I think this “recalibration” of what was originally to be the hiatus of The Vintage Collection at the end of 2012 can be an indication of something we’ve seen before with the 2004 Saga (SWS) line’s “Hall of Fame” assortment, a majority of the 2004-05 Original Trilogy Collection (OTC) line, and the 2006 Saga Collection (TSC) line’s “Greatest Battles” and “Heroes & Villains” assortments. Those were all stop-gaps for the lead up to the Revenge of the Sith (ROTS) merchandise glut and the kick off of the spectacular 30th Anniversary Collection (TAC) line which had a sizable marketing push in its own right.

I think with the announcement of more films from Lucasfilm… err, Disney (I’ll never get used to that), and the acceleration of the 3D releases, a ton of Hasbro’s resources are going to have to go toward the development of all new product for Episode VII and to ensure that the distribution issues of the past few years get worked out of the system. I expect we will see very little “new” product until later in 2013 and early 2014 and even then, the “new” stuff will be old stuff in new packaging (ie: Movie Heroes type assortments) with a few new sculpts and repaints sprinkled in.

Always in motion is the future – especially in the case of Star Wars collecting.