LEGO Star Wars 2012 Pictures and Rumors

[cavegod]

I'm glad they have done the B-Wing, possibly next year we will get a UCS C3P0 & A-Wing or maybe a larger UCS set next year, Slave-1 maybe. I think a Cloud car would be nice!

[mutley777]

I am also very happy with the upcoming UCS B-wing. The A-wing in UCS form would be a bit to much of a similar ship to the still in production UCS jedi starfighter (well if it was red anyway ). I know it's a very differnet ship to us fans but the more casual Lego fan might not think so.

[The Blue Brick]

I'll definitely get Jabbas palace and the desert skiff. All of these sets look so amazing. I really will be broke by the end of this year.

[Strand]

Being a TOR player, seems rather unusual the Imperial Lego ship is the very awesome Sith Warrior/Inquisitor class ship while the Republic one is kind of a bad design. They couldn't have chosen the Jedi Knight/Consular design? Or the Smuggler X1? Will probably be picking up the Desert Skiff, TOR sith ship, Saesee Tiin, Gungan Sub and Jabba's Palace.

[Fuppylodders]

I think the B wing is a fine choice to bring out next. I think they are partially going on our wallets too. Finally they're bringing out slightly cheaper UCS sets to give us a break and let us stock up on that green stuff so they can whack us with it next year with the more costly ones

I mean look at it this way:

10188 Deathstar £274

10212 Imp Shuttle £245

10195 Dropship £180

10221 Executor £350

Thats a lot of money needing to be spent on quite a lot of sets that were all out at the same time(at some point), and for average joe, these things take time to buy alongside all the other lego they assume we will be buying too.

So giving us a few cheaper UCS (but in all honesty, they're not lacking in quality from the looks of it) sets, they are letting us take a breather so we may very well see a huge UCS set coming out soon after the B-wing. That'd be my guess. I don't think the AT-AT is that far away. (I personally believe its a guarantee it WILL be released at some point)

Another way to look at it, is Cavegod made his UCS B-wing moc.

Then after some time he made his AT-AT...

They are giving us the B-wing now...

[Ritz Brick]

While the A-Wing did have an epic scene in ROTJ. I have to agree with mutley, that some people might think it's to similair to Obi-Wan's JSF. It's a guarantee that an UCS B-Wing would come along soon enough, so here it is. The A-Wing aswell has some difficult angles to work around so it might take a while to work out and look decent.

[StoutFiles]

A UCS B wing is a bit surreal - if u want to milk the AFOL market that 5,000 brick AT AT would be the way to go. Out of a universe of vehicles - why the B wing?!

The Executor will be on shelves for another year, it does not make sense to have two UCS sets in that high price range. The B-wing will fill the gap left by the Imperial Shuttle.

[Anio]

5,000 brick AT AT would be the way to go.

No need of 5,000 bricks to do a UCS AT-AT.

possibly next year we will get a UCS C3P0

I higly doubt TLG will ever do a UCS C3PO or a UCS Cloud Car.

[Faefrost]

I higly doubt TLG will ever do a UCS C3PO or a UCS Cloud Car.

A good modern system scale cloud car release in the $29 price range would be a real treat however.

[Eric W.]

Although some of these sets look rather tasty, I have had my eye fixed on that Sith fury-class interceptor. There are a few others that look rather nice as well. On the UCS B-wing topic, I actually think that would be pretty cool. The major vehicles are starting to get a little redundant in my opinion. I think what would be really interesting would be some more expanded universe stuff. With TLGs market strategy though, who knows if they would do that.

[Algernon]

I think it makes perfect sense to have a UCS B-Wing. We've had a Y-Wing, X-Wing and Snowspeeder, so this seems to follow. It may not be as iconic as some other ships, but it's always been a personal favorite of mine, and most AFOLs will know what it is. I'm excited to see it.

[cavegod]

No need of 5,000 bricks to do a UCS AT-AT.

I higly doubt TLG will ever do a UCS C3PO

Depends if you want a decent AT-AT or not

As for C3P0 depends who you know....

[Anio]

Depends if you want a decent AT-AT or not

These AT-AT you are talking about are from being decent for the Lego Group.

As for C3P0 depends who you know...

?

[Faefrost]

The major vehicles are starting to get a little redundant in my opinion. I think what would be really interesting would be some more expanded universe stuff. With TLGs market strategy though, who knows if they would do that.

The Expanded Universe stuff can be very problematic. Figure for a subject to have any chance as a marketable Lego Star Wars set, the source material in question needs a minimum number of eyeballs appreciating it. Say a measurable fan base of between 1 and 2 million fans. The movies hit that easily with hundreds of millions of fans. The Clone Wars tv series hits it with about 10 million viewers worldwide and about 1 - 2 million on the US Cartoon Network. The video games just barely hit into this range, with the "good" ones bouncing at around 2 million( a little extra weight can be given to mmo's simply for their long term and less transient nature, but even then it is very limited.)

