Brickadeer

I was always hoping for a series with models that are located between UCS and playsets: Millenium Falcon with a wall representing a part of the hangar (Mos Eisley) and the entrance. The backside represents part of the streets scenario, a door where the droids can hide, and the cantina. Minifigs are the usual suspects, including 1-3 Sandtroopers, Greedo, and Garindan.

Thanks

Thanks! I asked myself whether I should read this book in order to get more information about Plagueis. Well. Apparently not.

"Star Wars", like "The Clone Wars", is about a historic era. It doesn't mean that everywhere is war action. In World War II, hardly, if any, war actions took place on the North American Continent. Rather, it was about plots against Americans, or imagined plots against Americans. The war affected America in a different way like it affected Japan or Europe. Nevertheless, America was affected by the war. E. g. Executive Order 9066 (yes, I think it is a reference) and the detention of Japanese Americans would not have taken place if there would have been no war. The Republic is affected in a similar way by the war, its internal, its political structure changes and rises serious questions about political identities, justice, and sourvereignity: who decides who we are? Are we in control of the situation? Do we understand how our lifes are affected by the decisions we make, and are we still in control of the consequences of our decisions? These changes are reflected by what you call "the more trivial thing: politics". I would not call "politics" trivial, though. Rather, it is and reflects an integral part of the war. I mean the ironic thing about the Seperatists is that they are morally right: do you remember how Count Dooku justified the Seperatist movement? He said that the Senate was controlled by a Sith Lord, and actually, at least to some degree, he said the truth. So if you start thinking about the legitimacy of the Republic going to war with the Seperatists, you have to realize that there is non. The Seperatist were right to leave the Republic. Unfortunately, they did not realize that their leader is a Sith Lord as well. Apparently, Sidious is so to say a master in using uncertainty for his own advantage. Even Yoda is tricked when he believes that Dooku is trying to create uncertainty and distrust; he doesn't even consider the possibility that Dooku says the truth. It really, really is a brilliant game. The political episodes are the tragic ones: fundamental questions are risen, but in the end reason doesn't prevail. Rather, the Senate's decisions are dictated by necessity. He behaves like an orchestra, and Sidious is the conductor, letting the Senate play pretty much every melody that he wants to hear.

I'm expecting solid helmets, too. And Boba Fett heads.

I don't think it does. The collectable minifigures series is placed so to say outside of any official line like Ninjago, Duplo, Friends, Star Wars etc. They can be used in certain settings, though, but they are not related to certain settings. They are collectable, but they can be used for different purposes than collecting. A lot of the earlier Star Wars UCS modells, however, can't be integrated into the Star Wars series simply they are not built in the minifig size. Basically, they can be nothing but collected. Of course that's not true for all them, but for a couple of them, like the X-Wing, the Tie-Interceptor or the Snowspeeder. Besides that, the collectable minifigures are not meant to be "ultimate". I do not agree, however, that 9493 looks more "x-wingish" than its UCS counterpart. That may have been the case if the engines and the windscreen would have been redesigned, though

I do not think that you are expecting too much because it is a kid's show. I think that you are expecting something different because the show is called "The Clone Wars". The point is that the title is a name for a historic phase that was given its name by an event that dominated the era and therefore all subsequent events. I cannot blame you for having the preferences you have, and for holding the expectations that come with them. I only can suggest to think of the following: - The Clone Wars take place in a bigger context, Sidious' rise to power and the destruction of the Jedi Order. The war is important, but it's just a means to an end. As Maul's remark indicated, it was long planned. - Skywalker plays a major role in Sidious' plans, and consequently so do all events shaping Skywalker and the factors that influence his future decisions. - The Droid episodes, as Filoni reminded us, or at least me, were not directly related to these events. However, they showed different aspects of the Star Wars universe, aspects that may get lost, so to say, as casulties of the Clone Wars. - After all, it's George Lucas who is behind the major decisions of the storyline. Of course we might say that he is an idiot because we don't like what we see or what he's trying to tell us. However, this line of reasoning doesn't improve our insights in why he does what he does. And personally, that's the question I found much more interesting to deal with.

