Tyrant

The only thing I have managed to buy off of craigslist (they always seem to be sold by the time I get a response) was a large lot of LEGO. The lot included a nearly complete Vladek's Fortress (minor pieces were the only thing missing), nearly complete original AT-TE, the more recent Slave I (complete, duplicates of most figures for some reason), 2 V Wing Fighters, more than half of the Dagobah/XWing set, an older Airport set complete as near as I can tell, several figures (and weapons and assorted accesories), and a reasonably large tub of misc bricks (1/4 or so MEGABlocks, the only real downside). All of this was $150 (plus driving to pick it up). I believe it was a good deal. More recently at a local WalMart the Republic Gunships were dropped to $60. Naturally it was the one week I didn't go there (they had 8 of them sitting there at $78 for weeks) so they were gone when I got there. They still had the Dwarves Mine which had just dropped to $35 so I bought the 2 they still had. A few other Wal Marts near me still have those at $45. If they drop to $35 I may pick up more. Not quite as great a find but I did come across the Creator Stegasaurus set for $35 at KMart over the weekend. They had a second one that I probably should have picked up as well. It was on clearance and not a sale to be clear.

Yeah I figure if the reaction is anything to go by, the magnets should do well. Based on the make up of the sets, I would say there aren't many unrealistic possible figure combinations to wish for. The set involving Dooku/Mace/Yoda will very likely hit sales of the 3 sets those figures are in. If they are willing to do that, then the sky's the limit as I see it. I wouldn't be suprised to see a set with a Jawa, Jango Fett, and a Geonosian. No idea why those three would be together (I guess all three were probably in AotC if there were Jawas) but with the other set up anything's possible.

I was wondering if anyone had any idea as to when the last magnet set will become available? The middle one with the Stormtrooper, Rebel Pilot, and AT-ST Driver. I could see ordering a few of that one, mainly for the 2 drivers (there are better ways to amass Stormtroopers) so I was just curious if anything had turned up about that one. Or if it was available and then gone instantly. I don't consider that one likely. If that were going to happen it would surely be the Mace/Yoda/Dooku set that would sell out super fast.

Well, several things have been revealed since I posted on page 2. I would still like to see what I posted then (whatever hasn't been revealed to be coming out anyway). Seeing what we will have I have a few more ideas/desires. Battle Packs Endor-Rebels: 2 Rebel commandos, 2 different Ewoks. An Ewok Glider and/or stolen a Speeder Bike(s) would be the best vehicles. If not, perhaps a catapult or log trap (probably too many pieces). Endor-Empire: 2 Scout Troopers, 2 Navy Troopers (or 1 Navy Trooper and 1 Stormtrooper). Speeder bikes seem to be the obvious vehicles. Maybe a turret like the one in the EP III Clone Battle Pack. Death Star Large Battle Pack: 2 Navy Troopers, 2 Imperial Technicians, 1 Imperial Commander (black outfit), 1 Stormtrooper. It could include a scanner for the technicians and the control room for the hangar the Falcon was in or the control room for the Detention Block. Or, figure some way to have the Superlaser firing controls and 2 Death Star Gunners. If there is room in either one (probably not), a black 3PO droid and/or an interrigation droid could help round it out. If this set gets too big, it could simply be a smaller scale Death Star set for those who don't want to spend $400 on the huge model. Other sets We need a couple of other Force Unleashed sets. I only read the book, so I'm not sure on specifics as far as what sets would need to be made to get these figures. Something featuring Shadowguards. Presumably it would also feature Shadowtroopers and the Apprentice. Something featuring Kota. Possibly the ambush towards the end (assuming the book and game don't differ too much). This would also feature the Apprentice, Leia, and probably Vader and some Stormtroopers. If the Shadowguards are made, they should be able to make some approximations of Kir Kanos and Karnor Jax. Not sure what vehicle would be good for that. Maybe have some Shadowtroopers as well. We need some new set(s) from Kashyyyk. Perhaps a new Wookiee catamaran or a remake of the Clone speeder (the two seater). Either one would give a reason to make different wookiees and rerelease the rare clones such as the green highlighted clones and the clone scout troopers. Magnet sets Looking at the sets urrently available, I don't view these as too unlikely Troopers-Death Star Trooper, Snowtrooper, Scout Trooper. Replace the Scout Trooper with a Rebel Trooper if they need to break it up a little Troopers 2-Rebel Trooper, Hoth Rebel Trooper, Endor Trooper. As with the other, if they need to break it up a little replace the Rebel Trooper with a Tie Fighter Pilot Drivers-AT-AT Driver, TIE Fighter Pilot, Rebel Pilot (anything not an X Wing as X Wing pilots are already in one magnet set CIS-Asajj Ventress, Nute Gunray, Geonosian Republic-Senate Commando, Commander Cody, Chancellor Palpatine Clones-Clone Pilot, Clone Trooper, Clone Commander Edit Well, may as well throw in a Magnet set idea due to recent revelations Rebel Command-Admiral Ackbar, General Madine, Mon Mothma Not as likely to happen as those figures are all from one set that is clearly set up to sell those figures. Perhaps for now the most we can hope for is a Magnet set or battle pack featuring Mon Calamari rebels.

