I wonder why Hasbro has decided to take this new path with figures... They sorta blow their load for the first 8 or so months of the year, then the last bit they crank out repaints. Last year's repaints were a bitch to find too... Will we have this same problem?
It's all about reading between the lines of what was presented and mentioned at Comic-Con. It seems to me Hasbro wasn't intending to continue the "TSC" line past the Naboo wave, but something changed that - perhaps a change in direction of when the 30th Anniversary styled product packaging would be hitting the market. Based on the release dates for the final 22 TSC figures, it looks like the 30th Ann. line won't be hitting until April or May, in time for the true 30th anniversary date. That might be something Lucasfilm requested and would work on the theory that there are only 8 waves in that line (based on the mention that waves 1-8 would include McQuarrie based figures) as that would be 1 wave per month for the remainder of 2007.
Another question is, whatever happened to this Yavin Wave we keep hearing about? Was it ever finished in pre-production, is it available for mass production yet, did it ever exist, or are they holding it off for the 30th ann. line? If it was ready, then why not release it now? More likely than not it wasn't ready or they realized it would be economically sensible to release it next year and cut costs on the pre-production costs for the 30th ann. line. This way they can save money by doing repaints for the final 22 figures of the TSC line.
As for the final 22 and my thoughts on them, based on the idea that these would all have to be quick repaints....
What I'll Buy (aka The Pretty Good)Saga-057 Clone Trooper (442nd Siege Battalion)
Saga-058 R5-A1 Imperial Astromech Droid
Saga-059 Clone Trooper (5th Fleet Security)
Saga-060 Clone Trooper Sergeant
Saga-064 Commander Appo
Saga-065 BARC Trooper
Saga-067 Darth Vader’s Astromech Droid
Saga-074 Mace Windu’s Astromech Droid
Saga-069 Clone Trooper Engineer
Saga-070 Kitik Keedkak
Nice Idea, I'll Think About It (The Good)Saga-055 Kit Fisto
Saga-061 Super Battle Droid
Saga-062 Battle Droid 2-Pack
Saga-068 Padme Amidala
Saga-073 Aurra Sing
Ok Idea If You Really Need To Pump Out Repaints To Help Some Fans (The Fair)Saga-056 Holographic Commander Cody
Saga-066 Yareal Poof
Saga-071 Nabrun Leeds and Kabe
Saga-072 Labria
Why The **** Did You Waste Your Time With This **** When There Are Better Things To Do With These Characters/Figures (The Bad)Saga-053 Darth Maul (Sith Training)
Saga-054 Chewbacca (Cloud City)
Saga-063 Holographic Obi-Wan Kenobi