Brickadeer

I can't tell for sure what's wrong, but I neither like the mold, nor the printing of the TCW phase II helmets. Elaborating the issue won't make much sense since TLG will change the current design of the phase II helmet. To keep it short: it looks accurate, but at least for me, it doesn't capture the core aspects that constitute the coolness of the phase II helmets, as e.g. here. I like the phase I helmets, and I like the Stormtrooper helmets, but I don't like the phase II helmets. I think the issue may be caused by the fact that the helmet so to say is designed around the ability of being turned 360 degrees, but I'm not sure about that.

Gree's helmet mold looks identical to that of the recent TCW phase II troopers. For me, that's disappointing; I was hoping for a change.

Interesting. TLG never made this distinction with regards to Super Battle Droids (TCW), thus I (probably mistakenly) assumed that all SBDs in TCW had a launcher.

BD is correct, large armies were hardly seen throughout the series. S2E18 shows some of them in "battle formation", though. Maybe somewhere, they were shown in larger quantities, but I wouldn't bet on it. edit: Picture 3 from this slide show gives you another impression of the size of this army. Roughly estimated, there are 150x14x3 or 6.300 Super Battle Droids.

I'm looking rather broadly on the issue. The current wave covers a couple of scenes from EP II. So to me what you call "putting random minifigs in random sets" reflects an effort to release figures that are somehow important with regard to the wave as a whole, but will not get the "proper" set any time soon; so Lego has to make a compromise and release them with sets of the current wave they fit best.

Gratulations, and thanks for making the job I salute your patience and perseverance when it comes to OT posts you're constantly moving to the correct topic. Personally, I would have gotten mad already several times. Maybe you should advice them to double their efforts to post in the right topic because others, well, are not as forgiving as you are.

I wonder if Ahsoka's fate would have been further explored in TCW, and what kind of "closure" Filoni and his crew had in mind for this character. Anyway, I do not think that she'll part of Rebels, nor do I think it wise to introdruce her. In my understanding, Rebels, among other reasons, is created in order to introduce characters that to an older audience are familiar from the OT, but that are not known by a younger audience from TCW and the PT. I suppose it very unlikely that Ahsoka will be part of EP VII, so there is no reason to introduce her into the series.

I'm still undecided about what to expect from the series. I'm a bit afraid that it'll be less dark and more "disney"-ish than the recent TCW arcs. Having read a critique of Pixar's recent film "Merida", I received the impression that everything Disney touches becomes, well, Disney.

Basically, I agree. We know that 7 seasons were planned. What we don't know is what and how many "crucial" arcs, that means arc that are directly related to events of the features, like the framing of Order 66, were planned, and how Filoni & Co. supposed TCW to end. That's something I really would like to know; however, it doesn't seem likely that this is gonna happen. Anyway, I think Disney should have fused the planned final seasons to one single "extended" season consisting of 20+x episodes, and aired them on their own channel beginning this fall, and beginning to air the new animated series in 2014. Disney is willing to pay US-$ 1.200.000 per episode as bonus content; so whatever the reason is that TCW was cancelled, I don't believe that costs are an issue.

I love the colours :)

Quoting from here: Fans attending Star Wars Celebration Europe will be the first to get an exclusive look at the new series.

I guess the point is that the PT and the OT are part of one story, the rise of and fall of Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, and the Empire. Seen it this way, a new and larger context is required the new trilogy can refer to and be placed in, so I'd be pretty surprised if the new animated series and the new trilogy were fully distinct.

Another preview of a different arc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRbvxaNiUgE (found @jedinews.co.uk)

The movie combines several aspects of previous Star Wars films: in Star Trek VI, there was a conspiracy that aimed to undermine the peace process. In Into Darkness, there's a single Admiral that tries to steer the Federation into a war against the Klingon empire because he believes war is unavoidable anyway. I think that the similarities between both films are obvious, although the roles changed ("evil Klingon" vs. "evil Admiral"), just like the roles changed in the somewhat emotional "dying scene" with Kirk and Spock. The character of Khan was finally disappointing. There was a chance to portray him differently, not as the one-dimensional "evil" character he turned out to be when he beamed Kirk & Co. back to the Enterprise just to kill him, since he showed a sign of compassion and humanity when it came to his crew, and when it appeared that his actions were driven by revenge or by feeling betrayed rather because of his general sense of superiority. I found the film ok, but it failed to catch my full attention. It didn't offer something really new, and the story lacked plausibility. Isolated, the actors were pretty good, but to me, it felt more like a sequence of scenes than a consistent movie, creating a consistent mood (one of the weaknesses of the Star Wars Prequels). Personally, I found that the NYT's review hits the nails on the heads.

I can't see why it should be a Star Wars related model, and if it should be a Star Wars related model, why it should be Ewok Village, which, in the strictest sense, is not really a model. If it should be a Star Wars model, I'd rather suppose it to be the Cuuso Sandcrawler.

That helps - thanks!

@Rufus: great Is there any way to distinguish the original (classic space, white, red) minifigs from re-issued minifigs?

The answers to your first questions are yes, and yes. I agree that the new AT-TE looks better than the previous one, but I disagree that the new gunship looks better than the old one. The new Gunship has a handle which is pretty nice, but I prefer the old canopies, the way the whole part around it was designed, the fact that part 4515 was used for the "side doors", and that the set came up with a nifty sticker set. My overall impression is that the old RGS looks somehow bulkier, and that's exactly what I like. Personally, I'd buy the new sets.

Star Trek: Into Darkness. I didn't really like it. Why the film got a rating of 8,4/10 on IMDB is a myth to me. I would have rated the film with 6.0 or 6.5 at best.

Noone knows that for sure. The previous version of the X-Wings was produced and sold pretty long. I think it depends on how much you want the model. Since it is available via bricklink for EUR 106,00 including shipping and since you are haven't bought it yet, you don't seem to be willing to pay this price for the set. Since you probably won't get the set much cheaper any time soon, I'd simply wait until it is re-released. And if that's the decision, the "when" doesn't matter. If, on the other hand, the "when" mattered, I'd buy the set new & sealed for EUR 106,00.

I think it depends on what you want. Personally, I'd go for either the Gunship or the AT-TE, basically because I like both vehicles and I like the clones. With the given alternatives, my set of priorities is 75021 - 75019 - 75020.

EUR 99,00 + Shipping in Germany (New, sealed) available at: http://www.bricklink...itemID=33505816 EUR 75,00 + Shipping in Spain (New, unboxed) available at: http://www.bricklink...itemID=43415084 Personally, I'd wait for a re-release.

I suppose it to be likely to happen as well. I'll rather wait for a re-release than bricklinking a UCS falcon or buying a UCS falcon now.

It's excellent I especially like how Obi Wan looks. Somehow...sneaky.

I don't have the impression that it's snow.