Thanks Jesse...

I liked the feet cables a lot too.  I'm still think the wheels suck though.  A little dull, they don't roll fantastically well anyway, and they make him sort of tilt...  I could do without them.

I think Hasbro was intending a good thing there...  It's extra work after all.  I just think it's something they could've left off and the figure would've actually been a little better.  Kinda like the probisces on Dannik Jerriko's face...  Something done with good intent, but which turned out to hurt the figure.

I can't think of too many figures I'd want that actually rolled....  Well, a mousedroid that was maybe to-scale woudl be nice, if it rolled, but that's about it.

Adding my personal favorite to the Llama theme...  Monkeys riding Llamas...  Fan-frickin'-tastic.

That's my point of view too Jeff, that they're the footsoldiers Neyo's got under him...  Whether they're there or not will forever remain a mystery.  They make a nice figure, just a pisspoor price.  I'd take a 3-pack of them for $15 (tucked into the small vehicle assortment or something...  Maybe a special base?) even...

Right now my little "team" are busting in to help my whites out, who've become overrun by a droid assault force.  It looks like Custer's Last Stand, but if he'd been smart enough to wait till some reinforcements were in semi-close proximity. 

It's funny that even the Commanders, which had hit en masse and sat a LITTLE longer than most other stuff they shipped with in the last week or two, they're all gone now... 

It's funny how fast that stuff goes.  That COmmander sat longer than the grunts, but even the reshipment of him is gone from my area now.  I shoulda picked 2 or 3 more up I think just so I didn't have to think about it.

I've only seen like 1 each of some of those ones you did too Jesse...  Like, I've NEVER seen Vader's Med Droid.  Never.  Weird, I know, but it's one I still don't have simply because it doesn't seem to linger.

I agree as well that I think Word of Mouth is good for ROTS...  Reviews were predominantly positive (negative reviews I've found often were stretching for things to complain about), and on a personal level my friends who aren't die-hard SW fans were floored by the film and consider it as good as the originals...  I think in general that people loved ROTS if they went to see it.

The built-in-audience is a given...  I stick by my initial thought that the lackluster performance of TPM and AOTC has hurt ROTS in the long run.  When Star Wars was re-released back in 1997, it was cool to go see it...  It was cool to like Star Wars at the time really...  TPM drew a similar crowd then, but people didn't like the film.  It had that bigger draw because more people went to it but in the end they really didn't like it...  AOTC did piss poor (relatively) then, but was a better film by most everyone who saw it's standards.  THe franchise, after TPM, had become like the plague for a large portion of people it seemed...  It was nerdy to like Star Wars because "oh, so you must like Jar Jar Binks!" and other asinine remarks.

Jump to ROTS and it still suffers the "this is dumb...  I bet Jar Jar's in it!" Stigma.  I personally think that's made a lot of people who (if the franchise wasn't so stereotyped as "bad" now) otherwise would've gone to see the Star Wars films say that they'll either wait to rent it or they're done with the franchise overall...  The disenchanted.  That's just my opinion though...  To me, the film got lots of good press and talk from the public, but that's just my personal experiences with it too.

My brother's list of needs is pretty extensive.  He finally went through his stuff and emailed me what he wants me to look for (he's in grad school with little time to look for toys since he lives in BFE for school, plus he's just busy generally)...

My brother's list...  I shudder to think how I'll find half this:

Basic Figures:
Prince Isildur
Bilbo Transfixed
Peter Jackson
Council Legolas
Isengard Orc Captain (with big-ass hammer)
Hama of the Rohirrim
Possessed Theoden
Uruk Hai Pikemen/Engineer (has a torch.think he talks too)
Denethor
Minas Tirith Citadel Guard
Gothmog the Gimpy Orc God
Council Aragorn
Epilogue Frodo (SP, with Journal)
Gondorian Swordsman
Grey Haven Gandalf (from the Epilogue)
Mordor Orc
Flaming Sword Witchking

Giftpacks/Multi-Packs:

Pelennor Fields GiftPack
Coronation Gift Pack
Battle in Shelob's Lair
Lothlorien Giftpack
Defeat Of Sauron (unless that Gil-Galad can be found
elsewhere)
Final Battle for Middle Earth (Or Just The Battle Troll)

This is a ton of stuff...

The line's really been dropped all together in my area.  Suncoast had some stuff, but they seem to be doing more clearing out than getting in...  Wal-Mart usually over-does it on one wave then they have nothing.  Target's been a waste of time to even look for these figures.  Toys R Us fell prey to the constant repacking of Frodo's and Gollums, and the line has been all but dropped from their stores.  KB I won't even go into anymore.

This line's been a bitch to collect...  There's some on my bro's list I'd like for myself too (and some not on his list that I wanted, but of course I give over everything to him).  Since I can't even find what I want out of picking and choosing, part of me thinks of just handing over my whole collection to him except for my SP figures and Wraiths...   

If anyone's got several items from the list, I may be interested in buying... 

The Toy Show returns in late July...  As per our front page.

If you're in Pittsburgh, pop on by!

Yeah, he's Obi-Wan's droid later in the film...  Thus his little Utapau Hologram accessory.  He'd look pretty dandy in the back of an ARC though I think.