LEGO Star Wars 2024 Set Discussion - READ FIRST POST!!!

[Yperio_Bricks]

25 minutes ago, Flieger said:

Once, in school, my pupils noticed when I had a new strap on one of my watches. The only difference to the old one was the seam stitching technique. Most adults may not have noticed but as a teacher I am under the children's scrutiny and that is very thorough. This is something you are explicitely told when becoming a teacher, btw., so even the state knows.

Children can be exceptionally attentive, because they are in an age when the brain develops rapidly and learning is as easy as it is important for said development (kind of the reason why we put them in school that age, really). So why would that attention exclude their favourite toy? On the contrary, Lego being a very expensive toy – one big set a year, usually for Christmas, is the rule for all but the wealthy parents – means that kids hold it to the standards Lego itself proclaims: being the best in quality.

Saying an inaccuracy does not matter because it is a toy for younger people not only underestimates them, it is downright condescending. It is no coincidence that such statements come from adults. ...and obviously ignoring that Lego does aim at adults, too.

I couldn't agree more People who make these statements, that 'kids don't care' are certainly not around children. And it sounds like an excuse is made up in support of Lego being lazy because children are dumb and they won't notice or care anyway. The opposite is true!

And i remember, as a child, playing with castle and pirates Lego in the 90s, i always aimed for the most realism possible. I read a lot of books about these topics at that time and had more knowledge than any adult i knew  Of course i would have wanted to get the most realistic and true-to-source Lego as possible. Only the best is good enough eh!?!

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

3 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Unrelated I know, but does anyone else hope that Eli Vanto, Commodore Karyn Faro and the Chiss Ascendancy will have some roles to play in the upcoming Heir to the Empire movie? I finished reading the canon Thrawn and Thrawn Ascendancy trilogies a few weeks ago (they are phenomenal btw) and want to see them in Live-Action.
 

(It would be funny if at the start of the Heir to the Empire movie Thrawn says: “Imperial Remnant? What a Joke.” And takes his and Pellaeon’s Fleet back with him to the Chiss Ascendancy to fight the Grysks.)

I desperately hope so, although I’m definitely not holding my breath, since Dave Filoni does not like taking things or being beholden to things from other Star Wars books or comics. Also Filoni’s Thrawn is a completely different person from Zahn’s canon Thrawn, and it would be a bit weird to see cartoon supervillain tv show Thrawn interact with Eli Vanto, when Thrawn is much more morally complicated in the books. 

[Willsy]

Finished building the Star Destroyer yesterday, and what a fantastic set it is.  The build was very enjoyable throughout and it looks immaculate. It's definitely my favourite set of this year, and that's even discounting the Cal minifigure. 

[BacktoBricks]

Well said @Flieger.

[Meaf]

Honestly, even if kids don't care about details it's still not that much of an excuse? Even if just 1% of the people buying the sets will notice, it's not like it costs any significant amount of extra money when we're just talking about incorrect cylinders or whatever. That's literally the kind of thing that could be amended with like ten minutes of research plus someone to double check things later, it just seems like such a minor thing in the grand scheme of making a product. Maybe it's a fair bit more complicated, but I am sure that at the very least Lego can afford it.

[CloneCommando99]

Earlier today I was thinking that surely there couldn’t be another collector’s set instead of a play-set in the January wave.

But then r/legostarwarsleaks had to pull this on me.

 

Another Midi-scale ship is coming. I reckon that it’s either going to be a Ghost or a Imperial Venator (could be in scale with the new ISD)

Edited August 26 by CloneCommando99

[Llewop]

11 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Earlier today I was thinking that surely there couldn’t be another collector’s set instead of a play-set in the January wave.

But then r/legostarwarsleaks had to pull this on me.

Another Midi-scale ship is coming. I reckon that it’s either going to be a Ghost or a Imperial Venator (could be in scale with the new ISD)

All I can say is if it’s true more money saved for the 2 system scales we will get 

[Classic_Spaceman]

8 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Fair enough. I guess that the earliest we could see a Tie Defender from is 2026/27, since Thrawn will probably start up production on them again now that he’s back.

