No doubt Anton...

Qu Rahn's my favorite...  He discovers Kyle Katarn, befriends his father Morgan...  Dies tragically after the battle of Endor though, and that just sorta sucks.

He's a guy a few adventures should be written about or a prequal type game to Jedi Knight should be made about...  Maybe how Rahn escapes and goes into hiding even.  I'd take that game right quick.

Personally, I don't view it as so much "evolution", but rather as simple similarity...

An AT-RT has 2 legs as does an AT-ST, but to me I look at that as being no different than my car having 4 wheels the same as most other vehicles on the road...

The ARC-170, while having some similarity to an X-Wing, doesn't jump out at me as being an evolutionary step...  Backstory's laying claim that it's an Incom ship, and that's fine, but the S-Foils strike me as something more along the lines of a feature seen on many types of ships by many types of manufacturers...

EU shows many ships with a general "shape" like the X-Wing that really have no tie to the X-Wing...  The supposed role of the XW and ARC are completely different, so I see them on separate evolutionary paths...  Honestly, I see the ARC as a closer kin to the Y-Wing (though if you go by EU, it too was in service during the waning days of the Republic...  Perhaps the Y-Wing lead to the ARC instead?).

For my money's worth, these ships and vehicles more stand alone rather than "lead into" each other...  The AT-ST is in the walker class, but shares no heritage from the AT-RT.  To me, the AT-RT maybe evolved into the AT-PT instead which pops up in the Empire in EU materials...

The ARC, to me, doesn't lead into the X-Wing so much as the Z-95 does as EU's established, and the ARC simply fades from existance or goes into public service or whatnot.

I agree wholeheartedly that there was too much "effort" from Lucasfilm to tie looks of things between trilogies...  EU's fleshing it out some so that it makes a little more sense and isn't just the straight "Hey, the ARC has the same shape as an X-Wing, sorta, so it must be what they design X-Wing's off of!" kind of mentality.  Too simplified for my liking, personally, and treads too much on things I enjoy that were already established (The Z-95, which is a ship still in service under the Alliance, will forever be the true forebearer to the X-Wing, and the ARC will have had no influence aside from perhaps the S-Foils being a "good" idea for venting increased heat output during combat).

The Corellian Corvette(-ish) in ROTS, which I believe was wholely intended to be the ship in ANH from Lucasfilm's POV but which has become obscured, I'm torn on as to how to explain...  I agree with some guys at a site I know that debate ships a lot, that the large section missing in ROTS would be awkward as an "upgrade" to the ship that happens between 3 and 4...  On the other hand, as Nick noted, the ship's only referred to as Tantive in ROTS I guess, so that's possibly a whole other class of Corellian ship...  The basic design, in EU, is varied...  The Mysteries of the SIth game had a larger version of the Corvette in service in the New Republic Era that had a large/spacious hangar capable of holding a defensive force of Rebel fighters, for instance, but had the basic shape of the Tantive IV down exactly (only larger).  The Corellian Gunship from EU also sports an incredibly similar look to the movie Corellian ships.  So for what that's worth, it could very well be a sorta smaller version of the Tantive IV we see in ANH, but not the same ship...

Every source out there's continually referring to it as the Tantive IV though for some reason.

The ship/vehicle issue is really interesting...  What I find interesting is how EU's sorta blending things, or blurring lines all together.  For instance, AT-AT's were basically placed in the Clone Wars era EU now...  They look almost identical to the ESB AT-AT's, based on the late conceptual art for AT-AT's (basically, a slightly boxier looking AT-AT then).  AT-TE's have been spotted in the Imperial-Era EU now too, which I like the thought of them still seeing service...  The AT-AP now may show up as well, and all the other walker variants mixed in from all the EU from all the eras...  Lucasfilm intended visual tie-ins, but EU's debunking them as "evolutionary steps" somewhat.  I like that, personally.

Lucas supposedly had a little heavier interest in the CW from a personal perspective, and did a little more direction with it than other EU materials...  He's known to have liked the cartoons a lot and that's why he "allowed" them to introduce Grievous basically.

It's all EU though...  LFL's pretty strict that anything besides the film is EU and the rest is open to debate/discussion.  The beauty of that is imagination...  I feel other genres or licenses can sorta be too stifling to the minds of their fans.  The "this is how it is" mentality prevails.  Lucas though disagrees with EU stuff but basically says to just debate away on it as to whether it's the truth or not. 

