LEGO Star Wars 2020 Set Discussion - READ FIRST POST!!!

[Chill]

1 hour ago, storskogen said:

Far from special. Why changing the GWP again? They could have done with a micro scale Tatooine or Yavin 4. Or gone back to minifigs of course.

Anyway, is this GWP limited to those purchasing the cantina? Or will it be a GWP for any SW set (like in previous Force Friday)?

I feel like people were complaining about the microscale stuff, too.  I'm okay with them mixing it up a bit.  I don't think it needs to be the same thing over and over.

I really like the lightsaber, and look forward to getting that with the Cantina.

[azzer86]

For the UK folks, 501st pack in stock at Amazon for next day delivery. Act quick. 

Yoda's saber looks nice, but it's not quite swayed me to a day 1 purchase of the Cantina just yet. I'll see if Smyth's or John Lewis who sometimes have these big sets do a discount first, otherwise I'll use my VIP points. I will get it at some point ?

[NathanR]

I love that Lego are doing a 1:1 scale lightsaber, but why on Earth pick Yoda's? Surely for a GWP with the cantina, it would have made more sense to do Luke's or Obi-Wan's lightsaber?

[Kdapt-Preacher]

27 minutes ago, NathanR said:

I love that Lego are doing a 1:1 scale lightsaber, but why on Earth pick Yoda's? Surely for a GWP with the cantina, it would have made more sense to do Luke's or Obi-Wan's lightsaber?

Yoda’s is much smaller. A full-size saber would be a larger set than they usually do for the GWPs. 

[lego_guyon02]

1 hour ago, NathanR said:

I love that Lego are doing a 1:1 scale lightsaber, but why on Earth pick Yoda's? Surely for a GWP with the cantina, it would have made more sense to do Luke's or Obi-Wan's lightsaber?

The GWP that coincided with the release of Diagon Alley was a Hagrid and Buckbeak Brickheadz pack, even though the Leaky Cauldron's brick wall (a.k.a. the entrance to Diagon Alley) was basically screaming to be a GWP set. GWPs don't always make sense.....

[Chill]

17 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

The GWP that coincided with the release of Diagon Alley was a Hagrid and Buckbeak Brickheadz pack, even though the Leaky Cauldron's brick wall (a.k.a. the entrance to Diagon Alley) was basically screaming to be a GWP set. GWPs don't always make sense.....

I don't think the GWP is or should be tied to/an add on for the massive set being released.  Not everyone getting the GWP is buying a $350-$500 set, its often one or two smaller sets.  As for picking Yoda over the others, size is probably a factor, as well as a way to test the waters before releasing some of the perhaps more appealing ones for sale.

[MGS6735]

9 hours ago, Brikkyy13 said:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the cantina didn’t need this type of treatment. The cantina itself, as iconic of a scene that it is, not much happens there. Luke gets into a bar fight, some stuff goes down in Han’s booth and that’s it. This set achieves nothing that the 2014 set didn’t except for more figures. Great to see all the new figures but they could’ve turned up in a battle pack, landspeeder set, a smaller cantina etc.

This is exactly what I was talking about when I said I didn't think the cantina would have as large of an appeal as other MBS-style sets. The new aliens are cool but other than that, the only real additions to the cantina over the previous system-scale versions are almost all for display value. That's not bad, but it doesn't make the set much more interesting to play with. It just makes it look nicer at a higher price while taking up more display space. Very well put @Brikkyy13.

8 hours ago, Borex said:

Except that it creates the illusion of the whole star wars universe. When they enter the cantina with all those aliens, the universe feels legit, like a real thing. Not only humanoids and robots like your regular sci-fi movie ( i thought stormtroopers were robots when i was a kid)

It certainly does that if ANH is the first and only Star Wars movie you've ever seen. After you venture beyond it or start somewhere else in the saga, there are other scenes and locations that do the same thing while being more interesting/having more going on (like Coruscant or even CC for example). ANH isn't the first movie in the saga any more, so this aspect of the cantina isn't nearly as relevant as it used to be. Most people I know that get into Star Wars start with TPM when watching the movies because it is the first movie in the timeline (regardless of how good/bad people might think it is, it's still first), and there are many times that aliens are established in the universe between TPM and ANH. When you start with the perspective that ANH isn't first in the timeline, the cantina becomes much less important. That's why I don't think this set will do as well as some of the previous MBS-style sets.

