Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors

[TwistLaw]

2 hours ago, Aanchir said:

 

Also, there definitely hasn't been any sort of across-the-board shift towards fewer pieces for more money. The K2SO and Baze Malbus figures had decidedly more weight and higher piece counts than any of the previous $25 sets, and all the other recent $25 sets without fabric or plastic film pieces tend to have a piece count hovering around 100. This year's Elite TIE Fighter Pilot is back at the $20/€20 price point despite a pretty impressive weight and piece count (the main thing setting it apart from the $25 sets from the same wave is the lack of any fabric elements). The Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike set has a similar or better price per piece to similarly-priced constraction vehicles like Jetrax T6, Thornatus V9, and Drop Ship. So I don't really feel like the Star Wars figures have become a decidedly worse value than we've come to expect from sets of the past.

 

You make a good point, but the problem remains: SW CCBS has a high and limited range of price tags. We all know System has way more expensive sets, but it also has way cheaper ones, and I think history has proven CCBS and bricks can't be compared that easily.

 

1 hour ago, Azani said:

Quite seriously, I don't think that there's a lot to back up these complaints; sure, Chewbacca and DV are both a little overpriced, but the former was genuinely one of the best SWC sets to date. I'd say that he was worth 30 USD/EUR, and I expect the new DV to be similar, in all honesty.

Serious apologies if I'm missing something, but what did you like so much about constraction in the first place? Tbh I've never heard you say anything positive in here.

The Chewbacca part is subjective, the lack of interest towards SW CCBS can be proven by this very same forum and basically any Facebook group dedicated to Bionicle. It's not being negative, it's just... noting the current state of things. It'd doesn't take rocket science to understand that Star Wars Ultrabuilds didn't do a stellar job in keeping alive the flame of constraction.
And I'm a HUGE fan of Bionicle, both G1 both G2, kind on the fanboy side in both cases. So yeah, I'm actually an avid supporter of constraction as long as Bionicle is concerned, and after a whole year I'm still quite pissed of about how G2 ended, especially considering what we got since then.

 

1 hour ago, Leewan said:

Your comparison isn't fair. :p I could say "just compare this to this, they have the same price point, but the TIE Pilot has more parts, and the back is better covered.", but that wouldn't either represent accurately how the sets evolved over the years. The Shoretrooper is a bit weak, true, but in general, the sets do have more parts and a better build than they used to.

The situation is still kinda mixed, even when we consider all of the SW CCBS that came out in the last two years. I mean, in 2017 we got stuff like this or this, and I'm not exactly sure they can be called "steps forward". And guys like this one might even be kind of misleading, since most of the "extra" pieces compared to the older sets go into a huge, Technic-based rifle (a comprehensibily overused weapon in SW CCBS).

 

I'd love to be happy about CCBS, and I was until a little more than a year ago. But since then all that's left for me are mocs, fanmade stories and occasional shopping at bricklink: as someone who has given A LOT of money to LEGO, and would still be doing if we had gotten a third year for G2, I think I have the right to be disappointed about the current state of the only LEGO theme I care about. I mean, ranting is free ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Azani]

52 minutes ago, TwistLaw said:

The Chewbacca part is subjective, the lack of interest towards SW CCBS can be proven by this very same forum and basically any Facebook group dedicated to Bionicle. It's not being negative, it's just... noting the current state of things. It'd doesn't take rocket science to understand that Star Wars Ultrabuilds didn't do a stellar job in keeping alive the flame of constraction.
And I'm a HUGE fan of Bionicle, both G1 both G2, kind on the fanboy side in both cases. So yeah, I'm actually an avid supporter of constraction as long as Bionicle is concerned, and after a whole year I'm still quite pissed of about how G2 ended, especially considering what we got since then.

I mean, I can see that. Personally, I liked the Chewbacca set quite a bit, but it isn't incredible by any means - I would say that most of G2 would blow it out of the water.

