LEGO Star Wars 2022 Set Discussion - READ FIRST POST!!!

[BlueberryWaffles]

I like the general look of the diorama sets but those prices are insane. Really curious to see how well these sell.

[MKJoshA]

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

[NoOneOfImportance]

15 minutes ago, MKJoshA said:

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

To be fair, how many people complained about the set designs/ideas themselves versus complained about them - replacing figures for May 4/price point for Vader, etc.?

I saw some reviews that talked about how great of a model the Meditation Chamber was, and I'm in the boat of enjoying the microscale ideas, so they aren't wrong that some people do like that set concept. There's also a place of how well they sold beyond the initial internet reaction as well. 

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

41 minutes ago, MKJoshA said:

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

In my opinion, the target market for the 18+ sets (including the helmets & meditation chamber) is people who like Star Wars, but aren’t necessarily Lego fans. The main consumers of these sets are older people who only like the Original Trilogy and have more disposable income because they’ve been in the workforce for decades. A lot of these people regularly spend $30 on a single action figure, so they won’t balk at spending $80 on a helmet bust or a trench run diorama. And they aren’t as well acquainted with Lego, so they don’t know that these particular sets are overpriced compared to the rest of the sets.

And there’s so many of these 40 to 50 year olds who can buy these sorts of things but don’t buy other Lego, which is why they sell well in spite of Lego fans generally disliking them. (Or disliking the price at least.)

[Mandalorianknight]

55 minutes ago, MKJoshA said:

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

Assumably they have sales figures. Lego is pretty tight-lipped about them to the public but I can't imagine they wouldn't even tell the designers how the sets are selling.

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

10 hours ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

The UCS Death Star II is an ovoid instead of a sphere. It's squashed vertically relative to the actual thing. And that's fine! It's still a perfectly good representation of the vehicle.

 

Everybody has the right to their opinions, but Jesus Christ. Y'all need to get some perspective. Saying this is the worst set we've had in years is nuts. The build doesn't look like much to write home about, but it's perfectly reasonable, and the figures are fantastic.

Aside from 4+ sets, microfighters, or polybags, which sets have we gotten in recent years that are more inaccurate than this one? Maybe the size of the AT-RT, but at least it has correct proportions. The AAT and Lambda-class shuttle are bad, but not as bad as this IMO. The Republic Fighter Tank looks like a set from 2007, and what makes it so bad is that it’s such an egregious step back from the model from 5 years ago.

And I’m sure there’s people who are coming from a different point of view than me as Lego fans first and Star Wars fans second, but I have no interest in a “Star Wars” thing that has nothing to do with any story and was just created by a toy company for the sake of creating it. In my opinion the figures in the set aren’t fantastic, because we have one great figure in Mace Windu, 2 normal B1s, and 3 clones that have no story significance whatsoever, and are created in Lego’s bad and inaccurate clone style.

[Displayedaction]

Would be cool if LEGO were to give the captain,lieutenant, and sergeant in the ATTE seeing as this may be the only AOTC set besides obis fighter. I’d definitely shell out money for more of the clone accessory packs if I could get all the ranks in one swoop.The fig selections in the last year have been very good imo one can hope.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Displayedaction

[Kdapt-Preacher]

33 minutes ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

Aside from 4+ sets, microfighters, or polybags, which sets have we gotten in recent years that are more inaccurate than this one? Maybe the size of the AT-RT, but at least it has correct proportions. The AAT and Lambda-class shuttle are bad, but not as bad as this IMO. The Republic Fighter Tank looks like a set from 2007, and what makes it so bad is that it’s such an egregious step back from the model from 5 years ago.

And I’m sure there’s people who are coming from a different point of view than me as Lego fans first and Star Wars fans second, but I have no interest in a “Star Wars” thing that has nothing to do with any story and was just created by a toy company for the sake of creating it. In my opinion the figures in the set aren’t fantastic, because we have one great figure in Mace Windu, 2 normal B1s, and 3 clones that have no story significance whatsoever, and are created in Lego’s bad and inaccurate clone style.

