I think I remember reading somewhere on one of those fifty million "master lists" of ROTS stuff that there was a planned "Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter" as well.  So, it looks as if Hasbro has gone ahead with the repaint idea and aren't even going to wait a year the way they did with the Clone Wars Jedi Starfighter.  Saturate the market with two at once I say! 

If you notice throughout the course of the modern line, Hasbro's pulled this type of thing (the ship well before the pilot or vice versa) several times.  First, they released the AT-ST in October of 1995 and waited until 1997 to release the driver.  Then they released Obi-Wan's fighter in March of 2002 and waited until July or so to release the actual pilot figure, and then repacked it again as a "KB Exclusive."  Now it looks as if Anakin's Starfighter will suffer the same fate.

Then again, they could make vehicles that no figure can fit inside of in the first place, so we're luc...oh, wait.

(the thing that still tickles me is how Hasbro swore up and down that you could fit the figures in the AOTC speeders with "a little bit of work."  It reminds me of that episode of "The Simpsons" where Adam West forces figures into a Batmobile, completely destroying the car and the figures in the process)

Best VOTC:  Stormtrooper, although Boba Fett comes in a close second.  I didn't think an army builder could get any better than the SA Clone Trooper, but I was wrong.

Best OTC:  Yoda/Dagobah Luke.  I know that they are two figures, but the fact that they actually work together well (as opposed to the horrid way that these figures worked together in POTF2), makes me want to give it to both of them.  In my mind, when together, they are the best figure of the year.

Best Saga:  Skiff Lando.  The entire Jabba's Palace wave (plus Jedi Luke) was probably the best overall wave of the year in terms of characters, sculpting, and variety, but Lando stood out as the best to me.  And if you want to really love him, just pull out the POTF2 Skiff Lando and compare the two.  It's like night and day.

Best Vehicle: Boba Fett's Slave I, and this is only because there were not any "new" vehicles released this year.  I hesitate to call it the best, since the wing stabilizers are so unsturdy, but since I have always been a Fett fan, I'll give it the nod.

WORST:

Worst VOTC:  Threepio, hands down.  This one just stinks of someone saying "we really need to do a Threepio for this line but we're out of development money."  Horrible articulation, horrible stance, and the fact that it's on an ESB card without the removable limbs feature irritates me.  The only real stinker in what was an otherwise great subline.

Worst OTC:  All the repacks.  Five is okay, ten is pushing it, but when nearly 30 of your 38 figures are rereleases for a particular line, it's obnoxious and it reeks of laziness.  The excuse was used that the DVD announcement caught them by surprise, but if that is the case, how did they have all that lead time to prepare the VOTC for release?

Worst Saga:  AT-ST Han, hands down.  One of the worst ideas for an action figure in recent memory.  Considering all we ever saw of Han this way was wearing the helmet on a static-filled viewscreen, it once again reeks of Hasbro cheaping out, as all they had to sculpt was an arm below the elbow and a head.  In my mind, they could have either done a real Endor Han figure, with cloth coat and in his regular outfit, and included the helmet and articulation so he could hold his arm in from of his face, or they could have just released a Richard Marquand AT-ST driver.  But then, those would have been things that the people would like, and we can't have that happen.

Worst Vehicle:  repackorama in OTC of the seriously outdated X-Wing and TIE molds.  "Hey folks, just ignore the fact that if you go to TRU you can get an X-Wing that is properly scaled and is immensely superior for about $19.99 (which is what it is going for on Amazon at the time of its release); here's a version of it that is hideously underscaled and outdated for the same price, and you don't even get a figure!"

You can count me among the people who got a Slave I without the missle in Fett's jetpack as well.  However, even after going through the entire email contact thing with Hasbro, I'm in an even worse spot than I was when I started.  Here's the story:

-Two weeks ago this Friday, I walked into my local Target and they had finally stocked the Slave I, eight total.  Since Hasbro had given their statement that only a "small number" had made it out without the missle, the "correct" version would be in relative abundance with the next shipment, I assumed that this would be the correct version.  My Target had not gotten their shipment until that day (the employees at this Target were friendly enough to check in the back during the print ad a week or so prior and said, with confusion, that they didn't have any back there yet), so when I checked all eight Slave I's, I was a little surprised to see that none of them had the missle.  I went ahead and bought one, figuring I could contact the fine people at Hasbro to get a replacement part. 

