TeufelHund

Actually the opening crawl for episode 4 states: "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire", so at least one victory before DS1 gets blown up!

It seems to me that Lego timed the last Pirates wave pretty well - it seems all the product sold out in a timely manner and isn't sitting around on retailers' shelves, they're not competing with their own Ninjago line's pirate theme and there's scope for a new Pirates of the Caribbean theme to arrive with the next movie in 2017. Overall I'd say they'd be reasonably happy with the results given they probably didn't have huge expectations. Of course TLG being happy and AFOLs being happy are two entirely different things.

I love badguys so my favourites are as follows: 1. Sandtrooper (9490) - printing right down to his toes (unlike the Mos Eisley version which is also very good) and a choice of pauldron colours - this guy is perfection. 2. Dooku (75017) - I'm hard-pressed to choose between this guy and Saruman but Sir Christopher Lee certainly went out with two of the best minifigures ever designed around him. Lack of back printing is a little disappointing but otherwise perfect. 3. Death Star Trooper (9492) - captures the look perfectly and the new helmet was great. 4. Anakin - Sith Face (9494) I'm not a big fan of the prequels but this version of the troubled teen is by far the best. 5. Imperial Officer (75055) - Gotta love the 70s sideburns! Honourable mentions: Emperor (Death Star Version is still my favourite), Boba Fett (9496), Inquisitor (75082) - he looks better without the helmet (IMO) and of course Poggle the Lesser from 75017. If I had to pick good guys I would go with Luke and Obiwan from 75052, Padme with torn shirt (75021), Camo and slave Leia (75094 and 75020) and Oola is a great figure (9516)

After some thought I've decided this is just too expensive for what it is, even though I grew up watching endless reruns of the TV show in the 70s so the nostalgia value is high. The only really nice thing about the set are some of the minifigs and the batmobile - everything else just doesn't quite add up to the exorbitant price tag, even when I factor in the probability of being able to pick it up in Aussieland at a 20% discount if I wait a bit. Sorry Lego - try again.

Holy Hand Grenades Batman! All this needs now is some giant panels with "Pow!" and "Boof!" written on them to go into action scenes. For all those complaining about price - it's going to be $400 here in Aussieland...:-(

I managed to enlarge the boxes a bit and I'm hoping the 4th figure in the Tie Advanced vs A-WING set is none other than Grand Moff Tarkin as his name seems to be three words long. It would be interesting to see if there are any updates to the Darth figure to make it more "Rebels" too.

I just pulled out my Death Star today for the kids to play with and it kept them occupied for sometime (albeit with me scurrying around picking up dropped pieces/accessories and fixing bits which had come off). It made me wonder what a new Death Star would have to bring for me to purchase it. Updated figures would be great but I thought if it features prominently in Rogue One and the movie adds some interesting new locations to the Death Star not seen in the original movie I'd certainly be interested. In fact if it left out all references to the second Death Star in RotJ I wouldn't mind. An Emperor's throne room is unnecessary anyway given they just released that as a set...

That's not a bug friend - they're the wonderful prices we get to enjoy here every day in Australia! Early in the Lego Star Wars days I got Darth Vader included in a tiny set along with the Emperor, but Lego have since learnt the error of their ways and never include him in a small set thesedays...if you want him you'll either have to pony up for a large set or buy him in the after market.

I'm surprised Chopper hasn't been smashed into bits but my kids love him (probably because he's always misbehaving around the big people and getting away with it...).

It's a Toy R US exclusive so good luck finding it cheaper at any local retailers. I checked Ebay and the best price for a new version was around the $154 mark delivered - so not much of a saving there. Maybe Bricklink?

One thing is for certain - pirate SHIPS sell well. TLG has given us at least one/year for the last several years I think if you include stuff like the LOTOR ship, the Sea Cow, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Pirates of the Caribbean etc. I'm assuming there will be at least one in Ninjago next year even if we don't get a UCS set. While fully fledged pirate themes may only come along infrequently, I think we can expect this trend to continue.

ToysRUs also offering 20% off storewide from today till Sunday, although I suspect they have already discounted all their Lego by 10% to avoid customers being able to claim the full discount: http://view.ed4.net/...DR8HVIC/XTBFVK/

BigW have 20% off all toys this weekend. Good luck finding any of their exclusives though, although as they often sell at 5-10% cheaper than the RRP anyway this will mean a pretty good deal on most Lego.

Picked up one from BigW today with the 10% off discount voucher for $18.

Put them in some warm water and then try - that's worked for me in the past.

Looks great but I'm just not such a Ghostbusters fan that I'd go for this, especially as Walter Peck isn't included! A particular oversight seeing as it seems they included the containment area.

This series has been better than the last, where they had so many great set ups that ultimately turned into total letdowns. The Zygon episodes though were a mess - clumsily handled and poorly executed when you consider the long history of "aliens who can take human form" movies such as The Thing, Invasion of the Body-Snatchers etc. I got none of the sense of paranoia that such set-ups should naturally induce.

I actually like the First Order battlepack - it's a great addition to the FO Transporter set in that it gives you an extra trooper, a heavy trooper and crew + an officer. If you were hoping for 4x FO troopers in order to build armies I can understand your disappointment, but it's a winner for me.

...or aTusken Raider? Besides, they already released a set with Anakin vs Tuskens back in 2002.

A bantha would make most sense in a new landspeeder set, and give the cantina is still available and includes a landspeeder it's unlikely we'll see such a set in the immediate future. It would be nice to get a set with a couple of Tuskens too as the Skyhopper doesn't do much for me. An episode II Tusken Village might also have a bantha I guess, but I would expect another landspeeder long before that materializes.

I agree that more treasures would have been nice, but other than the huge gold-flinging catapult I quite like this set. I think they did a decent job with the forge and the rope and pulley bucket as well as the throne. I think it works quite well for the interior of Lonely Mountain. The sand green bricks are also nice as are the minifigs. Let's face it though, this set is all bout the Smaug!

I don't get it - is Ghostbusters really so popular that there's a market out there for such a massive set? I guess the car must have sold well...

I bought the new Playmobil Pirate Island for myself when I was in Germany recently, but mainly as a display piece (I also have the Colosseum from a few years back). I like Playmobil for the sheer variety of unique molded pieces but Lego does have the advantage of being limited only by your imagination.

Another Death Star? You think they would have learned after the first two got blown up. Isn't the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing hoping for a different result?

I actually like the batle-scarred troopers - they can double up as troopers that have just been blasted by rebel scum! Also I don't think it unreasonable that TLG reserve an "ultimate" version of Boba Fett for the UCS Slave I. Seems pretty logical to me.