jdubbs

The UCS Snowspeeder is retiring after just 18 months, so one would assume it sold poorly... and yet, no sales on it to date (at least, not from LEGO).

MandRProductions video.

Juniors minifigs are only simple in the sense that most lack alt faces, leg printing, new molds, etc. But then you get exceptions like the Incredibles minifigs which had dual-molded legs and arms, etc... which was probably only possible because those parts were reused across multiple characters.

The two were available for a time at LEGOLand, which is where the online supply originates from. They have otherwise not been released as a gift-with-purchase promotion in stores. Presumably the Kessel Mine Worker will be a retailer exclusive (one of Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, etc. in the U.S., TRU in the EU, etc.) now that LEGO Stores are releasing the Muddy Han poly. But probably not until November since they won't want to compete directly with LEGO's promotional window in October.

Looks great! More pics please!

Really nice! Your Dryden Vos fig looks spot-on. I wish LEGO would make a System version of this ship, but I think it's pretty unlikely.

The Slave I drooping problem was not with the stand or the bricks that make up the stand. The drooping problem was with the Slave I model itself, which eventually comes apart near where the cockpit glass meets the body of the ship. It takes a while, but it does seem to happen pretty consistently if your Slave I is displayed in flight orientation. (It happened to mine, despite never being touched for the last year or so. It was built properly, so not user error.) And yes, the BB-8 stand falls apart with a light breeze.

LEGO has continued to make 1-2 CW sets each of the last 4-5 years despite there being no new episodes being produced, even as Rebels aired and chewed up sets in various waves. So it's a pretty safe bet that LEGO will make new CW sets now that there are new episodes being aired to support the sets. And as for the anecdotal 8-14 year old, a) the series only went off the air 4-5 years ago, so the 14-year-old probably has some awareness of it regardless, and b) even the 8-year-old would have been exposed to it through Netflix. Kids today are increasingly likely to consume media via streaming, and less likely to be watching broadcast/cable TV. (This is part of the reason why CW continues to be popular whereas Rebels, not so much... Rebels isn't on Netflix, while CW is.)

It will probably retire before that... last year the Palace Cinema retired in late November; its last availability on the LEGO Shop at Home website (US) was the first day or two of the Brick Friday sale, when it was marked down 20%. After that it was only available at a few LEGO Stores and the larger retailers with some stock left... who sold out pretty quickly.

Yeah, sure, anything is possible. But honestly, this is how these fake leaks live on. Because there's even a remote chance there might be a sliver of truth in them, all evidence to the contrary is ignored. To those of us who have been reading EB for the last several years, the fakes are painfully obvious to spot. Too many minifigs in the sets. Minifig lists pulled straight from fans' wishlists. Eye-witness accounts of sets long before anyone would realistically have access to photos or the sets themselves. Precisely detailed descriptions in some areas (the elaboration of a bad liar) and curious vagaries in others (obfuscating inaccuracies once they are revealed). Diagon Alley has been revealed to be a ~$20 microbuild that bears no resemblance to the set described in that "leak". Slave I has been revealed to be a $20 Juniors set that, again, doesn't line up with the "leak". Either of these should be enough to prove that this "leak" is nothing more than ForceGhostSolo (or a wannabe FGS) screwing around with everyone here, yet again. (This is where someone inevitably says: "well, there could be another larger Slave I and another, larger Diagon Alley, and well, maybe the leaker just got the set numbers mixed up, and well, maybe LEGO switched the sets around, or pushed them to April, and, well...") No one here is right 100% of the time —even Azani will tell you he's been wrong a few times — but people here would be smart to trust information that comes from established, reliable sources over sounds-too-good-to-be-true "leaks" published anonymously via random Instagrammers. If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, pretty good chance that it's a...

If you're referring to the detailed descriptions of the Star Wars January sets — Zuckuss in Slave I, Resistance Juniors sets, etc., as well as HP Chamber of Secrets, Room of Requirement, Diagon Alley, etc. — those have been debunked as fake. But, people keep referring to them as though they may be real, because, well, people don't bother to read. The list of set names (without descriptions) that Azani provided is the most credible info so far.

Guys, those incredibly detailed set descriptions are clearly fake. Has no one learned from the last five times this happened? Descriptions that detailed do not ever leak this early. There are (as usual) waaaaaaay too many figures in really small sets, and almost every figure included is a fanboy's wet dream. Azani generally knows more about what's coming well before anyone else... and he only posted half-complete set names/numbers a day or two ago... so do you really think someone else out there has all this added detail that reliable, established leakers do not? These descriptions are just someone like Force Ghost Solo or the V-19/Resistance Transport guy getting his jollies... again.

Set selection, design, etc. begins 12-18 months before products reach store shelves, so this set was in development well before word began to circulate that LEGO was considering bankruptcy. From that point forward, even if LEGO had been prescient enough to foresee TRU's eventual demise, bankruptcy protection would have prevented LEGO from canceling contracts until TRU either successfully restructured or announced their liquidation.

For the big D2C and UCS sets, the window between announcement and release has been trending shorter. So Ewok Village is probably not a good indicator...

It’s not UCS.

They don't need to do an exact copy of the entire model; they just need to be able to recreate the photos that LEGO releases of the set. And plenty of people do buy these knockoffs, especially in Asia, which eats into a huge potential market for LEGO.

Leaked pictures aren't allowed here, @Traffic Jawa.

1 month. Though resellers/marketplace sellers will most likely list them on Amazon before that at inflated prices.

There's nothing quite like free stuff to bring the complainers out of the woodwork.

So it is Hogwarts... just not a Hogwarts anyone wanted. Oh well.

No.

Seems like the Birthday CMF figs didn't start leaking until 1-2 months before their release?

The leaked description for the Swoops set suggests combining them with with Hauler and the Conveyex sets to recreate the scene, much as the HP Great Hall description suggested combining it with the Whomping Willow. But that said, I'd be surprised if the Hauler included another car from the Conveyex... would be nice, but seems unlikely.

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, but lately it seems there are far more people here talking out of their @sses than there are on that other place. Misinformation tends to spread further (and unchecked) here, with fewer people calling BS and more and more people misrepresenting rumors as established fact.