Pedilego

A clear objective or Lordhelmet’s post was to address those concerns. Don’t you see that your post is more likely to create/continue the factional strife? Boba’s really disappointing. I too think the set appears to be overpriced & I’ve never been a huge fan of any of the skiffs. However; I’m trying to keep MandoKnight’s point about the Pit being deceptively large in mine & wait to see how it all scales with the Sail Barge before coming to any final conclusions. Peridia has a lot of stickers & Ahsoka the White isn’t looking very white but I still like the set. I’d actually be interested in it for more than the figures, which is more than I can say for most sets these days—and all of the rest of the sets from this wave. Finally, this beach loser Luke seems like a weird choice since it evokes the Ep. 8 depiction turned a way a lot of fans. Are they purposefully leaning into it as satire, or did it not just cross their mind? I’m not trying to be edgy or provocative, just sharing my personal thoughts/impacts. I wouldn’t like seeing him in my collection, so I’m not going to collect him—and that gives me license to stop being a completionist with all the new minifigs. Funny the impact one fig can have.

This isn't about any one of us individually: There are clear markers that the popularity of Star Wars is in decline (many of them have been covered in this thread already); noticing it & hypothesizing why isn't intended to be a personal attack on anybody who still likes the franchise. The criticism I have is denying that the decline exists. I do lots of the things you mentioned. My son's first theater movie was A New Hope last year. We saw RotJ just last weekend. Both my kids have now seen/been introduced to the entire OT in theaters. I'm eagerly anticipating RotS next May 4th and, in the interim, we'll watch the Disney+ Mando & Ahsoka shows and continue buying Lego sets. I don't think being realistic about the declining state of the franchise prevents (most) people from continuing to appreciate it. Lol Yep, raise prices, lower costs, or increase volume - which is a way of lowering cost per unit since incremental units only create additional variable costs & not additional fixed costs. Kind of difficult for theme parks to increase volume but Disney seems to think it's obtainable for TV/toys and breath of TV/toy consumers. IMO Disney does a good job of continuing to give us the things that we love about Star Wars (e.g. action/adventure, sci-fi/fantasy world-building, consistent yet expanding lore, immersive story-telling, etc.) but it's seldom all (or even most) at once and, when you're missing something like an adequate level of coherent story-telling, it doesn't matter how much action/adventure they give us (e.g. Book of Boba Fett); some people just aren't going to stay tuned in.

I had a fairly lengthy DM discussion some time back about Lego's approach to LSW & it felt like everything kept coming to "Yeah, but does it optimize short-term profits?" So many younger folks have heard that Q for so long they've become numb to anything else. Yes, that is how most corporations currently operate... is should it be? As religion has become less influential (it's not just capitalism 'maturing' into its later stages) & society's moral bearings have become self-directed, it's much more difficult to definitively say why profit shouldn't be the ultimate motive. Rather, upholding certain principals should be the primary motive, and profit should operate within that sphere: Does the profit-maximizing strategy align with our principals? Whereas now that's been reversed: Does acting on this principal align with profit? That's why we see examples of Lego "acting on their values" sometimes (when they align) but not universally. On one hand, the long-term implications should be obvious. I don't think it's acted on because (a. late-stage capitalism) the difficulty to push back against the corporate culture (especially for public companies with stockholders - Lego doesn't have as much of an excuse, other than that they hire people that've climbed the ladder in the culture of public companies) and (b. moral ambivalence) the individuals wanting to maximize profit performance in the short-term (over the company's long-term) for themselves (and deluding themselves into thinking what's good in the short- is good for the long- through cognitive dissonance because, of course, nobody wants to see themselves as selfish or working for/acting on behalf of selfishness). On the other hand, it seems like maybe it's not so obvious since a lot of people in this thread, and in the Star Wars fandom in general, have a difficult time accepting the downward trajectory of Star Wars.

