I love the see-through visor on the CCP helmet.  VERY cool.

Leia's dress is a little strange, but I think it's just the paintjob/lighting.  The sculpt looks great though!

Lobot!  No wide stance!  Can't wait to see Lobot's Duplex updated with this guy.  They must be going nuts over at LD waiting for this guy!  

Jeff

There hasn't been any word of pack-ins with these vehicles thus far.  I'm planning on putting my Gold Leader figure in the new Y-Wing, and either a Pit of Carkoon or VOTC Boba Fett in the new Slave I.

Here is the Pre-sell at Amazon.com:
Star Wars Return of the Jedi 3.75" Red Y-Wing Gold Leader

Note that its says:
"From the Manufacturer:
This is the 3.75" scaled Star Wars Red Y-Wing Gold Leader vehicle. Comes with Gold Leader Pilot figure. This item was in Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi."

Good chance that the Y-Wing has a pack-in

Now, whether the pack-in pilot is just the same recycled figure from the Red Leader X-Wing or Dutch Vander or something else, that I just don't know...

Jeff

PC:
SW Galaxies... totally addicted trying to unlock my Jedi character.

NGC:
NHL 2004 (having my own TB vs. Calgary match-up)
Simpsons Hit and Run - very fun GTA type game

Palm Vx:
Solitaire! - makes the meetings go faster

Jeff

Vintage = up over time
Modern = down over time

I still think that Vintage figures will hold their "value", because as time goes by, bubbles yellow and there will always be people looking to upgrade their collection, find carded figures, etc.

Modern lines though have 100,000 people all stashing 2-3 carded figures.  WAY more supply than demand.  Every "high-priced" Modern figure has decreased over time.  Remember when Tan-Vest Jedi Luke was $125? Now he goes for $15.  Even TF Vader and Sacul have been quietly slipping in price from the outragweous $300 they started at.

IF the vOTC are going to be as limited as they say, they will probably do pretty well.  This has more to do with the vintage nostalgia factor.  It's those cardbacks that will keep those figures valuable.

As for the modern OTC line, well... it will be lucky to hold it's value through the end of the year, being clearancesd at $2 each by the end of the year

Jeff

GH.com has a new feature up on the Jedi Council set 1, along with this picture:

Larger Jedi Council Picture

Looks like a pony tail on the unidentified figure...  looks more and more like Agen Kolar to me.

So, 4 "new" sets = 12 figures.

4x Ep1 repacks (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda, Qui-Gon)
6x kit-bashed monsters - old torso, new legs (Ki, Plo, Eeth, Adi, Shaak, Saesee)
2x recycled junk (Stass Allie & Agen Kolar)

Is this good a good thing?  

 

I guess I am not surprised that Stass Allie and Agen are being cranked out based on old sculpts since this is the Era of Recycling as Hasbro.

Jeff

On another note, has anyone been seeing a lot of Hoth Han/Snowtrooper/Throne Room Lukes?  For some reason two of the three stores I visited (Target and Wal-Mart) had a large supply of these figures, sprinkled with some Dodonnas as well.  Otherwise, I saw more of the Outlander Club and Dignitaries at TRU.

Yep.  I've seen a lot of these lately.  Apparently Target got a lot of the same case that NewForce had up for pre-order and recently shipped out (last week or so).

84715R
3x Saga Snowtrooper
3x Saga Hoth Han (Brown Coat)
3x Saga Anakin Skywalker (Secret Ceremony)
3x Saga Luke Skywalker (Throne Room Duel)

Woo-pee!  

Another classic desicion along with the case that had 3x Barriss, 3x Aayla, 3x Yoda/Chian, 3x Ashla/Jempa.  Apparently, Hasbro thought it appropriate to pump out more of these peg-warmers...  3x each 4 old peg-warmers?  Huh?!?

Jeff

It'd probably be this Shatner though:



 

I agree about the OTC madness.

IF Hasbro's intent was to get figures into the hands of "new" collectors, then why not offer a VARIETY?  They are cranking out re-packs, which I know they need to do to cut cost, bring in new collectors, etc, but why THE SAME figures over and over?  Why not mix in some new/different figures/repacks?

If it truly is Hasbro's desire to bring in new "collectors", couldn't the same effect be achieved by presenting a brand new Luke, Obi-Wan, R2 and 3PO in a box?  Why, do we need to see re-packs in order to bring in new collectors?  If they are "new" to collecting, they don't know that they are missing these figures, do they?

A box set of a brand new Luke, Ben, R2, and 3PO would bring in new collectors AND many of the old ones too, right?

There is only ONE answer for re-using old figures - CHEAP.  Cash savings.  Easy money.  No development cost, only manufacturing cost.  CHEAP.  That's why we get re-packs instead of new figures.  All this "we want to bring in new collectors" crap is exactly that: crap.

If they truly want to sell these new collectors figures, then maybe they should offer those new collectors a VARIETY of figures to choose from?  It doesn't make sense to keep repacking the same ones?

If I were a new collector, introduced to the figures through the DVD sets, I'd automatically skip at least 6 of the 38 OTC figures (Vader, Chewie, R2, 3PO, Ben, Stormtrooper), because I'd already have them!  Wouldn't it have been in Hasbro's best interest not to repeat these repack figures?  Wouldn't they have sold more (cheap) repack figures if they had mixed up the variety a little?  

That is my biggest problem with the OTC repack madness.  Why re-use figures over and over when, with just a minimum of effort in re-painting existing molds, things could have been improved?

The Endor set could have been better with generic Ewoks, the OTC carded line could have been better with different Repack choices to avoid repeating any figure released in the last year and/or figures in box sets like the Target cup sets, the TRU multipacks, the DVD box sets, etc.



Jeff