the guns and gear getting an improvement.  The paintjob on the green squad ship is nice and adds diversity to any hangar bay...  The sculpt of the original toy even had pop rivet details on the armor which is really ahead of its time in realism.  Neither version of the ship was a real pain to find either, and I even got multiples of the POTF2 one on clearance for a nice hefty flight of interceptors (A-Wing's designation for the un-nerdy among us).  Even managed a 4-ship flight of the Target one after they hit the orange tags.

-Luke's Landspeeder (Saga)...  The surprise hit vehicle of Saga, aside from the A-Wing, was the out-of-left-field complete 100% resculpt of the Landspeeder.  With accurate paint, lots of accuracy in the sculpt, and finally being done to-scale as well, it's a great piece.  The exposed port engine is just a thing of beauty what with its multi-piece construction so the wires and such look completely realistic.

Couple that with the rifle clip (NICE!) that's an accurate touch, and a pack-in that wasn't shabby (shoulda just packed the floppy hat luke in with all his accessories and the clip on his belt, but whatever), then that's pretty sweet work.  It's a great vehicle.

-TIE Bomber...  The TIE Bomber is absolutely fantastic, and was a hot HOT ship when it came out.  I know I bought 3 on opening night for AOTC toys when I found them, and they sold through subsequent replenishment just as fast.  Even the battledamaged paint variant sold through well. 

The paint variant was a lame paintjob, but it was nice to see a ship that literally flew out the door back on the shelves again.  And at $30 the all-new and in-scale sculpt was welcomed warmly.  I even liked the TIE Bomber's action feature that didn't intrude with the overall look of the toy, worked (it's simple enough that it should) and the bombs even look cool.  It's one of my favorite toys and I managed 4 Bombers total for one devastating flight over any battlefield.  I have to say that I almost wish they'd had a Torpedoe Firing Feature from the ordinance pod though, but whatever.  I'll live.

-TIE Interceptor...  The wings are good, they're sturdy, and while the ship isn't perfect by any means due to the cockpit pod being the battery-compartment version, the ship is still a solid to-scale sculpt with lots of detail.  I have 3 Interceptors thanks to a nice loose one I found at the local Toy SHow on sale for less than retail.  Sweeeeet.    The Interceptor just needs released with the right "pod", however I don't even know that I'd wanna shell out what it maybe would cost since the ship was in-scale in the first place and the pod's only slightly bothersome to me.  I'll just call this the long-range variant. 

-MLC-3...  Yes, I did it!  I dipped into the vintage pool for something I consider one of the neatest vintage vehicles.  THe MLC-3 is a believable (the most believable) looking mini-rig IMO.  It's something I've adapted to the modern line even and buy up damaged loose ones if I see them cheap.  Love that little bugger and have customized a few over the years with spiffy paintjobs and extra stuff.  It's the Alliances answer to the Imperial AT-PT I say.  Yes my imagination is running wild.

-Stass's BARC...  ROTS has dished out some great vehicles itself, probably the best assortment of any of the films, and while the first BARC was a weeeeeeeaaaaak effort at best, the to-scale version Stass Allie comes with is amazing.  Working "gear" so it sits nicely, comes apart, lots of detail (paint, sculpt, etc.), sits a figure well...  Stass sucks as a figure, but the bike's sweet and hopefully BARC Troopers in the future are SA and can sit on the bike, or we get some Neyo grunts (and/or Neyo) for them?  I love this toy!

-AT-RT...  Sticking with the ROTS theme, the AT-RT was a surprise to me...  The vehicle is to-scale, and is nicely sculpted.  Its flaws are "minors" to me, like the paintjob could use some sprucing up, but it's really nothing terrible either.  The walking feature is lame sorta but it's got a level of humor to it too.  The pack-in was probably the only real disappointment and we got that ass replaced anyway. 

-Tri-Fighter...  Got the shaft in the film, but boy what a toy!  The Tri-Fighter's big, complex, heavy...  Had those neat buzz-droid figures too.  It's to-scale too which surprised me when I checked its measurements with the source material on it.  Gotta love that.

There's several ROTS ships I don't have like the Jedi Fighters or Wheelbike but I'm guessing they're actually accurate.  Hoping to nab these loose to measure first though before I commit to buying.

-New TIE Fighter...  Measured it, and compared to specs on the TIE, it's 1:19 scale.  Since the figures have never had a set scale, and most actually come in closer to 1:19 than 1:18, the TIE Fighter is spot-on.  Love that fighter.  The beefs with the new TIE are few and far between really...  The pilot and price were my biggest complaints, with price being the tops.  Other than that, if I find a 2nd one I'm buying it so long as I can afford it.   Love this ship.

