Ok - first off - completely agree with mosnab. Lines like Jedi Force, Force Battlers, Attacktix, the rumored 2" Unleashed and even though I have an almost complete collection of them - the 12" figure line can all go away as far as I'm concerned.
I'm pretty miffed about the cancellation of the Unleashed line - I display my open ones of these at work and everyone thinks they're pretty neat - one side of my cube is Unleashed and the other is the McFarlane Matrix line. So the fact that I won't be getting any "new" stuff after the Clone/Chewie/Han wave is disappointing. The fact that those three "new" ones are kit-bashes using pieces from previous figures is also a tad disappointing.
I would rather see them focus simply on the 3.75" figure line at a $5 - $6 price point, continue to have deluxe figures at the $10 price point and continue the Evolutions sets as a way of giving us VOTC style versions of both PT and OT core characters.
Multipacks of re-hashes are okay in order to give "new" collectors a chance to get original versions of main characters, but eventually that should stop and Hasbro and all retailers should just resign themselves to the fact that the fan base they have now is as big as it's going to get - they need to focus on KEEPING the current collectors/customers and stop trying to branch out into new **** to bring in new ones.
For the basic and deluxe figures, I would prefer to see a return to the "Themed Assortments" that crosses both lines. The Hoth and Jabba waves from 2003 Saga were great, but could have been tighter like this:
PT Tatooine Waves: (3 waves of basic figures, 2 waves of Deluxe)
Basic Figures
TPM Anakin Skywalker w/Soft goods, sa and pod racing helmet
Qui-Gon Jinn w/soft goods, sa lit and unlit lightsaber - compatible w/Eopie
Wald/Kitser 2-pack
Dud Bolt, Mawhonic or any other new pod racer
AOTC Anakin Skywalker (can just be an individually carded version of the AOTC Evolutions figure, but add ball-jointed shoulders, elbows and hips) - compatible w/Owen's Speeder Bike
Gray C-3PO
Beru Whitesun
Owen Lars
Obi-Wan Kenobi w/soft goods, sa, infant Luke Skywalker - compatible w/Eopie
Deluxe Figures
Eopie (if they can get the Wampa on a card, the Eopie can be carded as well)
R2-D2 pulling Anakin's Pod Racer cockpit
Cliegg Lars w/Hover Chair & two moisture vaporators
Owen Lar's Speeder Bike
If they were to release this stuff, I would be extremely happy.
The same could be done with waves dedicated to PT Coruscant, Geonosis, Clone Wars, Order 66, ANH Cantina, Ewok Village, Bespin, etc...
The reason I would like something like this is because for a little while after something is released, I keep it on my desk at home, what was nice about the 2003 Saga stuff was that I was able to make "mini dioramas" of all of the figures that came from the same piece of the Saga. The Hoth stuff was one of my favorites for this very reason.
Personally I don't see the line making it to 2010 - and that's being generous. I think it would live on AT LEAST one year beyond retail as an exclusive to
www.hasbrotoyshop.com just like the 3.75" GI Joe figures are - now before you say "not economically feasible" - if Hasbro's choices are kill the line entirely and bring in $0 or sell it exclusively on their own site and make SOMETHING, I would think they'll choose "Make SOMETHING" over "Make NOTHING" since they paid for the license until 2018.
I think the TV shows will give the figure line a boost, but figures will be made in support of the shows and could almost be considered sub-lines from the main movie lines entirely - much like the previous Clone Wars line was. If all they're going to do is Animated Clone Wars repaints and no new sculpts, they should put that line to bed as well. More movie-style sculpted Clone Wars figures would be welcome though.