Nokturn

Those minifigures were stolen from a LEGO factory and I find it slightly immoral that someone's selling them. This happened last year, too. It's one thing to get ahold of a figure early and take pictures, but to me, selling stolen merchandise is crossing the line.

Thank you! I've always enjoyed them too. I'm not sure when I'll be able to do this, but I am definitely planning on making more MOCs based on his artwork.

Thank you! Glad everyone seems to like it so much.

Thanks for all the positive feedback and constructive criticism, guys. Much appreciated!

This is fantastic. Chirrut himself looks awesome, and the forced perspective in the background is a really cool touch. Great work!

You're right, he created the studio model and the original design, but my MOC is based on McQuarrie's art specifically. Semantics, I know.

Thank you!

Hello all! First proper MOC in a very long time, and certainly the first one I'm proud enough of to post. As most of you probably know, the original concept art for Star Wars was done by Ralph McQuarrie. A lot of his work was incredibly smooth & clean, almost giving off a retrofuturistic vibe. I thought it'd be fun to try and capture that in LEGO form, specifically his Y-Wing concept, as that is my favorite. I took a good amount of inspiration from a couple of other builders who've done the same thing, like Ryan Page and Scott Peterson. Anyway, without further ado, here it is: For the windscreen sections, I used this method to give the pieces a glass-like appearance. The photo doesn't capture that too well, but I can assure you it looks like glass in person. Really happy with that. Here's McQuarrie's original concept art for reference: And more images of my MOC here. I had a lot of fun with this project, and I'm hoping to do more MOCs based on McQuarrie's artwork in the future. I'll probably turn this into a series of sorts. I hope you guys like it, and thanks for checking it out!

I'm not so sure I'm fine with the braid staying printed. They've already proven they can do amazing things with dual molding - the helmets of the First Order TIE Pilots are a perfect example. Wouldn't have to worry about it breaking if it was a softer plastic or rubber. I wish they'd step it up a bit across the board, especially since we know they're capable of a lot more from seeing the things they've already done with figures in other themes. I'm sure the Designers have all sorts of restrictions on how many new molds they can introduce in any given wave, but it seems to me like the SW figs aren't progressing nearly as fast as those from other themes. That can get frustrating very quickly, especially for people who only really collect SW sets.

The problem is that they're charging $100 more for 200 parts that we can't even see. There is absolutely no discernible difference in the build. There wasn't even a need to add any internal Technic structure - 10188 is plenty strong. They really should've made this set more unique in some way. I'm sure an outer shell would've pleased a lot of people, as well as made the $500 price tag more justifiable. If they wanted to update 10188 in such a minor way they should've just kept it the same set number & ESPECIALLY the same price.

This is even more disappointing than I thought it would be. Even the box art is noticably worse than 10188, which is weird considering how beautiful the art is for the more recent UCS sets. I'm shocked at how little has changed, despite knowing what the changes would be. A lot of them actually look worse - the random colors they decided to use look terrible. I was thinking about selling my 10188 to be able to pay for this 'upgrade', but now I'll likely just Bricklink the figs that I need to update. They'll be cheaper in a few months when they're in the 2017 sets, anyway. They really should've made this tie in with Rogue One more - or at least SOMETHING to make it unique and worth purchasing.

Correct, but to clarify: 75159 has a VIP early access release on September 15th, all of the ROGUE ONE sets are releasing on September 30th, dubbed "Rogue Friday," and then 75159 has it's fully public release on October 1st.

You're welcome. I'm definitely waiting for more pics of Krennic's Shuttle as well; easily my most anticipated set this year.

In all honesty, I'm assuming they'll pad the video out by pretending like it's a new and exciting design. They probably won't even mention the fact that 10188 exists. I've come to terms with the fact that this set will not be for AFOLs at all, unless of course one doesn't own 10188. As others have already pointed out, the target market is the new generation of fans, some of whom haven't even been born yet; 75159 will very likely be on shelves for a long time. That's not to say that our opinions don't matter, but we're still very clearly not who the set was made for. Only for the TIE Striker, Target.com listed that one early. Pics are out there. I'll probably do the same, maybe we'll come up with completely different interpretations.

I'm surprised it hasn't been revealed already, actually. Could be some time this week, although I don't think they do Press Releases & Designer Videos on a specific day. It just happens when it happens, which is seemingly random if past reveals are anything to go by.