Trouble on Tatooine with half a Tusken hut, Imperial Light Cruiser with the giant turrets and bridge, the Sith Trooper battlepack with the tiny blue snowspeeder, the Knights of Ren Transport that's only the top half of the ship, the badly squashed Resistance IT-S Transport, Inferno Squad's non-canon speeder that looks like it was made of parts from something else, etc., etc. These are all going to be questions of personal opinion, of course, but that's only even from the last three years, so there are plenty of options to choose from. From your stated perspective as someone who only cares about Star Wars canon (which I fully agree with, to be clear; I'm absolutely a SW fan first and LEGO fan second), things like the Sandspeeder that aren't even based on actual SW vehicles should be far worse. The clones aren't very significant now that TCW has (possibly) replaced them, but the 187th was Mace Windu's only clone unit for a decade, so I at least am delighted to have figures of them.

[THELEGOBATMAN]

2 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

Business is good.

I guess they mean money. The set had to sell well.

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

2 hours ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

Trouble on Tatooine with half a Tusken hut, Imperial Light Cruiser with the giant turrets and bridge, the Sith Trooper battlepack with the tiny blue snowspeeder, the Knights of Ren Transport that's only the top half of the ship, the badly squashed Resistance IT-S Transport, Inferno Squad's non-canon speeder that looks like it was made of parts from something else, etc., etc. These are all going to be questions of personal opinion, of course, but that's only even from the last three years, so there are plenty of options to choose from. From your stated perspective as someone who only cares about Star Wars canon (which I fully agree with, to be clear; I'm absolutely a SW fan first and LEGO fan second), things like the Sandspeeder that aren't even based on actual SW vehicles should be far worse. The clones aren't very significant now that TCW has (possibly) replaced them, but the 187th was Mace Windu's only clone unit for a decade, so I at least am delighted to have figures of them.

That’s fair. I personally dislike this set more than the ones you mentioned, but they’re all good options for the worst set.

[1340cc]

2 hours ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

things like the Sandspeeder that aren't even based on actual SW vehicles should be far worse.

Wasn't that based on a cancelled Kenner toy from the 1980s? So it's never been canon, but it does have some obscure Star Wars history behind it, instead of just being thrown together from random parts like the Inferno Squad speeder you mentioned.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

1 hour ago, 1340cc said:

Wasn't that based on a cancelled Kenner toy from the 1980s? So it's never been canon, but it does have some obscure Star Wars history behind it, instead of just being thrown together from random parts like the Inferno Squad speeder you mentioned.

It actually was technically canon, albeit only somewhat shakily so, since it was mentioned in one of the old roleplaying game supplements. I mentioned it over the speeder because the builds in battle packs have almost always been random, but the only point of those sets has always been the figures; it's much rarer that they have a full-size set that isn't based on something more concrete. But a better example might have been the Freemaker Adventures sets, although I don't know that everyone even counts those as Star Wars.

[MaximillianRebo]

9 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

As others have said, they have the sales figures, and in the case of the micro dioramas GWP, they can even see what customers were buying in order to obtain the GWP. I think in the case of the GWPs they were popular in part because of the scarcity factor. If it was just another set you could pick off the shelf at Target and available for a couple of years the reaction may have been a lot more indifferent. Vader's Chamber was obviously testing the waters for the coming releases, and clearly TLG is happy with the result. The new sets are a big exercise in marketing strategy: the black box, 18+ marking and 'Diorama Collection', along with 'premium' prices aim them at an adult consumer with (lots of) disposable income, rather than a regular AFOL who enjoys building Lego, and definitely not a parent buying toys for their kids.

[BrickBob Studpants]

Personally, I think the tank looks rather decent. Pretty sure it‘s just a bit of an unfortunate angle  The minifig selection isn‘t mind-blowing or anything, but new clones are always welcome, even if their colour scheme isn‘t canon 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

I love the diorama sets, I think they look great! The builds all look really good and the minfigs are really nice, especially R2 and 3PO. That being said, the prices are horrendous. 

