The Stud

I've bought a bunch of custom minifigs and parts this past month. Dedra Meero from BlackMarketBricks. Cobb Vanth, Saw Gerrera, Survivor Merrin, Nightsister Zombie, Taron Malicos and the Rebels clone trio from BrickDaddyMinifigures. I also got an extra of their Cassian figure to upgrade my one of the official Rogue One figures. Custom hairpieces for Survivor Merrin and Baylan Skoll from AV Figures, as well as some parts to make a custom Second Sister minifigure. Mon Mothma, Asajj Ventress and Rebels S3 Sabine torso and legs from GCC. (Just waiting for these to ship out.) As for sets, I took advantage of some stellar deals I found this month. I got two of the 75288 AT-ATs off Amazon for $50 off each, bringing my total of playset AT-ATs to three just in time before this set retires. I also got the 75331 UCS Razor Crest off of Shop@Home for 30% off with double VIP points and the 40597 Scary Pirate Island promo.

Couldn't have said it better myself (though I've only been collecting for about 16 years, not 24 haha). I'd been awaiting for the theme to return for years and honestly, part of me would have preferred for it to remain dormant versus getting a half-a**ed attempt of a reboot. I don't know what disappointed me most: the cancellation and silence for the Temple of Doom, nothing made for the new film, lack of fanfare around the theme's return. The fact that all three sets we did get were so fantastic makes it so much worse. I do want to try to recreate the cancelled Temple of Doom set someday. I'm sure someone will eventually reverse engineer it and put up instructions on Rebrickable, if someone hasn't already. This whole Indy situation, Lego's recent pricing and some other factors really put a damper on the hobby for the first half of this year for me, and nearly drove me into a dark age.

I used to think a UCS Venator was a pipe dream but we have one available right now. A MBS Geonosis set is definitely plausible in my eyes now. It would probably have to be preceded by some AOTC sets so they could reuse some of those figures in that set. I'm late to the party but getting fan-favorite characters for the 25th Anniversary of Lego Star Wars is a pleasant surprise. I never would have thought that we'd be getting an official Fives figure but here we are. I'm happy for the KOTOR fans to get Malak as well. The Tantive IV playset is something that keeps getting better and better. A playset that could be expanded like the Dark Trooper hallway was already a lot more appealing than the previously rumored diorama format. Now we know that the set includes Vader, Antilles, TWO Stormies and TWO Rebel Fleet Troopers which is already a much more generous minifig selection than I was expecting. Now we know we're also getting a (presumably P2) Fives figure in this set!? Seven figures in a $55 playset? Honestly sounds like a pretty good deal for a Star Wars set. The only way things could get better is if we get a proper ANH Vader in the set since most of the figures will probably be reuses anyway. Hopefully the build is pretty solid. I think I might get extras like the Dark Trooper Attack set to make a longer hallway. It'll also be great for army building. Between this set and the Clone/Battle Droid set, it's already looking like a pricy year for us army builders.

Now that Ahsoka's said and done, I think it would be a good idea to write out a list of what sets I could realistically see us getting from this series down the line.

They at least give us something to talk about, and solving his clues can be fun. This year was the 20th Anniversary of the original KOTOR game so it is interesting timing. Especially with the new KOTOR remake is on shaky ground right now after all. I have some mixed feelings on the Ahsoka finale and show as a whole, but overall, I greatly enjoyed it. Yeah, Andor was great and is some of the best live-action Star Wars media we've ever gotten, but in terms of fun, this is the most fun I've had with one of these shows since The Mandalorian season 2. I still definitely think we'll get at least 2-3 more sets.

Assuming that Ahsoka's T-6 Shuttle is around for the long haul, I think we could see a remake of it within the next couple years. Maybe for Filoni's movie, along with a more accurate Mando N-1 remake. Through the three sets we've gotten, I think the first half of Ahsoka's been covered really well, though there are some things I'd still like to see of course (the Eta-class shuttle, Sabine's speeder bike, her Lothal outfit, a Lothcat figure, HK droids). With only one episode to go, I think we just need another set or two to sufficiently cover this series, or season rather. As for the Skeleton Crew set, it doesn't surprise me whatsoever to hear that it may be on hold. Probably only for a couple months but still.

