Be Careful with your new Super Articulated/Poseable Clones!

I got one just today and haven't been able to put the guy down enough hardly to get posts typed up, but in the time I've played with him I've learned that he does NOT pose well in the kneeling position.
 
I've seen people with him kneeling in pictures, and I believe they're doing possible damage to the thigh joint if they are doing this.  

When posting him so he kneels, one the leg which is up is being pried from its socket, and could tear the joint that holds it into the lower torso.

BE CAREFUL, because this leg plastic is the pliable kind and will tear if enough stress is applied to it.  I've not hurt mine, but I did notice it doing this while I was trying to pose my clone in a kneeling pose.

Perfect figure?  Guess not...  The ball/socket joint at the thigh/hip a couple of us have thought about would've gone a LONG way here in helping this figure pose kneeling down (or even sitting.  It's his armor that hinders his ability to move at the legs).

I'm not really that disappointed by this, and still consider this the best figure Hasbro's ever done, but it is proof to me that this isn't "perfect" and still has a few kinks to work out.

Maybe in future Super articulated figures???    Hasbro?  Ya there?  Ya hear that?  Super articulated Fleet Troopers, and Stormtroopers, Scouttroopers, and Snowtroopers, and Hoth Rebel Troopers, and Endor Rebel Troopers, and and and...  Come on!  This Clone rocks!

EDIT:

By the way, I CAN get my Clone in a kneeling pose like on the back of the card, it's possible, but it's not easy and damage CAN occur if you try too hard to pose him like this...  So I hope this warning helps anyone possibly getting frustrated posing their clone(s) out there.

God this figure rocks!

From the Clone Wars line?

What more could we be asking for?  I start this topic because, having seen 3 chapters of Clone Wars, I'm geeked to see more and want more toys from this line now.

Here's my wishlist right now:

Basic Figures

-Clone Pilot...  Utilize the Ultra Clone body, and add a new head.  Include the blaster pistol/assault rifle (tiny clone gun) for him incase he gets shot down.

-NEW Red Battledroid...  New sculpt with, if possible, more articulation.  I've seen customizers do it.  Use a sturdier plastic, make them in clean and Batlle-damage versions.  Include a rifle and a shoulder-launcher.

-Battledroid COmmander...  Reuse the above sculpt, give him the smaller commander backpack, and a pair of macro-binoculars ala OOM-9.

-Basic Battledroid variants...  Green, Tan, do all the variants of the basic infantry droid.  I know, not seen in the CW toon yet, but they have been seen in other forms of EU, so I'd dig it.  And the tan of course are from E1/Trade Fed.

-New ARC sculpt...  Utilize a lot of the Ultra Clone pieces (As many as possible) and then just retool a little for a new ARC with a soft-goods skirt.  Give him the twin carbines and working holsters with a pair of macro-binocs.  I'd take him in red, blue, and even some other colors if they wanted to offer him up that way.  The more the merrier, cuz I'm not limiting my ARC army to a dozen or less.

-Republic Soldiers & Officers...  Yeah, not CW at the moment but there HAS to be sentients running the scenes...  Lt. Faytonni's a good example of that.  Let's see these guys put out en-masse.  A new body sculpt would be great, leave the Faytonni arms and legs as they are.  Just redo that goofy torso.  

And for these guys they get a unique ship.  More on that in the ship section!

-Astromech 2-pack...  get the 2 Astro's we saw scrambling with Clone Pilots for their starfighters.

-New Anakin...  I hate the CW Anakin sculpt...  I'd take a new one, with soft goods, more articulation, and a more neutral pose.  One that can fit easily in his fighter and will look good outside it too.

-New Yoda w/Mount from the opening chapter of Clone Wars...  Cloth cloak, sabre, and include his whatever the hell he was on.    A Deluxe perhaps?

-Battledroid Sniper...  Just use the above battledroid's new sculpt/plastic and give him the visor accessory and the rapid-fire sniping blaster they used in Chapter 3.

-Clone Weapons Pack...  Include one ultra-articulated clone (Multiple color variants, NO WHITE clones in this set, just green, blue, red and yellow, and perhaps an EU color like the ARC blue-grey shade).  Includes 2 carbines, a soft-goods ARC skirt/belt, 5 of the long assault rifle (that everyone wants) shoulder-mounted RPG used in Chapter 3 last night, and a sensor/scanning unit.  Grappling hooks would be neat too.  I'd put out $10 for all that!  Good way to get us our Colorful clones too, and get us our weapons for our white clones.  

-Quarren Soldier with Trident & blaster...  Simple, articulated, definitely use some soft-goods though so these can pose well!  Clear stands for them to lay on like they're "swimming" would be ideal as well.