I'm glad to see that the skeletons haven't been totally left behind. It helps cement the idea that they are allied in some way with the Trolls (I prefer to think of them as orcs). Or that the knights are being hit on two fronts at once. As for skeleton diversity, there is already some diversity to them. They have white and black varieties, their knights (I refer to them as Death Knights, like in D&D), the wizard leader, 2 female figures (the skeleton queen and the witch), and their own horses. That last one is the big one to me. We have had the same horse mold for a couple of decades, and then these guys get their own horse. I would love to see one or two other animals like that. Maybe really combine them with the orcs and have a skeletal version of the larger trolls. Either way, I would buy them as my skeleton army is getting quite large and a little more variety would be nice. So, I agree with the general idea that a few more new things for the skeletons would be welcome, but I am just glad they are still being included after a year without them. Now I just hope we haven't seen the last of the dwarves. Edit: And now that I see there is to be a Pirate magnet set and more Star Wars magnet sets, hopefully there will be a Castle magnet set. Given the content of the others, it isn't unreasonable to believe that it will include some harder to find figures like the Skeleton queen from the older chess set or possibly the new Orc king. Looking at the upcoming Star Wars magnet sets and the hard to find figures they include, I am suprised the Pirate set didn't include the maiden from the new pirate ship. I wish it had.

I'm not going to throw out the "don't include Kings so I can army build" complaint. But, what you are doing is just as bad. If they didn't care about sales to adults, they wouldn't have representatives come to websites (such as this one) primarily visited by adults. They wouldn't make army builder sets (guess what, they do). They wouldn't have the parts for the Skeletons on PAB so you can horde them cheaply to your hearts content. They do these things because they have realised a truth that most other toy companies are coming to realise. Adults make up a noticeable percentage of their purchasing base. Tied to that, adults can sink a lot more money into these than kids can. I have something like 14 Dwarven Mine Defenders and 10 or so Tower Raids along with 3 Dwarfs Mines and at the moment 6 King's Castle Sieges and I am not done buying these yet. I believe that is above and beyond what several children, even with their parents buying presents, can easily acquire. So, even if adults are a fraction of buyers, they make up for it big time in how much they purchase. I'm not saying don't sell to kids. I'm saying that I would have thought on a website primarily populated by adults who seem to have fairly large collections that it was generally accepted that adult fans shouldn't be competely forgotten. As for the King, I have no problem with them putting him in cheaper sets. It is good for kids and good for me (and other adults, presumably). If he were the only figure I wanted (like the maiden in the current pirate ship) I would have a way to get one that didn't involve buying a $100 set. I wouldn't want to see them in $10 sets (though the impulse sets are okay) but $20 and up is okay. The kids should be thought of. A lot. But, the adults should be considered as well. Something like the old figure sets or like the current Star Wars army builders would be perfect and would help balance complaints like this by providing what I would think would prove a profitable option. Then agan, I am not sure what the appeal for multiples of that chariot would be beyond the shields (though that could also be solved y reintroducing accesory packs or puttng them on PAB, but that's another battle).

