I disagree. I think the whole purpose of Luke's whininess was to show what an isolated 'farmboy' he really was, and how he was going to develop and grow out of that naiveté with his experiences and guidance (which ultimately failed because he left his training before becoming a Jedi). Yes, he was extremely annoying, but for the intent of showing him as a kid dreaming of an adventure of a far off place, that sets up the world of SW. It was not in the sense of EMO angst that we are meant to relate to and even idolise in the film (and television) characters of today.

What, a whole month an no new Star Wars posts? For shame people! Allow me to contribute per a little convo I just had with another board member.

Discuss at the peril of your own cred, of which I have none.

those cards are mislabeled****

Zuckuss –
Gand Bounty hunter appearing in The Empire Strikes Back. Zuckuss is an ammonia-breathing Gand findsman. He employs special religious rituals to locate his quarry.

4-LOM -
A bounty hunter droid in The Empire Strikes Back. 4-LOM was an ambitious protocol droid who overwrote his own programming to embark on a life of crime.[1]

so technically 4-LOM is the droid but the more obvious of the group was

IG-88
Bounty hunter introduced in The Empire Strikes Back.[52] Ralph McQuarrie's production sketches show a sleeker design than the droid that appears in The Empire Strikes Back.[52] The term "IG-88" itself is not the original label: the script calls the character a "chrome war droid", and during production it was called "Phlutdroid".[52] The production puppet consisted of recycled props from A New Hope, including the Mos Eisley Cantina drink dispenser as its head.[52]

I hadn't noticed the similarities between c3po and 4-lom until now.

Um, yeah, thanks Adrian. That was kinda the whole point of my post, but I guess it is good to put that clarification out there. [I do have to point out for the general reader that this isn't really a mistake like a typo or something that they later went and fixed and reprinted though. This is what it was and it stayed that way; which affects the argument I am going to make.] Intention of backstory aside, what I am trying to say is this: you (the proverbial you/Lucas) can call it a mislabeling of cardbacks all you like, but the fact remains that in 1980 - and as much for the other films - pretty much the only connection most people had with the movies outside of sitting in the theatres was the Kenner toys. As such, they were the most influential medium for introduction to characters in the Star Wars universe, particularly those who on-screen appearance was but a matter of seconds. Almost no secondary or supporting people are verbally named in the script throughout the trilogy, and yet we know all of their names based on the action figures that we lived through as children. Cantina members, bounty hunters, droids, denizens of Jabba's palace, etc., are all only going to be identified primarily to the great majority of people by the first encounter they have with the character's name, and in almost every case, this is going to come from the Kenner toys. If someone is going to tell me that they knew the designation of R5-D4 or the what the names of all of the spaceships and vehicles were before the toys came out I am pretty much going to have to roll my eyes. Why do you think we have names like Hammerhead, Walrusman, Power Droid, Snaggletooth, Death Star Droid? I mean, come on, these are pretty hilarious, but it was simpler times. The point is we did not care, and loved every one of them, and as far as kids of the 70s and 80s were concerned, whatever Kenner told us immediately became canon. There wasn't any other sources or the EU everywhere you turn like there is today. I lived it, I loved it, and no 'correction' is going to change that. Anyways, I could go on and on.

Simple answer: everyone has their opinion, and each is equally valid, this just happens to be mine.

you toy nerds can go jump in a sarlac pit... its darth ultraman!

I see nothing wrong with that. Now bring on Zarab in Stormtrooper guise, and Akiko as Leia, and we'll really have a party going.

Since I didn't get the 4-Lom mailwaway at the time of Empire, I bought this twin pack a few years ago (any reasons are good to spend money on toys, right )

Dang, those are nice. I can find no fault at all in that purchase, sir.

I want some just so I can relive the peeling open of the blisterpacks. Going to be a sad Christmas if I can't do that this year; I will just feel so incomplete.

My favorite takeaway from a fleeting (and first ever!) skim of Wookieepedia -

"His name was reportedly an acronym for "for love of money.""

4LOM is gangsta as hell.

I need this!!

"LordUltra"!!!

So it's not Star Wars I'm sick of anymore ...

Ha, that is great. You see a lot of Stormies, but not too many (not near enough) Snowtroopers. Feel free to send some of that white stuff my way, though it is pretty early to be tired of it already!

posed pics of mostly star wars toys.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avanaut/with/7241542788/

Wow, really nice photos there man, thanks for sharing them all. I especially love the ones in natural environments. Cool stuff, and great work.

mesmerized! Great stuff, especially the skiing SnowTrooper

Hahah, if Thomas Kinkade actually painted like that, I'd hate him less. Not a lot less, but less.

Star Wars football! http://imgur.com/gallery/pchVS

Ha, I would totally rock a shirt with this logo on it!

Yes! Maybe Super7 can add a few tees? I'm in for the Wookies

Putting on my grumpy pants as usual, but far too much prequel content for my liking. Guess they got to fill out the league though. My personal favourite is the Banthas, but I find a lot of them too similar to their NFL counterparts. Now if someone did original hockey jerseys....

I'm starting to get the impression that some people in this world are geeks. Or perhaps they are nerds. http://bit.ly/1j62DsR

But seriously, does this look like the kind of meeting that leads to the right sort of Star Wars film?...