Holy crap, nice! Scratch one giant fear about the ROTS line, at least for Collection 2.
Wow, the articulation looks outstanding! Nice, neutral poses, good detail. Looking pretty great so far. If this is the direction Hasbro's going to be taking with the line, including future OT figures, then I can probably stomach a buck or two price increase.
Hopefully this is a turning point for the entire line. All three look like winners. If Dooku's arm articulation is the standard we'll get for dueling characters all is right in the world.
What's interesting, is that at Comic Con, Hasbro said they'd be running the Collection 1 and 2 assortments again, similar to Saga, and that they'd be returning to the dreaded Action Features. A couple of these are certainly "main characters" (Dooku, Palpy), so to see them looking like this either means they'll be in Collection 2 (in addition to Collection 1), or just that the Action Features aren't going to be as prominent as we're all fearing.
I wouldn't consider any of these 3 core characters. They’re supporting characters, even if prominent ones, so they just gotta be C2. Plus, they're characters that have been released before and even if wearing new wardrobe just aren't needed in heavy distribution like the Anakins and Obis I'm assuming are being put into C1.
I'm fully expecting some heinous atrocities committed in the C1 line in the name of kids and action features.
I'd be thrilled to learn if they've
really learned their lesson and made a larger gap and difference between C1 and C2 figures. Those pics above certainly qualify as collector oriented, and I doubt I could come back wanting anything else out of a Dooku or Bail, so I'd be ready to call them definitive barring any unique on-screen event takes place (on par with Luke losing a hand in ESB type features) that would improve the figure's totality.
That does make me worry a bit about the core characters, like if we'll be waiting a while for C2 SA versions of Anakin and Obi-Wan while C1 gets spring-loaded "Final Duel" versions with wide stances. If they really do acknowledge the need for collector versions of figures that require kid-friendly versions at launch, I'll be happy to wait, assuming an SA one is on the way.
Looks a hell of a lot rosier for next year than I had expected, though!
