Mandalorianknight

Yes. And regardless, the smart brick sets aren't targeted at AFOLS, they're for younger children. That said, I think the smart brick removes some of the imaginative aspects of play rather than enhancing it. Ironically, I think something like this would work very well for the 4-7 demo, as they often enjoy a sort of defined play pattern, but the issue there is these sets seem a bit expensive and complex for your average 5 year old. Yeah, the more I think about it the more I think this is a legitimate possibility. I hope not- the RC needs to be large, and Mando already has a starfighter that could easily be made an accessible main hero ship set at as low a price point as $40, but it's definitely possible. Don't you dare curse me with that mental image. (I'm also imagining that, since he's buff, it'd keep the Hutt arms, which if you've ever put on a normal minifigure torso, are actually wider than the torso itself.) Unfortunately, inflation alone would take the Tydirium to $140 today, so that's not far off. I hope so. That's a fair point- it could be the final act or an ending scene, but you're right that it's likely present for a fair bit of the movie. Right. I think I've heard that before, though I can't find anything on google. Oh, yeah, I wouldn't say I would have abandoned the theme, just that I wouldn't have had any hope of it coming back to a point where I'd be all that excited or buying many sets anytime soon. As is, with those summer wave leaks there's now three different flagship-level sets that are desirable to me which I have to choose between, so it's a complete turnaround. Man, Cloud City Lando NEEDS to become more availible. It's the main costume of a pretty major character, and yet he's Padme-level difficult to get ahold of. To be fair to lego, not requiring an app is a major win... as far as "smart" integration goes. If this required kids to use a tablet or phone to achieve the "smart" play, it'd lose the entire point of lego IMO. As is, I still don't like the concept, but I can at least recognize that it's more akin to a fancy lights-and-sounds system than, say, hidden side. Yeah, I don't understand the point to a cantina smart set without the cantina music, as it was already a tough sell on why it needed to be "smart" given there's no laser cannons or swooshing noises in the first place (not that I think any of these need to be "smart", but you know.) I wonder if disney nixed the licensed music at the last minute, because otherwise I just don't get why this would be chosen. I haven't gotten a good look at it yet- the blurry image of the cantina box in the usual place had me thinking it was some kind of aircraft, though, so make of that what you will. I knew a smart-compromised dewback was never going to be able to compete with the molded one, but I maintain that brick-built creatures of that scale can, in theory, compete with their molded variants-

Very nice! You've emulated lego's style well. Making these MOCs is a great way to expand the city, too, especially if you're putting these alongside modulars and don't want to double up on something like the Bugle.

Yup. If these don't take away from the normal system sets, while I still don't like the concept, I won't be all that annoyed. Unfortunately that seems to be more an issue with TMAG itself than the sets- I don't think we've seen a single new vehicle in any promotional material yet. Used to be we'd always get a few new starfighters and trooper variants front and center. And trust me, I think about getting a $140-180 T-6 all the time. Maybe we'll see one in september- though I know the $80 one didn't sell all that well, so we'll have to see. That is a weird anecdote, I don't understand why disney would do that. Same here- what do they lose from letting the playsets use the official audio? Lego uses those noises pretty consistently in their shows and games, why is disney drawing the line at putting those sounds in the toys? And I know Hasbro's been able to use accurate sounds before (including in Force Link, which was more or less just the smart brick system for action figures), so whatever legal interaction is happening here has to be hyper-specific. It would be funny if lego's Razor Crest suffered from the "early bird" star wars effect again and wasn't ready for the time of the movie, but given how long we've known about it being in the movie, my guess is lego might know more than we do. It may turn out that he gets the crest at the very end of the movie. I guess we'll get more hints to that as more trailers release and we see if any other merch covers the new crest.

