Kit Figsto

I appreciate you giving a good explanation of your position on it! I think I've always been a person that never used battle packs as a way to amass figures (ie buying multiples) and moreso as someone that used them as a way to get interesting figures for cheap. So, stuff like the Bounty Hunter BP, or the Tatooine BP or Jedi and Clone BP were great sets to me, because it gave me useful/formerly rare/desirable figures in a cheap set. Now, I definitely see the appeal of amassing a big army, but I guess that's just never been my thing, so I've never taken an issue with a BP that isn't as conducive to army building, especially in a case like this where you could still get away with adding these figures to your clone army without too much of an issue, at least in my opinion. But, to each their own, and I can understand why some people would've rather gotten something else.

To be completely honest, regarding the 501st battle pack, am I blind, or is there not really that big of a difference in the figures to where it's completely sacrilegious to place those figures with other 501st clones? Because, I'm really not seeing it. The one guy has different arms, and the heavy troopers have a bandolier over their armor? Even if there is that big of a difference, I feel like to 95% of consumers, they aren't going to notice or really care that much, it's just the people very invested in clone collecting that will. Like, I just don't think it's fair to write it off as "this battle pack isn't actually that good" (I'm not saying anyone on this forum has said that, but I have seen that opinion expressed online) because of some very slight differences in printing. It's also one of those things where I 100% guarantee people would be complaining just as much, probably more, if they just re-used the 501st clones from the last set. *Ducks down to avoid flying objects in my direction* EDIT: I will say, though, I understand annoyance with getting another 501st pack so quickly after the last one, my guess as to why it went 501st is probably because - the last one sold well - clones with color are more visually appealing than plain white clones, especially to casual buyers/kids - there aren't really that many legions that we could realistically get a BP for. Other than the 501st, there's the 212th (already in a set this year, so I would assume they didn't want to double up on those yet), Kashyyyk troopers (cool looking, but not sure if they'd be more appealing than the 501st to a general consumer), 332nd (would definitely have been cool), 327th (I would've liked to get this, but if given the option between 501st and 327th, I feel like the 501st is more recognizable), or Wolfpack (I would absolutely love this, but I feel like it's never going to happen since TCW ended). Point being, I agree that it would've been nice to get a different legion, but I feel like writing this BP off strictly because it's slightly different 501st clones doesn't make sense to me personally.

I feel like it's a very "case by case basis" sort of thing. I do think there's some merit to the argument that having two on shelves at the same time would cannibalize sales of at least one, but it would mainly be a problem if both products launched at the same time, and I think that would only be a problem for certain vehicles. With respect to the AT-AT and Falcon being on shelves as both a UCS and regular model, they're so far apart in price that it's a non-factor. The average consumer and/or kid going for the playscale model at $160 isn't the target consumer at all for the person that will drop $800 for a LEGO set, so having an enormous one on the shelves at the same time as a regular one isn't really a big deal. With the Falcon especially, it's iconic enough to where they could put it out at the same time as a playscale Falcon and both would still sell, partially due to the price difference, but also just because it's popular enough to always have one on shelves. With the X-Wing, it's probably the most famous SW vehicle (either that or the Falcon, I would say?), so having a large display version for $200 and a playscale version for $40-50 doesn't really matter too much, both will sell well because of the popularity (as evidenced by the fact that the playscale version has been on the shelves since January of 2021, when several sets from the summer of 2021 have already retired). Again, it's also important to have the cheaper one for kids or average consumers who want something with minifigures and that's more play-centric, as opposed to the larger one aimed more at adults who grew up on the OT, or hardcore LEGO fans. With respect to the Gunship, I feel like the UCS vs. playscale version thing would only be an issue if they launched both at the same time. I feel like the demand for a playscale Gunship is actually higher than a UCS one (I have no evidence to support this, but at least online, more people seem to be interested in a minifigure scale model), so if they put out a $160 one and a $400 at the same time, I would guess more people would gravitate towards the cheaper one with more minifigures (probably including some desirable clone) and more playability over the large display model. Again, that's just my conjecture based on what I've seen from various social media outlets and boards. In this case, though, the Gunship's already been out for a while (and must've sold pretty well, as there are several other UCS models that retired sooner in recent memory), so I feel like launching a playscale version wouldn't matter. I'd guess by now that most people who wanted the UCS Gunship have purchased it, so I don't think having a smaller one would really cannibalize sales of the big one. We also saw this with the Razor Crest, where the small one was out for about a year, and then the UCS one was launched. I'm also guessing that the small one has sold incredibly well, because I believe it's still available, and it also must've signaled that it was worth making the first non-movie UCS model (even before we got any sequel based D2C sets! Like, if you told me we'd be getting a UCS Razor Crest before a Kylo Ren helmet, I don't think I would've believed you).

