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Messages - Nicklab

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5791
The Bullpen / Re: Avengers Infinite
« on: January 22, 2014, 03:17 PM »
And yeah, if you can let me know where to get a Bespin Leia on the cheap, please unveil the curtain.  I still need one.


I know where to get one locally for about $8 or $9.  Not a total bargain, but if you need one PM me.

5792
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Official Television Thread
« on: January 20, 2014, 07:18 PM »
I've been checking out True Detective for the past couple of weeks on HBO.  Thus far it's in keeping with the dramatic tone that HBO has been able to strike with it's original series.  I think it captures some of the painstaking search for details that detectives have to undertake in order to solve a real crime.  And it also seems to capture the darkness that's in some of the people who are called to investigate murders. 

I get the sense that this show might take some patience.  At least before things really pick up.  But they've definitely got my interest for now.

5793
The Black Series 3.75" / Re: Toy Fair 2014
« on: January 20, 2014, 05:02 PM »
Given the reveal of the Inquisitor over at the official site?  Rebels is probably going to be the big push at Toy Fair.  But I'm also wondering if the Star Wars line is going to get scaled back the way we've also seen the Hasbro Marvel movie lines get scaled back.

5794
The Bullpen / Re: Avengers Infinite
« on: January 19, 2014, 04:17 PM »
Deny the trends as much as you want.  The fact remains that female characters sell more poorly.  I know that flies in the face of what YOU and other collectors may want.  But in the broader market?  Female characters just don't sell as well.  Hence, they get short-packed.  If they didn't, the retailers would give the manufacturers grief regarding case assortments that don't sell through.

As for short packing being used to create artificial demand?  We've seen it plenty of times.  Do we really need to go back to some of the golden oldies?  How about as far back as 1999, with the POTF2 CommTech R2-D2 with holo Leia?  Shortpacked at 1 per case and only offered in once case.  At it's peak that figure sold for as much as $80.  Or how about the Ultimate Galactic Hunt foil cards?  That wasn't even discrete.  Hasbro called them what they were:  chase figures.  We also saw EU characters in the TVC line which were only offered as one per case like Bastila, Galen Marek/Starkiller, and Shae Vizla.  All offered in only a single case assortment and packed one per case.  Lo and behold you wound up with these as "HOT" figures, and some collectors NEVER saw them at brick & mortar retail.  THAT is called creating artificial demand.  And it's been done numerous other times, all in the interest of driving the collecting chase.

If you still need a Bespin Leia?  I know where there are plenty of them if you want one.

As for Wasp?  She's an important character in the scope of the Avengers comics.  And IIRC she wound up making an appearance in one of the Ultimate Avengers animated features.  But I don't think you're likely to see her in an Avengers figure assortment at more than 1 per case until her character winds up in one of the Marvel cinematic universe's feature films.

5795
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« on: January 17, 2014, 05:07 PM »
Agreed.  It's the eBay version of dealing with a troll.  Don't leave feedback, and in time he'll go away.

5796
The Bullpen / Re: Avengers Infinite
« on: January 17, 2014, 04:37 PM »
I wonder if sales would be better if Hasbro actually made more of them.  Can't imagine anyone wanting more Shae Vizla or Bastilla Shan.  Good thing Guri didn't top the EU most wanted figure list this year.  Oh wait...

When you artificially create a shortage of a character through shortpacking, you drive up their desirability.  Hence Shae Viszla and Bastila were VHTF figures.  That's a calculated move by Hasbro because of the long running track record with female characters.

Case in point?  The Lost Line Look wave from the TVC line was pretty equally packed.  There are some places I know where you can still find this particular wave of figures.  And guess who's left?  Bespin Leia.  The Clones, Sandtrooper and Vader have pretty well sold through.  Even Jar Jar has sold.  But some of those Leias still linger.