Who's obscure there? I can maybe see an argument for Madine. I mean, he only gave part of the briefing before the attack on the second Death Star and was mentioned by name. Who is he compared to the white 3PO unit in the Hoth set? They make obscure things. The White 3P0 and the black 3P0 come to mind along with the TIE Crawler and Imperial Landing Craft (seen for roughly a few seconds in the special edition of ANH). If blurry pictures are being correctly deciphered, we are likely getting a Rodian character with low exposure from the Clone Wars cartoon (was he even in more than one episode?). Mon Mothma is only the leader of the Rebellion, so maybe she's too obscure? Of course she was in 2 of the movies, had lines, and was mentioned by name. Compared to some characters that have been made (the 2 droids I mentioned, arguably Greedo, IG-no lines or name in movies-88, Dengar, Lobot, etc), these people are big stars. I see no reason why either one wouldn't be included. They are both human, so no new mold though they would need new head and torso prints. That isn't a terrible thing with Madine as his can be used for other Rebel officers. And you can't possibly mean Ackbar. He has T shirts with his most famous line and his picture on them. He's known. We know we're getting Endor troops, so nothing new mold related there. Pilots/crew are nothing new. Random Mon Cal bridge crew would make sense to get mileage out of the new head mold for Ackbar (and hopefully pave the way for other Mon Cal figures). So what isn't going to appeal to people and what is obscure on that list?

If you guys are talking about this one then you need to take a closer look. Look at the shipping cost. $13 is probably a steal. $13 plus $57.63 for shipping (for delivery via supersonic jet and gold packaging no doubt) is a little different.

Honestly, I would expect that the current economic chaos will be used (and in all likelyhood it will be used honestly) as a reason to not change prices. They will say (again, probably truthfully) that they can't predict what will happen 6 months (or 1 week for that matter) from now and to alter prices based on what are so far short term market fluctuations (they will become long term, but so far it hasn't lasted long enough to call long term) wouldn't be a wise business decision. If anything, I would expect that they might (long shot) be slightly more generous with the piece count when they can do so and still maintain their profit margins. I would say the price points won't change, but the amount of content might (slightly).

So, since the EU pricing is apparently subsidising the US price, I take it you expect your prices to go down once ours go up since there will be no shortfall to cover? The more likely scenario is that your prices are also about to go up. LEGO knows that people there are apparently wiling to live with a radical price difference. Raising the price here first allows them to maintain the same price difference once the price there is raised as well. If they just raised the prices in Europe and not here people would be (more) pissed, but if they raised prices here first they can simply point to the US market and talk about how they have to raise prices everywhere due to increased productions costs, etc. If it goes over okay here, it's probably a safe bet you're next. Keep cheering it on. I look at some of the general posts on here and just ask myself, really? I don't get upset when someone gets a deal I don't. If I do get upset about it, I am upset at the company for limiting it to a different geographical area or not having the item in stock, or my circumstances that don't allow me to take advantage of the deal. I don't get upset at the people that did get the deal. This idea seems to not be the norm here with some people and it seems to be acceptable, which I question. Don't hate the player hate the game, as they say. It's not like we're all sitting over here (or down here in the case of wonky Canadian prices) rubbing it in that our LEGO is cheaper. Something tells me that wouldn't be tolerated (and it shouldn't be tolerated).

Shouldn't Sauron still be The Necromancer in the Hobbit timeframe? And presumably have a humanoid appearance? Then again, he isn't a giant fiery eye in the books, so it might not matter to them. Anyway, as far as Arabic fantasy, there is plenty. Magic, check. Flying carpets, check. Genie/Djinn, check. Think Prince of Persia/Alladin era Arabic world and there is plenty of fantasy. Or go back earlier to the Persian Empire in the pre Islamic era such as depicted (though not really historically accurate on a lot of things) in 300. The heavily styilised appearances there could be a starting point to make something similar to an Arabic theme. I think the real sticking point will be if they are used as enemies of the Crownies. Then you basically have the crusades, Lego Edition (not that I would mind that, but I can understand people in certain areas of the world not liking it if their reaction to 300 is any indication). If they were portrayed as some kind of allies against the Arabic monsters and mad Wizards, that could work. Or, have them fight it out. The Arabs in the time of the Crusades were masters of siege craft and the Europeans learned a great deal from fighting them. The set possibilities are numerous if they aren't afraid of offending people. However, if we are going to get human enemies for the Crownies, I would prefer either someone new or the return/reimagining of the Black Falcons. They could be the total opposite of factions like the Wolfpack and instead be a heavily industrialised (industrialised in the manner shown for Saruman and Sauron in the LotR movies) war power. They could have heavily fortified structures, tremendous siege weapons, maybe new armor and sword designs, new torsos showing ring or scale armor beneath their emblems, and maybe even the bullet helmet can come back with them and all of it could be with the help of their dwarven (maybe evil dwarves) allies (or slaves I suppose). Whatever they do, we just need more humans aside from the crownies.

