Its a real shame that the whole merchandise / fandom thing has taken on this edge of scalping people. Every figure gets re-issued multiple times, every so-called limited edition gets a new lease of life in a slightly altered state....etc
The latest one to cheese me off is the mini sabers. First they come out with 3 sabers (Luke, Windu, Obi Wan - Ewan). Cool, lets get one of each, they're nice!
Then you find out theres another Obi-Wan version, this time 'as first built' with the Alec Guinness model. Follow this with the 'weathered' UK excusive Alec model. At this point you discover 5% of the run are 18c gold.........then they reveal a Luke version thats completely chrome and an ebay exclusive.....All this is just the first wave - 9 sabers (unless I missed one?) for a wave of 3.
Most of the non standard versions are going for mortgage style money....
Its all happening again now with the Sith wave ( Vader, Maul, Dooku).
Just a small example of greed setting in and beginning to turn solid fans and collectors away.
Right, down off the soap box now....