The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Chris Evans was offered the Captain America part, but they haven't confirmed the story with either Marvel or Evans' agent.

I think we can attribute the mismatched numbers to the Toy Fair cards being mockups.  FWIW, one of the Boba Fett's on display at Toy Fair was the VOTC version.

The info that JTA received from Hasbro was sent out as a followup to the most recent Q&A session.  That info is only a couple of days old compared to what we saw at Toy Fair.

Historical perspective is something that definitely needs to be taken into account with The Pacific.  The US was attacked and that got the American people mobilized.  Men were enlisting in record numbers after the Pearl Harbor attack.  And there were many instances of men taking their own lives because of their 4F draft status.

And in the leadup to this battle?  American forces were being defeated across the Pacific theater in the early months of 1942.  American positions on Wake Island, Guam and the Phillipines had been taken by the Japanese in the leadup to the battle for Guadalcanal.  The situation on Guadalcanal grew more dire as the battle progressed.  The Marines were left to fend for themselves because the Navy ships offshore were driven off by the Japanese.  It makes the Marines lack of mercy seem more understandable.  But it was also shown that Japanese wounded would try to take as many Americans with them, too.

I'm also curious to see what some my uncle who is a WWII veteran would say about this.  He was in the US Army's 25th ID.  He survived the attack on Schofield Barracks by some of the Japanese forces that hit Pearl Harbor.  And he fought with US Army forces on Guadalcanal.  He told me that Terence Malick's film The Thin Red Line captured some of what happened there.  But there's so much more that he's left unsaid.

And is it me, or does The Pacific merit it's own thread?

Are they going to develop into elite 1200 yard + RB's?  That remains to be seen.  But even though I'm a Giants fan, Rex Ryan has made the Jets somewhat worth watching.

Obviously this is not intended to be a mainline offering.  I think it's bound to be either an event exclusive or an online exclusive.  Because it's a collector focused item.  It's not designed to have broad appeal.  And given the state of the collector base right now, I am not completely certain that this is going to make it to market.

My guess is that it's probably not coming out until next year at the earliest.  Hasbro spoke specifically about trying to regain some focus in the movie line this year.  But I think they're trying to bring back some of the collector base back into the fold this year with the Vintage Collection.  If that's successful and collector focused items start to sell better,  then perhaps it will be a positive development for the Funeral Pyre Vader.

I never thought about it until a Galactic Hunter reader in a Q/A w/ Adam Pawlus pointed out that people would have a difficult time getting to desired figures waaay back in the shelves without the J-hook. It's a very valid point. Either those impatient enough are either going to 1. get REALLy frustrated while taking down all the figures to get to that one in the back, or 2. just straight up tear the package off the hook. It really makes you wonder. 

Those butterfly holes on the Vintage Collection cardbacks are going to be reinforced with plastic.  So tearing cards off of the pegs will be prohibitive.

Was wondering what you guys use to protect your camera from rains.  I'm planning on going on a cruise to Alaska this September and not sure what product is best to protect my D60 from the rain.  I have been looking at stuff on Amazon but not sure what actually is worth it or not to buy.  Thanks for any help.

You can protect the camera body with something as simple as a plastic bag.  This is something that the videographers in my company do as a matter of course when there's bad weather and they must shoot outside.  But if you need to change lenses, be sure to wipe everything down before hand and make the lens change somewhere that's under cover.

As for the lens, I'd recommend a few things.  First, get some filters for your lens.  I try not to expose the lens itself.  Hoya's filter kit is a good starting point.  I like to keep a neutral density filter on the lens of my Nikon D-50 whenever I shoot outside.  And a lens hood will help keep any water droplets from getting on the filter.  Last, keep a lens cleaning cloth with you.  You can try really hard to keep the lens dry.  But if you get some water on it you're going to want any appropriate cleaning cloth to dry it off.  And those are $10 or so.

Oh, and BrentS...AWESOME PICS!

I'm going to be selling off my GG animated maquettes very soon.  If anyone is looking for any of the earlier pieces feel free to drop me a PM.  I'll be posting a full list in the classifieds soon.