I would say later, since if Thrawn starts building new TIE Defenders, they would probably debut in the HttE 2.0 movie. 

8 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

A Tie Defender vs New Republic A-Wing set with Zeb and Thrawn could double as a Mando-verse and Rebels set therefore enticing two markets at once.

I actually doubt that we will see the Defender come back; it was a large and expensive project under the Empire, and Thrawn has only a fraction of those resources at his disposal now. I personally wonder if his starfighters will be Chiss clawcraft - They use a standard TIE cockpit ball as the base, but also have shields. 
 

[Mandalorianknight]

32 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I actually doubt that we will see the Defender come back; it was a large and expensive project under the Empire, and Thrawn has only a fraction of those resources at his disposal now. I personally wonder if his starfighters will be Chiss clawcraft - They use a standard TIE cockpit ball as the base, but also have shields. 

I agree that the Defender's return isn't a given- if nothing else, Thrawn is able to adapt, and I think his lack of men could be partially fixed by bringing back another TIE we've had a set of- the TIE-D drone.

That said, I think Thrawn does have some resources at his disposal here. Aside from the fact that he can use resources a lot more judiciously than the old empire did, the first we heard of his return was Morgan obtaining industrial resources for him, and we've seen his ability to steal resources from the new republic. 

I do really like the slightly different situation they've put Thrawn in here with the material disadvantage- while I loved the Spaarti clones and think they could still work with the mentions of their instability as an example of why we almost never see non-Jango clones (You can't tell me that no one was able to come up with anything like it after the kaminoans died), it's cool to see an alternate, but still very Thrawn-like way to build an army without the men the old empire had. Reanimated soldiers, droids, (if I'm right) drone ships, it's a great way to even the odds and build up the threat, with it easier to resolve easier (shutting down droids, the nightsisters die and the zombies turn back to corpses as opposed to the end of the thrawn trilogy bringing them back to ROTJ where there's still a lot of mopping-up to be done)

2 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Another Midi-scale ship is coming. I reckon that it’s either going to be a Ghost or a Imperial Venator (could be in scale with the new ISD)

I doubt it'd be an imperial venator, we'd have three midi-scale grey triangles on sale at the same time (and at that point I think a standard ISD would make more sense). 

 

A number of people seemed to read my comment as "they SHOULD make figures inaccurate" instead of "most people don't notice a belt buckle or code cylinders", which, just... what? Of course it would be better if they were 100% accurate. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I agree that the Defender's return isn't a given- if nothing else, Thrawn is able to adapt, and I think his lack of men could be partially fixed by bringing back another TIE we've had a set of- the TIE-D drone.

A version of the TIE/D called an “auto-fighter” was used by Visler Korda’s remnant, so they do exist and could be used by Thrawn. Additionally, Thrawn had contact with the Republic during the Clone Wars, so he would have seen the utility of Separatist droid fighters for swarm tactics - Maybe the bulk of his starfighters will be drones, with a few skilled pilots in shielded craft similar to the Defender. 🤔

2 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

That said, I think Thrawn does have some resources at his disposal here. Aside from the fact that he can use resources a lot more judiciously than the old empire did, the first we heard of his return was Morgan obtaining industrial resources for him, and we've seen his ability to steal resources from the new republic. 

I am curious as to how Thrawn will acquire resources and navigate the Imperial remnants; obviously, he will want to be in charge, but equally obviously so will everyone else! Pitting warlords against each other in open conflict would waste their resources, so maybe he will try to undermine weaker factions by outing them to the NR (perhaps what we see in TMaG?), then steal their confiscated equipment and hardware. 

