JekPorkchops

Just to throw my two cents in here, I believe that once Episode 9 hits and the next one or two waves will have some products related to it, we'll see a massive slowdown in LSW products in general (during the movie hiatus). Additionally, I think Lego will be more free to do what they wish (next to releasing sets for the new TV shows of course) and I think they'll use the old model of (re)releasing a nice mix of PT and OT sets. I do believe the ST will not be revisited as much again in the future as the regular PT/OT sets.

Could be useful in more general battles as well. Same with Anakin’s torso. Edit: this has already been mentioned, sorry. I quite like the new figures, whether they have the old hairpieces or the new ones.

Yeah this is what I mean. I think it was confusing of me to say that the cockpit of the 'regular' TIE Whisper looks like the Silencer, I mean it looks like the cockpit of Kylo Ren's new Ep IX 'Silencer' which could indeed also be called some sort of TIE Whisper. Also I was unaware of the merch also calling Kylo's new ship a Whisper.

From the leaked style guide images I saw, the TIE Whisper is not Kylo Ren's new fighter, that one was unnamed. The TIE Whisper seems to be a red FO TIE with the same cockpit design as Kylo's new Silencer-esque fighter.

I agree that the Yoda looks soooo much better IRL than on the pictures. The plaque of that set has that black and blue image of Yoda in the background, there is some additional shading added around the pieces in his face, making it more clear where his mouth is supposed to be. It's a shame there is not as much shadow in that area as on that image, but at least this time I can see where Yoda's (closed) mouth is supposed to be. The lightsaber build is also quite nice. Kylo Ren's shuttle is amazing. Even the greebling is superior to the old one (though I still like that inaccurate set for its own shaping and details). It is a shame the wings do not have retractable landing gear as while it is a relief they kept the boarding ramp function on the new one, it is kinda useless because the shuttle sits way too low to the ground.

The new A-wing looks a lot better in the reviews. It looks much thinner and proportionally longer and sleeker in its profile. The cannons are still ugly and I do not like the blue pins both at the cannons and at the back. The back also seems to lack detail. Also it is really dumb that the cockpit does not even come with a control panel or some kind of control stick. It even has an empty 1x2 space in front of the pilot. Talk about cutting corners.

I agree and I have not seen a lot of criticism on the A-wing yet, even though it looks completely off. It is nowhere near as flat and sleek as the RZ-2 and the way the outward tapering sides have been approximated looks dreadful. It looks like a failed attempt at an RZ-1 set, which Lego have proven they can nail as a set (2016&2017 ones were fantastic). The guns are comically thin and because of the piece use in the center, look awkward. The blue pin does not help. I also would have preferred a blue one over another green one. The only positive thing I can say is that its price point is finally fitting again for what is supposed to be a small and massable fighter.

With Lego's current increasing prices and decreasing quality, the bricks should be printed anyway without additional cost.

In the years prior to me being a student, my like or dislike of the media had no influence on my purchases. I did not like TFA, but I already had a few of the sets, so I decided to get more because even if they were overpriced, they were generally nice. Because the movie was so small in scale, it allowed Lego to create almost every single scene completely within their sets, so I decided to collect them all because a movie has never been represented as well in Lego as that movie has. Because my love for the TCW show, I am trying to get every single CW set and polybag ever, even when I do not like the sets. But now that things in life have changed, that is the only subtheme which I want to complete. Beeing a student now, I have to be very selective with the sets that I buy. That does not prevent me from getting good sets that are based on IMO bad SW media, such as TLJ, a movie that I absolutely despise. I quite like all of the First Order designs, so I try to collect every trooper type of them and I already own the FO Star Destroyer. I think I'll still get the AT-M6. Luckily, my dislike for the movie means I can live without sets that I only like a little bit, like the TIE Silencer or Defense on Crait, and I have no interest in the Resistance Pod because it includes too many stickers and Rose Tico, a horrible character which has no place in my collection. Another thing is that while media can be quite bad, the designs can be very good, but also very bad yet still offer potential for good sets. TFA was just a simple action blockbuster movie, so while I have no connection to the characters it is nice to own some spaceships from it like the T-70 X-wings because they did their thing in the movie and were cool. Then there is the Resistance Bomber: an absolutely terrible vehicle that does not shine in its role and does not work at all in the movie that it is in, and it is also from a movie that I find terrible. However, while it is an incredibly dumb ship, I love the way it looks and I think Lego made a beautiful looking set of it with great functions and some good pilot minifigs. And in general, they do not make larger ships based on the Rebellion or the Resistance, so it is unique in that sense and I just had to get it. I can just leave the Holdo figure unassembled, another TLJ attrocity that has no place in my collection. So in short, before I was a student I was a completionist and I got as many sets as possible. After that, I limited myself only to sets that I actually like, whether they are from bad media or not, except when a set that isn't all that great is from TCW (like Grievous' speeder). Now that I am almost out of cash entirely, I'll try not to buy any more Sequel Trilogy stuff and remakes of OT/PT that I don't need. I'll save up for potential sets of the new season of TCW and The Mandalorian (if the latter is any good).