[TBD]

I wouldn’t mind if they’d put more exclusive versions of minifigures in these display sets as a selling point. If I knew the back-print R2D2, Han/Luke’s Stormtrooper bodies and C3P0’s arm print were limited to this set that would make this otherwise way too overpriced set worth it a lot more all of a sudden.

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

29 minutes ago, TBD said:

I wouldn’t mind if they’d put more exclusive versions of minifigures in these display sets as a selling point. If I knew the back-print R2D2, Han/Luke’s Stormtrooper bodies and C3P0’s arm print were limited to this set that would make this otherwise way too overpriced set worth it a lot more all of a sudden.

Why would you want them to be exclusive? As fans we should want the best versions of the figures in every set they appear in, and people can buy the trash compactor if they like the build, not because they think it’s their only option to have a really good C-3PO and R2. The only people that should care about exclusivity are re-sellers, and Lego definitely shouldn’t be catering to them.

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

I love the diorama sets, I think they look great! The builds all look really good and the minfigs are really nice, especially R2 and 3PO. That being said, the prices are horrendous. 

The only one that really seems terrible is the trash compactor to me. With all the 1x1s Yoda's hut's superb PPP isn't the best indicator of quality, but for the size/volume it's not terrible either. The trench run seems to be the best price, though.

36 minutes ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

Why would you want them to be exclusive? As fans we should want the best versions of the figures in every set they appear in, and people can buy the trash compactor if they like the build, not because they think it’s their only option to have a really good C-3PO and R2. The only people that should care about exclusivity are re-sellers, and Lego definitely shouldn’t be catering to them.

No. There's a few ways you can look at this. The first is that a lot of collectors like having exclusive figures. A super-detailed C-3PO is a lot cooler if it's not appearing in every other set. I personally don't care about that, but I understand why people would. The second is that if you put the most possible details on every figure in every set they show up in, the price will definately go up. So saving them for some of the more expensive sets seems fine to me. It'd be different if the actual characters or versions were exclusive to high-value sets, but I have no problem with them saving some side leg printing for the premium sets when there's already perfectly fine C-3POs on shelves.

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

23 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

No. There's a few ways you can look at this. The first is that a lot of collectors like having exclusive figures. A super-detailed C-3PO is a lot cooler if it's not appearing in every other set. I personally don't care about that, but I understand why people would. The second is that if you put the most possible details on every figure in every set they show up in, the price will definately go up. So saving them for some of the more expensive sets seems fine to me. It'd be different if the actual characters or versions were exclusive to high-value sets, but I have no problem with them saving some side leg printing for the premium sets when there's already perfectly fine C-3POs on shelves.

The 2nd point is a fair point. The people mentioned in the first point seem completely ridiculous. We all collect Star Wars sets because we love Star Wars and want to have a Lego representation of what we see on screen. If you want the minifigures that you own to be rare and other people have a lower chance of acquiring them then you’re not a Star Wars fan, you’re just a crazy person obsessed with hoarding a bunch of pieces of plastic.

Edited March 26, 2022 by QuiggoldsPegLeg

[Kdapt-Preacher]

21 minutes ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

The 2nd point is a fair point. The people mentioned in the first point seem completely ridiculous. We all collect Star Wars sets because we love Star Wars and want to have a Lego representation of what we see on screen. If you want the minifigures that you own to be rare and other people have a lower chance of acquiring them then you’re not a Star Wars fan, you’re just a crazy person obsessed with hoarding a bunch of pieces of plastic.

It’s not about not wanting other people to have them as much as just wanting there to be more unique minifigures. It’s not that I want any given figure to be rare, but that I would always rather that every new set had new figures instead of repeating something. Having all the 3POs be the detailed one is less interesting than having multiple variants—there should be exclusives in cheap sets too. Obviously with characters like 3PO or Chewbacca there are way fewer reasonable variants than there are figures in sets, so those are always going to be repeated, and that doesn’t go for army building figures (to the same degree, anyway… glad to have multiples of the same clone unit in one set, but I’d still rather have new units than repeat one in a new set); but broadly speaking I would like it if they released more new figures, which inherently means more exclusives (or drastically increasing the number of figures per set, which I would also support).

