Japanbuilder

Amazing, it really is a thing of beauty. Great job!

Oo I must be blind or just lacking in a fine eye for that level of detail. Though the blue on those vents seems slightly more navy blue in tone. I don't have a clean storm trooper with the most recent printing but the battlefront imperial pack has nearly identical printing (just with the added battle damage). On my troopers it is a very film accurate mid tone blue: PA042194 by Macster Tome, on Flickr The ones in the reveal pictures reveal the same print (minus the damage) but it is hard to spot the actual hue of blue due to the low rez imaging on the picture. it could be the same shade of blue clumping up together to create the darker effect. I doubt they would do a do over on the hue unless absolutely necessary because the film was using a totally new hue. Not sure if that is the case though as the classic trooper looks identical to the OT ones to my eye. That said, the print on my shock troopers is most definitely using a noticeably darker shade of blue (almost blackish navy blue) and looks closer to the ones in the new battle pack. Maybe this is the blue they used? PA042197 by Macster Tome, on Flickr PA042200 by Macster Tome, on Flickr We should just wait I think time will reveal all.

Wait that TIE Advance and A-Wing are already retiring? Oo Well wow. Also being in Japan many stores don't carry every LEGO item just the ones they think will sell. So our selection here is limited and we are forced to use online means to get a lot of sets. Just like Australia those hardly if ever, go on discount. Store shelves also don't discount LEGO products, they will stay at the store's price (higher than MSRP in many places) until the store decides it is a lost cause. Since the consumer is never told when that is it is literally blind luck when you find a really old gem you wanted at a discount.

Only weird thing I have had happen so far as far as extra pieces is on the Glob Lobber set for Nexo Knights. It was so unusual I had to write it up on my review of the thing on Brickiest: http://brickset.com/reviews/50591 Basically I followed the instructions start to finish and double checked it twice and I still ended up with a full 2x10 plate left over Oo I have never had that happen and when it does it is because I missed a part in the build. It drove me craze for a good half hour until I gave up and figured someone just packed in the extra piece. Still I was taken quite a back because a 2x10 plate is a pretty large piece.

Wish I lived where you do. It still going for over 100 USD where I live ; ; Not sure when the wave 1 of FA will retire but I hope not soon. I am still trying to flesh out my collection of vehicles from the line. Still need the TIE and both X-Wings.

That Y Wing looks so tempting now >< Was hoping to mostly stick to EPVII and above since I am a recent returnee to LEGO but wow! They really stepped up over the sets last year. >< Oh my wallet ><

I think they are preserving the pauldron to signify either rank or a type of specialty. This has always been so in most SW stuff. The most common were even retained for EP VII where Red is for officers, White for Sergeants or non-commissioned officers. This also means the bulk of any imperial army would not have guys with pauldrons on them. Despite that though, I do wish one had come with the shoulder piece, same for the regular storm trooper. This would have allowed folks not set on buying Krennic's Shuttle the option of having officers/specialists. For multiple buys, one could simply leave off the piece and have a chosen few as the leaders.

I also loathe them to bits and hope they include both types really. But as it is that is not looking possible and some sets are already packing stud shooters in place of more accurate moulds (Encounter on Jakku has one and the new Falcon has one for Chewie). I end up modifying a few of them into bazooka like weapons but generally I just buy regular blasters in bulk every few months so I always have a stash ready for the impulse battle pack or two I get. The plus side to being an AFOL is having that option I guess =) My very small kids love the shooters though so I can also see why LEGO packs them in exclusively now.

Once again the rebel battle pack looks the best to me. The imperial one will be useful too but having to buy multiples again to amass regular stormies is a pain. Specially since I don't really care for the death troopers >< Maybe the movie will help me change my mind. The rest of the line up seems decent enough. Though I notice on the micro fighters the U-wing pilot gets a nice new awesome helmet mould but the y wing one gets the old visor printed on the face with the older mould. I wish all the pilots would get an updated mould with visor. Maybe by 2018 forward they will make the shift fully to the new dual moulded helmets.

I think you are right, I have only ever seen it in gun metal grey. Looking at the parts dealer I got it from they have no listing for it in black. Shame cause that looks like a promising build technique for that particular heavy blaster. Maybe we will get something like it in the future.

That is awesome! Love all the details. Those speeders tucked into the hull look great plus the massive amount of troops already deployed on the hapless rebels is very inspiring >=)

Heh heh, making those rebel scum shoot at dew backs are we? Excelllleeeeeennnnnntt! I mean poor dew backs ! Oo

I hope that is true! The other lines have been getting their snaps released already except SW. I am very anxious to see the new battle packs.

I am of the same thinking as you. The rest of the line is not as appealing to me as these two sets are. Means more monies for other themes though =)

This seems really hard to determine to me. In Japan information is not always transparent regarding the longevity of sets. So it is hard to tell which sets have been flying off the shelves collectively (and thus not making them as rare relative to other sets) and which ones haven't. When sets are due to retire seems to be guesswork too. Some are up for years some are gone in a year. How to determine this also seems difficult at times for some themes. But I would imagine given the popularity of LEGO most sets if they appreciate will do so slowly as they may not be as rare as people think. I notice prices only tend to go up once a fairly large set is ready for retirement. So as with most investments at least where I am, it is fully 100% buyer beware. Go with the recommendations that seem the most reasonable but be aware that some sets will be slow to rack up value.

I got the 2013 Chase McCain already. But I do like the updated Spirit (if that is what it ends up being). Looks like the Helicopter is the new Justice though. Not sure I dig that. I also like the overall resizing of the tires for the 4 wide cars though. It looks much better with them not sticking out as much. The new cruisers are set like this year's black and white cruiser only in white and blue. But they shortened the rear on them it seems. They look stubby to me. I am not drawn to any one set in particular here but the bank did catch my eye. It scales perfectly with the style of buildings I keep in my city so I will be getting that for sure. Cant wait to see what the rest of the line up brings for City.

