Over the last two weeks, I picked up the ROTF Scout Class Skystalker and Voyager Class Mindwipe, and I love these two.  I'd sworn I wasn't going to get any non-film ROTF toys, but these are extremely cool and worth a look.  I could have done without all the Cybertronian tattoos on Mindwipe, but overall, both have really nice transformations, seem pretty solid, and interact well with each other in vehicle mode. 

I hear there's also some undocumented way to have them "combine" in robot modes, but I have yet to see a photo of this so I can try it myself.  Anybody have any links?

Didn't see a thread yet, so I guess I'm the first one to sing about a successful trade with Shaun.  Super communication, fast shipping, and a great guy to deal with.  Highly recommended!  Thanks, Shaun!

One of my local Wal-Marts did a semi-reset (which, as is typical for WM, means cramming all the existing stuff closer together to make a small spot for a new line) and put out a whole shitpile of IM2 stuff.  Most interesting was that there were figures from the second film, which I hadn't even seen photos of online.  Then again, I wasn't really looking.

Anyway, the figures I saw were:

-Mark IV Armor (same general design as Mark III but a bit bulkier and a different chest piece)
-Mark V Armor (kind of a minimalist silver and red design with a rocket-firing suitcase)
-Mark VI Armor (the one with the triangular arc light chest piece)
-Mark VI Armor "Power Up" (press on his head and the torso lights up)
-War Machine (film version)
-Inferno Armor (Concept Series "Firefighter" armor)

I picked up Marks IV-VI (but not the light up version) and War Machine.  They're nice figures, and I'm really impressed by the level of detail in this scale (as many have said, the Mark I outshines the 6" version from 2008 by a mile), but some of the joints have been either stiff or loose, particularly on the Mark IV's "waist" joint.  Mine wobbles around like late 1970's Tony Stark on a bender.  My only other complaint is that of about 26 figures on the shelves, 24 were some version of Iron Man, with only two villains (Dynamo and Monger).  Oh well, I really hope that Hasbro doesn't make Scarlett Johannsen look like crap.

Yet another wonderful transaction with Jeff.  Thanks for the Jango and the arm!

My list is pretty much the same as last year, although I removed Senator Greiblips, since I figured that one will never get made (for obvious reasons) and replaced it with Threepio.

01.  Jar Jar Binks (SA Resculpt)
02.  Battle Droid Commander OOM-9 (SA resculpt; I guess they could repaint the Geonosis version)
03.  Tey How
04.  Edcel Bar Gane
05.  C-3P0 (SA resculpt)
06.  Queen Amidala (Post-Senate Gown)
07.  Naboo Royal Guard (SA Resculpt)
08.  Anakin Skywalker (SA Resculpt; the Pod Race helmet wouldn't hurt)
09.  R5-A7 (the last one left from the Royal Starship, correct?)
10.  Captain Panaka (SA Resculpt)

My predictions/hopes (or pipe dreams in some cases...) for this wave...

TOTALLY NEW FIGURES:

-Boba Fett
-Zam Wesell
-Poggle the Lesser
-Cliegg Lars
-Taun We (properly scaled; remember what I said about pipe dreams?)
-C-3P0

RECARDS (Straight Up Reissues or Minor Mold Changes):

-Obi-Wan Kenobi (2009 TLC version)
-Anakin Skywalker (2005 Evolutions version)
-Jango Fett (correct color uniform with Boba-style backpack)
-Clone Trooper (2009 TLC Geonosis Assault Pilot version with regular CT helmet)
-Geonosian Warrior (2009 Target Arena version)
-Super Battle Droid (2008 30AC TRU STAP Battle Pack version; the silver one)

Even though I know the focus is going to be on the new figures (and rightfully so), I'm curious as to who Hasbro is going to include in this wave as repacks.  Logic would suggest that the four new figures would be at least 2 per case (despite nobody being more than 1 per case in recent Legacy assortments this year), with four repacks; with the supposed return of the vintage-styled cardback, it could be a good way for Hasbro to suck in non-carded collectors to buy the repacks. 

Personally, I think the best choice of four figures to recard would be the AT-AT Driver (since the AT-AT will hopefully be out by the time this wave hits), the non-bearded Hoth Rebel Soldier we never got the first time around, a kitbashed Snowspeeder Wedge (using the Luke SS body and the head from the Target X-Wing), and either Zuckuss or 4-LOM (mainly because we've gotten all four other bounty hunters on vintage reissue cards by that point, and it would be a neat nod to the vintage line by including both of them with their "correct" names).

Back to the new figures, though, I have to say that I'm already more impressed with the AT-AT Commander figure than I ever was with General Tarantino Veers back in 2006.  The way those cut-elbow arms stuck out at a permanent 90 degree angle always bothered me, so this one seems like a nice upgrade.  Leia is very needed at this point, and Dengar seems like a nice upgrade.  A new Bespin Luke I could have done without, but the head sculpt is better than the vintage 2007 version, so count me in for one of those, too.

I saw this in 3D on Friday afternoon and loved every second of it.  The story, while simple, is engaging and you find yourself really caring for the characters and their journey.  It definitely adheres (at least in part) to Campbell's archetypal "hero's journey" structure, and I think that is going to be a large part of the film's success in word-of-mouth reviews. 

Technically speaking, the animation on the Na'vi is very well done, and at times you forget that you're looking at CGI (or at least I did).  The environments are absolutely stunning (even if they did remind me, on many occasions, of Felucia), and the 3D is never really used in a Johnny LaRue fashion; that being said, the sequence where Jake and the Banshee choose each other in the floating mountains could probably inspire some vertigo-like symptoms if you're not into heights.

But yeah, I enjoyed the film overall.  Visually stunning, a good archetypally-based story, and good performances from the entire cast make this worth watching, IMHO.  I'd rank it as my third favorite film of the year, behind "Up" and "District 9."