Swordy Posted February 14 Posted February 14 (edited) 1 hour ago, Brickwraith said: I'm not a huge Mandr fan, but I find it strange how often people in this thread blame him and other youtubers they dislike as the reason Lego Star Wars is going in a direction they don't like. I know if I was a designer I would probably push to make sets I would personally want to get, which would most likely be stuff I grew up with, not just whatever a youtuber is saying. It just happens that Mandr and others like him in the space are in the same generation of kids that grew up with the prequel trilogy and clone wars, just like up and coming lego designers would be. Normally, I wouldn’t blame him per se… except how many times has he literally said “In 2025 I want a UT-AT with Galactic Marines.” What’s the rumor for what’s to come later this year—2025 no less? It’s a UT-AT with, as of now, 2 Galactic Marines. “Coincidence? I think not!” I don’t think it's caving into what a random YouTuber says, so much as it’s upcoming LEGO designers seeing themselves giving back to their community, as it were. Look how happy MandR was when the 501st BP was announced, or when we get the first rumors of Jedi Bob returning. He does represent a portion of the fanbase, and carries a lot of sway with his takes on LEGO. MandR constantly talks bad about his past relationship with LEGO (he met an ego bigger than his, in my opinion), only for these upcoming creatives to make his dreams come true. “Wouldn’t a clone-centric year of LSW endear him and his fanbase to LEGO again?” those creatives might ask. (The answer is no. He even said in several of his rumor videos—which I watch purely for research, even though I know all the rumors already—that he expects LEGO, quote, “will mess up clones like they always do: helmet holes, bad printing, no cloth waist capes; we know the drill by now.” He’s fine to have an opinion, but he always manages to find a criticism and blow it out of proportion. Never complained about pale printing on a single torso until Commander Fox. That’s just my hot take at the moment, of course. Anyway,) Don’t forget that those same kids likely would’ve also grown up with MandR as he grew up. That connection holds a certain amount of influence that can’t be underestimated. Would many people have thought as much about a UT-AT if not for MandR? People of an older generation talk about Hammerheads, Yakface, and the B-Wing; people of his generation talk about Commander Cody, Commander Doom, and UT-ATs. If a UT-AT piloted by Commander Doom was the focal point of a new Star Wars movie, then we can talk about a LEGO set. Until then, while I like the thing and am glad to see it made, I argue it’s too niche of a thing right now to be a LEGO set. (How much screentime did it have in the background of a dimly lit scene the focus of which being the slaughter of Mr. Bigheaded? Maybe five seconds?) People of my generation would talk about Admiral Blue Jeans if he was kept in Star Wars. Justice for the second-greatest-blue-related Admiral! Edited February 14 by Swordy Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted February 14 Posted February 14 (edited) The designers may have some say in chosing the sets they wanna create (as evidenced by them convincing Lucasfilm to let them do Krennic‘s shuttle over the 4-winged one the protagonists steal), but they don‘t have absolute power The higher-ups and Lucasfilm/Disney still need to approve their choices, and that approval is motivated by sales figures, not personal preferences. They have the data to back it up, and if they’re willing to release an entire Clone-centric wave, they must see a lot of potential in that Maybe the last few Clone sets really were all bestsellers, outperforming everything else. I guess we‘ll see if that gamble pays off for them. Edited February 14 by BrickBob Studpants Quote
CloneCommando99 Posted February 14 Posted February 14 4 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said: They have the data to back it up, and if they’re willing to release an entire Clone-centric wave, they must see a lot of potential in that Maybe the last few Clone sets really were all bestsellers, outperforming everything else. I guess we‘ll see if that gamble pays off for them. Even so, the grey baseplate warriors will have to run out of funds or space at some point. The constant Clone sets can’t all remain bestsellers forever. The over-saturation this summer may cause a fluctuation in Lego’s overall sales. And then Lego will blame it on play-sets and make more buildable figures. (You know they want to) Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted February 14 Posted February 14 3 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said: The constant Clone sets can’t all remain bestsellers forever. No, but as long as they sell we keep getting more. Same goes for the buildable figures. But hey, from next year on we‘re finally getting new movies again, so we‘re guaranteed to have more interesting waves again! Unless they start skipping new movies too, but the day a SW movie of all things gets snubbed is when they‘ve officially lost the plot. Quote
THELEGOBATMAN Posted February 14 Posted February 14 7 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said: No, but as long as they sell we keep getting more. Same goes for the buildable figures. But hey, from next year on we‘re finally getting new movies again, so we‘re guaranteed to have more interesting waves again! Unless they start skipping new movies too, but the day a SW movie of all things gets snubbed is when they‘ve officially lost the plot. A movie. The rest are in production hell and none of them are safe, just as countless other cancelled Star Wars movies. Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted February 14 Posted February 14 1 hour ago, THELEGOBATMAN said: A movie. The rest are in production hell and none of them are safe, just as countless other cancelled Star Wars movies. Fair enough. At least we have potential movies again As much as I like the Mandoverse and the animated shows, SW belongs on the big screen for me Quote
