All of you guys have detailed what's wrong with the current situation better than I could, so I'll just say that from a retail point of view, the SW ship has been sinking since '98. This pattern of glut, Hasbro dudes coming to the stores and clearing them out for new product has happened how many times now?
And who's fault is that? Hasbro does terrific things with SW - I'm so glad they're making SW toys - but their production management (case assortments, over-production) is puzzling. Now, it would have killed any other line by now. These retail fluctuations have been going on for five years, and maybe Hasbro has found an acceptable level of comfort with them.
Me, I just learned to buy online.