WOTC Star Wars Miniatures

[JediMAC]

...after the starter set and 3 booster packs (and $62.50 down the drain  )

Thoughts so far? These are nice. But they are way too expensive. The amount of doubles (and triples  ) that I've already got are making me warry of buying too many boosters going forward. Just doesn't seem worth it. From what I've seen (and spent) so far, these things are costing me about $1.65 per figure ($62.50 / 38 figures).  That's a little pricey for these, if you ask me.

Argh!  You guys gotta stop paying retail for these things!  Yeah, it IS way too expensive (and not fun) that way...    Unless you're really loaded, or just don't care about the cost factor, the best thing to do is hit some of those links I threw in here for the e-tailers that carry these (assuming any of them still have stock left at this point).  They sell them in lots of 3, 6, 9, or cases.  Do it that way, and even with shipping, they come out to a much more stomachable $8.50ish each.  Plus, if you buy a case, your assured of 12 different Rs/VRs, which is an excellent way to start.  But if you're going to be buying Boosters at your local stores, at least try to do the weight test, so you can almost assure yourself of pulling some VRs, that are much easier to trade away for your other needs...

Then you've gotta hit the WOTC and Maxminis.com trading forums to finish stuff off, once you're relatively close.  I stopped short with 8 figures still on my wants list, but have been able to trade for all of them without having to buy anything beyond my original 21 boosters and the starter.  Granted, it took about 72 hours of straight trading negotiating to do it, but who the hell really needs to eat, sleep, or work anyway...?   

[SilverZ]

Yeah, no kidding. Grabbed 6 boosters today, and got 3 figures I needed.  And out of the 6 packs, I got 2 frickin' Mara Jades. I'm done buying and ready to start trading.

Need:
03  Chewbacca
07  Han Solo
55  Greedo
11  Obi-Wan Kenobi
25  Emperor Palpatine
40  Sandtrooper on Dewback
60  Wampa

For Trade:
Common:
06  Elite Rebel Trooper x3
20  Wookiee Soldier x3
59  Twi'lek Scoundrel x3
36  Stormtrooper x4
38  Stormtrooper x4
45  Ewok x4
41  Bespin Guard x5
51  Jawa x5
53  Mon Calamari Mercenary x5
18  Rebel Trooper x6
19  Rebel Trooper x6
08  Hoth Trooper x7
35  Snowtrooper x7
37  Stormtrooper x7
57  Tusken Raider x7
17  Rebel Pilot x8 

Uncommon:
05  Elite Hoth Trooper
16  Rebel Officer
28  Heavy Stormtrooper
29  Imperial Officer
32  Royal Guard
39  Stormtrooper Officer
44  Duros Mercenary
47  Gamorrean Guard
58  Twi'lek Bodyguard
15  Rebel Commando x2
24  Elite Stormtrooper x2
54  Quarren Assassin x2
01  Bothan Spy x3
33  Scout Trooper x3
23  Elite Snowtrooper x4
49  Ithorian Scout x5

Rare:
27  Grand Moff Tarkin
30  Mara Jade, Emperor’s Hand x2

[JediMAC]

Just a head's up, but this dude's got some pretty good prices on some of the R's and VR's, over at Maxminis.com (where I've done a lot of trading).  Might be worth looking into for some of you...  Looks like his figures are going fast though, so ya' better hurry!

[SilverZ]

Damn, he's a "I hate Paypal more than I hate George Luca$" guys. I'm just too damn lazy to deal with getting a MO. He does have some good stuff on there and fair prices for them.

[JediMAC]

Second Clone Strike preview figure's up, the Naboo Royal Security:



They mention the first two factions for Clone Strike will be the Separatists and the Republic.  Not sure if a third faction is coming again, but I'd guess so.  Probably just "Fringe" again...

As for my set, I'm down to just needing the Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight figure.  So if anyone's got an extra, give me a shout and we can discuss!   

[JediMAC]

Time to update my personal list here (I/P), so I can figure out where the hell I stand now, after about 10 trades in the last few days...

Common figures (16):
  6  Elite Rebel Trooper x4
  8  Hoth Trooper x6
17  Rebel Pilot x5
18  Rebel Trooper x6
19  Rebel Trooper x5
20  Wookiee Soldier x4 (plus promo)
35  Snowtrooper x4
36  Stormtrooper x3
37  Stormtrooper
38  Stormtrooper x3
41  Bespin Guard x4
45  Ewok x6
51  Jawa x4
53  Mon Calamari Mercenary x6 (plus promo)
57  Tusken Raider x6 (plus promo)
59  Twi'lek Scoundrel x7

Uncommon figures (16):
  1  Bothan Spy
  5  Elite Hoth Trooper
15  Rebel Commando
16  Rebel Officer x2
23  Elite Snowtrooper x2
24  Elite Stormtrooper x3 (plus 2 extra Comic Con promos)
28  Heavy Stormtrooper x2
29  Imperial Officer
32  Royal Guard x3
33  Scout Trooper x2
39  Stormtrooper Officer x2
44  Duros Mercenary x3
47  Gamorrean Guard x3
49  Ithorian Scout x2
54  Quarren Assassin x3
58  Twi'lek Bodyguard