[TeddytheSpoon]

28 minutes ago, MGS6735 said:

It certainly does that if ANH is the first and only Star Wars movie you've ever seen. After you venture beyond it or start somewhere else in the saga, there are other scenes and locations that do the same thing while being more interesting/having more going on (like Coruscant or even CC for example). ANH isn't the first movie in the saga any more, so this aspect of the cantina isn't nearly as relevant as it used to be. Most people I know that get into Star Wars start with TPM when watching the movies because it is the first movie in the timeline (regardless of how good/bad people might think it is, it's still first), and there are many times that aliens are established in the universe between TPM and ANH. When you start with the perspective that ANH isn't first in the timeline, the cantina becomes much less important. That's why I don't think this set will do as well as some of the previous MBS-style sets.

Interesting. It's purely anecdotal but in my experience ANH is normally the first one anyone watches (i.e. watching them in order released, at least first time round). I think the key here is going to be those that grew up with nothing but the OT, which again goes back to the whole non-AFOL buyer. The other thing is that Tatooine has popped up so much in Star Wars that I don't think it'll be limited to those who like the cantina; I wouldn't consider myself a fan of the cantina per se, but this set will look great with my other collection of Tatooine builds like the Sandcrawler and Landspeeder. 

[1974]

That is very much an age thing

When I got hooked on SW, there was no TPM or other such nonsense. The Cantina really is a pivotal point in the saga and not just ANH. Jabba's Palace is very much in the same vein (and should recieve a proper MBS set one day)

Cheers,

Ole

Edited September 10, 2020 by 1974

[TheMainBricker]

54 minutes ago, MGS6735 said:

Most people I know that get into Star Wars start with TPM when watching the movies because it is the first movie in the timeline (regardless of how good/bad people might think it is, it's still first), and there are many times that aliens are established in the universe between TPM and ANH. When you start with the perspective that ANH isn't first in the timeline, the cantina becomes much less important. That's why I don't think this set will do as well as some of the previous MBS-style sets.

I can't believe anyone starts with watching TPM first. From a film-making POV it makes no sense, because concepts such as the force, Jedi etc aren't explained in TPM, but they are in ANH. TPM exists on the understanding that everyone has watched the OT first.

I can this set selling better than stuff like (the disappointing) Cloud City etc. People who started watching SW with TPM generally aren't the AFOLs buying SW Lego.

[Chill]

16 minutes ago, 1974 said:

That is very much an age thing

When I got hooked on SW, there was no TPM or other such nonsense. The Cantina really is a pivotal point in the saga and not just ANH. Jabba's Palace is very much in the same vein (and should recieve a proper MBS set one day)

Cheers,

Ole

For me, the Cantina was the scene that pulled me into this world.  I'm thrilled for this set, and think it will look great on a shelf.  Which is ultimately what's going to happen with it.  I'd love Jabba's Palace to get the same treatment.  The Cloud City or Endor sets didn't grab me, though I'm sure they're lovely to put together, so they were easy to pass on.  The cantina is a day1 purchase for me.

[ToaDraco]

The lightsaber gwp is cool but I would have much rather had a microscale Tatooine scene so that we could have the full OT represented. If they're never going to give us one for ANH I find it incredibly frustrating and annoying. Some people complained but I love the little dioramas and would have liked to have seen one for each film. 

[1974]

Endor? Do you mean the Ewok Village or the old bunker? The EW is pretty nice (I used to own it) and I'd very much like TLG to make a MBS set out of the Endor bunker/AT-ST set

[Chill]

50 minutes ago, 1974 said:

Endor? Do you mean the Ewok Village or the old bunker? The EW is pretty nice (I used to own it) and I'd very much like TLG to make a MBS set out of the Endor bunker/AT-ST set

Ha, yeah, I mean the Ewok Village.  I still have my endor bunker set, which holds up fairly well.  We put it together about a year ago when unearthing old sets that had been stored away.

[lego_guyon02]

1 hour ago, TheMainBricker said:

People who started watching SW with TPM generally aren't the AFOLs buying SW Lego.

Uhm, what? People who started with TPM are just as likely to buy LEGO sets as those who started with ANH, it really doesn't matter. 

[Chill]

1 hour ago, ToaDraco said:

The lightsaber gwp is cool but I would have much rather had a microscale Tatooine scene so that we could have the full OT represented. If they're never going to give us one for ANH I find it incredibly frustrating and annoying. Some people complained but I love the little dioramas and would have liked to have seen one for each film. 

I too enjoy the dioramas.  Some of the minifigs were nice, but overall, I have a lot more fun with the buildable things.  I think the buildable R2 has been my favorite so far.

