Just a couple of practical suggestions for everyone:

1. Put all your dice and gear inside a sealable bag inside your figures base. If all the parts are loose, you only need to drop the base once to scatter little tiny pieces in every direction. You can get small jewelry bags at hobby/craft stores, or in a pinch you can use the bag the rules come in , if you're careful when you open it. It's even got a piece of tape to seal it with.

2. Figures with "immobile" joints: Do _NOT_ force these to bend, turn or rotate. Odds are you'll just wind up twisting or shearing off the pin that holds the body part in place. First, try gently wiggling the joint back and forth 90 degrees off the axis it's supposed to turn on (IE: wiggle the elbow joint right and left instead of up and down), and then try bending it normally. If this doesn't free the joint, freeze the figure overnight and try again (starting with the wiggling).

Very Good advise. The Only body part I had problems with flexing was Lothans Feet. I couldn't get him to stand on the bases without adjusting his feet. They were stuck pretty good and I was terrified I was gonna snap his foot off. It did eventually give though. :ermm:

Another suggestion is to be mindful of the pegs on the hands. Some weapons will not fit on certain hands.
Rule of thumb: If the weapon or equipment won't slip on easily, don't force it.
I already made that mistake trying to get Lothan to hold his Super Warhawk in his right hand. The peg snapped right off and it took a bit of work to pin and glue the damn thing back on.

For the hands, get something like a sharpened pencil, hold onto the weapon, and push the peg out from the weapon if it doesnt want to come out.

good advice. Also, for stiff joints, you can also hold the figure over a kettle boiling, or breath hot air on it, that will loosen it up by makign the plastic more pliable.

Thanks for the information on Lothans feet. I didn't even notice the ankles were jointed. It took some doing, but I finally got him standing with both feet on his base.

I actually had the same trouble on G-Dogg's feet.. and he actually doesnt stand very flat footed now either.. but he stays, and thats what matters.

Heck, even the models without joints have trouble. My Kyushi left a foot on her base when I took her off! Easily fixed, but still, you gotta be careful.
There are some parts you just don't wanna lose.

you can stand gdogg flat on his base, but you've got to have his left knee bent a little bit, and obviously gotta work the ankles to get it flat with no tension (IE the legs wont be trying to come off)