I cannot access Bricks and Pieces because 'the site is currently under maintenance'. If they are available, maybe they are suddenly clearing out the last stocks of CCBS? Kinda late though, a lot of that stuff has been lying there for years.

That's a bit much right? Not buying a set because the packaging is a bit inconsistent

Technically only the head is new. The leaker could have put the new head on the old figure, so Snap could still be in a 2020 set.

I forgot about those. Since that Old Ben was released in 2014 it seems they made that change then already. It's indeed just that they have been using the AOTC/ROTS Obi-Wan face since 2012 when it still had less detailing, though it is weird that they kept that face print in use till 2017. I wish the new Obi-Wan beard was a little less rough though, sort of like a combination of the new and the old. Snap looks fine.

Only the face print for Snap Wexley seems to be updated. Apparently Lego has a new way of representing beards by making them look a bit rougher around the edges. Both the previous Obi-Wan and Snap heads had a more clean look for their beard.

The lack of golden printing may indeed imply that it is for a ROTS Padme instead of for a ROTJ Leia. I guess I am so used to that old Obi-Wan face that I think the new one is a bit too scruffy-looking, but that is just because the beard has more detail. I like that this Obi-Wan looks a bit older than the other Obi-Wan head. You can really see the depression in his expression because of what Anakin did, and this head will work great for a post-ROTS Obi-Wan.

I doubt Resistance will get any more sets. Hasbro refuses to make any more toys because it simply does not sell well. If a decent show like Rebels does not get any more Lego sets for its final season because of poor sales, then I don't think the poorly received Resistance will get any more sets.

The Jumptrooper already has a specific torso created for him that looks very different to a regular FO Stormtrooper torso. I think the second variant of the Jumptrooper is wrong and that the Stormtrooper-esque torso with the new black and red markings actually belongs to the new FO Stormtrooper. Also, the (TLJ variant) helmet printing has been updated to show a bit of reflection in the lenses.

The disk (kanoka) shooter and the Thornax launcher are both similar in that they are a very easy-to-use, one-shot, accurate projectile launcher that can easily be activated during play. They shoot their projectiles with a nice velocity yet it is not damaging to other sets. The Thornax launcher always used to be my favorite launcher because of its simplicity, but after storing the thornax fruit ammo in them for a long period of time, they don't work as well as they used to because their two prongs were pushed out too long. It is now very difficult to fire them off, and even when that works, the accuracy of the shots is not as reliable. The quality of the disk shooters is much more reliable over time, though I personally do not find this launcher to be as exciting for some reason. I quite like the firepower and accuracy that launchers that use Zamor spheres have, such as the stacked Zamor launchers, Midak Skyblasters and Hero Factory Plasma Guns, but I rarely use them on other sets because the projectiles are quite hard and their velocity can damage the other sets. HF launchers probably develop the same problems as the Thornax over time though. The Cordak blasters have a great revolving feature and are mechanically impressive, though because of the air-power they are not as reliable (prone to misfires). Rhotuka are nice to see but not that great to aim with. That does not matter all that much as they simply provide a different visual type of entertainment, though it is annoying that when you shoot them up they can land behind a piece of furniture for instance. I simply like every single launcher Bionicle and Hero Factory offered, except for the Squid launchers for obvious reasons :) If their technic connection to the hand piece was at least not as rubbery and more solid, I think I could still work with them a bit better but they are horrible anyway. I do like their look and displayability, and story-wise they are unique and fitting to the characters. In short, the Thornax launcher is my favorite, though it has to be from a new set or from a set which I stored without the ammo in the launcher.

