I agree that LOTR does surpass Star Wars based on the incredibly intricate background to the Middle-Earth realm...  Tolkien put a lot more effort into creating a world than Lucas did, and for that Lucas will always play second fiddle.  He's let everyone else have a hand in formulating Star Wars as a "real" place, and that's fine too, but Lucas's effort just wasn't as determined as Tolkien's was...  I dont' think Lucas loved his work any less though, but it's just impossible to me to say that Tolkien didn't create something just incredibly more "deep" than Lucas.

I'd disagree that Tolkien isn't on par with the likes of Dickens though...  Shakespeare I maybe give more credit, but still I look at Tolkien's work and I think it's easily as thought-out, and it instills better feelings in me personally than any work I read that Dickens wrote.  To me those were torture to read for the most part, actually.  I can honestly say only a Christmas Carol ever really meant anything to me...  We actually were comparing the two and our prof (the school's English Dept. Head) really loathes Dickens so I maybe have some lingering bias after the class discussion.

I think it's great that your kids will read The Hobbit, Scott.  I read it in 6th grade actually, then watched the toon...  My reading teacher at the time had the class read it, and I was hooked.  It was the first book I read that I didn't feel it was a chore to me, as a child.

You'd have been burned at the stake for praising the LOTR movies though...  The class I was in bitched about them at every turn.  Honestly I thought they helped me visualize Orcs, etc., but from the prof on down, there was a lot of criticism of the films.

Personally, I think the films did the book justice though as well.  I think you can't expect the films to really draw things out like the books, and that changes to characters were necessary to keep the story moving.  As it stands, ROTK was tough for even avid movie-goers to sit through, what with its multiple endings...  I can't fathom the scouring being in there too.

I'm still looking for these but they're all gone in my neck of the woods I guess.

I'd like a couple more...  even one more.  They truly are like crack.  I wound up with a modest group, but if I could amass 100 of these, I gladly would.

I dunno, to me you need to mix OT stuff in to keep things fresh...  The prequals need figures too though, and I think leading into 2006 it should at least be a prequal focus, but OT stuff should be seeing a resurgence by then too...  A figure here, a figure there.

I'm hoping the future means VOTC (or at least Cantina Wave) kinds of quality overall.  The ROTS lineup has me hopeful that this kind of articulation is "standard" from here on out...  That army builders get the focus they deserve... 

And I have a resculpt list of POTF2 - E1 (at least) stuff I'd like to see done with this level of quality...

-Han Stormtrooper
-Han Endor
-Han Hoth
-Luke Stormtrooper
-Luke Ceremony
-Luke Endor
-Luke Death Star Duel
-Leia Hoth
-Leia Endor
-Nein Numb
-Endor Soldier
-Fleet Trooper
-Hoth Rebel Soldier
-Biggs Darklighter (I want an Academy Deleted Scene Biggs too)
-A-Wing Pilot (still no decent one of him)
-B-Wing Pilot (same as above)
-Imperial "Technician"
-Imperial "Officer" (Dude in a tunic, black and grey variants)
-Admiral Piett
-Grand Moff Tarkin
-4-LOM
-Zuckuss
-Scout Trooper
-Imperial "Snow"Stormtrooper
-VOTC STormtrooper re-release & "Sandtrooper" version too
-Death Star Trooper
-Uncle Owen
-Bespin Guard (closed coat, multiple ethnicities)
-Wicket

And that's just resculpts of stuff already done...  There's a lotta vintage stuff I think still needs redone in the modern line, like the Rebel "Soldier" with the tan vest, Palace Klaatu, etc... 

I am all for EU too though...  Mixed in sporatically I think it has as much a chance at retail as any basic figure, so long as the Hasbro people keep their wits about them and don't jump into "Techno Yellow Luke!" or "Neon Camoflauge Han!" like the Batman line...  Keep it to known EU, don't go overboard with entire waves of it...  It could work.  I think past EU's proven itself enough, even if the SOTE line tanked some (I blame the basis for it more than the line itself, but I digress).

Prequals have lots to cover though too, and Episode One and Two both have LOTS of figures I'd like resculpted...  SA versions of Maul, Obi, and Qui-Gon from E1...  Outland Peasant Anakin could use a redo, a GOOD E2 Obi-Wan (sad there isn't one really definitive one of him in the entire line), a good Mace Windu...  There's lots of Prequal room left to explore.  And I think re-releasing the SA Clone into the line FOREVER would work.  Till the line dies, that figure should be mixed into cases every year.

Technically, more parts doesn't cost more than a figure with less parts except the mold toolings...  For all intents and purposes, that cost was likely made up with the figure's initial run in Clone Wars.  While it seemed limited to most people, I know I saw tons of the remnants of his wave at stores around my area...  Most people seemed to find those figures easily enough, but the Clone was (of course) not so easy to find.

