Kaijumeister

It’s definitely weird that we’re almost in June and still don’t have at least full descriptions of the summer sets. Information is being leaked at a glacial pace. Initially I just interpreted that to mean there’s not much to look forward to from the wave, but getting updates on things like the new pauldrons / return of Commando Droids etc. reinvigorates some optimism that there may be more pleasant surprises on the way. For your second (quoted) point, That leak came from @TandNbricks - pretty sure they confirmed that Redwood was indeed the Death Star rather than an Endor set.

Nice to see Commando Droids returning after 11 years, presumably they won’t be redesigned. So many moulds are being resurrected this year. I’d love to get a redesigned Magnaguard at some point.

Loving the walletbuster™️ wave @Mandalorianknight. This is such a great thread. Some stuff from me, none are particularly creative but these are all things I’ve been wanting from this theme (particularly from the Jedi games) and I’m trying to keep them somewhat realistic and risk-averse… - Imperial Purge Trooper Battle Pack (£17.99): Includes 2 standard Purge Troopers, 1 Electrostaff Purge Trooper, and a Riot Scout Trooper. Build would consist of a weapons rack and buildable DT Sentry Droid. - Battle of Christophsis (£34.99): Includes an accurately scaled BARC speeder and Christophsis terrain build. Includes TCW Season 1 Anakin Skywalker (with dual moulded and printed arms), Phase I Captain Rex (with printed arms), a Magnaguard, and a B1 Battle Droid. - Second Sister’s TIE Interceptor (£59.99): Includes Trilla Suduri (with alternative hairpiece), Purge Trooper Commander, and Cal Kestis (Bracca Scrapper variant with poncho). - Ambush on Jedha (£59.99): Imperial AT-ST with Jedha terrain side build. Includes Cal Kestis (Bomber Outfit with new BD-1 mould that can fit on his back), Merrin (with green action effect pieces from the Superheroes theme), AT-ST Driver, and a KX Security Droid. - Sienar TIE Avenger (£59.99): Includes Cassian Andor (Test Pilot disguise with helmet and dual moulded arms), Imperial Range Trooper (with flick fire rocket launcher), Imperial Stormtrooper, and small droid build. - Bode Akuna’s Z-95 Headhunter (£59.99): Includes Bode Akuna, Imperial Patrol Trooper, and Senator Daho Sejan. - Fondor Haulcraft (£89.99). A somewhat downscaled version of the Haulcraft that can hold 2-3 minifigures and can accommodate a small speeder bike. Includes Luthen Rael (with alternate hairpieces and dual-sided Barbie / Oppenheimer expressions), Cassian Andor, Saw Gerrera, and Benthic Two-Tubes. - Stinger Mantis (£159.99): Based on Jedi: Survivor. Includes Cal Kestis (main Survivor outfit), BD-1, Greez Dritus, Cere Junda, Dagan Gera (with transparent arm), and 2 Bedlam Raiders. I think the £59.99 price point used for this year’s ARC-170, U-Wing, and V-19 Torrent has so much potential for sets that can balance solid builds with great minifigure lineups. Hopefully we’ll see more of those next year.

3 seasons would have been the sweet spot IMO, sometimes so much has been happening in between the time jumps that pacing the story out more would have helped. All the same, I’m thoroughly happy with getting 2 seasons of this quality and the approach of S1 being an exploration of Cassian becoming a revolutionary and S2 tracking his growth as a Rebel worked perfectly.

By this point last year and years prior, I could swear we had some firm details around the summer sets. At least fairly detailed textual descriptions. Right now outside of the (admittedly fun) sketches the and occasional ‘the CTT will have at least one wheel’ sort of leak, it’s been incredibly dry. I agree with all these points, but just to highlight a few: - The AT-ST seems like a waste of a slot not being minifigure-scaled, but with the May UCS being a minifigure-scaled ship I guess Lego wanted to scratch their oversized vehicle build itch given that’s what the May UCS sets have been for a while. This would have been an awesome set to do an Endor Bunker build around too. Guess it’s frustrating because we’re already getting an abundance of non-minifigure sets this year as it is. - The $170 - $230 window is indeed a significant one and personally, I would much rather this be used for ships that are too large for standard system sets but not quite large enough to merit an autumn / winter UCS slot. Plenty of Star Wars ships (e.g. the U-Wing) would make for perfect sets if they could use this sort of price point. Again pointing to how well a price point and piece count like the Milano / Benatar would work for Star Wars. - I’m curious as to why we aren’t getting any substantial builds like the Dark Falcon and ISD this year. The CTT and MTT are sounding like extreme downgrades in terms of what we can usually expect from summer flagship models.

