"Greatest Hits" Figures

[Brian]

I was listening to the Star Wars Action News podcast, and in their Hasbro Q and A for this session, one of the questions dealt with the "Greatest Hits" figures included in some of the Legacy waves.  We've been seeing a few of those figures along the way (these are seperate from the "Legends" line), and according to this question/answer, it sounds like we'll be seeing more of them.  They will, apparently, be dropping the "GH" designation to avoid confusion in the line - but they think it is a good way to bring out some of the "ultimate" characters they have gotten out over the past few years.

Personally, I don't mind this at all.  If they're not part of the "regular" wave, we're not missing out on new figures - and it would be nice to see some of the ultimate characters re-released that aren't related to clones or the Clone Wars (which seems to be the majority of the Legends line anymore).  It could be a good way to get figures like VOTC Han/Luke/Leia, EB Chewie, various Troopers, the Evolutions figures, and more.  With this in mind, since we basically know the movie lineup (and in some cases, the figures) for the rest of this year, do you have any suggestions for "Greatest Hits" figures for the upcoming waves?  I think we have some announced for the AOTC wave (Evo Anakin, Evo Jango, Evo Clone Pilot, etc.), but beyond that we have the following waves:

The Phantom Menace
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
The Empire Strikes Back

[Darby]

I agree.  It acutally makes the most sense for them to rotate the core/ultimate characters in the main line every year for newcomers.  Vader/Han/Luke/Chewie/R2/Obi/Anakin/Fett/Maul/Troopers et al can all be distributed among corresponding waves.

[Jayson]

I'd prefer if they kept these "greatest hits" figure OUT of the Legacy line. Keep the Legacy a collectors line for new and carry forward figures and reserve the the Legends line for the newcomers/armybuilders of the hobby.

[Jesse James]

I agree with Jayson.  They're further tainting the already murky way they have the pegs set up...  legends, Clone Wars, Legacy, and now more "Legends" **** just being rotated into the Legacy line?  That sucks eggs if you ask me.

[Jeff]

I think we have some announced for the AOTC wave (Evo Anakin, Evo Jango, Evo Clone Pilot, etc.), but beyond that we have the following waves:

On-line pre-orders have indicated that the VTSC Scout Trooper and Evo Shirtless Maul will soon be joining the Legacy line as "greatest hits" figures in the Phantom Menace wave.

(Maul makes sense, but why the Scout Trooper is in the TPM wave instead of the next RotJ wave?  No idea. )

[Jesse James]

No decent army builder from that movie, perhaps?  They do seem to enjoy getting the army builders out there with a droid part, which is a good thing at times.  I prefer it to be that year's army builders though, which tend to be the ones that need army built a bit more.

[Brian]

I agree about the overlap between "greatest hits" and "Legends", I'd prefer if they just went one way or the other.  If they're going to have the Legends line, I'd almost sooner it included the army builders (many of which we get now) alongside the main characters ("ultimate" versions, and not just from the Clone Wars/prequels).  I think that has been the biggest lacking area of the Legends line, aside from X-Wing Luke and Darth Vader, the OT "big guns" have been few and far between.  You could make a pretty nice lineup from all six movies with the figures released in the vintage, Evolutions, and even basic figure line over the past few years - just rotate those throughout the year, then the big names are always on the pegs for new collectors.  Just off the top of my head, some nice figures to include might be:

VOTC: Han Solo, Tatooine Luke, X-Wing Luke, ANH Leia, Snowtrooper, Biker Scout, Stormtrooper, Chewbacca
Evolutions: Anakin Skywalker (AOTC and ROTS), Darth Vader, Count Dooku, Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Boba Fett, Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme (Arena), Clone Pilot, Upcoming TIE Pilot, etc.
Basic Line: Obi-Wans (all from this year, plus ROTS Pilot), General Grievous, SBD, Endor Throne 3PO, R2-D2 (repaint of R4-G9), Hoth Rebel Soldier, etc.

I'm sure there are plenty I'm forgetting, and maybe I'm listing way too many as well - but if they insist on having a Legends line full of re-releases, I think this might be a nice way to be new collector/kid friendly, and still get a nice, broad line covering the entire Saga as well.  If this was the case, then I think they could just get rid of "greatest hits" altogether.  One way or the other, the retail landscape could stand to be simplified a bit I think.  Two lines is enough already.  They can say "seperate SKUs" all they want, but we all know at retail "Star Wars is Star Wars", so one line (usually CW or Legends) is almost always dominating the pegs.