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm curious if Rogue One had anything to do with this decision - if not, it's still a good time to capitalize on it. A New Hope never really left the public eye, but I can only imagine the resurgence of popularity that RO will bring. I do honestly wish that a few RO scenes/characters were included in this, especially to replace relatively useless rooms like the Droid repair room. May have been an issue of spoilers though, as we don't know how many scenes will take place actually onboard the Death Star. Could be something really important.

Oddly enough, I am still struggling to decide whether or not to purchase this, even though I've owned the previous model since 2009. The minifigs alone are enough to tempt me, as I actually don't own any recent versions of a lot of the figures included for some reason. Plus, my 10188 isn't exactly in the best state right now, it's very dusty and a lot of the stickers are already peeling. I know those seem like a silly reasons to buy an entirely new set, but it seems far more convenient in my VERY specific case. I don't think I could bring myself to spend as much money as it would take to Bricklink the changed pieces, get a new sticker sheet, as well as update all of the minifigs. One can surmise that the minifigs from this set are going to be sold at insane prices. I may as well just get the new set rather than trying to restore & update my old one. However, I will say that the Rogue One sets are still very much a priority for me, so I'll be getting all of those first.

I'm shocked at how little attention that post received at the time. Surely a mod like that would be no easy feat, and as far as I know, nobody else has ever really attempted something on that level even to this day. Thanks for the link!

I think something a lot of people are forgetting is that TLG used to straight up re-release popular sets for a new market a couple of years later. And they didn't even update the re-releases at all! A good example would be 7140 & 7142 - it's the exact same set, just re-released a few years later due to demand. There's also cases like 7166 & 7264 - a re-release with minor updates and additions, but still largely the exact same build. That type of practice was pretty commonplace back in that era, and not just for Star Wars. The target market very much appreciated the re-releases at the time, and I don't see how this is any different.

In that case, I suppose defending the Designers would be okay as well. I don't think it's fair to straight up insult the design team at TLG. They pump out amazing sets every year regardless of theme, and this year is no exception. I think most of us can agree that the Rogue One sets all look fantastic, and a lot of the other sets we've received this year are great as well. As I said before, of course it's disappointing when a new set doesn't live up to expectations, especially when it's a large UCS, but that doesn't give anyone the right to bombard them with negativity. They're doing a great job overall, and we honestly have no idea how much freedom they're even allowed in specific cases like this or the Winter Toy Shop. Besides, the images haven't even been released yet. Our opinions could change based solely on that. Even if not, it's okay. The world's not going to end because a couple of sets have been disappointing to a very small subset of the fanbase. People do have the right to be disappointed, but I personally don't think they have the right to hold a grudge against the designers. The inner workings of TLG are still ultimately mysterious.

Very eloquently put. I think some of us tend to forget the target market, myself included. Of course we would all appreciate a fantastic UCS set like Slave I every single time, but statistically speaking, not many of us are bound to unconditionally love every single set that TLG produces or remakes. They wouldn't be making these sets if they didn't know that there was a guaranteed market for them. Yeah, it's disappointing when a set doesn't turn out how everyone was expecting, but there's still a lot of people who will buy it regardless and they're definitely not the ones posting on forums and waiting for leaked info/pictures.

I might be one of the few who disliked that set and therefore never bought it. I thought the Throne Room was actually better in 10188, despite the fact that it was smaller and had an inaccurate layout. I'm interested to see what they'll do with it this time, if it's anything different that is.

I just hope we get a leak or an official reveal very very soon. Like right now. Descriptions are nice, but nobody's gonna know how the set truly is from one person giving a description, and it's poorly translated at that. Maybe I'm being a little too optimistic, but I think the update will be substantial enough to justify the price tag. I am wondering, however, if it's worth saving up for this one if you already own 10188. I've had that set since 2009, and I never felt it really needed an update other than maybe the minifigures. TLG hasn't really added that many new parts into their inventory that would be useful for constructing a spherical shape; 10188 did that very well IMO.

Oh.. oh no. Krennic's Shuttle was originally reported to be only $90. If these new prices are true, there's no way I can afford the entire wave...

That would be called Sand Blue, and I agree. I like the very sparing use of it. It reminds me of the very first SW sets, when TLG used a large amount of Blue in nearly every set. This time around, it's done with much more subtlety and as a result, it looks incredibly tasteful and shows restraint.