LL924

About what date is the May the Fourth promo minifig usually announced?

Very true. I have been back in the hobby about 2 years and been collecting only ANH just to keep the cost and space needs down. I have been laying off all of the Hoth sets mostly because of the sheer number of sets out there to get. That is where this new "UCS" is really shining. As others have noted, it will be very good for someone like myself who has little to no Hoth sets. I checked over some previously released comparable sets and #8089, 7749, 7879 and the new 75138 would get you 1,433 pcs, 15 figs, 2 tauntauns, wampa, scout bike, 1 speeder, 2 turrets and the probe droid. Per BL priceguide, the recent average new sales prices would total $247 and used $193 (not considering shipping). The new set gains you the ion cannon and power generator and more trench and snow in piece count. Obvious miss is medical bay. May be a toss up on special droid figs and no Leia vs Wedge, etc. Overall I think this new set is an efficient buy and decent enough value for an entry into Hoth.

I wonder what the piece count of the luggabeast is, really, because on the close up pics it appears that a large molded figure makes up most of the beast with regular pieces for the armor. I like the addition of the scaled-down entryway to the outpost, as I had not seen that before.

That looks like Dex from the AoTC cafe- back row left.

Aside from the mini figure argument, it should be noted that Battle on Takodana has quite a few actual "bricks" that make up the walls and such in the set versus the usual slew of 1x1 round studs, etc that normally inflate the piece count. I would venture to say that if you measured the price in $$/weight the Takodana set price would be more reasonable.

Given the price point for the proposed Hoth UCS set, it will probably contain about 2000 pieces. If you add up the previously released 7666 Rebel Base, 7749 Echo Base, 8089 Wampa Cave and 7879 Echo Base, those total 1,773 pieces. That is quite a bit of Hoth, including 2 snowspeeders. Therefore, I would agree that there should be more to this Hoth UCS than what is shown in the mini-movie.

Thanks. Those heads are homemade. Got a modeling clay that you sculpt and bake, and then I painted them. I did the same for the Duros (back left sitting), but I might switch those out once I can get some Duros heads easily in the upcoming Battlefront set.

I created my cantina from parts of 3 sets. I got some inspiration from some designs around the 'net and this forum.

I have some lego stored in my garage, and I anticipate freezing temperatures in there from time to time this winter, down to say about -10 C. Any concerns?

It appears that the website which the OP linked to that had the new TFA sets has taken them down. Does anyone have any other links where we can still view the new sets? Thanks.

Regarding BB-8, the posted picture appears to show the body of the droid "blurred". Is this meant to represent motion (i.e. that the figure will have a rolling base)? Or perhaps this was done just to keep some of the pieces used and the exact design under wraps for a bit longer?