Edited March 26, 2022 by Kdapt-Preacher

[kidtheboss611]

22 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-star-wars-designers-live-theatre-google/

I find it interesting that design team thinks the Vader Meditation Chamber and micro-scale dioramas we're a huge success. So many people here have said they aren't fans. So who are they listening to?

I think this is down to designers loving their work and wanting to support it regardless of success. From what fans on here and all over the internet have said I'd bet my life that the Chamber did not sell well last summer and was definitely beaten out by CW and Mando sets but they are for SW and lego fans while these dioramas are for older OT SW fans who have disposable income that they can burn. I'm sure the new dioramas will be hailed as a success by Lego even if regular fans won't buy cause there will always be a market for these overpriced collectors models. 

Also, TLG rarely listens to fan complaints; if they did we wouldn't have as many overpriced sets.

[Mandalorianknight]

3 minutes ago, kidtheboss611 said:

I think this is down to designers loving their work and wanting to support it regardless of success. From what fans on here and all over the internet have said I'd bet my life that the Chamber did not sell well last summer and was definitely beaten out by CW and Mando sets but they are for SW and lego fans while these dioramas are for older OT SW fans who have disposable income that they can burn. I'm sure the new dioramas will be hailed as a success by Lego even if regular fans won't buy cause there will always be a market for these overpriced collectors models. 

Also, TLG rarely listens to fan complaints; if they did we wouldn't have as many overpriced sets.

This is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but it is. Where to start? The designers do not get to choose what sets get made. IIRC that's up to lego and lucasfilm, the designers don't have free rein. And they have no incentive to lie and say the sets were a success if they weren't. We've seen lego kill failing lines before, such as with the action battles, or killing the constraction line (obligatory bring back bionicle) when some sets for it were so far into production that we had the preliminary images. If the meditation chamber flopped hard enough, they wouldn't be making these, because they'd have evidence it would be financially unwise to do so.

You also have absolutely 0 evidence that the chamber was "beaten" by CW and Mando sets (also, why single out those, why not just the system sets in general? I've been seeing the Mandalorian fighter on sale a lot, and while that's not concrete evidence either it's certainly better than "the people I interact with on the internet say this set is better"). And the amount of vitriol is kind of funny as well. Why do you only consider CW and Mando sets as being for SW and lego fans? Why do other SW sets like the dioramas or even just skywalker saga sets not count for "SW and lego fans"? And yes, of course these dioramas are for older fans (hence the 18+ labeling). The first rounds are OT because, as has been well established, the OT sets tend to sell the best. Once they have sales figures for the sets succeeding, they bring in ones from other properties, such as this year's helmet wave being majority Mandalorian-based. 

 

As for "rarely" listening to fans.... a specific set was produced literally because fans spammed lego's social media accounts to make it. As for overpriced sets being evidence that they don't listen to fans...this is wrong both ways. Firstly, no company is going to just start lowering prices for the exact same products because some fans complained unless the sales actually slow. That's absurd. Secondly, they literally started producing cheaper versions of iconic ships last year because the prices were getting too high. 

[eric_son_of_joseph]

23 minutes ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

If you want the minifigures that you own to be rare and other people have a lower chance of acquiring them then you’re not a Star Wars fan, you’re just a crazy person obsessed with hoarding a bunch of pieces of plastic.

People aren't crazy because they have different collecting habits and desires, nor are they the reason for someone else's discontent.

[BigGuy4U]

43 minutes ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

It’s not about not wanting other people to have them as much as just wanting there to be more unique minifigures. It’s not that I want any given figure to be rare, but that I would always rather that every new set had new figures instead of repeating something. Having all the 3POs be the detailed one is less interesting than having multiple variants—there should be exclusives in cheap sets too. Obviously with characters like 3PO or Chewbacca there are way fewer reasonable variants than there are figures in sets, so those are always going to be repeated, and that doesn’t go for army building figures (to the same degree, anyway… glad to have multiples of the same clone unit in one set, but I’d still rather have new units than repeat one in a new set); but broadly speaking I would like it if they released more new figures, which inherently means more exclusives (or drastically increasing the number of figures per set, which I would also support).