-New Super Battledroid...  Reuse most of the April 23rd sculpt/design but retool the right arm so it's articulated to swivel.  That'd suit me fine and I'd built a huge army of those figures.  I already have 20 of them, but I'd take a lot more.

-Neutrally posed Clone with Removable armor...  I dunno why I want that, honestly, but it'd be cool to have one.  It'd be neat to have clones at ease after heavy combat, just chilling and trying to relaxe.  Hell, pack-in the cup Lt. Faytonni had.  They're even having cocktails.

-Mon Calamari Trooper...  Just a nice "grunt" Mon Calamari soldier to help out old Kit Fisto.

Vehicles

-Republic Starfighter...  Come on, this needs done!  To-scale, poseable wings, retractable landing gear, and include the Republic Ground Crewman with maybe a refueling thingie with a hose that connects to a port on the fighter.  THAT would rock.  I'd take the ground crewman as a deluxe figure even though.

-Republic Starifghter 2...  If  I could post this thing's picture I would.  A chap at REbelscum was asking me what it looks like and I can't get it scanned.  It's in the Clone Wars Sketchbook, and is a hybrid Y-Wing off-shoot.  Looks like the cockpit with the nacels just stuck on the back.

I've dubbed this the "Koensayr Republic Interceptor" since it looks like it'd be in the family of the Y-Wing (looks like same designers made it) and its smaller size but still large duel engines mean it's gonna be fast.  I'd love to get this ship to-scale with a Republic pilot...  Not a Clone Pilot, but a unique Republic sentient pilot ala Lt. Faytonni's character or something.  If any of us can scan/post that ship I will just so you guys can see it.  It's a nice one!

-Republic Tank...  The "Jedi" hover-tank (due to its speed I think of it as a speeder more than a "tank") from the Clone Wars video game would rock.  I'd dig filling it with Clones though.  

-AT-XT...  The 2-legged walker from Clone Wars would also make a doozey of a toy for us to have some separatist forces blow apart.  I'd take a to-scale one with poseable legs and a full cockpit.

-Underwater Droid thing...  Whatever little scooter they're cruising on when they get to Mon Cal would be a neat addition.  Include a BD pilot and it'd just be great.

-New Speederbike...  I'd sooner see a smaller/to-scale one done, and one that's a lot more sturdy.  Include a clear stand like our esteemed Dave did with his speeders so it looks like it's hovering and add a slightly retooled Ultra articulated clone (Add a ball/socket joint at the hips as well) and he'd ride the thing perfectly, be posed right...  I'd buy those bikes en-masse I know.


So anyway, yeah, I'm liking Clone Wars a lot...  Enough to actually want all this oddball stuff, which I'm 99% sure most won't get done, but some of it would be nice, and it's fun to dream (Hey, can always put it on my "to-do" list for myself).  

Feel free to add to it what you want...  I'm thinking I'd take resculpts of all the Jedi in more articulated and more neutral poses with soft-goods, simply so I could pack them all into Jedi Fighters at some point.

So is anyone else loving the series enough to want this much junk and go broke?

Well, here he is...



And I have to say I'm pretty disappointed...  This isn't much of an army builder given what Hasbro's completely capable of at this stage of the game.

-The rifle, obviously, will be a gummy plastic and bent much like the Endor soldier's rifles....  

-The torso may very well be a reused POTF2 body judging by how broad shouldered it appears...  Not a sharp looking job there if it's a new sculpt.  

-The headsculpt's mediocre...  It's a generic rebel trooper with his goggles up which is nice in a way, but it's not the swiftest looking sculpt either.  

-The bowed legs are a big let down for any army builder...  If you're not going to articulate them, at least don't make them spread apart like that.  Not to mention they appear to be very awkwardly unproportionate just as the POTF2 figure's were (Too skinny, etc...)

-And the final, and to me the most disappointing aspect of this figure, is the articulation...  A basic 6 point figure?  Sheesh...    Why no arm articulation to hold his blaster rifle properly?  

This guy's really nothing special right now...  his only redeeming feature is the skirt piece with a holster (Which MAY be functional).  If that's the case, that's good, but right now there's too much "bad" circling this figure than good.

A nice posable army builder is what we should've gotten for this, a figure who desperately needed resculpting from the POTF2 days.  Much like the Snowtrooper, I think the Hoth Rebel Soldier still is in need of yet another resculpt, even after this Saga figure...  Nice poseable versions of both army builders would be very welcome to me, and I'm sure many other collectors.

Unfortunately, this is a dark spot on the recent photos we got from Hasbro that were pretty sharp.  It was expected with this figure for me, but I really am disappointed that this one got the shaft from Hasbro...  I know I'd have bought a ton of this figure if it were worth it...  Now I'll just nab the "one" for my collection I guess.    