I do not think that this is primarily about definitions. As I'd put it, the world simply doesn't do us the favour to act due to our abitrary defintions: if we are hit by a car driving with 150 miles per hour, there's a pretty good chance that we are pretty dead, no matter how we defined the situation and no matter what we thought should or would happen. To some degree, the world so to say acts independently of our reasoning. My point is that whatever you or I or whoever thinks "UCS" means, doesn't matter; what's relevant is what majority of people thinks it means or should mean, and how Lego's reputation is affected by giving it a different meaning. Of course we can discuss the question what it should mean, but that's equivalent to the question what Lego should do. As for your statement that there is no implicit promise in the term, I beg to differ. It's quite and simply not how some people perceive the situation. Of course you may argue that these people are simply wrong and should not understand "the promise of UCS" as they did, but that's equivalent of arguing that the world shouldn't behave as it does, which may not be a good guide to understanding how the world functions since, as I said, it acts independently of our definitions.

I think this is artificial reasoning and besides the point. Lego called the sets "UCS", "Ultimate Collectors Set", implicitly promising and therefore creating the expectation that this set will remain exclusive. I do not believe, though, that a redesign of older UCS sets cannot be justified. The relevant reference system, though, is the original buyer and still-owner of the sets. The question is to what degree Lego's credibility would suffer from such a policy, and that's why I think that Lego will avoid a situation leading to a discussion about precisely this point by releasing other models in the UCS line, which is equivalent to not remaking older sets.

I think the question is what you want. The Pit Droid is difficult to make since it basically resembles the human shape at roughly 2/3 of its size, has the same functions and looks really, really sweet. Based on this Pit Droid, I made a "minimum size" approach. Since currently I don't have a camera and won't be able to get one in the near future, I will give you a quick description of what I did (Bricklink part no. in brackets). If anyone should be able and willing to rebuild and post a picture of it I'd be very grateful: Place the Technic, Pin 1/2 (4274) on the T Bar (4697b) as it is placed on the reference picture above. As legs, I simply used 2x Light Bluish Gray Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip (2555). We still need shoulders, arms, and a head. So I placed an open O clip (61252) on the pin ("O") points to the back. Then, I connected a Handlebars (30031) to the clip. The bars are placed on the back, but point forward and resemble the shoulders of the figure. I attached normal droid arms to the shoulders. Since I could not connect a 2x2 dish (4740) directly to the stud of the clip, I had to place a 1x1 round plate (4073) between them. The result is a pretty small Pit Droid (2.6 cm compared to the 4.4 cm of an ARF Trooper, or 59% of the size of an ARF Trooper) which has quite a lot of functions (indivdually moveable legs and arms, rotating torso, upper body can be bent forwards and backwards). Of course it doesn't look as slender as the "real" Pit Droid, but that's basically true for all Lego Star Wars figures, especially the TCW figures. However, I find that it looks pretty sweet, and it can be arranged in positions that look astonishingly realistic (e. g. running with slightly turned torso).

I'm pretty sure we'll see a Gunship in 2013 or 2014, and I think it'll feature an AT-RT. When I have the time, will think about modding the back of my bricklinked Gundship in order to maximize the extrance size, and how to integrate an axis into the AT-RT from set 8098 in order to transform its vertikal extension into a more horizontal extension

Decent review

That's an intersting point, it totally slipped past my attention Thanks for pointing it out , I have to re-read this interview.

Before this set was released Commander Cody was available for roughly US-$ 20.00 via Bricklink or ebay. 7959 has led to drastically reduced price of Cody and provided a lot of people with a decent opportunity to get this figure, which I find great. Furthermore, the set comes up with Mundi. I have to admit that in the beginning, I found him pretty awkward, but I got used to how he looks. To me, the Geonosian looks pretty good as well. The Geonosian ship looks decent. It looks more slender and elegant than the previous model. The set was overpriced when it was released, but currently, it is available for what I'd call a rather fair price.

