Star Wars is kinda fading

[Flawless Cowboy]

Like others have said, I’ve mainly moved on from playsets. I’m only interested in the adult Star Wars sets because there seems to be a huge divide in the quality of playsets and display sets, almost as if there’s no middle ground like you’d see in other themes where, yes, it’s a 12+ set, but the design isn’t compromised significantly to accommodate children. With Star Wars, the play sets look like crap and often times the concessions aren’t worth it. The gunship is a perfect example of this, I love the prequels and clone wars, I SHOULD be excited for this set, but the final product just looks atrocious for the sake of being a toy with less playability than the $100 Galaxy Explorer, and that is an “adult” set!

[MrLegoBlitz]

It's completely understandable that seeing repeated sets, especially like the numerous iterations of the land speeder, can be a bit disappointing. The LEGO Star Wars collection does seem to revisit certain iconic vehicles quite often. On the bright side, as you mentioned, some remakes can be necessary and even exciting, especially if they come with updated designs, new features, or improved details.

[legogirl221]

24 minutes ago, MrLegoBlitz said:

It's completely understandable that seeing repeated sets, especially like the numerous iterations of the land speeder, can be a bit disappointing. The LEGO Star Wars collection does seem to revisit certain iconic vehicles quite often. On the bright side, as you mentioned, some remakes can be necessary and even exciting, especially if they come with updated designs, new features, or improved details.

I totally agree, and if you're really passionate about collecting Star Wars LEGO, you won't find it boring. Maybe you just lost the passion for collecting Star Wars—haha, trying new things is also great.

[Mandalorianknight]

^They're learning. 6 posts before hitting us with the gaming link.

 

But as for the actual topic, I dunno. I agree with many of the others here that it makes sense why we keep getting X-wings, TIEs, and Landspeeders. But some of the quality issues do bug me, and the pricing is really turning me off. In the past year I've really only bought sub $20 sets (Aside from the normal ones, I got too tempted and bought one of those mechs, and yup, they're just as bad as I thought. Nice parts in the stormtrooper one, though), aside from things that seem priced OK like the Dune Ornithopter or some of those dioramas. This past August was the first year since I can remember that I didn't get a single $20+ set from the wave.

[Professor Thaum]

3 hours ago, MrLegoBlitz said:

I stumbled upon this site, https://qwertylabs.io/services, that not only hooks you up with quality backlinks for

Just with the name of the link I will obviously not click it. Could you explain what this kind of... link has to do there ? And I advise you not to post such link anymore on EB.

Regards

[Max_Lego]

 I am just so sorry, but, to be honest, I don't understand the need for this topic at all. Here is my point: yes, some new sets may be downgraded relatively to previous ones (2021 TIE and X-wing vs 2018 ones), but this doesn't mean Star Wars is fading in general. Just compare the number and quality of 1999 Star Wars sets with those of 2023. Yes, playsets aren't accurate replicas of originals, but:

1) They aren't supposed to be accurate - they are just "a child's playthings";

2) They are far more accurate than they possibly could be in 2001, for example

Yes, there are AFOLs, who are interested in accuracy, and TLG are aware of them. But, no offense, they are a minority, as even many adults are quite satisfied with sets' quality. Those who aren't have 3 options:

1) Purchase replicas of high-quality MOCs;

2) Purchase instructions for high-quality MOCs and build them using parts they have;

3) My favourite - create something of their own. It's it the main joy of Lego creativity?

All above is just my humble opinion. I didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings. And yes, I wish Lego sets were of higher quality. But, sadly, we're not their target group...