Rare figures (16):
  2  C-3P0
  3  Chewbacca
  7  Han Solo
10  Luke Skywalker, Rebel
13  Princess Leia, Senator
14  R2-D2
21  Darth Vader, Dark Jedi
26  General Veers
27  Grand Moff Tarkin x2
30  Mara Jade, Emperor’s Hand
43  Dengar
46  4-LOM
48  IG-88
52  Lando Calrissian
55  Greedo
56  Bossk

Very Rare figures (12):
  4  Commando on Speeder Bike
  9  Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight - pending   
11  Obi-Wan Kenobi
12  Princess Leia, Captive
22  Darth Vader, Sith Lord
25  Emperor Palpatine
31  Probe Droid
34  Scout Trooper on Speeder Bike
40  Sandtrooper on Dewback x2 - extra is pending for Jedi Luke
42  Boba Fett
50  Jabba the Hutt
60  Wampa

[chuckles]

For what it's worth, here are the 13 I'm still missing.

Rare
3 - Chewbacca
13 - Princess Leia, Senator
14 - R2-D2
27 - Tarkin
30 - Mara Jade
56 - Bossk

Very Rare
4 - Commando on Speeder Bike
9 - Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight
11 - Obi Wan Kenobi
12 - Princess Leia, Captive
25 - Palpatine
31 - Probe Droid
42 - Boba Fett

[Jedi Idej]

For what it's worth, here are the 13 I'm still missing.

You have any rare extas? I have Mara Jade.

I've made a few more calls and visits to local shops. Only 1 store had any of these. The others didn't bother to stock because there wasn't any demand. Strange. The single shop that has some pegged them off to the side of and slightly behind the counter. I didn't bother to ask to see them -- if they allow people to inspect, then the boxes have been cherry picked; if they don't, well, I ain't going to chance $13 + tax when I can get them for less online.

The pros of online is the price. And wave 2 of Rebel Storm can be pre-odered for even slightly less than what wave 1 is currently selling for online. The bad is not getting the "now" satisfaction. A bigger issue for me is the potential that orders less than a case were are filled from a pile where the boxes have already been screened for the heavier packs, so, lessening the chances of getting a vr.

A 12-pack case has 4 vr. With 1 out of 3 boxes containing a vr, there's a great chance buying 4 will yield gold. Now let's say, for example, 2 of those boxes can be distinguished by weight and consequently pulled. The remainder then has 2 vr out of 10 packs, or 1 in 5. It's been a while since I took probs/stats, so I don't remember how to determine the odds, but clearly, the odds of getting 4 packs without a single very rare has now gone up immensely (or, similarly, the chance of getting a vr is low).

But really, I'm not bitter. 

[JediMAC]

Well, I think you need to make sure (verify with them) that the Booster cases are in fact sealed, if you're ordering online.  There's SUPPOSED to be 4 VRs in every case, and that's been the case in about 98% of the case breakdowns I've seen.  I'd say if you get any less than 4, the case has been tampered with...  But yeah, picking up sets in person may mean that the heavier VRs have already been cherry picked out (I did that with 4 of the heavies myself  ).  Doesn't hurt to try it though, if they'll let you hold/weigh all the boosters...

Definitely better prices online, and even at Target.com now too!  Jared and I both managed to find local gaming stores selling the packs for $10.99 each, which is slightly more tolerable, but still far from the $8.50 range of the e-tailers.

As for the "now" factor, it lasted about a week for me, since I've almost polished off my set with a bunch of crazy trading this week.  Just a question of how the hell long I'll have to be waiting for more OT figures to show up now.  Might be quite a while...   

[JediMAC]

Woohoo!  Got my first trading package in today - Obi-wan, Veers and Dengar are now MINE!   

[Jedi Idej]

Reading over my half-assed analysis, even I lost track of what I was saying. (That's why I try to make brief posts -- my extra verbage winds up muddling my train of thought.)

To clarify, my case ordered online was fine; 4 vr, 2 noticeably heavier (wampa, jabba) and 1 iffy (it turned out be scout/bike -- woohoo).  The 4 extra, out-of-case boosters in that same order, though, was questionable and was what inspired my last post as none contained a vr. Again... when 1 vr out of 3 boosters is likely, 0 out of 4 makes me wonder. ...Not that I'm accusing the person who packed my order of being an unethical rat bastard.

Here's  an online dealer listing boosters for $9. I emailed them on Saturday about availability, ect, and hope to get a response early this week.

[chuckles]

You have any rare extas? I have Mara Jade.

Nope, sorry. No extra rares or very rares. Tons of extra commons and uncommons if you're interested in any of those.

[Morgbug]

Have I said yet how happy I am with my uncommon wisdom to avoid this line entirely

[JediMAC]

I believe so, but if you don't shut up, I'm going to send you a handful of my extra Commons and Uncommons, and then you'll have no choice but to start collecting them in order to complete your set!

So there.   

[jokabofe]

I believe so, but if you don't shut up, I'm going to send you a handful of my extra Commons and Uncommons, and then you'll have no choice but to start collecting them in order to complete your set!

meh, by the time he gets around to doing that, Brent, you'll have decided to jump in and have your set finished already