The current X-Wing playset is due to retire at the end of this year. Since we're bound to get our obligatory remake soon after, it'd be a nice change of pace to maybe get Carson Teva's X-Wing. The dude deserves it given how much he's appeared in these Mando-verse shows.

Honestly, I've loved just about every one of the new Trooper variants we got in the anthology films. Rogue One's Death Troopers and Shoretroopers are so cool. Their respective black and tan color schemes compliment the classic Stormtrooper so well. I'm dying for Lego to do some sort of Scarif battle pack with all three types together. Shout out goes to the Tank Troopers that are also from Rogue One, as well as their Juggernaut colleagues from The Mandalorian (though we've never gotten this design in Lego before). From Solo, we got the Patrol Troopers. While their battle pack from the Solo wave wasn't super massable, as we never see them in large numbers aside from the opening level of Jedi Survivor, it was a solid set in its own right. The design of a stormtrooper mixed with traffic cop is just fun. The Mimban Stormtrooper was also a dope design, especially with that cape, and I wish we got these guys in a battle pack.

No problem! I think it's interesting that they specifically mentioned the Gauntlet because I'd like to see them do a larger version with the color scheme of the 2011 set and a tad more interior space than that and the 2021 set. I think that, some sort of playset and a Beskar Trooper battle pack would be sufficient to cover the rest of the season. (As cool as Gorian Shard's ship would be too, I don't see Lego dedicating a $100+ set to that over some other things they could do next year). It's funny how "secretive" they think they were for those things in Mando season 3 when I remember seeing rumors about IG-12 and Praetorian Guards a full year before the season started, plus some sketches of Gideon and the Beskar Trooper designs surfaced in advance as well. I've said this before in a previous post but I could see next summer's wave being remniscent of summer 2021 which played a lot of catch-up for TCW Season 7 and Mando Season 2. I think 2-3 sets each for Mando season 3 and Ahsoka is plausible, especially since there's going to be a bit of a lull in terms of new content next year.

Well, I think you'll be able to consider 2024 a good year lol. I'm sure we'll get at least another set or two to finish covering Mando S3 since the show probably won't return until 2025 at least so they're going to want to have some other Mando sets in the mean time. If I recall correctly, one of the blogs talked to a Lego Star Wars designer who mentioned that those last two episodes gave them a lot of ideas? (Here it is: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-designers-the-mandalorian-s3-inspiring) Something, something, rebellions are built on hope. No spoilers but a clip for tonight's Ahsoka episode released earlier and it is perfect material for a $30-40 set.

Oh yeah, it's definitely not a problem in a broad sense. I just meant the problem with getting a midi-scale version is that it wouldn't come with these figures we want like a playset version would come with. I definitely agree they should capitalize on this demand sooner rather than later as opposed to waiting for the Filoni movie to do a Chimera playset. I think the mostly positive reaction to this show, plus having the next few shows more spread out, will give us a good opportunity to get some more Ahsoka sets next year.