It’s a valid concern and one I share, however pauldrons and kamas are also something plenty of Imperial trooper types also use so hopefully this doesn’t portend yet even more excessive clone sets. @Darth_Bane13 I was thinking about the same thing earlier - a UCS U-Wing with a full interior and the full Rogue One team would be a perfect May UCS for next year.

I don’t think Marvel lends itself to the book nook idea the same way Sherlock Holmes / LotR / Harry Potter do which are all inherently literary properties, rather than comic book-based ones. They could lean into the comic book side of things and make colourful and eye catching models / dioramas representing splash pages from the classic comics. That’s one way to respect the medium this entire theme wouldn’t exist without.

Wow this sounds awesome. Cloth pauldrons have never really worked because they look squished down most of the time, so a (presumably) dedicated mould for them sounds excellent. So this year if we’re getting a new pauldron piece, supposedly the return of cloth kamas, and a new rangefinder, those are genuinely some much needed upgrades we’ve been needing for quite a while and it opens up a range of possibilities for new troop variants in the future (Day #2009 of asking for a Purge Trooper Battle Pack and a Stinger Mantis). I wonder if we can expect more new helmet accessories this year too. @ArrowBricks I completely agree sets on the same level as the Milano for Star Wars would be fantastic, that was a great post on the Wishlisting Thread. As you’ve pointed out, the gulf between the priciest playscale sets and the cheapest UCS models continues to grow, however these ‘mini-UCS’ playsets would be a goldmine. Star Wars vehicles tend to be exorbitantly large where sometimes only UCS versions are truly to scale (Slave I, Falcon, AT-AT, and the Razor Crest to a degree though one can argue that one was too large), however plenty of large vehicles can still be done at smaller price points that are mostly to minifigure scale. Day #24 of TIE Avenger manifestation.

I don’t know if I’m overreacting (probably am), but not getting a single substantial 1000 piece+ playset this year with a sizeable minifigure selection feels like genuine insanity. Just looking at the past few years: - 2024: Onyx Cinder, Dark Falcon, ISD, and the TIE Fighter & X-Wing mashup. - 2023: Coruscant Guard Gunship, Ghost, E-Wing vs. Fiend Fighter, and Yavin IV. - 2022: Justifier and AT-TE. But honourable mention to the Scythe due to having a good piece count, minifigure selection, and substantial build. And now in 2025, the ‘biggest’ playsets we’re getting this year are the CTT and MTT. @CF Mitch The beginning of July is probably a safe bet for getting those summer pictures. Last year was a little weird because we got some images in May (ISD if I recall), some in June (the Rebuild the Galaxy stuff), and then the rest in July (Desert Skiff and Duel on Peridea). Also @BrickBob Studpants, thanks for correcting me! Completely forgot we’re getting One Piece sets this year

I’ve always seen Syril as someone who wants to see themselves as the hero and who genuinely thinks they’re doing the right thing. Pair that with a desperate need for validation (thanks Eedy…) and voila. In Season 2 Arc 2, I think he’s all caught up in the idea of helping the ISB catch ‘outside agitators’ on Ghorman. He thinks he’s doing the right thing. But one year later by Arc 3, the Empire has been pretending less and less about their true intentions and that’s what makes him snap. He rushes back into the crowd of protestors but almost reflexively, as soon as he sees Cassian his old programming of ‘this is the man who ruined my life’ kicks in and all he can do with his rage and sense of betrayal is attack him. Just my take anyway - I do think the one year time jumps means there’s a lot we don’t see happening and just have to infer. But yeah, this is one of my favourite pieces of Star Wars media (objectively speaking, I don’t think anything in the franchise has been as competently made as Andor). Where Rogue One adds so much weight to ANH, Andor now adds so much weight to Rogue One and the Rebellion as a whole - the sheer amount of sacrifice it took for the Alliance to form. It’s amazing to hear Tony Gilroy, Dan Gilroy, Beau Willimon etc. talk about the scriptwriting process and the sheer amount of thought and collaboration that goes into it. So much work went into this show upfront and it truly shows. I would love to see this sort of due diligence applied to other shows and films too - not everyone is Tony Gilroy and his team nor should they be, but Lucasfilm could learn a lot from this.

