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Thanks, @Murdoch17! About the pilot - a lot of people used to use classic Rebel pilots in their BSG Vipers and in their modern fighter jets back in the day on Brickshelf, and there aren't really a lot of good options for purist custom BSG Viper pilots using parts from the eighties. So this is sort of a shrug, place holder minifig. I was able to find most of the parts for this in my bins last night so I'm going to build it this morning, with a few color substitutions, and order the remaining parts later today or tomorrow.

This is a Viper Mk 1 from the classic 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica, built as if it was a retail set from 1987. I was inspired by Roestig's build on Brickshelf (https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=243747), but I improved the proportions and details. I hope to build this IRL sometime. More pictures on Flickr. Edit - added pictures of IRL build to first post. Still need to order a few parts in the right colors but they're very simple and common parts so it should be really cheap.

60446 was just added to Lego.com for $80!

I saw this notice when I logged into Bricklink today. There's not a lot of details about the changes they plan to make, except that the sign-on will be changed to a Lego account instead of a Bricklink account. I can imagine a lot of problems getting that to work right without locking anyone out of their Bricklink account, but I'm not surprised they're making this move after years of direct ownership by Lego. Has anyone heard anything about the other changes they're planning to make?

Good point, the ingot pieces do seem to indicate that area should open. But if it does, why aren't there any lifestyle pictures with it open? Maybe there's no room to show off that feature on the back of the box, but the lifestyle photos don't go on the back of the box anyway.

With these new pictures we can clearly see that in overall length this is just as long as any pre-1999 Space flagship. In particular, the body of the spaceship has just as much usable interior volume as the 6984 Galactic Mediator from 1994. The modularity of leaving the ground base behind and flying off with the rest of the ship is executed better than probably any other spaceship except the 6980 Galaxy Commander and maybe the 6985 Cosmic Fleet Voyager. I'm glad to see that the CMF spacewalking backpack is being used in other themes now; I hope it gets used for years to come in all sorts of Space and Space-adjacent applications. However, the use of stubby little wings to aid the modularity means the whole ship seriously lacks the sense of volume and presence that the 6984 has, with its big delta wings. That set had an inflation-adjusted RRP of $130, and this one is rumored to be lower, but I'm still worried it'll be too high. That website lists it at $86 and I was hoping for $80; meanwhile, Brick Fanatics says it's 80 GBP which is $100 USD. So I'll still have to wait for a sale on this one. Regarding the area behind the cockpit, if it's never shown open on any of the official photos that must mean it doesn't open. I bet the set designers built it hollow because they wanted to have another cargo hold or minifig cabin there, but they weren't able to make the integrated spaceship sufficiently rigid without the support of a rigid roof across that section. So they closed it up for rigidity's sake and left it hollow to keep the weight down and to let kids put stuff there anyway if they want to.

Ouch. If that isn't proof positive the DC theme is dead, I don't know what is.

Oh boy, another Creator castle! Looking forward to it! Edit I hope it's at least as big as the 31120 castle for that price, hopefully bigger. Since the 31120 had Black Falcons and the 10305 had Lion Knights, what faction do you suppose this castle will have? Maybe the as-yet-unknown new faction?

Thanks! This is my 2022 PaB version of 6073. I haven't checked whether it's still possible to get this on PaB, but you can try. If you DM me the file for your 6074 remake I'll DM you the file for my PaB version of 6073.

Looks great! Does it use only current PaB parts, and if so, would you be willing to share the file or parts list? A couple of years ago I designed a PaB version of the smaller 1980s Lion Knight castle but I never ordered parts for it.

Well, sure, I mean, 60439 is just a box with a dome on top. But ring-shaped space stations like 60433 have been a staple of science fiction since the fifties and we're still decades from being able to build one, if ever. Just because a concept is very familiar doesn't mean it's not sci fi.

I've been reading this theme for a few days and trying to come up with something useful to say as a casual Technic fan. Yesterday and today I spent some time looking at the available Technic, Technic-based Racers, and Model Team sets in the periods 1983-5, 1990-2, 1997-9, 2005-7, and 2012-4 to compare the products available in the recent past (2022-4) to those available in the good old days. I think that the 2022-4 lineup compares very favorably in functionality and diversity to 1983-5, 1990-2, 1997-9, and 2005-7, but 2012-4 had a more diverse lineup with more interesting mechanisms and more Power Functions available at lower prices. Since 2012-14 was followed by 2015-7 which had the Arocs, the Claas, the Volvo excavator, and the BWE, I conclude that the Technic theme today is just as, if not more, interesting and healthy than it was in the 80s, the 90s, and the 00s, but that the quality and diversity of Technic offerings has fallen off in the last five years, just as you all say. However, I will note that the repetitiveness of all the pullback racers and smallish cars with nearly identical feature sets is nothing new to the 2020s; Technic has had lots of repetitive small cars with nearly identical feature sets since the 80s, and it's had repetitive pullback racers since the 90s.

