I'm not sure they need to justify it Jeff. I think they're just trying to crank out as much product as they possibly can.
We've all speculated that the line may not go much beyond the end of 2006. Maybe Hasbro feels the same way, so they'll ride the last year as hard as they possibly can, with massive product release. 100 basic figures, 12-18 VOTC figures, Unleashed big and small and whatever else they can crank out.
I'm sure sales were really good for ROTS so maybe they think they're recaptured part of the market again, if only for the short term. Get the new figures out there ASAP to hook people?
Changing topics, among the multiple waves of this group of figures I picked this case from Newforce to order. Hope I get it:
(2) Darth Vader Hoth
(1) Fire Pilot
(1) Commander Cody
(1) Neimoidian Pilot
(2) Clone Trooper
(1) Foul Moudama (Muftak Jedi)
(1) Anakin Skywalker
(1) Ki Adi Mundi (hologram)
(1) General Grievous (Bounty Hunt figure)
(1) Scorch (Bounty Hunt figure)
The only duplicates are Vader and a clone. Nothing really from earlier waves and five clones total when you factor in the fire pilot, regular clones, Cody and Scorch. Not a bad case at all and I think I'm only missing Obi-wan then.