I've found all of mine in the Lego section. They may be randomly placed within the section, but that is where they should be.

If I were going to sell them, I figured I would have to sit on them for a while or offer free shipping or something. I know I won't get regular retail for them if I were to sell them. Honestly, selling the ones I don't keep for myself at enough of a profit to cover the ones I do keep would satisfy me.

I went out searching late last night (left at 10 and got back around 230). I originally planned to hit the Wal Mart 25 mins away and the one about 15 mins away from that one. The first one had nothing. The second had one just randomly set flat on a shelf (a shelf that wouldn't have had the clerance to have it standing up) with no tags or anything. I also found some figures I had been looking for which was great so I don't have to overpay on Ebay for them. So, after this I decided that I may as well keep going down the road to the next Wal Mart since they usually seem to have harder to find items (like more of the figures I was looking for). 25 minutes later I was there and they had the other 2 figures and another KCS. At this point I decided to go on down the line to the next Wal Mart. It was in the largest city of the Wal Marts I was going to so I thought it unlikely they would have any, but I had to check as close as I was. They had 3 and even had shelf tags. I ended up with 5 of them by the time I was done. So, if you are thinking about buying one, I would go look now or real soon as they are already out and already for sale (48.88).

Hopefully the previous pages description of this set is incorrect and it is actually from The Temple of Doom and not the Last Crusade. I know LEGO seems to have avoided the Temple of Doom, but naming a set from another movie after it is cruel. I don't expect the giant Kali statue anytime soon, but surely there are things that can be made (like the mine car chase). Or just make a small set with Mola Ram and some cultists. No need to include heart ripping action.

I've looked around this thread and can't find anything so I'll ask. Are the TRU Big Toy Book sales the current sale prices (like the Troll Assault Wagon) or are they something else entirely? Also, any idea how long the current sale prices will last? Also, just a general question. Has there been any word on if putting the ISD on layaway and then getting it during the sale will get you the sale price or not?

That really depends on how you define "appears". If you play Battlefront 2, then you realise that a large number of on screen Stormtroopers (yes, Stormtroopers, after the clones troopers became stormtroopers they retained the unit designation and continued to serve Vader directly) would have been of the 501st. In a few of the books they make an appeance. 2 from Zahn that I can think of. In the Legacy comics, the 501st is on Bastion when Roan Fel reassumes control of the planet. The vast majority of their appearances are as Stormtroopers, but the unit itself is present quite a bit (even if some of it is retconing). They are supposed to be the best of the best. That is one reason a lot of people want that unit specifically to get a pack. The fact that there are no official 501st Lego figures yet is probably also a factor. Personally, if I had to choose one unit to make into battle packs (or something similar) they would be it. The more realistic approach might be to have a pack with clones of 4 different groups. It isn't the method I would prefer, but it would work and should sell.