Ok, I'll bite - here are my thoughts on the DC Super Heroes sets that have been revealed for 1H25. 76301 4+ Batmobile, has Man and Freeze, $20 for 63 pieces including 2 minifigures. There have been other 4+ Batmobiles before, but this is the worst looking and the worst value for money, and there aren't even any interesting minifigures. 2/5 stars 76302 Superman Mech vs Lex Luthor, $15 for 120 pieces including 2 minifigures. I actually like this one. The premise of Supes in the mech instead of Lex is a bit of a head scratcher, but not much - obviously Supes needs the mech because Lex is all covered in Kryptonite and that poor old Supes can't handle that. The second minifigure goes a long way towards improving the value proposition with the character mechs (still overpriced, though). I like the bright blue and bright red for this Superman minifigure and the mech, as opposed to dark blue and dark red, and the mech has great color blocking. I don't mind the basic head for Lex and I don't expect printed arms in this tier of set, but I am disappointed that the Superman minifigure doesn't have dual molded boots or at least a red hip part. Plain blue hips and legs don't suit the character well, pun intended. 4/5 stars 76303 TDK Tumbler, $60 for 429 pieces including 3 minifigures. I've got mixed feelings about this one. Obviously it's way overpriced - not Hoopty or X-Jet overpriced, but still pretty bad. I'll wait for it to go at least 20% off, and experience with the discounts on last year's 1989 Batmobile shows that I can probably expect bigger discounts as it continues to warm shelves through 2026. In a playset I don't mind the lack of arm printing and leg printing for Man, Jonkler, and Face, because when I was a kid playing with Lego I never minded the simple hips and legs and arms. I don't like the rubber cape for Man. The dual molded BTAS cowl (while great for avoiding the Batman eye-height/karate sweatband problem) isn't a great fit for the TDK cowl, but I don't feel like I need bespoke cowls for every version of Man in all the playsets. I am pretty happy to get TDK Jonkler and Face in a retail playset, even if it's way overpriced. (They know that! That's why they priced it so high! They're on to me!) The simplified, downsized Tumbler is disappointing in a lot of ways but not nearly as bad as it could be. I thought the 2021 playset Tumbler was a great build at a great price, but its size meant it didn't scale as well with the 8w Speed Champions cars as I hoped it would. The 2025 version will scale a lot better with 8w SC cars, and it looks sturdier and easier to build. The tradeoffs are that the characteristic angled sides of the Tumbler are lost, the second seat is lost (if the 2025 model had two seats, it would be shown on the box), and the front wheels are attached in the center, not just at the sides. That betrays the single most distinctive design decision in the Tumbler, but because they're still attached at the sides and it's all black it's easy to overlook so I'm not too bothered by that. Also the roof is way too thick. It just sits on top of the windshield like a great big slab. Couldn't they make it any thinner? At least it's not as small and simple as the 2012 playset Tumbler, that was just awful. 3/5 stars My thoughts on the DC Super Heroes theme since 2019: Obviously DC Super Heroes is a theme that's pretty much dead, like everyone says. No comic-based Justice League sets since 2018 (except the upcoming Supes mech), and just one WW set (from a terrible movie) sucks. No argument there. DC Super Heroes is all Batman, all the time. However, IIRC there was a lot of complaining in 2018 that the comic-based Justice League sets that year were bad designs, overpriced, poor minifig selection - you know, the usual complaints. Hard to believe now, but that's how they were received at the time. So maybe the poor reception of what seem in retrospect like pretty decent sets is what killed the theme. As one of those folks who mainly grew up with Batman movies, the past few years of DC sets have been pretty great for me. I feel like they've been going for quality over quantity (except for way too many mediocre Jonkler minifigures): The 2019 Batmobile was the first Lego Batmobile since the OG set in 2006 and the revival set in 2012 that actually looked good to me, and it introduced the spinning-flames mechanic that's been used several times since. The 2019 Batwing/GCPD police car/Riddler helicopter set had three all-time-great models and four pretty good minifigures in one box at a great price for a playset. 2019 also brought the UCS 1989 Batmobile, which is an all-time-great set, although it sucked that the playset 1989 Batmobile was paywalled as an extremely limited GWP. 2020 had the UCS 1989 Batwing, which isn't nearly as impressive as the UCS 1989 Batmobile but is still an iconic vehicle executed well at UCS scale to pair with the car. 2021 had two long-awaited playset Batmobiles that were really great builds at really great prices, though their minifigure selections weren't so great. I'd been waiting for an accessible Classic TV Batmobile playset for 20 years and Lego finally delivered, though it was a sin to leave out Robin! I'd been waiting for a good Tumbler playset nearly as long, too. The 2021 UCS Tumbler v2 was disappointing in that its development was rushed and it was barely refreshed from the 2014 version and it was overpriced (three strikes!), but it was still nice to have it available again and I was able to pick it up without minifigures for half price. The 2022 Batmobile from The Batman is one of my favorite Batmobile sets. The proportions are a bit off but otherwise it's a detailed, accurate model of one of my favorite Batmobile designs. I love that it and the 2021 Classic and Tumbler cars can all seat two minifigures side by side. With some trivial modifications you can even stuff four minifigures in the 2022 Batmobile. There's no reason in the lore why you'd do that, but it's fun. I think the spring shooters in the front are superbly integrated visually, and they make the funnest Batmobile play feature since the blunt shooter in the OG 2006 set. I wish the set came with Gordon, but it's otherwise a good set at a good price. The motorcycle and Batcave sets from the 2022 movie had good minifig selections, represented the movie well, and had very accessible prices. I've still got mixed feelings about passing on them. 2023 finally brought regular retail playsets of the 1989 Batmobile and 1989 Batwing, which again I'd been waiting for for decades. They were priced way too high and the minifigs sucked, but at least the sets were out there. The builds could have been better but they weren't too bad. I wish I'd waited for clearance prices to buy them though. The Shadowbox was a bad idea for a D2C but it doesn't show a lack of investment in the theme (for Batman anyway). 2024 had very slim pickings, but again there were three sets I'd wanted for decades: a playset BTAS Batmobile, a UCS Classic TV Batmobile, and an accessible model of the Batpod. The BTAS car is overpriced and has a questionable color choice, but the model is good and the minifigs (apart from the rubber cape) are good. The UCS Classic TV Batmobile has a subpar design (no hood and fake engine, no doors, no steering) because its development was rushed, but that also meant it came at a very reasonable price. The Batpod is a sturdy model that looks good despite the ugly buildable figure that comes with it, but including that kind of figure to go with the bike is a situation where they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. It's a shame the wheels don't rotate (except in the ordinary way) though. The BTAS Art set is a weird idea for a Batman D2C, but again it doesn't show a lack of investment in the theme. Then here comes 2025 with another Tumbler for people who missed the first one, with a couple of long-awaited minifigs. So, yeah - Lego fans like me who mostly just like Batman, and mostly just the Batman movies, have been eating real good these past few years as far as set selection and set design goes, though prices haven't been great and minifigure quality has been mediocre. I do sympathize with broader DC fans who feel like they're neglected or missing out, though - what you're feeling now is what I was feeling in 2006-2021, wondering just how freaking long it was going to take Lego to wise up and just make the movie Batmobile playsets that I actually wanted. Hope you get the sets you've been waiting for soon, because by now I pretty much have all the Batman sets I was waiting for.

