I was selected for JD when I was 18, but never got picked for the jury.  It was a hassle back then, because I lost out on some work pay and just sat around waiting all week, but now that I'm older I think I'd really like being part of the process. 

In CO (I'm not sure if this is true in other states as well) it is mandatory for your employer to pay you for at least the first three days at your normal wage. If your are unemployed the court pays you, $50 plus reasonable expenses. After three days it is up to your employer, if they don't pay you then the court pays you $50 a day.

Bumping this thread back up.

I got my first jury summons the other day and get to report tomorrow. I'm actually excited I always wanted to get the chance to serve. And I'm pretty excited to hopefully miss a crappy work day tomorrow.

We all know about all of the Vintage lines failings by now: shoddy distribution, bad case assortments, high prices, supposedly slacking sales... etc., etc., With the reveal of latest case assortment with only three new figures per wave it got me thinking today, are we headed towards either a 'new' figure line or a re-launching of the vintage line?

There seems to be a lot of similarities with the end of the SAGA line in 2004. The line was finally showing some promise after two years of mostly ****. Distribution in 2003 and even early 2004 was horrid, I don't know if it was quite as bad as it currently is, but it was close. 2004 SAGA ended with a wave that consisted of only three new figures, AT-ST Han, General Lando, and Crix Madine. The wave never showed up at retail here in CO. Another thing I find interesting is that this all happened in 2004 coinciding with the brand new DVD release. The SAGA line was canned and in came the Original Trilogy Collection (and the VOTC as well.) The last Saga wave did manage to find it's way into the OTC.

Out of the OTC's thirty eight basic figures only seven of them were new, the rest were either repaints or straight repacks. The seven figures were broken up into waves of three and four new figures.

The reason I am bring the OTC/SAGA transition up now is of course because of this year's BluRay release. It seems that many of the signs of 2004 are repeating themselves. I'm sure Lucasfilm wants lots of other merchandise out on the shelves to line up with the release. Why wouldn't a new figure line be a part of that? What makes it especially possible is the rumor that Hasbro intends to make 'realistic' Clone Wars figures in the regular line, and also that Saga Legends may also become part of the basic line. If they want to quickly, and cheaply relaunch the line it would likely be mostly repacks to cut Hasbro's costs, with a few new figures thrown in here and there to entice collectors into re-buying the rest.

I see two ways they could go about the change The first being an all new packing line with a new name, like they did with the OTC. I'm sure we'd see lots of repacks and wouldn't expect many new figures. This would require them to completely change the packing though, so that may be prohibitive. But if it changed the SKUs retailers would buy more for a reset. The other choice would be to re-launch the Vintage line starting the numbering system over. Vintage already seems like the best way to usher in the BluRay, so I'd like this option better. This time though I'd bet it'd essentially have Saga Legends mixed in, and would expect lots of repacks and very few new figures. This second option would probably take less effort on Hasbro's part and would likely be cheaper, so hopefully we'd see more new stuff this way than we would with option one.

I could see some of the later waves from this year being swapped over into the new line, much like the final 2004 Saga wave. That could also explain the ratio of new figures to old figures in the upcoming wave 10. I don't recall a line that had more than 70 figures or so in a year/single number system. That may also be a sign we are due for a change.

I don't remember when Hasbro first revealed the OTC, I was thinking it was earlier than SDCC 2004 but I could be wrong. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hasbro announce a re-launch or a new line at SDCC this year. It seems like we would have heard of this before, but Hasbro has managed to keep secrets from us before. So I don't see that it is outside the realm of possibility. Of course TPM 3D is coming out next year and we have already seen the card art with Maul on it, but I don't think that would necessarily keep the BluRay line from happening. OTC really only lasted from the end of the summer in 2004 up until about February of 2005 after only two-three small waves of POTC/OTC figures. Then of course in April of 2005 the ROTS line debuted and the basic line was restarted for the second time in less than a year. I can definitely see the same thing happening again this time around with the BluRay and TPM 3D. I'm sure that if we don't hear anything by SDCC that nothing is likely to happen.

Thoughts anyone?

Three new figures packed one each in a new wave... Genius.

I think the saddest part of this is that none of the repacks in this wave were ever very prevalent around here in Denver. Sure Wedge, the Gammorean, would definitely have been better choices for the wave, but really I haven't seen most of those figure more than once or twice, if at all. I have yet to see Wave 7, I saw maybe one or two stores that had Wave 4, and the Jango figures seemed to go quick so I only ever saw a few. I never saw Wicket, Ackbar hung around the most but he wasn't that easy to find, but it's not like there is demand for more of him so soon. Vader was the worst pegwarmer out of the lot but he has cleared out around here. The Luke figures I've seen occasionally but really not that often.

I think it really just goes to show what a ****** state brick and mortar retail is in these days. Almost anything that isn't Dengar, 4-LOM, a Cloud Car Pilot, Obi-Wan or Anakin is appealing... If only because the complete lack of any new product for the last eight months to a year. And yet if this case ships in large numbers at all (which given the state of things I do kind of doubt) I'd be willing to bet that in another eight months to a year I'll be excited to see anything other than Keyan Farlander, Ackbar. Both of who I could foresee joining 4-LOM and Dengar at Targets everywhere for months and months to come.

Oskar Blues: Old Chub

Mmmmmmmm..... Yay for great microbreweries in CO! 

Still no signs of Wave 7 for me here in Denver. I did however pick up 5 Vintage Sandtroopers for $21 shipped from the Black Sheep Toy Store. Now if he'd only get some Rebel Fleet Troopers in...

Stealing from P-Siddy...

ANH
1. Concept Rebel Pilot
2. Concept Rebel Ceremonial Guard

ESB
3. Concept Lando
4. Concept Leia (Bespin)

RotJ
5. Concept Emperor
6. Concept Royal Guard
7. Concept Imperial Dignitary
8. Concept Imperial Scout

And I'll add:

9. Carth Onasi (KOTOR)
10. T3-M4 (KOTOR)

Game of Thrones is the best show currently on television. I've watched every episode multiple times and still am constantly blown away by the ending of Episode 9, "Baelor." My jaw smashed into the floor pretty hard. Seeing Rob Stark quickly growing up on screen is pretty neat.

I am always glad when I feel like a "find' a show on my own. I hadn't read (or even heard of the books) nor had I really heard much of anything about the series. Then sometime back in February or March I caught a trailer on HBO and was really intrigued. I instantly knew that it looked like it could be something special, and that I'd enjoy it. The best part about it is that my girl watched it with me and is just as into to it as I am.