Lobot

Thanks, I've just ordered two sets (seperately) for £31, and in theory, I'll get £50 back in Nectar points! It's either an error, or it's being backed by LEGO as a way of trying to boost Smart Play sales/interest in them.... The market for the Star Wars sets seems to be very limited - the Cantina (75425) has been available at 35% off for over a month and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of stock, and Yoda's Hut (75422) has been at 42% for longer than that... They're actually quite reasonable at that price point, although the Smart Play figures themselves look awful!

I'm really impressed by the new Sandcrawler despite not being 100% sold on the colour scheme! It's clearly a massive improvement on the previous version and includes some really nice little play features. The mechanism to raise and lower the front ramp is excellent and integrated really well into the build - it really does highlight how bad the Smart Play sets have been this year in that respect! It's also so good to see that the recent 'downscaling' trend has finally ended - and it actually looks reasonably decent value at RRP (although it will be even better at 30% off!). Hopefully it's an indication that the 2027 sets will be equally good. My only criticism is that the 'mud' printing on Mando looks a bit odd somehow - perhaps I'll get used to it eventually. It looks a bit too cartoon-like to me, but I guess that shows my age.

First images of Boba Fett, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Darth Vader and Dengar have just appeared.... They aren't the best quality, but I can't see that they're anything special. IG-88 isn't shown so hopefully the set will include Admiral Piett as well - he was my favouite from 10221.

I've just noted that Darth Vader is listed in both 75494 (Cloud City) and 75480 (Bespin Duel) so I doubt that they'll be designed to be connected together. It's a bit of a shame if that's correct, as a modular-type approach could have worked well, but it's still excellent news that we're getting them! I'm particularly excited by the prospect of the new Cloud City, as with 5(+) minifigures it should be a decent size - after having so few Bespin-related sets I really don't mind how expensive it is!

I'm delighted to hear that we're getting a new Cloud City set! I already had high hopes for 2027 with the news of the Bespin Duel set, but this could take it to a new level! For anyone that hasn't found the leak, 95494 will include Leia, Han, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Concept Art R2-D2 and a new Han in Carbonite! Hopefully it will be a playset, rather than a diorama, but either way it will be a day 1 purchase for me!

Bossk looks absolutely incredible - every detail is just about perfect! Hopefully, the other minifigures will be of a similar quality - I'm really looking forward to seeing the first images of them. It will be interesting to see if they re-use the new Boba Fett from 75455 or if there's a new (correct) ESB version planned - I hope they will for such a high-end set, but time will tell. 10221 was one of my favourites when it was first released, but with the double the part count, new elements and improved building techniques the new version should be in a totally different class from it! I've been disappointed by most of the new sets this year, but it looks like 2026 is ending on a high point!

The current version is due to retire at the end of this year, so the release of another one in Autumn 2027 seems logical. I'm not sure how LEGO will be able to improve on 75192 to be honest (even though it's been around since 2017!) but presumably they'll be a able to 'tidy' it a little more with a few of the newer elements that are now available. It's amazing that it has been on shelves for 9 years; presumably it's been very popular sales-wise, and attracted lots of new fans to LEGO. It's possible that they might just do a minor 'refresh' to tie-in with the 50th Anniversary (e.g. new minifigures, and a small part count increase). I'm excited for the new rumours - there seems to be an amazing amount of sets planned for 2027 - especially if some of the 'older' ones are still correct (e.g. Ewok Village, Bounty Hunter Pursuit). It could be a great year to be a Star Wars fan, after several less than brilliant ones!

75455 (Boba Fett) has just leaked and it looks absolutely stunning! It's in the usual place if you're interested.... Edit - apologies @CloneCommando99 - I didn't see your post!

I was hoping that the Bespin Duel playset set might include a decent number of minifigures in view of the predicted RRP. However, it doesn't sound very promising and could easily just be an upscaled diorama type set, or something similar to 75296 (Meditation Chamber). I'll reserve final judgement until I see some images of it, but I'm already preparing myself to be disappointed!

It's been quite a while since I've actually looked forward to a new wave of sets, but this sounds very promising! I'm particularly interested in the Mustafar and Bespin Duels which could be day 1 purchases if they're as good as I hope they are! At that price the Bespin Duel should be a relatively decent size, and hopefully it will include at least the corridor section in addition to the gantry! Also, the Y-Wing could be on my shopping list if it isn't wrecked by the 'downsizing' that a lot of playscale sets have suffered from in the last few years. It could be something really special if it's done well, especially with all of the new parts that are now available.

Amazon (UK) have reduced the prices of the following Smart Play sets: 75420 Luke's Landspeeder - £24.04 (31% off) 75422 Yoda's Hut - £36.44 (39% off) I'm almost tempted by Yoda's Hut at that price!

They should have started with City-based sets, and it's likely that would have been far more successful. Having seen several reviews, the main issue to me is the dismal sound quality of the bricks, but they should be sufficient to create a half-decent siren or engine noise! I really don't understand who LEGO were aiming at the sets at; I don't have any kids, but I can't imagine that most <10 years olds are overly interested in the original trilogy... In addition, the designs are awful, and there doesn't seem to be any real attempt to integrate the bricks into them - they just look like the result of far too many comprimises! I might get a few of them when they reach 40% off - it's only a matter of time!

