That sucks, Jman...sorry to hear about all that. I do a lot of eBaying and stories like that always make me shudder. There are so many dirtbags out there it seems.

Like Pete, I was fine with just getting the one US version for my packaged collection. I have no real desire to get one of these things to open, so if it never comes out again it makes no difference to me. It'd be nice for those that are waiting it out though.

I just hope one day we see more TCW Class II vehicles, like the Trandoshan skiff or Trident Squid Drill.

I believe Hasbro's last reference to the Gunship was in a Q&A where they sounded pretty optimistic about getting another one out, although at the time I think the speculation was that it would be a TCW item with Geonosian deco. No doubt they will have backed off that now, but I can see it coming in the vintage line at some point, sure.

I don't think they've ever really lost money on those things, they all seem to hold value pretty well in the secondary market too.

I received my English Language Mandalorian Assault Transport in the mail yesterday, had finally pulled the trigger a few weeks back on one online. The box is not in stellar shape but it's good enough, dammit.

A lot to pay but seeing as how this is likely the last new Class II ship in the animated line, I can stomach it.

I saw (and bought) the complete wave twice when they were ringing up at Walmart for $4 a pop, which was sweet. I saw remnants only two other times, both at Walmarts, one local and one out of town. TRU I know for a fact never got this wave here. I really doubt Target ever did either. Very sad.

eBay is my second job, and I can confirm that there is NO LEGITIMATE WAY for any seller to find out what your highest bid is before the auction ends. It is not possible.

I have had many auctions end with me winning at my exact highest bid. As Bill pointed out, this is because someone bid just below me at the last second and pushed my winning bid to its max based on the increment for that pricepoint.

I think shilling, much like scalping in the toy community, is one of those things that is grossly overhyped. It does happen, I'm sure, but there is always an inherent risk that comes with not knowing how much to bid without going OVER the highest bid. I can't speak to "hacking" and so forth but I suspect eBay, like Google, has an entire team of super-geeks paid to figure out all that stuff.

Despite my initial opposition, and ongoing skepticism, I am reading them all.

Curious to see how Rorshach and Dr Manhattan turn out...the others have been ok so far. The first Comedian was a little silly, IMO.

Minutemen took sort of a creepy turn last issue, not sure what to make of that one yet.

The Crimson Corsair stuff has been pretty sweet though.

30 + 7 BAD's does seem a little short on figures for a whole year/line.

I know, what could be worse than that?

Oh right, eighteen figures for the whole year.

Tough times for Clone Wars enthusiasts. At least you guys aren't as bad off as we are.

I think the animated stuff is being phased out, and it makes sense. The show has had a big-time drop in ratings and popularity, and the Clone Wars sub-line as a whole appears to have performed poorly over the last year or so.

I think this is somewhat of a misnomer.

I don't doubt that the sales have dropped, but that decline has been hastened by the random and erratic shipping of the last few waves of 2011 and the churning out of mostly rehash/repaint waves so far this year off of some very lackluster figure choices. There's been pretty much only one wave on the pegs for six months now.

As someone pointed out over at 'scum,  Hasbro can probably justify it with saying that sales dropped off a cliff, but they seemed to make sure that would happen with their poor decision-making and execution...

Regardless of popularity, the quality of the show last season was resurgent. Would like to see the toy line rebound similarly...certainly there is a wealth of great toy fodder out there now to mine from.

Of all the yearly cons, seems to me SDCC has the highest "kid quotient" so not sure why that would not be considered a receptive audience for discussing the animated line. NYCC is more of an industry type deal and CVI seems like an even harder core vintage focused group than SDCC.