Clearly no one is minding the store. I'm not one to pile on Hasbro, but this is really bad business.

I was thinking the other day about the tremendous amount of unrealized potential the CW line still has, and like a lot of us at the end of the vintage Kenner line, there are a ton of figures that are 'must-haves' that will never see. One thing that strikes me as odd is Hasbro's complete abandonment of the line. The show is still running, now in syndication; it still draws enough viewers to make it viable for CN or Disney to continue with it, so why no support for it at all? As the original Batman animated series was winding down, Kenner kept that line going for years through exclusive gift sets, primarily at TRU, that milked repaints and retools but still provided enough newness to appeal to collectors. A lot of fan favorites - Alfred, Talia - appeared this way.

Hasbro could do the same. The CW line already is heavily dependent on recycling molds and parts. Continuing the line as exclusive battle packs at say TRU - who routinely carries these types of items for Hasbro anyhow - would be a surefire way to generate sales and keep interest by producing sets of four or five figures or so that were primarliy repaints/retools with the exception of a newly sculpted character, limited in POA. It's also a way to get some very hard to find figures back out there. What do you guys think? TRU has been carrying four and five packs as exclusives (Ewoks, Pilots) recently, so that's the model I follow below.

Here are some quick hits that seem natural to me:

Lair of Grievous:

Clone Commander Fil
Clone Trooper Bel
Clone Trooper Niner
Nahdar Vebb
Kit Fisto

Trespass:

Obi-Wan (Cold Gear)
Anakin (Cold Gear)
Thi-Sen
Talz Warrior
Clone Trooper (Cold Gear)

Republic Pilots:

Clone Pilot Broadside (Phase I Armor)
Clone Pilot Mack (Phase I Armor)
Clone Pilot Hawk (Phase I Armor)
Clone Stealth Pilot
Clone Pilot Rod (Goji’s Turret Gunner) (Phase I Armor)

Jedi Warriors:

Anakin Skywalker
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Yoda
Mace Windu
Tera Sinube

Bounty Hunters

Seripas
Embo
Sugi
Cad Bane
Aurra Sing (New Bounty Hunter Gear/Outfit)

The Mandalore Plot:

Mandalorian Trooper 2x
Obi Wan Kenobi
Duchess Satine
Pre-Visla

Lethal Trackdown:
Auura Sing
Bossk
Castas
Boba Fett (Poncho)
Speeder Bike

There are LOTS more that I'll play around with later but this is what I came up off the top of my head.

For me it's new characters. The turn off is both the price and scale. I have no desire to pay three times what I have for figures I already own, regardless of their quality.

The 6 inch figures are, not surprisingly, outstanding. The Sandtrooper in particular is outstanding. R2 is probably a future desk ornament for a lot of people. That being said, collecting the new scale has no appeal for me. I have nowhere to put these, and no energy for laying down $20 on these either. I would be interested - I think - in my personal favorites, like the Jawas, Hammerhead, Snowtrooper, but what really interests me is something new. Whether that's new Clone Wars figures or the new movies, just something new.

This was a terribly written episode. The Cato Nemoidia thing - exactly. And why does Ahsoka find out the suspect's duties and specialty at the temple several scenes after she has his profile? Why does she ask Anakin who could be able to bomb the temple when she already knows (hey remember when the Separatists hired bounty hunters to infiltrate the temple? Oh, and attack the senate? Oh and knock the power in Coruscant?) Anti-war sentiment - they way this kind of story information is communicated is the worst aspect of the PT. Show, don't tell. Rule #1 in writing. If there is an anti-war movement in the Republic, then we need to see it in action. Pinning the war on the Jedi makes sense for Palpatine, as ultimately he needs them for scapegoats, but let's see it.

This arc is missing another episode, which given the four wasted on the droids thing, just makes me scratch my head, but whatever - Palpatine sensing the rise of Maul seems to needlessly rush the end of the arc. What should have happened is that after Satine's death, Obi-Wan reports the take over of Mandalore by Maul to the council and Senate. Since it's Sith related, the Jedi change their minds on an intervention. He and Anakin lead a task force back there to clean house. Obi-Wan struggles with some serious anger/grief and it would have paid to show him be a human being. At this point he's so detached that it's hard to even empathize with him.

Palpatine naturally becomes aware of the situation on Mandalore, and this is his reintroduction to Maul. I agree Maul's cowardice is completely out of character. I don't believe for a second that Maul would react this way. Nor do I believe Sidious would initally act on his own. He would send Dooku first, unless Palpatine legitimately feared Maul so much that he had to act. The clinic he ran on Maul and Oppress pretty much proves he had nothing to fear. If they had explored Palpatine's fear through the prism of Maul's miraculous survival - here is a Sith with extraordinary ability - then I could see it, but it's handled as if Palpatine is taking out the trash.

I'd be stunned if Vader doesn't show up in Series 2. Beyond that, some kind of trooper and some kind of hero - probably Han - will certainly be in the mix. I think between the main casts of both trilogies, the troopers and the favorites like bounty hunters, there's a stockpile of these things that will, if sucessful, come slow and steady until the new movie (and beyond I'm sure).

Some quick thoughts on who I expect to be locks:

Luke - Farm Boy, Jedi, Bespin, Stormtrooper
Han - Smuggler, Hoth, Stormtrooper
Leia - Princess, Hoth, Slave
Obi-Wan - TPM, ROTS, ANH
Chewbacca
Lando - TESB
C-3PO - ANH
Darth Vader - ANH, TESB, ROTJ (removable helmet)
Anakin Skywalker - ROTS
Padme - AOTC Arena
Mace Windu - ROTS
Count Dooku
Yoda - TESB, ROTS
Emperor Palpatine - ROTJ, ROTS
Stormtrooper
Snowtrooper
Biker Scout
Emperor's Royal Guard
Clone Trooper - AOTC, ROTS
Commander Cody
General Grievous
Jango Fett
Boba Fett
Bossk
IG-88
Hammerhead
Greedo
Jawa(s)
Kit Fisto
Plo Koon
Gamorrean Guard

I'm sure there's many others, but those seem like the no brainers. Now to follow this to its logical conclusion.

6" scale swag you will see as exclusives:

Wampa
TaunTaun
Dewback
Jabba the Hutt
The Max Rebo Band
Speeder Bike

Exactly. What I see on these boards at least is collectors willing and able to buy army builders, but not at $10 per figure. I see collectors looking to keep their collections going with those minor, minor characters that will never see the light of day in this scale and one assumes, with a kid centric focus in the smaller scale, anywhere else.