There's nothing wrong with targeting SW fans. I wouldn't be collecting SSC without being introduced to it via SW. But they can't make all their business decisions with expectations of SW profits (which I think they are guilty of).
I'm just making these numbers up here, but I think the jist is accurate.
SSC went from making obscure toys for fans of things like Civil War, Buffy, Highlander, Bond, X-Files, etc and they were succeeding. Granted maybe their Return on Investment (ROI) is 8%. They weren't blowing their ownership away, but the company was alive.
Introduce SW to the mix. ROI for SW product shoots up to 15%.
All of a sudden, ownership starts realizing that the more SW they put out and the less of everything else, then the company average ROI across the board goes up.
SSC cancels all the smaller lines, they also realize that the investment in cool lines like LOTR is too much. Cancel that one too (never mind that LOTR still out sold every line except SW, it just wasn't SW).
So SSC suddenly has a new benchmark. 15% ROI on all products. PERIOD.
So they shove out possibly their worst products they've made since who nows how long: Shaun and Ed. The demand is expected to be low so they bump up the price to $60 and bump down the quality, in order to keep that 15% ROI. And of course the people pass on overpriced garbage...and SSC just assumes people don't want those kind of lines, so they continue with SW.
The company succeeded a long time without SW. I don't know why SW had to drown all their products out. I'm just talking 12" figs here.