Long time with not a lot of news...  Basically stuff is still trickling out slowly in some areas, and in other areas it's an F'n deluge of great stuff. 

This is why I hate Wal-Mart having much of anything to do with a line, and pretty much having exclusive control on distribution.  I pray Star Wars never sees the day that only WM would carry it.  We'd be doomed at that stage.

Anyway...  My area is still mostly Marines, however I did notice a new thing here and there...  and I use "new" loosely.

First the Nightfighter ME-109 started surfacing here and there...  That means about jack and **** to me, and jack just left town.  The plane looks really neat, and it's black of course, and it even makes me wonder what a neat repaint A-Wing in the SW line would look like in black, but whatever... 

Anyway, planes aside I didn't see a whole lotta new stuff of late...  Still no Japanese Infantry that I really want to build a massive army with.   Still no Battle of the Bulge either unfortunately.  I did find some Sahara figures though!  Yay!

My buddy Ryan (SLC) has some for me, and these were bought as an early b-day gift tonight so I'll have a couple.  They're ****** quality overall unfortunately because they're prone to breaking, but they would make really great figures for:

-SAS customs...  The British "Desert Rats" kinda guys.  Very cool potential there.

-Modern "enemies".  You could really manage some modern enemies, friends, allies, or even civilians out of these.  The figures lack swiveling biceps though, so holding a weapon is NOT an option.  That's what really sucked about them.

-Star Wars fodder...  The outfits scream Star Wars, and would easily repaint to accomodate a number of SW background characters.  I've always felt arab-styled clothing would fit into most any scene from Coruscant to Tattooine.  They're good fodder.

The downsides to both Sahara figures are:

-Likenesses are NOT even close.  If that's Matthew McConnehey (sp), the supposed sexiest man alive, then I'm apparantly a close 2nd.  And the guy from "That Thing You Do" (the costar of Sahara and comic relief I guess) looks REALLY neat for a sort of 1970's haircut dude.  Big sideburns and stuff.  He's really neat, but both heads are a bit large...  Not too bad, but like they look awkward on say a Capt. Antilles body, but on a bulkier figure they'd look cool.

-No Bicep Swivels...  Unfortunately no arm swivels so the arms aren't nearly poseable enough.  They have ball/socket shoulders, and even the cut joints at the thighs for great leg poseability, but the arms need that extra point to really make these the perfect fodder.  Some work and someone may get that joint working, but really I'd dump the thigh joint for the bicep swivel. 

-Brittle/Fragile...  Kinda like the Army Of Darkness figures as far as how easily they break.  My one figure's wrist broke right out of the packaging!  I didn't even touch it, it just broke.  Amazing.

And I'd also say that 21st's sculptors could've hidden the wrist joint at the bracelet, the top of the sleeve or some such, but htey instead chose to put it right about mid-forearm.  Weird.

Oh, and no accessories but a 2nd "wrap" head, and a stand.  Neat to get a 2nd head for certain, ****** to not get a gun.  Hell, pack in an AK-47 or something just to make it more appealing.

Nice paintjobs, neat concept, possible fodder for future release as "arab enemy" figures for a modern line, but missed marks in the arm articulation mostly.

Enjoy... 

Well when you sit and play video games all day you don't need a car to go do other stuff so why spend that $1000 wisely?

Dimensions released of the AMT/Ertl kit say it's reasonably close, however the dimensions could be the packaging...

Actually, the dimensions would put the tank droid at perfect scale, but upon further reflection of it I'm 99% convinced it is the packaging dimensions not the model itself.  That's a huge disappointment.  I'd pay good $ for model kits that were to-scale to the figures.

I'd actually prefer that over Hasbro doing vehicles.    I can do a better job building/painting them than Hasbro can.

He didn't help in OT, but the O line still blew, the running game didn't get **** done all game much less OT (had they punched through we'd have likely won in regulation I think), and then you could get into the Special Teams, etc...

The only solid point was our Defense was on almost all game I think...  Not that Baltimore is an Offensive powerhouse in anything but body odor, they still posed a threat that the D was handling.  Lots of great D to keep the Steelers in it but they just didn't march down field.  That OT drive was heartbreaking at best...  They should've trampled the Ravens and been well within field goal range if not all the way down tot he red zone. 

Oh, and I'm proud to say that Cowher deserves blame too...  He had Maddox running these long pass plays instead of little screens and short passes.  He's much better at those, he's proven with those, but he barely attempted any.  When he did they freaking scored!  Frustrating was the only way to describe that game and they did everything they could to lose it.

I never knew Matt was missing a finger on his right hand.

Nobody here is ideal.

Speak for yourself Bill. 

Can't believe the Steelers today...  And people still call for Maddox's head too which separates who knows WTF they're talking about over who knows nothing.  Maddox did what he could today for the most part and the O line just crumbled.  They played like a 3rd rate team and deserved the loss they got handed to them.  They're one of the top teams in the league without a doubt in my mind, but they just didn't come for today's game at all proving that the NFL  is just great to watch every game.

Steelers fans are P-I-S-S-E-D pissed...