I think those are both excellent points, speedermike. Star Wars collectors seem to be all over the place these days, like you said. Some are really digging CW, some are content just to watch the show. Some are dropping more and more of the PT stuff as we get further out from those movies, and some are just getting more selective altogether. I think there is a segment even that couldn't care less about the OT stuff (granted, likely a minority), which is really surprising to me. Although I still buy pretty much all of it (at least all of Legacy/Vintage, and some of CW), I can say my priorities are starting to change a bit as well. I know, as cool as I think they are, I'm starting to stop with the CW vehicle stuff (aside from the Deluxe line, or something that appeared in the prequels like Slave 1), just because I'm running out of room at this point, which I think many people are. I look at it like, would I rather have room for another Jedi Starfighter or the new Snowspeeder/Cloud Car. The OT stuff takes precedence for me, and after that I just see what I have room or budget for.
The SW drought is a big factor as well I think. As much as we still talk about it here and everything, I do think it allows people to "forget" about Star Wars for a large chunk of the year. Like you said, people move on to different things in the time being, and maybe don't come back - or at least not as big as they were before. We say it every year, but I really hope we don't see the big break next year. Having a wave every month to 6 weeks would be good, and keep people interested more. We'll have to see though, as Hasbro has a lot of movie-related lines likely coming next year with Thor, Captain America, Transformers, and possibly X-Men: First Class. That often seems to make a difference when pushing SW to the backburner during the summer.