So an Advent Calendar minifigure lineup with an off-colored Falcon and a price tag to match? I'd have assumed Darth Dev Greebling is a Gonk with a red lightsaber if not for Sig Greebling being human. At least Vader should look cool & I don't mind getting another Clone Trooper. It's almost certainly a shiny like in the trailer, but it'd be cool if it were a new rank in the new style (nothing like setting oneself up for disappointment - it's what us LSW fans do). X-Wing & ISD are skips for me. (There's that disappointment thing again... but for real, a DS playset would've been cool. I'm looking forward to building a big rock wall fortress with my kids using the Mando S3 Battle Packs. I understand I must be in the minority but I'm game for most locations & an Imperial stronghold would've been great.) I'll be on the Bricklinking Fig(s) bandwagon. Good chance it's the same on the Falcon/Vader.

I'm using that torso but backwards plus the old Han Solo legs (black with brown holster). Cara Dune hair in red (too bright?). I need to add that tan cloth piece LordHelmet is using - that's good. I'll have to pick some of those legs up - thanks!

One last “hurrah” for Clones would be great IF they could do Bly & Star Corps effectively. (I’m setting aside my Phase 1 & Clone Wars desires for the ROTS anniversary.) Unfortunately I'm expecting a Zombie Stormtrooper Battle Pack so I doubt this happens for numerous reasons. Besides, if that mobile game is any indication, we're more likely to get Gree & the 41st yet again. I’m curious if non-Lego anniversaries are going to become more front-loaded in order to be part of the May the 4th & Celebration festivities, like how all the Pahtnom Menace sets were this year. In any case, I expect TLG will give us a smattering of ROTS sets like with TPM. Mostly adult stuff (e.g. ARC-170 poly, midi-scale ship [Venator?], a diorama [but nothing as grand as we'd hope e.g. Anakin instead of Kit, Tiin, & Kolar]*, and a May the 4th ROTS UCS [Jedi Interceptor(s), perhaps]). It's been enough time since the micro-scale Hogwarts that I think they could've pipelined a Temple and circled the ROTS anniversary for the synergy. If they continue the scaled buildable characters (e.g. Chewy, R2, 3PO), Yoda seems like a natural choice (history of buildable Yoda and, again, ROTS anniversary synergy). And then, unfortunately, just 1-2 system scale sets (imo Obi & Boga vs. Crab Droid & Cody would hit a lot of boxes). And of course a roughly equal smattering of OT sets (been a while since Vader's Tie, for example) plus 1-2 for the various shows (maybe that Bad Batch V-Wing). Overall, yeah, I'd expect a similar release format. * an Ani v. Obi falling pillar tensegrity build could be great but it seems far fetched. ***Revised to focus more on why I'm expecting certain things to more-so answer the CloneCommando99's Q and come off less wish-listy.***

I’m at least expecting an upgraded helmet for Paz. Mando (Dura & Baskar variants) both look way better, and Bo’s latest helmet is a work. His current looks a bit derpy compared to his latest remnant-era counterparts.

TheBrickFan is reporting the BARC Speeder Escape is $21.99. Unless I missed it here, it was thought to be $29.99. That certainly makes it more bearable. I’m more OK paying $16.50 (standard 20% discount) for the figs. I might’ve read future Battle Packs are being bumped up to the same price (?), too. Since both have “four” figures, this price point makes much more sense.

Maybe how the piece(s) interact with the Sail Barge? Welp, I saw the thread had the "HOT" tag and assumed whatever I was about to read about was going to be an April Fools... so I didn't get excited... until your post. Thanks for confirming (as much as can be confirmed on 4/1, anyways lol). This is easily the best news of the year for Lego. As much as I like collecting minifigures, what really makes it enjoyable are builds to dis/play with them. Hope these Jabba sets look worthy of the UCS/MBS tag.

I’m not saying the designers didn’t to the best they could within the parameters they were given. I’m saying Lego didn’t do they best they could. The organization’s own processes & rigidity forgives the designers on some level, but not TLG.

