JekPorkchops

Just noticed how that 6m trans-clear pole in Kenobi's hut does not look nearly as clear as before. It seems they are replacing all of the polycarbonate parts with a much more inferior plastic and not just the canopies from all the Lego summer sets this year. Also, apparently Ben Kenobi also has a Gaffi stick hanging in his hut, in the back left corner.

By removing one minifigure and adding some sandy rock formation.

Maybe the 'Defense Turret' is related to the turret at the entrance of the attraction 'Rise of the Resistance' in Galaxy's Edge? There was some kind of foresty environment in the set photo's from the SWC Episode 9 panel, maybe the planet Batuu will appear in Episode 9 so it could be that turret.

Issues like that could have arisen because of interior lighting of the cockpit of the craft in concept art. The falcon would definitely not get this treatment simply because Lego knows that it doesn't have such a windscreen or cockpit lighting.

Central wing looks really good, like a miniaturized version of the UCS version. I hope Lego's next B-wing set takes inspiration from this, instead of its wings being built out of a single bare layer of plates.

The rocket from the space research center also seems to use those new 'airlock' pieces that the space station also uses several of. They are light grey in the space station but I don't know whether they are light or dark grey on the rocket. They appear to be used to connect the different modules of the rocket together. If that is the case, you can probably attach the longest module of the space station in between the rocket modules to 'send it to space' (the longest module of the space station has the airlocks on two sides). Perhaps you can also attach the little shuttle that comes with the space station, onto the top of the rocket instead of the default conical crew module.

Considering there was already a simpler Droideka in a magazine gift a few months ago, I doubt that's what it is. I hope it will be in an actual set but it looks more like a MOC to me, the post makes this very unclear. Though it does look great.

The color difference could be variance in production of either the plastic or prints, I don’t think it is a new figure. Maybe the head/torso piece has been assigned a new element ID and the mold has been updated to incorporate the number, if it is even included in the mold at all.

In the Netherlands I seem to be unable to get a Finch, looks like it's a US and UK thing only.

Does someone have a picture of the TIE Silencer (Kylo Ren's TIE Fighter) set with the 4 trans-red 2x1 tiles on the canopy arranged horizontally instead of vertically? I believe the cross-pattern that emerges between the slits between pieces could more accurately represent the actual window design from the movie, though I don't have the set myself.

These are my thoughts as well. Trying to avoid most TLJ sets to save money so won't be going after this figure, but it is a very nice idea to include such a variant of a character in a book. Zuckuss looks great. Somehow his face piece looks a little more plain than I would've imagined, even though the mould itself is very detailed. Maybe it just needs some kind of wash to add depth but Lego doesn't really do that. Very happy with him nonetheless but I don't think I can afford another Slave I and I also have the UCS version already. Still, nice that you can get all 6 bounty hunters by just buying this set and the battlepack. Well, perhaps you'd need the Super Star Destroyer set as well to really complete it, but oh well.

Weird that they still have the Paige helmet then. Because it is retired they don't have the Finch helmet anymore. I always hate that when a set gets retired they immediately don't have a single exclusive piece of it anymore. And yeah I guess that's because of how their tight inventory works but that doesn't explain that they still have the Paige helmet.

I contacted Lego's customer service about Finch Dallow too. Since I live in the Netherlands they also said something along the lines of: it's out of production (as has been stated before in this thread). But in addition they also said that they could not send it because it is definitively out of production and that 'I should just look for a set with a minifigure that looks like it'. They were willing to send me such a minifigure though, but it's a really weird response.

Man I thought I was the only one getting unlucky all the time. It just keeps getting worse. While I can live with the fact that it does not line up perfectly, a lot of the times the hips look completely disjointed from the torso. Also, the helmet print quality seems to be really bad the last couple of years as well, it's as if they just cannot print on curved surfaces with any sort of tolerance. Well, not surprising as they cannot even get printing on flat surfaces consistent. In the light of this, I am happy the visors of the new Stormtrooper and Scout Trooper are dual-molded, since most secondary printing seems to fare a bit better. Still not a fan of the side profile of the new Stormtrooper though. As for the Snowtrooper, the addition of leg printing is unfortunate in this case, since it is so reliant upon the belt prints between legs and torso lining up correctly.

We now know that they also include a stand, with the same logo as on their back. And it displays the name of the character too.

I dislike the new Stormtrooper helmet even more now. It still has that awful right angle on the side of the chin, but in addition, when watched from the front, you can see the black of the dual molding right there sticking out.

Since there aren't too many anniversary sets and thus only a few anniversary minifigs, I'd say they would only choose a few of the early waves that don't require Lego revisiting the old molds. For instance, they could still make an old Pilot Luke, since the helmet mold is still available in the 4+ set. They could also make a classic minifig Han, because his old hair piece still exists. Basically, only new prints that resemble old prints, no revisited discontinued colors or molds.

