jdubbs

I have to agree with Starhawk on this... LEGO needs to try harder to earn my dollars. As a long-term SW LEGO fan — the sort I believe Starhawk is referring to — there's not much urgency to the Fall 2020 wave. There's certainly no reason to buy any of it day 1, or at full retail price. More rehashes, barely-updated builds, massive price inflation, and a scant few new figs. The AT-AT is indeed an improved build, but it's far from perfect, and if you already own one or more of the 2014 model it's far cheaper to mod it than to buy this new one (especially at its ridiculous price). The biggest draw for me (aside from the excellent — but hard to come by — Bespin Duel set) is the new clone in the Ahsoka set, which unfortunately is single-packed, making it really expensive to mass up. I hate to be a perpetual downer, but the mainline System sets this year have been pretty lacking IMO.

I think the problem (some) people are having with it is that it's just a big empty hollow space. And while it is a refreshing change to actually have usable space in the interior of a set, this is a case where the usable space might actually have been used. In the show, there are lots of interior details that could have been translated to this set... the open carbon freeze chamber... the weapons locker... the toilet... netting to create a separate pen for the blurrgs... etc. This seems like a case where a better balance could have been struck between those sorts of details and the flexibility of a completely open space. (Maybe a few of these details could be built into the one of the side panels, and the ship only opened from the other side, for instance.) The good news? There is plenty of space for you to add these details yourselves!

I wish LEGO had as much faith in the show as you do.

Amazon. (And sold at LEGO too).

Less officially, I have heard similar things about Hidden Side (RIP), and obviously the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit sets did not sell well considering how that line was prematurely cancelled... despite being really excellent sets and figs up until the last wave. In terms of Star Wars, the buildable figures were apparently not very popular among retailers. But I don't think LEGO ever did (or would) publicly say anything negative about any of those. A LEGO rep did state in a Brickset article that B-Wings historically did not sell well at all... probably why we rarely get them... despite being fairly iconic, at least among original trilogy fans.

There were several accounts from retailers and even from within LEGO that they sold poorly, so much so that retailers did not want to carry them. (This is supposedly why the A-Wing/Vader TIE retired so quickly). A lot of people believe this was down to timing... that LEGO put the sets out well before the show debuted, let alone hit its stride, and that key sets like the Ghost retired before the second season began. Add to this the questionable choice of sets, the quality of several sets, and the ever-popular pricing discussion... it shouldn't be a huge surprise that the sets didn't do well. For what it's worth, Hasbro didn't do any better. One small wave of 5POA figs was all the show got.

Usually when people opt not to share info, it's because 1) the original source of the information asked that it remain private and not be posted publicly, or 2) the information comes from an unproven source or needs to be verified. There are people who love to make up bogus set lists, descriptions, etc., and no one wants to get burned by circulating info that turns out to be junk, because people on these forums tend to blame the messenger when that happens. And, even seemingly-reliable information sourced from Target's, Walmart's, and yes LEGO's own computer systems have proven to be wrong in the past, so you can never be 100% sure of anything. I am surprised the price list has not leaked publicly by now. It's been circulating among the Instragramers for a month or more now, and yet they've all shown uncharacteristic restraint in not rushing to be "FIRST!" to post it. I suspect it's only a matter of time, though. Just... keep your expectations low (and you can only be pleasantly surprised).

It is not a US exclusive. It is available exclusively at Target within the US. It is also available exclusively at ToysRUs within Canada. Time will tell if it is available in other countries, as exclusives or otherwise.

It is, and great minifigs. I just feel like, being a sub-$100 set, there was more of a chance of it getting made 2, 3, 5 years down the road... whereas the cargo shuttle would need either a retail store to sponsor it as an exclusive, or a giant gaping hole in the fall wave to stand a chance of getting made. But, who knows... maybe it will show up in Mando or the Cassian Andor prequel series and we'll get a second crack at it. In the meantime, I wish someone would do a MOC of it that isn't thousands and thousands of pieces...

I think we're on the same page, though there are still a lot of folks who are convinced Disney controls everything LEGO does. My point was just that even when Disney makes these kind of requests/suggestions, they don't necessarily get their way... one of the LEGO designers even said this happened with the Rogue One sets... Disney suggested the cargo shuttle, LEGO pushed back to do Krennic's shuttle instead... and we all know how that turned out. Kind of a bummer in that case, as the cargo shuttle is probably too big for LEGO to do at this point, unless it shows up in some new show or movie.

