I don't understand why they could not announce this in the livestream.
IMO, It's nice to have some surprises.
I agree! Some surprises are welcome. Especially following the reactions to the last livestream. So many people were disappointed with the figure reveals because they already knew that each one was coming. Granted, that was compounded somewhat by the figures that were pipelined at the end of that livestream. But overall I think a surprise announcement is a cool thing.
I'm not usually one to take Hasbro's side on the way they do business, but it didn't go unnoticed how they're structuring the preorders for this E-Wing. A preorder window of under 1 month plays up on collector FOMO. And it's a big middle finger to the clearance vultures. It's funny, some people at the SW The Vintage Collection FB group were commenting about buying the E-Wing on clearance. What magical thinking led them to believe that Hasbro will put it on clearance before March 5th? And they seriously believe that the Disney Parks would put this on clearance before 2025?
Clearance vultures REALLY hurt the vehicle segment of Hasbro's Star Wars line. Any time an exclusive vehicle got announced there would be a chorus of people saying "I'll buy it on clearance". And they wonder why Target won't offer exclusive vehicles anymore? It seems like Hasbro is forcing an uncomfortable conversation with some of these people.