Enough chit chat - our Kubies just arrived!!!  I'll hold off on opening anything until we can figure out a time to meet up.  Must resist temptation to open...

Quote from: JediJman on July  9, 2009, 02:49 PM

I sure don't recall seeing a firespeeder pilot on screen, but I know someone had to be piloting those ships.

Firespeeder Pilot

Okay, but how do we know he wasn't wearing Levis jeans based on that shot?  My point is that I'm willing to take some things on faith.  Do you happen to have a picture that shows the Republic Fighter Tank Vehicle on screen all weathered the way you'd like? 

Nice pic of the sandtroopers. I meant to type "stormtroopers," but was actually thinking you would bring up the dirty sandtroopers while I was typing.   LOL!   I'm not saying the imperials never get dirty, just that its more common to see them and their goodies all fresh and tidy clean.  Intended or not, that's how I always think of them.

Besides, I still stand by the fact that it's easier to make something weathered on your own versus having to clean it up, so vehicles like this should make everyone happy.   

Since I don't think there are too many, if any, examples where there are vehicles rolling off an assembly line, I assume that all the craft have been through some sort of use, especially during the Clone Wars. I don't recall an instance during any of the battle scenes in the Saga where there were "factory fresh" looking vehicles engaged in combat.

For me, weathering is a preference if not a must.

Just my 2˘.

Well, to be fair, there's a lot we don't see in the movies that still makes it into plastic.  I sure don't recall seeing a firespeeder pilot on screen, but I know someone had to be piloting those ships.  Likewise, it makes sense that at some point, all of the ships looked clean and unweathered.  We do see things like the troops deploying at the end of AOTC and all of those clones and vehicles are minty fresh.  In the EU world, all the characters use sonic showers, so you could make an arguement that the ships are just cleaned wehn reloaded, even further cutting down on any actual weathering.  Add in the rationale above as to why they probably wouldn't get that dirty in the first place, and I think it makes better sense to not rough them up. 

I've personally always felt that the Empire was meant to be ridiculously spotless clean.  Look at how pristine the innards of the death star and star destoryers were, or how shiny all the sandtrooper armor was.  Everything is polished clean and cold and machine-like.  That was always symbolic to me of how the Empire was the antithesis of nature and individualism, whereby we see the Rebels making bases out of ice caves or teaming up with teddy bears in a forrest.

Plus, releasing them clean means you can weather it any way you like to create your very own one-of-a-kind collectible!  I would much rather have the facory fresh clean version and am often dissapointed when I see weathered ships or figures, so luckily (or unluckily) they're catering to us both every now and again.   

It does look like a great sculpt, but I'm really missing the weathered paint jobs.  Hasbro perfected this on the ROTS Jedi Starfighters, but it seems to cost too much.

On the other hand, it makes me think of a Kenner toy, all plasticy and white, which is fine.

I still don't get why people want weathered vehicles. Within the SW universe, they're not weathered when they roll off the line and I'm not sure how weathered they would get in battle.  I can't imagine they're always fighting in bad climates and it does get stored on the Star Destroyer or in a base when not in use.  Outside of getting hit by enemy fire, which likely takes some of them out of comission, I don't see why they wouldn't mostly look fresh and clean like this.

From a collector's point of view or a playability aspect, I'd say it's far easier to weather your own stuff if that's how you want it versus having to "clean up" a weathered version if you want to right-off-the-factory-floor look.   

My Series 10 and Fetts are still on track to arrive from NCS tomorrow.  YAY!

Congrats on a really nice giveaway Greg!

Quote from: ruiner on July  7, 2009, 09:35 AM

Did we ever get a twelfth man signed up?

If you can sign in to Yahoo and count to 11, the answer is pretty easy to find.

Hahahahaha!  Now that made me laugh out loud.  I love you guys.