A truly wasted opportunity I think, on Hasbro's part.

What's your favorite and why?  All EU choices (Including TIE uglies) are welcomed by the way.

I'm a TIE Defender kinda guy myself...  Power engines, shields, and a nice weapons array...  The optional beam weapons are a dandy addition as well, and help boost the vessel's speed.  

Rarity kind of makes it a unique one to me also.  Being that it never saw full production and only the handful in Thrawn/Zaarin's fleets ever saw combat, it makes it really a fun/unique vessel that the Alliance never did match.  

The great thing about that ship (And TIE Fighter the game in general) is that it wasn't free from harm.  The Defender, though superior, was easily shot down when a group of good A-Wingers or X-Wingers would gang up on it.  

So what's the one you dig the most and why?

Oh, and if I had to go wth a film TIE, I'd go with the Interceptor...  Just vicious looking.  I loved those when I was a kid.  Cobra flew mine of course though.  Their secret weapon against G.I. Joe I guess.

EDIT:

Here's a link for some fun too...  To help you with information on TIE Fighters with pictures...

The first is the Star Wars Tech Commentaries review of TIE Fighters (Hosted by theforce.net).  http://www.theforce.net/swtc/tie.html

It's pretty decent and thorough but not everything at Tech Commentaries I agree with.  Some of it's too picky I think, and often times applies too much "Earth theory to Star Wars fact" as I like to put it.  It makes things less imaginative so I don't always agree.  It's good to read through though.

I'm by no means an avid downloader, I just go to the trough once in a while.  Unfortunately, I'm no expert on getting what I want, and with how many different "versions" and remixes of songs that are out there, it can be a royal pain.

My questions to you guys is what are you doing right to get the songs you want?  What sites/servers or whatever are you using?

I've been trying for THREE freaking days to get "Magic Stick" (Lil Kim and 50 Cent) mixed with the old "Stroke Me" song...  This thing's getting lots of Radio play around here, I enjoy the song, but I'll be damned if I can find this (Uncensored or even Censored) online.

I keep getting a different mix every time I download, but NEVER have I found the mix I want.  I'd love an uncensored version of it but I dunno what I'm doing wrong on Grokster.

Any help?  Anyone got it and wanna just swap it with me some other way?  That'd be ideal and appreciated haha.

God this is frustrating, and I'm on dial-up so it's REALLY irritating for me.

Check the front page of Jedi Defender and follow the jive till you find the URL Textfull story link.

So what are your thoughts on the answers...

I personally STILL find the "flimsy weapons are a choice for child safety" answer a bit bogus.  

Hasbro said at one time that it was the industry standard, but when people called them on that they've now changed their tune once again.  Now the industry standard has changed I guess, and Hasbro does it from the kindness of their heart?

I also question the "Kids like action poses" answer...  Why would G.I.  Joe do so extremely well with kids AND adults, even in a year when Star Wars was to be the dominant line under Hasbro's umbrella, and they're made for poseability and "fun".

I believe these 2 issues to both be cost-cutting ones, plain and simple, and we've been given run-around answers.  Not what I like to see...

The interview is a good read, and I highly recommend you check it out...  The Sandcrawler sounds to be an almost-go right now, so good news for you Sandcrawler fanatics (not MY thing personally, but I did want the droid from it, haha).

This month's insider is going to feature a picture of the new Fan Choice Concept Stormtrooper, fo those interested (***cough***MisterPL***cough***).



(Got the pic from Here, though there's no other shots of the figure)

It's interesting, and as an "offshoot" trooper it's neat.  I'm certainly going to use it for custom fodder, and if I could somehow BS it into continuity I would.  As it stands, I think it's got good parts for a custom AT-PT walker pilot I believe.  The shield looks neat, and the "glowing" sabre looks to have been pulled off.

His holster's clunky though, as is the armor.  It almost looks like the armor's a separate piece, though I'm doubting this is true.  It just doesn't look as "smooth" as the commtech stormtrooper's sculpt, and there's something odd about it in that regard.  You'll know when you see it.

Overall though, I welcome it...  I do believe I voted for someone else in that election, but this figure appears to be nicely poseable with 3 good accessories (blaster w/holster, shield, and a floor-piece base), with fairly decent (seemingly) articulation, and no action pose.

Not much more I can ask for...  well, except more articulation because I doubt he's sporting 16+ points like I think all figures should.  

He's near enough to blend into stormie ranks though too, for those who don't mind a little "off" look.  I mean, if you use POTF2 figures in your ranks there's no way in the world you WOULDN'T use this figure.  I'm a stickler for detail so I won't be mixing them in myself, but I'll be buying a few for something or other.

I think the shield will make a neat EU/Fan-fiction crowd control device too.