TeufelHund

I like it but the GWP is trash (the Tie Fighter looks like a 4+ set and very ugly next to the decent Shuttle included in the set) and almost every Imperial with their face exposed apart from the named officers from the conference room is a woman and/or black whereas in both the movies with the Death Star the Imperials were all white men which makes sense since they were modelled on Nazis. Usually easily fixable except the female officers have their hair moulded into their caps and the Death Squad Troopers have chin straps, which makes swapping in more appropriate heads difficult. I'll probably get it but will wait until at least Black Friday to see if it can be had at a discount and/or bonus VIP points. I don't think this will sell well due to the high price point and controversial design decision (a bit like Betrayal on Cloud City which only lasted on shelves for a year), so I suspect the price will drop fairly quickly.

Is this a Lego Batman movie set? Harley is using the hair from that line for example but the Joker seems to be more along the classic appearance. I'd like to see the inside before passing judgement but at this stage I'll probably be sticking with my 2013 version.

Kind of amusing that the playscale version of Jango Fett's Salve I gets a better minifig selection than the UCS version. Will be interested to see how the ATST compares next to the UCS ATAT (will probably look too big). Also it's a bit cheap that they include two seats but only one pilot... Also if you're into price per piece ratios these sets suck, especially the Juggernaut which is $160 for 813 pieces...

I think 3? There aren't too many other iconic locations they could reasonably do in minifig form that they haven't already done. I'm still happy with the 2012 Orthanc. I guess maybe a bigger Helm's Deep might work but I can't see Minas Tirith easily done in minifig scale. Maybe a proper Lego Balrog instead of a bookend would be nice.

Based on the leaked image, I have to say this looks like a less sophisticated build compared to the previous 3in1 Creator Casle - looks like a parts pack to me. Brickbuilt horses are awful. The minfigs look ok though - good to see the king's crown from the CMF series make a comeback.

It's horribly overpriced and looks tiny next to Rivendell/Barad Dur. I also don't like the GWP at all. Definitely will wait for a discount on this if I bother at all.

That was my thinking - I'm going to have to seriously reorganise my mancave as I have both Barad Dur and Rivendell to squeeze in after I finish building them!

I've got nothing against the occasional "Anne Bonny" pirate, but historically the vast majority of pirates (and seafarers in general) were male. Saying that, there's plenty of scope for "pirate adjacent" female figures and I thought the "Governor's daughter" figure in 70412 was a fun Elizabeth Swan style addition. Of course it's Lego so kids can do whatever they want but I like a semblance of historical realism when arranging my Lego Pirates (and Castle) set ups personally.

That's what I did - found one called ScanFig that seems to work fine.

Wasn't the last CMF pirate we got also female? Hopefully when the next one happens in a few years we get a male pirate again as the one standard CMF male pirate we got is absolutely fantastic (with unique "bald bandana" and printed map pieces plus cool arm tattoo print).

I'd love them to do the landing platform and/or shield dish rather than the bunker or village as I have the old versions, but that would be pretty massive! Looking at the rumoured releases for the beginning of next year it's looking like I might save some money next year at this stage,

I couldn't remember seeing him but just checked and you can indeed see his back and headtails in some shots. No logical explanation as to how he escaped the explosion though.

Not really interested in the barge - it takes up a massive footprint and at the end of the day it's just a long, brown boat. Also it's missing some important minifigs while including someone like Bib Fortuna who wasn't even on the sail barge and that possessed Salacious Crumb looks like nightmare fuel. I also have the last playset iteration which was a really good build with great minifigs so not much incentive to splash out hundreds on a giant version.

It's because Disney isn't creating any compelling new content anymore. If every Disney+ show was like seasons 1&2 of the Mandalorian kids would be screaming for new sets. Cool characters, spaceships and classic good vs evil action will suck kids in. Instead we get the Acolyte which has almost no compelling characters, iconic locations or interesting spaceships, plus a storyline which is too grey for kids to follow and too cringey for adults. I suspect Lego took one look at the concept drawings and wisely decided there was no money to be made there.