[Mandalorianknight]

The cantina scene is one of the most iconic scenes in star wars, maybe in even films in general. The dirty, lived-in aesthetic with all these random aliens around made the universe feel more "real" than most sci-fi at the time, which was all super clean and robotic. It makes perfect sense to me that it'd be an MBS. 

[MGS6735]

1 hour ago, TeddytheSpoon said:

It's purely anecdotal but in my experience ANH is normally the first one anyone watches (i.e. watching them in order released, at least first time round).

That may very well be the case for most people. I'm not 100% certain which movie I saw first, but I'm pretty sure it was either TPM or ROTS. I lean towards TPM, but I have the most memories of ROTS and it is still my favorite Star Wars movie. If someone were to be introduced to Star Wars in the current era, I could see more of a reason to start with ANH, but I grew up when the PT was coming out, so that's what got me interested in Star Wars. There are reasons to watch the movies in the canon order too.

1 hour ago, TeddytheSpoon said:

I think the key here is going to be those that grew up with nothing but the OT, which again goes back to the whole non-AFOL buyer.

1 hour ago, 1974 said:

That is very much an age thing

When I got hooked on SW, there was no TPM

You guys have hit the nail on the head.

1 hour ago, 1974 said:

The Cantina really is a pivotal point in the saga and not just ANH.

I would agree it is pivotal in terms of plot points but it isn't really beyond that. And it isn't pivotal in terms of making the plot happen, it's pivotal because it is where the plot happens. I'm sure it goes back to the issue of what Star Wars you grew up with, but I don't find the cantina on its own to be interesting enough to warrant a set of this nature. The other system-scale cantinas have done a good enough job of capturing everything important about the cantina in my opinion. If you always wanted an MBS-style cantina then cool, I'm happy for you. The cantina is a well-executed set that brings a lot of characters into the Lego Star Wars realm that haven't been before. I just think there were other options that may have been better picks. I'm sure nostalgia plays a role in this discussion on both sides of the argument.

1 hour ago, TheMainBricker said:

I can't believe anyone starts with watching TPM first. From a film-making POV it makes no sense, because concepts such as the force, Jedi etc aren't explained in TPM, but they are in ANH. TPM exists on the understanding that everyone has watched the OT first.

With all due respect, that seems a bit dismissive. It appears to me (let me know if I'm wrong in my interpretation) that your reason for thinking that watching the films in the canon order is wrong is that everything isn't explained in TPM and the PT. If they explained everything in TPM, would there be a reason to watch any of the other movies? They also explain new things in TPM that aren't explained in ANH like (everyone's favorite) midichlorians, the origins of C3P-O and R2-D2, the Jedi order, etc.

By starting with TPM, you get two more movies worth of information. This makes ANH better by showing how powerful the Empire is and explaining a lot of things that are just assumed to be true in ANH (your father fought in the Clone Wars, the Death Star exists, the Empire exists, the Rebels exist, etc.). In return, TPM assumes some things to be true that are explained in ANH (like some basic rules of the universe, for example, the force). It also makes some assumptions of things that aren't in any of the films, but that doesn't take away from the argument for watching the films in the canon order.

I think which order you watch the movies in is a matter of personal preference. There are benefits to starting with ANH and there are benefits starting with TPM. I do think it is a bit disingenuous to dismiss starting with TPM outright. 

Also, I started out with the PT and I had no problem understanding Star Wars. It doesn't matter so much which of the two orders you choose to watch the movies in as long as you watch all of them and can grasp the story.

1 hour ago, TheMainBricker said:

People who started watching SW with TPM generally aren't the AFOLs buying SW Lego.

18 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

Uhm, what? People who started with TPM are just as likely to buy LEGO sets as those who started with ANH, it really doesn't matter. 

I don't see how this conclusion was reached either. I'd love an explanation though.

2 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

The cantina scene is one of the most iconic scenes in star wars, maybe in even films in general. The dirty, lived-in aesthetic with all these random aliens around made the universe feel more "real" than most sci-fi at the time, which was all super clean and robotic. It makes perfect sense to me that it'd be an MBS. 

Again I think this comes back to the issue of what Star Wars you grew up with/which movie you started with. The cantina aesthetic may have started there, but it is no longer unique to the cantina now that the universe has gotten bigger.

I'm sure nostalgia is at play here both in supporting the cantina and thinking there were potentially better choices. When you guys see the cantina, you see a magical place that sheds light on a more expansive, interesting universe than you had previously believed existed. When I see the cantina, I see a tan building on a tan planet that, other than the color tan, doesn't offer much that's unique compared to other places in the universe. I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

[lego_guyon02]

7 minutes ago, MGS6735 said:

Again I think this comes back to the issue of what Star Wars you grew up with/which movie you started with. 

