icm

I'd hope so too, but I wouldn't count on it. It's not like there's new media to prompt them to push out a standard version one year after the variant, the way new media prompted a new (mostly) standard Falcon one year after the variant version in 2018/19. Edit, it's not like they followed up the variant AT-TE from Rebels in 2016 with a new standard AT-TE in 2017. We had to wait until 2022 for that.

Yeah, I agree with all the complaints about the new Gunship compared to the 2013 set. It's just that the older set has sky-high prices right now and would be a huge headache to part together on Bricklink, while the two set combo plus the GWP makes me feel less bad about how crappy the new Gunship actually is.

The GWPs in 2023 were bangers in every theme, but so far for me the only must-have GWP of 2024 is the battle droid carrier. I had the original set from 2001, so this presses all my remake-loving battle-droid buttons. What I'll be buying for the GWP will be the Coruscant Guard Gunship and the Clone Trooper & Battle Droid Battle Pack. I'd been thinking about just getting the Gunship on its own for half-price without minifigs, but the combo of the two sets is much better value than the Gunship alone. The two of them together cost $170, and between the two of them you get the big ship, seven clones, two other minifigs, five droids, a speeder bike, a decently-sized enemy unit, and a tiny little turret. The piece count is only 1298, which is still far too little for $170, but the count of figures and side builds for play value is pretty good. Comparable prices are: the 2013 Republic Gunship was $160 inflation-adjusted, and you got a bigger ship but you only got two clones, three other minifigs, two droids, and a speeder bike - compared to the combo above, that's missing four minifigs, three droids, and a decently-sized enemy unit the 2008 Republic Gunship was $170 inflation-adjusted, and you got a bigger ship but you only got two clones, three other minifigs, and a speeder bike - compared to the combo above, that's missing four minifigs, three droids, and a decently-sized enemy unit the 2002 Republic Gunship was $156 inflation-adjusted, and you got a bigger ship but you only got four clones, one other minifig, and three droids - compared to the combo above, that's missing four minifigs, two droids, a speeder bike, and a decently-sized enemy unit the 2020/2021 Razor Crest + Trouble on Tatooine combo was $160 at release (later $170). You got a bigger ship, and you only got five minifigs, one droid, two baby yodas, a speeder bike, half a hut, and a decently-sized allied unit. Compared to the combo above, that's missing four minifigs and four droids, but it makes up for it with the baby yodas and the extra side build. the Ghost & Phantom 2 is $160, and you get a bigger ship but only four minifigs and a droid - compared to the combo above, that's missing five minifigs, four droids, a speeder bike, and a decently-sized enemy unit the 2019 Millennium Falcon was $160 (now $170), and you get a bigger ship but you only get five minifigs and two droids - compared to the combo above, that's missing four minifigs, three droids, a speeder bike, and a decently-sized enemy unit the 2020 AT-AT was $160 (now $170), and you get a bigger ship but you only get six minifigs and a speeder bike - compared to the combo above, that's missing three minifigs, five droids, and a decently-sized enemy unit the Yavin IV Rebel Base is $170 and it has an awful PPP, but the build is pretty big and you get 10 minifigs and two droids When you add in the GWP at 262 pieces and 8 droids, the combo becomes $170 for 1560 parts, which is 10.9 cents per part, which is higher than I'd like but not awful. You get the big ship, seven clones, two other minifigs, a whopping thirteen droids, a speeder bike, a small enemy troop carrier, and a decently-sized enemy unit. That's pretty good value. That's got me feeling good about the Coruscant Guard Gunship and not feeling like I'm being ripped off. Ok - had to write down my thoughts here so I didn't lose them. Your thoughts?

And 2017 was the year when they "made too many bricks" and had to grind a lot of them up because something something financial corporate stuff. The TLBM sets from 2017-2018 were an amazing Bat-stravaganza, but let's not pretend they were ever something Lego thought about doing every year.

Pharrell Williams spaceship is in September.

Space diner GWP. Artemis Moon rocket. Technic Apollo lunar rover. Pharrell Williams spaceship.

