I bought a starter and two booster packs at the local game store yesterday (and pre-ordered another starter and two boosters from RPGShop as well). My 8-year-old nephew and I have already played a couple of games, and I'd be hard pressed to tell you which of us had the most fun.
From what I've seen so far, except for the Darth Vader figure in the starter set, it looks like the rares and ultra-rares are going to be the best and most powerful figures. The starter set contains no randomized rares/ultra-rares (BUT Darth Vader, Dark Jedi and Luke Skywalker, Rebel -- which are included in every starter -- are officially listed as rares), so right now we've got one rare (4-LOM), and one ultra-rare (Imperial Probe Driod). In our two games thus far, 4-LOM has pretty much been the only one who can hit Vader with any regularity (he needs a 10+ on the dice to hit Vader, most other figures need a 15+, and some need a 17+).
Another thing I noticed with the amount of figures we initially bought is that we have pretty much the minimum number of figures we need to construct a 100 point team for each side. While there are a few figures left over, if we never get any more figures our teams are going to end up being virtually the same every time we play. I'm definitely looking forward to having more figures.
Favorite Figure so far (in the game): 4-LOM, because otherwise having Vader would be an automatic win.
Honorable Mention: Imperial Probe Driod. Nearby characters take damage when he's destroyed, which opens up a lot of strategic possibilites.
Least Favorite Figure so far: Royal Guard. He's melee-only with so-so abilities, and his only special ability (taking in damage instead of the Emporer) is useless unless you have an Emporer figure.
For anyone just interested in them as representations of Star Wars characters, all I can say is that they look amazing. I never bought any D&D minis past Dragoneye, but I've gotta say there is no comparison at all in terms of how well done these figures are. They absolutely blow all the D&D minis I have completely out of the water.