5797
The Sequel Trilogy / Re: Star Wars Episode VII
« on: January 14, 2014, 11:40 PM »
Obi-Wan Kenobi having a child can POSSIBLY work.  I think it would have to be from his time on Tatooine.  He may have chided Anakin about attachment in Attack Of The Clones, but his views on attachment may have changed following the events of Revenge Of The Sith.  Obi-Wan failed Anakin, his student and his friend.  And then he had to do the unthinkable, believing that he had mortally wounded his friend and then watched him burn.  Obi-Wan may have been strong, but that kind of failure had to rock him to the core.  And that, along with the destruction of the Jedi Order, very likely made him question a lot of things in his own life.  He also went on to train Luke, despite him knowing all about Anakin turning to the Dark Side.

Obi-Wan is FAR from a perfect character.  And his history following the events of Episode III makes the possibility that he fathered a child at least... plausible.

5798
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Bar's open! What'll you have...?
« on: January 14, 2014, 02:34 PM »
Esquire had renowned Scottish actor Brian Cox sit down in an effort to educate Americans about the pronunciations of the names of some of the more renowned Scotch whiskeys.  Check it out here.

Holy crap.  That is what I was logging in to post.

But how else would you know how to pronounce Bruichladdich or Caol Ila?

5799
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Your Top 20 Movies
« on: January 13, 2014, 11:35 PM »
Such a tough thing to do. 

1 - The Empire Strikes Back
2 - A New Hope
3 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
4 - The Big Lebowski
5 - Rear Window
6 - Return of the Jedi
7 - The Godfather
8 - The Godfather Part II
9 - LOTR - The Two Towers
10 - Lawrence of Arabia
11 - Saving Private Ryan
12 - LOTR - Return of the King
13 - Still Crazy
14 - Gladiator
15 - Patton
16 - A Bronx Tale
17 - The Last Waltz
18 - Revenge of the Sith
19 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
20 - Avengers

5800
1 - PK Droid
2 - Tey How
3 - R5-X2
4 - Cliegg Lars
5 - Senator Padme Amidala (ROTS bun hairdo)
6 -  Cin Drallig
7 - Chancellor Palpatine - Office Duel
8 - Arleil Schous
9 - Baniss Keeg
10 - Han Solo (Carbonite)
11 - Princess Leia (Bespin Escape)
12 - Sergeant Doallyn
13 - Ishi Tib (Jabba's Palace)
14 - Emporer Palpatine
15 - Sim Aloo

5801
TV-9D9 / Re: Star Wars Rebels - Coming Fall 2014
« on: January 13, 2014, 02:11 PM »
Wow, I'm digging the old school troop transport that they showed.  Gotta dig that thing out again.

It IS cool to see that.  I always thought that vehicle was cool, and still wish that it would have been part of my vehicle collection way back when. 

But the inclusion of the Imperial Troop Transport DOES bring one thing to mind.  Is the REBELS team doing it because it works in the context of the new series?  Or is it something that Gary Kurtz voiced a concern about in an interview that he did within the past couple of years?  He said that he became concerned about the future of Star Wars because it seemed to become a vehicle for driving the toy business.  I hope it's not something that cynical.

5802
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: A Game of Thrones (HBO)
« on: January 13, 2014, 02:05 PM »
There was so much jammed into that trailer that I don't know where to begin...with the trailer, that is.  It looks awesome.

But my own great Game of Thrones moment from the weekend?  I was walking in NYC and someone caught my eye.  Who?  Peter Dinklage, hailing a cab!  He saw the recognition on my face.  And considering he was with his kid?  I especially did not want to be an annoying fanboy, and just gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

5803
Star Wars Universe / Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« on: January 13, 2014, 01:56 PM »
I don't think this is going to mean that Disney/Lucasfilm is going to start pulling books, comics and graphic novels off of book store shelves.  That would be taking things to preposterous levels.  Is it possible that the aforementioned material will go out of print?  Most likely, especially with the expiration of Dark Horse's comic adaptation contract.  As for the novels?  That remains to be seen.  For the time being, all of that material remains, and fans of the post-ROTJ expanded universe can continue to enjoy all of that literature to their heart's content.  I enjoyed some of the Rogue Squadron stories.  And I thought that Crimson Empire was a great story.  Why?  Largely because those stories focused on characters whose stories never got (and would never get) explored in the films.  I felt that the EU was the perfect vehicle for them.

