OK, so the Terminator line by Palisades is great news...  Even if it's not "real" military.

But anyway, BBI's Toy Fair info is leaking early like grannie's depends!

http://photos.figures.com/photo/1/showgallery.php?cat=2274&page=1&perpage=15&what=allfields&=&action=

Plenty of pictures of stuff we already saw, though BETTER photos of the WW2 figures.  I must say, they're few but they're great.

Also note, a WORKING PARACHUTE for the WW2 Paratrooper.  Oh hell yeah! [/end will smith]

Great stuff, if not a bit redundant from stuff we've seen.  Be nice to have seen a more accurate U.S. modern infantryman, some kind of "enemy" to come from the company...  Germans for WW2 and Some kind of generic "terrorists" for modern. 

Hell go the 21st route with making them allies, JUST MAKE THEM!  My grunts and leathernecks are sick of shooting at the Cobra 6-pack figures like they're nothing but a buncha greenshirts.

Hmmm...  No, buttmunch is completely acceptable, even when bolded. 

The picture with no shame involved would've lost you the spot though...  I think it may oust Matt from his actually.   

It's tough to argue with that...  The players would retort with "We play the game...  That's our risk!", and to that extent I agree they do take risk, but who the hell CAN'T live even on the crunched salary?  Paris ******* Hilton? 

News was talking tonight about the Joint Lemieux/Gretzky (rumored entirely, and denied by Gretzky) attempts to "save the season" (I'm not sure everyone at the old news-office got the memo that the season is done).  I think the city here is really missing hockey more than they anticipated.  We're not an NBA town, Spring Training doesn't do us a ton of good, and the NFL's over.  Pittsburgh's hurting for sports right now short of Pitt basketball and what the kiddies are accomplishing.  It's pretty sad really.

Never seen so many Wheeling Nailers commercials in all my life.   

EDIT:

BTW, a part of that story I enjoyed was pointing out the NHLers who've bumped out minor league players on various levels.  Solidarity my hairy white ass!   

It reminds me of a story about my mother...  Oddly enough.

My mother, for 18 or 20 (or more, I forget) years of my existance worked for the town's local Steel Worker's Union Hall in town.  It's a large hall upstairs and downstairs...  The kind rented for weddings, parties, etc. 

My mother cleaned was their janitor...  Not really contracted or anything, she just did this work under a set list of duties for a set pay...  There was no vacation, there was rarely ever any pay increase (she got two raises throughout her years there). 

The union workers who were her "boss" were the Trustee Committee members of the union.  She always did the job to their satisfaction though, and never once did she get a complaint.  If anything she went above and beyond her job, and the only person to ever gripe was the secretary at the hall who was nothing short of a snotty bitch who thought she was better than anyone who actually had to "work", including the Union members.

Well, a couple years ago...  I forget how long really, it was just a few maybe ago, the Union Trustees started changing my mother's "duty list" without her knowing.  She knew they were doing it though because her job description (usually tacked to her door for the upstairs closet was gone).  Little did THEY know she took it and had made copies so her job description was always there, "just in case".

So they come back with all these new duties for her...  She asks why the revised list, and she also tells them "you give me that much more work and I'm going to be needing a pay increase".  They expected her to do it for free...  She was going to be dealing with "routine rentals" now because the Union was going broke...  The leaders had spent the coffers dry and they were going to actively push rentals, and they wanted her to do clean-up for free now instead of her set salary.  It was going to just be absorbed into her monthly pay's work which she did every night.

She told them no...  Actually, my father told them "no" with some explitives and got into a fistfight with a man who's still afraid to go to the local bars here because he thinks my brothers and I go there...  So he's suddenly disappeared from any local hangouts, haha.  Puss...

Anyway, they fired my mother then...  She wouldn't take on what would've ammounted to 200% more of a workload for absolutely no increase in pay (a pittance anyway), so they up and fired her...

What's my point?

Well, I dunno, just a "bad experience" with how Unions tend to treat OTHER people working FOR them...  It's no better than the company treats them, sadly. 

The irony?  I'm far from anti-union, just disappointed to see that the NHLPA is so uncaring about anything but themselves, just like my father's union was (Though I'm not the slightest bit surprised either).  It supported my dad when he was sick, but it treated my mother who slaved for them and all their BS, like nothing but the dirt she cleaned.  They are, and forever will remain scumbags to me.

Anyway, just a related annecdote there from my point of view anyway.

Sabers are hitting around here too, but what packaging I'm not sure.

The Snowtroopers report about the guy getting a replacement Clone Commander backs things up pretty good as well though that these are "here" now...  Hasbro doesn't have a big pile of E3 stuff (or much at all generally) unless it's shipping to store's warehouses or the stores themselves I'd wager.  Nothing they'd be handing out so blindly anyway.  Stuff's making its way through the pipelines early again.  That's fun to watch anyway.

With not much to shop for, I agree it's nice...  I only need multiple wookie warriors and a Jedi Fighter at this point, none of whcih I'm in any hurry to grab, so I'm content to put all my efforts into my life outside this hobby.

And that's more than enough to make my head spin as it is, so that urge to run to WM on any given evening not being there is a nice thing to be free of at the moment.  All the E3 figure pictures have my anticipation of this film and collecting in general into overload though.

I'm going ga-ga over those hi-res shots at GH.com, and can't wait to have an E3 late Clone Wars army going.  Hell, even the Collection 1 figures look good to me for once.  Incredible!

Old school man, old school!

Part of me wishes those would've caught on longer...  I was never a fan of the shorts myself but partly because mine rarely fit me right since I couldn't afford them replaced all the time.

I think I'd have 6 teams per division instead...  Keep some of the southern teams because Florida's been a pretty big place for hockey it seems.  That's mostly due to the northerner's migrating there I believe, but nonetheless...  Same for Dallas, and Cali's a big enough state that 2 teams wouldn't hurt.  All 3 have made pretty big strides I believe.

I agree with you Brent on dropping the Capitals.  Why they have a team is beyond me, but every year the Pens played them in the playoffs, there were equal numbers of Pens fans in the stands.  Their crowd doesn't give 2 craps.  You don't see that between Cleveland and Pittsburgh in the NFL...  Washington's even further away but we still pack their seats.

The Islanders I agree with as well, partly because I agree that (given the NHL's status) no city needs two teams, not to mention that even Ranger's fans tend to be fair weather fans, much less the Islanders who, when they suck, have one hell of an empty arena it seems.

NJ I think's a solid team, with solid fans.  I'm not wild about admitting that, and maybe it's that I'm just too used to their good years they've had for the past while, but they do tend to be pretty reliable to support their team so I am not sure I agree with dumping them entirely.

Part of me says keeping Carolina too (if it went to a 6 team division like I mentioned), given that they too seem to be supportive of the Hurricanes, even in some bad times they've experienced early.

Beyond that, a multi-station deal for TV would be nice...  A constant season-long deal with ESPN, local deals for local teams, a FOX TV deal like once a month, and then ABC gets rights to the playoffs but SHARES them with local stations carrying local teams (Fox Sports Pittsburgh carries the Pens for instance, and you can choose who to watch if you're living in that city but outside it you have to watch the national channel).

I think that'd be an awesome, and not too over-the-top TV idea as far as what they need for publicity but not over-saturating television with Hockey.

now who ISN'T gonna do a "Spaceballs?  There goes the planet" diorma with POA guys and Star Wars figures!?   Thanks MisterPL, time to pick up a toy rag soon it seems.