Battle Packs - Better models?

[Robianco]

You don't have to actually own any Lego to be a fan of Lego. It's a ridiculous argument.

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

I'd like to display the battlepack builds, but they're frequently so crappy compared to the regular sets that they go straight into the parts trays.

...

At the moment money and spares quantity is what has limited my MOC building.

Just be grateful for Battlepacks being so crappy. I rather like the constant stream of new parts and without all those Battlepack leftovers I would probably never have thought about real moccing or sorting my parts collection.

The newest Stormtrooper Battlepack is among my favorite Battlepacks at the moment for that sweet selection of useful parts.

2x2 darkred rounded slopes

1x2 plates with clips and short bars

4x4 round plates with and without 2x2 holes

those new 1L technic tubes

1x2 plates with 1x2 SNOT

Buy 10 of them, mix them with an existing parts collection and you can easily make some complex Star Wars Walkers or sweet darkred republic vehicles.

There just is no point to displaying these models. If you like one you display it, if you don't be grateful for the extra parts. The worst Battlepacks are those with very few versatile parts, most importantly the assassin droids BP and the Imperial Dropship (I will never be left alone of those JSF cockpit windows).

A repeating trend with the starwars battlepack series: the terrible small builds. Sure, some exception exists, notably the quite big rebel speeder bike.

On the vast majority however, we are stuck on Imperial forces kind of build, a micro version of a thing beyond recognition or completly made up that you quickly dissasemble or toss in a corner for lack of displayability and to some extend play value. ( To the point of considering selling pieces on bricklink ).

What Lego should consider is including models that can actually be displayed and have better play value, ex: instead of a fat mini turret ( FO battlepack ) include weapon crates, some buildable cover, a buildable big weapon like the mega blaster and the such.

I think more smaller elements that work are better than an odd construct that most buyers end up putting on the side. Or just do something on scale with the mini figs.

Even better, use a system in which buying several sets gives you the pieces for a bigger build with instructions online, a bit like mixels.

Any more thoughts?

Well, good for you that you like the Speeder Bike. I don't really see the strategic use in making Speeder Bikes fatter and giving them a gunner when something like the Gian and Battlefront Speeder work better as moving gunnery platforms. And from a parts usage point it is quite useless as well except for the 2x2 plates with 1x2 SNOT.

The turret is at least aesthetically sound, would be useful for a mini-set display and gives people some 2x2x3 corner slopes as well as more grey parts for building bases and equipment.

Making the sets more about minifigure equipment would be nice but due to Legos weird standards for legal/illegal builds and stability I rather have the big, crappy builds. Just look at the Mandalorian BP. The tiny Speeder was kind of suitable but the turret was just an inferior recolor of the first clone troopers BP turret and then they tried to justify the pricepoint with the last 6 parts, making a sniper rifle out of a 80s space cam and some levers but the tripod constantly falls off and due to using a space camera and periscope the thing looks too big for a sniper rifle which normal people would rather make out of bars than brick-thick parts. Legos, official brick-built weapons will always look even crappier than the speeders and command posts, especially now in the age of stud-shooters. Rather hope that the next battlepack vehicles consist of bar holders with clips, 1x1 round plates with holes and 3L bars.

My favorite idea would be to include realistic styled background equipment like Gonk Droids, crates and generators but those would most likely not sell as well as studshooters apparently.

You don't have to actually own any Lego to be a fan of Lego.

Now this is a ridiculous statement.

[DarthHank]

Now this is a ridiculous statement.

Pretty sure the point of the statement is to point out that it's silly for PLP to institute requirements for being a fan of LEGO - the dictionary definition of fan is "a person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular person or thing." Lots of fans of football have never played the game; similarly, in theory you can be a fan of LEGO without owning any. Most people would agree that's silly, but the point is you don't need to be "seeing bricks as potential for MOCs" in order to be a fan.

[Tariq j]

Exactly. I've seen people drive Aston Martins on videos, I've seen my friends drive them... But I've never driven one before, I don't even own one. But I'm still a fan of them :)

In terms of Battle Packs. I'd like to see more... "command station" type builds that can be joined together to make larger ones. We've seen a lot of vehicle orientated battle packs over the years, which is fine, but I would also like to see some more land based builds.

[DarthHank]

I'd like to see more... "command station" type builds that can be joined together to make larger ones.