2 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I do really like the slightly different situation they've put Thrawn in here with the material disadvantage- while I loved the Spaarti clones and think they could still work with the mentions of their instability as an example of why we almost never see non-Jango clones (You can't tell me that no one was able to come up with anything like it after the kaminoans died), it's cool to see an alternate, but still very Thrawn-like way to build an army without the men the old empire had. Reanimated soldiers, droids, (if I'm right) drone ships, it's a great way to even the odds and build up the threat

I am not convinced that we have not already seen Spaarti clones. The Kaminoan model had clones born as children who then quickly aged into adulthood, but Moff Gideon’s clones were adults “before they could take their first breath”. That plot went nowhere (unless Moff is back in TMaG as a clone/a clone was the one who died on Mandalore), but it being an introduction to Spaarti cloning before we see Thrawn use it would be a good payoff.
As for wrapping things up, we already know that Kaminoan clones have a roughly halved lifespan when compared to normal Humans, and that clone bodies can degrade over time (see Palpatine), so Spaarti clones may only live for a couple of years. 
 

[Mandalorianknight]

Just now, Classic_Spaceman said:

A version of the TIE/D called an “auto-fighter” was used by Visler Korda’s remnant, so they do exist and could be used by Thrawn. Additionally, Thrawn had contact with the Republic during the Clone Wars, so he would have seen the utility of Separatist droid fighters for swarm tactics - Maybe the bulk of his starfighters will be drones, with a few skilled pilots in shielded craft similar to the Defender. 🤔

I am curious as to how Thrawn will acquire resources and navigate the Imperial remnants; obviously, he will want to be in charge, but equally obviously so will everyone else! Pitting warlords against each other in open conflict would waste their resources, so maybe he will try to undermine weaker factions by outing them to the NR (perhaps what we see in TMaG?), then steal their confiscated equipment and hardware. 

I am not convinced that we have not already seen Spaarti clones. The Kaminoan model had clones born as children who then quickly aged into adulthood, but Moff Gideon’s clones were adults “before they could take their first breath”. That plot went nowhere (unless Moff is back in TMaG as a clone/a clone was the one who died on Mandalore), but it being an introduction to Spaarti cloning before we see Thrawn use it would be a good payoff.
As for wrapping things up, we already know that Kaminoan clones have a roughly halved lifespan when compared to normal Humans, and that clone bodies can degrade over time (see Palpatine), so Spaarti clones may only live for a couple of years. 
 

Yeah, exactly, this is how I think it's going to go. Instead of sending his best men to be Spaarti cloned, perhaps he sends them to have their minds scanned for the drone's programming?

Again, exactly what I think's going on. He'll manipulate anyone he can trust to continue serving the empire in some capacity, and essentially send Mando and the NR after anyone who he doesn't think he can use, probably in a way where he can net some of the resources and men in the aftermath. 

I forgot about the gideon clones, but to be fair so did the show for the vast majority of season 3, before just giving up and having the clones be killed before exiting their tanks. I feel like the season 3 Gideon has to be a clone for that plot to mean anything at all, and I could see him moving into a C'boath role where he's driven madder as he gains/attempts to gain force powers.

[CloneCommando99]

8 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I am curious as to how Thrawn will acquire resources and navigate the Imperial remnants; obviously, he will want to be in charge, but equally obviously so will everyone else! Pitting warlords against each other in open conflict would waste their resources, so maybe he will try to undermine weaker factions by outing them to the NR (perhaps what we see in TMaG?), then steal their confiscated equipment and hardware. 

 

A good number of the warlords in Mando S3 were in agreement with Pellaeon. So Thrawn should have no trouble in recruiting their forces. Plus Thrawn may bring in a few Chiss EDF ships to aid him. Perhaps captained and crewed by his good friends Senior Captain Ziinda, Senior Captain Samakaro, Skywalker Ch’eri, Thalias, Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto, Skywalker Vah’nya and Admiral Ar’alani?

As previously mentioned Thrawn also has Morgan’s stockpile of resources. And since it was revealed in TOTE that she was a producing Tie Defenders, that makes me think that Thrawn will have a decent amount of those wonderful fighters ready to go. There’s also still the question of what happened to the Defender squadron that was already stationed on the Chimera. And what happened to Commodore Faro.

8 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Yeah, exactly, this is how I think it's going to go. Instead of sending his best men to be Spaarti cloned, perhaps he sends them to have their minds scanned for the drone's programming?

