Just happened to see some pics over at TNI of a couple of HP figures coming out this year from a company called Cards, Inc.  Apparently they are the group master toy licensee for the Harry Potter property throughout all of Europe.  There are pics of the Harry and Dumbledore figures HERE, if anyone is interested.  I don't know if these are available here as well, or if another company is producing them, or even if anything is being produced.  I'm not overly familiar with past lines, but I thought that Mattel used to do a toy line for HP, but there wasn't anything out for the last movie (at least as far as I was aware of).  Perhaps NECA or someone does a line/lines, and I'm not familiar with it.  Anyways, just thought I would pass it along.  I was surprised there wasn't a mass market line at retail for the HP movies, it seems like it would be pretty popular with kids and maybe even collectors.  Maybe the Mattel line(s) tanked though.  I really like the books and movies, but my wife would not be pleased if I was collecting "toys" from them .  Just thought I'd pass the link along, and see what everyone has heard regarding action figures for these movies.

Now that our little "waiting period" has passed, I can now let everyone know that my wife and I are expecting our first child in July.  We finally told our families over Christmas, after waiting awhile to make sure everything was going ok.  Its been a bit of a stressful year (2006) for our family, so it was nice to end it with some good news.  We're really excited, and I just wanted to share the news with all of the great people and friends here at JD.

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I wanted to get some of your opinions on a Christmas gift idea my wife and I were thinking about.  We have two nephews (ages 7 and 5), and we're in the process of picking up their Christmas presents.  They have always had an interest in Star Wars, I think particularly because of me, but the only movie they have seen is AOTC.  They know the basics from toys/commercials (they know "Skywalker", Vader, Yoda, Chewie and Stormtroopers), but I've always wanted to show them a little bit of the Original Trilogy.  I know they've never seen any of the movies.  Anyways, my question is, we can't afford to get them the whole trilogy with the other toys/etc. we've gotten them, but I thought about picking up one of the movies for them while th single disc versions are available.  Although Empire is my favorite, and Jedi might be more "kid" friendly, I was leaning towards the original Star Wars (A New Hope) because it is a fairly self contained story, introduces all the characters (Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Vader, Obi-Wan, etc.), and it was the one that captured so many of us years ago.  Do you think kids these days would enjoy these the way we did, or would I be better off getting them one of the Clone Wars DVDs or maybe even Revenge of the Sith?  I'd really like to show them some of the OT, but maybe they wouldn't find it as interesting as so many of us did/do.  I know many of you have kids, or maybe just opinions on this, and I was curious what you thought about this idea.  Thanks for any advice.

After reading various posts over the past few weeks/months about some collectors losing interest, prices possibly going up, the continuing trend of repacks, kids' general disinterest in action figures in general - it got me to thinking about the state of our hobby.  Obviously, the collector landscape seems to be changing a little - with more and more people migrating towards the higher end products (if they can afford it), and - possibly due to the many years of collecting, higher prices, and/or repacks other issues - are cutting back on Hasbro product.

At this point, what do you think the state of our collecting hobby is?  Although it might be due to some overshipping, it seems like our stores (especially Wal-Mart) is just packed with figures from the Greatest Battles, Heroes and Villains, and Endor waves.  Even to the point where (although I haven't gone looking in a week plus) I could fairly easily find clones, gunners, and other army builders.  I know I've seen the same Shocktrooper even hanging on the Target pegs for close to a month now - which surprises me.  Do you think interest is waning a lot in the line, or is just that "time of year" where things are slower, aside from a glut of figures most of us already have - so it seems like the pegwarming problem is worse than usual.  I don't collect a lot of other lines - mainly Spidey/Marvel - so I can't necessarily give a great comparison, but I do try to take a look at some of the other areas to see what is selling and I wonder if other lines have the same pegwarming/sell through problem that Star Wars occasionally has.