The book's, that many feel form the heart of the EU. Their numbers are In the hundreds of thousands. Typically bouncing around 250,000 ( excepting the Timothy Zahn trilogy which still outsells every other SW book.) . Comics are even worse, with circulation and readership in the tens of thousands.

Assuming even a huge 1% translation of fans to Lego purchasers, the EU stuff just has horrible chances of turning a profit vs the costs of a licensed product. In most cases Lego would be better off doing something in house such as the Alien Conquest stuff, rather than an EU set.

We may be surprised. The Sith Fury may be the first EU subject to do well. But recognize that it is probably in the Lego catalogue as a Lucas loss leader. A cool ship that will then drum up fan interest in where it comes from, and hence get them to check out the monthly subscription game. As a normal subject it will still leave most fans scratching their head. ( at least it's not as confusing or strange as the Rogue Shadow.)

[brickbuilder711]

These sets look awesome! Very nice to see some of the more interesting parts in new colors. This is surely the first time the wagon ends are in dark tan.

[Fuppylodders]

1)Depends if you want a decent AT-AT or not

2) As for C3P0 depends who you know....

1)I was thinking the same thing, totally agreed

2) I do wonder if it would be more likely released as a bust than a whole figure, but then General Grievous was a whole figure and he turned out really nice.... so who knows, it is very possible, he is a very iconic character, I could not be so sure as to rule it out as a possibility.

The Sith Fury may be the first EU subject to do well. But recognize that it is probably in the Lego catalogue as a Lucas loss leader. A cool ship that will then drum up fan interest in where it comes from, and hence get them to check out the monthly subscription game. As a normal subject it will still leave most fans scratching their head. ( at least it's not as confusing or strange as the Rogue Shadow.)

I'm not so sure. I'm only speaking for me, but there are probably many other people in my similar position. I have yet to see anything else other than the 6 films (I intend on getting TCW series 1-4 dvds sometime) so I don't know any of the other vehicles, or what they are about, however that Sith Fury class is such a brilliantly designed ad decent looking ship I can't resist it, despite the fact I know nothing of it. Just as long as it 'hits the spot' I don't think it matters too much whether it is well known or not, but as you rightly say, the more well known, the better.

[Faefrost]

I'm not so sure. I'm only speaking for me, but there are probably many other people in my similar position. I have yet to see anything else other than the 6 films (I intend on getting TCW series 1-4 dvds sometime) so I don't know any of the other vehicles, or what they are about, however that Sith Fury class is such a brilliantly designed ad decent looking ship I can't resist it, despite the fact I know nothing of it. Just as long as it 'hits the spot' I don't think it matters too much whether it is well known or not, but as you rightly say, the more well known, the better.

Well yes, that's kind of what I meant. The Sith Fury is such a cool looking ship, while at the same time being a very obvious and traditional / faithful SW design, (both in game and in Lego form) that it might actually pull it's own weight and appeal to those SW and Lego fans who have never seen it before (Plus it has some fantastic minifigs. Those cool Sith Troopers and a new Sith Lord). Which in turn has a good chance of them getting curious about the ship and where it comes from, resulting in more people checking out the game.

I don't think the Striker has anywhere near as good a chance of pulling the same thing off. (Obscure ship in the game, not the most inspired design overall, minifigs aren't as exciting etc) And in the past The Rogue Shadow, the Tie Crawler and the Tie Defender all had similar results. (I think the Tie Defender probably did the best overall out of those. It is a cool ship that was in large part hindered by a less than sturdy Lego design)

[trooper 278]

B-wing?? -that box comes from the x-wing, I guess...

http://sumobrickshop.nl/lego-10227-b-wing-starfighter.html

Edited April 29, 2012 by trooper 278

[Eric W.]

Well yes, that's kind of what I meant. The Sith Fury is such a cool looking ship, while at the same time being a very obvious and traditional / faithful SW design, (both in game and in Lego form) that it might actually pull it's own weight and appeal to those SW and Lego fans who have never seen it before (Plus it has some fantastic minifigs. Those cool Sith Troopers and a new Sith Lord). Which in turn has a good chance of them getting curious about the ship and where it comes from, resulting in more people checking out the game.

