With five figures listed as Darth Vader on the card, you could argue that the 30th Anniversary Collection was Vader-palooza even though one of those Vaders was pre-armor.  The most basic armored version is this Episode IV take on the character and it proves that even core Vader figures are good.

Pictures are starting to come in of the new Black Series cards showing up at retail.
Forum member Darth Mire was kind enough to share this pic of the new Black Series cards littering the pegs at his local Toys R Us. Another forum member, RogueLeader also…

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We’re back to the 2007 line today with the Throwback Review of the General McQuarrie figure.  This figure is based on a cameo appearance by Ralph McQuarrie in The Empire Strikes back and despite lacking articulation, I argue this figure is a must own.

I apologize for the lateness of this review, but I couldn’t find the stand that went with the figure and hate to wait until my lunch break to look for it (ah the benefits of working from home).  Without further delay, here’s today’s Throwback Review of 2008’s Battle Damaged Darth Vader from The Force Unleashed.

It’s a wrap folks…but that’s not all.  We have an official title for Episode VII.

The Force Awakens

Not a bad title, but at least it’s not Attack of the Clones.

This is the figure I wanted to review yesterday, but I need to spread out the cool figures.  Despite being a much more interesting character than Po Nudo, this is not a great figure.  Today’s Throwback Review is for 2008’s Emperor’s Shadow Guard.

This has to be the most boring figure Hasbro has ever released.  I could have completed the review by only using the “Z” key on my keyboard. If I don’t sprinkle these figures in a long the way, the end of our coverage of the 30th Anniversary Collection would be several consecutive days of stinkers, so here’s the Throwback Review of Po Nudo.

We have just received word that the solid cases of the wave 5 Jabba’s Skiff Guard (Brock Starsher) figure have been canceled by the manufacturer.  This is bad news as the figure is already hard to get at one per case and now future availability is in question.  We assume the solid cases of Ree-Yees will soon succumb to the same fate.  There is always the potential that Hasbro could re-introduce these excellent figures in the phase 2 packaging, but for right now, it appears chances to own this figure are shrinking.

Well miracles shall never cease.  This particular store has not stocked any 3.75” Black Series product since wave one over a year ago.  They instead chose to let dusty Discover the Force figures occupy the pegs and then ligthsabers which didn’t have enough room.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Ree-Yees and (not) Brock Starsher on the pegs this morning.  Click through for the full sized image.

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One astute reader got a preview of this gallery last night as I accidentally published it before it was finished.  For those of you who did not catch my gaff, here’s the Throwback Review of 2008’s 30th Anniversary Collection Kashyyk Trooper.  We’ve jumped over to 2008 because man cannot live on 2007 TAC figures alone especially when this man is out of 2007 figures (for the time being).

I sense this report is flying a bit under the radar and I have to admit I almost missed it (weekend days in the fall are super hectic in the northeast).  Our friends at Jedi Temple Archives have photographic proof of the first report of Rebels figures hitting the United States.  I didn’t think these figures would succumb to the same fate as the green slime Yoda packaged Clone Wars figures, but this firmly puts any unfounded fears to rest.

The breadth of the sources for the figures in the 30th Anniversary Collection was absolutely amazing.  The list is enormous with figures sourced from everything form the Holiday Special to video games.  While the figure isn’t the greatest, having the Battlefront anti-armor specialist in the figure lineup is certainly interesting.  Click through for today’s Throwback Review of 2007’s Rebel Vanguard Trooper.

Today’s Throwback Review of the Anakin Skywalker figure from the Battle of Nelvann is a mini-milestone.  With this review was have completed the entire legendary Expanded Universe wave from the 30th Anniversary Collection.  It is the first wave we have completed in our shotgun approach to covering the line.

Bantha Skull reader Lance M. alerted us that he found the Shadows of the Dark Side vehicle two packs at TJ Maxx in Las Vegas for $24.99.  This is great news for those of use who don’t have an Ollie’s or Impy’s or whatever the devil the name of the store that was previously getting these is.  Time to army build some Snow Speeders (even though this particular Snowspeeder is unique).  Click through for the full sized image.

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The CZ series communication droid design is one of my favorites in the entire Saga, so I was quite excited when Hasbro released this CZ-4 figure in 2007’s 30th Anniversary Collection.  Unfortunately we look at why this figure falls a frustrating smidge short of perfection in today’s Throwback Review.