jdubbs

Someone’s been watching Foundation…

The lipstick part is strangely expensive (last I tried to buy them in white, they were $1 a piece). Part 78258 does the job with more reliable clutch/grip, and can usually be found for cheaper. Bricks and Pieces had it in stock recently for ±15 cents if I recall correctly.

This topic has been hashed and rehashed eleventy billion times on this forum and it never comes any closer to a conclusion. Fact is that no one on EB knows what the terms of any of these contracts are, rendering any discussion of it conjecture.

Licensees follow the money. We got a Galaxy's Edge set because Disney committed to tens of millions of dollars in marketing spend to promote the park, essentially free advertising for any products related to it. And if I'm not mistaken, the set was meant to be an exclusive, only available at the park... until COVID mucked things up and the exclusives all got re-routed to Target...

This is why I stopped publishing my own personal judgement on upcoming waves. One person's trash is another person's treasure. When we are down to a dozen system sets per year, and 11 movies and 7+ shows to cover in them, there is no one wave that is going to appeal to everyone. At most, you can hope for a few good sets per year. I wasn't actually hinting at anything. I just wanted to point out that everyone was quick to assume OT (probably because of all the talk about the OT's dominance of sets) and there are in fact other possibilities.

You know, not every Death Star battle took place in the OT...

Sorry, I said Turbo Tank when I meant the AAT... which seems reasonably well-known, at least from Ep 1. And in the vicinity of the land speeder in terms of price.

I can't speak for every parent, but in my experience it goes something like this: "Timmy's birthday party is Saturday. Parents didn't say 'no gifts', so I need to get something, stat. What's a $30-40 set that's in stock at Target, that feels substantial, that I recognize? Ideally on sale?" Mayyyyybe I ask my kid if they know what Timmy is into, but invariably I get no response, or the answer is (shudder) "Ninjago", and regardless there's no way I'm letting my kid choose, because then they're just going to want it for themselves, and refuse to give it away. Or I now have to buy a second set to placate my kid... which sets the precedent that every time another kid has a birthday, my kid gets a present too. (Thanks but no thanks... we're not hobbits.) Parents buy what they know. For the last twenty years, that's been largely OT stuff. But as prequel-era kids grow up and start families of their own, sure, picking Rex or Ahsoka or some clones is just as likely (or moreso) than picking a landspeeder... As for why LEGO does Luke's rather dull landspeeder over and over, versus some other PT set of a comparable size? For one, there aren't all that many PT sets that fit the bill. The Jedi Starfighters/Interceptors are the closest match, and they do get released a ton (we had one a year for like 5 years running, iirc., and there's one on shelves now). Other than that, the Naboo Fighter is probably more of a $50-60 set at this point (though I agree, it should get re-released more often), and the AAT has been released twice over the last 6ish years... and again, on shelves now. The two speeders from Ep 2 would work, and are way overdue for a reissue, esp. since Zam has only been released as a yellow minifig. Hell, even the green version of Luke's landspeeder from Ep 1 would be a nice change, or the black one from the Lars garage, or the red one from Mando... Unfortunately, it's much easier for LEGO to recycle (or upcycle) an existing build, than it is to design something new... The difference is that there are a ton of other TIEs that have been released as well (several very similar to, or adaptations of the Interceptor), and there's nothing really in the ballpark of the A-Wing.

This is not really a valid comparison, at least not when it comes to the number of releases these three ships see over the years. The Landspeeder is going to get release after release because it's a recognizable (and yes, iconic) $30 set, which is the sweet spot for the "birthday present" buyer... i.e., parents who need a cheap-but-not-too-cheap gift that their kid can give to their classmate at his/her birthday party... something every parent has to buy a dozen or more times a year (and speaking as a parent, it's invariably the parent buying these gifts... so the point of view of the 35-40yo does matter here, as much or moreso than the kid's). This is a big part of the reason why the Jedi Starfighter gets released over and over, and the snowspeeder, and the batmobile, and so on. LEGO slots just 1 or 2 sets per year at the price point of the Venator or Gunship... while I would agree that both are overdue for a rerelease, the Gunship has seen 2 or 3 System releases already, as well as a UCS release. And the Venator's design overlaps considerably with the ISD, FO SD, and now Gideon's Cruiser... so it's never going to see frequent releases... If your expectation is that sets like these (at the top of price pyramid) will see releases as often as $30 sets, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Yes, that's what I meant by "sure-sellers". These sets will always be there for the obvious reasons, but increasingly, they seem to be dominating the lineup in ways that they weren't, say, 5-10 years ago. This is largely down to LEGO scaling back the SW line, leaving less room for "new" given the core block of 20-odd sets will get recycled over and over no matter how small the line gets.