Lordhelmet Posted February 14 Posted February 14 I am interested in the mix that Lego is producing this year. We basically have no OT sets that are affordable (I am excluding buildable figs, they clearly have a market but not one I am interested in). A few years ago I decided to narrow my collection. As prices continued to climb on new sets I couldn't afford all of my favorites so I made a choice to focus on collecting OT (one of every ship in the movie, and one of every character). I sold off a bunch of old prequel and clone wars stuff. I kept a few minifigures and sets (Rex, Kylo, Thrawn, Mando) that are not from the OT. I bring this up because I wonder how many OT collectors there are that only buy OT set with minifigures Vs. how many collectors only buy Prequels stuff, or Sequaels, or Shows. Lego has to be thinking about this in how they plan what they are producing. I am wondering because if Lego does plan on doing a $1000 death star, they have lined it up for OT collectors to at least consider buying. There is one set (home one) that is very OT specific that has not been done before. Outside of that there is nothing (I personally will probably get the U wing too). If intentional then Lego set it up for OT collectors to really consider the Death Star if it does have 40 minifigs (and if there are unique/new ones). I am curious how intentional it was for Lego to plan the sets that way. Meanwhile everyone who likes clones/prequels for their collection will have opportunities in the lower cost range based on all the rumors. The only thing really missing from this years wave is stuff geared for kids (under $30) with playability and multiple characters. Quote
Swordy Posted February 14 Posted February 14 (edited) 14 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said: The designers may have some say in chosing the sets they wanna create (as evidenced by them convincing Lucasfilm to let them do Krennic‘s shuttle over the 4-winged one the protagonists steal), but they don‘t have absolute power The higher-ups and Lucasfilm/Disney still need to approve their choices, and that approval is motivated by sales figures, not personal preferences. I’m not saying designers have absolute power. There are definitely several sets mandated by Disney to promote the newest and most popular Disney SW, but I believe LEGO designers have more freedom as far as what sets get made. A good example of this: the recent Blacktron Renegade was entirely a new designer’s dream and passion. Obviously they need to be sure that Blacktron will sell, but a designer was the one who pitched that set, and TLG found it successful. Does that Krennic’s shuttle story hold any relevance anymore? That was 2016, we were in the thick of Disney SW; of course there was greater control over the sets chosen. What’s coming out this year, though? Besides Andor, zilch. This is an off-year, a time of quiet, and a time that more freedom would be given to TLG—and subsequently the design team—to keep the Star Wars brand relevant. In the end, who chooses the sets? The penny-pinchers greenlight them (and set the prices based on the metric of sales figures to ensure success) but there must be a designer in order for the idea to be made in the first place. Again, the higher-ups greenlight the sets, but what mandates would the designers have right now? TLG and Star Wars are different beasts right now than what they were 9 years ago. It’s time we see things that way. Edited February 14 by Swordy Quote
Mandalorianknight Posted February 14 Posted February 14 18 hours ago, Swordy said: I personally disagree. Given some recent design shifts, plus a particularly prolific LSW designer moving to Icons, I could see certain designers who watch the folks like MandR joining the LSW team and going out of their way to “set things right.” At the very least, I can’t see the folks who said “Well you could double the Clone Commander as the pilot,” being the same people green-lighting a UT-AT with Galactic Marines. You have to remember the designers aren't necessarily the ones choosing what sets to make. It sounds like there's more leeway in the superheroes theme (and also like DC just doesn't care whatsoever about what lego does with the license) but we've generally heard that lucasfilm is pretty hands on here, and regardless it's likely higher-ups in the company making a lot of these broader choices, not designers. But it certainly is possible that it's a factor. One way to get some evidence for or against it would be to look on brickset and see if the clone sets generally have the same designers and OT sets generally have other designers. I'm not going to do it right now but I may check later. 