-Vader's TIE (Potf2/OTC)...  Don't own the OTC but should've bought it.  Anyway, it's to-scale as well, and fantastic.  The all-new sculpt for the Vader's TIE was a surprise at the time and it has a nice interior sculpt too (like the bomber).  The ship is really nicely made though, looks good...  A nice centerpiece with other fighters.  I desperately need that 2nd fighter for flanking the Advanced x1 though.

-EU Airspeeder...  Another one for the "It's to-scale" column, or at least it looks like it is to-scale in every pic I've seen of this design.  The EU Airspeeder was a concept design from McQuarrie for the Snowspeeders, and then the EU adopted it as an actual design in the SW universe...  It's a single-seat combat airspeeder used by the Alliance extensively.  I have a number of these I've picked up on clearance over the years and love them.  It's nicely sculpted, lots of detail...  Needs painted up but that's ok.  Great ship and fun to have a flight of them heading out to do damage.

-EU Cloud Car...  Same as above.  The ship is nice if you can buy into anything EU, and it looks sharp next to the vintage 2-pod cloud car (another ship for this list).  This is the single-seater version I guess and that's fine by me.  I have a CC Pilot in there (OTC one) and he looks just great.

-Vintage Cloud Car...  One of the most overlooked toys from the vintage line, the twin-pod cloud car is amazingly sclupted.  It too has the great pop-rivet detailing on the armor panels, nice little blasters sculpted into the pods, a nice cockpit lid with "Glass".  It's just a sweet ship, and one I wish we got re-released for the modern line.  I'm set to buy some vinty ones for repainting though.  Oh, forgot to mention, it's to-scale even...  Can't argue with that in the slightest.

And with that I'm gonna cut my list short...

My top WORST ships though I want resculpted:

-AT-ST
-Snowspeeder
-Speederbike (released in Clone Wars and ROTJ colors)
-Y-Wing
-Gunship
-Tat. Skiff
-X-Wing

And I'd add the X-Wing if I thought they'd do it, but with them whoring the FX sculpt out so much I'd never count on that.

These are all ships that are noticeably underscaled and iconic enough that I want them to be done to-scale.  They're all "possible" in the modern line, thus I didn't list Sandcrawlers or AT-AT's (I know they'd not even be possible), and they're the ships I enjoy the most from the films too actually...  Probably my favorites, especially the X-Wing and AT-ST.  The Gunship and Skiff have huge figure interaction potential though so they'd be the "funnest" of the list.

Ships I think that are good but aren't to-scale so I don't list them though, but are good "toys", are as follows:

-ARC Fighter
-Gunship
-B-Wing
-FX X-WIng/Saga/OTC

They're all 4 ships that are high quality in every aspect except scale.  I'd love a to-scale Gunship though given how they were close really and it deserves it probably more than most anything from the prequals.  It's a ship they should've done right the first time IMO, but I'd never expect a resculpt on any of those 4.

So that's my take...  Hasbro doesn't do great vehicles often in my POV but they do good toy ships often enough I think, though they claim ships are generally for adults, not kids, so I think accuracy and scale take precedence over "features" and whatnot. 

I've bought $40 and $50 tanks and airplanes, and believe it or not they're heavy with licensing fees, and they blow Hasbro out of the water on even their best vehicles I listed.  No comparison what-so-ever if you could see these and see the complexity in them.  Hasbro can do better in the vehicle line I think, but I've gotten to the point I pick and choose out of vehicles rather than feel compelled to buy it all.  They lost me on completism with that a long time ago.

Man...  It'd better be spiffy or I'm passing.  I like the McQuarrie-esque ones just because of the material they're spawned from, but not what this sounds like.  Forget that Vader figure then.

And I'm still in need...  All your VOTC Stormtroopers Belong To Me.  Or whatever.

Thanks man...

Yeah, I tend to either be really into a figure I'm reviewing, really into trashing a figure I'm reviewing, or have just a bit of indifference.  I'm goofy that way.

Mace was weak but I kept laughing (not literally) at the thought of just how vastly superior this Mace Windu was to pretty much anything short of maybe the Episode 1 Mace figures.  Nothing from AOTC compared to this Mace, though the total control Windu was a "fun" figure to play with (sucky action figure though).

The ROTS figure is a weak effort though ultimately and it's ultimately comparable best to its casemates as well.  For a 2002 figure it was nice, but for a 2005 figure it's a lackluster effort on Hasbro's part no matter how well he's selling right now.

We need a SA Mace Windu at this stage...  A Jedi Evolutions set maybe, where Mace is the "Master", maybe Qui-Gon and E1 Obi-Wan are the other 2 in the set?  A true Jedi progression and all human,a nd I'd be into that set I know.  Or just a carded SA Mace ala Pilot Obi-Wan...  I just know we need a high quality Windu and need it soon because the prequals have done without that for too long now.