What set could they do though? The show featured almost no memorable locations, spaceships or characters. Maybe a few people might be interested in Smilo Ren's helmet but other than that you're just left with a bunch of Jedi in the same outfit, a bunch of witches in the same outfit and the twins. Hasbro are doing the bare minimum with its action figure range for the Acolyte and those will likely be lining bargain bins for years. Lego would be wise to stay well away.

Might get 73385. New Thrawn looks good even though I already have 75170 (might sell it now though with this coming out) and while I'm disappointed they didn't add Enoch the Stormtrooper with gold highlights is pretty cool. 75396 doesn't add anything new really if you have any of the previous versions apart from a lot more bricks around the Sarlacc pit which doesn't do anything for me although the Han squinting minfig face is kind of fun.

I think I'll stick with my 2014 version of the ISD - the only things I like about the new one is the Anniversary figure and the Star Destroyer hologram. The 2014 had a similar nice hologram, an Emperor hologram figure and superior figures like the best Stormtroopers Lego has ever made and an officer with magnificent 70s mutton chops.

I recently had my 6 & 7 year old niece and nephew over and they wanted to play with my castle (my kids are pretty much in their dark ages now). Let's just say it took me a fair while afterwards to find all the bits on the floor, fix the drawbridge mechanism and swap back all the minifig components that got swapped around.

Yeah - looks more like a wait for sale set than a Day 1 buy to me. Given the D&D set is out a month later I might get that instead in the first instance.

Have to say on first glance I prefer the original (Medieval Market Place) – this looks a bit barren with only a goat and chook compared to the original which had a feasting table and stools, two cows and some brick-built animals and a bigger tree. The tower looks like a tribute to the old guarded inn perhaps which would be a fun call back. Will wait for better pics/reviews before passing final judgement.

Got and built the Tie Interceptor set for Father's Day. The Interceptor looks great but is absolutely massive compared to the Tie Bomber released earlier this year. I don't have the most recent Tie Fighter but it looks like a similar scale to older Tie Fighters than the newest one. Surprisingly for what I initially thought of us a forced extra expense to get the Interceptor, the included Mandalorian Fang Fighter is actually a nice build and the Mandalorian Fleet Commander fig is the MVP figure in the set.

Finished the build today - probably looks most impressive in the longer configuration as the open backed buildings look a bit weird when it’s enclosed. Lego quality control is going downhill as this is the second set this year I’ve got where they have provided an incorrect plate (different colour/mould) piece in the set. Never had that in the 10 years+ since I’ve been out of my dark ages. I don’t like the gap in the ship build at the prow and the minifigs in the 2015 Pirate wave are superior (printed shakos, more resplendent governor, unique female figures rather than just girls in uniforms etc). The build is fairly straightforward compared to something like Lion Knight’s Castle which was almost magical at times in the way they created unique angles and it slotted together. I do like the cobbled slope and some of the tile effects they use for awnings. Probably brick bricks would have been better than some of the techniques they use in this set to create an uneven effect for the walls. The rocks look good too although they are a bit tedious to put together.

I think most of us would be happy for more female minifigs, but just lazily making half your soldiers female is a pretty token and unimaginative effort at achieving gender parity don't you think? It's not sexist to wish Lego could produce a nostalgia-based set that didn't also include a clumsy lesson in gender politics.

It's just lazy on Lego's behalf - if they want to have gender balance then make some cool new female torsos (pirates, civilians etc) or include extra male and female heads so the builder can decide what gender their troops are. don't just arbitrarily make half the soldiers female and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. At least they didn't gender swap the governor I guess, unlike Lion Knights' Castle where you have to accept your castle is ruled by a Queen (unless you have a king available from another source of course).

My feelings exactly. Trying to reach gender parity by making half of the soldiers female is pretty lazy in a set with a historical theme given how few good historical civilian minifigs we have.