With GP's closing, a member there by the name of "P-51", came up with a new forum, and I'd say a much superior one at that.
http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/This is the new forum replacing GP's old one though when he finally closes up shop in the coming month(s) or whatever.
And on a bright note for me:
1) BBI's released photos of their first foray into WW2 1:18. They put up shots of a 1:18 Sherman tank they've been working on...
Now, the question is whether or not they'll have figures accompanying the vehicles. Pack-ins or even carded. I'm really anxious to see them possibly stepping into the WW2 market that 21st Century is too lazy to get off their asses and fill with product.
BBI's not perfect, but they at least get product to the shelf, and that's 100% more than 21st does.
2) I've found "new" BBI figures recently. The guys with berets previewed at Toy Fair (and who've been out around the country for months and months now) just now showed up at Toys R Us stores in my neck of the woods.
I also was able to get some of the blackhawk pilot/crew figures. There's a white guy in green and a black guy in tan available. The black guy's packed in with the new "spec. Forces" guys with the berets... The white guy is packed in with Navy Seal repacks.
The guys with berets all have new weapons, nicer cammo paintjobs (IMO), and their limbs are MUCH sturdier unlike the first Marines that their bodies are copies of. Their limbs stay together, but those USMC figures fell apart with every far cross-wise.
The Spec. Forces guys are direct copies of the Marines though, and don't sport any new headsculpts, so just beware that you're buying basically the same grunts with new guns. I got the sniper (in tan) and a "Support gunner" with a weapon I personally can't identify and a stinger missle.
They're cool, they're superior to the Marines, so I may even buy more at some point, but till BBI fixes their figure construction overall, they're not as cool as I'd like.
It's nice to have something new to buy though, and they're "nice enough" to me.
Unfortunately I turned up no new Star Wars figures. There's nothing here and it's starting to piss me off that something I want to buy is just nowhere to be found at this point. Retail and Hasbro are both ******** in my book... Hasbro for their horrible case assortments and the fact they are the ones that make e-tail a "hit or miss" thing, and then Retailers for pressuring Hasbro on ****** case assortments and for not restocking when their brain-dead purchasers don't know squat about their product they're buying, overorder, and then treat the line like it's contageous then.
May you all burn in hell...
Yeah that's a little strong, but I just wasted a lotta gas for a lotta nothing. Buncha dorks.