jdubbs

So certain are you?

The problem with the current approach — a Mando set here, a CW set there, an OT set or two mixed in — is that, without at least 4-5 sets from a single movie or show out at once, LEGO is inevitably gong to concentrate on the same "hero" vehicles/characters in each of those sets. The likelihood of getting an obscure character or ship/location goes way down when there are just a few sets from a given show/series out within the year. Say what you want about TFA sets dominating the lineup for over a year, but that approach allowed virtually every conceivable ship/character from that movie to get released. Contrast that with Andor or Obi-Wan Kenobi or Book of Boba which got just one or two sets each... if all you want are X-Wings and TIEs and Jedi Starfighters, the current approach is great. Otherwise, very limiting...

Oh, was it in the movie? It's been a while. I remember there was some deleted scene with them... maybe some standoff between them and Vader?

They left before the duel started. (No, really... there was a deleted scene that showed the Emperor dismissing them...)

Inaccurate because it doesn't (appear to) include the cyborg guy who pilots it? Or something else?

Yeah, LEGO is going to keep re-releasing these ad infinitum, that's just a fact of life. Does it need to be to quite this extent, though? I would say no. We happen to have all 3 on shelves at the moment, but that's not always been the case, and as we get further from the OT/ST and more and more new media crowds the space, I would hope maybe LEGO could evolve to "1 of those 3 should be on shelves" rather than 2 or all 3 as we've been getting the last 5-6 years. I also think the Falcon's continued appearance in the ST (and Solo) helped keep it on LEGO's radar. Since it's unlikely to appear in new media for the foreseeable future, I could see them scaling back — way back — on how often they re-release it. They haven't done a System ISD in a long, long time (sure, other sets are similar), and if they feel the need to do an iconic OT flagship set, I think that could come first at this point, esp. if the current Falcon is somehow still on shelves this Christmas. That said, I would prefer almost anything else over these three sets, the Falcon especially. With only one or two slots each year large enough to support "big" ships, it's a real drag that it chews up a slot every few years. I would love to see an Imperial Cargo Shuttle, or a Fondor Haulcraft, or an AT-ACT, or Dryden's Yacht... just, something new. But sadly most of those simply won't ever happen.

No.

And I really hope it's many years after that.

Okay, while Rex may not be "just another clone", he is yet another clone. Which we've gotten a LOT of lately... in the last 5 years we've had phase 1 clones, phase 2 clones, defective clones, airborne clones, specialist clones, white clones, orange clones, blue clones, purple clones, flame yellow clones, more blue clones, and more blue clones after that... it's a lot of friggin clones. And, for some of us, there is more to the PT than just clones. There was a time when a set like the AT-TE would come with a few new Jedi and then a BP would come out allowing you to mass up the corresponding clones... to me that made a lot more sense than cramming clones (and nothing but clones) by the bucketful into every PT set imaginable. I get that the kids love them, I get that they're cheap and easy to make, but if would be nice if there were a bit more, shall we say, balance to the lineup? Because lately it seems really lopsided in favor of one type of character at the expense of everything else...

Dude. At least try to be respectful of others' opinions. I disagree with a lot of you on many, many topics, but I don't reduce your comments to "blah blah" or call you morons.

I’ll be honest I don’t understand the obsession with either Rex or the Gunship. Rex feels like a character the more vocal complainers in the fandom defaulted to once they could no longer obsess about Cody. Not in any movies, yes very prominent in the cartoon but still, he’s just a clone. One of literally millions. One that essentially boils down to a slight variation in deco on existing parts. The gunship meanwhile has been done at least twice now, is readily available on the aftermarket, has been moc’ed many times, can be built from bricklinked parts, etc. Yes, at a price but honestly not that much higher than whatever Lego will eventually charge for a new one. I don’t mean to yuk on anyone’s yum but rather to say that there seem to be much larger holes when it comes to PT representation in Lego. Ships and locations and scenes that have only been done once or not at all. But especially: minifigs… there are, what, 20 versions of Padme as yet unmade, and several times that many Jedi, senators, separatists, aliens, and so on. None of which can easily be kitbashed from existing parts or have been made as customs. And, even though I am personally more interested in OT/ST era sets, I for one would rather have new figs and sets from any of the trilogies or eras, than rehashes of stuff that’s either been made before or that’s only vaguely differentiated…

At some point there will be another system-scale gunship. It is almost inevitable, someday. But every year folks on this forum whip themselves into a frenzy thinking this is gonna be the year, and what starts as a wish turns into a rumor turns into a fact turns into massive disappointment once everyone is ultimately reminded... it was just a wish. Someday, yes, that wish will be fulfilled... at which point a hundred people will pop out of the woodwork making comments like "I'm so glad I was right about the gunship" while conveniently forgetting the many years when they predicted the same thing and were wrong, and conveniently ignoring the fact that everyone else predicted it too, because it was easy to predict. Full disclosure: I don't know whether this set everyone is so worked up about is a gunship or not. The fact that I don't suggests to me it's a store exclusive (I haven't checked... I don't honestly care at this point), which further suggests it's not a gunship, since that ship has wide enough appeal to do quite well as a broader mainline release. Still, it could be. But to say that it has to be, or that it almost certainly is, or even that it most likely is... that's wish fulfillment at work. And if you insist on rationalizing why it's not, then it's possibly delusion at work. A set this size could just as easily, and perhaps even more likely be... a Fondor Haulcraft. A Ghost. Some other, unknown set from Ahsoka. Some unknown set from The Mandalorian. Hell, a scaled-down Millennium Falcon, to go with your scaled-down X- and Y-Wings. A statue... B2EMO perhaps. Or a gonk droid. Or a life-sized mouse droid. Or an Ewok. Or... it could be a gunship. The point is: a gunship might be inevitable some year. It isn't inevitable this year. (Unless it is.)

You guys have once again fallen in the trap of thinking that LEGO is somehow beholden to all these anniversaries and duty-bound to treat them all equally. When the reality is that neither has ever been the case. Most anniversaries have gone by with no meaningful support at all. Whether LEGO chooses to support the RotJ anniversary with two sets or twenty, has no bearing at all on how they will support the CW anniversary. And to try to further contort that all into proof you are getting a gunship... well, that dog won't hunt.

You've seen the box art for all three quotes sets, and both UCS sets? Please, do share...

Okay, fine. But we're really splitting hairs here...