Not really enthused by the Marvel offerings...even if they do have new Mandalorians.

The people who take the figures home and either do a swap of a figure or just take a part/accessory are obviously the worst offenders.  I saw some GI Joe vehicle packs that were the victims of this last week.  The degree of effort that's put into that is so ridiculous that you've gotta scratch your head over where that person's priorities in terms of toys/money/time may lie.  But I think the new packaging might deter people who are trying to just rip open the packages in the store.

The only people who are going to put a real stop to this are the retailers.  But sometimes when you're dealing with an employee who barely makes more than minimum wage, they're not going to care that much.

As for the droids allocated to each wave?  The poster indicates their release sequentially, as each BAF droid is numbered on the poster.  And the astromechs listed were shown in Hasbro's powerpoint presentation at Toy Fair, and were allocated to wave 1 and 2.  The best indication of the droid assignments will obviously be a carded sample, but Hasbro seems to have given us the sequence for the droids already.

I don't regard the wave as perfect by any stretch, Adam.  "Not bad" is somewhat open-ended.

Hasbro seemed to respond to the call for the Coruscant Clone Trooper.  And that's really one of the last on-screen Clones to get Basic Figure treatment from REVENGE OF THE SITH.  And that's a positive to me when you compare this clone with the two off-screen repaints from those TSC waves you mentioned.  Those were only ever seen in reference materials and not a movie.

Jodo Kast is a positive step forward for the EU fans.  And in that regard it's a positive step forward in pushing the EU in the basic figure line.

The two Jedi are okay, but not perfect.  The sculpts are a little dated, but getting versions of these two Jedi on a card and with lightsabers is a positive move.  Especially if you think about collectors who might have come late to the game and missed the Jedi Council screen scenes of 5 years ago.

I dig most holo figures.  And I think the combination of parts for this Dooku is good.  Although the missing skirt is a little curious as is the lightsaber, I think it's a good character choice.  Especially since we actually have seen Dooku as a hologram in the original Clone Wars series.

The Saleucami trooper is admittedly a little weak.  I'd be more receptive to a straight reissue of the Target exclusive trooper with the same unit markings over this.  Especially with Commander Neyo having been released in Saga Legends just a couple of months ago.

As for the Imperial Engineer?  That's not great.  I think the TSC Death Star Gunner was a great figure, even with the angle cut elbows.  As for trading this figure's slot with a repainted droid?  I could think of a couple of decent substitutions (Red Leader's R5 unit).  But I think Battlefront as a brand has some traction, and there might be an effort at work to promote the video game figures.

I think that offering more off-screen clones or EU droids might not be the best move at this point.  Even if they are the easiest fodder for repaints.  I think Hasbro is probably aware of the collector term "skittle clones" and might be trying to reshape their strategy.  And droids might be somewhat more limited since the entire basic figure line (for this year) is designed around trying to give us more droids.  More droids in fact that might not be good sellers on their own.

Grievous and FX-6 are the stars of this wave for me.  VERY NICE!  I've been waiting for an FX-6 figure ever since I saw that scene in ROTS.  And Grievous actually looks pretty menacing now.  I wonder if the arms might be interchangeable, so that you can have a 4 armed version as well as a 2 armed version.

Bail and Breha Organa both look good.  Not terrible exciting, but cool choices to round out the wave.  Commander Faie?  Eh.  I thought it was a cool design, but the fact that this clone never saw any screen time is wearing on me.  Stass Allie is a decent addition to the ranks of the Jedi.  A much better offering than the ROTS Deluxe figure.  And if it is based on the Bultar Swan body, I wouldn't be one to complain.  I thought Bultar Swan was a good figure.

Looks like the silver RA-7 is the BAF for this wave.  It looks like the knees aren't articulated, but that's not the end of the world.

If the V-Wing Pilot places in the runner-up positions, will you nix him from the list?  The V-Wing Pilot was confirmed for the second Imperial Pilots Evolutions pack.

Collecting both lines as they release items is probably the best way to keep up on them.  That tends to be the norm with a higher end kind of line.  Although it is possible to do some bargain hunting.

A good number of Gentle Giant items have gone up in price over time with their limited editions.  However, collector sentiments toward the company have swayed to the negative side, with many thinking that Gentle Giant has adopted a "You'll take what we give you and you'll like it" attitude.  As a result I see much less collector buzz about Gentle Giant as a company.  They do offer some very cool products, but their approach to their customers leaves something to be desired.

Sideshow on the other hand has been very focused on good customer service and relations and I think collectors have embraced Sideshow and their approach.  However, the escalation in the prices of their 12" figures has been remarkable over the last year or two.  And with the introduction of armored characters to the line, it seems that more price increases are on the way.

As for the characters you've cited?  There are some bargains to be had with some of those in the Gentle Giant mini-bust line.  But some of those characters have yet to be produced.  And others still will run you a pretty penny.  Namely Boba Fett, the first Vader and the first Yoda.  Just look on the prices on those on eBay.  It's not pretty.

Hmmm.  I wonder if Commander Faie or the 327th Clone might actually be one of the repaint figures?