But the stories that included the main characters, like Luke, Leia, Han Solo et al?  I found that the way those characters were written in the EU was too divergent (for my tastes) from the way those characters were developed in the films.  Say what you will about the acting and dialogue of all of the movies, but they did manage to establish some interesting characters.  The EU writers did not seem as though they captured the essence of the characters for me.

I think it's those stories that involve Luke, Leia & Han Solo that the Lucasfilm story group, with guys like Pablo Hidalgo and Leland Chee, are likely to take to editing.  Simply because those storylines have the potential to hamstring the writing process for the new trilogy as well as the standalone films.  And those guys are not some Disney new hires.  They've been with Lucasfilm for a LONG time.  They know the material.  Leleand Chee was the guy behind LFL's in-house Holocron, which was the OFFICIAL and unpublished source of Star Wars continuity.  And Pablo Hidalgo was one of the driving forces behind the Star Wars official site, which was itself once a great source of Star Wars lore in their Databank.  I think they along with the other members of the Star Wars story group are going to be very judicious in their decision making.  But they may also have to be very ruthless in the process.  I don't think that every EU fan is going to be ecstatic about this process.  But I think fans of the film universe will be the beneficiaries of some very thoughtful changes in the direction of the Star Wars universe, post-ROTJ.

I think that comparisons to both Marvel and DC comics are apt.  Marvel has obliterated their own universe before in order to start anew with things like the Ultimates.  And the Marvel cinematic universe seems to be something that fans have thus far accepted.  And as Jeff mentioned, the Crisis mini-series did set the stage for divergences in DC's overall continuum.  I suspect that this is the sort of change that we can expect for Star Wars as well.

5804
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Bar's open! What'll you have...?
« on: January 12, 2014, 09:26 PM »
Esquire had renowned Scottish actor Brian Cox sit down in an effort to educate Americans about the pronunciations of the names of some of the more renowned Scotch whiskeys.  Check it out here.

5805
Star Wars Universe / Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« on: January 12, 2014, 09:13 PM »
The overall story direction of the post-ROTJ EU was almost non-existant.  It lacked the sense of singular vision that steered both the PT and the OT.  You had to deal with some crazy premises, ridiculous names and the like.  George Lucas reportedly signed off on a lot of this stuff, but I have to wonder just how closely he was involved in the story direction of these scores of novels and comics that have been released over the years.  For me, almost ALL of the post-ROTJ EU has been difficult to accept.  Some of the pre-PT, Clone Wars and dark times stories work for me, but it's somewhat limited.

I think that this decision will ultimately serve the movies far better.  Why?  Because JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan aren't going to be painted into a corner by all of this burdensome EU minutiae.  And I think they're going to be better able to serve up a great Star Wars story because they're going to have more freedom.  And to me?  I think that JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan are far more capable writers when it comes to interpreting George Lucas's vision than any EU novelist or comic writer.  Even Timothy Zahn.

Even George Lucas wound up being boxed in by his own work.  The prequels were tough for him from a writing standpoint because he had to fulfill all of these story elements that were established in the OT.  Think about the constraints he had to work within just based on how he had Vader speak in the OT.  Vader's dialogue was very tight and focused in the OT.  Almost robotic.  How do you humanize that voice and character in Vader's origin story while staying true to the OT movies?  That alone was very difficult. 

And that makes me much more understanding of Disney's decision to establish this Star Wars story group within the newly re-organized Lucasfilm.  If they need to cut bait with a majority of the post-ROTJ expanded universe stories and literature?  Then do it.  Because the movies have to be the true canon.  Otherwise you devalue the Star Wars film legacy.

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