It's hard to tell at the moment, but it seems like our total number of good old fashioned "dumb" sets should be about the same as last year. Now, if Smart Brick is successful, that might change, but right now it seems like the "smart" sets mainly add to our total rather than eat up slots. Which really softens the blow- I still don't like that they'll likely reset the clock on when we can get some of these sets in their normal "dumb" versions, but other than that, I can't complain as much. That's possible, though it would be really ironic how 90% of our ANH material is coming this year as either extremely compromised smart sets, or Mando sets in that case. That's the most likely option. Though given there doesn't seem to be a "hero" vehicle this wave, I wonder if Mando's commandeered this shuttle to transport the character he's allegedly been hired to retrieve, given we don't know when in the movie he gets the Crest. Yeah- as I've said earlier, yesterday could have been the day I lost all hope in the theme, but instead it's the most hope I've felt for it in awhile. That's a good point. He didn't come in a standard set anywhere- the US one was limited release, and in the EU he was just in a magazine. (And plenty of regions didn't get him at all outside the MBS set) Yup. Another one that's focused heavily on integration with technology. I think they're smart not to include an app with this one, but I still can't see it selling as well as you'd expect. That is probably the reason. Especially since I believe the Trandoshan mold has to be pretty close to retirement at this point, and nothing else on the horizon seems likely to include them. Yes- I didn't see at first that the mudhorn was included, that confirms it's Mando S1. The cantina's smart integration is definitely rough. It's absurd to me that Disney evidently wouldn't let them use the cantina music, the gear crunching seems to make it hard to hear the audio as well. And the stage also suffers from the same issue as the brick-included sets, wherein the apparatus to fit the brick is very visible and hinders the ability to display or use the set in a "dumb" context.

To be fair, the designers aren't the ones doing this. It's not like if you swapped the teams we'd be getting Golumn's "smart" fish and a 10,000 piece endor bunker this year. The smart brick push was 100% something from execs trying to integrate technology because they seem dead-set on forcing it in rather than seeing Lego as the alternative to tech as entertainment. I think the lineup of summer sets alone proves that somebody at the company is looking out for us. (Though if those set names hadn't leaked today, seeing the smart reveal would 100% have me expressing similar sentiments to you about the theme losing it's way, because I think it did. I just think we're seeing that, even with the smart interference, there's at least some attempt to regain the way.) And even in that list, we can rule a good number of them out (No way we're getting another Yavin only 4 years after the last one when it took us 24 to get one in the first place. Similarly, I don't think the lars homestead or Ronto would actually carry a system set, or that the Bantha could hold down a set more than $10.) In terms of system sets, that leaves us with the tantive, Y-wing, and normal TIE. And I guess the imperial Landing Craft? Though it would be pretty ironic for lego to release a set based on that at the same time disney releases the version of the film without it. If lego views the smart sets as different enough from system ones, we've got a real shot, but otherwise I think the most we can hope for is a TIE fighter vs Y-wing dual pack and some form of Tantive IV, be it system or UCS. I hope they do- celebrating the 50th of the entire universe without an X-wing or Falcon feels weird, especially considering that both vehicles are primed for a new definitive version.

I'm very excited, everything I've seen about it is incredible, they even gave Zane and Jay new faces from what I heard! I can see the arguments for and against gilding all the ninja- I don't mind too much, but it'd be nice if Jay, Cole, and Lloyd's masks could show up on PAB at some point in the original colors. Jay and Cole I really don't mind at all- I especially like how the gold draws more attention to Jay's silver armor, as it was actual armor in the show that saves his life at least once IIRC- but the gunmetal coloring really did make Lloyd's ZX suit stand out among his others. I'm not super caught up on the more recent lore- I might be wrong in assuming the Water Dragon and most (but not all) of the DR dragons are good, but here's what I've got for "evil" dragons (Not counting the tiny side builds they put in polybags or ): 6: Mech, Morrow's, Empire, Skull Sorcerer's, Overlord's, and Thunderfang. Which, sure, is three times as many evil dragons as big snakes, but I would say less than a third of our villain-centric sublines have snakes as the antagonists anyway, right? (Rise of the Snakes, Seabound, half of Tournament of Elements, half of Forbidden Spinjitzu, and then some of the Legacy/Core sets). And while dragons fit into most subthemes it would be a little strange for the nindroids or Stone Army to have a big snake. I do think you're right that Dragons probably edge out snakes a bit in terms of play value, I think the larger issue for the devourer is that we get so few villain-focused sets. (Which I think makes sense to an extent- when I was a kid I always wanted whatever the Jay vehicle was for that year, because he was my favorite. I usually only could get 1-3 ninjago sets a year, but I don't think I ever missed a Jay-focus set. Whereas with the villains, I'd be fine with whoever came in the Jay set or whichever others I got + trying to make my own out of spare parts. I assume most kids who are only getting a few sets focus on the ones with their favorite ninja.)