Here are some of my ideas. I have my doubts any will ever come to pass and I'm probably estimating low on the prices, but it's nice to dream. Assault on the Jedi Temple: Clones of the 501st (3 or 4), 2 random Jedi, some columns or statues (I'm thinking either one of the main hallways that's lined with columns, or an open area featuring one of the giant statues) or I suppose some kind of vehicle if it is required by contract as it seems to be. They would probably end up putting Anakin in there, but I would prefer it be like a larger battle pack. Probably $35-40 due to number of figures. This could be part of a modular set Escape from the Jedi Temple: More 501st clones (again, 3 or 4), Bail Organa, and the Jedi Kid (don't know his movie name, it's Lucas' son I believe). The set would be the platform where Bail arrives along with a short tunnel. It would feature his speeder as the vehicle. This too could part of a modular set. Probably also the $30 range. Maybe $40 if they decide to get real elaborate. Return to the Jedi Temple: Obi Wan, Yoda, some 501st Clones. Probably a smaller set with something like the security room or the exterior where they fight the clones. Nothing elaborate. Probably $25 range. definately part of a modular temple theme. 501st Clone Battle Pack: 4 clones of the 501st and some small vehicle. This is basically the only clone unit that I would like to get it's own set like this. Though I would happily take any others they put out. Battle for the Fate of the Republic: Palpatine and Yoda, along with Mas Ameeda, 2 Red Clone troopers, and 2 Royal Guards (could be left out). This would feature the central portion of the senate chamber and a row of detachable denate pods for Yoda and Palpatine to fight it out on. The clones would have some little hover vehicle to come flying in on. Maybe add an escape tunnel for Yoda and have a speeder with Senator Organa waiting for him. This would probably end up in the $50-70 range depending on how big they make the senate chamber. $70-90 if they add the escape tunnel and Bail Organa. Droid Beach Invasion: Wookiees (2 or 3), Battle Droids (3 or 4), Kashyyyk Troopers (2 or 3). Beach scene with bunker for the wookiees, a hilltop/tree branch for the clones to fire down from, and a droid tank coming in off the water loaded with droids. Throw in a clone sppeder if the tank isn't enough. Likely end up in the $60-70 range due to figures. Execute Order 66, Kashyyyk: Yoda, Commander Gree, Clone Troopers (3), Luminara Unduli. This would feature the treehouse/command post where Gree was killed by Yoda. Probably the $35-40 range due to number of figures. Not a complex set. Throw in a speeder or some droids on STAPs if it must have action. Execute Order 66, Felucia: Aayla Secura, Commander Bly, Clones (not sure which unit they are). Would feature the odd plant life of Felucia. Probably the $20 range since it isn't too complex. The Execute Order 66 could be taken to whatever length they wanted to take it. It would serve to provide figures of the various Jedi and a way to get clones from the different units. and of course an assortment of speeders and whatever other small vehicles are apparently plentiful in the Star Wars Universe. Imperial Support Personel BP: Imperial Technician (x2), Interrogation Droid, Mouse Droid, Black C3PO type droid (seen on Death Star), Black Astromech droid. Includes scanning equipment box and small speeder shuttle that can hold everyone. Imperial Naval Forces BP: Naval Trooper (3), Black Uniformed Imperial Officer. Speeder maybe? Some small fortification perhaps? Death Star Personel large BP: Death Star Gunner (2), Naval Trooper (2), Stormtrooper (2). Either Death Star weapon control booth or detention block control room. Rebel Ground Forces BP: Rebel Trooper, Rebel Vanguard Trooper (2, 1 white, 1 black), Rebel Officer. Small fortification or speeder. From the EU: Overthrow of the Emperor: Darth Krayt, Roan Fel, Imperial Knights (2), Other Sith Lords (not sure who all was there). Throne Room set up with columns, throne, and large window. Can't think of any vehicles to throw in. Probably $30-40 with that many figures. Korriban: Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Ludo Kressh, Darth Revan, Sith Troopers. The set would be the valley with the burial tombs. 2 or 4 large statues over the entrances to the tombs. Possibly modular to connect with either the tombs themselves or the Sith academy. The Star Forge: Darth Malak, Revan, Dark Side Bastilla, Random Sith Lords, Sith Troopers, Sith War Droids. This would be the chamber where Revan and Malk face off for the finale of KotoR and a connecting hallway. The room would fature some columns that represent the Jedi being drained by Malak (without figures to cut down cost, maybe skeletons instead). No vehicles really work here. Probably $70+ due to size and number of figures. Sith Trooper battle pack: 3 Sith Troopers in silvery armor, 1 commander (or random Sith Lord). A speeder I guess. Sith battle pack: 3 Dark Side Adepts and 1 random Sith Lord. Sith Speeder? Capture Revan: Revan, Darth Bandon, Jolee Bindo, HK-47, Sith Troopers (2). Going with the version where they ambush you on Tatooine, This would feature a few speeders (they should actually be here this time) and a Krayt Dragon. $40 could make it happen, though probably closer to $50 with the dragon. The Ravager Bridge: Darth Nihilus, Visas, slave technicians (2), Canderous (Mandalore), The Exile. Bridge area, fairly open. Monitors in a lower section with a raised bridge. I am sure some kind of action feature could incorporated. Probably $50-70. Tie Defender/Tie Phantom: Tie Pilot. $20-25

