the vynsane asylum

I'm having mixed luck. I have my lists up at 2 sites (Snowtroopers.ca because it's Canadian & I can arrange the odd pickup/dropoff to avoid shipping) & RS. I guess I've sold upwards of 100 figures so far, and sometimes it's the oddest things that sell. EpI Cinema scenes? 2/3 gone. Who'da thunk it.

Watching ROTS again & you know what? For all the prequel bashing we do, it still gets my emotions stirred & my heart rate up. I'm remembering that I was pretty much floored the first time I saw it. Good movie.

Ran wrote:Saw the 3.75" figures this weekend and wasn't impressed. Not sure if it was the case I saw, but the paint jobs didn't look right. Both Biggs figures orange jumpsuits looked like they were left in the sun for too long. Luke's jacket looked tan or kahki and I thought it was supposed to be more of a yellow color. Vader didn't impress me at all. It looked about the same as all the other recent figures. I didn't really check out the others.

The Rebel pilots figures' colors have varied over the years, and Biggs has a little less yellow in there than pilot Luke, for example. I finally got Luke last night and he looks more accurate to the film - yellow, but not the abrasive smiley face color from 2007. Vader is mostly the Evolutions body, but it looks crisper and I like the accessories, and his helmet is non-removable for once, so that's nice. I'm actually gonna start doing reviews for the other site soon and I'll have lots of comparisons - something the other review sites have been lacking a bit.

jjreason wrote:I'm having mixed luck. I have my lists up at 2 sites (Snowtroopers.ca because it's Canadian & I can arrange the odd pickup/dropoff to avoid shipping) & RS. I guess I've sold upwards of 100 figures so far, and sometimes it's the oddest things that sell. EpI Cinema scenes? 2/3 gone. Who'da thunk it.

Watching ROTS again & you know what? For all the prequel bashing we do, it still gets my emotions stirred & my heart rate up. I'm remembering that I was pretty much floored the first time I saw it. Good movie.

Feel free to post questions about accessories here if you're stumped.

If a lot of people who bitch and moan about the prequels actually sat down and gave them a fair chance again, without the pre-release Internet hype and post-release Internet complaining, and taking them into consideration as part of a whole story, I bet they'd be kinder to them. But I guess it's easier to post a snarky comment on Facebook than to actually think about a film.

Thanks MrJJ. I think I have it sorted now but if anything comes up I'll let you know!

Senor JabbaJohnL wrote: If a lot of people who bitch and moan about the prequels actually sat down and gave them a fair chance again, without the pre-release Internet hype and post-release Internet complaining, and taking them into consideration as part of a whole story, I bet they'd be kinder to them. But I guess it's easier to post a snarky comment on Facebook than to actually think about a film.

I concur 100%. Although I'm still not a fan of AoTC I've brought myself to watch it while it's on. I'm a big fan of TPM and, as stated above, RoTS still gets me.

Ok here's one (well one about three... is that one, or three???).

I have an extra belt, clone blaster & comm antenna from clonetroopers that I can only put with the evolutions sets. The belt is intentionally removable & the antenna/blaster have the silver wash over the plain glossy black plastic. I've checked the RS photo guide figure by figure & can't see these pieces appearing anywhere else other than evolutions....yet my evolutions sets are all complete & accounted for.

Extra parts or am I missing something?

Senor JabbaJohnL wrote:
If a lot of people who bitch and moan about the prequels actually sat down and gave them a fair chance again, without the pre-release Internet hype and post-release Internet complaining, and taking them into consideration as part of a whole story, I bet they'd be kinder to them. But I guess it's easier to post a snarky comment on Facebook than to actually think about a film.

I have tried to watch the prequels a few times. The only one I can sit through is TPM. But, I don't go around bashing them or arguing about it.

A few people I work with are also Star Wars fans. None of them like the prequels that much. They are all close to my age. I think that the OT is flawed, but since we saw it as kids and grew up with it, we're more forgiving of it.

Episode I is easily my favorite of the prequels. I love that flick. I even like Jar Jar.
Why?
Because fuck you, that's why.

But seriously, TPM is my favorite. I think its just a fun flick. And I think half the reason is because of the nostalgia factor.

I really like the PT overall, but the idiotic backlash against is one reason I hate the internet sometimes.
AotC is watchable, but heavily flawed.
RotS is really good, and less flawed than AotC.

jjreason wrote:Ok here's one (well one about three... is that one, or three???).

I have an extra belt, clone blaster & comm antenna from clonetroopers that I can only put with the evolutions sets. The belt is intentionally removable & the antenna/blaster have the silver wash over the plain glossy black plastic. I've checked the RS photo guide figure by figure & can't see these pieces appearing anywhere else other than evolutions....yet my evolutions sets are all complete & accounted for.

Extra parts or am I missing something?

Hmm . . . could you post any pics?

