Flieger

Although I still like the pilot, it is indeed clearly an AotC variant, if we are being generous. But then, the set is TCW and it not like printing all the way is somehow super expensive or beyond Lego's capacities. It is a simple oversight. ...a minor one I am willing to tolerate given it is not a UCS. But as Lego's prices go up I am going to be less and less tolerant. If I had not been waiting for a V-19, I might shut my wallet. The problem is Lego knows. They know this about the V-19. They also know the CTT set is a little more than a glorified battle pack and people will get it for the marines alone. And they know people accept the lack of proper kamas, either fully printed around the legs (my choice) or as cloth pieces. So why would they waste resources improving the build or the minifigs? As long as people buy it, they won't. (Yes, I am one of those, though not in that particular case).

Imperial Senate Security It is very unlikely to get them as we did not even see the Senate Guards. Or any Senate location set, for that matter. But on the other hand, they do not require new moulds and look quite nice. I also like the Imperial downgrade from a narrative point of view.

Nice! It would not take a lot to fit it into the SW universe. In fact, it almost looks like the evil version of the Naboo royal starship, which really makes sense given its design inspiration.

I for one don't like cloth pieces on minifigs (never did, even as a kid, growing up with solid capes), so the new pauldron mould is most welcome. It looks great. Obviously there might be some printing problems in the future, like white on black... but still, I welcome the change. Also, late to the party: the new pilot helmet is stunning, I have been waiting for it. Hopefully the print is good, too. The Torrent starfighter might prove to be a difficult build within the restrictions of a playset, probably a little smaller than the ARC 170, but again there is hope. New building techniques and pieces might work.

Beautiful! Thank you for brining this scene to life in lego.

Well, agreed. But then, is Fox the standard we want? I mean, the technical problem is basically the same: Lego apparently has huge problems printing white on a dark surface. Good one. If phrased like that, yes. If however side-printing or dual moulding is needed to represent what it is supposed to represent, it is a very different issue. Yet if the super-premium high-end quality producer (that is Lego) is incapable of doing a great coat justice with the budget they allocated to the project, maybe, just maybe consider not doing it at all? You could still have that nice cap and give it a proper tunic plus trousers combination to avoid that grey apron stuff. But if you are the super-premium producer (also charging super-premium prices), and you decide to do a great coat, then that great coat better work. It does not. This is not good. And it needs to be the object of fair critique, not overblown praise like "absolutely fantastic".

Just saw the Solid Brix Studios' review of the U-Wing, and this: "favourite minifigure out of this set", "absolutely fantastic", "wow, I love this figure"... Is he blind? Yes, the cap-and-hair piece looks very good, but how can you ignore the legs? This should be a part of her coat, i.e. white and all-around. Instead we get a grey apron which does not look like a coat at all. I do not think one should praise a figure that much that has glaring printing problems, and ideally should have been dual moulded. If that is not possible, one should not try to represent her in her coat in the first place and choose to show her without it.

Night Trooper BP... good in principle, nice figures probably, bad for army building: a 1:1 ratio of (mostly) grey and (mostly) white Night Trooper helmets is not good. the Double Death Troopers seem to be the same, which will look bad once assembled in numbers. and who needs them in numbers anyway? Eight or at max twelve would be enough. a 1:1 ratio of Night Troopers to Death Troopers. Yes, we had with the R1-BP too, but due to the more uniform look of the soldiers I though it was ok (not good) Almost all of this could have been avoided by replacing one Death Trooper with one Night Trooper, and adding one or two new prints, most critically for the legs. But let's see if one even wants to army build them after seeing season 2.

Maybe they believed SM-33 was not important enough, they included all the main characters, after all. It might have been a "one show, one set" situation, similar to Andor, and they got the five most important figures only. The cost argument, which I think is valid, probably was the final nail in the SM-33 coffin. Lego had no way of knowing that the vast majority of the viewers actually liked Skeleton Crew. Even I was surprised to like it that much. But then, the total number of viewers was unfortunately low (thanks Acolyte, continue ruining the IP even after cancellation). Hence convincing Lego to do more SC stuff is not easy. That is so sad, because there is so much: vehicles, characters, locations; all of them fresh yet Star Wars-y. But let's be honest, I would not have bought the Onyx Cinder had I not liked the show. Few watched/liked it, and thus the sales are probably bad, killing any chance for more sets and SM-33. Please, I want to be wrong on that one! Indeed. And while it was derided, no one was angry. It was a comic book, and a nice exploration of a scenario many people wanted. Totally different scale, investment, expectation etc. compared to the final installment of the ST. It is still utterly strange to me that Disney did not have a pre-planned coherent story for that trilogy, not even in rudimentary form. Say what you will about Lucas, he developed such a plan and stuck to it from day one of the PT shooting to the end. Lucas, while obviously not a fan of the EU, let things happen. He knew it did not concern his vision and made fans happy. Dark Empire was one of the stories I am sure he disliked but he allowed fans having fun with it.

