icm

Continuing from my previous reply to this thread: that's what people thought about the Swan Dutchman X-wing vs the Jerac v1. In reality, they were completely different. Given what @Peppermint_M has said after examining the parts list and instructions of both Deloreans, I believe the same thing is going on here. They look the same because they're the same subject at the same scale and there's only so much you can do with Lego parts, but no "line" was crossed.

A few years ago Koen Zwanenburg/Swan Dutchman built an X-wing that closely resembled the Jerac v1, which was then sold as instructions by Brick Vault. In reality, it had nothing in common except the subject and the scale. Brick Vault asked Swan Dutchman to take down his Studio model because they thought it would affect their sales. I downloaded the Studio model in the short time it was available, before Swan Dutchman graciously complied with the request. I built both models with physical parts and can attest that they had nothing in common. The entire building community lost out due to the loss of the Swan Dutchman model. I think most of these disputes on Rebrickable are like that, and in reality there is no competition (which is ok) nor copying (which is not ok) intended. Please, relax.

I wonder if the Batman 8-in-1 set is a buildable figure where you can swap some parts to make different versions of the Batsuits. Pop on some 1x1 round tiles and you've got Val Kilmer's Bat-nipples!

Since 2017, Batman has had: A UCS 1989 Batmobile A UCS 1989 Batwing A UCS 1992 Bat cave A UCS 2008 Tumbler Highly detailed minifig play models of the 1989 Batmobile 1966 Batmobile 1989 Batwing 2005 Tumbler 2022 Batmobile And the excellent Batwing, Batmobile, GCPD police car, Riddler helicopter, and GWP Batmobile in the 2019 Batman 80th anniversary wave I'll grant that the sheer number and variety of Batman vehicles and characters peaked in 2017-18 with the TLBM sets, but Batman has hardly been getting scraps ever since!

76274 must be sixty bucks for a Batmobile. Sixty bucks is way too much for a Batmobile.

Brickheadz.

Those all sound like amazing sets, and the prices are quite reasonable. 2024 is gonna be another real banger of a year.

Huh, I thought it was a retired product that was being clearanced out of all the Walmarts. I didn't know it was back in stock on Lego.com!

No one really, seriously, wants Lego to get rid of Star Wars. It's just a fun thing on the forums to grumble about getting rid of it so we can have Space back. Just easygoing good-natured internet grumbling by people who enjoy playing the curmudgeon on the web in this one little way.

That's 10391, about 950p, $100, March?

The 10341 Icons licensed space set is rumored to be $260 and ~3300p for June. Also there's a rumor of a $250 Technic Apollo lunar rover.

Sign me up for the new Tie and X-wing!

Hmm ... Comparing the 2024 X-wing/TIE Fighter two-pack to prior releases of X-wings and TIE Fighters, this is how it stacks up in relative price and part count, etc. All prices are adjusted using the US CPI inflation calculator. I'm excluding the 2019 combo of two 4+ sets, but I'm including combos of sequel ships and combos in close but not identical years, as necessary. 2024: set 75393, $110 ($110), 1058p, 5 figs, $0.104/p 2021: sets 75301 and 75300, $50 + $40 = $90 ($106), 474 + 432 = 906p, 4 + 3 = 7 figs , $0.099/p ($0.117/p), (710 - 130 - 150 = 430g) + (590 - 105 - 125 = 360g) = 790g, $0.114/g ($0.134/g) 2020: sets 75273 and 75272, $90 + $80 = $170 ($202), 761 + 470 = 1231p, 4 + 3 = 7 figs, $0.138/p ($0.164/p), (997 - 224 - 216 = 557g) + (1020 - 185 - 210 = 625g) = 1182g, $0.144/g ($0.171/g) 2018: sets 75218 and 75211, $80 + $70 = $150 ($183), 731 + 519 = 1250p, 4 + 4 = 8 figs, $0.120/p ($0.146/p), (998 - 224 - 169 = 605g) + (841 - 103 - ~245 = 493g) = 1098g, $0.137/g ($0.167/g) 2015: sets 75102 and 75101, $80 + $70 = $150 ($194), 717 + 517 = 1234p, 4 + 4 = 8 figs, $0.122/p ($0.157/p), (1065 - 258 - 226 = 581g) + (903 - 101 - 245 = 557g) = 1138g, $0.132/g ($0.170/g) 2012: sets 9493 and 9492, $60 + $55 = $115 ($156), 560 + 413 = 973p, 4 + 4 = 8 figs, $0.118/p ($0.160/p), (842 - 130 - 238 = 474g) + (771 - 90 - 243 = 438g) = 912g, $0.126/g ($0.171/g) 2006: sets 6212 (2006 release) and 7263 (2005 release), $50 + $20 = $70 ($106), 437 + 159 = 596p, 6 + 2 = 8 figs, $0.117/p ($0.178/p), (767 - 120 - 200 = 447g) + (455 - 22 - 224 = 209g) = 656g, $0.107/g ($0.162/g) 2001: sets 7140 (1999 release) and 7146 (2001 release), $30 + $20 = $50 ($88), 266 + 171 = 437p, 4 + 2 = 6 figs, $0.114/p ($0.201/p), (557 - 71 - 144 = 342g) + (397 - 37 - 107 = 253g) = 595g, $0.084/g ($0.148/g) The combined figure count of the 2024 versions is less than any previous combined figure count. The adjusted price of the 2024 versions is about the same as the combined adjusted price in 2021, 2006, and 2001. The combined parts count is about the same as in 2012, but the builds will most likely be quite a bit smaller. These will most likely be "small" ships like in 2001 and 2021, not "large" ships as in 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2020. The adjusted ppp is the lowest it's ever been, and the raw ppp is also nearly the lowest it's ever been. However, as we all know, ppp isn't everything. The average part size is much smaller in the 2020s than in the 2000s. The adjusted ppg has stayed in a pretty narrow range the whole time. That lends support to my assumption that these will be smaller models, not larger models, within the range of acceptable minifig scales. I'm intrigued. This will probably be the one set I buy from the summer wave. Probably half price without figs though.