-So, immediately upon getting home, I went to Hasbro's website.  Before I go on, the thing is horribly difficult to navigate, and requires you sign up for an account before you can even send a question/complaint/etc, which I'm not too fond of at all.  But, I went ahead and did so, and sent my email, which was professionally worded and I received a reply the following Monday that said:

Thank you for taking the time to let us know that a piece was missing when you received your Hasbro product.

Please allow us to apologize for any inconvenience you experienced because the part was not included.

Your satisfaction is of paramount importance to us. We will be happy to ship the part to you at no additional charge. It will be sent, under separate cover, to the address you provided. Shipping will be done as quickly as possible.

Thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. We hope you and your family will enjoy our products for many years to come.

-So, this Monday, my mother called me to let me know that I had gotten a letter from Hasbro.  While I don't have the letter in front of me, she read it word for word to me, and this is pretty much what they said (paraphrased):

We regret to inform you that the replacement piece you requested is no longer available.  Our apologies and we hope that you will continue to enjoy our products for many years to come.

So, translating that into Hasbro Rep at SDCC type-speak:

We're Hasbro, we don't make mistakes.  **** you and deal with it.

So yeah, with the widespread reports that nobody has really found an OTC Slave I that actually had the jetpack missle, and the fact that Hasbro is now denying that they even have the replacement part to send out, I am doubting that I'm even going to see the thing without going to the secondary market and hopefully finding a loose piece cheap somewhere.

I'd also like to point out that this is not an isolated incident either.  I called them in January of 2000 when my AAT had two left guns and no right guns.  They said that they no longer had any parts for that item (it had just come out at retail and shipped for at least another two months, albeit sparingly) and to check  back later.  When it was announced for the CW line, I called back and they said they had no idea what item I was talking about and that if I wanted a replacement gun, I would have to buy a completely new tank in the CW package since the old one was out of production.  When I mentioned that it was the exact same toy in a new box, the person just kind of did a verbal shrug (the "idunno" noise, if that makes sense) and said "is there anything else?" and hung up.

So yeah, thanks a lot Hasbro.  Way to keep your loyal customers happy.

My personal favorite ODB moment (aside from the food stamp trip, which was hysterical, made moreso by the fact that it was true) was when he was on some MTV call-in show with a couple of other people he'd done a song with.  I think this was when he "officially" changed his name to "Big Baby Jesus" by the way.

So, a woman called in and asked the others what they were giving back to the African American community now that they were all successful.  She asked ODB/BBJ what he was doing for the African American community, and ODB just kind of looked surprised, pointed to his chest, and calmly said:

"Nothin!"

Everyone on the set cracked up laughing, as did I sitting at home.  He will truly be missed.

"The Old Dirty Bastard has changed his name to the Old Dirty Chinese Restaurant.  Konichiwa, bitches."

I've always wondered about that comment years ago. Maybe DoctorPadawan remembers?

Here I am, the receptacle of all meaningless minutae regarding the molestation of JW's prequel scores. 

I don't remember the exact location of the quote, but I do recall the comment being made by JW that when he first had the LSO play the music from the duel in TPM (which we all know in its concert suite form as DOTF) for Lucas, Lucas told  JW that even though he didn't know it, JW had pretty much just written the music for the end duel in Episode III.  The comment Lucas makes on "The Beginning" or the last TPM webdoc is (and I'm paraphrasing) "you didn't know this, but that leads directly into the end of Episode III."