That said, there are times where it is next to impossible to find the new stuff too, so it is still selling.  But, then again, around here one person could clear out the new wave when it first arrives in one trip.  Sometimes the "new wave" restocks are slow to show up.  I also noticed, at least at our local Wal-Mart, that Star Wars seems to be low on their totem pole.  We basically have three aisles of action figure/related stuff.  The first (main/highest traffic) aisle has stuff like Turtles, Power Rangers, Avatar, and Sigma Six....the second aisle has Superman Returns, DC Superheroes, Spidey, Marvel Legends/etc., and Pirates of the Caribbean.  The final aisle has a small section of Star Wars, and then the rest is mostly seasonal stuff (some Transformers too I believe).  On the other side of things, it seems like Target and TRU have a nice section devoted to Star Wars (or at least on par with other lines).

Anyways - long post to get my point across - but what do you think the state of the line is right now?  Are people (collectors and kids) losing interest, or is it just a down time now with few new figures and lots of repacks?  Is there just too much product out there (figures, Transformers, Unleashed BP, Force Battlers, Galactic Heroes, etc.) that people are getting "Star Warsed out"?  There are just piles of the Falcon Transformers everywhere I go, Target is already clearancing the 7" Unleashed that have barely been there a month or so, and it just seems like a lot of product is sitting right now.  Where do you see our hobby at now, and where is it headed?  I sometimes wonder if the "kids" that came on board with the prequels will be collecting in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond the way much of our generation has (or came back to collecting later on, as we have)  The world's definitely a different place than it was in the 70s/80s and even 90s, so maybe that isn't that realistic anyways.  What is our hobby looking like to you?

I wasn't sure where this belonged in the forums, but I thought I'd ask it here.  I've always wanted to get the OT soundtracks, but have just never gotten around to it.  I was wondering if there is anything I should know when looking for these - is there one version that is better than the other, more expansive, etc.?  I know there were soundtracks out with the re-releases in 1997, and then again with the DVD release in 2004, and I'm sure several other times.  I was thinking about getting the actual CDs, since I thought there might be some nice material included - but if not, I see the albums are available on iTunes as well.  What would you recommend as the best option (price and extras wise) to pick up?  Thanks for any advice.

I must have missed this last week (posted on Friday the way it looks), but over at the Galactic Hunter Blog they have a few rumors about a possible (large) action figure line accompanying the upcoming Clone Wars 3D cartoon.  Grain of salt and all of that, but I just thought I'd pass it along here in case anyone else had missed it like I did.  Sounds interesting.

With all the "next gen" systems starting to hit (or coming this fall), it seems like we're really starting into a new area of gaming.  Where my friends and I used to get a new system when they came out (back in the days of NES/SNES/Genesis/PS1/etc.), now its getting to the point where the prices are getting so high its harder to justify the spending.

Personally, the last game system I bought was the Nintendo Gamecube.  At the time, I got it because it was the most affordable and because I really wanted the Rogue Leader game (which was GC only then).  Also, along with some of the other Star Wars games, some superhero-type games (or movie), and sports games - that's pretty much all I play.  I also got the Nintendo at the time thinking I would buy some of the Mario/Metroid/Zelda games that were on the way, bringing back the nostalgia of the original NES.  Anyways, I have been happy with the Gamecube, but it does seem to be a little more limited as to what games it carries.  Now it looks like 2006 will be the last year that has new games for the Cube, at least according to the releases listed on IGN.

Going into the future of gaming, how many of you are planning on buying a new system?  The 360 is out, the PS3 is on its way (in $400/$500 ranges the way it sounds), and the Nintendo Wii is supposed to be out before the end of the year (at I read around $250 pricetag).  I'm not sure that I could justify getting a new system at the new prices, although if the Wii was $250 it might at least be an option.  I've also thought about getting a handheld system, since they are cheaper, but I've never owned one.  Or, I might just have to hang up on getting a new system altogether.  I guess I was just curious what many of you were thinking about video games as we move ahead into the next generation now.  Things are more expensive than ever before (hardware and software), and I guess I personally don't have as many "gaming hours" as I did in high school and college.  Are you getting a new system - if so, which one?, sticking with a current one, or just passing altogether?