I think the new $80 Flying Lesson from 2025 and the previous $20 Flying Lesson from 2021 would both make great Castle sets if they were built in gray and had Castle minifigures. However, I can't think of any existing Castle factions with colors that would work well with the brown stone of Hogwarts instead of the gray stone of traditional Lego castles.

But we did! Remember that hunk of junk spaceship? I don't know why anyone would ever want a set of that dumb thing, but here we are.

In Eurobricks Batman DC thread, round is flat and ghost is Marvel. Salty sea air is not good for the Millennium Falcon.

Those new parts on the sides of the cockpit are wedges that were introduced in Speed Champions a couple years ago, I think.

Well, that's disappointing. When they said it had a new cockpit I hoped that meant it would be a smaller model that's properly scaled. Instead it's the same size as ever, but the windscreen has a slightly different taper. I'll probably pass on this one. Just means I have more money for Speed Champions Formula 1 cars!

I wonder if that poll is the reason we've been getting a few retail remakes of large classic sets and GWP remakes of smaller ones.

I can't imagine a modern remake of the Message Intercept Base at less than $170, much less with a remake of the Alienator as a side build. Think of the Eldorado Fortress remake with Trading Ship side build at $215.

So no information yet about anything like the Blacktron Cruiser, Tahu & Takua, Moving Truck, Vintage Car, Vintage Taxi, or 4x4 Rescue Ambulance? IIRC those were all January-February GWPs and they were amazing.

Thank you. My wife might want the record player. I hope the set I want doesn't sell out before Black Friday, as it's retiring by the end of the year. If I don't cash out my VIP points now for the bookshelf promo, maybe I could cash them out in January for a different set. There are usually pretty good GWPs in January. Do you have any idea what those will be?

I'm trying to decide whether to cash out my VIP points now and get the next big set on my wanted list with the Books Are My Passion GWP, or wait for one of the holiday season GWPs later. Does anyone have any idea what those will be? I know about the James Caird lifeboat GWP with the Endurance ship, but I'm going to have to get that separately because I don't plan on buying the ship.

Just like Luke can hold out hope for his evil father based on the spark of good he senses in him, Kylo can continue to admire his grandfather for his decades of evil deeds despite his one good deed at the end. Like a stage play, everything is heightened for dramatic effect.

It was a moment of weakness, an intrusive thought. It's right there in the dialogue. Everyone has intrusive thoughts, and sometimes we momentarily yield to them before quickly pulling back as we realize our mistake. Momentary intrusive thoughts of murdering our nephews? Well, this is space opera storytelling. Everything is heightened. If you told Kylo that Darth Vader redeemed himself and died a Jedi, would be believe you? I don't think so. The galaxy as a whole didn't believe Leia - she lost virtually all her mainstream political influence after the secret got out that she was Darth Vader's daughter. In the eyes of the galaxy he's still a Bad Dude.