I do tend to rate figures against each other, and some figures get a "pass" on certain criteria I hold in the utmost importance for other characters/figures.  I know I certainly don't hold "Senator" figures in the same class as Jedi and army builders...  I look for more out of one than the other and I expect Hasbro to deliver a quality toy with both, but one I just hold in higher regard...  I guess it's just a preference.

For my tastes, a "good" figure has a minimum articualtion of 12 points of articulation.  My "standard" I'd set for Hasbro if I could run the show is the Cantina wave's articulation...  IE:

-2 standard shoulder joints
-2 angle-cut elbow joints
-2 standard wrist joints
-2 standard hip joints
-2 ball/socket knee joints
-1 ball/socket neck joint
-1 standard waist joint

This articulation woudl apply to Cantina aliens, Imp./Reb. Officers, etc...  Basically third tier characters with less "action" sequences but who you still want poseability with them that goes beyond the old standard 6 points.

Improvements would be made here and there ABOVE the standard for Jedi, some main characters, and army builders.  Super Articulation (IE: Pilot Obi-Wan articulation duplicated) would be used sporatically...  A main character in one of his costumes here and there, an army builder here and there, and that figure would see subsequent rerelease till the line's death.  Other versions would get retired short of maybe re-use in battlepacks or some such.

The improvements to my "standard" would be like maybe ball/socket shoulders instead of standard shoulders, or ball/socket elbows instead of the angle-cut joints.  These would be generally reserved for figures where it makes sense though...  Like ball/socket elbows are better for a character with a rifle than angle-cut elbows are, so angle-cuts would go to Jedi characters mostly.

Articulated Ankles would ONLY come on super articulated figures...  A ball/socket ankle is not necessary on figures like the Neimoidian Warrior or Utapau Warrior who can't bend their knees...  Same with Bacarra.  The knees outweight the ankles, and those were dumbass (and costly) decisions on Hasbro's part.

Now...  That said, the characters in the Lucas pack are actually pretty cool to me...  I do believe them to be boring however.  They're not "action" packed characters, they're Senators...  And Senators are boring.  Mon Mothma is the only figure I can find right now and she's proof they're boring.  She's a good figure though...  And this is where the hypocrite in me comes out.

The Mothma figure rocks, I love it, but she's boring as watching paint dry.  She's as good as a "Senator-Ish" figure is capable of being though short of really cool accessories...  That's where I really hold the spotlight on these types of figures.  Their accessories make them...  Not their articulation.  Their robes inhibit poseability and honestly I like them being as poseable as they can be but I know leg articulation is generally out the window with Meena Tills or Mas Ameda.

I like Mas Ameda, he has some of the best arm articulation of any figure, but he's still boring overall.  Same with other Senators...  I'd put Bib Fortuna in this category, and I like how he looks and I love to get him and to me he can't be better really.  The same rule applies to the Lucas Collection (short of Zett who I believe is a weak figure due to the lack of knee articulation).  The other figures are GREAT...  They suck for their price, but they're really nice looking figures.

For me, a set of 4 SA (or near) Hoth Rebel Soldiers, or Rebel FLeet Troopers, or Scouts, or some such would have been more of a "Wow" factor for me...  Army builders are what I love more in the line than anything, but I'm cool with background figures like the Lucas clan too.  But when I started playing with Obi-Wan Pilot or the VOTC Stormtrooper, I couldn't put them down really, so they're more "important" in my collection to me I guess is a good way to put it.  I'd rather get SA Rebel Troopers than anything...  Hell I'd probably take a set of all 3 Rebel Troops Super Articulated over anything else and I'd be content if the line died then and there after I got my fill of those.  The rest would just be icing on the cake in my eyes.

I dunno, #6 Shocks weren't easy to find on basic cards around here...  However I've blown the photo up and the nubs definitely aren't a packaging distortion, however I can't say what they are...  They look like the antenna's to me but even if it is the #41 it doesn't mean that's what we'll wind up getting either so it's neither here nor there at this point.

I don't think it's always easy to tell an articulation point either by photographs.  For my money, I can see a vague line/difference at the torso but nothing significant to conclusively prove to me it's either sculpt.  The SA Clone's torso joint is fairly "tight" on the figure though and I don't notice the separation of the pieces on any figure really unless the picture is just at the right angle.

Happy Festivus, and with the skism and the flizzle and the Jello Brand Pudding.

$6.99 is going to force me to be a good bit more choosey with what I buy...  Army building is going to be a bit more calculated, custom fodder too...  And figures like Fett won't be on my "to buy" list now whereas they likely would have been picked up at the $5-ish price range...  Things start jumping in price and I gotta alter my habits to accomodate.

I'm hoping a competition war will cause some drops at Target and Wal-Mart at the least...  TRU hopefully will come to the $6 range and KB and KM can just suck it.

I was perusing my junk the other day and came across the EU Airspeeder and I have to agree with the first poster on this (albeit old thread) that it's an underrated toy.

The concept cloud car fits in perfectly with the canon film CC I believe and the figure with the ship was really ahead of its time in sculpt.  Whoever made the figure over at Hasbro should really be proud of the detail he captured...  There's even evidence of a high cut boot under the tight pants...  That's some pretty remarkable detail for the time.  I think the EU pilot makes a good "citizen" figure for your Bespin set up or other dioramas where you'd need some background filler.  The figure's pretty sharp looking though and was good for its time certainly...  The airspeeder pilot was good too but very large/tall compared to other figures.

Anyway I popped a CC Pilot in the EU vehicle and he looks good...  Just that much more reason to want the real Cloud Car released, but this is a nice, believable looking vehicle for Bespin too.  Who's to say they didn't use both models ya know?

It's Festivus for the rest of us I guess...

Happy Festivus and happy holidays to you all.  Enjoy the weekend...  Be safe traveling for those of you who have to and have fun.

Seems like the price increase may be on...

At $6 I'm alright...  $7's a bit much though and I'll be cutting back a bit if that's the case.  $6 I'll still get some for customs and army buidling but unfortunately less than I likely would have otherwise.

I still wholely expect some kind of price reduction as the whole competition thing kicks in.  Target's not even reportedly getting anything yet...  When they do I expect WM to try undercutting them.

KM and KB will always be high though, and TRU was higher than WM or Target this past year so I'm not expecting them to come down much.

EDIT:

BTW it's so great to say this here without some dickless wonder telling me how "If a $1 or $2 increase is really that big a deal to you, you probably should quit collecting and being so cheap, or go get a real job"...  Last I looked, that was a popular thing to spout off about elsewhere for some folks...  Glad to see we can talk price increases here and not have to demean each other about how we view value and our spending habits.  Good knowing we've got a solid respectful group guys, seriously. 

I've heard a LOT about either reshipments of these (maybe a 2nd wave of them was sent out at one point or another?) or just that stores were really stocked up with them.  I know that I had hit a store here and they'd had some and I got one there.  Then they didn't have any my next trip (at least that's what the computer told me).  Then a buddy said they had about a dozen on the pegs weeks later.  Very strange this figure was.

It's a good figure too so it's nice people didn't seem to have a horrid time finding it if they used the DPCI...  It's neat having it, but I just wish they'd had more at a cheaper price.  It's one I'd have loved to army build with.