Again, exactly what I think's going on. He'll manipulate anyone he can trust to continue serving the empire in some capacity, and essentially send Mando and the NR after anyone who he doesn't think he can use, probably in a way where he can net some of the resources and men in the aftermath. 

I forgot about the gideon clones, but to be fair so did the show for the vast majority of season 3, before just giving up and having the clones be killed before exiting their tanks. I feel like the season 3 Gideon has to be a clone for that plot to mean anything at all, and I could see him moving into a C'boath role where he's driven madder as he gains/attempts to gain force powers.

I like those ideas. But where does the obligatory Mara Jade fit into all of this?

Either way we appear to be in store for some good Lego sets.

2026 will be a good year for Lego. And my empire!!

[MKJoshA]

We are way off topic here. Let's move media discussion to the media topic.

[McMurder_them_softly]

Wow. Another midi-scale! If the line came with figures, like an adult version of the plant series, I'd love that. I still buy them without (love the Falcon). But wow. Exciting!! Hope to see the Sail Barge soon. Just re-watched ROTJ this past weekend. 

[CloneCommando99]

What reasonable trooper types does  Lego still need to make? Off the top of my head I can think of: clean Army Trooper, 501st Stormtrooper, Space Trooper, Clone Commando and a Tie Baron. I’m not going to go down the clone legion rabbit hole.

 

Edited August 27 by CloneCommando99

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, CloneCommando99 said:

What reasonable trooper types does Lego still need to make?

Incinerator Troopers, Purge Troopers, and Double Death Troopers at least  And more Night Trooper variants!

6 hours ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

Another midi-scale! 

Gimmicky sets tend to get released in 1HY waves across themes (like the Marvel mechs or the HP books and banners), but SW is starting to push it a bit  I don‘t mind the helmets, midi-scale ships, and dioramas at all, but would it kill them to spread things out more evenly?  It’s getting laughable how much more exciting the 2HY waves are!

[CF Mitch]

8 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

What reasonable trooper types does  Lego still need to make? Off the top of my head I can think of: clean Army Trooper, 501st Stormtrooper, Space Trooper, Clone Commando and a Tie Baron. I’m not going to go down the clone legion rabbit hole.

 

What do you mean by  'clean Army Trooper'?
Also, a Clone Commando is definitely a must!

Regards,
Mitch

[CloneCommando99]

5 minutes ago, CF Mitch said:

What do you mean by  'clean Army Trooper'?
Also, a Clone Commando is definitely a must!

Regards,
Mitch

Just standard black/ dark grey armour. Not muddy unlike the ones in the 2018 Tie Fighter.

7 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Incinerator Troopers, Purge Troopers, and Double Death Troopers at least  And more Night Trooper variants!

Gimmicky sets tend to get released in 1HY waves across themes (like the Marvel mechs or the HP books and banners), but SW is starting to push it a bit  I don‘t mind the helmets, midi-scale ships, and dioramas at all, but would it kill them to spread things out more evenly?  It’s getting laughable how much more exciting the 2HY waves are!

I didn’t mention Purge Troopers because Lego stupidly refuses to make JFO sets. 
 

The gimmicks don’t even end in the 1HY. It’s just weird. The buildable characters just can’t be doing that well.

 

[BrickBob Studpants]

39 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

I didn’t mention Purge Troopers because Lego stupidly refuses to make JFO sets. 

They also appeared in Kenobi. Their existence in live-action makes it at least a teeny-tiny bit more likely

40 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The gimmicks don’t even end in the 1HY. It’s just weird. The buildable characters just can’t be doing that well.

They must be, otherwise they wouldn‘t release so many

[Meaf]

1 hour ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The gimmicks don’t even end in the 1HY. It’s just weird. The buildable characters just can’t be doing that well.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at Lego just so I could listen in on the decisions they've been making with the buildable characters and such. You'd assume they're selling well with how they keep making them, but I've seen zero interest for them online, and even in stores they usually seem like they're among the worst-selling sets? Perhaps they're just selling better than my (and others') anecdotal observations would suggest.

