But what qualifies it as a valid report?

The report was first posted in the forums at toynewsi (which is what Ook pointed out in his post).

That post is where JediInsider (part of the toynewsi group) got the info for their news story (which is what Artoo copied earlier in this thread).

What makes the story legit enough for JediInsider to post was the fact that Whitewolf is a frequent contributor over there.  It's kind of like when JediMAC posts his "hey everyone, I found this in SoCal" news posts on our front page.  He never has pictures or reciepts, but we all believe him because he's JediMAC, a regular contributor over here.  We tend to believe him because we know him and trust his word. 

It seems like the same thing for Whitewolf over there.  He is one of their toy reviewers, so they trust him.  I don't think they would have posted it if they didn't think it was true... but whether it is true everywhere or not remains to be seen.  We all know how regional this stuff is and how strange things can happen (like when the VTSC figures hit a Kansas store months before they hit anywhere else). 

They (JediInsider) claim he's going to review the figures in the next few days, so if it's true there will be pics soon enough...

Supposedly the droids will not be offered at all though.

I would expect to hear nothing else. 

Yeah, I agree.  Last time, the timeline went like this...

April 21st - Celebration 3, Day 1
April 23nd - GenCon/LFL finally confirm that Vader (and some other C3 exclusive loot) will be available on-line after the show
April 25th - Vader shows up on SWShop.com

Obviously, I think (like others have said) that they probably aren't going to announce anything in hopes that some folks (like SoCal locals) panic and go to the show... but I still think they will show up on-line afterwards.   

January = $53.91
February = $108.14
March = $195.78

April = $186.39 

Year to Date Total = $549.87

Stuff I bought the past month:
30AC Capture of Tantive IV Battle Pack (1 opener)
30AC Jedi Training on Dagobah Battle Pack (1 opener)
Target Exclusive 30AC Betrayal on Felucia Battle Pack (1 opener)
Wal-Mart Exclusive 30AC Treachery on Saleucami Battle Pack (1 opener)
30AC Star Wars Galactic Hereos 2-Packs (4 openers)
400% Kubrick Shadow Stormtrooper (1 opener)
DC Mini-Mates Green Lantern/Star Sapphire 2-Pack (1 opener)

Another month over the $125 budget.   

While I struck out on the 30AC basic figures this past month, I did manage to grab a pile of clearance price Battle Packs along with the Wal-Mart Saleucami set.  The real star of the month was the 400% Kubrick figure, which accounted for just a bit over half of the month's spendings.  Damn my Kubrick addiction... 

Drive has already been cancled.

Drive?  Cancelled?  Now I'll never know how the secret, illegal, cross-country road race turns out... 

Did I mention it was about a secret, illegal, cross country road race?  Because they sure as heck mentioned it in the show... we counted 11 different times where a character said "secret, illegal, cross country road race" in the 45 minutes of the last episode I watched.   

The latest Hasbro QnA has been posted...

- No new Vader TIE after all?
- How do they paint all these figures?
- Baron Fel = Comic Pack

Did they put a different head on that Luke? 

Yes, by all accounts it is the Saga-2004 Jabba's Palace Luke head...  kind of a nice change from yet another re-release of the open-mouthed head he had previously.

It all goes back to this info we got from Hasbro last December:

Hasbro sent along a little 30th Anniversary Collection Update as part of this week's Q&A:

Quote

Due to unavoidable production delays, the first waves of Star Wars 30th Anniversary basic figures for 2007 will be delayed until March. We are looking at every way to get the figures in earlier, but fans should not expect to find them on shelf on 1/1 as we were hoping. We expect subsequent waves beyond the first to be on schedule shortly thereafter. We'll keep everyone updated as needed, but please be patient. Thanks!

Looks like we'll be seeing the Final 22 repack waves for a while... 

Originally (in Fall-06) they said that the Saga2 stuff would ship through March-07, but I would guess that the reason we are still seeing Hasbro crank out more and more Saga2 remix cases into April (and maybe even May) is because they haven't fully caught up from the initial 30AC delay yet.  This way, it keeps at least a portion of the SW section filled for the retailers to keep making money on...

For those who haven't seen it yet, Target has some 30AC stuff on clearance already...

Most stores have a clearance price of 30% off the Vader with Coin Folder ($6.98) and the Battle Packs ($13.98) but a few places, including my local Target, have them down to 50% off already ($4.98 for Vader, $9.98 for the Battle Packs).

It was great to be able to grab two more Tantive IV Battle Packs at $10 each.