So, uh...was the Droid Factory line discontinued?

[JediTricks]

What's additionally intriguing is that this marks the second year in a row that Hasbro postpones a line. They postponed the GIJoe line last year. That was for a different reason, but I'm sure many people on both sides of the metaphorical toy aisle are upset by this development.

Good point, but actually it's the third year in a row! 2011 they canned the first Transformers Prime line after retailers showed low interest. So it goes:
2011: Transformers Prime v1
2012: GI Joe Retaliation
2013: Star Wars Build a Droid
Meanwhile, a pulsing, throbbing, unselling, massive wall of Amazing Spider-man movie figures from Hasbro rots at every retailer. Hasbro's Marvel division better watch out for 2014 (unless they got a pull in 2010 I don't remember). Seems like Hasbro cannot keep afloat this way.

I never bothered to look at Vader, either. He'd have to get up in the morning and make my coffee for me to get me to consider a new Vader figure.

And thus you miss out on a very good figure because Hasbro abused you with too many reuses of Vader on old bodies. Yet even with this new one, we still could use another of this quality in ESB/ROTJ getup (and a better ANH head for the one we have, but that's really asking too much I guess). I think putting Vader on the same Vader card was a huge mistake anyway, it looks like the 2010 version that way.

You know how many Artoos we have designed accurately from the movie model? ONE. Just the recent Sail Barge model, that's it, the rest were just winging it, it took that long to actually go and measure things and apply that knowledge to the toys. And now there's a lot of collectors like you who pass it up because they've been burned out by so many previous molds.

[Maradona]

Good point, but actually it's the third year in a row! 2011 they canned the first Transformers Prime line after retailers showed low interest. So it goes:
2011: Transformers Prime v1
2012: GI Joe Retaliation
2013: Star Wars Build a Droid
Meanwhile, a pulsing, throbbing, unselling, massive wall of Amazing Spider-man movie figures from Hasbro rots at every retailer. Hasbro's Marvel division better watch out for 2014 (unless they got a pull in 2010 I don't remember). Seems like Hasbro cannot keep afloat this way.

I'd forgotten about TF Prime. Hasbro seems to over produce for every movie based line. Rows and rows of movie figures spoil each year and are destined for liquidation. IM3 and Thor 2 (and maybe Wolverine?) this year and Cap 2 and GotG (and maybe X-Men) for 2014.

[JetsAndHeels]

This is a very interesting thread. I appreciate all the information that has been posted here.

I will say this about Hasbro cancelling certain lines...at least they put the Transformers Prime First Edition toys back in stores. I think the backlash from fans and collectors was enough to make Hasbro do a double take and give in to what people wanted. I never thought I would get my hands on those voyager figures, but it finally happened.

Is there any chance that something like that could happen with Star Wars? Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on my part, but I would love
to see some new product on the shelves to get excited about again.

[JediTricks]

This is a very interesting thread. I appreciate all the information that has been posted here.

I will say this about Hasbro cancelling certain lines...at least they put the Transformers Prime First Edition toys back in stores. I think the backlash from fans and collectors was enough to make Hasbro do a double take and give in to what people wanted. I never thought I would get my hands on those voyager figures, but it finally happened.

Is there any chance that something like that could happen with Star Wars? Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on my part, but I would love
to see some new product on the shelves to get excited about again.

We got most of the TF Prime FE stuff, but not all. And like that, Hasbro will be getting most of the TLC2 figures into the later line, but again maybe not all.

[El Chuxter]

On the subject of semi-canceled stuff that was impossibly hard-to-find making it into later lines, I'd like Kwinn, Shadow Tracker, and Crazylegs to show up in the Retaliation line. They're at least tossing the Crimson Guard and Night Viper in (and already included Renegades Zartan, as well as Cobra and Joe army builders who bear no resemblance to anything anyone knows of from the movie), so why not a few more "Joe EU" figures?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Just for reference, these are the figures that were planned to be released in this line:

Wave 1
*Anakin Skywalker (AOTC)
*Padmé Amidala (Geonosis Arena)
*R2-D2
*Luminara Unduli
*Pablo-Jill
*Biker Scout
*TIE Fighter Pilot (Backstabber)
*Clone Trooper Sergeant
*Sandtrooper (black pauldron)
*Battle Droid (Geonosis)
*Geonosian Warrior
*Clone Trooper (212th Attack Battalion)
*TC-70 - Build-A-Droid
*FA-4 Pilot Droid - Build-A-Droid

Wave 2
*Mace Windu (The Clone Wars)
*Captain Rex
*Luke Skywalker (Yavin Ceremony)
*Mara Jade Skywalker
*Darth Vader (Bespin)
*Biggs Darklighter
*A-wing Pilot
*Clone Pilot (AOTC)
*R8-B7 - Build-A-Droid
*R5-X2 - Build-A-Droid

I won't cry if the many, many army builders don't make it out, though I assume they will at some point since they're easy. In the first wave, it seemed that only Anakin, Padmé, Luminara, Pablo-Jill, and FA-4 had any new tooling at all, and the rest were all repaints. In the second wave, Rex, Biggs, and the A-wing Pilot were all existing bodies with new heads, and the AOTC pilot was an existing figure with a new helmet. Mace, Luke, and Mara were probably mostly all-new, and I'm not sure on Vader. I also didn't really care for the thought of rebuying so many TCW droids in realistic style now, but I do want FA-4 and R5-X2. We also would have gotten four uses of the TVC clone trooper mold in these waves, which is kind of nuts.

