What's the point of those things if you can still find figures with them on retail shelves say...now? I've been kind of an absentee Star Wars collector the last few years so if I'm missing something here please bonk me on the head.

If it really was some limited thing, well ok then, but they've really stuck around rather hilariously. Has it always been like that whenever they've done it in previous lines?

I've never heard of it, but I've also been out of the hard-core SW collecting for awhile now. It does seem rather pointless, if that's the case.

The coins were around for a while, not long but you could find one or two in most places. The first Galactic Hunt was a pain to collect. Those were hard and if it was not for a few friends I would still be trying to acquire a few figs. This years hunt sucked bad but I do believe Hasbro was giving everyone an equal chance with this. SO to answer your question, no it has not always been like this. This year, like I said was different and the collectors appeal was low.

Well it worked on me, I found them like a day after release thinking I'd stumbled across something special and bought way too many, lulz

Oh well!

I have to say I purchased one of everything (ever since POTF released in 1995). I always select the 1st Day issue releases (even going back to SW Episode 2 with the special cardboard inserts). It worked on me.