Yeah, I agree. I got 4 of the Clone troopers vs. droidekas battlepacks, and that command center is too small and ugly. It would be nice if they were modular, or had alternate instructions to form a larger command center that's more movie-accurate and good-looking.

[Mesabi]

In terms of Battle Packs. I'd like to see more... "command station" type builds that can be joined together to make larger ones. We've seen a lot of vehicle orientated battle packs over the years, which is fine, but I would also like to see some more land based builds.

Seconded, the speeders and walkers are less interesting than the command station builds IMHO. Plus the command stations seem to have more printed parts.

Edited July 31, 2016 by Mesabi

[jdm44]

Wait a minute! Battle packs come with actual builds? I thought they just threw in a bunch of random pieces as a bonus to the 4 minifigures.

[Inthert]

Something I’d like to see more of (instead of than better builds or even no builds) are BP with two sides to them. One example that sticks out to me is the Endor one a few years back. It contained two rebel troopers and two imperial troops too. If I remember correctly, that set also had decent builds in it too: a speeder bike and a small tree. I think sets such as this are what battle packs should be. without two sides, you can’t really call it a ‘battle’ pack. I admit this isn’t so good for army-building, but for a child wanting to have a pocket-money-friendly battle (which is the whole point of these small sets) it’s perfect IMO.

[Dosenbrot]

Something I’d like to see more of (instead of than better builds or even no builds) are BP with two sides to them. One example that sticks out to me is the Endor one a few years back. It contained two rebel troopers and two imperial troops too. If I remember correctly, that set also had decent builds in it too: a speeder bike and a small tree. I think sets such as this are what battle packs should be. without two sides, you can’t really call it a ‘battle’ pack. I admit this isn’t so good for army-building, but for a child wanting to have a pocket-money-friendly battle (which is the whole point of these small sets) it’s perfect IMO.

I disagree, I think sets like 75037: Battle on Saleucami are meant for this, but battle packs are mainly meant for army building. The first wave of them was even labelled as such. Build your army.

I do get your point, but most of the kids and adults are in favor of one faction (be it Rebels or Imperials,...) and they mainly focus on collecting said faction. It would be a very pricey to collect many stormtroopers if you'd buy 8 of the endor sets to get 16 stormtroopers, when a regular battle pack with 1 side would do the same with buying only 4 packs, making it half the cost.

What I want to see gone are these stud-shooters, im running out of regular guns and I hardly find any uses for them except being oversized guns or rocket-launchers.

[Calanon]

What I want to see gone are these stud-shooters, im running out of regular guns and I hardly find any uses for them except being oversized guns or rocket-launchers.

I'm very glad they haven't included the stud-shooters in the main sets (except to be part of a vehicle). I can see why they're fun for kids and they are very well made, but I don't see why Lego can't include both the stud-shooters and some normal blasters. Best of both worlds!

[Inthert]

I disagree, I think sets like 75037: Battle on Saleucami are meant for this, but battle packs are mainly meant for army building. The first wave of them was even labelled as such. Build your army.

I do get your point, but most of the kids and adults are in favor of one faction (be it Rebels or Imperials,...) and they mainly focus on collecting said faction. It would be a very pricey to collect many stormtroopers if you'd buy 8 of the endor sets to get 16 stormtroopers, when a regular battle pack with 1 side would do the same with buying only 4 packs, making it half the cost.

Oh yes, I forgot about sets like that, I tend not to buy them in favour of similarly priced sets with actual ships in. But now you mention it they are pretty much what I described ;) I guess battle packs are predominantly used as cheap army builders so it makes scene to have only one side per set. I agree with you about the weapons though, I like Calanon's idea of having both types in one set as opposed to reserving realism for the larger sets.

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

I'm a fan of silly statements and comments, but I've never made such myself, ever. Also, I'm a liar sometimes...

Back to topic: I'd love for Lego to expand the idea of battlepacks and, for example, provide us with some small builds themed to a Star Wars species and include 4 different figures of that species. Like a Twi'lek pack with two males and two females, all in different colours. And please make one female in medium blue, because I need one, okay?

Edited August 8, 2016 by DarthTwoShedsJackson

[Nevada101]

I'd definitely be willing to pay a little more to have more substance to the BP.

[mon-o-mat]

I'd definitely be willing to pay a little more to have more substance to the BP.

Instead of a bigger build I would like more minifigs.That would eleminate the problem of having too many 'special' figures, while they still could be in the Battle Packs.