Several ROTS clone troopers had antennae that plugged into their backs - they were based on the super-articulated mold that was only recently phased out in favor of a Vintage Collection update. I don't believe the Evolution set had antennae.

As for the removable belt, off the top of my head the only ones that had it were indeed from Evolutions. And there were two variations of the clone trooper set - one with white/gray troopers, and one with yellow/orange ones. The yellow set didn't have a removable belt, but the gray set did - so the ROTS trooper could be a commander or a grunt. The gray ROTS clone was also re-released in Saga Legends around 2007 with the same accessories.

Ok that's interesting. I have the grey ROTS #41 repaint from Saga legends, but the RS photo archive shows him with plain black accessories. They're virtually identical to what you'd see with any clone, but different only inasmuch as there is an extra silver/chrome "wash" over them to make them look more movie accurate (ie weathered or worn). The blasters & antennae were all done like this for the Evo sets to increase the deluxeness (?) of them somehow.

It almost looks like I purchased 2 of the grey clone sets with the belts, but I don't have any other parts or figures here besides this belt, blaster & antenna. Weird. Not the end of the world, but weird.

I saw the entire first wave of the Black Series, and had no trouble passing. I've got all these characters already. The only one that's almost an improvement is Padmé, and for ten bucks that hideous elbow joint kills it.

I bought the 4 OT figures. I needed the Vader hand with the blaster bolt hitting it, and I figured if I'm in for a penny.... $50 for 4 new sw figures hurt though.

jjreason wrote:Ok that's interesting. I have the grey ROTS #41 repaint from Saga legends, but the RS photo archive shows him with plain black accessories. They're virtually identical to what you'd see with any clone, but different only inasmuch as there is an extra silver/chrome "wash" over them to make them look more movie accurate (ie weathered or worn). The blasters & antennae were all done like this for the Evo sets to increase the deluxeness (?) of them somehow.

It almost looks like I purchased 2 of the grey clone sets with the belts, but I don't have any other parts or figures here besides this belt, blaster & antenna. Weird. Not the end of the world, but weird.

The Evolution set didn't have any antenna. Those clones were new (mostly) molds for the sets, shared between the yellow and gray versions. You are correct that the sets' blasters had the silver wash on them. They were also new molds - the blaster pistol was thicker, with added loops on the top front of the gun, while the rifle was thinner than previous versions; the little canister on the underside of the rifle is only connected very tenuously while others are completely connected along the length of the canister.

The super-articulated ROTS Clone Trooper, which was #41 in the 2005 ROTS line, was indeed repainted with gray accents and released as the Coruscant Landing Platform version in The Legacy Collection. It wasn't a Saga Legends release, but it was in one of the shoehorned-in repack/repaint waves in late 2008. He has a black antenna with the gray wash, though his blaster is just straight black. The ROTS #41 trooper - the only mold with an antenna - was also repainted in many other colors, but the mass-market releases didn't have a silver wash on the antenna aside from the Coruscant Landing Platform version. Some of the exclusives might have it, though.

anarky wrote:I saw the entire first wave of the Black Series, and had no trouble passing. I've got all these characters already. The only one that's almost an improvement is Padmé, and for ten bucks that hideous elbow joint kills it.

Aw, come on - the new Padmé is so much ridiculously better than the 2002 Abs of Steel version (with Arm-Flailing Action!). The elbow joint isn't ideal but it's really not that bad when considering the overall figure. I'll likely just keep her posed with her elbow bent, so problem solved.

I finally completed the wave this weekend, and despite the unexciting character selection, the figures are all very, very nice in-hand.

She is better than the previous version of that particular outfit. But there's also the similar version from the OTC (?) line that doesn't have the bare midriff, and, honestly, it has nothing to do with internet hype, but AOTC is lacking as a film when compared to all five (hell, let's say eight and include the Clone Wars movie and both Ewok movies) other SW films, so I'm not as concerned with every single minor variation of each costume (especially when Padme has about thirty bazillion costumes in each movie, an awful lot of them still unmade). When figures are going for ten bucks apiece, I expect more from a resculpt. That's such an insanely simple thing they could've done on their end, and it can't be easily corrected by the collector (since the color would be a pain in the ass to match even if you could figure out a way to paint that part of a joint without the paint rubbing right off).

Funny thing is, on the same trip, I bought the Wolverine Ninja figure, which is a serious downgrade from the Joe Red Ninja it's based on (it uses the same sculpt but limits it to five POA), but costs half as much as new Joe or SW figures, and yet another Megatron for the same price as the Black Series figures, because he's the first (and likely only) figure of pre-Decepticon Miner Megatron ever made, and they threw in a "free" unmade Insecticon.

Ok, so in the baggie with the grey 41 clone goes the silvery antenna. Nice work MrJJ, thank you.

I saw all the first wave of 6" Black Series figures today.

In more exciting news, I also pooped.

(Really, they're boring as hell.)