I just can't get behind the Droid Factory character choices, as they seem to all be resculpts

Well, to be honest, unless the figures are EU, CW, Cliegg Lars, Tonnika Sisters, Torryn Farr, Sim Aloo, Sgt. Doallyn, or a miniscule handful of other characters, everything from here on out is going to be a resculpt, right?  That's just the way of things at this point, after 17 years of the modern line (wow, that sounds like a long time).  That said, I definitely agree that the first couple waves are pretty boring, even for resculpts.  But I've pretty much accepted that the final 8(?) years of Hasbro's SW figures are going to be 90% or more resculpts.  Even so, I'll probably be buying them all, just to stay complete.  No point stopping now, when I'm (hopefully) more than 2/3rds of the way through the line!

So on FB yesterday GH reports that Sim Aloo, Blue Gonk and Mustachioed Guard are on the very short list for the next time Vintage comes back

That was good to see confirmed, however expected.  Color/facial hair variants aside, Sim Aloo was really the only vintage figure left on my list here that was an absolute must have.  It's sounded for years like Hasbro's been interested in polishing off this entire list as well, so I'm sure we'll eventually see the rest of the minor variances get made too.  I'd love to see Hasbro just do a "Vintage-deco" wave similar to what Curto teased for April Fool's a few years back:



Obviously you'd need to add Ponda, Greedo and Momaw into the mix there as well to really round out the set, though they'd obviously be far more ideal in one of those Target vintage 3-packs.

Forgive me if I missed a thread/post on this somewhere (and for my lack of interest in doing the research myself), but does anyone have a list of the remaining carded updates still needed in the TVC collection to complete the entire vintage "92" figure run?  I'm not talking every vintage carded variant, just the debut cards for each respective figure.  I've completely lost track, and am interested in how close Hasbro is to finishing them all up, and whether it's plausible to do so during TVCs next run in a year or two.

Thanks!

Maybe they'll start making "Detours" style figures .

Please don't give Hasbro any ideas!  I'm happy with a scaled back line, to be honest, as I'd much rather refocus my collecting dollars on Blu-rays, travel, home improvement, and more "normal" real-world types of things.  The 2020 license extension is scary enough, but if CW is gone and the live-action series isn't happening (which I doubt is true), then at least Hasbro will be forced to stay focused on movie (and EU) figures bottled into just one or two figure lines at retail.  I think that'd help the overall health of the line: One kids' line full of underarticulated repacks, and one collectors' line full of all the good stuff.

As for the rest of the C6 showings and news, I'm excited to finally get that ESB big Slave-1 version out of the way, and just as happy to hear they're finally going to eventually knock out the MUCH needed larger version of the desert skiff.  If Hasbro's smart, they'll co-ordinate that with a (hopeful) release of Jabba's Sail Barge.  Speaking of which, has anyone posted a link to the finished Tatooine diorama from C6?  I haven't seen anything pop up around the collecting sites yet, and was anxious to see how it all turned out.

My guess, and this is just an assumption on my part, is it took them this long to get it to retail and it wasn't tied to them holding it back...  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think if they could've had this on shelves in Jan/Feb, they would've.

Yeah, I'd certainly agree with that.  I didn't word my post very well there.  Much like with the Naboo Starfighter and Tank that are now SOL, I know Hasbro would've preferred to get them into the TPM line originally.  They just failed in that attempt, miserably.  So I was meaning to bash their overall operational effectiveness more than their planning really.  Had they gotten that MTT into the line back when they should've, they may have sold a few more Battle Droids, Droidekas and Gungans.  Had they gotten that Naboo Starfighter in there when they should've, maybe that stupid Ric Olie and Naboo Pilot wouldn't have clogged the pegs quite as badly for the next 7-8 months.  Now they're going to hurt the sales of the MTT's respective mini-rig vehicle by not having that at retail simultaneously to the MTT.  Hasbro is just constantly hurting themselves on both ends with their sloppy organizing and managing of the line.  I'm sure there's outside factors that play into these delays far more than we can imagine, but still, Hasbro has lost the benefit of the doubt when it comes to problems with the line due to their poor decisions.  I blame them - not striking Chinese workers, Lucasfilm, or whoever else they'd like to shift the blame to.

