I'd say it is a trend of specific characters... as the title suggests. Allowing the option to select 5 characters in a faction of 10-15 characters allows some flexibility with our efforts. Must have 7* Luke, R2, Old Ben, Leia, and ST Han does really offer that. Also, Locking Special Territories behind very specific NEW Characters is the continuation... or "trend" that follows the CMD Luke event.
Not really complaining, but it feels better to use older characters, thus allowing us to go after characters in our collection that we may not have had a reason to complete otherwise.