I think that decent phase II clones would sell pretty well. The point is that there are so many different clones: We (well, at least I) want Rex and 501 clones, preferably in TCW style (well, at least me) and in PT style. We want Cody and his troopers preferably in TCW style and in PT style. We want Wolffe and his troopers (TCW style). We want Gree, Baccara, Fox, and Bly and their troopers (PT style resp. both styles). I think that if they are made well that'd be great. There are a few things, however, making me fear that this won't be the case: - I don't like the colour shape of the current Wolffe troopers. Sand blue doesn't look as decent as dark grey. However, I don't think that it will be changed. - The new ARC trooper was received pretty well by the audience. Thus, I fear that Lego might have no incentives to change the current pauldron system. The new pauldrons have some advantages regarding the possibility to combine the figure with backpacks. However, they simply don't look as decent as plastic made pauldrons. Imagine Rex would wear a dark grey pauldron (only on one side, of course) of the kind the new ARC trooper wears. Maybe there are people who like it, but I wouldn't. - I think the helmet of the new ARC was hyped as well. I have to admit that generally, they caught the shape pretty well. However, compared to the old phase II helmets or the current Sandtrooper helmets, the mold (not the printing) lacks details. I hope this will be corrected as well.

I hope we'll see one that looks better than the recent "LEGO Toy Fair Exclusive 2012". Maul will return in Season 5, probably for at least one arc, which means for at least 2-4 episodes. The turtle thingy is pretty nice, but I hope for better vehicles than this

I think Lucas will further explore the concept of the force (I think that's one of your major concerns). I find the concept of the force still contradictive: On the one hand, Yoda explains the force as something that needs to be trusted (like it was the case in "Revenge"). On the other hand, we are told that the force has a dark side that consumes its users, so it appears to be something that clearly can not be trusted. That contradiction makes in no way clear what the force is, or what it wants, or why it should be trusted, or when it can't be trusted. I think Lucas will further explore the concept of the force. I don't have the slightest idea though how Mortis relates to these questions, what Lucas might have in mind, and what we will see in the future.

I agree it was a pretty good read. I like his way to explore possibilities and his sense for diversity. His view of the droids makes me looking at the respective season 4 episodes much more milder. New information is always evaluated on grounds of previous knowledge. Since LoTR was a pretty huge success, references experienced as similarities are to be expected

A pretty long (5 pages) Dave Filoni "Looking back at season 4" interview of March 21 (with a few implications for season 5): http://tv.ign.com/articles/122/1221285p1.html

Excellent strip Yeah. I know what you mean.

I think if a mod were around he'd say that this may be an interesting idea, but that it has nothing to do with the topic; that there is already an appropriate thread for this question, and that it would be nice if you could use the appropriate thread to discuss these issues instead of going OT here in this thread

You could make a Mount Rushmore like wall with the faces of Luke, Leia, Solo and Vader. I'm not sure if faces where ever tried by Lego builders. A palace of Naboo would be nice as well (mini- or larger scale). I do not know if the crash of the capital ship at the beginning of ROTS is already covered by a MOC. A huge MOC of the scene of Vader killing Obi Wan might be very challenging as well since you somehow need to catch movement and dynamics. But I think it'd be epic.

Honestly, I don't know what to think. When I look at the pictures I do not instantly recognize what you changed, and as a consequence I can't tell whether I like these changes or not.

I'm very sorry that I may not offer any constructive criticism. This piece of work is not just an attempt. My impression is that you knew pretty well what you wanted to realize, and that you did pretty well. This work is terribly good

Interesting, thanks Filoni is very explicit about what they are doing. It's a pitty that the opinions, evaluations and actions of so many people are biased and determined by their preconceptions, but I guess that's how the world functions.