Was wondering if anyone had suggestions/advice or possibly even knew the answer to this: I didn't love Bad Batch Season 1, just though it was kinda meh overall, so I wasn't particularly inclined to buy a $100 set just to get the Bad Batch minifigures. Season 2 came out and I've been liking it a lot more to where I've been thinking "Hm, it would be cool to have the minifigures," especially as I'm concerned this will get the Rebels treatment of "sets during the run of the show and then literally nothing ever again" except I'm not even sure if we'd get anything after the Justifier retires. Of course, I made this decision three months after the Bad Batch shuttle retired. I've scoured basically every site I can find, and nowhere seems to have it in stock, whether it's a big box retailer or smaller toy store (and believe me, I've checked websites for probably 50+ toy stores around the US, and somehow almost every single one still has some retired LEGO, but not a single one has the shuttle). I've got a few toy stores locally that I might check, because none have websites, but I can't remember if I've ever seen them selling large sets like that. I'm happy to pay retail price, I just don't want to pay eBay/Bricklink prices, which are now $120-140 (plus shipping). Does anyone know of any stores in the US that might still sell it where I could order from? Or even any LEGO-specific toy stores online that might still have it in stock? I've checked a couple that I know of, but none had it.

I don't think there's really any rhyme or reason to how many minifigures we get with ships, it's pretty much all over the place. The only real patterns seem to be that we tend to get at least two (regardless of the ship size), and that every "seat" can be filled (if there's two cockpit seats plus space for a droid, they'll provide enough to fit there, or if it's a ship + two speeders, there's enough to pilot everything at once). But, the $40-50 X-Wing has four figures (two that you can directly interact with the ship, Luke and R2, and two side characters, Leia and Dodonna), while the $160 Justifier also has four figures plus Todo 360, even though the $160 Imperial Light Cruiser had 5 figures plus Grogu. Then you've got the Grievous starship, which was $80 and came with three figures, despite being $20 less than the Bad Batch ship, that came with five figures plus Gonky. Point being, I think we can safely assume each ship will have one pilot, and it seems like a reasonable conjecture that the Fang Fighter will follow the pattern of the last two Gauntlet fighters that each had space for two figures in the cockpit, which would suggest a second Mandalorian figure. Other than that, I feel like the best case is to expect three minifigures and be pleasantly surprised if we get more.

Hm, that's interesting. I assume it will be either one of the two Kenobi versions or the one from the Jedi Starfighter, since those are the only Obi-Wans in production right now. A Kenobi version would be cool.

To be fair, Promobricks basically words everything like that. Like, even stuff that’s really obvious and you don’t need to really be an insider to figure out, they still tend to do that. When they put out info saying they were revealing a Mando set this week, their post said something like “it might be based on Ep 2” when it was pretty obviously going to be.