 I'm not terribly upset personally.  Wave 4 was weak at best...  Those initial figures had some winners in there though.  The WEG1618 droid is among my fav droids of all-time in the modern line I think. 

The DLX one is nice too...  I'm not fond of a couple, and for price they were all a let-down on some level, but there was quality in there.  I was always a little astonished how the figures seemed superior (at the time) in some ways to basic line figures.

Just wish they were cheap enough to amass a nice lot of extras.   

How long ago did she eat those kids?  I'll think about THAT all night. 

Captain Antilles disappoints me.  I remember when some other site (MouseDroid, maybe?) had the preliminary photo of him back in April and someone noted the lack of articulation and that it might be better once we got the final release version.  Too bad it doesn't look like that is going to be the case. 

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Six figures that aren't bad (although Antilles could definitely have been better), so here's hoping we can find them! 

More or less, that's my opinion.  I too am a little intrigued by Obi-Wan...  He could really be superior to every other one of his figures thus far, but his "mystery" aside I'm pretty content with all the figures except Antilles.

Antilles looks like reusing SOME parts from Organa could've even been easily acheived...  And Organa's a pretty nicely articulated dude.  Not the most exciting figures (either one), however Hasbro could've improved Antilles to at least be as interesting as Organa's figure.  If they do a Tantive IV Commander (Jeremy Bulloch), I hope they at least do him some justice beyond what Antilles got.

I really wanna get the Turbo Tank (*shudder*) driver to see what that aritculation is like...  I'm wondering if he can straddle the seat of the RT and ride it without looking weird.  I'd love to replace that schmuck of a figure it came with.   

Weekend/week of the premiere I'd say the mains had become a lot harder to find...  I went out briefly last night and there was replenishment.

In my area, this is a general look at what's tough to find:

-Jedi...  Collection 2 and Collection 1.  Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto, Sae Sae Tinn, Plo Koon...  The only easier figures to find were Anakin, Shaak Ti, and Luminara.  The others have dried up some.  Why Anakin's around more than others is a mystery.

-Royal Guards (Red or Blue, though Blue's seemingly been easier to find, with good reason).  I'd like at least 6 more red's, and honestly I'd probably NOT stop buying the RG's for some time (red or blue).  Senators need guards, Palpy's need guards, and customs galore...  I want more of that figure.

-Clones...  Clone Commanders and Pilots are more abundant, but Basic White Clones (TE Gunner, #41, #6) are gone about as fast as they're put out.

-Battledroids dried up, and I'm not really surprised.  Even the SBD's which were wildly abundant have dried up...

-Surprises?  Padme, 3PO, and Mon Mothma....  These all sorta disappeared.  I see one or two here and there, but not much compared to what was out.  Oh, and Chewbacca.  Not that he's a huge surprise, but just that there were SO many of him and now he's pretty well sold through.

What's hanging around though?

-Recently heavy shipped figures like the Destroyer Droid, Neimodian Gunner, and Wookie #2...

-Tarful

-Deluxe...  ALmost all, save for the most recent releases.

-Clone Pilots & Commanders (Commanders are mounting up but still sorta selling it seems).

-Bail Organa

-Grievous Exploding

-Mas Ameda

I'm sure I'm missing some things too...  WM's were pretty well hit and cleared after the film's release, at least in my area.  I was impressed.  I think it's amazing what a GOOD film can do for a toy line rather than 2 lackluster films that weren't "cool" to enjoy.

And also a much superior toy line compared to the last 2 films.  These figures are outstanding not only compared to Episode I's launch and II's as well, but just in a general comparison to the toy aisles at stores...  Hasbro put out a better product that rivals other lines for once.  It 's working for them.  It worked pretty good for OTC as well, so it's nice to see the line actually "compete" better than it has in past years.

I'm sure we'll get to a point of over-production on a lot of stuff...  I think the army builders will move slowly, but the Neimodian and DD have the toughest job of selling I think.  I'll buy Neimodians, but I know not EVERYONE will want an army of him.  Wookiees I think have some backing by the kiddies...  I'm gonna cover my bases and get some of the "odd" stuff that didn't really make the film that I hadn't picked up yet...  The movie was really inspiring to WANT to buy things I hadn't picked up yet, and that's a pretty great thing.  I know Episode II didn't give that kind of feeling after seeing it, except I wanted a GOOD SA Clone (that ultimately I couldn't get many of anyway, even still   ).