[El Garfio]

Think about the millennium Falcom as the police station 

The x wing as the hospital 

The tie fighter as the fire brigade

For somebody collecting/buying/building a city for years unless LEGO releases a marvelous set it was an irrelevant set 

But the new police station, hospital, fire brigade are not for you but for the newcoming fans of the brand 

With star wars pass the same specially now that the fans have reduced their canon to few movies and shows and detest all Disney additions to the saga 

Lego has to release some basic sets of the last released movies and TV shows, but when they want to release a hit, a huge amount of dollars set, they can't take risks and go for the movies star wars fans love

[Minishark2000]

Tbh I don't agree that Star Wars is fading, we've had a pretty good last 2 years imo. And hot take but the complaint/meme the community has about play scale Luke's landspeeder having so many iterations is exaggerated, we've gotten like only 6 in the span of 25 years (1999, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2020). There hasn't even been one available on shelves for a couple years at this point. It's just that alot of the community has recency bias.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Minishark2000

[Kdapt-Preacher]

For whatever it's worth, I've been following LEGO Star Wars closely since 2006, and while individual sets have always been somewhat hit or miss, on the whole I think the theme is doing about as well as it ever has been. There have certainly been stylistic changes over the years, so it's totally fair to have a personal preference for the style that was prevalent in a particular era (there's a lot of nostalgia for the style that was introduced around 2007 that coincided with the big burst of TCW sets, for instance), but I don't think it's accurate to say that that reflects the theme itself dipping in quality. There are some trends that I'd like to see reversed (e.g., I'd like to go back to having more battle packs), but there are also trends that I love (e.g., this is absolutely the best era for UCS sets that LSW has ever had). Things come and go. And this forum has been mad about about it the entire time, LMAO. Even back in what a lot of folks today think of as the 'golden age' the community here had the exact same concerns about PPP, what figures should've been included, too many stickers, models too small, etc. as we see today.

[Big_Daddy]

As someone who was introduced to Star Wars through Lego back in 1999 I can't say that it's fading in any way. Sure I was a kid back then and now I have a wife and kids who all seem to love my hobby or at least the fact that I love it, but there's always been something each year that gets my interest. To me, the most important kind of sets are still playsets because that's where it all started for me.

And just think about it, those first few Star Wars waves were pretty small (this year I finally got 7130 to complete that sweet first OT wave!) and there was hardly any variation. That only changed with the first UCS sets and a few Technic sets. But as the years progressed the theme diversified with things like battle packs and microfighters (still/again going strong), gimmick sets that came and went (planets and mechs, fingers crossed) and now there are things like diorama's, helmets and hopefully a continuing resurgence of the midi scale sets. So there's bound to be a good chunk of the sets each year that don't interest you. I could do without the UCS sets, diorama's and helmets, but there's still plenty (or at least some) to enjoy.

[Guybrush]

It's normal for interest in a hobby to come and go. It's healthy to take a break.

I know because it happened to meeeeeeeee...

[Gorilla94]

I think it is a question how you approach the hobby. There aren't any sets that 100% rock in my opinion, but there are enough gems included here and there to make something great. Printed arms for C3PO and Vader, R2 with printed back, The ATTE, which is a good foundation for a great ATTE-Model, if you put some work with Tiles, custom printed pieces and modifications into it.... Every wave there is something I really like.

[Time77]

I'm so bloody sick of people acting as if we've had a lot of luke's-land-speeders. We've had 3.5 sets and a UCS set in 24-25 years; do you know many gunships do we've had? 3 and a UCS set in 21-22 years, but yet people were acting as if we NEEDED one of those... Never-mind how much more popular the landspeeder has obviously been; just endless complaing by people who won't stop until every set released every year are TCW sets. People who complain about box art branding endlessly, act like it's based on some principle, and then say nothing when it's not about something they care about. Whens the last time we had a regular landspeeder? 3-4 years ago? SHUT UP

Edited November 30, 2023 by Time77

[icm]

By my count it's six regular retail playscale landspeeders: 75271, 75173, 75052, 8092, 4501, 7110.

And four regular retail playscale gunships: 75354, 75021, 7676, 7163.

But I agree that six regular retail playscale landspeeders in 25 years (1999-2023 inclusive) isn't that many.

If we get another regular retail playscale landspeeder last year, that'll be a four-year gap (2020 vs 2024), which is a reasonable amount of time for a remake.

[Time77]

On 10/26/2023 at 10:42 AM, karmajay said:

If Lego sets had the amount of pieces MOCs use to get higher detail then all sets would be in the $400-600 range and people would complain even more. 

The UCS x-wing has tons more pieces, a higher price, and is giant compared to jarac's x-wing. Now obviously they can't produce jerac's x-wing exactly, but at the UCS scale? Should look far better than a scaled up playscale set.

