So, my order arrived. Goddamn it, Hasbro, I am disappoint. I should have figured, but I guess I was blinded by optimism or something. The Kashyyyk trooper from the 2008 Legacy Collection is fucking shit. The plastic of the helmet faceplate and the webbing (the belt) is all soft and rubbery - it feels shitty and cheap. This is bad enough, but the visor on mine is bent in the middle, and it looks pretty terrible. It can't really be fixed, either. Feels bad, man.

I just removed the visor and cut off the little tabs, before gluing them in the peg holes on either side of the trooper's head. Looks kind of cool, albeit a little weird - but I'm surprised at how well it turned out. Either way, though, I think I can safely say I've had it with the shitty quality of Hasbro's Star Wars figures...I'd venture into the Clone Wars series, except for a couple of reasons: 1) I don't care for the lanky, anime-esque (lol bug-eyes and big heads) aesthetic style they went with in the cartoon; 2) I kind of hate the cartoon. Too much of George Lucas's wanking over Jedi.

On the other hand, Hasbro's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra movie line is pretty damned sweet, from what I've seen (Helix and Desert Ambush Scarlett are awesome). I don't like a lot of the aesthetic designs of the Cobra troopers (er, the various Vipers), and thank goodness for that - the last thing I need is the desire to build up a squad of Cobra troopers! The G.I. Joe Pit Commando is unbelievably hard to find, so at least I'm safe from trying to build up a team of those, too. I'm also glad I convinced myself out of making a squad of black-clad tacticool OPERATORS with the commando Snake-Eyes figure (from the 25th Anniversary series). The one with the goggles, instead of the weird visor thing.

I'm kind of debating whether or not I'd want Krieger ("Cover Girl"). Granted, the face sculpt looks nothing like the actress/model, but she's not exactly ugly. "Handsome," as someone once put it. Kind of want the Paris Pursuit Baroness, too. The face sculpt on that one looks much better than the older figure, from the photos I've seen.

Time to free Flash and the Doc from their plastic-and-cardboard prisons...