And for the record, I hope that I didn't come off as sarcastic or rude; I started lurking here about a year ago, so I definitely don't know your thoughts or opinions super well. If I were to go off of the assumption that everyone in here must really like constraction, I would have avoided that one; for whatever reason, though, there are definitely more active constraction forums than these, and I've wondered why this is the case for a while now. I really try to be positive, though, as I think that it's pretty incredible that we're still getting what we are seeing each year. And I definitely think that the sets are improving significantly, in one way or another, each wave. Still curious about Darth Maul.

[Leewan]

On 15/10/2017 at 11:13 PM, TwistLaw said:

I mean, in 2017 we got stuff like this or this, and I'm not exactly sure they can be called "steps forward".

What do you have against Baze ? He's certainly my favourite set of the year (along with the Praetorian Guard) : the build is creative and interesting (although this is more due to the use of Technic pieces, in terms of CCBS parts he's rather basic), I like his colour scheme and the figure looks good from about every angle.

Additionally, which sets would you consider as "steps forward" ? Chewbacca maybe ?

[Mitch Henry]

 

New Darth Vader, proportionally, looks so much better than the first ccbs Vader. the first was a goldmine of parts but he lasted less than a day. The new Vader looks like he'll look great on a shelf. And that head with a removable helmet. Ooh baby. 

Maul, from what I can see looks too basic to be worth purchase. He'd better have some really good new pieces or at least recolors of old pieces to be worth buying imo. Same goes for Boba Fett. He's got some nice colors but other than that not worth it. 

Finally, I'd like to see some Droid ccbs sets. Its incredible we haven't gotten a droid yet. Not even a c3po.

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Mitch Henry said:

Finally, I'd like to see some Droid ccbs sets. Its incredible we haven't gotten a droid yet. Not even a c3po.

We had K-2SO. But I agree that it'd be great to see more droids.

[Mechbuilds]

4 hours ago, Mitch Henry said:

 

New Darth Vader, proportionally, looks so much better than the first ccbs Vader. the first was a goldmine of parts but he lasted less than a day. The new Vader looks like he'll look great on a shelf. And that head with a removable helmet. Ooh baby. 

Maul, from what I can see looks too basic to be worth purchase. He'd better have some really good new pieces or at least recolors of old pieces to be worth buying imo. Same goes for Boba Fett. He's got some nice colors but other than that not worth it. 

Finally, I'd like to see some Droid ccbs sets. Its incredible we haven't gotten a droid yet. Not even a c3po.

How do you know what the new vader looks like when i can't find any pics from google?

[Mitch Henry]

6 hours ago, Mechbuilds said:

How do you know what the new vader looks like when i can't find any pics from google?

Do not post confidential images on the forums as per site guidelines - VBBN

[TwistLaw]

3 hours ago, Mitch Henry said:

*double snip of pics that will be taken down by VBBN in 3, 2, 1...*

I'm still buttmad that Boba doesn't have any sand green shells. This year introduced Protector feet in sand green, and one of the last things I'd like from constraction before it gets buried are the pieces required to build at least a small figure in that color.
A man can dream

On 20/10/2017 at 7:09 PM, Leewan said:

What do you have against Baze ? He's certainly my favourite set of the year (along with the Praetorian Guard) : the build is creative and interesting (although this is more due to the use of Technic pieces, in terms of CCBS parts he's rather basic), I like his colour scheme and the figure looks good from about every angle.

Additionally, which sets would you consider as "steps forward" ? Chewbacca maybe ?

IMHO, at the top of the SW CCBS pyramid are allowed to sit sets like Vader 1, Grievous, Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike, Praetorian Guard. They combine great/unusual (or even both in the same set) builds for CCBS, intriguing pieces, interesting recolors.

Baze doesn't have anything really cool going for him. Dull colours (the Technic parts are interesting, I admit), the head needs to be purged from this world like any other human head appearing in constraction since Galidor, the weapon is triple A boring (a rifle? again?). Source material sure puts serious limits to the direction SW Ultrabuilds may take, but it doesn't mean we don't have the right to find repetitive or uninteresting the final result.

[Azani]

7 hours ago, Mechbuilds said:

How do you know what the new vader looks like when i can't find any pics from google?

There are pictures that exist. You likely know where to look. :)

 

@Mitch Henry I would make sure to avoid taking blurry screenshots from ytour phone of heavily compressed images in the future. No one really likes those, especially when they're huge.

