Yeah, I agree Scott, I was just thinking the same thing today after reading that news about Simpsons.  It sure has been rough times lately.  Don't get me wrong, I am really psyched about the Star Wars offerings for 2004, even though there are a lot of re-releases, but the other stuff looks great (particularly the vintage-modern OTC figures...Dagobah and Bespin waves as well).  Is it just the fact that kids aren't "into" action figures like we were when we were kids?  I will say that almost every time I visit Target to check out the SW stuff, there are a couple of boys looking at various lines (sometimes even Star Wars).  It does seem different than in the 80s though, unless I am out of touch with kids.  I know my friends and I all had fairly extensive collections of several lines at the same time (Star Wars, Joe, MOTU, MASK, Transformers, Thundercats, Marvel or Super Powers)...I don't know if kids today are quite like that.  All that Pokemon-ish stuff is more their flava now maybe .  Anyways, you are right, definitely a tough time lately.

Although I was never able to collect this line, I see (via SimpsonsCollectors.com) that the line might be coming to an end.  This is the news that was posted over there:

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UPDATE: We have confirmation of this news. We will have word from Playmates on the exact details of the last series later this week.

All good things must end. Rumors have been circulating about the future of the WoS line and now a reliable source has given us new information from inside Fox. It appears that Playmates' license with Fox to produce Simpsons merchandise will terminate at the end of this year. This will mean the end of the World of Springfield line and other Simpsons items produced by Playmates. The info we were given says the plan is to have one (or possibly two) more series of WoS and a final THOH set for TRU. Keep in mind that while we are confident in our source, this information has not been officially confirmed by Playmates yet. We will be contacting them with questions soon.
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Just don't waste the OTC cards on 2 small waves of figures and 14 rehashes!

That is one of my biggest concerns too Matt, I really hope that these great new cardbacks (which pretty much everyone seems to like) aren't just used for Dagobah, Bespin, and the recarded figures.  Although I know I'm a little biased since I really like the new design (and the vintage designs as well), I think these would really be eye catching, and I hope that they continue.

I was curious too about where, if there will be any, the prequel trilogy figures will fit in.  Maybe we won't have anything new until 2005, or maybe there will be some sort of other line that covers anything that isn't OT.  It does kind of sound like Saga is done with the Endor Generals this year, but maybe it will come back later on.  Or maybe they will just use the OTC cardbacks (since they use that style for Yoda's lightsaber), like you said.

I really hope that they keep the OTC going though, and maybe have the other collection be for prequel figures.  They've almost always had some sort of collection 1, collection 2 type of thing going (especially during movie years), so maybe we'll see the OTC into 2005, and a new line starting for the Episode III goodies.  It will be interesting to see.

You know, I like this entire wave (and basically all we've been seeing lately, for that matter), and I will pick up all of them if I can find them.  For some reason I really just think that Cloud Car Pilot is "neato".  Even though it has some bright colors, something about the design just seems cool to me.  I never had the vintage one, but I think I'll try to pick one of those up too sometime.  It is one of the more colorful designs of Star Wars characters, but it just looks classic "space movie" to me, if you know what I mean.

I'm not usually a carded person, but I do like to keep the cardbacks.  That might make some of the rehashes tempting if they do end up staying at the $5 price-point.  My wife has been trying to talk me into getting rid of my boxes, cardbacks, etc. (we're running out of room for it)...and if I do it I would probably at least just keep these new OTC cardbacks, since they look pretty amazing from the pics.

Although I'm more caught up in all the Original Trilogy goodness right now, I did see that the following site has pics up of the next few waves of Marvel Legends stuff.  You can check out Series 6, 7, and 8 here:

Marvel Legends 6,7,8

This is really the only other line I ever buy anything from outside of Star Wars, and I was considering putting it off since it looks like I'll be spending a lot on all the great OT stuff coming out this year.  However, X-Men always make it tempting for me...the new Wolvie, Juggernaut, Storm, Iceman, Apocalypse, etc.  Lots of toy goodness in 2004.

Although we have only seen three (4 if you count Leia) of these figures so far, I can honestly say that I don't know if I have been quite this excited about upcoming figures for a long time.  If the rest of the lineup is as well done as Han and the others, it would be the type of thing where I'd say "if I could only buy one more set of figures, these would be it".  I really hope they aren't impossible to find.  To be honest, I got scared reading the "miss them and you're out of luck" statement over at GH.  I might end up preordering to be safe, but I would rather not have to do that.  Plus, the Mrs. (and myself for that matter) isn't too crazy about putting $90 on the credit card at once (and will be three times since they ship in waves).  At the same time, I don't want to miss the boat on these.  I hope at least Hasbro does realize that these are the types of figures we have always wanted, and will "re-release" these on the OTC cards or something.  If they're going to keep main characters on the shelves all the time, they just as well use these "ultimate" versions.  I hope we get to see some more of these in the near future.  I guess I don't have a problem with the pricepoint, since they are quite a bit spiffier...but this could be an expensive year.  I'm usually an opener only, but these figures would be nice to have one carded too.  At the same time, I couldn't just have a carded version because the figures themselves are so nice...you'd want to take them out.  Anyways...good things from Hasbro, really excited about this line.  I'm not sure about the vehicles yet or not either though.  I already have versions of all three, if the Falcon is significantly spiffier, I might think about it....although we really don't have the room .