Ben Burtt was overheard to say "but nooooo....I've got this wonderful sound effect of a turnip farting I was going to use for a volcanic eruption and it is infinitely more important to the emotional impact of the scene than music!  The whole world is sitting on the edge of their seats because of my sound design in the duel!  Maybe we can just let the screen go black since I am the most important and memorable thing about Star Wars!  Can't we just track music (badly) from somewhere else instead?  Hey George, look at me, look what I can do!  Look how important I am!  WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Uh, yeah...before I went on my tangent there, I do hope that DOTF is used *sparingly* and that JW is allowed to just go wild with the score and include every thematic element related to Obi-Wan, Anakin, Vader, Sidious, the Jedi Knights, the Sith, the love theme, and Luke and Leia's themes as a way of tying everything up musically, not unlike the way AOTC ends with the major players' themes being repeated in succession, but in a totally new way.  This is the climactic moment of the entire prequel trilogy and the moment we have been waiting for from a story standpoint since we found out the prequels would become a reality (or since we first read that little comment in the novelizations for the OT way back when about the lava duel), and I think that certain egos should step back and allow the scene and the emotion to bear the true importance of the scene.  If it isn't scored by choice, so be it.  If it is scored by choice, let JW do his thing.  I just hope we don't wind up with a AOTC reel 6 cluster**** again.

But of course it will end up being tracked music from TPM so we can hear the turnip farts, and so we can be treated to more ten minute explanations of the turnip farts on the DVD commentary when you really want to hear Lucas explain why Greedo shoots first now. 

I got my shipping notification from SWS.com last night as well, although the FedEx tracking number still isn't showing up in the system (I figure that might take a few days to happen).  Thankfully I had the $50.00 GC from the initial fiasco, so the Sandcrawler cost me a grand total of $17.94, which is about what it looks like it's worth. 

Just thought I would (finally) chime in with the update on the CD rereleases of the ESB and ROTJ soundtracks I promised back when I made the post near the middle of this page.  Long story short, the sound on both is not noticeably improved from the RCA/Victor SE releases in 1997.  The sound on ROTJ, which has been maligned by a lot of people, doesn't sound all that different from the RCA releases in 1997, any differences on both sets are negligible.  So, if you have the SE soundtracks, save your money because all you get on the new releases are huge-ass FBI warnings and screensavers.  Whee.  Smell the sarcasm.

So while I stand by my earlier statement of ANH sounding better than the RCA versions, ESB and ROTJ fall short of any improvements that are being bandied about.  Then again, this is just my opinion.

As far as the regular OTC figures go, it has been a total bust.  All I see on the pegs are Cantina Hans, Dagobah R2s, Bossks, Bespin Lukes, IG-88s, and ANH R2s, and they are there in multiples.  Believe it or not, the stores I have been to have gotten more cases of the Executor/Yavin/Jabba's Palace waves of Saga in the last month or two than they have OTC stuff.  I have not seen any OTC figures past the TIE Pilot assortment, and with the pegs clogged with the above OTC figures and the sea of final Saga waves (minus, of course, the Endor wave, which nobody could find very easily), I probably won't find the AT-ST Han or the Scanning Trooper this time around either.

VOTC is one large sea of ANH figures.  I've seen remnants of the ESB wave (a slightly damaged Yoda and a Lando) and I got the two "hard" figures from ROTJ (Fett and the Stormie) by chance, but that was on one single occasion.  Every store has peg upon peg of the ANH figures, with WM holding the record as to how many they can squeeze on a peg.  They have four pegs stuffed full at one WM, with about two cases worth just sitting on the shelves.  Good luck finding a Darth Vader kids!

While WM won't restock because they have no room due to all the old stuff, Target just doesn't seem to care if they restock at all.  I was hoping that they would do *something* what with the sale this week and all, but they have four pegs set aside for VOTC with only three figures on them (Han and 2 Bens), the everpresent MF, X-Wing, and TIEs that have been there since they got the first case a few months back, eight of the Obi-Wan Cups, a crapload of Lightsabers, and at least two cases worth of the Executor and Jabba's Palace Saga waves, with a few Cantina Hans mixed in.  No sign of nor any shelf space set aside for the Slave I, and they haven't touched the Galactic Heroes pegs (four of them, currently occupied by a single Luke and R2 pack) in the last month. 

Given my dim view on life though, Target will restock out the wazoo once the sale is over and they can get full price for everything again. 

On a semi-related note, can anyone who has gotten them yet say whether or not the post-OTC/pre-ROTS waves (the ones with Celebration Amidala and the Coruscant folks) are under a new case assortment number or are they still listed under the same UPC as the OTC stuff?  If they're the same UPC/SKU, then it's going to be pure hell finding the Episode III Preview figures once they finally get released.