Completely free reign? No. Disney/LFL offers guidance about upcoming initiatives (we have this movie coming out, plus these books, this video game, and these shows...) and which are getting major marketing support (we're spending XX million promoting Galaxy's Edge, and YY million promoting Disney+...) and who the main heroes/villains/vehicles are, etc. All of which licensees like LEGO absorb and use to map out their product lineup for the coming year(s). Most often, the licensee follows the money, because marketing spend by Disney rubs off on corresponding products by the licensee. Disney has a chance to respond and offer feedback (we love this... we're iffy on that... we wish you would do something to support XYZ because we have big plans for it moving forward... we would really prefer you time your launch to coincide with Force Friday because we're spending a ton to promote it...) and eventually, approve the plans. When individual products aren't approved, it's most often because it portrays the character in the wrong light, or breaks a rule in some way (this character can't be depicted with that one, these costume details are wrong, etc.) not because Disney commands from on high, "YOU MUST MAKE THIS PRODUCT INSTEAD." This is how virtually all IP licenses work, be it Star Wars or Harry Potter or Marvel. There is always a give and take. There are rules, certainly... you'll produce at least X number of products per year and guarantee Y dollars in sales and so on, and a select few things are off-limits (as in, "you can't make products of the Tonnika Sisters because we don't have the rights to their likeness")... but one party does not dictate terms (or products) to the other. LEGO, as the largest toy maker in the world, isn't told by Disney how to sell toys any more than Disney, being the largest movie studio in the world, is told by LEGO how to make movies. The two companies are in a licensing partnership. Each needs the other to succeed, and each trusts the other to know their own business and do their best to ensure that partnership is as profitable as possible. One need only compare the diversity of toys offered by LEGO versus Hasbro versus Funko to see that each licensee has a great deal of latitude to choose the types and subjects of the toys they sell. Case in point: there are Star Wars licensees that have never produced a ST product (or PT, for that matter) because it doesn't fit their brand or work for their customer, or whatever. And if, as some of you imagine, Disney really exerted the sort of dictatorial control over what toys each of these companies produced, Hasbro would have stopped producing Legends/EU/non-canon action figures years ago... and yet more come every year.

Lucasfilm (or Disney) doesn’t order LEGO to do anything. This narrative need to be put to rest.

I would second what LurkingEhlek says, and add that there were lots of reports of sets from Rebels not selling well at all. Yes, there are likely good reasons why this occurred, such as timing of when the sets were released and how quickly they retired, the quality of some of the sets, pricing, etc. But I suspect LEGO was still pretty gun-shy when it came to investing in product to support a Star Wars television show, at least back when sets for The Mandalorian were being planned. Resistance (admittedly a far inferior show) got just two sets, neither of which was the "hero" vehicle most of us expected to see, and neither of which lit the world on fire. LEGO may not have had faith that The Mandalorian would fare any better... whereas we can now all see that television is the near-term future of the Star Wars franchise.

My comment was meant in the most general terms possible, in response to a question about whether microfighters would appear in 2021. I am saying the type of sets (e.g., microfighters, small-to-mid sized system sets, helmets, buildables) coming 1H 2021 are similar to the 1H sets this year, albeit smaller on average and fewer in total, and with a few things missing like the battle packs. I was not referring to which particular eras, trilogies, ships, characters, etc. might be represented.

Both.

Aside from the battle packs, the makeup of the January/April waves should feel very familiar... though a little smaller overall.

I think this was supposed to be Enfys’ ship? Nicely done!

The original UCS Death Star was changed mid-run to give the figs pupil eye head prints. Also the First Order TIE was modified to include better supports for the wings.

There is evidence, but I think it's premature to call it definitive, especially after the weird stuff that happened in 2020... we saw sets cancelled after appearing the initial price list, other sets added, and more substantial store exclusives than any year since ToysRUs folded. So, anything is possible, even the improbable. I have said before and will say again: there are still ways the $15 battle pack could continue. Maybe Walmart picked them up as exclusives. Maybe LEGO moved them the second half of the year, and shifted the set numbers accordingly. Maybe they're just taking a year-long break, given the 501st is already on shelves. But it seems increasingly likely that, if they do continue, they won't do so in exactly the way or at the time we've come to expect. If there is a connection between the battle packs ending and the 501st set appearing, it would be the reverse of what a lot of people are saying. It's much more likely that LEGO had already decided it was time to transition from the existing battle pack configuration to a larger unit, and just chose the 501st to be the first figs in the new configuration.

You're conflating two separate things here. Sales of the 501st have nothing to do with whether or not Battle Packs appear in 2021. The 2021 sets were mapped out at least a year ago, long before the 501st set was known to people here, let alone reached shelves, etc. And, it's not simply "doom and gloom rumors" behind the reports of no $15 battle packs next year — they're not listed on the 1H 2021 price list. This is a pretty reliable indicator of what is and isn't coming in the year to come. It's not definitive, as plans have been known to change, price lists to be inaccurate, etc., especially in the last year. But it's more substantiated than you're allowing.

I think this might be premature. Not showing up in the initial mainline price list is not enough to declare them definitively gone for good. LEGO might just be giving them the year off with the 501st super-battle-pack on shelves, or they may have become store exclusives (Walmart would be a good fit), or they may have been moved to later in the year. Plenty of weird things happened in 2020 with regard to set numbering, store exclusives, sets being added (and cancelled) late in the game, etc. While it does not look good for battle packs in 2021, I would not pronounce them dead just yet.

Those were garbage leaks, which was very obvious from the moment they appeared (at least to those who could set aside their own wants and wishes), as they were riddled with red flags that they were someone's fantasy wishlist. Certain individuals with too much time on their hands do this almost every wave... just treat it all with a grain of salt, and if something sounds too good to be true, it very likely is. Keep your expectations low and you can only be pleasantly surprised.

I'm not sure I deserve that credit, as it was Renown who first hinted at them. I just sort of clarified what his hints were about.

There's always a Doubting Thomas...

There’s a great photo of watermarks circulating. Oh and some other guys too.