Construction's a minimal cost though, so really he doesn't cost more to produce now than before, and as more units are made, all the "fixed" costs of production will then decrease...  So technically for every time this guy's put back into circulation, the cost comes down a little bit more. 

I have it on pretty good authority that the packaging is a major reason for the cost increase...  It's at least a driving factor.  I think Violentfix's idea that it simply being an EE item doesn't bode well for it having a low price either.  They do tend to charge that little bit extra...  That puts it about right that they're still profiting when selling a full case, and the per-figure price comes to about $6.25/figure/case.  That's not much more than retail.  Where it stings is buying individual 4-packs and things.

The Coeli TE is very cool...  I think it's possibly even a little over-scaled, though I don't have a ref handy to compare, but it's close either way, or dead-on.  I'm anxious to see the interior he tries though. 

I'm still reluctant to "ask" for this from Hasbro though.  Coeli's is just that much more inspiring for me to want one that's to-scale over one that's knocked down some pegs for the action figure line.  To me, that can be done properly if they wanted but I can't see them ever doing it...  I'd be first in line to buy a to-scale one though if it were done...  And if I had the $$$ to afford it.   

I did not get one and kind of regret not picking it up 4/2 now.  I saw one and it really is an interesting/neat little item, and a nice momento for the 4/2 experience...  I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for it I guess, but having seen one now I'd really like to pick it up.

I was so out of it at Target that morning, I didn't even think much about the card...  Didn't even look at one.  Too early in the morning for me that day.

I'd take accessory sets if the time and effort on them were both right...

I'd dig some sabers/hilts...  Multiple "EU" colors would be nice too.

I'd dig it if they tossed in some either new weapons...  Shoulder-launchers for Clones, grappling hooks, packs w/working straps, "cargo containers" like the Scanner tech's, the MicroMachines mousedroid, etc...  Lots of really ideal things they could tuck into those sets.

The thought of an interchangeble pauldron for Commtech and VOTC STormtroopers would be neat... 

If they packed an army builder in (a good one) I think the old Target concept of accessory sets would be superior to just putting a bunch of weapons in a package.  Pack a good battledroid, Clonetrooper, or Stormtrooper in and it's like gold to most people...  God knows they've got the GOOD figures around now to do that, what with the Clone Commander, C1 Clone, VOTC Stormtrooper and such.  Be interesting to see anyway... 

I could see those becoming annoying to even try and find really, if those were the figures being put in them.

I think confusion between "Sale" and "Clearance" is important to address too.  I think we'll see multiple sales...  "BOGO", "2-for's", and the like...  I think that'll be a common thing up until a clearance.

To address why there wasn't a Saga Clearance, technically there was...  First though, there was a "buy-back" situation though, and then there was actually a 2nd "buy-back" situation.  Hasbro did that once I believe with Episode One though, and later in the line's life. 

After the buy-back the figures wound up at KB in droves...  Or so the story goes.  Hasbro did a lot to make TRU  and WM happy during the Saga glut though...  I remember people boxing those figs up in droves at WM.  One day they had a wall of useless stuff, the next they had nothing, or even had semi-new stuff out.  Some of that though, as I recall, was even "old" by the time it got out to the shelves.  Target was more conservative, as always, and avoided that situation.

With this movie, it's tough to say if Hasbro will bite on taking any of it back again...  The line is theirs to sell after this film, not the other way around, so I'm not sure how they'd handle appeasing retail shoudl ROTS see massive gluts.

I wouldn't say things are flying off shelves here though, by any means, they just are doing better than Saga did...  In my neck, people werne't in aisles, kids weren't interested, and Saga tanked...  ROTS I'm seeing different things, but that doesn't mean I'm not seeing lots of figures on the pegs, or that I'm seeing stores restocking constantly.  If I was, I'd be able to find those later #'d figures that are aggrevating the **** out of me.   

I will say though, that for an initial push, this line's doing better than Saga did I think.  I've seen stores restock since 4/2...  I didn't see that with Saga in its first week or so...  Hell, the WM I frequent most restocked once since 4/2, but with Saga the only thing they restocked was the TIE Bomber they held off on putting on the shelf till MM...  The rest just clogged the pegs for months.  It was really quite sad. 

They're stuck now though with the typical stuff every other store has.

I will say if you're wanting to army build, don't wait.  Clones, RG's, and even the basic battledroid are moving.  I find C1 Clones sporatically with BD's, but that's about it.  All that other stuff is hot property at the moment.  Toy Show had Pilots, Commanders, etc., for $15 - $20 each.  Pissed me off to see all the scalping sacks of dung selling what I think I can rightly assume is my area's supply of the figures I wanted the most...  And lying through their sporatic, yellow, gnarled chicklets they call teeth about these being "limited run" items, "variations", and "rare"...  Buncha dickheads.