So how many of you have been picking up these council sets (the ones that are out anyways)?  The first one (maybe second too, not sure) has been sitting at our local TRU for quite some time, but I haven't picked it up yet.  It seems like a rip off to me for $20, but at the same time I do kind of want to have the entire council "circle".  Have most of you picked it up, passing for sure, or waiting out a clearance on these?  Just curious what some of you are doing.

There's a wee picture (promotional, not of the figures) provided at "Legends" as well:

It looks like Galactic Hunter has a little preview feature on the upcoming VOTC C-3PO.  You can check out the pics at the above linky.

Also, on another note, for those of you who have found both the OTC Yoda and the VOTC Yoda, which do you like better?  I do really like the VOTC version, and the nostalgic qualities it has...and it isn't a bad figure....but part of me almost thinks that the OTC one "looks" better overall.  I guess the cloak looks kind of bulky, and maybe that is the one drawback, although with a little work it seems like you can get it to look pretty nice.  Anyways, just curious what some of your opinions are.

Yeah, the Spidey stuff is starting to thin out a little around here now too, much of it on clearance.  I know that Target had the 18 incher on sale for around 10 bucks a week after my wife gave it to me for my birthday (she paid $20).  Great deal for $10 I'd have to say.  It is big, but well worth it I think, pretty cool for Spidey fans anyways.  He's posed right next to our computer on top of our file cabinet right now:



Anyways, this is the LOTR thread....so back on topic now .  Hmmm...here's a topic, isn't Toy Biz supposedly announcing their 2005 plans sometime soon?  I thought I read that somewhere.  Ok, now we're back on topic

Suppose I best gets me a kicker.....Jay Feely, K

Also, I'd be down for a basketball league if anyone else is interested too.  To be honest I don't know squat about hockey.  I was in a league once I think, but didn't really change much and just preranked players that I knew.  Anyways, I think I might have a couple things I could throw in the "booty" for the football league here, if we decide to do that.

I was curious how many of you started collecting the "other lines" that we discuss here.  Did you start with Star Wars and eventually start branching off into other lines?  Did you branch off because of interest, because you couldn't find (or there wasn't) anything new to collect in Star Wars, or maybe a combination of both?  Did you collect other lines before you ever got into Star Wars?  As I've been thinking about trimming down my non-Star Wars collections due to space/money/etc., I just got to thinking that I might (probably) have never gotten into these lines if it wasn't for collecting Star Wars in the first place.

The only other lines I collect with any sort of regularity at all are Lord of the Rings and Marvel/Spidey-related collectibles.  As far as Lord of the Rings goes, I have always looked at the figures, from when they first started showing up before the first movie was even out.  I was always a little tempted, but never bit the bullet to buy in.  After seeing the movies I was even more tempted, because next to Star Wars (the OT, specifically), these are THE movies for me.  Plus, many of Toy Biz's offerings are quite good.  I continue to collect these, very minimally, and will probably quit after a few more figures.  However, if this had been a line more in scale with Star Wars (smaller), it might have been a different story.  However, I probably wouldn't have hardly known about the figures (or known very little) if it wasn't for visiting the aisles, internet sites, and forums because of Star Wars collecting.

Marvel and Spidey stuff (to a lesser degree Batman/DC) has a bit of nostalgia for me like Star Wars.  I was into comics growing up, as well as the Secret Wars/Super Powers lines (and certain cartoons), so I have always been a fan of "superheroes".  I started off slowly in Marvel Legends, and basically just have a few X-Men to show for it.  I've also collected some Spidey (comic and movie) figures along the way, and hope to continue to in some capacity.  I might have to cut these areas due to certain factors, although I would like to continue collecting them.  I've also been interested at times in expanding a Batman/Justice League/DC collection, or just building up the Marvel Legends collection much more.  Again, aside from possibly the movie figures, I wouldn't have known much about these lines either if it wasn't for Star Wars.

My wife and I have always kind of just walked around the toy aisles/stores, even when we were dating and long before I was collecting anything.  It just seemed fun.  Plus, I've always liked action figures, and have been a collector in some sort for most of my life (toys, comics, sports cards, etc.)  I probably would have seen many of these lines, and thought they were cool, but I think the fact that I had dove in with Star Wars and gotten over any embarassment I might have had about shopping/buying "toys" really opened doors to other lines as well.  There are a lot of other great lines out there nowadays, and so much I'd collect if I had unlimited funds and space, but it all comes back to Star Wars.  Just curious if this was the same for many of you, or if you entered into these collecting worlds in different ways.

Also...just read at the LOTRGuide.com forums that the Fellowship pack with Peter Jackson figure is a Woolworth's exclusive for the UK.  I don't know what that means for us here in the states, but just thought I'd pass that along.

Also, another story discussing the X-Men franchise, and the possibility of Sentinels being used in the movies.  Apparently they were originally planned/looked at for X2, but would have cost 8 Million to produce.  Also, apparently the actor that portrayed Colossus in X2 (Daniel Cudmore) has an option for a sequel, but it has not yet been exercised.  You can check out a maquette of what the sentinel design was like, HERE.