Yeah Lego just keeps reusing face prints. They want to keep their inventory as low as possible. Sometimes they reuse face prints for different characters in other IPs, which is fine as long as the likeness is good enough, but this whole inventory thing is starting to get annoying when they use the same faces for two different characters in the Marvel line for example, or when it stops us from getting new face prints for existing characters. On the other hand, the range of emotion on this figure isn't too far off compared to Daisy's acting :) Since this outfit does not have the particular sleeves / wrapped cloth around her arms, I'd say dual molding is not really needed here as much as it was needed on the other outfits, but a bit of print on the right arm would've been nice to show the thing that covers up her scar. The level of detailing looks much better than her first minifigure, whose torso looked a bit flat.

While the teal coloring for the astromech is nice and makes it stand out amongst the others, its R5 head yet again lacks printing on the sides like the one from the 2018 Sandcrawler. They really should stop inflating prices when the quality starts to decline, though I do agree that the Episode 9 wave already has plenty of new molds. The Knights of Ren look great, though the helmet of the gunmetal one does not resemble the movie counterpart all that much. Zorii Bliss has a very unappealing costume already IMO (I know SW is a bit more steampunky than most science fiction, but this costume is a bit too rustic looking) but this minifigure makes it look even worse. The coloring is way off. Fortunately, I do not really care about the costume anyway so this inaccuracy does not bother me. The First Order Jumptrooper looks nice, but Lucasfilm really should've decided on one design for FO jetpack troops early on. Next to this one, there are already 3 variants of Rocket troopers in the comics and Battlefront 2.

So what do all of you do to make the stickers on your sets stick to the bricks permanently, or at least make them last longer? I once tried a clearcoat (I cannot remember which one) but all it did was make the stickers look oily. Because these stickers were on a very curved surface, their sides lifted up and the clearcoat did not seem to help. I have read that several people cut clear tape in the shape of the sticker and apply it over the sticker, and though I have never tried this method it does not seem to be effective to me. Essentially you are putting another sticker, with a tendency to peel up over time, over another sticker. Also, because I own hundreds of sets, each with tens of stickers, cutting tape in the right size for every one of them is too big of a task. I have also read that some people use nail polish for stickered models or other toys, though I do not know if this works well for LEGO stickers. There is also the fact that acetone and ABS plastic are not the most friendly combination, though in the right concentration apparently acetone kind of binds the sticker and its colors and patterns to the ABS plastic. Also, before you add some kind of coating on these stickers, what kind of glue or adhesive would you use to flatten curled-up stickers? Please leave your thoughts and ideas or proven methods in this topic, I am very curious.

Unfortunately this does not seem to be a limited issue. Slightly less than half the sets I received since 2016 have poorly cut stickers. Because I have some serious OCD, lining stickers up perfectly is something that I must always do, and these poor sticker sheets make this impossible sometimes.

Yes I also considered that piece, but it really does not work in my opinion. The shape in the back is reasonable but the 'cap' part on the front throws it off.

I am wondering what kind of head piece they are going to use for that Knight of Ren, since the helmet most likely won't be using a new mold, because of the use of a printed minifigure head. It'd be a shame if they'd use the head piece of Pao or Rebolt because it simply does not look big and angular enough to represent that Knight's unusual helmet.

I think wesker is referring to the fact that the cockpits are starting to become less spherical. The 2015-2017 TIEs all used the newer Canopy/Windshield piece specifically created for TIEs, while the newer models have reverted back to a printed 4x4 dish just like the early 2000 TIEs. I have no idea why they made this change, it is not consistent at all. Maybe because the cockpit on the newer TIEs looks a bit more like a sphere from the front as the newer 6x6 canopy has a very shallow curve so can be quite flat, though from every other angle that newer dish makes the TIEs look so much rounder and sleeker.