The Saga Collection 2006 - Overall Discussion

[proudfather2]

After reading a lot of the threads that speculate as to what figures would be in each themed wave, it dawned on me, a lot of these waves have repeating figures, or at least according to some speculations. For example, the Battle Droid COULD show up in the E1, E2 and E3 waves. But I think it is safe to assume it won't. Many characters, even main, need only show up once in the entire line.

I have just now taken the time to look at The Saga Collection as a whole, as well as, seven themed waves from six films. The list below is based off the Battle of Carkoon wave and it's six figures (known figures are shown in caps). Of the six Carkoon figures none are real surprises, except MAYBE Barada, while four are almost totally expected. So, in theory, the rest of the list should be almost as unremarkable (not meaning that in a bad way mind you). With that simple formula in mind as well as the fact that all waves seem to be titled after a popular battle from a specific planet that included only certain characters, here are some of the figures I expect to see:

1.   Jar Jar,   Battle of Naboo from Episode I
2.   Qui-Gon, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
3.   Obi-Wan, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
4.   Amidala, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
5.   Gungan, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
6.   Darth Maul, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
7.   Nute Gunray, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
8.   Naboo Guard, Battle of Naboo from Episode I
9.   Battle Droid, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
10.   Clone Trooper, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
11.   Anakin, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
12.   Padme, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
13.   Dooku, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
14.   Jango, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
15.   Mace, Battle of Geonosis from Episode II
16.   Palpy, Battle of Coruscant from Episode III
17.   Yoda, Battle of Coruscant from Episode III
18.   Anakin w/ name Vader, Battle of Coruscant from Episode III
19.   501st Clone, Battle of Coruscant from Episode III
20.   Shock Trooper, Battle of Coruscant from Episode III
21.   Kit, Battle of Coruscant from Episode III
22.   R5, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
23.   3PO, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
24.   Luke, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
25.   Ben, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
26.   Tusken, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
27.   SANDTROOPER, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
28.   Jawa, Battle of Tatooine from Episode IV
29.   Leia, Battle of Death Star from Episode IV
30.   Han Stormy, Battle of Death Star from Episode IV
31.   Luke Stormy, Battle of Death Star from Episode IV
32.   Stormy, Battle of Death Star from Episode IV
33.   Tarkin, Battle of Death Star from Episode IV
34.   Imp Officer, Battle of Death Star from Episode IV
35.   Rebel Officer, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
36.   Luke, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
37.   Han, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
38.   2-1B, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
39.   Rebel Pilot, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
40.   Vader, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
41.   R2, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
42.   Snowtrooper, Battle of Hoth from Episode V
43.   BARADA, Battle of Carkoon from Episode VI
44.   BIB FORTUNA, Battle of Carkoon from Episode VI
45.   BOBA FETT   , Battle of Carkoon from Episode VI
46.   BOUSHH, Battle of Carkoon from Episode VI
47.   CHEWBACCA, Battle of Carkoon from Episode VI
48.   HAN SOLO,    Battle of Carkoon from Episode VI
49.   TIE Pilot   , Battle of Endor from Episode VI
50.   Spirit Anakin, Battle of Endor from Episode VI
51.   Lando, Battle of Endor from Episode VI
52.   Emperor,   Battle of Endor from Episode VI
53.   Leia/Ewok, Battle of Endor from Episode VI
54.   Luke, Battle of Endor from Episode VI
55.   Rebel Commando, Battle of Endor from Episode VI
56.   Scout, Battle of Endor from Episode VI

Oh yeah, after seeing how Hasbro chose to do things over the past decade, and knowing that this line will be mostly long-term fan sustained, it may be safe to assume that figures like Stormtroopers, Sandtroopers, Scouts, Clones, Battle Droids, Generic Soldiers, etc. will come in several vaying colors, schemes, and/or decos. For example; the E1 clone would be available in a white, yellow, blue, red etc. whereas the Battle Droid may be offered in tan and red as well as clean and dirty or battle damaged. You get the idea.

Whadya think, am I pretty close to the mark here?

[Jesse James]

Hard to say if you're pretty close, but anything is possible...  Repetition of characters isn't impossible though either...  Luke Jedi, Hologram, Dagobah, Bespin, Hoth...  In a short period of time we saw all those and then some, in one form or another.