I am quite aware of the theory that drives this decision. However, I frequent a number of stores, read what other collectors say online, and watch Ebay. The facts don't support the theory at all. These figures that make it into every line are always the last to sell (if they don't end up at clearance). They have no value on the secondary market (meaning they aren't flying off the shelves). The mains clog shelves after the others have been picked over. Even as a kid, I understood I wanted 1 Storm Shadow (or whoever) because there was only one. I wanted lots of the nameless soldiers because that's how they are portrayed, in massive numbers. The way Hasbro is starting to arrange the cases of GIJoe figures shows they know this. Each case has twice as many of the troop builders as any other (in most situations) and they are still the hardest figures to find. [ Every few years, sure. Every time a new wave is released (there are several waves per year) is ridiculous. Once a year would do fine. Not 8 times a year. So, that would be why Darth Revan is more or less the hardest to find Star Wars figure at the moment. He has been since release and shows no signs of interest in him declining. The Evolutions set featuring Darths Bane, Nihilus, and Maul has started hitting Ebay and they are clearly the most sought after of that batch. Again, theory and reality simply don't agree in a lot of cases involving these lines. Star Wars is driven in very large part by collectors. In all probability, it is collectors who make up the majority of the purchases. This is a fairly undisputed fact in most circles that discuss these things. Brutal though they may be, this isn't the first (and won't be the last) time their policies conflict with making a profit. DId you by any chance ever see the LotR figure line by ToyBiz while the movies were out? If you did, you might have noticed one glaring absence. There was no Balrog figure. This wasn't because ToyBiz didn't want to make one. I have seen pictures of the prototypes. Wal Mart didn't want to sell a figure of a giant "demon". Since Wal Mart moves more toys than anyone, it didn't get made. That was playing to religious ideals, not business. One demon toy (in a store that sells Spawn figures and god only knows how many movies on the topic no less) isn't going to get people to stop buying at your store. They didn't want a demon toy, so it wasn't made. Any company willing to make those kinds of decisions doesn't get my vote being sensible business people in any and all areas. They clearly let their own ideals influence policy as much as market research. If you read about enough of these situations, you get the picture pretty clearly. They think they are right and have no intention of listening to aynone else. Toys R us gets Troop builder style exclusives from Hasbro and they always sell out when they are nothing but troops (no personalities). They sell out online in less than a day in most cases. This evidence, coupled with pegs full of named characters that are also devoid of nameless characters, tells me their research is flawed. Argue all you want, it won't make it true. So, you're argument is that the GIJoe line (which is in teh toy isle and suffers to a degree the very problems I am discussing) isn't a kids toyline? The one which stands as an example of the very problems I am talking about? If it were purely a collectors line, these problems wouldn't exist. Each case would be 7 Cobra Vipers to 1 Duke until collectors were choking on Vipers. This isn't happening. They are choking on Cobra Commander, Duke, and Snake Eyes figures. In wave after wave. Given the tremendous diversity of characters in the line (it ran from 82 to 94, and then 97 to 05) it is absurd for there to be that many variants of those 3 characters, yet there they are. Star Wars I at least understand somewhat. There really are only a few "core" characters. Anyone beyond the core (Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, the droids, Obi Wan, Yoda, Vader, and Palpatine) is mostly a bit character. The prequels gave us a few more (Padme, Jar Jar unfortunately, Mace I guess) but still they are either important or they aren't. This isn't the case with the Joe line. Even the original team had 13 members. Even the cartoon focused on other people like Flint, Scarlett, Lady Jaye, the Baroness, etc. They are doing some things right. After all these years they are finally making a Lady Jaye figure that looks like she did in the cartoon. They are also making comic packs with characters that never had figures and figures that are right out of specific cartoon episodes. These are all slated to come out later this year and are obviously a reaction to how well these are selling and a desire to meet the demands of adult collectors. However, we still get comic packs that have Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes together (despite having at least 3 of both of them in roughly 7 waves of figures). don't get me wrong, from my wallet's standpoint I would rather have those 2 together so I don't have to worry about buying either one to get the other figure. Hasbro is clearly learning, but they are also still having problems communicating what they are learning with Wal Mart.

