I had a heart to heart with Derryl DePriest from Hasbro about distribution. It seems an all-new SKU (well, not TARGET) didn't even really help TBS make its way to retail as it should have. My conversation with him was nearly opposite of the same one I had with Jeff Labovitz (also from Hasbro) regarding the same distribution topic. Click through to find out why they believe you're still having trouble with distribution in your areas.

When I asked Jeff why distribution is so dismal in so many collectors' areas, he looked perplexed. He believes that distribution has improved and that things are on their way up. (No disrespect, but he also thought the paint jobs on the Saga Legends and Missions Series figures were just fine.) Needless to say, I felt I had to dig deeper to see if I could get a better answer.

Anyway, I got what I felt was a more respectable answer from Derryl. Derryl conceded that the first wave of The Black Series was not engaging enough to collectors (Editor's Note: You think?) There wasn't enough newness in the opening wave of the new line and the focus on Episode II didn't help things much either. They admit sales weren't great and the bubblegate issue just added fuel to the fire. The good news is that things are on the up and up with the basic figure line and they have high hopes for all future The Black Series waves. Derryl explained that the first wave bottlenecked the line again (déjà vu anyone) and that it has set back all subsequent waves. While they're confident that most of the these cases will reach retail in one form or another by the time all is said and done, it may take the Fall reset to get things back on track.

So those of you who complained about the first wave of The Black Series, your complaints were warranted and justified. Hasbro agrees with you.