NP.  For a second I thought that the WBB at JTA was rumor mongering again.  But in this case, just trying to grab traffic from another site's story.

I have to take that with a grain of salt.  Especially since no reporter from JTA was actually in attendance at SDCC.

They did.  I watched the quick bit, and she wasn't in there.  Which is fine, since that particular killing was a creation of the show, and not in A Storm Of Swords.

Could this be the first figure of wave 3?  GH gives us a look at the 6" Obi-Wan Kenobi (Revenge Of The Sith)

I think the articulation issue with kids is part of the overall "disposable" theme.  Case in point?  Some family members of mine gave their kids the BMF Falcon as a Christmas gift.  IMHO, that's an AMAZING gift.  And those same kids?  They got an AT-TE as a gift, too.  What did the kids do with them?  They played with both vehicles for a few months, but that was it.  The last time I can recall seeing them play with either vehicle was only a few months after they'd received them, and after that the Falcon and AT-TE both just sat, unplayed with and in pieces.

Is this indicative of how every kid is playing with their Star Wars toys?  I can't say for certain.  But there does seem to be a much shorter attention span with this new generation of kids.  And I think that what we're seeing from Hasbro as well as other manufacturers are less intricate offerings, since the current crop of kids doesn't seem to appreciate the more elaborate items.

Can't say that I care for the way these figure look.  I think the second wave at least has some cool character choices to suit the concept.  The Obi-Wan & Darth Maul set is cool from a lineup perspective.  But the execution is in line with everything else in the 2013 Legacy Collection:  it's disposable. 

That's the mantra for the whole Legacy Collection.  I don't know where the disconnect is between Hasbro's message and collector perception.  They've been saying they want to do a kids line.  THIS IS IT.  THIS IS THE KIDS LINE.  IT'S NOT MEANT TO PLEASE COLLECTORS.

As for this Clone Wars Darth Maul being in the mix?  It's definitely disappointing to see that figure dumbed down to the 5 points of articulation level.  But if you're a student of action figure history, this is the way things have been done.  Just look back to 1999/2000 and the EPISODE I line that accompanied the release of THE PHANTOM MENACE.  A lot of collectors were taken aback by the poor quality of the main Jedi figures in that line.  The first few Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn figures were pretty dreadful.  Lo and behold, several months down the line Hasbro comes around and offers much better sculpted and articulated versions of both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon towards the end of that line.  And guess what?  Hasbro has done the exact same thing in other years, too.  They did it in the SAGA line for AOTC, and they did it in 2005 for the ROTS line, too. 

This playbook has been around for a while:  Get the inferior figures out there first and sell them because it's the only version of a character that people want.  Leave it out there for a while, and leave people thinking that this might be the only version they're going to get.  Then wait 6 / 9 / 12 months, etc.  THEN offer an improved version of the character.  What then?  Wait another 2 years, and offer the ULTIMATE version of the same character.  Hasbro is banking on the desirability of a character to support sales of the low grade figure, and over time they're going to cash in on the improved versions.  We've seen it too many times before to ignore the pattern.  And I think that's probably what we're in store for with Darth Maul from this final season of Clone Wars.

It doesn't get much more clear about the plot direction of the Avengers sequel when they reveal a title like Avengers - The Age of Ultron.

That title, plus the rumored inclusion of the Scarlet Witch, makes me think that the Vision might potentially be in the mix, too.