I don't see how having multiple inferior variants of what's meant to be the exact same character design is more "interesting". I get the desire for new figures but eventually you get to a point of if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and don't intentionally break it either. If you're downgrading a design that's already fine as is just for the sake of making exclusives, you're cheating customers out of being able to get a better version of a figure just because they're not interested in a single set or unwilling to pay often excessive prices online for the figure loose. The fans aren't going to be happy with that, Vader's short-lived arm printing comes to mind. I can't imagine it's all that cheap to constantly be switching up printing just for the sake of it either.

[kidtheboss611]

31 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

This is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but it is. Where to start? The designers do not get to choose what sets get made. IIRC that's up to lego and lucasfilm, the designers don't have free rein. And they have no incentive to lie and say the sets were a success if they weren't. We've seen lego kill failing lines before, such as with the action battles, or killing the constraction line (obligatory bring back bionicle) when some sets for it were so far into production that we had the preliminary images. If the meditation chamber flopped hard enough, they wouldn't be making these, because they'd have evidence it would be financially unwise to do so.

You also have absolutely 0 evidence that the chamber was "beaten" by CW and Mando sets (also, why single out those, why not just the system sets in general? I've been seeing the Mandalorian fighter on sale a lot, and while that's not concrete evidence either it's certainly better than "the people I interact with on the internet say this set is better"). And the amount of vitriol is kind of funny as well. Why do you only consider CW and Mando sets as being for SW and lego fans? Why do other SW sets like the dioramas or even just skywalker saga sets not count for "SW and lego fans"? And yes, of course these dioramas are for older fans (hence the 18+ labeling). The first rounds are OT because, as has been well established, the OT sets tend to sell the best. Once they have sales figures for the sets succeeding, they bring in ones from other properties, such as this year's helmet wave being majority Mandalorian-based. 

 

As for "rarely" listening to fans.... a specific set was produced literally because fans spammed lego's social media accounts to make it. As for overpriced sets being evidence that they don't listen to fans...this is wrong both ways. Firstly, no company is going to just start lowering prices for the exact same products because some fans complained unless the sales actually slow. That's absurd. Secondly, they literally started producing cheaper versions of iconic ships last year because the prices were getting too high. 

Enough with the bootlicking unless you're being paid to do spin for Lego this is a ridiculously long reply; But then again I'm complaining about toys on a forum at 10 AM and I got nothing better to do today so what the hell. 

Point 1 the designers design a variety of sets and have many models ready many years prior to their release so to say they have no way of choosing what gets made is not only wrong but makes you misinformed.

Point 2 I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the Chamber sold poorly compared to the CW and Mando sets because as you pointed out with the Mando fighter it too has gone on sale. Nonetheless, I don't have any sales figures in front of me so I don't know for sure; but you don't either so the point's mute.

However, in that statement, I was responding to @MKJoshA about the general fan feeling towards the dioramas and chamber set versus designers' comments so in that way I'd say I'm right in saying the average lego fan is not thrilled with the recent promos. I don't think it's a stretch to say fans would prefer figures to micro-scale dioramas and THUS I said TLG don't listen to fan complaints. That's my bad on the wording though. 

Point 3 The 501st BP is one set that was asked for and delivered at a higher price point to reap as much money off fans as possible (I gotta respect it but still rather rude from Lego). You can't keep going back to that one set as proof that Lego listens to fans. We'd have a lot more if Lego consistently listened to fans. 

Point 4 The price of sets has not only risen because of inflation but also because TLG knows people like you will buy the set regardless and will defend their unreasonable price hikes no matter what. The most recent dioramas are ridiculously small when compared to the price and don't talk to me about PPP cause that's a horrible way of judging a set's value. Maybe to you, the sets aren't overpriced and that's great for you but for the rest of us normal people $59.99 dollars for what is a bonified May the 4th promo is ridiculous. 

Now to the crux of my point, these "adult" sets are a gold mine for TLG cause by adding a black border and a quote piece they can slap an extra $30 dollars to the price point of each of these sets and somehow fans are still gonna buy it and it will be made into the new normal. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by kidtheboss611