I haven't seen a ton of Q and A's yet, but from the ones I read this week it looks like there is more reinforcement of the "Legacy's not doing so hot, be prepared for less 'collector targeted' figures" coming from Hasbro. They wouldn't even go as far as saying that the realistic figures would not end, as they had this comment in one of their replies at RS:
"What we did say, and we are happy to clarify, is that the number of active collectors seems to have softened, which presents a problem for a basic figure line like The Legacy Collection where new sculpts of more obscure, fan-requested or as-yet-unmade characters remains part of the "heart" of the line. Because of the high volume expectations for the basic figure line, it needs to be very tightly planned or we will miss our targets and retailer expectations will not be met. We are very committed to the main Legacy figure line and do not foresee this fading out as long as there is a strong collector following."
Personally, I don't expect the "Legacy style" figures to end anytime soon, but it was a little disheartening to see Hasbro waver from their previous replies of "its not going anywhere" to "well, if collectors buy it should be ok". As far as fewer collector-oriented figures - well, we've been hearing that for awhile. Hopefully we'll still get some here and there, but when I started thinking about it, we've really had a pretty nice run of them over the past few years:
TLC: Bane Malar, Yarna, Organas, FX-6, Wioslea, Brainiac, Trinto Duaba and Dice Ibegon, Willrow Hood, Rum Sleg, Owen/Beru, and others (on the way)
TAC: Lava Miner, Honor Guard, McQuarrie figures, Miyoom Onith, Elis Herlot, CZ-4, Hermi Odle, Darth Revan/Malak, Po Nudo, Mustafar Panning Droid, Force Unleashed figures, etc.
TSC: Bren Derlin, General Veers, Firespeeder Pilot, Lushos Dofine, Hem Dazon, Garindan, Moff Jerjerrod, Rep Been, Gragra, etc.
Plus, there are several Jedi and others that I'm not listing that are more obscure figures. I'm not saying I'm happy and hope we don't get any other "collector oriented" figures along the way, but we have had a nice run of them lately. Even looking at a lot of our Top 10 lists at this point, it seems like more and more resculpts of main/supporting characters are starting to take up slots - and aside from a few exceptions (more Cantina/Jabba's Palace stuff), I'd be happy seeing a number of those get made too. I will say that I get a little more concerned about the Legacy line each time we hear the comments in these Q and A's about how much they are struggling. They even mentioned (I believe in the RS Q and A) an option of going with mostly "hero" figures in the assortments again:
One solution, which we don't plan on implementing, is going to only versions of the more popular characters....this would ensure sell-through but would eliminate a lot of the newer and more niche characters. Finding the balance is the key.
Anyways, nice to get some more information on Hasbro's thinking - and hopefully some other nice bits of info along the way (new DSE Han Solo from Han's Hideout Q and A). Also, and I mean no offense here, but don't the questions at
SSG seem awfully confrontational this week? It sort of seems like they are asking "Hasbro, why do you suck?"