Okay, didn't know.

My thoughts exactly on Vader's TIE! While it's true that grey-painted TIE/In fighters exist in the main series, we only see them in Episode IV. In Episodes V and VI, they're painted blue, as George Lucas always intended them to be. (They had to be painted grey in A New Hope because of the problems with blue screen at the time.) As for Vader's TIE, we only see it in Episode IV, and it's painted grey, so what's the deal with that? I wonder if this has to do with the fact that all TIE variants in the first edition didn't need re-sculpting, so maybe that's the reason why the A-wing got a different paint scheme this time.

I don't like ebay. I don't like bidding on items as if it's an auction, which is what ebay is.

What I will have to do is since I still have the 1st edition A-wing expansion, I will simply have to buy the new pack and switch miniatures.

Yeah, the new B-wing is somewhat differently painted, but it's still the same paint scheme from Episode VI, just modified to become more realistic.

Okay, yeah, you're right, sorry. I confused Phoenix Squadron's scheme with that of the original concept paint scheme that Ralph McQuarrie came up with for Episode VI because I had read that when the A-wing was going to appear in "Rebels," the ship's paint scheme would be based on McQuarrie's original concept design.

Okay, Wave VI was announced today, and I am completely shocked, if not outright disappointed, that the miniature for the rereleased Rebel Alliance RZ-1 A-Wing Interceptor Expansion Pack will be painted in the blue-and-white colors of Phoenix Squadron from the Rebels TV show and NOT the red-and-white colors that the A-wings in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi had. For one, it should have been the Episode VI version (or at least miniatures depicting both paint schemes in a single pack) because that's the version we historically recognized. (The miniature depicting Obi-Wan Kenobi's Delta-7 Aethersprite should have been the ship included in the Delta-7 Aethersprite expansion, but that's another story for another day since I purchased both that pack and the Guardians of the Republic expansion so I can just switch ships anytime I want.) Second, FFG said that the painted plastic ships from the Aces and Veterans expansions (the Imperial Aces, Rebel Aces [of which the rereleased A-Wing Expansion's ship comes from], Most Wanted, Imperial Veterans, and Guns for Hire expansions) would not be rereleased (although if there's anything good about this I hope that this could be proof they're changing their mind because I want the Heroes of the Resistance Expansion, which was also considered an "Aces and Veterans" expansion even though it contained movie ships, specifically Poe Dameron's X-wing and the sequel trilogy Millennium Falcon), so I wonder what the deal is here. Third, it means I have to keep the miniature ship from the OLD A-wing expansion and replace the miniature included in the new expansion with it so that I can play a movie series A-wing with newer and tournament-legal components. How ridiculous. I had a strange feeling that this would happen, and now my suspicions have been confirmed. Does anyone else think that the rereleased Rebel Alliance A-wing's miniature should have been the movie ship? I just wanted to know.

All right, so the release of Wave IV's ships was "officially" announced today. However, even though this does include the Deluxe Movement Tools and Range Ruler Kit, that product is still listed as "shipping now" at the "upcoming" page even though it is now available for purchase here at the FFG website. Yeah, we all surely now know better than to trust the "upcoming" page. Of course, it's still not available at Barnes & Noble OR Amazon even though Wave IV's ships are available at both outlets. Meanwhile, the majority of Wave V's ships remain "on the boat" with the Punishing One and the Nantex starfighter remaining "in development" along with the new Epic Play products (including re-releasing huge ships).

Okay, so Wave IV's ships have finally now been "officially" released (including at Amazon) even though Barnes & Noble started selling them early and there are still no previews of the Wave IV ships that don't have any. Meanwhile, we still have another week before the Deluxe Movement Tools and Range Ruler Kit is "officially" released. The majority of Wave V's ships (the Ghost, the Galactic Republic Y-Wing, the Inquisitor's TIE Advanced, and the M3-A Interceptor) are now "on the boat" with two holdouts (the Punishing One and the Nantex starfighter) still "in development." Finally, it was announced today that Epic Play is about to return to X-Wing with re-releases of the CR-90 (the Tantive IV) and the C-ROC Cruiser (without its M-3A interceptor escort, unfortunately, since I guess the M-3A is technically a "Legends" canon ship now) on the horizon as well as an Epic Play Deluxe Campaign Expansion that functions as the Epic Play equivalent to the core set. Oh, and a conversion kit for all Epic ships of the original edition will also be available.

All right, so all of Wave IV's ships are officially "shipping now" according to the site's upcoming products page. Meanwhile, the deluxe movement tools and range ruler are still being listed as "on the boat" along with four of the ships for Wave V (the Galactic Republic BTL-B Y-Wing from "The Clone Wars," the Ghost and the Phantom II from "Rebels," the Inquisitor's TIE Advanced V1 also from "Rebels," and the Black Sun M3-A Interceptor technically from the "Legends" canon). The only two holdouts that are still being listed as "in development" are the Punishing One (also technically from the "Legends" canon) and the Geonosian Nantex-class starfighter from Episode II: Attack of the Clones. So, yeah, July 11th will be the "official" release date even though Barnes & Noble has gone ahead and started selling the ships in question.

Okay, by "on the boat" I mean that the product is traveling to the FFG warehouse from the factory printer, but it doesn't matter. The ships in question that I ordered, all of which are the movie ships that appear in Wave IV, have arrived at my house. FFG's website may be inaccurate, but hopefully they'll issue a statement about why this wave took so long and why it still hasn't "officially" been released.

Okay, folks, they've now finally put all of Wave IV's ships "on the boat" along with the Wave V ships that have already appeared "on the boat" (with the exceptions of the Geonosian Nantex-class starfighter from Episode II and the Punishing One from the expanded universe, both of which are still "in development) at the "Upcoming" page while the Deluxe Movement Templates and Range Ruler are still listed as "at the printer." Oh, and the Millennium Falcon expansion is now also on the page and it, too, is "on the boat." Really, though, they might as well have put them up as "in stores now" because of what we all discovered about how yeah, they're at Barnes & Noble, but again this has been the most frustrating X-Wing wave release on record. Still no preview of any remaining ships, though.

Since Amazon just keeps piddling along with X-Wing Wave IV (and since FFG has not released the next preview for a Wave IV ship today), I've just used my Amazon money that I had been saving for other things while I've also gone ahead and purchased the Wave IV ships that appeared in the main movie series at the Barnes & Noble website. I must say that this has definitely been one of the most frustrating releases for X-Wing for a combination of reasons.

All right, it appears we now know what the problem is as to the release. It apparently has something to do with the Deluxe Movement Tools and Range Ruler Kit not being ready, and because we've all gotten very mouthy about the ships not being released FFG has gone ahead and"unofficially" released them at Barnes and Noble. Of course, I wish FFG would hurry it up and release them on Amazon, which they have not done (as far as I know). Furthermore, the First Order Special Forces TIE/sf Fighter Expansion Pack is still not yet available at my nearest Barnes & Noble. I remember that when the previous version of X-Wing was still available, they were trying to do a "game tile kit" that featured three sets of four game tiles that formed images of the Hoth Asteroid Belt, Alderaan, and Death Star I. However, they didn't release it to the public because they determined that it wouldn't work, and the playmats were what got released for a playing surface with the Starfield Playmat in particular being used for all legal tournament play.

I forgot about those, didn't I? Hate to disappoint you, Hiemfire, but the templates are still not yet available anywhere. I guess those are what will be released on July 11th.