Heh, after S2E8 even basing a set on K2 is…interesting. Although he has many more scenes as a heroic and funny character so it’s no big deal. I’m still holding out for the TIE Avenger next year simply because it’s another cool TIE variant. Usually I’m apathetic with TIEs but I love the Avenger. Seeing sketches of the summer sets takes me waaay back to when this was a thing over a decade ago. It does look like Bacara will have a kama (and if so, presumably Bly will too) which is a most welcome change. Still feels so odd having all the summer pictures out now for every theme but Star Wars.

Thanks for the heads up, your stand for Obi-Wan’s Delta-7 is awesome by the way! And yeah I’m going to see how good the playscale one is before buying. CTT sketch looks good, as does Bacara’s helmet. I’m still sad that we (seemingly) aren’t getting a single playscale set with a good piece count and sizeable interior this year.

I quite like it, although I’m not sure if that’s simply because I’ve been wanting a set tackling this scene for goodness knows how long now. It doesn’t blow me away but at the same time, an affordable LotR set that’s minifigure scaled is a win in my book. I think my main wish is that the build had more substance rather than being mostly hollow ‘frames’. It looks great opened up but when folded, most of the flame detail and Dwarven architecture gets hidden. The bridge is quite basic too. However, I do like that the back columns are coloured orange to reflect the Balrog’s glow. That’s a nice touch.

Less than a few weeks out from the official release date is pushing it though I’m personally hoping the LotR book nook is as good as the Sherlock Holmes one (which is fantastic), my hopes are high.

I can see the Ninjago City subtheme continuing to crank out sets every couple of years. My hope is with Njnjago City / Docks / Gardens having retired ages ago, we’re due for a new ‘centrepiece’ expansion on the same level as the original Ninjago City eventually. Seeing the Temple Bounty from more angles, that set is definitely on my must-buy list now. It certainly looks like the Bounty with the most interior we’ve ever gotten.

I can kinda see where he’s coming from, but Witwer really is one of the best people associated with Star Wars. I always respect his takes. Yeah this really annoys me too We know they have the set images all ready to go but are just sitting on them - at least until they inevitably leak and Lego pulls their surprise Pikachu face. It wouldn’t feel as annoying if most other themes’ summer sets hadn’t already been revealed (nor if a set from the Star Wars summer wave hadn’t already been revealed almost a month ago!). I’m beating a dead horse but that buildable K2 or the buildable Wicket should have been a Fondor Haulcraft instead. People have been talking about that ship enough since 2022 for Lego to at least be aware it’s highly requested. I’m planning to pick this set up soon so the continued positive feedback is really encouraging to see Is the stand poorly balanced? I was surprised to see that when watching Jang’s review. Curious to see if there’ll be any highlights from the system-scale Slave I, I know rumours have mentioned the third minifigure will be a Kaminoan but it wouldn’t be the worst set to put Count Dooku in either… What day are we at with the TIE Avenger manifestation now? Anyway I’m on day ## of that.

Personally it’s difficult for me to nail a ‘best’ year, so I’ll just highlight years that I found particularly awesome. 2016: Outstanding Rogue One wave. 2018: A particularly strong year - the Solo sets were excellent and the summer wave was wonderfully diverse. And so many new moulds were introduced! 2021: Lego finally clocked on to the fact that the Mandalorian and Clone Wars are popular. I loved the selection of summer sets. 2022: Introduction of the diorama collection, excellent sets like the Scythe, AT-TE, Ambush on Ferrix etc. 2023: The three Ahsoka sets alone made this a standout year for me. For the worst year in recent history, 2025 takes the cake. I understand we haven’t seen pictures of the summer sets, but for me Lego has gone way too far prioritising midi-scale ships, helmets, buildable characters etc. These novel alternatives to playsets work best when they’re the exception, not the norm. We’re now approaching June, and the only non-4+ or UCS sets containing minifigures are 3 starfighters, a battle pack, a microfighter, and a mech. And then summer comes along and we get a delightful combination of yet another 3 buildable characters and a small handful of clone-focused sets that by all accounts sound rather underwhelming and mostly consist of more clones in more colours. Just a weak year overall. If the summer wave were stronger, I wouldn’t have minded slogging through the deluge of buildable sculptures for the first half of the year. With the lack of ‘new’ content outside of Andor, this would have been the perfect year to catch up on things Lego weren’t able to accommodate within previous years due to other media tie-in commitments.