Latest details from Amazon (UK) for Smart Play sets: 75420 Luke's Landspeeder - £26.71 (24% off) - 100+ in past month 75421 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter - £54.99 (8% off) - sales not shown 75422 Yoda's Hut - £40.49 (33% off) - 50+ in the past month 75423 Luke's X-Wing - £67.49 (16% off) - sales not shown 75424 AT-ST - £39.14 (13% off) - 300+ in past month 75425 Mos Eisley - £53.99 (23% off) - 50+ in past month 75426 Millennium Falcon - £74.99 (17% off) - 100+ in past month 75427 Throne Room Duel - £113.02 (19% off) - sales not shown To put the sales numbers in context, the Speed Champions DeLorean (77256) shows 10k+ and the display Millennium Falcon (75375) shows 1k+ in the past month. Hopefully LEGO will realise that they're a dismal failure soon, and we'll get some better sets at some point!

75459 Imperial Shuttle, 75461 Up-Scaled Darth Vader & 75458 AT-RT Driver have all leaked. The Shuttle has 5 minifigures and 961 parts (14+) - I'm not too sure what to make of it to be honest!

Smyths (UK) have added 75456 (Advent Calendar) and 75451 (Hutt Palace Sentry Droid Showdown) onto their website if you want to see some better quality images. Both look quite decent and worth buying at a bit of a discount!

That's a very impressive collection - although I'm not too sure I can cope with Cloud City being stored like that! I'm looking forward to seeing the UCS SSD following the Advent Calendar leak - IG-88 looks brilliant I'm guessing that the LEGO May 4th sales aren't going that well - I ordered the UCS TIE Fighter at around 3.30am and I've already received the shipping notification. It's not the most exciting set but at around 25% off (using a discounted gift card) it seemed like a good opportunity to finally add one to my collection - especially as it's due to retire this year.

First image of the new Darksaber GWP (40917) has just appeared - threshold of $160 apparently. It looks very refined, although it's not something that I'm overly bothered about. I miss the days of the lower threshold minifigure polybags (although a couple weren't that brilliant in hindsight!).

In my view, it's great that MandR's reviews of the sets have been so well balanced, and have highlighted the (few) good elements to them. From what I can see they're going to be a massive failure and I wouldn't be surprised if the entire wave is cancelled by LEGO by the end of this year. I find the constant flashing of the Smart Bricks really uncomfortable to look at, and the sound quality is just awful! As others have mentioned, they may have been suited better to basic City sets where the more limited functionality wouldn't have been so much of a problem. The only highlight of the entire wave for me is the Dewback - that's genuinely brilliant!

It looks like LEGO have another contender for the most overpriced set of 2026... 75446 Grogu (Mandalorian Apprentice) for £119.99!! It's only slightly larger than the previous version (+127 parts) - how can they possibly justify that price point?

All of the new sets are on the LEGO website: 75447 Razor Crest - £139.99 75445 Anzellan Starship - £64.99 75460 New Republic X-Wing Starfighter - £59.99 75444 AT-RT Attack £39.99 40856 The Mandalorian and Grogu: Allies & Villains - £34.99 The AT-RT seems ridicously overpriced, althought it's one of the better ones.....

I don't always agree with Mandr's views but his video (above) mirrors my thoughts entirely. The new Smart Bricks are just a bad, expensive gimmick! The 'strobe' light on the X-Wing is bordering on uncomfortable to look at, and the sound effects are just awful! I really don't understand why they didn't use accurate Star Wars sounds, or why the minifigures can't 'talk'; Luke sounds like a bad Imperial Probe droid! I'll be amazed if these sell at all well, and expect them to hit 40% off within the first 3-4 months of release! At least the latest list of standard 2026 sets is giving me something to look forward to this year. Hopefully the Bounty Hunter Pursuit, Bespin Duel and Imperial Shuttle will be worth buying.

From the usual place - latest rumours: Ewok Village - $180 Star Wars Mini-Movie Posters - $50 Up-Scaled Darth Vader Minifig - $100 Buildable Yoda - $150 EPII Bounty Hunter Pursuit - $60 Icons of Star Wars - $80 Luke's X-Wing Microfighter -$15 Luke vs Darth Vader: Bespin Duel Anakin's Jedi Starfighter - $30 2026 is suddenly looking a little more hopeful - bless the maker!

The X-Wing, TIE Fighter and Throne Room look like poor 4/8+ sets and I have absolutely zero interest in them! I'll be amazed if they don't hit 40% off within a couple of months. I really don't understand why LEGO thinks these will sell - they're clearly intended for younger builders, but I can't imagine that the majority of parents will be willing to pay £80 for a <600 part W-Wing! The minifigures don't look anything special either, so that's going to limit the demand for collectors...... The Cantina doesn't look quite as bad, but I'll wait until we have some decent photographs before I make a final judgement on them. Ah well, it looks like I can spend my budget picking up some older sets/minifigures this year!

75441 - Midi scale Venator has just leaked and it looks very impressive! Probably one of the best to date....

This isn't looking that promising as far as I'm concerned - especially considering LEGO's previous history of anything remotely 'intelligent' apart from Mindstorms. It just seems to be another excuse for a price-hike, with a few pointless gimmicks that most kids (presumably the target audience) will get bored of very quickly! I actually quite liked the old light-up lightsabers, especially as the batteries could be easily changed. I'll be amazed if these are still functioning correctly after a couple of years!