I think that a third assortment is really overextending the line right now (I'm even in the apparent minority who thinks that Hasbro is overdoing it with the number of figures in both the CW and Legacy lines themselves at this point), and SL would be the easiest to cut completely with very few people missing it. Take high-demand figures that are already planned for SL (such as the VTSC Snowtrooper, red ARC, etc) along with some other high-demand figures (Stormtrooper Commander), insert them as repacks in the regular Legacy/BAD line, and be done with it. The market is saturated with now-out-of-date Grievouses, electronic R2-D2s, Endor Threepios, and shoddy Battle Droids, and SL isn't helping matters.
If you're in that minority, I'm there too. Although I really like what we've been getting from the SW line(s) lately, for me, its just getting to be too much. Granted, we can always just buy what we want, but like I've said before, its more tempting when its out there. I really think Hasbro could scale back with the releases overall through the course of the year (and number of product lines) and still have great sales, and maybe wouldn't have some collectors feeling overwhelmed. Anyways, that's a different topic.
I agree with what you guys are saying, as far as I'm concerned they could ditch the Legends assortment as well, and just insert the figures mentioned in the regular TLC waves. That being said, I was just bringing up suggestions since it seems like Hasbro really likes to have this assortment at retail. Although all of the SW stuff has been selling like crazy around here lately, it often does seem to be the Legends figures clogging things up at retail when something is not selling. On the other side of things, I do understand the need to have the "big guns" out there at retail - particularly for parents/kiddos. There have been several times I've seen parents frustrated because they couldn't find a Luke or Han on the pegs at certain times of the year (and there are other examples), and I could see that being frustrating as a parent/gift buyer. Heck, using another example, a woman remarked to me in the toy aisle just yesterday that she was looking for a Captain America figure for her nephew (it was top on his list), and she can't find one anywhere (unless he wants a Mighty Muggs version). She said she'd just be going online, and its nice that option is there, but I can kind of see where its nice to have the popular characters out for any given line.
Again, if we have to have an assortment like this, I think it would be better to keep it limited and to use the best versions possible. Heck, you could even just put it out around the holidays primarily, as that seems to be where a lot of the casual buyers and gift givers come out in full force. You could probably get a pretty good representation of what kids would maybe want in a dozen figure assortment or so, consisting of a Han, Luke, Chewie, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Vader, the clones/stormtroopers, and maybe a few supporting characters like Yoda, the Fetts, Maul, and the recent Grievous and call it good. Overall though, I agree with the sentiment that there is just too many lines/stuff at this point. I'm probably in the minority as well that I'm actually buying the Animated stuff alongside the Legacy Collection, but I wouldn't mind seeing just one line at retail eventually as well (realistic styled of course).