[Tycho]

Well no real loss to me EXCEPT the ONE figure I'd buy MULITPLES of from that list:

A new Mara Jade Skywalker if that was the figure to be done in her green Jedi robes. (I won't buy new/improved versions of her in the blue jumpsuit - don't need them.)

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Well no real loss to me EXCEPT the ONE figure I'd buy MULITPLES of from that list:

A new Mara Jade Skywalker if that was the figure to be done in her green Jedi robes. (I won't buy new/improved versions of her in the blue jumpsuit - don't need them.)

I've updated the post since you responded, but it was revealed at CVI that Mara was to be the catsuit version (and I assume she's still coming).

[JediTricks]

Kinda overstuffed those waves, here's my thoughts...

Wave 1:

1. Anakin Skywalker (AOTC) - depends on quality, if likeness is good and costume is accurate I could see getting this
2. Padmé Amidala (Geonosis Arena) - ditto really.
3. R2-D2 - I seem to remember seeing this as a new one, and I'm generally a sucker for that.
4. Luminara Unduli - zero interest.
5. Pablo-Jill - very low interest at best.
6. Biker Scout - definitely, especially with a better deco than the one in the set.
7. TIE Fighter Pilot
8. (Backstabber) - mild interest, it feels like there's been a stream in the background of this figure so it's hard to get excited over yet another one.
9. Clone Trooper Sergeant - kinda don't care anymore.
10. Sandtrooper (black pauldron) - depends on updates, but I don't think I cared that much, too soon after the one we just got.
11. Battle Droid (Geonosis) - mild interest, would buy on sale but not sure I'd bother full price.
12. Geonosian Warrior - depends on the mold, but at best only moderate interest.
13. Clone Trooper (212th Attack Battalion) - depends on which body and if they got the color right finally, could be great interest or low.
14. TC-70 - Build-A-Droid - bleh, I don't like this CW design.
15. FA-4 Pilot Droid - Build-A-Droid - I want to say I'm not interested, but the truth is there was some moderate interest.

Who puts 13 figures in a wave (plus 2 BADs)? That's more than a case can hold! No wonder it seems stuffed. I doubt this was all 1 wave. No wonder it was a budget-buster! Shouldn't have aimed so damned high, 6 figures plus 1 BAD would have sold just as well.

Wave 2:

1. Mace Windu (The Clone Wars) - Total pass, what were they thinking? CW Anakin isn't selling on pegs that well, and Amazon clearanced out Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. Just wait for demand, don't drop a lameo on us like that.
2. Captain Rex - somewhat interested, wanted to see execution first.
3. Luke Skywalker (Yavin Ceremony) - 4th time's a charm? Kinda not interested at all after the TAC one.
4. Mara Jade Skywalker - very interested even if it's the wrong outfit, the sculpt looked much nicer than the Comic version we last got.
5. Darth Vader (Bespin) - I have no idea, maybe very interested if it's a good new sculpt based on the ANH figure, maybe total disinterest if it was using a VOTC-derived middling sculpt.
6. Biggs Darklighter - what, are they trying to reproduce that TAC wave? Total disinterest, even if that figure had crappy arm articulation the guy is barely in the film, don't need 3 separate pilot versions of him.
7. A-wing Pilot - depends on if this is or isn't an accurate sculpt, if it's still the Tycho Celchu-derived mold that's a pass for inaccuracy, but moderate interest if it's a new and more accurate sculpt.
8. Clone Pilot (AOTC) - didn't we just get this guy not that long ago? Maybe not, but it feels like it. Would have to be a big improvement to get another purchase out of me, so that's low interest.
9. R8-B7 - Build-A-Droid - SO LAME! No interest, a real R8 droid would be cool but not this lameo we saw for 1 episode arc in Clone Wars.
10. R5-X2 - Build-A-Droid - modest interest, just because another red R5 isn't high up my interest list compared to another color

8 figures (plus 2 BAD) in wave 2, again, too many figures for this kind of wave, too much of a budget-strain when there's a lot of figures from TVC that could have been recarded with duplicate BAD parts instead.

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Who puts 13 figures in a wave (plus 2 BADs)? That's more than a case can hold! No wonder it seems stuffed. I doubt this was all 1 wave. No wonder it was a budget-buster! Shouldn't have aimed so damned high, 6 figures plus 1 BAD would have sold just as well.

No, there were supposed to be 12 - you put "TIE Fighter Pilot" and "Backstabber" on two separate lines.

R2-D2 looked to me like a clean repaint of the 2007 version based on the R4-G9 mold, which I've wanted for a while now since the only other AOTC/ROTS booster rocket figure was the abysmal 2003 joke.

The Geonosian Warrior was a repaint of Sun Fac, though I'm not sure how different it was going to be from the handful of repaints the mold has already had.

Vader looked like he was based on the Evolutions mold yet again, as seen in this image from the CVI panel.

The A-wing Pilot looked like the Tycho body yet again.

There's an AOTC clone pilot out right now with the 2013 Republic Assault Dropship, but it's the 2005 Evolutions sculpt. I'm pretty sure the last time they released one (well, two) was in the battle pack with the gunship pod in 2009, but there hasn't been a single-carded version since the original in 2002.