Yes, Lego is very proud of their 1958 stud and tube patent. Other companies couldn't make stud and tube bricks until the patent on that ran out in about 1988.

There's great value in having the same brick dimensions as an industry standard. Imagine if all the connectors in your Dell computer were proprietary and none of your Dell peripherals could plug into your Toshiba. Fact is, Ford and Chevy and Toyota cars all share a lot of common industry standard connections, even though many of the parts are different. Likewise, almost all brick companies use the industry standard size, even though many of them have somewhat different parts libraries.

Those have got to be fake.

That's true. MOC theft is still a big problem. Outright set copying isn't as much of a problem as it used to be.

Five to ten years ago, most modern construction brick companies were directly copying Lego and making outright copies of real Lego sets. Today, there are still some that do, but most don't. Most have their own designs and their own parts libraries that allow them to do different things suited to their niches in the market.

TCW was in the prequel era and visited all prequel locations, thus keeping all the ships and locations of the prequels relevant. Also, interest in The Phantom Menace in 2011 was driven by the 2012 3d re-release. The Filoni shows have been in the post-RotJ era but not in the ST era, and Lego has not been shy about making sets from other movies and eras that are relevant to the Filoni shows: the synergy between the Mando S2 Slave 1, the RotJ Imperial Shuttle, and the TCW S7 Mandalorian Starfighter in 2021 was very deliberate on the part of the theme planners, because they knew they would all appear together in Mando S2. The point is that if there were ST era content in the Lucasfilm pipeline it would also be in the Lego pipeline. Simple as that. What Lego makes as a set has far more to do with what Lucasfilm is making as a show than with what "the fans want".

That's because there were only two model years between RotS and TCW, 2006 and 2007. There were a couple of sequel sets the model year after TRoS, 2020.

The Shin fighter from 75364, in the smaller Ron McPhatty version, works surprisingly well as a hot rod for the CMF Retro Spaceman. It may be sourced from Star Wars, but it's different enough from other Star Wars spaceships that it works very well with that very non-Star Wars minifigure. Of course, I'm glad we're getting other non-Star Wars Space sets too...

No, no, no, no, no! Not this again!

I thought the Ahsoka show was boring, but the three Ahsoka sets were all bangers. I hope Ahsoka season 2 gets a similarly small, but focused and high-quality, line of sets.

If we're wildly speculating on potential Architecture sets relevant to the Space banner, I'd like to see the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. But that's just a big cube, so it might be too boring. I can easily imagine Seattle as a possible candidate for an Architecture Skyline set, but it would be a stretch to put the Space banner on a Seattle Skyline.

I finally managed to snag another 10497 for $50, but I feel like a dirtbag for buying it on the heels of a few weeks of heavy Christmas spending.