 

Also, we've seen a CCBS droid, as a side note.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Azani

[VBBN]

3 hours ago, Mitch Henry said:

 

As per our site guidelines that you agreed to when signing up;

Quote

If you find an image of a new LEGO set and it is incredibly blurry or stamped "Confidential", it is a leak-please don't post it here. If you are uncertain, PM a member of the staff for guidance and include a link to the questionable material.

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[Mitch Henry]

I didn't take them, but I forgot that I wasn't supposed to post them. Whoops.

 

Also, I don't how I forgot that we got K2SO, seeing as I have 2 of him. He's an absolute goldmine for pieces. We need more sets like him.

[Azani]

4 hours ago, Mitch Henry said:

I didn't take them, but I forgot that I wasn't supposed to post them. Whoops.

 

Also, I don't how I forgot that we got K2SO, seeing as I have 2 of him. He's an absolute goldmine for pieces. We need more sets like him.

No problem; and yeah, I getcha. I'm not going to tell you not to post them, as that's not my role here, but I will tell you that there are higher-quality images that exist.

And yeah, that K-2SO is fantastic, man. Not sure if you were following G2, but we got some nice recolors from that as well with that kit.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Azani

[Mitch Henry]

25 minutes ago, Azani said:

No problem; and yeah, I getcha. I'm not going to tell you not to post them, as that's not my role here, but I will tell you that there are higher-quality images that exist.

And yeah, that K-2SO is fantastic, man. Not sure if you were following G2, but we got some nice recolors from that as well with that kit.

 

K2SO is great but I'd love to get C3PO, a Battle Droid, Pit Droid, or Super Battle Droid. The humanoid droids would be a great start, and maybe Lego could move onto Droidekas, Halfires, and Astromechs to really stretch ccbs.

I was lucky enough to find ekimu and skull grinder for the price of a protector, but other than that set I have no g2 sets. I didn't even know about g2 until early 2016. I love the recolors and masks though. I've BL'd some pieces but nothing fancy.

[Azani]

Based on the trends, I suspect that Darth Maul has a gear function as well.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Azani

[firefox]

On 22-10-2017 at 5:16 PM, Mitch Henry said:

 

New Darth Vader, proportionally, looks so much better than the first ccbs Vader. the first was a goldmine of parts but he lasted less than a day. The new Vader looks like he'll look great on a shelf. And that head with a removable helmet. Ooh baby. 

Maul, from what I can see looks too basic to be worth purchase. He'd better have some really good new pieces or at least recolors of old pieces to be worth buying imo. Same goes for Boba Fett. He's got some nice colors but other than that not worth it. 

Finally, I'd like to see some Droid ccbs sets. Its incredible we haven't gotten a droid yet. Not even a c3po.

He looks like teenager vader, way too skinny. But nothing some head swapping can't fix to make the perfect vader :)

[JekPorkchops]

Clearer preliminary pics have surfaced. I think Vader looks great. His helmet is bigger and his shoulders are narrower, which is great. I think it’s just the angle that makes him look too skinny, it’s not too bad. I really like the chain around the neck and I think they improved the cape, which was not that good on the last version. I’ll have to see final pics of the face before I judge that. He’ll probaby have a gear function.

Maul’s face looks a little too squat but very agressive which is cool. He appears to have some new add-ons on his upper arms, representing cloth. It is kinda weird that the lightsaber blades appear to be coming out of his hands. He has a gear function, so I assume his arms move in tandem, like Skull Slicer’s upper arms. I have no idea what the piece filling out his neck area could be. Maybe the hip cloth piece extends all the way through the torso?

Boba looks like Jango with a small cape, calf armor and friction adders on his ankles for 5 €/$ more.

Edited November 1, 2017 by JekPorkchops

[Leewan]

32 minutes ago, JekPorkchops said:

I have no idea what the piece filling out his neck area could be. Maybe the hip cloth piece extends all the way through the torso?