10 hours ago, THELEGOBATMAN said: A movie. The rest are in production hell and none of them are safe, just as countless other cancelled Star Wars movies. Accurate. I have some faith in the Filoni movie but that's more copium rationalizing itself as "but he's a high up in the company!" I also think the Levy movie probably happens if they get Ryan Gosling, but either they were REALLY good at keeping the outcome of those talks under wraps, or it's not looking too good. 9 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said: Fair enough. At least we have potential movies again As much as I like the Mandoverse and the animated shows, SW belongs on the big screen for me I mean to be fair we've had potential movies since the sequels were coming out. Boba Fett, the Rian Johnson trilogy that some people still pretend is happening, Rogue Squadron, the Taiki movie, the Feige movie, etc. 3 hours ago, Lordhelmet said: I am wondering because if Lego does plan on doing a $1000 death star, they have lined it up for OT collectors to at least consider buying. There is one set (home one) that is very OT specific that has not been done before. Outside of that there is nothing (I personally will probably get the U wing too). If intentional then Lego set it up for OT collectors to really consider the Death Star if it does have 40 minifigs (and if there are unique/new ones). I am curious how intentional it was for Lego to plan the sets that way. I do think there's an extent to which lego may consider the death star as "making up" for the fact that there isn't a single OT system set this entire year- I've certainly seen it argued that the death star's size and rumored fig count somehow events out the fact that the rest of the year is clone dominated- but I really don't think it makes sense logically. I generally don't spend anywhere close to $1k on legos a year. It's normally more in the $300-400ish range, although this year due to the lack of sets I'm interested in and some other reasons it could be as low as $35 total. Even in a year like this where there's not many sets I'm interested in, I'm still not gonna drop a grand. And aside from the fact that I think there's a lot of primarily OT fans out there who aren't casually dropping $1k/year on lego star wars, there's probably also a lot of people who do spend $1k/year on it but don't want to drop it all on a single set, or don't want/have the space for a 2ft diameter grey sphere in their house, or what have you. Like, if instead of battle packs the clone fans got a $1000 UCS dropship and AT-OT with 36 troopers and 4 pilots, and that was it for the year, would they be considering that a good year? Would any of the kids who follow the grey baseplate youtubers get their hands on that set? Quote
CloneCommando99 Posted February 14 Posted February 14 (edited) 38 minutes ago, Swordy said: TLG and Star Wars are different beasts right now than what they were 9 years ago. It’s time we see things that way. As in TLG is bigger in relevance than ever. Whilst Star Wars, and Lucasfilm itself, are a shadow of what it used to be. Right? I will defend SW and Lucasfilm as a cultural icon with every ounce of my being until I’m nothing but dust. But you can’t deny the evidence: Indy 5 sucking and flopping, Acolyte, SC’s poor viewership, production hell for new SW movies, Outlaws flopping… Meanwhile TLG increases its sales and variety of appeal every fiscal quarter. 32 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said: Like, if instead of battle packs the clone fans got a $1000 UCS dropship and AT-OT with 36 troopers and 4 pilots, and that was it for the year, would they be considering that a good year? Would any of the kids who follow the grey baseplate youtubers get their hands on that set? Exactly. Edited February 14 by CloneCommando99 Quote
Darth Malgus Posted February 15 Posted February 15 Regarding clones, it makes sense to have a few well requested ones this year being the 20th anniversary of ROTS. With respect to saturation, I expect TLG when planning their slate expected to have 2 movies to account for when planning, while we know we're only getting one, who knows what gets announced at Celebration? Perhaps they look at gaming sets like they have previously... With respect to MandR, I don't believe that he'll ever truly be happy with what comes out, however some of his gripes are reasonable (I'm not his demographic), especially the cloth kama's. The Fox figure was just plain lazy and terribly executed for a character that we'll probably only get the one time. Quote
Samppu Posted February 15 Posted February 15 18 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said: Maybe the last few Clone sets really were all bestsellers, outperforming everything else. I guess we‘ll see if that gamble pays off for them. The original 501st battlepack probably was. Given that it takes a few years from data to decision to design, the current clone wave still probably largely reflects the aftershock of what happened when that battlepack hit the shelves. Personally I enjoy the clones. UT-AT and the Galactic Marines? Commander Bly and Aayla Secure? 327th battlepack? Yes to all. Though, I also use customs anyway, so I have these covered probably anyway better than what Lego releases, but still, Episode III was and still is my most favorite movie and particularly the book. Yet from a broader salespoint, the problem in the toy industry in general is often that the consultants and statisticians working for the big companies have no real connection to the products they study, even less to the fanbase, or necessarily even to the kids. The only thing they do is that they apply rigid analytical tools to a given product and then produce a recommendation, even if those tools are "rules of thumb" at best. E.g. it is a rule of thumb that a product related to an ongoing TV show will be popular, but then, that is not always the case and the consultants miss the ability that we all here tend to have that we can see with a glance if a design makes sense, if it is iconic related to the show and whether that show will be popular among the folks in the first place. The consultans cannot, and how could they? In their eyes there is no difference between things like the sequels or the prequels. To them it's all just Star Wars. 7 hours ago, Lordhelmet said: I am wondering because if Lego does plan on doing a $1000 death star, they have lined it up for OT collectors to at least consider buying. There is one set (home one) that is very OT specific that has not been done before. Outside of that there is nothing (I personally will probably get the U wing too). If intentional then Lego set it up for OT collectors to really consider the Death Star if it does have 40 minifigs (and if there are unique/new ones). I am curious how intentional it was for Lego to plan the sets that way. Interesting thought and I could see there might be sense in this! Though, if it was true, it would make sense for them to spread the rumors and "leak" images well beforehand to gear hype and let everyone know what is coming well in advance for tyem to prepare. The logic even sort of applies to this year with the Sail's Barge. Quote
