Regarding "collector interest" - I'm starting to wonder if it is decreasing to some extent as well. It may just be the way I remember it, but it just seems like the forums were a lot more "alive" post Toy Fair, Comic Con, etc. than they are now. I'm not saying no one is posting or discussing things, but it seems like things die back down fairly quickly (and not just with Star Wars). I remember there being a lot of discussions back when we first saw the VOTC figures, or the first figures from the ROTS line, or even in the days of seeing prototypes of the AOTC figures. They were talked to death, speculated on, etc. Same went even a couple years ago when the whole BMF Falcon thing started up on Galactic Hunter.
Like I said, it isn't just in Star Wars. I remember seeing the same sort of enthusiasm when we'd see new waves of Marvel Legends (or whatever other line you may follow). Now we have a little discussion, but not nearly as much. Granted, there isn't as much enthusiasm for Marvel Universe since the switch from Legends, but the same could be said for the DCUC forums. There's a few people talking about them, but not like it used to be it seems. Maybe it is collector fatigue, maybe we just don't have as much time to sit on forums all day, or maybe we've just moved on - but in some ways it does seem like collector interest has gone down a bit from the levels it used to see. There also seems to be more negativity about things, but I guess that is always there with the internet. It just seems like some of the things that we saw, for example, at Toy Fair would have been a really "big deal" 5-10 years ago (figure quality, vintage packaging, Fett mail away, new AT-AT, etc.), but now the forums sometimes seemed mixed in their reactions. Anyways, too long of a post, and I don't mean to sound negative at all. I know there are a ton of people that still really enjoy the hobby, and even then we don't have to like everything that Hasbro puts out. I'm hoping that the vintage line at least will renew collector's interest. I'm curious if anyone who has left the "Hasbro" game over the past few years is tempted to come back at all for the Vintage Collection (even just the OT figures? since some don't like the PT on these cards).