jindianajonz

I doubt they'd scrap "everything but the movies"; I see no reason why the Old Republic material (from both the Knights of the Old Republic and the MMORPG video games) should get the axe- stuff that happened thousands of years in the past shouldn't have much of an impact on the new movies, and they were among the most popular Star Wars subfranchises; I don't think they would get the axe. Similarly, the whole Shadows of the Empire event was created as a "Star Wars movie without actually making a movie" type of thing, with very heavy input directly from LucasFilm. With all the effort that went into making sure it fit into Star Wars canon, I don't see it getting chucked aside easily. Finally, I'd like to think anybody with the job title "Keeper of the Holocron" would have quite a bit of fondness for the extended universe, and would try to do everything in their power to keep as much in canon as they could. I think the big post-ROTJ stuff will have to go so that writers aren't constrained and fstorylines aren't spoiled, and this will be a great chance to prune any continuity issues, but hopefully the rest will remain intact. Well, if they do go forward with a top-to-bottom review of all Star Wars canon, I think an updated encyclopedia would be a very obvious byproduct of that- they'll have to find a way to tell the fans what remains and what is gone, right? If I'm reading the dates right, it looks like the current version was released in 2008 and the prior version was 1998. That means they had previously updated right before a trilogy and again a few years after. Maybe they will do the same thing again?

Apologies, I was under the impression that the translated blurb I mentioned was directly from the catalog and was therefore more or less "official". Although using deductive reasoning, I still think the case for Bith musicians is strong- the catalog shows three filler figures with squidward heads, but also states that there are two new figures, correct? This means that two of the squidwards will be the same figure, and although I guess there's always a chance at the Tonnika sisters being included, the Bith seem a much more logical choice given their prominance in the Cantina scene. I guess they could be using the squidward head for the supposed Obiwan figure, but I don't see why they would when they have a perfectly good Tatooine Obiwan from the Landspeeder set that they could use.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Star-Wars-Encyclopedia/dp/0345477634/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389307027&sr=8-3&keywords=star+wars+encyclopedia

The catalog lists 7 figures, 2 of which are Bith musicians. That makes the Bith and the unnamed 8th character both "new".

One interesting bit of news I saw today (and unfortunately don't have a link handy) is that Disney has designated a team to determine the canonicity of Extended Universe elements. This team will go through all the released material and decide what counts as being in the Star Wars universe (probably stuff like The Old Republic, Shadows of the Empire, and other things that don't disrupt the films) and what never "really" happened (Christmas special, stuff that takes place after Return of the Jedi that would place too many constraints on what future films will be able to do) They also plan on having this team vet any new materials that are created, so that anything that takes place in the Star Wars universe from here on out will have a "stamp of approval" from a central body. This means closer integration between the Expanded Universe and the Movie Universe, and will likely mean that the movies will acknowledge the EU more than they did before. I think this also opens the doors for more EU sets from Lego, seeing as they will be more "important" to the overall story than they were before. As far as the new films are concerned, obviously Lego is going to have sets focused on them, and this is going to cut back on the number of sets allocated to the Prequel and Original trilogies (especially when the films are released) but I think Lego and Disney will acknowledge that there is a desire among fans for the classics. And if the past is any indicator, I'd expect Lego to throw OT fans a rather large bone whenever the sets are very focused on a new property, similar to how the Sandcrawler was released in 2005 along with Episode 3 stuff, and the Death Star was released in 2008 with the Clone Wars.

I wouldn't even mind if they did it similar to the ghosts in the LOTR Ship, with faded printing on powder blue figs I don't think that Episode VII would preclude the possibility of a new Bespin. Lego has always done a pretty good job of mixing prequel and original trilogies throughout the year in the Star Wars line even when the prequels were coming out in theaters. I wouldn't be surprised if they follow the LOTR/Hobbit model of releasing a winter wave that is jam packed with movie related sets, and a summer wave featuring "classic sets" (and I use that term loosely to include prequel sets).

I had mentioned it previously in the speculation thread, but with the Ewok Village omitting the force spirits, I think books like this and exclusives are the only way we would ever see them. And I'd much rather them be widely available through a book than limited through comiccon.

The Death Star already includes these two figures.

In the Cantina preliminary image, you can see the hinge that the dome connects to. The planet can't connect like that, so I don't think that piece will be used.

I gave in and ordered them from Europe (though I made sure not to fully calculate the conversion rate until after they had shipped- if I had done it up front, I probably wouldn't have bought them!) The dot on Hoth does indeed look a bit out of place, like somebody poked it with a sharpie, but it's really not all that noticeable. Also, the way I put the planet together looks fine with the dots 90 degrees apart from eachother, so it's easy to face them against the back wall.

I'm going to cling to thin hope that the Landspeeder featured in the Cantina picture is actually a part of an out-of-shot UCS Sandcrawler set depicted on the facing page. I understand that Han Solo is mandatory for the Cantina, but I'm kind of disappointed with Luke (and to a lesser extent, the Stormtrooper/Dewback) taking up coveted figure slots.

Oh, that would be awesome (Brick-built bantha?) but it doesn't "fill the Cantina up" like Borex mentioned. And despite what Disney says, I'm not convinced that a new Star Wars film will be out by December 2015. Movie schedules slip all the time, and there's going to be a lot of pressure on Disney to do this right after what most felt was a let down with the prequels.