Agent Kallus Posted February 17 Posted February 17 (edited) I wonder if TLG will acknowledge the clone overload? Call it the summer of clones or something? Would set a good precedent that they might then do a summer of Sith or of Jedi or mandos or Imps and so on. On 2/14/2025 at 10:20 PM, Mandalorianknight said: legos Wtf Edited February 18 by Agent Kallus Quote
CloneCommando99 Posted February 17 Posted February 17 12 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said: I wander if TLG will acknowledge the clone overload? Call it the summer of clones or something? Would set a good precedent that they might then do a summer of Sith or of Jedi or mandos or Imps and so on. Every summer from now on will either be Clones or Mandalorians. All the clones not being ones with plot significance but Glup Shittos with 5 seconds of background screen time. All this George Lucas’ specific requests for a summer of Twi’leks. DoES LeGo hATe tHeIr FAnS?!! Quote
Lordhelmet Posted February 17 Posted February 17 5 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said: summer of Twi’leks Don’t hate on the summer of Twi’leks Quote
Mandalorianknight Posted February 17 Posted February 17 3 hours ago, Lordhelmet said: Don’t hate on the summer of Twi’leks Rebels sets, a new Jabba's Palace, an AT-OT, some Battle of Ryloth stuff, maybe some Kotor stuff (mission vao) or even sets in the Cade era- the summer of Twi'leks would be a top-tier wave. 9 hours ago, Agent Kallus said: Wtf I'll fight you on this, there's nothing wrong with saying legos. 9 hours ago, Agent Kallus said: I wander if TLG will acknowledge the clone overload? Call it the summer of clones or something? Would set a good precedent that they might then do a summer of Sith or of Jedi or mandos or Imps and so on. 50/50 they either refuse to acknowledge it and say something like "oh, those guys are clones?" in an interview, or it's like 2023 where some unrelated project/date is used to make up an anniversary. Get ready for the 1x4x3 brick with exclusive "Star Wars: Republic Issue #45 20th anniversary" print. Quote
hikouki Posted February 17 Posted February 17 Is the rumored Plo Koon micro fighter going to include a minifig? Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted February 17 Posted February 17 4 minutes ago, hikouki said: Is the rumored Plo Koon micro fighter going to include a minifig? Why would microfighters suddenly stop having minifigs after 10 years? Quote
Mandalorianknight Posted February 18 Posted February 18 6 hours ago, hikouki said: Is the rumored Plo Koon micro fighter going to include a minifig? Yes, assumably a wolfpack trooper. (Just kidding- I can't imagine they'd stop coming with minifigures after this long, and it'll be Plo of course. I still wonder if we were meant to get something with him last year- a new mold in a microfighter is strange.) Quote
hikouki Posted February 18 Posted February 18 15 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said: ... I still wonder if we were meant to get something with him last year- a new mold in a microfighter is strange... Exactly what I was wondering. A new fig in a micro fighter (and perhaps a new mold) sounds too good. Perhaps more sets with him in? (and thank you for not being like other posters who are snide without adding anything to the discussion) Quote
CloneCommando99 Posted February 18 Posted February 18 2 hours ago, hikouki said: Perhaps more sets with him in? (Nothing against Plo. But we all know damn well what his inclusion in more sets would mean.) Where are the May 4th GWP and U-Wing Updates?!! Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted February 18 Posted February 18 2 hours ago, hikouki said: Exactly what I was wondering. A new fig in a micro fighter (and perhaps a new mold) sounds too good. Perhaps more sets with him in? The U-Wing pilot with exclusive dual-moulded helmet says hello Quote
Meaf Posted February 18 Posted February 18 I'm still kind of surprised we aren't getting any other sets with Plo Koon in them. Maybe it's a tired guess but a Wolfpack set with him in it seems almost inevitable for 2026, seeing as they're the most popular set of clones we haven't gotten new versions of yet. In regards to 2025, is there anything we still don't know about? Iirc we have names and descriptions for every set, though I guess we still don't know what minifigures are included in some of them. Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted February 18 Posted February 18 21 minutes ago, Meaf said: Iirc we have names and descriptions for every set, though I guess we still don't know what minifigures are included in some of them. We don’t know about the GWP set(s) and the AC’s contents yet, but other than that, we‘re only missing some of the minifig lists. I‘m not expecting any surprises here Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.