And it looks great beside the Onyx Cinder. I really like the aesthetics, especially as it works well in Lego form. Funny that I had zero interest in both before SC came out, but it was such an enjoyable show that I could not resist. I wonder if other people feel the same and the sales for the Onyx Cinder improved over Chrismas. Maybe word of mouth can convince Lego to make some more SC sets. Obviously there is enough to work with, in terms of minifigs, vehicles and locations. One can dream. Anyway, even if there are no more SC sets, I am happy about what I got. Jod is one of my favourites now, as is the old Onyx Cinder (the new one is a little to seek for me). People did talk about it negatively. A lot. Especially compared to the original Thrawn trilogy. It did not generate much fuss because it was merely an EU comic book with no impact on the main story, to be ignored at your leisure (C-Canon). On the other hand, Rise of Skywalker is the culmination of a much anticipated trilogy, fully canonical, not to be ignored, and produced with a near infinite budget that should have provided for some decent writing - or, at the very least, a little better than some EU comic from the early 90ies - but did not. Obviously the disppointment is greater in case of RoS. Kinda weird to compare the impact of these two, imho.

Given that Lego put pretty much all the main characters in one big set, it seems unlikely another SC set ever comes. ...which is imo a shame, because I too love the show. But after The Acolyte I can totally understand that people are reluctant to give it a chance. Hopefully word of mouth improves the ratings so that Lego is inclined to release more sets for SC. The set itself is really nice. I like the build, it displays well and it has some play features. Obviously SM-33 is missing sorely and it is equally obvious Lego was being cheap once again in refusing to provide the new mould. It is what it is. The more we learn about the ship, the more I am liking it. It is a good example of how the enjoyment of a show can improve the enjoyment of the toy. Let us see what Skeleton Crew has to offer in its second half, and let us hope Lego is preparing some sets for it. If not, I will still be a happy owner of that Onyx Cinder.

Agreed, that is a huge problem for me, too. I wonder why so many people are so very happy with the Lego rendition of the Night Trooper. It has some strong points, like the golden highlights or the head. But from many angles it just looks like a regular Storm Trooper, being way too clean, way too white - and that is mostly due to the arms. Arm printing would have helped a lot. (I am realistic enough not to expect 360 leg printing, although that would help, too). It just does not represent the ragged, desperate and motley battlegroup that has gone through hell - quite literally so. Lego would need to create at least two new varieties of Night Troopers so that we can mix and match. An army of identical (and rather clean) Night Troopers would not do it for me. I would buy a set, sure, but not multiple. PS: I wonder if we will see the Night Troopers much after Thrawns return. With the Imperial Remnant and the secret stuff Thrawn was unloading, it is possible that the Night Troopers won't be the main strike force. Unless he zombifies all the Remnant...

The beauty about Star Wars is that we get an infinite number of BP options. And most of them are good. It is really beyond me why Lego does not capitalize on it at least a little more. Naboo forces, Imperial army troopers (Andor and Solo variety), New Republic troopers, Coruscant Underworld Police, the countless clone legions as you said, Crimson Dawn enforcers - there is no limit to what is possible. Obviously they would not be equally popular, and a simple 4x clean Stormtrooper set would sell insanely well, but still... I think Lego should be doing more when it comes to BPs.

So we had the same experience. I for one refused to give a knight in plate armour the 'long' kite shield, because they did not coexist. A friend of mine build Lion's knights only trying to emulate Richard Lionheart's time. I can tell you: we were not alone; we are not alone. Not every child is as pedantic as I was when it came to that particular issue. But I can guarantee that when it comes to a favourite character modelled by a favourite toy (which is insanely expensive, too), kids will notice the smallest details. Also, the same kids we are supposed to teach fractions are supposed not to notice the difference between ... white and pink, for example? You know, pre-school stuff? This is so mind-boggling because we are not even approaching a level of discussion that would require some of my expertise. Sorry, that is why my posts on that subject are a little personal. @BacktoBricks merci Same here. Though, in all fairness, Lego actually moved closer to playset stuff recently. If you compare the TIE of the Solo-line to the more recent ones, you can see a development that favours the toyish approach (kinda weird one has to notice that as a positive for a ... toy company). The newest Uglies are a great concept, if a bit simple in the execution, and again priced horribly. Sell them seperately and let the kids play with each other, exchanging the parts with friends. There is always one who likes the Empire and always one who likes the Rebels. They meet, they rebuild, they play, rebuild again, and go home. We were this close to greatness. Anyway, I do not mind adult sets because I perfectly accepted that Lego is for adults, too. I am just annoyed by quality issues when the claim says I am buying the best and the higest quality. And I am more annoyed when I am told I must not care because kids do not care, which is both untrue regarding children and inappropriate regarding such a high-price product.

Once, in school, my pupils noticed when I had a new strap on one of my watches. The only difference to the old one was the seam stitching technique. Most adults may not have noticed but as a teacher I am under the children's scrutiny and that is very thorough. This is something you are explicitely told when becoming a teacher, btw., so even the state knows. Children can be exceptionally attentive, because they are in an age when the brain develops rapidly and learning is as easy as it is important for said development (kind of the reason why we put them in school that age, really). So why would that attention exclude their favourite toy? On the contrary, Lego being a very expensive toy – one big set a year, usually for Christmas, is the rule for all but the wealthy parents – means that kids hold it to the standards Lego itself proclaims: being the best in quality. Saying an inaccuracy does not matter because it is a toy for younger people not only underestimates them, it is downright condescending. It is no coincidence that such statements come from adults. ...and obviously ignoring that Lego does aim at adults, too. A good point, indeed. Many inaccuracies are not even cost saving. They are stupid mistakes. And I for one resent the notions that stupidity is ok for kids.