TeufelHund

SW fans amaze me sometimes. A set that somehow manages to capture every key scene in the second half of possibly the most beloved SW film, with a selection of great figures and with 2 well-done spaceship builds included is somehow worse than a set with a main build that looks and is half-finished. I think the Betrayal at Cloud City vote is based on unrealistic expectations than any actual failing on the set's behalf.

Either would have been more interesting and relevant than a trooper with an obscure paint job and yet another angry clone head though...

First reviews are in for Darth Vader's Castle - will definitely be getting this, probably from Shop@Home if rumours of Double VIP points, Darth Vader Pod freebie + Xmas freebie on 1 December are true: https://brickset.com/article/40201/review-75251-darth-vader-s-castle Video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLqbcY1MApA Looking good – although I think Krennic & Vanee (Vader's major domo from RO) should have been included over the blue trooper from a VR game most people in the world can't access.

I don't mind the Praetorian Guard BP only having legs - it makes the skirts more exclusive to the Throne Room Set and enhances its attractiveness. An extra FO Trooper is always welcome too. Cheap Darth Maul in the microfighter set if you want him. The Awing is fine for a 4+ set but of little interest to AFOLs. Pretty cheap wave for me - I'll get the BPs and possibly the Dewback set if the Sandtrooper has a new torso print.

Sandtrooper helmet has new helmet design but the print looks pretty much the same as the current Sandtrooper. Have to wait until release I guess to see if it's changed significantly. Inferno Squad Battlepack looks fun if you're a fan of the game. Death Star Escape reminds me of Duel on Naboo and not in a good way...again happy to be pleasantly surprised when I see the finished product.

Just finished building this set...have to say I really enjoyed most of the build...often I'd open a bag and an unusual piece would fall out and I'd think "what the hell is that for?" which made the building and consequent revelation very rewarding. The build actually follows the events of the movie starting with landing platform and finishing with the "I am your Father" scene. It does take up a ridiculous amount of space (you definitely need a coffee table to display/play with it) but the way the designer managed to cram every little scene from the film into is to be appreciated. The minifig selection is pretty good – I guess it would have been nice for them to include a second Ugnaught but otherwise they covered almost every base save maybe an Imperial Officer.

I like it - they've done a good job squeezing just about every room from the film into the model. I guess you won't be able to fit a MF on the landing pad but I think they can be forgiven for that one. The name is great too - I suspect TLG are trolling us over "insult on Hoth".

Apparently Imperial Landing Craft is available at the DreamWorld & Chadstone Lego specialist stores in Australia. No news as to whether it will get a wider release than that.

Was tempted to update my Landing Craft but I'm not really impressed by this model - no new minifigs and some odd choices for those included, interior that is nothing but 4 white bathing pools, odd non-canon angular construction. Might be saving my money here.

A revised Clone Wars series leads a bit more credibility to the 501st legion Battlepack rumour that floated around a couple of days ago. Let’s hope there are alternative arrangements for viewing the show outside of the US as Disney Streaming will likely be US only at launch.

Anime style does not leave me enthusiastic...will wait and see but can't say I'm hanging out for this one.

Ok - I'll probably get the Conveyex, Imperial landing Craft & Snoke's Throne Room from this wave, although I suspect there will be a battle pack released soon that either contains more Range Troopers/Mud Troopers or Snoke's Praetorian Guard. The Hauler would be tempting as it combines with the Conveyex but the minifig selection does nothing for me. I like the speeders but again the minifigs don't really appeal. Add those to the cost of the UCS Cloud City if it's decent and it's looking like an expensive end of year for me.

Not sure if the image I saw is Qi'ra. Also she wasn't even in the Hawler sequence so no sense for her to appear in one of those sets. Maybe it's a character from the rumoured Jurassic World UCS? Box Art for Imperial Landing Craft has leaked. Looks good.