I'm curious how hard Hasbro's going to try to keep the "kids" in it.  Like with the TRU 4-packs, they weren't popular but were aimed at kids...  They started with a LITTLE bit of interest for the adult collectors too, but that faded pretty quickly.

Should be interesting to watch it all unfold...  I'm surprised it's such a quick change to a new card style and dropping the ROTS line.  Seems like Hasbro's really wanting to get those other films back in the mix quickly and they don't want to just dumb the ROTS card down a bit so it's not ROTS specific.

[Darby]

I'd say we're going to see all the main characters at least once, and with some like Han and Luke, more than once. 

And I absolutely agree Palpatine and Yoda will land in that Battle of Coruscant wave - if they don't, I can't really think of why Hasbro went with this over Utapau.

[speedermike]

Now that we've seen the first three waves of TSC, it struck me that there are is a severe lack of popular human characters.  Yes, there is one Chewie, one Vader and one Yoda, but no Luke, Anikin or Obi-Wan.  I think that this could realy hurt the line becuase it completely ignores the casual collector, or even the serious kid collector that started with ROTS.

In a way, I'm glad to see the Utapua trooper show up in the Geonosis wave.  I think that the themed wave are way to limiting, and create a problem with figure selection.
Hopefully Hasbro will eventually give up on the themed waves, as they did with Saga 2, and just start putting out waves of figures that are balanced combinations of obscure fan desires, and the genreal publics' tatses.

Any thoughts?

[Morgbug]

Overkill on the Anakin and Obi-wan in the ROTS line, so they're bypassing it for a while?  Just a thought, but Anakin had three figures in ROTS.  The first came with three saber variations, the second with two eye variations.  You have crispy and then you can get him and Obi in the Mustafar playset.  Obi has three.  Maybe they thought a short break would be a good idea from those characters. 

Luke I don't have an explanation for, other than we aren't really dying for one at the moment.  Didn't we recently get farmboy/Tatooine Luke recently?  Two versions of Dagobah Luke, a Jedi Luke with slashing action. 

Maybe, just maybe, Hasbro is acknowledging that the movie is done, the DVD is out and the bulk of the sales will go back to the collectors rather than the children?

[Darth_Anton]

I don't know, they seem like pretty smart assortments so far, except for the one clone per-case.

First wave, we're getting Han and Leia, a good start IMO. The only othe humand characters for the OT to get are Luke and Lando, of which, were getting two Lukes this year.

As fot the PT humans, I think Morgbug is right, we just got Multiple Obi's and Anakin's. I think we can do with a break. But those are comming as well.

As for hurting the casual collector, who knows, maybe it will broaden their horizons?

[speedermike]

All I know is that all summer long I saw parents and kids looking for Luke in the ROTS figures. =)

[Greg]

I was looking at the case assortment at EE and the new figures look to be short packed in the Geonosis wave. 

[Darth_Anton]

I was looking at the case assortment at EE and the new figures look to be short packed in the Geonosis wave. 

Although on the surface, I would roll my eyes as well, I don't think that will be a problem. The repacked 2 per case figures are main characters and despite the fact that we woun't be buying them, average Mom and Dad will for Jr.

[CHEWIE]

I'm just wondering if this will be a wave by wave shipment, or if we might get the first 2-3 waves all at once?   I don't want to see tons and tons of the first wave clogging pegs.  We need variety for the launch of this line.

 

[Darth_Anton]

Like the '04 line, it looks to me like wave by wave. Makes sense, the 8 waves have to stretch out for 11-12 months. Releaseing all three waves at once, especially around christmas, would be pretty rough on us.

[CHEWIE]

Well, didn't the OTC line kind of come out with more than one wave at first?

 

[speedermike]

"Releaseing all three waves at once, especially around christmas, would be pretty rough on us."

But we all know that Hasbro isn't really concerned with "us."  They want kids to buy their product.  In a way, it would be best to see these hit all at once, so that there could be a big selection of characters from many films.

[CHEWIE]

I think so too.  Getting around 10-15 new figures at once isn't cheap, but a nice variety is one of the great things about Star Wars. 

 

[ROTJLuke]

Id love to see Carkoon,Hoth and Geonosis come out at once. Yes, it would be expensive, but it would be nice to be able to pick up something new almost every day