At some point last year, Hasbro started up a new line of 3 3/4" figures. They are 25th anniversary figures. So far, they have almost entirely been remakes of the 82-86 figures. They are far more detailed and articulated than the older figures. More or less like miniature Marvel Legends figures. They are difficult to find here as they aren't being distributed all that well. Most of the time, if you find them in a store you need to buy them right then and there if you want them. There are only 2 or 3 peg warmers so far, and that is across 5 waves. Even those pegwarmers don't clog the shelves. If you see them, there are usualy no more than 2 of that figure. With the movie now officially in production, they will eventually switch to movie figures. At some point really soon, they are going to bring back the 12 inch figures. Vehicles for the smaller figures also come out some time this year. Again, they are remakes. They also seem to be taking the comic packs seriously going so far as to make new issues tha tfit between issues of the Marvel run. They have made one or two figures that never had figures. Scarface and the Cobra Air Trooper are two of them. I am overall impressed with them.

If what I have read on this topic is true, then Hasbro (the company who makes both GIJoe and Transformers) isn't really the one to blame. Stores (i.e. WalMart) have a large say in what gets manufactured and what doesn't. Ever wonder why Batman toy lines are filled with endless variants of Batman and maybe one villain every two waves if you're lucky? It isn't the people making the figures that make that call. Wonder why GIJoe or Star Wars pegs aren't filled with the Troop Builder types and "personalities" are the hard to find figures? Again, it isn't Hasbro making this call. WalMart, based on god only knows what, believes that for GIJoe to sell, there must be a DUKE/Cobra Commander/Snake eyes in every wave. If you have all 3 it will be a knockout. Their ideas are quite flawed, but if Hasbro desires to sell their toys there, then they will do what Wal Mart asks. Both GIJoe and Transformers have female characters. Transformers has far less than GIJoe, but they are there. This, again, is due to Wal Mart's "research" that says boys won't buy figures of girls. Going with that train of logic, they will never try to sell figures of the female characters striaght to girls. Your idea isn't bad. It's just that Wal Mart is operating on a whole other level than apparently anyone who follows the toy lines. Toys R Us has figured out what sells in GIJoe. They have sets of nothing but Cobra Troop Builders and they are sold out in no time. Their only failing is that they don't order enough of them. They also, occasionally, make the mistake of making them have 1 or 2 named characters in there, which hurts sales. With the upcoming movie and the return of the 12" figures, GIJoe could make a push into the girl's isle. Transformers would need a miracle to do anything over there as their female characters are rare and not prominent parts of their media. Unlike GIJoe where a few main team members of both sides are female. Thankfully, some of these companies are slowly coming around to the idea that adults are buying some of these toys as much as children. Adults tend to prefer diversity. Hopefully this will evntually have the ripple effect of getting more female characters out there which in turns gets more kids used to the idea.

They are on the US S@H right now. $12.99. Apparently no limit unlike the Star Wars battle packs had at one point.

Has there been anything official saying when these sets will come out in the US? Any of them? I know the cards seem to say August, but that doesn't sound right. I have already bought a Battle wheel in Toys R Us and it doesn't make sense to release that 6 months before the rest of the line. Especially after releaseing the Dwarf mine set even earlier than that. So far, I am assuming the cards are a mistake (it has happened to other lines at Toy Fair). Hopefully the battle packs will be online in the US sometime in the next month or two. On a side note, on another site someone mentioned the Wizard set (the standalone set with just the wizard, like The Knight) was exclusive to Europe. I was wondering if there was any truth to that or if he was likely just meaning that thus far it had only been released in Europe? If it is true, is it likely the Orc, Skeleton, and other Soldier will be European exclusive as well? Edit: Looks like I don't need to worry about waiting for the Battle Packs. They are on S@H for the US now.