As much as I'd love to see it, this would go against the idea of all the battlepacks made so far- they are supposed to be army builders using suitably generic characters like like clone/storm/rebel troopers or battle droids. I would prefer to see a Rancor pit like add-on, but I don't think there are enough iconic Cantina environments to make this feasible ("You already have the bar, the band, and the droid scanner, but now add to the experience with... the booth where the devil guy sat and the kitchen in back that was never on screen!") If we are to see more cantina denizens, I think its more likely that they'd be tacked onto other sets, kind of like how the most recent X-wing and A-wing came with all sorts of unrelated figures. An updated T-16 skyhopper may be a good choice for a $20 loaded with figs, especially since there are no "mandatory" main characters that would need to be stuck in such a set, and we may be due for a new Falcon iteration in the FY15 summer wave.

Why are people so certain that the Squidward heads are placeholders for Bith and not other cantina denizens?

I wasn't even aware that you could tell the pilots by their helmets, do you happen to have a picture of the different helmets lego has released so far, or all 12 helmets from the movies?

That was me. I'm sure there will be a decent number of bricks in the build, but if you look at the old Sandcrawler, it was almost entirely bricks, with very little greebling other than a few modified 1x2 bricks and some headlight bricks. That Sandcrawler looks much closer to the old style blocky sets like the original Slave 1 or the Twin Pod Cloud Car rather than the sleeker stuff that would hit a few years later. I'm sure that Lego would take advantage of various SNOT and plate techniques in a newer model, which will inevitably bump the part count up even if it doesn't change the size of the model.

For those people counting parts, keep in mind the original was built almost entirely out of bricks, whereas the new lego style leans heavily on plates. If they kept the exact same dimensions as the old one, I'd still expect the part count to jump up significantly. And put me in the column that hopes for a Lars Homestead, or at the very least a Beru to compliment the Owen from the last one (though since Beru wasn't present at the droid purchase, the homestead seems the only reasonable way we would get her). Tuskens would be cool, but I'd prefer a never-released figure over a rehash. Considering that $299 is $50 more than the ginormous Ewok village, I don't think a homestead is out of the question. Just please don't waste parts giving us another landspeeder!

It was definitely on screen- this is the ship in Return of the Jedi that crashed into the Death Star when a damaged A-Wing crashed into it's bridge. It's also the reason why all A-Wing lego sets have featured a computer screen with a picture of a star destroyer bridge on it. Here's a picture from the movie: There was also a good sideshot of the ship in Empire Strikes Back. I believe it immediately preceded the scene where we see all the bounty hunters with Vader.

Yep! Which is why I thought he'd be great for an Episode 6 Millenium Falcon set (piloted by Lando, not Han Solo). Ten Numb... I don't even remember from the movie, but he was included with the last minifig scale B-Wing.

I think it looks significantly bulkier- the original was only two studs wide on the arms, whereas this one is four. Plus there's a bit more going on behind the bubble. I like the new palpatine figure- i never thought that blonde looked quite right on the one from Palpatine's Arrest. The Police Gunship looks very generic Lego Space, but judging from the pictures of the orignal, this is not the fault of the Lego designers. If I ever find it cheap while craving a Lego fix, I may pick it up since it will likely be my last chance of ever getting an Ahsoka fig.

Although there aren't too many data points, the books (barring Yoda Chronicles) seem to be offering iconic figures in specific situations that wouldn't make for very good sets (Although they prototyped a Yavin 4, they obviously decided not to go through with it). That's what made me think of the ghost figures- they are all iconic, and if any set were to include them, it would have been the Ewok village. I think Jan Dodonna, Nien Numb, and Biggs would be easy enough to slip into other sets (In fact, I'm surprised they haven't included Biggs in any of the recent X-wings). An episode 6 Millenium Falcon set with Lando, Nien Numb, and various rebel personel would be great! Another possibility would be looking to the prequel trilogies- wasn't there a medal ceremony at the end of Episode 1? Unfortunately, none of the specific costumes in those movies stand out enough for me to make a judgement call. Then again, Yoda Chronicles just included a Clone Trooper, so maybe they are steering away from their old mold. In fact, Yoda Chronicles would have been the perfect place for a ghost Yoda, so that's a point against that ghost idea.

So now that a new DK visual dictionary has been confirmed, what minifig do you guys think will be included? I think a Chewbacca with Medal would make for a great tongue in cheek joke that matches the other books, although I think I'd be most excited for a member of the ghost trio from the end of Return of the Jedi, since the Ewok Village missed a chance for releasing them.

Doubt it; the Boba looks just like the recent release, and Darth Vader was on the cover of the last one even though it came with Medal Luke.

A couple weeks ago I snagged the last AT-TE at my local K-mart- it had been mispriced at $40. They haven't restocked any since :(

First of all, looking back at my comments, even $250 is ridiculous. I think something in the $100 to $150 range would be more feasible. In fact, I think a temple set could work if it was patterned after Palpatine's Arrest or Cloud City- a small landing platform and vehicle (with Bail Organa and a soldier or two to represent the scene where he arrives after Order 66 and give the set some "conflict" and a vehicle, inevitably with flick fires) and a couple of interconnected rooms with the Jedi Council chamber and the holocron library. If they could flow together seemlessly like the backside of cloud city, that would be awesome. The set could include some generic features from other sets such as opening doors (I really like the technique used in the Separatist Shuttle for a dual opening door) or just some areas that blow up/fall over in the aftermath of Order 66. A light brick with a transparent brick "hologram" of some sort would be a decent feature, and it would work in either of the two rooms. I know these aren't the best play features, but I think they are comparable to Cloud City and Palpatine's Arrest- neither of those had anything that stood out as being particularly interesting. The figures would be tougher, since the Clone troops and a mandatory Anakin would take up a good chunk of the alotment, but the aforementioned Bail Organa, Jacosta Nu and Shaak Ti (who was present during order 66 according to Wookieepedia) would be a good start, and I'd love to see Aayla Secura, Evan Piell, or Ki Adi Mundi with regular faces. None of these would require a new specialized mold.