The thing is, even many OT fans hate the OT sets that LEGO keeps putting out. Landspeeders, X-Wings, generic TIEs, snowspeeders, A-Wings, Y-Wings, AT-STs... it's the same damn designs over and over... dressed up in a new paint deco, or a slightly changed build, or with one new fig (yay!) or re-scaled to fit a new price point... and there's honestly only so many of any of these that any of us want. Yes, there are always people who pop up right about now saying "but I'm happy for another landspeeder because I (somehow, inexplicably) missed the one that retired three months ago"... but for those of us that didn't just emerge from a dark age, or who have been collecting for more than the last 6 months, the repetition is really frustrating. And this isn't just OT... LEGO puts out the same half-dozen PT designs over and over (Jedi Starfighters, Interceptors, AT-RTs, etc.), and even the sets from the ST and anthology movies increasingly bypassed new designs (see: TIE Heavy, Cargo Shuttle, Exegol, Ochi's Ship, etc) in favor of well-worn, recycled "sure-seller" sets. Honestly, I would not care what the mix of movies/shows was, so long as the mix featured more *unique* designs/builds to fill the many gaping holes across the entire SW timeline. Sadly, skimming through the last 7-8 years of sets on Brickset, it seems this number has dropped considerably over the last few years, at least as far as system sets are concerned (helmets, statues, etc... doesn't, doesn't count.)

I think you would find that most minifig collectors would be pretty PO'ed to finally get an Aunt Beru figure after all this time... only to be forced to pay $200 for a set they do not want to get her. Just as PT fans would have been screaming bloody murder over Commander Cody being exclusive to the $350 Gunship. I for one appreciate that LEGO does not put highly-desirable exclusive figures in the UCS sets, but instead limits themselves to variations on/upgrades to existing figures that most collectors can live without if they don't want the set.

At the risk of minimodding, none of the above is called for or appropriate for this forum. Be respectful of the other people on this forum, even if you don't agree with them. And, it's "an idiot", not "a idiot". Just sayin'.

Where is the outrage, exactly, in this case?

I wouldn't bet the farm on the aftermarket value of a minor packaging error. This is no Finch Dallow or Osprey scenario... an entire production run was done already, which means many thousands of units will be distributed, with no change to the figures or build itself... just one barely discernible change to a logo. And, given the number of people throwing a hissy fit about this set... trashing the designers and the company on Insta/FB... making YouTube videos bravely proclaiming how they're done with LEGO, leaving the party and taking their toys with them (don't let the door hit you on your way out...) there's really no guarantee a second production run will even be necessary. For all we know, this is the only version of the set that will ever exist.

At the same scale as the UCS TIE Fighter, a UCS TIE Bomber would easily be $300-350. It may seem like an equivalently sized ship, but it's deceptively large, especially when you consider how dense a LEGO build of it would be. I'd say the wings would be roughly the same number of parts (rotate the TIE Fighter's wings 90º, segment them into thirds) but you'd need 2-3 of the TIE Fighter's cockpits for each of the Bomber's cylinders. Just compare MOCs of the two ships made by the same designer... the Bomber is consistently 2x the number of parts of the Fighter. (This is why we haven't seen a System version of the Bomber either, as a LEGO designer said a year or two ago... it would end up $150, at least before they zapped the TIE Fighter with a shrink ray.) I'm going to guess the Medical Frigate would have been somewhere between the size of RubbleMaker's and Mortesv's Neb-B MOCs, and priced similarly to the Gunship. Looking at the three choices in the fan poll, they all could (and likely would) end up around the same size, which makes sense considering LEGO probably had an open production slot to fill, and could accommodate a set roughly this size. But who knows? Maybe that $800 D2C rumored to come later in the year is actually the Neb-B... it would be an odd choice given the ship's limited screen time and relative obscurity... but anything is possible.

Yeah I wouldn't mind seeing the tan ATT tank in this scale, or even another attempt at the Naboo Fighter.... I think either would make really nice display models. I doubt they will venture into the capital ships until they run out of OT ones to do (or redo), unless this set ends up selling like gangbusters, perhaps.

