So, as 2012 comes to a close and we look back, we solved the mystery of the missing Walmart DVD 2-packs, and then the mystery of the missing Mandalorian Assault Transports...

but WTF happened to all those Scout Bombers?!?!

These NEVER ended up appearing at any discount outlets that I am aware of, and they had such a limited presence at retail I can't help but wonder if there is a huge pile of them sitting in a warehouse somewhere.

I literally only saw this thing on a shelf once, and that was many months after it came out as part of some random old wave restock at TRU. HTS never seemed to re-stock it after that first batch they got.

I guess it could still show up at some point seeing as how the Freeco Speeder and whatnot is still coming in at Ross and Marshall's, but I'm not holding my breath. Just seems odd, this has to be one of the rarest toys in the line ever.

I forgot to mention also - Gollum looked a MILLION times better in this film, IMO. Not nearly as fake or CGI looking as in LOTR, I don't know if that is a by-product of the 3d/HFR or what, but it was probably the best "live creature" CGI I have even seen.

And yeah, he was downright scary down there in his Gollum hole.

Saw it last night finally in full 48FPS 3D and LOVED it. I think my expectations were tempered pretty well going in, based on some of the comments I have read here, but overall I thought it was terrific. Nothing like the train-wreck that was King Kong.

Yeah, it's long, but it didn't FEEL long to me, it seems to pick up momentum as it goes along. I thought the casting was once again very strong, especially Bilbo and Thorin. They both did a great job with those roles.

The soundtrack and cinematography were outstanding as expected...and once again, the breathtaking landscapes of NZ were in full glory. Damn, that's a beautiful country.

The scenes in the Goblin lair were incredible, just so much going on in there I will definitely need to re-watch those scenes many, many times. I also loved the preamble showing Erebor and the dwarf kingdom in the height of its glory. That was really well done.

I can't say I was crazy about Radagast, I just don't see the need to have inserted him in there, and it seems sort of contrived especially showing up just after Gandalf has explained who he is. Rabbit-sled? Hrmm.

I did enjoy the scenes with Galadriel and Saruman in Rivendell, although none of that stuff happens in the book. I guess they are going to make a more robust sub-arc showing what Gandalf does when he splits apart from the group in the next movie, so they had to set that up somehow.

The songs were mostly Ok I think. "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" was comical enough, and the "Under the Mountain" song the dwarves sing right after that was freaking awesome. But the Goblin-song just seemed silly and sort of out of place to me. Kinda wish they would have cut that.

Like the singing, the voice work was the other thing I was most curious to see how they handled. EVERYONE talks in the freaking book, even the Wargs and Eagles. I was glad they kept those two silent in the movie. I wasn't so crazy about the trolls, I always think back to the cave troll in Moria which was just a mindless brute so it was odd to hear them breaking out the Cockney accents. No real way around that one though. The thing that bothered me most was the Goblin King's voice. Just not scary or imposing at all. Guy just comes off as a corpulent clown.

Jackson got way more right with this movie than wrong though, so any complaints I would voice at this point would be pretty minor.

One thing that troubles me though - that very last scene. WHY DOES SMAUG LOOK BLUE?!?! I am REALLY hoping that it just some funky lighting going on because that needs to be one full-on bright RED dragon.

Picked up 3 more Gammies @ 5 Below courtesy of their Wheelbarrow 'O' Goodness. 

Nice to see they are still getting fresh cases, I have bought at least 7 at this same store so far.

Guys in prison typically do not know what other guys are in there for, so Oscar probably had no clue one way or the other. Axel did say he was incarcerated for drugs, but take the word of a con for what it is.

There's a decent article over on The Daily Beast pointing out 19 changes from the book to film.  I think the writer is nitpicking on a couple of them, meaning yes, they are changes, but they're so minor I probably wouldn't think to point them out, and I think she missed the point on at least one of them...still a good article, though.

   E...

Thanks, that was super interesting. Most of that stuff does seem pretty minor, but I don't like the insertion of Radagast, the Elf-Witch, and the Necromancer. Those characters only merited fleeting references in the books. (Well, Radagast and the Necromancer anyway) To say nothing of whatever Evangeline Lilly is supposed to be doing there.

I think they need to be careful about how much they tweak Thorin too. You can't make him too "noble" at the outset because it just rings false when he takes that darker turn in the latter half of the book.

Yeah, I have been anticipating picking up some of the Aayla/Tarkin Wave @ 5 Below for awhile now...I would much rather go that route.

Kind of a head scratcher...did they envision this would play out differently when they shot it, I wonder?

I didn't hate it as much as others, but I agree it wasn't the best use of my time. Still, I prefer to stuff like this over seeing the obligatory Separatist villain of the week clown the Jedi with more half-assed schemes. That stuff is way more played out, IMO.

I am hopeful that the more screen time they get, the better our chances are of an astromech BP, complete with mini-Gascon.