Check out Darth Malgus, as it's a figure that my abacus says you want.  Why?  It looks cool.  It's from a video game.  It's a Sith Lord  And oh yes, after six months it's still quite hard to find.  You want to know more, don't you?  Is it worth the effort to track down?  Is it worth the $50 at a convention?  All this and a zesty new way to make pudding.

Autumn in New York is a beautiful thing. For fans of pop culture, the season brings their own east coast Comic Con.  It's Preview Day, and because it's in Mid-Town Manhattan on a Wednesday, the foot traffic was not the critical mass that San Diego normally is. For this website, not having to cover Hasbro on a show of this magnitude is a little weird, but Hasbro's absence are DC and Mattel's gain, particularly if you're a Batman fan and collector where new figures from DC Direct and Arkham City were prominent. There were some Star Wars reveals from other licensors like Kotobukiya and Diamond Select, and they're not bad at all. But Gentle Giant and Sideshow were also absent and there was  clearly less Star Wars than the show last year.

Let's look at this Omega Squad Demolitions figure, which is effectively Republic Commando Scorch done up in black.  You should be sold already, after all, black repaints are like cheap, cheap candy to fans of articulated plastic.  (I buy a lot of this sort of thing.)  Is it worth your while to pick up this hard-to-find exclusive?

The "Smash On The Beach" and "Super Serum Cider "were flowing readily in the Avengers themed bar and many cheeses, noodles, and egg rolls served to various members of the collector press during a Hasbro New York Comic Con Preview Party in Mid-town Manhattan on Wednesday night. 

Today let's look at Colonel Cracken, another "name debut" that technically already had a figure a few years ago.  It's not bad, the sculpted vest is a nice touch.

Taking a total turn away from where The Clone Wars was going, "A War on Two Fronts," takes us to a place which the Expanded Universe invented almost 20 years ago with the planet Onderon. Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma fought Beast Riders there, and now Anakin and Obi-Wan are bringing us on an adventure where they're training insurgents with philosophical debates over if this is training terrorists or helping people free themselves from the enemy. Shades of classic Star Trek and real-world politics paint this episode, which also shows Ahsoka fawning over the returning Lux Bonteri. Read on for more of S05E02, spoilers and video await you!

It's uncommon for a figure to be demanded by fans for over 12 years, but Mawhonic made the list... and we're getting him twice this year.  A "Discover the Force" version may still be at a Walmart near you, while a Vintage Collection version (sans stand and flag) will be an online exclusive any week now.

Ad: They're coming soon!  An entire suite of Star Wars Angry Birds toys are on the way within the next month!   Jenga-like games, little playsets, mini-figures, and more await you!  Click here to see them as well as pricing and availability, or read up on more after the jump.

It's Widdle Warrick!  This is a pretty decent mashup of his appearances in the Star Wars saga, with his orange fur and white cheeks.  Technically it's his first figure, but another, similar figure was sold under a different name in 2007.  Since this figure is just now really starting to hit Kmart stores, should you track him down this week?

In the second official blog post about his forthcoming Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection, Steve Sansweet gives retrospect on deadlines and overcoming the methodology of embedded data in today's book publishing. With help from assistant Anne Neumann and a couple of well respected guys from the online collecting community, Steve was able to meet tight deadlines and regain some Zen.

From our sponsors at BigBadToyStore: We've cut prices 10% to 30% on over 5500 older and overstocked products!   Over 2500 of these items have had discounts of 20% or greater applied.    There are many great deals available as we make way for a huge amount of new product coming in this winter and spring - take a look at the sale menu and take advantage of many great deals on a huge variety of products:

PAWTUCKET, R.I.— October 8, 2012 - Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) has announced today it has entered into agreement with LucasFilm to manufacture and globally market a variety of products based on the newly launched STAR WARS edition of the wildly popular ANGRY BIRDS mobile game from Rovio Entertainment. The new ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS line from Hasbro will launch in the beginning of November 2012.

The following press release was sent out this morning about the new Star Wars Angry Birds game and merchandise to be globally released on November 8th.

So, what's next for the Disney Droid Factory? Want to see some pieces that haven't been released yet? (Would you believe that you already have seen them?) What's going on with kids vs. collectors this week... do we still matter? All this and much more, including some ramblings about our new GHVT column, await you today!

The exclusive AT-ST Crew and Ewok Scout Action Figure Sets are now available online for $14.99 each. Both are temporarily out of stock at the moment but keep checking back for restock since online is the only alternative for collectors in several geographic areas.