Vintage Collection Wave 3 Assortment Changed for the (Much) Worse?

According to the case assortment listed on EE:

1x Han Solo (Solo)
1x Enfys Nest
1x Imperial Hovertank Driver
2x Elite Praetorian Guard
1x Dr. Aphra
1x Captain Cassian Andor
1x Luke Skywalker Jedi Master

The problem here is that it was originally understood that this wave would include the new Range Trooper. It would seem this figure was removed from the assortment, and Hasbro opted to double up on the Elite Praetorian Guard. Personally, I never saw the Praetorian Guard at Walmart, and I think it's not a bad idea to carry this figure forward into TVC. But 1 figure in the case would have been sufficient. If Hasbro needed to scramble and double up on an existing figure in the wave to compensate for the missing Range Trooper, then the only move to make here would have been to double up on the Hovertank Driver.

It is unknown at this time why the Range trooper is delayed. It was suggested that it could be a translation error given the codenames, but that wouldn't explain why the Praetorian was doubled up instead of a new figure being named in the Range Trooper's place. This was a figure fans would have been looking forward to, so replacing it with a figure that generates, at best, a tepid collector response is concerning.

Carrying forward Solo, Enfys, and the driver from the previous wave are good choices. Many of us think those 3 figures will be tricky to find in wave 2. Luke as a TBS repack isn't very exciting, but probably will sell because Luke is Luke. Cassian might have issues, but hopefully isn't as bad as Jyn. That leaves Doctor Aphra as the only new figure in the wave, and technically, it's not even new at this point as it was offered with the SDCC set.

Overall, we have more reasons to be concerned about the health of TVC in the early going. We have reason to worry that Wave 2 might not hit a lot of retail locations because of reported backstock issues with Jyn, Rey, and even some of the other carry forwards. Wave 2 will have their own carry forwards, which may make Wave 3 even rarer. Now Wave 3 looks to be more of the problem, rather than the solution.

We know that Hasbro went out of their way at SDCC to explain that they are making changes to their case assortment and carry forward strategy, in order to improve availability and distribution of new figures. But 2019 might be too late, unless there is a reset after the 2018 holiday. The most pessimistic collectors may already have an opinion of the viability of TVC at this point:

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