[Yperio_Bricks]

51 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

They must be, otherwise they wouldn‘t release so many

There are thousands of buildable Chewbaccas out there somewhere...

[BrickBob Studpants]

17 minutes ago, Meaf said:

[…] but I've seen zero interest for them online […]

What people discuss online and what people do in the real world aren‘t the same. Heck, these two things are probably barely correlated

17 minutes ago, Meaf said:

Perhaps they're just selling better than my (and others') anecdotal observations would suggest.

They must be. If these sets weren‘t successful, TLG would’ve stopped churning them out a long time ago. They have 7 years* worth of data now!
 

(* technically more if you count the 2008 Grievous and 2012 R2, but the BB-8 figure in 2017 started the current trend)

Edited August 27 by BrickBob Studpants

[Swordy]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

 

They must be. If these sets weren‘t successful, TLG would’ve stopped churning them out a long time ago. They have 7 years* worth of data now!

I’d distinguish the old pattern of one or two buildable sets every year from this recent trend of multiple buildable sets in one year. One buildable BB-8 or Porg is different than a buildable Artoo, Droideka, Threepio, and four small chibi droids. Releasing multiple buildable sets at varying scales takes away from the novelty of one or not buildable creatures. It’d be like if UCS sets were released in every wave; the collectibility factor decreases with oversaturation.

I personally don’t count the Helmet Collection with the buildable creatures or droids, and I don’t believe many others do either, thus their introduction and subsequent success doesn’t equal greater success for the buildable creature line. However, LEGO may see this trend differently, and believe that the market is leaning toward 18+ buildable sets. Thus, more black boxes and collector items, and less playsets.

I personally expect to see a sharp decrease in buildable items by 2026 at the earliest, as I don’t think this recent crop of sets are that popular with LEGO Star Wars fanbase, much less with the general public. It’s too early to see if they are viably successful at all, though.

[Mandalorianknight]

19 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

What reasonable trooper types does  Lego still need to make? Off the top of my head I can think of: clean Army Trooper, 501st Stormtrooper, Space Trooper, Clone Commando and a Tie Baron. I’m not going to go down the clone legion rabbit hole.

Are 501st painted Stormtroopers canon still? 

I'd really like Army Troopers. One of my favorite parts of the Thrawn Trilogy were that stormtroopers were actually strike troops and the grunts were Army Troopers.

17 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Incinerator Troopers, Purge Troopers, and Double Death Troopers at least  And more Night Trooper variants!

Agreed. Though honestly at this point I'm ready to let the incinerator trooper go, as cool as his scene in Mando S1 was, I feel like he's barely shown up since.

Double Death Troopers also need to happen, though I almost hope it's during a movie line so we've got more chance at a new mold for a partially bitten helmet

10 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

They also appeared in Kenobi. Their existence in live-action makes it at least a teeny-tiny bit more likely

If we get the Kenobi variant before the JFO/comic ones I AM GOING TO DENMARK.

17 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Gimmicky sets tend to get released in 1HY waves across themes (like the Marvel mechs or the HP books and banners), but SW is starting to push it a bit  I don‘t mind the helmets, midi-scale ships, and dioramas at all, but would it kill them to spread things out more evenly?  It’s getting laughable how much more exciting the 2HY waves are!

And SW is rapidly approaching the 50/50 ratio of gimmick sets to non-gimmick sets...

Edited August 28 by Mandalorianknight

[Meaf]

13 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

What people discuss online and what people do in the real world aren‘t the same. Heck, these two things are probably barely correlated

Sure but anecdotal "evidence" is essentially all we have to go off, so I don't really see the harm in pointing it out. It's not like Lego releases sales data for us to scrutinize, and what sets get discounted isn't inherently indicative of them selling poorly and/or not to Lego's expectations. I think gauging the temperature online is at the very least interesting, and at least it gives us something to talk about instead of just blindly guessing what's going on and what people think.

That all said, I'd kill for some hard data on how individual sets sell. I just find that stuff so fascinating, and in the case of Lego Star Wars, I feel like it would also settle a lot of debates about what Lego "should" be making to some extent.