The thing is, it's a pretty arbitrary statistic/factoid, and one that amounts only to correlation, not causality — I would be surprised if anyone at LEGO treated this as even vague guidance for pricing/designing UCS sets, let alone a hard-and-fast rule. And I doubt many of the people voting for the Gunship in the fan poll considered this or were even aware of the statistic. Bear in mind the last System gunship was only slightly smaller than minifig scale (and really only in length, not in height/wingspan/etc.) So the only way LEGO could have done a minifig-scale gunship at even $200 (never mind $300+) would be to load it up with dozens of minifigs and some side-builds, but I don't think that would rise to LEGO's idea of a "UCS set"... which is what this poll advertised. And I bet a lot of people would still find fault with that, asking why LEGO couldn't just release the gunship as a wide-release $120 set and sell the side builds separately, and some clones in a battle pack. Which, maybe after this they will eventually do?

Re: Phase 2 Cody, LEGO was damned if they do, damned if they don't. Don't include him? People will b!tch that he's been overlooked, once again. Do include him? People will b!tch that they have to pay $350 to get him. <insert shrug emoji here>

Remove a chip every time someone mentions Cody. (Just to keep it interesting... otherwise we'd all BINGO within an hour.)

Time to dust this off: Here is a handy-dandy checklist for you to craft your complaints about a certain D2C set coming soon to your orbit! Or, use it to make your own BINGO card and play along at home when the salt starts flowing! [ ] THREE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS?!? This is a complete and utter shock that we had NO WARNING about despite the last six months of rumormongering! This set should have been {insert your own absurdly low and completely unrealistic number here!}. [ ] IT’S WAAAAAY TOO BIG!!! This isn’t to scale with all of the other UCS sets I didn’t buy! I specifically ASKED FOR and thus was totally ENTITLED TO EXPECT that it was going to be minifig scale! Besides, Mandy promised! [ ] ONLY 3,292 PIECES?!? This other, non-licensed set that came out five years ago had WAY MORE pieces at the same price. All parts are CLEARLY created equal, inflation DOES NOT EXIST in my imaginary head-canon, and thus... this is a complete ripoff! …and a variation if you want to parlay your complaints about PPP into an indictment of Disney, the sequels, etc.: [ ] DISNEY TAX STRIKES AGAIN! Disney HATES THE PREQUELS and clearly did this so the set wouldn’t sell! I blame Kathy Kennedy! [ ] ONLY TWO MINIFIGS?!? This is a TROOP TRANSPORT!! What good is a troop transport without any troops to transport? I expected AT LEAST two dozen clones because some other $350 set had that many minifigs! [ ] THAT'S NOT THE CLONE I WANTED! Why isn't my own personal pet clone variant the one they selected? Why ask me which figs I wanted if you're not going to tailor this set specifically and exclusively to my wishes?!? [ ] TOO MANY STUDS!!! I found this all-SNOT MOC with 10,000 pieces — that looks like it would collapse if you sneezed at it — and it had NO STUDS so it is clearly better! LEGO designers can’t design for $#!T! [ ] NOT ENOUGH STUDS!!! This other MOC I found had way MORE studs and is clearly better! LEGO designers can’t design for $#!T! [ ] I CAN’T BELIEVE LEGO repeated this same, barely-noticeable mistake from the last System Gunship on the UCS version. Am I the only one who pays attention to these details?! (Yes. Yes, you are.) [ ] I CAN’T BELIEVE LEGO didn’t print thirty different unique-to-this-set tiles, and instead expects me to APPLY STICKERS to a UCS SET! For a set this expensive, would printed tiles really have been so hard? (Yes, Yes it would.) [ ] ORANGE?!? Wait... ORANGE?!? Who the hell asked for ORANGE?!?

The difference is that people don't collect Cloud Car Pilots en masse, to build armies with. (Well, someone might... but I'd wager they're the exception to the rule). Whereas collectors do scarf up boatloads of Biker Scouts to use in the Emperor's Arrival and Ewok Battle from Return of the Jedi, not to mention their appearances in Mando, Fallen Order, etc. And, there are people who just love collecting hundreds of Imperial troops, to line up in a grid... go figure. The Advent will help lower its resale value, but it will take a battle pack or similarly cheap/desirable set, for it to hit the $3-4 point.

It is not.

Jang has a video on the subject:

...to push button A instead of button B. It was a mistake. They happen. If you're gonna quote me, quote the full context.