It's still beyond my comprehension that Hasbro didn't get this beast out during the (failed) TPM 3D push.  Holding this non-iconic vehicle back so there's no decent marketing push to help boost it's sales along, while it's saddled with such a hefty price tag is a recipe for disaster - even moreso if it doesn't make it to all the regular B&M stores.  Further, Hasbro trying to coerce collectors into buying this by suggesting it's ultimate sales numbers will likely dictate the potential fate of a Jabba's Sail Barge being made in the future just sucks.  That's hardly an apples to apples comparison, if that's really what Hasbro will be basing it's decision on.  The Barge is a far more iconic vehicle, plus it's from the OT and is the basis for a major plot point's setting (with far more "play-value" built in).  The BMF's sales from a couple years back would be a far more valid comparison (or even the AT-AT's).  Considering these two are coming back to retail again next year, along with Boba's Slave-1, I think Hasbro must know that iconic OT vehicles are a far surer sale than what they're going to be seeing with this MTT.

With that in mind, I'm not too worried about nabbing this vehicle just yet, and will probably wait to get one until they drop into double digits, at least.  Hopefully Pete's concern isn't validated, and I don't get burned for my patience.  I definitely agree that the interactivity with the future mini-rig vehicle is an added plus for this set, but again, foresight and better planning would've really helped, as releasing the mini-rig the year AFTER the MTT's release (I'm assuming) is just flat out stupid beyond words.  Unless, of course, these MTTs are still shelf-warming next year, which is certainly a possibility.

No offense, and I don't mean to single you out, but this is a big part of the problem.  Why do collectors buy one of every figure, or worse, three?

So let's see if I have this straight:
Force Guy is blaming Pete Fett and completist collectors for our current toy woes
Collectors (completist or otherwise) are blaming Hasbro
Hasbro is blaming Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm is blaming...?  They should be blaming the Maker for that Jar-Jar infested atrocity they just worsened by putting in 3D.

I think the most important question that no one seems to be addressing is who are the kids blaming?  2/3rds of these toys are aimed at them, after all.  Or are they really as completely content and satisfied with their Star Wars goodies as Hasbro's been suggesting.  Personally, I think everyone's full of crap.  DDP and Hasbro know full well that this is hardly Lucasfilm's fault, just as Force Guy knows this obviously has next to nothing to do with completists.  Seeing as how few completists there are anymore these days, that's asinine to suggest they have much, if any, pull on the line's development, character selection, and marketing.  Sure, lots of people buy lots of garbage, and yes, I understand that it's especially confusing to some when others purchase items they don't particularly like, but hey - that's collecting.  To each their own.  I DESPISE soft goods, but I'm still buying multiples of that furball of a red tee-pee Royal Guard in a few months.  I blame all you articulation junkies for that garbage (and the dozens of other soft-good fiascos that came before the ERG).  Now that feels better - I got to blame someone for something too!  As an aside on completists, if the handful of them still out there upsets anyone now, just wait until the B-A-D line hits again next year when completists will multiply ten-fold (or more) as far more "normal" people are forced to buy dozens of figures they don't want just to complete their Build-a-Droids.  There's going to be a LOT more blame to go around when that starts happening!

To be honest, I'm glad there were problems with figures showing up at retail this year.

While I certainly understand your point, and have also greatly enjoyed watching Hasbro attempt to squirm through the bitchslap that retail has recently handed them, I would've probably put that a bit differently, or at least more tactfully, considering your current surroundings and the fact that everyone else here is certainly not quite so pleased.  My wallet and wife are certainly less pleased that I have to pay 2-10x retail on eBay to get most of these silly little plastic 4" treasures that I really don't need.

That said, I've got to agree with some of the sentiments above, that based on Hasbro's early showings for the 2013 MH line, with a 100% overlap on their small test sample, they're clearly not learning from their mistakes.  Even if things were quite far along in the 2013 line's planning, the TPM fiasco should've necesitated some hasty re-arranging of things.  That, on top of the fairly uninteresting character selections in the first two B-A-D waves, gets me even further worried that Hasbro's not going to be able to get this retail disaster turned around.  At least not until the OT hits 3D in 2014, when I'm assuming the core fanbase (old farts) will be briefly reinvigorated.  Of course by then, we'll be looking at $15 figures with 5 POA across the board, so who knows how bad the outlook might be at that point.