Clone Wars Wave 27 (2012 Wave 2)

[Scockery]

Jumping Jedi! Ahsoka in scuba gear was a surprise! I figured they'd skip that version of her.

[Nicklab]

Glad to see they got Rex's new helmet right.

[McMetal]

Outstanding! Scuba Ahsoka looks exquisite...sort of surprised they bumped her up into this wave, but a welcome addition for sure.

Rex and Boss are ok, about what I expected.

Hard to tell exactly from the picture, but it does look like they did in fact improve the facial paint apps on Aayla. I know there are a lot of collectors like myself who are REALLY hoping this turns out to be true.

Kind of a bummer to think we won't see this wave until April though, I hope that gets advanced.

[Jayson]

Target.com has placeholders for this wave on their site:

Rex
Aayla
Boss
Obi-Wan

[McMetal]

Hmmm, interesting. I don't see any dates on those pages anywhere, but I can't help but feel hopeful this might mean we see them before April.

Good find!

[shmashwitdaclub]

I wonder if Target.com is going to start selling figures individually?

[McMetal]

Wow, just saw the new loose shots of these up at JTA, and boy do they SUCK.

Apparently "articulation" has fallen out of the Hasbro lexicon when it comes to this line. Swivel legs? No torso or wrist action? Bulky oversized helmets that are not even removable? Eesh.

And they didn't even fix Aayla's goofy face.

I've never felt LESS excited about this line, honestly. I barely even want to buy these things, much less pick up doubles for opening. I don't care about the characters, and to make it worse they're not even doing a competent job with the smal handful of figures they do pick to make.

Bleak year.

[Greg]

Apparently "articulation" has fallen out of the Hasbro lexicon when it comes to this line. Swivel legs? No torso or wrist action? Bulky oversized helmets that are not even removable? Eesh.

Well, the line started with poor articulation like swivel legs and static arms so really the Clone Wars line is just heading back to its roots. Hasbro has continually repacked and reshipped their unarticulated figures (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Battle Droids, Ventress, etc.) so one could even argue that the lack of articulation has always been present in the line. It is a bummer to finally see the clones lose out on articulation, especially when "new" clones have almost always been repaints of existing sculpts.

Overall, the wave is pretty lackluster. Even if the clones had articulation I would not have been impressed. I don't plan to waste the time looking for the figures at retail. At this point I want to order the Wave 3 case online and just put the Clone Wars line behind me. I wouldn't mind if Hasbro just scrapped the Clone Wars line altogether, since the figures and the show are both tired and boring at this point.

[Scockery]

Why the need for a new Rex body and a less articulated one at that?

The only figure there I might get is Aayla because I missed her.

My interest in Clone Wars figures has been waning, it's almost gone now.

[MasterFisto]

Well, the line started with poor articulation like swivel legs and static arms so really the Clone Wars line is just heading back to its roots.

I agree with you, Greg.  I was thinking about this last week, and I was reminded of it again last night while I was opening up those cancelled DVD packs.  The original Obi-Wan figure has no ankle or knee articulation; and, for some reason, that didn't seem to bother me back in 2008.  Why does it bother me now?  Well, because Hasbro has spoiled me, and I've gladly let myself be spoiled.  During 2010 and 2011, they put so much awesome articulation into this line that I came to expect it with everything.  But times are a'changin' and I need to get used to it.  Now, looking back, I see that this new "lack" of articulation is not unprecedented.  I'm just going to let myself go back to enjoying these new figures in the same way that I enjoyed them in 2008. 

I am the most excited for the new Obi-Wan figure, since he is one of my favorite characters on the show.  And I picked up Aayla in late 2009/early 2010, so I will most likely pass on her repack.  I would be all over the new Rex figure if it weren't for that oversized bucket, which is clearly out of proportion (the same can be said of the upcoming phase 2 Wolffe).  And I have no interest in Boss, even if he had been made with super articulation. 

I wouldn't mind if Hasbro just scrapped the Clone Wars line altogether...

Oh, banish the thought.   

...since the figures and the show are both tired and boring at this point.

The figures are a little disappointing this year, but I certainly think that the show just keeps getting better and better.  I am completely on board for two (or three, or four, or five) more seasons, as long as they can maintain this quality.

[McMetal]

I was going to post this in the 2012 Wave 3 thread, but there does not appear to be one?

Some new carded shots up over at JTA this morning, apparently the 3rd 2012 wave is already hitting over in Manila or Singapore or whatever.

Random thoughts:

Do the stores in that country do a better job clearing out pegwarmers or what? Most stores around here couldn't even find a place to cram more CW figures on the pegs because of all that festering Wave 1 detritus.

When did they get Wave 2 over there? JTA is always on about this 2-4 week delay from figures arriving over there to them hitting here but that seems completely unpredictable to me.

Where are they slotting the new Fox, Maul, etc? Is this part of an unannounced fourth wave coming later this Fall?

[Jesse James]

They get a lot less product, in general.  It's not like here where there's a WM every 5 minutes with the same stuff, and often it's in smaller specialty shops and things from what I know.

[Nicklab]

When did they get Wave 2 over there? JTA is always on about this 2-4 week delay from figures arriving over there to them hitting here but that seems completely unpredictable to me.

It's conjecture, but somewhat rooted in the realities of distribution. 

Asia tends to get product first just by virtue of the geography in the production/distribution chain.  Figures are produced in or around Hong Kong, and go into the global supply chain from there.  It's a lot easier to get figures in the Phillipines or thereabouts earlier simply because HK is that much closer to them than the North American ports of entry like Seattle, the SF Bay or Los Angeles.

Once product makes it to the U.S., you've got several stops before anything makes it to a store shelf.  First, U.S. Customs.  Then it's onto a Hasbro distribution center.  The next step in the chain is to get product from the Hasbro distribution center to the distribution centers of retailers, and this could involve multiple stops.  And then it's eventually onto stores. 

However, this is the ideal situation.  It doesn't account for how one retailer may have existing inventory that they want to run through before they take more deliveries.  Or potential shortages from the supply side.  This is where the conjecture of "2 - 4 weeks" goes off the rails, since it's not accounting for the inventory issues that any one retailer may be dealing with in their supply line from Hasbro.

Online retail does offer something attractive:  they do shorten up the supply chain from Hasbro to the customer by a couple of steps.  But they also have a much more limited inventory than a major retailer.

[McMetal]

Well said Nick, that makes sense...I agree that the retailer situation is the big gray area in that equation. For example, I've seen the Blu-Ray figures at several Walmarts over the past few weeks, but nary a whiff of them at Target or TRU.

I haven't really seen any new stuff shipping at all recently outside of that Deleted scene stuff. It's a weird landscape right now.

[MasterFisto]

When did they get Wave 2 over there?

Here I am being an alarmist, but I hope that we don't see a quick "jump-over" of the second wave in favor of the third.  Something similar to this happened to TVC's AOTC wave back in 2010.   

Where are they slotting the new Fox, Maul, etc? Is this part of an unannounced fourth wave coming later this Fall?

That's been my assumption, since the first three waves have already been announced - yet they do not account for all 19 basic figures slated for 2012.  And, of course, where in the world is General Krell?  Will we have to wait until 2013 to buy him?