You justify the UCS set price the same way you justify the price of any other set. What's stopping people from going on Rebrickable instead? It's a lot more effort than buying a set and is actually more expensive when you account for shipping. You act like the only reason to buy a UCS set is the exclusive minifigs. It's not.

Yes, I believe it's most likely a coincidence that the cross theme Space branding of 2024 comes 60 years after the first Lego rocket in 1964. I'm quite confident that's a coincidence.

Once again: No, it's not a coincidence. No, no representative from Lego nor any representative of the Lego Ambassador Network has publicly stated a reason for this year's cross-theme Space branding.

There is no Taylor Swift set.

Yes, it was obviously a conscious decision to make an unusual number of space sets this year. No, they haven't given an official reason for it. A better guess would be that the Artemis 2 mission was intended to launch in 2024 before it got delayed to 2025, and there's a great big Artemis 1 rocket set coming next month. Even that guess is still speculation.

Who did you ask and why would they know?

I haven't seen any references to this year's cross-theme Space push being any sort of 60th-anniversary thing. It may be 60 years since that rocket was released, but you're making up the anniversary celebrations. Show me one reputable post or article that makes that connection.

On the other hand, fans of Batman '66, like me, are pretty pleased. I'm glad it's not $200+ like the UCS Batmobile '89, Batwing '89, and Tumbler '05. I've skipped most of the recent Icons vehicles because I can't afford to buy everything I want, but I may end up getting this one - next year. The parts count is pretty good for the price point, too.

Now that (spoiler) how much do you suppose prices for set 75314 will go up?

I don't think the Lady Jessica would remain very long in Jabba's Palace like that. She has the Voice at her disposal, and who knows how well Bene Gesserit wiles work on space slugs? Unless - gasp - you're not telling me the big green character is an unreleased prototype of Leto II Atreides, are you?

A nice little three pack of sets, but I was hoping for a minifig people pack. Shrug.

It counts as Castle or Castle-adjacent to me, but may not count as Castle or Castle-adjacent to many other people, just as many 2024 sets that count as Space to me don't count as Space to you.

That's, like, your opinion, man. I don't think it's worth my time to keep debating the point. Cheers.

It is true that you have to navigate the Shop at Home website as Menu, Shop, Interests, Space instead of Menu, Shop, Sets by Theme, Space. But I think you're letting our benevolent godlike corporate overlords dictate your thinking far too much by the presence or absence of one logo on a box or one link on a menu. That's like arguing relentlessly over the presence or absence of a punctuation mark in a translation of an ancient text. It seems to me that one would have to have strikingly little imagination to let the City or Friends logos on the boxes prevent one from playing with the City or Friends rovers exactly the same way as one would play with a rover from 1980s or 1990s Space. It's what's in the box, not what's on the box, that counts, in my opinion. Besides, no Black Seas Barracuda had a Pirates logo on the box. Not 6285, not 10040, not 21322. Do they not count as Pirates sets? Neither version of Eldorado Fortress has a big beautiful Pirates logo on the box. Are they not really Pirates?

I'm trying to say that you're being very picky in what you consider to be a Space set. That's all.

By that logic, no sets for the Space theme were available in 1988, when the last Classic Space sets were retired. Because nothing from a previously existing subtheme was available. It's ok to like new sets and new subthemes too. But this is getting off topic from Castle.

Well, that's what I mean. I expect that in real life (as opposed to the render on the leaflet), the yellow print on white will be lousy. I would have preferred a regular yellow head.

I like the legs and feet of the robot chef because I want to use them to build a Lost in Space B-9 Robot, but I don't like the rest of the figure. I like the modern astronaut except for the head, which will probably have a really lousy print. The alien tourist is cute, and the Orion concept is executed pretty well. Most of the others don't appeal to me personally, and I think the execution of the M-Tron, Ice Planet, and Blacktron II figures is pretty bad.

Some kids do, some kids don't. YMMV. Speed Champions was one such theme. Then the designers came out and said so!