BARC Speeder Escape is exactly what I expected yet I'm still disappointed for some reason. Maybe it's the lamp post. I realize MandoKnight is a stan (you're not just saying this for the memes??) but, really, if they're trying to max out the value why not another figure or a new figure/mold instead of the 501st Troopers? Are you sure that lamp is going to add as much "world building" as you think it is when you take away all of the marketing & just have the set in hand/on a normal table? I wanted more fig(s) from the Infiltrator but I'm not surprised, just disappointed. I'll BrickLink Beq, Saw & some extra poncho(s) eventually - along with Malak. I think there's 3 sets this whole year that actually have me interested from a build perspective: Tantive, Jabba's Sail Barge & Jabba's Desert Skiff - and the last two are TBD. Maybe the Death Star, Paz vs. Moff, and/or the Peridia sets will surprise me. That's 10-20% on 30+ sets. Jang does/did these videos where he steps back & compares what you can get in Lego for $X compared to another non-Lego toy and I think it's brought to consciousness the best way of Star Wars collecting for me. Like yesterday I found the Hasbro Black Series Captain Rex helmet on sale for $79 (score!). My 3-year old has been running around in it non-stop. Yes, I got a little lucky finding it on clearance so early (it just came out) but if you're patient & pay attention, you can find most non-Lego products at fairly deep discounts. Here in the USA, while 20% off Lego is practically a guarantee sometime within 6-12 months... it's a game of chicken trying to get anything for less than that (e.g. Black Friday the year its retiring). Respect to you guys that collect the Lego helmets but under no circumstances does it make any sense, personally, to spend, say, $56 on a Lego Captain Rex helmet when I knew eventually I could get the Black Series version for under $100. And now you have Micro Galaxy Squadron, too. I'm going to be selling a few of my Lego ships because MGS is way more accurate than Lego while being less money & space. (e.g. How somebody said Lego downsized the big stuff & upsizes the small stuff so the scales aren't even close.) Lego starfighters like the '18 X-Wing, RO Y-Wing, & RO U-Wing are legitimately great builds but they're so big & there's not a lot of playability with the size (my kids can attest). So I'm transitioning to a collection of minifigure scale locations & MGS spaceships. (Yavin might be my favorite way of putting this off - microscale on the outside, minifig on the inside. Picture below.) Funny thing is, I don't think that even affects how I would've spent on this year's lineup (except maybe the Interceptor if I'd been a non-minifig scale UCS collector) as we've had better versions of the Infiltrator, X-Wing & Tie (most likely), and Falcon already. Shame so much of Lego's Star Wars portfolio has become non-minifigure scale adult stuff & the minifigure scale stuff is fairly weak.

"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have our revenge." works on a number of levels. It's not in the scene but it's about the Duel in a lot of ways. The first "reveal" is a sneak attack. Darth Maul truly reveals himself to the Jedi on Naboo. It's after that duel that the truth of the Sith still being around is revealed to the Jedi. Darth Maul begins their revenge on Qui-Gon, which sets up the long-term revenge through Anakin. And on revenge, well, this quote probably puts it best: "While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself." I've seen some MOCs. I think something as simple as one of the catwalks around the glowl-y pillar would be cool but the scenes around the shaft works, too.

I would guess Lego sees this as either a counter to or an opportunity because of all the factory Rex minifigs that didn’t/don’t include pauldrons. I bet there’s a lot of people that bought the factory minifig & reported to Lego that “their Venator” was “missing” the pauldron. So it’s like, OK, well, let’s just make it available on PAB & charge a mark-up on it. Regardless of my speculation, I do hope you’re right about the piece being included in the Y-Wing. It’d become a rather slimy move on their part to omit it & simultaneously have it on PAB for $7–effectively expect people to spend $20 to get the full figure. I mean, it’d be better than not being able the cloth at all, but it still wouldn’t be a great look.

It looks like the Padme hair (13251) piece. Who's the Hoth rebel on the left supposed to be? The guy from Cheers or another character?

Both arguments are valid enough to say that Rey, Vader, or neither are all possibilities. Hopefully it's neither so we can have one more Anniversary figure but I'm keeping expectations low & assuming Vader until we receive more information: - Non-Skywalker Saga Films: Rogue One Saw - Lucas-era TV: TCW Fives - Lucas-era Gaming: KOTOR Malik - Disney-era TV (Live Action): Kenobi Leia - Disney-era Gaming: Fallen Order Cal - Literature (Novels/Comics): Comics White Vader* * I'm going to guess that if it's not Vader, it'll be from Disney-era TV (Animation), so either Rebels, Bad Batch, Tales of the Jedi, or Visions. RIP I knew he's been around a while but I didn't realize he was 76. (I had the same thought about Fennic's age.) Hollywood, man.