These are the kind of figures that make me do some mental toy wanking.
The Echo Base Trooper is so long overdue and wraps up (neatly) the Vintage figure... I love it. I'm bummed the hat isn't removable given how many sculpts of the hat they have not, but I'll live on that. I'll do some head swaps and remvoable hats on my own at some point.
Ponda... What can you say? He falls in the "above and beyond". At $9 a pop I kind of expect that level of quality but not every figure gets it. The Fleet Trooper did (more or less), Gammie Guard, Capt. Fordo... But Ponda is right there with them in that category.
I don't look at the line as really feeling like it's been a value since it went up to $9, and certainly not a value at all at $10... But these figures at least come really close to making the sting of the price a little less. I'd still take a decrease in a heartbeat, but Ponda Baba is all kinds of awesomeness.