Anyone else find the Hasbro Sideswipe yet? Happened across him last night at Wal*Mart--there seemed to be an even number of Vipers and Subarus, so I'd assume they're shipping equally per case. Might make Sideswipe a little scarce in the short run, though.

I had fears that Sideswipe wouldn't be as posable as Smokescreen, but they were vastly unfounded. All the same articulation is included, in both modes, front wheel axle-magnets, trigger-fingers, and all. I am very impressed with this line. Can't wait for Hound.

Finally, here's a shot of what the whole thing looks like right now:



You'll notice these two areas seem to blend right into each other. The base for the Tractor Beam Control Tower will sit in the middle to create a wall between the control room and the hallway, but I'm still building it.

Also, this level was different from the previous ones in that there is a split down the back, making these two completely separate dioramas. Once again, the Tower will cover the seam when it's all put together.

Level five will be the top (for now?) and will contail the Tower as well as the doorways for the chasm "swing across" scene--which will have a removable bridge. If you look at these last couple levles, you can see things moving further back in the structure--this will allow the doorways (at the very front of level five) to really open up over a big dropoff. It'll be pretty neat.

Here are the level 4 pictures I promised. Once again, thanks to Chris Berry here at JediDefender for hosting these for me!

Up first is Tarkin's Control Room--



In this view, you can see a black tab sticking out of the wall by the row of lights. This is the end of the card that allows the image on the screen to change:



I made two cards, one printed front and back with Alderaan...



and the other with images from the Yavin attack (the last is my favorite--it's the final schematic displayed before the Death Star blew up):



The diorama itself is really small, the most out-of-scale room I've made yet, this time the console got shrunk from five pieces down to two to fit:

You're right Mosnab--probably quite a bit of parts-sharing going on between those two figures (notice Lando's shoulder holster looks removable, making the torsos identical as well.) I'm not sure how well they pulled off the holster, otherwise everyhting looks great.

(Now, who wants to lay odds Lando or Madine won't ship with the assortment initally, a la Dignitary #2 or Ack-Med Beq?)

At least we don't have another POTJ Ellors Madak/Bespin Guard/Ketwol/Sabe ordeal on our hands (yet).

If I'm remembering correctly, the only reason for the Duros wave glut was because they shipped it in two consecutive waves, swapping in Shmi and Training Obi-Wan as the newest "wave." It wasn't unti lthen that the Duros wave started sitting, and I think that proves my point excellently.

My ideal system would have waves of 3-4 new figures, a new wave every month, and that wave available in that case only. Let this go on until they've put out 24 figures for the year.

In the fall, Hasbro would switch to 2 different cases of 1 each of the figures that had come out all year, destined to be hitting shelves for Christmas time. This would offer holiday shoppers the biggest variety, let collectors catch up on anything they missed throughout the year, and offer the perfect opportunity to throw in running changes (along the lines of Hoth Han's coat switch).

I'm just a guy who buys toys, but I've watched the system enough to know this would solve a lot of the distribution problems Star Wars toys seem to encounter.

When Hasbro announced the idea of themed waves, I hoped it meant a return to POTJ style case assortments. Obviously that hasn't happened, as I've chased Ach-Med Beqs and Kren Blista-Vanees around town trying to catch both the Hoth and Tatoonie waves.

This week, I finally started to see R-3POs and Hoth Troopers sitting around with their 2003 casemates, and tonight I finally found the whole Tatooine wave on the pegs. Unfortunately when I left, I left behind those same remnants I had been getting so frustrated at seeing.

I understand Hasbro is trying to keep a steady variety of figures out there, and I also feel the irony of being a big proponent of the "12 different figures per case" idea. But during POTJ, either the pegs were empty and I knew to check back, or the newest figures were there. There wasn't all the "hope those other figures sell soon" anxiety.

 

(Don't mind me, just venting.)

Speaking of the Wampa's waist, I just got one and discovered mine "pops" apart quite easily at the top waist section. At first I thought I broke it, but it pops back together just as easily. If it's an accident, it's a welcome one--now Luke has the choice of just cutting off his arm or slicing him in half.

My only complaint with the purchase is sloppy gluing of the base piece--I've got some drippy gobs showing at the joint. Other than that, this figure gets a solid A.

It's not inconceivable that Hasbro could make a Cloud Car Pilot wearing the ICMG jumpsuit. Give him variant heads (since we'd need 2 cloud car pilots per one cloud car anyway) with removable (but vintage-style) helmets, and I could see ICMG realistically show up in a future assortment.

Call the ice cream maker a "fuel pod" or some such, and we could even get the correct accessory.

(CHEWIE, cool idea on the 4-pack.)