I keep mine in plastic drawers either fully built or partially built. Pieces not in use I have in a tool box with multiple compartments where the pieces are more or less arranged in ways I can get at them easily. I tend to rotate what I have on display every few months. But mostly I keep my city stuff out all year long and make temporary dioramas for my Star Wars stuff to occupy smaller spaces throughout the year. Frankly I am running out of room in my house for all the LEGO, I may need to decide to cut down on my display space or split it up by theme and just display smaller bits of my collections on a rotational basis.

I don't really mind the lack of printing or details. Most of my collection is made up of City sets so the Star Wars ones look overly detailed side by side those in many cases or equal in others. I do remember as a kid though in what felt like no time the printing was gone on heads, torsos and everything. Seeing as how these are marketed heavily towards kids I imagine LEGO is just trying to strike a balance. Decent enough quality for the serious crowd but not too overly detailed for when kids inevitably smudge them to zero but still need them to resemble something. I do, however, expect for sets over a certain price point to hit a higher standard. Once you start pushing over 50 bucks I do expect a bit more. But a 30 buck set not so much. Same goes for battle packs.

Hands down one of my favourite sets this year. Thing is beast! And you can actually swoosh it unlike the FO one. with good placement you can get quite a number of guys in there with equipment in their hands. Great set.

I usually go through Amazon Japan to get my SW LEGO since the closest shop that carries them at reasonable prices is very far away from me. While they do list an image it is the same one as the image used in the first run I think. I would only be able to tell once it was delivered which iteration I got.

I could not resist getting another 75133. Mixing parts with the resistance battle pack really makes for a great and diverse line up of troops! Quite possible the best battle pack of 2016 hands down. PA302378 by Macster Tome, on Flickr

Oh wow that is so good to know. I am getting this set next month and in Japan the piece count is never printed so it is actually a mystery which version we ultimately got unless you count every piece before you build the kit. This will come in handy for when I get to the wings. Oo Forbid the thought of glue ; ;

Anytime, I'll see if I can't find real copies of 88 or 89 but looking through the Japanese LEGOPedia it seems the gaps are explained by either late arrivals to Japan or no new arrivals to fill the catalogues for the time in question. So they saved on print likely by only releasing in-store flyers of the few new sets available between 88 and 89.

No problem. The previously mentioned catalogue site's homepage has a yearly breakdown posted there. http://www.lego7205.com They are divided into 3 columns for 6 themes: The first should read お城シリーズ in green. This refers to Castle. It has an entry for 1988 but not 1989 for all sets in Japan at that time. In the middle column there should be an entry called 南海の勇者 or Braves of the Southern Seas (pirates) series. There is an entry for 1989 but not 1988. in Yellow is 街シリーズ which translates to "Town" Purple is テクニック Techniq. Red is 基本セット or LEGO Basic (not sure what this would be in English really) Orange is その他 or Other in English. The first few links for most of the sections detail the sets or catalogues (if available) or which mini figures were available at the time. Sadly I cannot find full catalogues for 1988 or 1989 in Japanese. It is as if there is a void in the Japanese Index for these two years. I am not sure why this would be though. The Japanese LEGOPedia here:http://ameblo.jp/1sw/ Has all the sets by year released in Japan by theme, sadly no catalogues. I put the relevant sections for these in my previous post. It seems there was a dearth of sets during the 1988 and 1989 time line with only 4 sets in 1988 and 2 sets in 1989. Pirates has no info for 1988 because it seems the theme hit Japan starting in 1989 (Late) which means the earliest print was probably the 1990 catalogue. Typically the catalogues run bi-annually nowadays back then, they have been released in January and covered a longer range of time. But pirates flooded the scene in 1989. 10 sets were released in one go at the time. The next new wave hit in 1991.

Hi there! I am not sure how far back LEGO catalogs go back in Japan but I'll run a search and see if I can dig up any sites that may have indexed them. If that turns up nothing I'll see if I can get in touch with a LUG or two and ask around there for any information. *edit*　using the following search term: (レゴ カタログ 八十年代) ((Lego Catalogs the 80s)) you can replace　八十　with 九十　for the 90s. Just keep the last two ideograms the same. Seek and thee shall find as they say, this site has a few and one dates back to 1979. Though these seem incomplete. Just a few pages a piece. Which seems strange given the range of LEGO sets specially towards the late 90s. Also it seems to be missing the ones from 1988 and 1989 (may never have been released?) The navigation may be odd but the bottom of each page has a link to the other years along with a thumbnail. Ill get hunting for those 2 missing years. http://www.lego7205.com/catalog *edit edit* Late 60s versions: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=128360 http://www006.upp.so-net.ne.jp/OLD-LEGO/shiryoukan.html Site of historical overviews of LEGO through the years though some of this information is mixed in with sets from other regions not just Japan. But it does try to keep data limited to sets that saw official release in Japan. http://ameblo.jp/1sw/entry-11847048523.html All castle sets up to set 6098 King Leo's Caslte: http://ameblo.jp/1sw/theme-10075872588.html Pirates up to set 6281 Pirates Perilous Pitfall) http://ameblo.jp/1sw/theme-10075872632.html Adventure up to set 7419 Dragon Fortress http://ameblo.jp/1sw/entry-11776694381.html Western up to 6766 Rapid River Village: http://ameblo.jp/1sw/entry-11776657137.html 1988 commercials in Japan including one for LEGO Castle: I cannot find full scanned copies of the real catalogs. I may have to contact a LUG and see if anyone has any of these still around. Japan is a recycling culture so some print materials specially stuff as old as this may not have survived to the present day. Hope that helps a bit!