I don't remember any of the sets being particularly difficult to find (with the exception of Peril in Peru, which I believe was a TRU exclusive? So it was "difficult" in the sense that not everywhere carried it). I actually got my 7623 (the original Idol Temple set) on clearance at the LEGO store, though I think it was very deep into that set's production run (i would wager a guess I bought it in either the fall of 2009 or spring of 2010). However, there was definitely a lot more hype from LEGO about the release of the sets. I remember a 2008 catalog having Indy on the cover and the initial wave of sets being the first things featured, there were also some Comic-Con exclusives, a Brickmaster polybag tie in, and a video game. There was definitely a lot of excitement about the original wave that hasn't been present here. I'm more just confused than anything. I'm not upset with LEGO or anything, but it's really just odd if it truly will be only these three sets and nothing else. I know KotCS wasn't well-liked, but that didn't really change anyone's perspective on the old movies, and I think James Mangold's successes as a director lead a lot of people (myself included) to believe that this will end up being a good conclusion to the Indy saga, so I don't think it's a "the movie won't do well." I also just straight up refuse to believe the theories people are throwing around that "they're afraid of the set content being controversial." First off, if that were the case, there's no way they'd let people spread leaked pictures of the ToD set. Unlike the Osprey or dynamite factory situation, there were no official pictures circulating, the only official proof circulating was just the not-updated descriptions that mentioned ToD. LEGO had no reason to let those pictures get circulated further by LAN members if they truly were concerned with the content being controversial. So...if the DoD sets truly aren't coming, what caused it?

I feel like in general, 99% of Instagram or YouTube "leakers" aren't reliable sources at all. There are individuals that have gotten things right in the past, and then been completely off the mark on stuff later on. Then there's the people who just repost/re-report rumors from IG/Eurobricks, and then it becomes a game of telephone where Eurobricks/IG then takes that as "fact" and suddenly in six months, when a set doesn't include Clone Commander Poop, everyone is confused about where that idea came from in the first place. To be honest, there's a little over a handful of people/accounts with insider information that I think you can actually trust to be accurate and not just making BS up for the sake of clicks, and pretty much all of them reside on EB. Granted, I know there's a few people who typically only report on SW stuff, which is the only theme I really follow leaks for anyway, so not sure outside of SW.

Man, the more I see the Bo-Katan figure, the more impressed I am with it. Like, this looks like a UCS-quality figure in terms of having printing everywhere (printed arms!), new molded hair, and they recolored the helmet to match the live action version. The version we have now works well for the animated version (the hair they used isn't like 100% accurate, but I feel like it's good enough for her TCW/Rebels appearances), but this is just a stellar minifig. I hope she comes in some other sets, too, though I will probably end up getting this set on sale regardless.

I fully agree, but I think the cause for concern is that there haven't been any updated retail listings in a while, from what we've heard, at least? Like, it makes total sense to keep the sets themselves deep under wraps, but no listing is just really strange. The exception is that if they're either a S@H/brand store or retailer exclusive, because it seems like those can pop out of nowhere. Which, if you think about it, wouldn't make a ton of sense in terms of widespread sales, but would make a whole lot of sense in terms of preventing leaks, because there's no retail catalogs or anything that can possibly disclose information.

Wow, that Bo-Katan minifigure looks absolutely fantastic, probably one of the best SW minifigures in recent memory! The robot itself looks good, but the price seems a bit high for the actual size of it. I know piece-wise it's reasonable, but it seems like a lot of small parts. I'll probably wait until it inevitably gets marked down to $35-40 and get it then. I'm assuming the designers didn't have access to material that showed the actual robot guy, because I imagine otherwise he'd have been included, since it could've most likely been built out of standard parts without needing a new mold.

Yes, yes, yes! That's what I was hoping it'd be, fingers crossed that it's a

Interesting. I'm still not sure what to make of it. I'm absolutely convinced it wasn't cancelled/delayed for company guideline purposes (the exception being if they decided to re-work the statue of Kali and push the release date back), because I can't see them giving the okay for blogs/YouTubers to show leaked pictures (seriously, when has that EVER happened before? Not even due to something like this, but just letting them publish leaked pics at all) if that were the case. If it's not that, it would either be the result of a structural issue (in which case a delay makes sense)...or...what else?