Some nice new sets there. I like the sandcrawler but mainly for it's droid selection - the build itself is nothing special. Snoke's Throne room looks good although I'm disappointed the dramatic red curtains aren't represented. Also that Snoke appears identical to that in the FO Star Destroyer - I was hoping for angry face Snoke! I like the Landing Craft but wish they'd given us 2 more Sandtroopers, a crashed shuttle or a dewback than Obiwan and R2, which seem rather random inclusions. Think I'll stick the old one on Ebay tonight as this definitely looks like a superior replacement. Hoth Medical Bay is cute but will definitely have more appeal to AFOLs than kids.

So the Cloud City UCS doesn’t qualify as even a rumour then, despite the massive hints dropped by TLG and from some posters? Tough crowd...

Not a wish list - just speculation as to what figs will be in a 2018 set.

Can't say I'm impressed by either fig - but will hold judgement till I see the final set/movie. I was just thinking what the likely minifigs in the Cloud City set will be and came up with the following as most likely: * Bespin Luke * Blue Jacket Han (+ Han in Carbonite &/or white shirt Han) * Bespin Leia &/or prison escape Leia * Chewie * C3PO * R2D2 * Lando * Lobot * Bespin Guards x 2 * Ugnaughts x 2 * Darth Vader * Boba Fett * Stormtroopers x2 The following as possibles: * Imperial Officer * Cloud Car Pilot(s) * Bespin Citizens Even if they just go with the likely list that's a minimum of 16 figs.

The Roller Coaster looks OK and includes some homages to classic Lego sets, but there are no new pirate torsos included unfortunately except possibly the one on the little boy which was too small to make out in the image I saw.

Another UCS set of no interest to me (I only collect bad guy vehicles and playsets) so money saved - thanks TLG. Cloud City might be harder to resist if that rumour turns out to be true and it's not another "Insult on Hoth" abomination (Crap City?).

Hasbro are trying to crowd fund an action figure scale Sail Barge which is probably the inspiration for this “humour”.

In this case no, but I can't see any reason it couldn't in the future.

Just saw a review on You-Tube for the new Clonetrooper battlepack - Baris has the new slope piece for her lower half that I presume Snoke's Praetorian Guards will also get. Looks a lot better than the diagonal slope piece used at the moment for dresses/robes with the added bonus that female characters in dresses won't be towering over their male counterparts any more.

My favourites are Flower Pot and Cactus girls, Dragon costume and the Clown. The birthday kids are adorable with great accessories. I like the Unicorn's shield but otherwise it does nothing for me. Interesting to see they went with Orange stands. I guess I have enough black ones now so this is no big deal. I wonder if after adding the Batman Logo to the stands in the series 2 figures a variety of stands is going to be the new norm. How is the big Spider attached to the kid - is there a bracket attached to it?

I have both the new Cantina and the 2014 version and the older version is miles better - it actually looks like a finished model and can be "folded up" to look like the exterior of the cantina whereas the new one is literally three vignettes stuck together on joints.2014 also comes with a dewback and a landspeeder. The Greedo figure is slightly better in the new version but hardly worth the upgrade on that basis alone. The Ubrikkian 9000 is a nice enough model but rather oversized compared to the movie version and almost dwarfs the Cantina when placed next to it. One thing both lacks is a host of interesting/weird/bizarre aliens to populate them. I hope TLG puts out a battlepack ala the Bounty Hunter battlepack to address this at some stage (a similar one for Jabba's Palace would also be great).

With reflection, and looking at my own kids, I think the toy market in general is in trouble at the moment. Screen time is the preference for most kids and if they do play with toys, then their interest tends to fall on the latest craze rather than on building a collection of similar toys over time (so fidget spinners - > beyblades -> slime etc over acquiring and building up a collection of Lego, Star Wars figures, Barbies etc). My oldest son actually gave me back a polybag Santa gave him this year because he wasn't interested anymore. Established toy companies are going to have to change to keep up with it. One good thing that might happen if Toys R US goes under in Australia is at least we might finally get official Lego stores here which would be nice.