I picked up Hera's A-Wing today at a local Walmart as part of the Force Friday releases.  It costs about $30 and I was rather stoked about it.  The A-Wing has long been one of my favorite craft in the SW universe and I liked how this new tooling looked more prototypical.  That said, it is easily only 2/3 the size of the vintage A-Wing tooling, meaning it's really tiny!  Disappointingly, the nerf gun feature completely ruins the smooth lines of the ship and can't really be removed.  The ship looks great when viewed top down, but from the side and underneath, the nerf dart gun kills the look...  You can open up the nerf dart section to remove the barrel,but the whole mounting part will not come out unless you cut/grind it out with a dremmel tool.  I think I'm going to use this as an R-22 Spearhead that's been modified to carry a heavy rocket launcher...

During last year's Force Friday for the TFA film, I went to TRU, dealt with the pushy crowds didn't get much of what I want, then hit up a bunch of Wal Marts, etc driving around that night like a crazy person with my girlfriend - who was very kind and put up well with my insanity.  I DO NOT intend to do that this time around!  It looks like most of the stores are going to have everything (I've already seen the tags out at Wal Mart) so if I hit some Wal Marts and Targets early tomorrow, I feel confident I'll be able to find what I want...  That said, I'm hoping to get a TIE Striker, U-Wing, and especially the Rebels A-Wing, then maybe some of the new 6" figures.  But then, how much can one truly have

I found Han and Jango Fett the other day at Target and just got the FN-2187/Stormtrooper Finn on ebay from Hasbro for the normal retail price.  I like the Jango figure - If I can find another, I may try a head swap, say with a Commander Cody figure, to make a Clone Trooper with its helmet off.  I'm excited about getting the FN-2187 figure simply because I can put him and the Poe figure from the Target-exclusive pack in my big TIE Fighter to replicate their escape scene from the movie  

Now to find the Rebels figures and General Hux...

Yeah, I keep wondering whether the "01" I see on the side of the 6" scale TIE Fighter box is means its the first of a series of large scale ships or the only large-sized vehicle that will ever be made... 

Granted the TIE does have its issues, but several months after purchasing it, I still have mine parked on my study's floor and looking very impressive

I enjoyed last week's episode as well, if anything because it had more space battle action and that Star Wars feel to it.  Something this season of Rebels has seemed to lack, save a few notable exceptions.  I Liked the backstory development for Hera and the connection to the CW show characters.  Also fun to see the TIE Bombers make an appearance.  I guess the ship the Rebels were in was the TIE Shuttle variant of the TIE Bomber as there sure was a lot of room in that thing!

Overall, I'm just not as into SW Rebels as much as I was into the Clone Wars series.  With Clone Wars, I did everything in my power to ensure I was able to catch the new episode, however, with Rebels, if I miss one, I don't really care...  Actually, I missed the entire first season, only getting into the show after I purchased the first season on DVD on a whim.  I guess its the more kid-like feel to Rebels and the really fast pace of the episodes (conflict to resolution in around 22 minutes) and the overall lack of fighting a war in the stars that turns me off more so than Clone Wars did...

Even though I stopped buying everything except for Hot Toys stuff I still look at the pegs when i am at the store just to see whats new. This was an interesting sight.

That is interesting.  Really, the Finn figure should have been exclusive to just Wave 1 of the 6" figures back in September on Force Friday instead of being a fixture in each wave or revision since.  Would rather they included the FO Stormtrooper as the steady figure in each wave as at least one can "army build" with that one.  Maybe give the figure a new gun or Luke's lightsaber or something to change things up a bit.     

Makes me feel sorry for John Boyega in a way...  I mean, his character in TFA was cool, but he's definitely not popular as an action figure. 

Not sure if anyone has already posted about this or seen it, but I came across this 9-minute independent Star Wars film tonight and was actually rather impressed:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/13/10764160/star-wars-rebel-scum-fan-film-rogue-one-hoth 

It uses real locations, accurate props, and stop-motion animation giving it that realistic feel the OT films had.  Plus Gustav Holst's classical scores from "The Planets" work surprisingly well with Star Wars, giving us a taste of what might have been, musically, had Spielberg not connected Lucas with John Williams...

Enjoy