8 minutes ago, icm said:

By my count it's six regular retail playscale landspeeders: 75271, 75173, 75052, 8092, 4501, 7110.

And four regular retail playscale gunships: 75354, 75021, 7676, 7163.

But I agree that six regular retail playscale landspeeders in 25 years (1999-2023 inclusive) isn't that many.

If we get another regular retail playscale landspeeder last year, that'll be a four-year gap (2020 vs 2024), which is a reasonable amount of time for a remake.

The cantina sets only partially count in my eyes; the 2004 set it accounts for maybe half the set, and the the 2014(?) set accounts for maybe like a quarter or 1/5 of the set? Most I would pump the number up to is 4, but that only comes out to one every 6 years versus the gunships 7 (which, if you account for how poorly the episode 2 sets seemly did and how much popular the OT was (maybe is?), is fine)

Either way, not the MASSIVE problem certain individuals claim it to be

Edited November 30, 2023 by Time77

[Something_Awesome]

On 11/8/2023 at 12:43 PM, karmajay said:

Er Star Wars merch that is not Lego does not sell well? You def need to get out of here with comments like that. Extremely laughable.

Selling "well" is relative. I probably should have been more careful with my words. I have inside information on stuff of this sort. What I should have said was the sales figures for Star Wars merch for EVERY brand besides LEGO (I mean this in the strictest sense) has met sales expectations. In other words, even where the license was still profitable, it does not mean the brands are happy with performance. 

[Time77]

21 hours ago, Something_Awesome said:

Selling "well" is relative. I probably should have been more careful with my words. I have inside information on stuff of this sort. What I should have said was the sales figures for Star Wars merch for EVERY brand besides LEGO (I mean this in the strictest sense) has met sales expectations. In other words, even where the license was still profitable, it does not mean the brands are happy with performance. 

And the proof for this is in the the milllions of unsold rey palpatines and rose ticos. A local shop still has a few hundred TLJ reys

Edited December 2, 2023 by Time77

[Horation]

On 12/1/2023 at 12:25 AM, Something_Awesome said:

Selling "well" is relative. I probably should have been more careful with my words. I have inside information on stuff of this sort. What I should have said was the sales figures for Star Wars merch for EVERY brand besides LEGO (I mean this in the strictest sense) has met sales expectations. In other words, even where the license was still profitable, it does not mean the brands are happy with performance. 

If it met sales expectations, wouldn't that mean the brands are happy? I'm confused now.

[Mandalorianknight]

 

On 11/27/2023 at 4:08 AM, Max_Lego said:

All above is just my humble opinion. I didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings. And yes, I wish Lego sets were of higher quality. But, sadly, we're not their target group...

Generally agree with all of this. There are a few areas I'd like to see improvement in (Price being the main one, and the other being the kamas. I don't agree with most of the clone nitpicks, but the printed kamas really just don't look good at all, and we've seen them in other themes this year.

On 11/27/2023 at 11:10 AM, Minishark2000 said:

Tbh I don't agree that Star Wars is fading, we've had a pretty good last 2 years imo. And hot take but the complaint/meme the community has about play scale Luke's landspeeder having so many iterations is exaggerated, we've gotten like only 6 in the span of 25 years (1999, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2020). There hasn't even been one available on shelves for a couple years at this point. It's just that alot of the community has recency bias.

I agree with you in mind, but apparently not in spirit, as something broke inside me when I realized that we're overdue on our next Luke's landspeeder given the release pattern.

On 12/1/2023 at 12:25 AM, Something_Awesome said:

Selling "well" is relative. I probably should have been more careful with my words. I have inside information on stuff of this sort. What I should have said was the sales figures for Star Wars merch for EVERY brand besides LEGO (I mean this in the strictest sense) has met sales expectations. In other words, even where the license was still profitable, it does not mean the brands are happy with performance. 

This "insider information" stuff doesn't seem to be panning out for you, given you randomly posted in the set news thread that we'd see Live action kanan, like 6 months ago, and... yeah, no. Not in Ahsoka at any rate, and unless his ghost is haunting skeleton crew, not in anything anyone but the writers would know about at that point.

