Ok - so the Clone Wars line is aimed at kids. That's fine. But the Saga Legends line is for kids too?
I was in a TRU on Monday night and this mom came into the Star Wars aisle with her two young sons.
One of the boys was trying to look through the figures, but since he was small, he couldn't see much, so I asked him what he was looking for and offered to help him look. He told me he wanted to get two figures - one good guy and one bad guy.
The "good guy" he wanted to get was the 501st Clonetrooper. So now he's on a quest to find a "bad guy" - based on what was on the pegs here was his options:
Darth Vader (Legends) - nope already had a couple of him
Darth Maul (Legends) - nope already had a Darth Maul figure
Super Battle Droid (Legends) - nope already had a bunch of those
Battle Droid (Clone Wars) - nope, same as the SBD
IG Assassain Droid (Clone Wars) - nope, already had one of him
Destroyer Droid (Clone Wars) - nope, already had a pair of them
Asajj Ventress - ABSOLUTELY NO "I don't get the girl figures!"
The kid ended up putting back the 501st Clone and saving his money for another day.
Ok so whatever play pattern, scheme, concept, idea Hasbro thinks they are serving with the Saga Legends line having Darth Vader, Darth Maul and the Super Battle Droid constantly in circulation - they lost a potential sale because they DO NOT provide enough variety through the Saga Legends line.
And what are they doing with the first wave of the Red/White Saga Legends - bringing out the EXACT SAME "bad guys" that this kid already had. Now I'm sure this kid is more of an exception than the norm, but the kid who buys or gets more than one Star Wars figure should be the core audience, not the kid who gets one figure and throws it in the closet. Hasbro should want kids to make repeat purchases (or nag their parents to make repeat purchases for them).
I think if Hasbro would consider packing in a better variety of figures as the Legends line progresses instead of the same core 12 figures over and over again, even when aiming the line at kids, they will end up being much better served. Making a blanket statement like the Yavin Rebel doesn't fit is just being ignorant of the market or lazy, I can't figure out which. Afterall, if there had been a generic Stormtrooper and a Yavin Rebel on the pegs, I could have shown him both of those and offered them as his potential mix of "good" and "bad" guy figures.