I like the Naboo Starfighter MF and the fact that it has a nicely integrated control panel, but I don't like the black stripe underneath R2. Anakin has a nice new face print. The Sith Infiltrator MF looks good as well, both just aren't really must-haves. At least the silly Darth Maul face kinda fits the theme now. The Dewback is amazing and could easily double as a regular but younger Dewback. The escape pod is pretty detailed but weird as a Microfighter. Obviously the Praetorian BP should've had the third helmet, but I guess it was unrealistic to expect two new moulds for a BP (in all of the previous wave they have had either 0 or 1 new mould). I wish it only came with one of the sunvisor guards though, as they are less common and the set only comes with one of his style of weapon (the double-bladed thing, it looks a little weird brick-built and I don't like the dark red). I guess the polearm with the Nexo-Knights blade represents the Vibro-Voulge and the polearm with the machete (similar to the one in Snoke's throne room) represents the Electro-bisento. Have no idea why they used the 4M grey bars here instead of the 3M bars like in the throne room, the weapons are way too long. Especially the bisento could've done without an additional lightsaber hilt. Oh well, easy fixes, and it comes with all 4 Praetorian weapons which is nice. The build is something really different for once. Don't care too much about the training droid though. I still need to get one of those TLJ stormies so he is a nice inclusion. I like the Inferno squad BP (even the build is pretty good, for a non-canon thing) but it could've been so much better. Iden should've come with a helmet and it is a shame that the droid has been omitted. It is also disappointing that the other 3 are just generic Inferno Squad 'members' instead of the actual characters. Why even make the pack in the first place if you are not going to do that? Well, it's still a buy I guess. Droid Gunship is a major improvement over the previous one, which was a major improvement over the 2008 one. Did not realise they could've made it this much better. Not excited for the repeats of this and the AT-AP but the gunship looks so good that I want to get it. Shame they threw in another Yoda, I remember a time they used to release all kinds of new Jedi to entice people to buy such sets. At least the battle droids are really nice and I need them for my TCW collection. Getting the droids also means I have no reason to get the AT-AP. It looks identical to the 2014 version. But then again, that one was perfect already. Death Star Escape is another really nice cheap vignette / location playset. Is it weird that I am most excited for the 4+ sets (besides the BP's of course). Finally, a TIE Fighter at a normal price for such a cannon-fodder thing. Great-looking A-wing. X-wing is a bit weird but only the open cockpit and the fact that there is no space for R2's head bother me. The trench run aspect is quite refreshing. Good printed pieces all around. Just very lame that they threw in 3PO in the A-wing instead of a mechanic. Way too many R2's and C-3PO's lately.

I don’t own the Mimban Stormtrooper helmet (yet) but that one also appears to have this downward angle, but nowhere near this bad (90 degrees) and it is probably closer to the movies. Why couldn’t they do something similar to that piece? Also, aren’t the rear rectangles on the Stormtrooper helmet supposed to be grey? The black dual moulding doesn’t really work there. Man, they really got the previous Stormtrooper (and FO trooper for that matter) helmet mould right with the nice curve that still manages to fit past the square shoulders of the minifigure.

There is a comparison picture of the profile shots of the new and old Stormtrooper. The back of the new one’s mouth piece cuts off rather abruptly before it touches the torso, which the older one did not have. That one looked a lot more finished and proper from the side.

It appears to be brick-built because it looks very bulky. I hope they also include hairpieces for the other Inferno squad members, and new face prints. I think all of the Praetorians in the BP have the legs instead of the skirts. On the two guards on the left it's just the red of their weapon that makes them look like they have skirts. The Praetorian BP seems to consist of a 'sunvisor' guard on the left, a 'lockjaw' guard in the middle (from the Throne Room, with the same spear-weapon called Vibro-voulge) and another 'sunvisor' guard on the right. Unfortunately no 'bucket' helmet. I think the sunvisor guards have something that represents their unusual weapons, but I cannot see how it is built or how accurate it is. The Vibro-voulge of the middle guard looks as good as before, and it seems the weapon stand on the build comes with an additional Vibro-voulge. Hoping it also comes with both variations of the electro chain-whip like the throne room had.

True he also mentioned that the A-wing would be Resistance based which I doubt. I think that there might still be a chance for Resistance sets though, whether they are juniors or not. The action figures are coming out in April and I think Lego wants to release sets after the show has been released, to avoid the problems they had with the Rebels set sales (those came out before the show and that did not work well apparently). They are definitely contenders for juniors sets though. It’d be fine if there were no sets since I don’t like the show but I do like some of the ships.

It would actually be more expensive to keep the old rebel helmet mold around for the juniors sets. The advent calendar included an old one to get rid of the old stock, since it will probably be fully replaced by the new one. Is there any legitimacy to MandR’s claims that the juniors (or 4+) sets of the x-wing and TIE fighter will be based on Resistance? He (or his source) was correct about Vader’s Castle.

Shame it is another Kashyyyk based AT-AP. It even has another Gree and Tarfful, and they refused to change the one thing (dual molding) that would've made Gree better. It is already the third time this figure has been released. Really liking those AAT droid pilots though, I wanted them ever since I saw Ambush 10 years ago. I was really hoping for a Felucia AT-AP with Bly and 327th troopers. Or a TCW version with more of TCW characters as stated by others. But at least the AAT droids are CW-exclusive characters, though it is an odd mix of figures.

The minifigs in the juniors sets will probably not be simplified, like in other themes, which is good.