Your only accurate "leak" was Paz's death in Mando S3, and since the leak was already out there all you really did was spoil it for everyone on the forum.

On 12/5/2023 at 10:59 AM, Horation said:

If it met sales expectations, wouldn't that mean the brands are happy? I'm confused now.

Yes, it would. See my response to him above for more details.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Mandalorianknight

[Max_Lego]

2 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

There are a few areas I'd like to see improvement in (Price being the main one, and the other being the kamas. I don't agree with most of the clone nitpicks, but the printed kamas really just don't look good at all, and we've seen them in other themes this year.

I totally agree. Printed kamas are horrible. You even can't hide them properly under old cloth ones

[MAB]

It's funny isn't it. Someone thinks Star Wars is boring as they repeat iconic vehicles every 4-6 years or so. But also they post that they want other themes like Justice League and Sponge Bob to come back as they want repeats of those presumably because they don't have them even through they've been done before.

[macaron35]

On 10/22/2023 at 8:51 PM, Animated101 said:

I used to get excited when a new lego star wars set came out, but at this point, I find it boring, because its always the SAME set we got before. Heck, how many land speeders have we gotten now?!?!But its not always bad, some remakes are DESPERATELY needed haha. 

Unless your collection is already complete, it's hard to say that the offer is fading

moreover, new content is constantling adding up (movies, series, animations), meaning more lego sets to come.

Maybe new sets are more kids-oriented but over time, it is quite difficult to keep up unless having a significant budget to buy collectible sets

[Something_Awesome]

On 12/13/2023 at 8:31 PM, Mandalorianknight said:

This "insider information" stuff doesn't seem to be panning out for you, given you randomly posted in the set news thread that we'd see Live action kanan, like 6 months ago, and... yeah, no. Not in Ahsoka at any rate, and unless his ghost is haunting skeleton crew, not in anything anyone but the writers would know about at that point.

Your only accurate "leak" was Paz's death in Mando S3, and since the leak was already out there all you really did was spoil it for everyone on the forum.

Yes, it would. See my response to him above for more details.

Episode 4. Picture of Freddie Prinze Jr as Kanan Jarrus when Syndulla is in the Ghost. It's essentially canon now that Kanan looks like Freddie in live live-action. I have A LOT of juicy information. I only provide what is inconsequential. 

Again, Star Wars merch is very much under performing. LEGO Star Wars is killing it though, carried by a grown generation with a lot of disposable income. The big problem right now is that internal research shows that the incoming generation does not care about Star Wars. Hence the "fade."

I also misspoke when I said "met expectations." I should have said "did not necessarily lose money." But if you can imagine, there is an opportunity cost to everything. Especially when talking about store shelves. What you really want is for the merch to fly off the shelves. I will say that toy/merch manufacturers were actually at odds with Disney not too long ago over what should be produced. I can't get too detailed, but Disney got its way, and sales were down. 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Something_Awesome

[Brick McBrickface]

I bought my first Lego set this October since I was a kid in the 80’s. I can’t remember what made me jump, but picked up the Millennium Falcon (non UCS) for 33% off and loved the building experience and end result. I don’t have much spare time, so each set takes me a while, but love how relaxing each build is. 
Since October I’ve gone a bit daft and picked up 38 sets, probably about half of which are Star Wars, so I’m personally grateful to have all the reissued sets of the OT vehicles. Not really interested in the PT/CW sets, but do enjoy the current things like the Mandalorian, etc.

Still have a lot left to build, including the UCS Landspeeder and Cantina, but the only disappointment so far has been the play set X wing. It’s too basic, even compared to the similar priced ships. The UCS version was much more enjoyable and I LOVE the finished model. For me, it justifies the extra cost, but not sure the other UCS sets do and am happy with the cheaper Falcon, Razorcrest and AT-AT.
 

All just my opinion though. 

[baublitz]

Maybe there are more factors at play, but compared to the release of the Millennium Falcon a few years ago, I was definitely "oh yeah I gotta keep the collection growing and grab every (UCS) set! To more of a "ugh, they really want another $800 for this and $500 for that, and they did what!? to the design??"

Maybe I was jaded, but now I'm definitely much more selective in my purchases.