But even that argument has it's flaws. I for instance never cared about this franchise untill I saw TFA back in 2015, that got me hooked and here we are 5 years later and I'm a huge SW nerd (I wonder how many people here can say that they've read all of the canon comics for instance  ). TFA is what got me into Star Wars, I love the sequels, I love the prequels, I love the originals. Every single one of the films has it's pros and cons and yadayada. But even as someone who started out with the sequels I 100% agree with the people who say the Mos Eisley Cantina deserves this MBS set and if I had enough budget left to afford it I would definetely get it!

[MGS6735]

5 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

I for instance never cared about this franchise untill I saw TFA back in 2015, that got me hooked and here we are 5 years later and I'm a huge SW nerd

Cool! I didn't like the TFA that much, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. Everyone has their preferences in regard to which Star Wars movies they like and what order they prefer to watch the movies in. There isn't anything wrong with that as long as we can be civil about it.

8 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

But even as someone who started out with the sequels I 100% agree with the people who say the Mos Eisley Cantina deserves this MBS set

My argument isn't that the cantina doesn't deserve to be an MBS set, it is that there are probably some better choices for an MBS set than the cantina. However, I'm still happy that those who wanted a new cantina are getting the best one we've seen from Lego so far; I'm just not that interested in it.

[jdubbs]

40 minutes ago, MGS6735 said:

With all due respect, that seems a bit dismissive. It appears to me (let me know if I'm wrong in my interpretation) that your reason for thinking that watching the films in the canon order is wrong is that everything isn't explained in TPM and the PT. If they explained everything in TPM, would there be a reason to watch any of the other movies? They also explain new things in TPM that aren't explained in ANH like (everyone's favorite) midichlorians, the origins of C3P-O and R2-D2, the Jedi order, etc.

You're being a bit reductive here. His point is that the original Star Wars movie actually did the heavy-lifting to introduce the audience to the concept of the Force, Jedi, etc. whereas TPM just assumed you already knew who the Jedi were, that they could use the Force, what the Force is, etc... The same way that Luke, an outsider, was being introduced to these concepts, the audience was too. These are pretty essential to understanding and appreciating all the movies, whereas midichlorians, where R2/3PO came from, etc. are not at all essential to your understanding or appreciation of any of the movies.

There are also things in the OT that heighten the audience's anticipation of the PT, and things in the PT that spoil the audience's enjoyment of the OT... two reasons to watch the OT first. For those of us that saw the OT first, hearing Obi-Wan casually drop this mention of "the clone wars" and how Luke's father fought in them, without any real explanation, totally piqued the audience's interest... people wanted to know what he was talking about, and see that story unfold. Conversely, key OT plot points like Luke's relationship to Vader, his relationship to Leia, and even Yoda's identity are all needlessly spoiled if you watch the PT first. 

35 minutes ago, MGS6735 said:

My argument isn't that the cantina doesn't deserve to be an MBS set, it is that there are probably some better choices for an MBS set than the cantina. However, I'm still happy that those who wanted a new cantina are getting the best one we've seen from Lego so far; I'm just not that interested in it.

There are realistically only a handful of other choices that make sense as a build of this size. Maybe another Endor set... Geonosis... Yavin perhaps, though that setting is lacking in action sequences... as much as I would love it, it boils down to lots of people standing around a table/screen talking. The Jedi Temple has the same problem... it's 12 guys sitting in chairs. Not saying these won't ever happen, but I can definitely see why a location like the Cantina was chosen first. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

The cantina scene is among the most iconic ones in film history, if that’s not enough to justify a 350$ set I don’t know what is 

And regarding the order in which to watch the films: Personally, I always go with the order the films were released in so as to experience them the way they were originally intended. Changing the order changes the expectations you might have, and you might encounter things like early instalment weirdness. Plus, there are the spoilers @jdubbs mentioned

[LegoFjotten]

To me the cantina sounded like a dud when the rumour first appeared, but the actual set is great. The quality of the set itself proves that it was a suitable choice for a MBS set IMO.

 

[Archer]

I think the films can interesting in multiple orders on rewatch, but thats the key.

First time viewing as many have said flows best if you see the narrative in release order. True of most series and franchises, what came before has an influence on what comes after.

[The_Chosen_1]

Wow...can’t believe this thread has devolved into a debate about the merits of the cantina scene.

It’s an iconic location in the franchise. Period. What more justification is needed?