It sounds as if the nearly off-season long Erick Dampier saga is just about over.  Apparently he is on his way to Dallas, but the deal has to wait until mid-late September (20th I believe?) because other players involved have also recently been traded.  Here's the rumored deal:

Golden State Receives:

Christian Laettner
Edjuardo Najera
2 Future First Round Picks
Cash

Dallas Receives:

Erick Dampier
Evan Eschmeyer
Dan Dickau

Not sure Dampier is all he is cracked up to be, or worth all of the hype, but is definitely an upgrade at Center for Dallas.  He was good for about 12 and 12 last season, and if he could duplicate that I'm sure Dallas would be overjoyed.  Dickau should give them some insurance at the point guard spot as well, and didn't Eschmeyer play there once already ?  Golden State looks to be looking to the future, with expiring contracts (Laettner), first round picks, and cash...as well as getting something for Dampier while they still can.

Also...saw this report last week regarding the Payton to Boston trade.  Sounds like he is none too pleased with the Lakers organization, and has apparently (rumored) demanded a trade to Minny, Clippers, or Rockets...or he won't show up to camp and will "quit".  The drama continues.....

Just received the first four packs of these (thanks Matt), and also saw some hanging out at TRU yesterday.  I am still really enjoying this line, and I really like how these are packaged.  I'm not sure what it is (character art, background, etc.), but they just look kind of spiffy to me.  Although some people probably wouldn't like it, looking at the art on the front, it seems they could easily develop a "Galactic Heroes" cartoon for the kids.  Anyways, nice packaging and figures, and I can't wait for the upcoming waves to start hitting.

Looks like Entertainment Earth has preorders up for the Fantastic Four movie figures (June, 2005 release date).  Seems a little early to have these up, but here's the casepacks as of now:

Series 1:

Mr Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch star in the new movie The Fantastic Four. This case of 12 individually packaged 6-inch action figures includes: 4x The Thing (Ben Grimm), 4x The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), 3x Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) with stretch attachments, and 1x Power Blast Invisible Woman (Sue Richards). (Subject to change.)

Series 2:

Mr Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch star in the new movie The Fantastic Four. This case of 12 individually packaged 6-inch action figures includes: 2x Punching Dr. Doom with light up eyes, 4x Clobberin' Time The Thing (Ben Grimm), 4x Flying Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and 2x Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) with stretch attachments. (Subject to change.)

Series 3:

Mr Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch star in the new movie The Fantastic Four. This case of 12 individually packaged 6-inch action figures includes: 4x Smash 'n' Growl The Thing, 4x Human Torch with light-up pullback snowboard, 2x Invisible Woman with Water Blast, and 2x Raging Thing with Mr. Fantastic Bendy. (Subject to change.)

There is also a Series 4 (to be announced later), and a couple 12" cases listed.  The only "movie" figs I have from Marvel are Spider-Man figures, but a part of me has thought at times it would be neat to have a little sub collection of the Marvel movie characters.  I just never got into it too far, since the X-Men movie figures were either kind of crappy, or just over-run with Wolverines/Logans.

Took a trip to a Target, Wal-Mart, and TRU...still looking for the VOTC Luke, Vader, and Yoda.  Not too much new, although Wal-Mart had an absolute pile of VOTC Han and Bens, probably 10 of each.  There were also a few Leias, but probably only 3 or 4.  I probably should have been more patient instead of ordering these via Amazon, but you just never know with Star Wars stuff it seems.  Although these are hanging around a bit here, I still think the next two waves could be tough ones to find.

Toys R Us has redone their aisles, and Star Wars is now located at the way back of the store, on the back wall right before you walk into their stock room.  Despite the location, it is much better organized than before, but no OTC really.  They were the first place in town to have the VOTC, and must have had one case that sold in a day, and they haven't had them since (or even a peg for them).  No OTC figures here at all, just Saga and POTJ (!).  They do have several each of the OTC Falcon, Vader TIE, and X-Wing.  Also stacks of the Ki Adi council set.  They just received the Galactic Heroes the way it looked, and had several of each set (except the Chewie/3PO one).  Also, the same Unleashed Sidious and Jedi Luke hanging out...still need to pick that Sidious up some day.

Target...not much new.  4 VOTC Hans, 1 OTC figure (Han), and some Saga scragglers.  They also have the Falcon, X-Wing, and TIE...as well as Unleashed Obi and Leia.  The Star Wars section has expanded here (as well as everywhere else), which is a good sign.

One thing I have been noticing overall, which was at least a little bit surprising to me, is that the OTC seems to be selling out, consistently, while the VOTC is starting to sit a little.  Maybe it is just for now, and things will clear up....maybe it is prices, and $10 is just too much for some people to pay, maybe it is the way they are shipping, and there is just a few too many, who knows.  I guess I just found it surprising.  I really thought that these would fly off the pegs as soon as they would show up (and I still think that the ESB and ROTJ waves will, much more so than the current waves).  Maybe people in the area have just gotten their fill, and are waiting for new stuff (like me).  I've been impressed with the OTC sales.  Although they look great, they are still repacks, but every store I have went to has been in a consistent sell out, restock, sell out, restock pattern...with every figure.  There doesn't seem to be any in particular that are hanging around, and all are selling...which is nice to see for the line overall (in some ways).  Hopefully it won't give Hasbro the idea of "we just need to repack stuff all the time", and they realize that it is a combination of timing, price, and packaging.  Anyways, it is nice to see things selling regularly like that, and not clogging up the pegs.  I guess I was just a little surprised to see OTC outselling the VOTC, pretty easily, around here.  Anyone else noticed this?

Not too sad to see him go either, my wife and I have always been Conan fans anyways.  I really thought that Kilborn was funny when he was on Sportscenter, and then I decided to watch his show a couple of times (the Late, Late Show) when he started hosting there, and wasn't impressed.  We had a couple of friends that went to a taping of his show while in California (tickets were free), and they said they couldn't believe what a jerk he was in real life.  Thought he was much "bigger" than he really is the way it sounded too.

Oh, I see that AFXpress has the "promo" images I was talking about too:

TTT Wave 3

Yeah, I had heard at one point that they might be placeholders as well.  Funny we haven't seen any pics of them at Comic-Con, etc. though (although I do think they might have had pics of TTT Wave 3 carded somewhere...have to look).  Hopefully those figures aren't repacks though, and nice, new versions.  I was never a big fan of the original Helm's Deep Aragorn, just because the face didn't quite look right to me, so that's why I have been holding out.  Thanks again for the list though, its still nice to have an idea of what is coming up.

Sounds like a pretty good preview wave to me too, and about what I think we expected.  Grievous, aside from Vader, will be the "major baddie" this time around, and will be a nice figure to get.  I'm always happy to get a new Wookiee, so I'm happy about the inclusion of Tarfful.  I'm looking forward to picking up an army of Wookiees, should they decide to make them all (or several).  The droid and Tion Medon round out the wave well.  Its funny, I remember really searching around trying to find the Preview wave last time...especially Jango and the Clonetrooper.  I can still see Jangos at TRU from time to time