It's a prelim, so maybe it means nothing, but this piece is shiny, which suggests it's made of hard plastic. Maul's arms seem to be made of Technic pieces, rather than CCBS parts as usual. That must be because of his mechanism. Perhaps one arm moves along an horizontal axis (like Kylo Ren, or Rey), and the other moves along a vertical axis, like the Praetorian Guard, and the elbows have a frictionless articulation so the mechanism works properly.

Anyways, that's intriguing. Maul seems more interesting than expected, I like that.

[Chimaninja454]

EDIT: Found them!

Edited November 1, 2017 by Chimaninja454

[JekPorkchops]

5 hours ago, Leewan said:

It's a prelim, so maybe it means nothing, but this piece is shiny, which suggests it's made of hard plastic. Maul's arms seem to be made of Technic pieces, rather than CCBS parts as usual. That must be because of his mechanism. Perhaps one arm moves along an horizontal axis (like Kylo Ren, or Rey), and the other moves along a vertical axis, like the Praetorian Guard, and the elbows have a frictionless articulation so the mechanism works properly.

Anyways, that's intriguing. Maul seems more interesting than expected, I like that.

Part of the neck piece (the front) is indeed shiny. Not sure about the sides, it looks to be a really odd piece. I do like the shot of the side of the box, showing a profile view of Maul's face, which looks much better and much more finalised.

Don't you mean Rey and Kylo have the vertical motion, and the Praetorian has the horizontal motion? I'm not exactly sure what you mean by your interpretation of the functions of Maul, as I doubt it would be very effective if his arms swung in different ways while holding on to the same weapon. Also, the arms look to be made completely from CCBS to me.

[Leewan]

17 hours ago, JekPorkchops said:

Don't you mean Rey and Kylo have the vertical motion, and the Praetorian has the horizontal motion?

Yup, but that doesn't contradict what I said.  I was talking about the axis of rotation. On Rey it's horizontal, and on the PG it's vertical :

 

18 hours ago, JekPorkchops said:

Also, the arms look to be made completely from CCBS to me.

A Technic bush is visible near his right wrist, and I think I see a reddish brown axle going though it, so it's either a 3M or a 5m axle with stop. On the side view, we can see a red axle between his chest and his lightsaber, which corresponds to his left upper arm. In addition to that, his left arm looks weird, as if the upper arm and the lower arm aren't aligned.

It could actually be too complicated to have one arm move in a way and the other arm in another way as I initially thought, so perhaps only the right arm can be rotated with the knob, while the left shoulder is fixed, and the Technic assembly of the left arm helps it following the movement of the left arm. Also, the right arm seems to be bent at 90° on the front and  the side views, so maybe his right elbow isn't articulated, but that idea may be too far-fetched. 

[JekPorkchops]

Ah I read past the word axis I believe, it makes sense now. I can see what you mean with the technic bushing on the right wrist, but it could also be an oddly rendered cross-axle portion of a regular CCBS bone.

[Azani]

On 11/1/2017 at 10:49 AM, firefox said:

He looks like teenager vader, way too skinny. But nothing some head swapping can't fix to make the perfect vader :)

Here's the thing, though; it's easy to dismiss 75534 as being too lanky when we're only seeing a low-definition image on a box that's meant to show the entire figure. In general, we'll see the figure from an angle, which gives us a false sense of his size. Additionally, folks tend to forget the degree to which the 2015 torso shell "fills out" the chest of a CCBS figure.

 

75536 is a trooper of some kind, by the way. :)

Edited November 4, 2017 by Azani

[Azani]

I've seen some reliable info that suggests that 75533 Boba Fett is 144 pieces, and that 75534 Darth Vader is 168. Looks like we'll see if it appears to have been correct pretty soon.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Azani

[Leewan]

144 pieces sounds like a lot, even if his jetpack is Technic-heavy. What's your source for that info ?

Anyways, yeah, it could be only a matter of weeks before we get a confirmation of that. The US Store Calendar says the new sets will be out on the 25th (of November), I suppose that includes Star Wars as well.

[ZORK64]

Meh, I missed the proper pics again.

As for droids in CCBS, I'd like to see the Magnaguard as a Constraction Set. While it may not be the most creative build, it looked really cool.