Yeah, this week’s arc was just…wow. I’m normally more into the mystical Force-related stories but the storytelling and messages in Andor transcend the Star Wars brand entirely. How I wish we got at least one more set from this show, but at the same time I can also understand why we didn’t.

The ‘we want more Andor S2 sets’ monkey’s paw curls and instead of a TIE Avenger, we get a £60 Maya Pei Brigade Battle Pack full of minifigures with new moulds and arm printing. I can see a hypothetical TIE Avenger just including three minifigures; whilst the ARC-170 and U-Wing technically come with four ‘characters’, one of them is a droid in both instances - conversely the V-19 allegedly only includes three minifigures. Yeah I’m wondering if the minifigure lists we currently know of are comprehensive too. I know @Renown said we shouldn’t expect much from the Turbo Tank, but if the MTT includes figures that are more interesting than Aayla and Bly, that may pique my interest. As it stands, the only summer set I feel truly excited for is the V-19 due to the figure selection and getting a starfighter we haven’t seen in 17 years. However the minifigures will truly make or break the set.

I’m pretty sure the microfighter package art is indeed Kadavo, where the Republic rescues a Togruta colony from Zygerrian slavers. As a fun coincidence, the Micro Galaxy Squadron line has also just put out a Z-95 with Warthog (who I think Plo saves during that episode’s dogfighting scenes). To be honest I don’t see Lego spacing out sets any more than they already are. I think the most positive change since the post-2021 shakeup with dioramas / helmets etc. is getting more ‘new’ stuff in May ahead of May 4th, although this year that’s mostly been just buildable <stuff> outside of the U-Wing. With all the August sets being revealed for other themes, hopefully we’ll be seeing the summer wave soon. It’d be so annoying if they delay the Star Wars reveals. @BrickBob Studpants Loving the optimism and that the AC is redeeming the year for you This is still one of the worst years of the theme for me but hopefully 2026 will rebalance the excessive display set deluge we’ve been getting. +1 for the TIE Avenger manifestation club, that would be a perfect follow-up to the £60 price point for the ARC-170, U-Wing, and V-19. Cassian in his Sienar Test Pilot disguise (also, Lego please give this guy Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire hairpiece, it’s perfect) , a Range Trooper, and a Stormtrooper would be the perfect minifigure lineup.

Pictures of the Battle Droid with STAP are out. Not my thing but it’s a solid build.

Now this is a step in the right direction for Lego Marvel. A lot of these sets seem to have some real thought put into them and it shows. - Spider-Man 2 Set: Very happy to see Spidey and Doc Ock aren’t straight up reuses, great minifigures and it’s awesome to get May and JJJ here too. I was initially apathetic about this set but I’m sold here. - Oscorp and Pete’s Apartment: These are exactly the sort of location-oriented sets we need for Spider-Man. I do wish they had some more depth to them but they work well as playsets. Not a fan of continuing to downgrade minifigures when superior versions already exist though. - AoU Quinjet: Sold. Great shaping and colours and Ultron looks spot-on. Not sure why Black Widow is inaccurate though… - Hammer-oid Attack: This really should have had a small zen garden build and the Hammer Drones should have been much smaller. I love the scene though so I’ll be picking this up. As much as I don’t like the continuing compromises being made with minifigures, I applaud this wave for overturning how poor the first half of the year has been.

Apparently it’s a Battle Droid with STAP So probably a higher piece count. Very pleasantly surprised by the Advent Calendar - specifically the inclusion of Babu, a BD unit, and B2-EMO. I doubt they’d produce a specialised mould for an AC so I’m wondering if we can expect an Anzellan in a TMAG set next year. Plus it’s been 3 years since the BD unit figure was last used, I wonder if they’re bringing the mould back ahead of a potential Survivor set next year? Watching Duckbricks’ review, I’m LOVING the new Plo minifigure. The updated head mould is brilliant.

Yup, that’s exactly the problem. They’re losing sight of why this theme worked in the first place.

I love it when motorcycle builds aren’t ridiculously oversized and actually scale well with minifigures - the Kai set looks awesome. Can’t wait to see more angles of the Bounty, I want to love it (especially with this being the largest and most detailed Bounty so far), but the one angle we’ve seen coupled with the orientation of the sails makes it look way more two-dimensional than it actually is. Lloyd’s Jet Mech is brilliant and the transformation from earlier leaks looked really impressive. The posability also seems quite good!