I'm thinking the Kelleran Beq set will have 501st Troopers too since it's at a similar price point to the army builder set that will have the other two clone variants that would have made sense here anyway. I think 3 troopers is a bit optimistic though, I'd say one or two tops. As much as I'd like to see a standard Gunship playset in the near future, I find it very unlikely until the Coruscant Gunship is gone. You refer to getting two Poe's X-Wings close to each other but that was a very different and unique situation that happened seven years ago. Like a lot of other companies, Lego was riding the hype of TFA and releasing a ton of sets related to it. It's very uncommon to have two of the same ship at the same scale at the same time, let alone a ship that would cost over $100 like the Gunship. No way Skeleton Crew is getting pushed back to 2025. No one has indicated that. It was supposed to be a late 2023 release but it's clearly been pushed into 2024. Even if the show did get pushed back by a full year right now, the set could potentially be put on hold like Marvel's Eternals sets were but it'd be way too late to just release another set in its place. From the shows that should conceivably be ready next year, we're probably going to see Skeleton Crew late winter/early spring, The Acolyte in late summer/early fall and I have no clue for The Bad Batch season 3. Tales of the Jedi season 2 is possible at some point next year as well since we have no idea where they're at in production or how many episodes there will be. Even with a deal with the Writer's Guild now being tentatively finalized and a deal with the SAG likely not far behind, Andor season 2 is still most likely pushed into 2025. That year could also be when we get Mando season 4 and maybe even the next animated series since The Bad Batch will be wrapped up? As for what all this means for Lego sets, I think 2024 will see less sets based on new media and we'll get some more "catch-up" sets for what we're missing from Mando season 3 and Ahsoka, as well as your obligatory saga and TCW sets. I think Skeleton Crew will just get the one set for now, The Acolyte will get at least one but possibly more and we'll probably get nothing from the animated series. Even without Andor season 2 next year, I think the Fondor with a season one minifigure selection is very possible. It wouldn't be unlike when we get the BD-1 set released around the time Jedi Survivor was originally supposed to release. The problem is that part of the reason people are wanting the Chimera as a playset are the figures it would come with. People want an updated Thrawn as well as some of the new characters and designs like Enoch and the Night Troopers.

Those MODs look fantastic! I just got the official set a week ago and I'm really tempted to try to make some of these MODs to it after I build it. Looks like I might have to place a few more Bricklink projects when I'm done with my current Rebrickable project. Great work!

I've gotten a good number of items in the last few weeks. For starters, I've gotten some more custom minifigures all from BrickDaddyMinfigures. I got Galen Erso a few weeks ago, and I ordered their new Cassian Andor and Bix Caleen figures last night. I've made several Bricklink orders, primarily parts for me to build a custom Stinger Mantis model I found on Rebrickable (https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-101243/dannyfordjohnson/stinger-mantis/#comments) as well as some parts for a few custom figures to also go on my FO/Survivor shelf. I also got a few pieces to upgrade some of the new Ahsoka figures (shoulder pads for Baylan, capes for him and Shin and some faces/arms to go on my Rebels Sabine figures to match the skin tone on the new figure). As for sets, I recently got two more 75345 501st Specialist packs off of Amazon with a gift card I had. I have five of those now and I think that's enough of that particular battle pack for me, aside from maybe getting a spare one to keep sealed. My birthday was on Monday so I treated myself to all three of the new Ahsoka sets (75357, 75362 and 75364) at the Lego Store. I also got some sets as gifts from my family. I got 75363 N-1 Microfighter, 75361 Spider Tank and a whopping five copies of 75359 332nd Battle Pack from different family members.

Man, this clone/battle droid pack sounds absolutely amazing. The builds may be a bit underwhelming due to their diminutive size (I am happy to finally have some STAPs in my collection though), but this is arguably an even better army builder than 75280 because you're able to build up both factions and the clones included are less specific than the 501st Legion. Being able to easily build up P2 shinies and also having a cheaper option to get some Coruscant Guard/Shock troopers is huge. It's also nice to be able to get 3 Super Battle Droids in this set alone after not getting any in eight years and more B1s are always nice. I ended up with 15 copies of 75280 (actually 16 but I recently gave one to a friend) and I think I'm going to want to get even more copies of this set if it's as good as it sounds. As for the battle pack discussion, I also hope to see Lego starting to give us more. Getting two this year versus one (2022) or none (2021) was nice, even if they were both clone troopers. Really, besides some of the ridiculous prices, not getting a lot of small sets (particularly small sets that are actually good) has been one of the biggest weaknesses with modern Lego Star Wars. If ever there was a time to be doing four battle packs a year, it's now.