I completely agree that now is as good of a time as any to release this item. For years, we've been seeing Master Replicas, Illusive Originals, Icons, Sideshow, Gentle Giant, and so many others going after the medium dollar and high-end collectible market, while a lot of fans spend just as much if not more on Hasbro goodies annually, just in $5-$30 morsels, save for the odd $50 Ultimate Battle Pack (arguably aimed at gift-givers) and $70 gift set bundle from Diamond and/or Entertainment Earth.
This year, it's ridiculous. As of last Saturday through the end of the year, there will probably be $600 worth of big ($35+) exclusives coming that we either have had confirmed or vaguely alluded to by Hasbro. Hopefully Star Wars will continue to be huge and the kids can help support it, because when I know I'll be curious to see what kids buy when faced with a giant ship with a fire-breathing snow monster on the side against two old people, a rat, and a stormtrooper with an igloo. (Heck, it'd be a hard decision for me. I freaking love wampas.)
...and there's tons of $20 vehicles, Battle Packs, Evolutions sets, low-high-end exclusives, basic figures, and other stuff too.
Hopefully it all works out well. I mean, who wouldn't love to have one or more little scenes like this from each major film? I'd be quite happy to see a snowy Hoth cave, or the gantry from Cloud City, or Jango's landing pad on Kamino, or, yes, even Palpatine's office. I can't imagine a year with this much great stuff, but if it all works, odds are we're going to get just as many big ticket items in 2009 or 2010. I don't think it's even fair to look at past attempts of Hasbro or even Kenner as a comparison, I don't think this much variety has ever been on-shelf at any given time in the past. (For figures, OK, yes-- but scenes and vehicles? Not unless you count the micro stuff.)
I can't wait to see what Santa brings us in the future if the market can accept all of these goodies. Looking at my own collection, I can say it's going to be a tight fit.