I don't think the Striker has anywhere near as good a chance of pulling the same thing off. (Obscure ship in the game, not the most inspired design overall, minifigs aren't as exciting etc) And in the past The Rogue Shadow, the Tie Crawler and the Tie Defender all had similar results. (I think the Tie Defender probably did the best overall out of those. It is a cool ship that was in large part hindered by a less than sturdy Lego design)

Valid points all around. There are some really cool EU ships that would sell though. Obviously TLG wouldn't even open that can of worms unless they were backed by some sort of game that Lucas Arts is trying to sell. It would be nice if George Lucas was in the business to please his fans, but that's obviously not the case anymore.

[The_Chosen_1]

I know we haven't heard much about the B-wing yet, but do we know if it will be minifig-scale?

[Brickdoctor]

I know we haven't heard much about the B-wing yet, but do we know if it will be minifig-scale?

It's UCS and it's a starfighter, so I would think there would be a very good chance that it won't be.

[Faefrost]

Valid points all around. There are some really cool EU ships that would sell though. Obviously TLG wouldn't even open that can of worms unless they were backed by some sort of game that Lucas Arts is trying to sell. It would be nice if George Lucas was in the business to please his fans, but that's obviously not the case anymore.

Right now our best hope for some of the cooler EU ships is actually the Clone Wars show. The folks making that are obvious fans and have been sneaking some EU ships in, some in rather prominent roles. In the last season of the show they gave us Bossk's Hounds Tooth, the Z-95 Headhunters and the Luxury Yacht 3000 / Lady Luck. All familiar EU ships that would make fantastic candidates for Legofication.

[Eric W.]

I know we haven't heard much about the B-wing yet, but do we know if it will be minifig-scale?

That would be awesome if it was. I prefer the minifig scale UCS sets.

[Aeroeza]

1500 bricks for the B-Wing! I'm impressed and am looking forward to seeing how this was achieved. I'd have thought a few hundred extra bricks may have been needed. As for comments concerning the B-Wings lack of iconography when compared to say an AT AT in the films I think people forget that even obscure ships were planted firmly in the minds of GenXers through the release of Kenner toys in the 80's and the X-Wing and Tie Fighter computer games in the 90's. I was dying to play the B-Wing expansion pack!!!

[Faefrost]

Right now our best hope for some of the cooler EU ships is actually the Clone Wars show. The folks making that are obvious fans and have been sneaking some EU ships in, some in rather prominent roles. In the last season of the show they gave us Bossk's Hounds Tooth, the Z-95 Headhunters and the Luxury Yacht 3000 / Lady Luck. All familiar EU ships that would make fantastic candidates for Legofication.

Bleah! Replying to myself how awful. But thinking on it a little more I see a few more avenues for some of these ships. Barring the above, I can think of just a handful of EU ships that might have any chance of seeing the light of day as Lego sets.

1. The Outrider - probably the most asked for and wildly desired EU ship. Pro's; It is well known and appeared in a host of media from books to comics to popular video games, all as part of the Shadows of the Empire story. It even had a brief digitally inserted cameo in the recent blue ray release of the movies. (making it not technically EU by extension, see "Imperial Landing Craft") Like the Sith Fury, it is also very recognizable as a Star Wars ship. You can see that it is like the Milenium Falcon. Con's; It's like the Milenium Falcon, which means it's starting point would be a $100+ usd kit. Probably not the best starting place for an EU subject. While it appeared in a lot of media, it's all fairly old these days. And the final Score; I think we will eventually see one. I suspect that TCW might force their hand and use the ship for a few episodes for some purpose, thereby making it cannon from several angles. It will still be expensive.

2. Imperial Gunboat - A weirdly popular little ship from the X-Wing/Tie fighter games. Plastic modelers can tell you it remains a strangely popular subject. The fighter/bomber variant of the Lambda Shuttle line. Final score; iffy. It's something easily recognizeable and mould make an affordable kit, but without some more definitive on screen appearence, probably not.

3. The Moldy Crow - Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors ship from a whole host of games. Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, etc. Pro's; It's been actually seen a lot. Fans know what it looked like as it has appeared in not just one, but a large number of games over an extended amount of years and platforms. It's a nice compact and swooshable design. Con's; It's kind of plain, being designed for far lower graphics fidelty than modern standards. A bit blocky even by Lego standards. A little more obscure than something like the Outrider (which while not everyone knows what it is, as soon as they see it they instantly recognize it as Star Wars. The Moldy Crow looks more like a generic 80's kids toy). Final Score; iffy. A great little ship that would work well in Lego. But it doesn't scream SW the way some of the other do.

My final prediction. Things we will not ever see. Anything that appears souly in the books. Especially the newer books. No Yuhzon Vong (or however you spell them) No New Jedi Order stuff. If it has not had at least a digital model of it shown somewhere it will not be in the running.

just my 2c on the EU subject. The SWTOR sets give me hope that we will see some other stuff. But I think what we see will be limited in it's scope, size and time periods.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Faefrost