Again, I think we can be a lot more optimistic here. The Yavin playset three years ago had 12 minifigures, and was cheaper. I would say we'll see at least that 12. If we're really lucky, we might get to finally see some force ghosts, but that's wishful thinking. Either way, I think we'll definitely see well over 6-8 figures. Yeah, I think we really have a chance at Dooku. At the end of the day it is a movie, I think every movie since the disney era began's received at least 5 sets before release and more shortly after. Though with TMAG, I maintain they aren't trying to make the movie good per say as to make it fun. Just a nice popcorn adventure movie to win back some goodwill -Ryan Gosling's "Drive but in space" being another one of these- before they try and swing for the fences again. I still think they're likely just september/october sets. Yup- which again harkens to how wise it was to let the summer set info leak this wave. Knowing there's still plenty of good "dumb" sets on the horizon softens the blow immensely. Eh, even Nexo Knights made it the planned 3 years. I think Smart Bricks are more likely to go the way of Vidyo, especially with these prices. Kids seeing "Dumb" sets on the same shelf that look so much better for the same cost- especially the "dumb" sets coming with more figures- is going to be a big detriment to the "smart" sets. That's especially funny considering Mario is the same technology, isn't it? Would not the Mario fig be the revolutionary innovation, and this is just putting it into a more normal-shaped brick?

Forgive me if the specific set numbers are required, but to consolidate information about other future sets: "SMART" sets: Ewok Attack ($29.99) Battle of Hoth- Echo Base ($139.99): Includes a snowspeeder R2-D2 (Includes a smart brick) Regular, good old Lego sets: Ewok Village ($179.99) "Star Wars Mini-Movie Posters" ($49.99) Upscaled Darth Vader Minifigure ($99.99) Yoda Statue ($149.99) Bounty Hunter Pursuit ($59.99) "Icons of Star Wars ($79.99) Luke Skywalker's X-wing Microfighter ($14.99) Bespin Duel Anakin's Delta-7 Jedi Starfighter ($29.99) 75455 Boba Fett Mandalorian and Grogu sets (Also regular, good old lego): 75445 Anzellan Starship (700 pcs, $69.99): 75446 Grogu ($129.99, 1200 pcs): 75447 Razor Crest ($149.99, 930 pcs): 75453 Sandcrawler ($199.99): Includes a mudhorn 75454 The Mandalorian and Grogu AT-AT ($179.99): Imperial Shuttle ($139.99):

I think it would absolutely be a more interesting build than the original for the rockwork reasoning you mentioned, but I agree in terms of all our options it might not be the most interesting choice overall. Let's look at what we know: Ninjago tends to be a mix of locations, mechs, other vehicles, and dragons Our existing legacy sets have been three locations and a mech (and technically a car) Ninjago is VASTLY weighted towards hero sets as opposed to villain ones. From this, I would make the assumption that our final set will be a vehicle or dragon. The Titan Mech appears to be an outlier from the others, as it's based on a much later season and anachronistically includes ZX Lloyd (though I believe that's for budgetary reasons given that the figure budget for titan mechs seems to be very low). Therefore, while it can't be ruled out, I feel reasonably confident that the final set is based on Rise of the Snakes and would include those ninja figures, or potentially The Golden Weapons (in which we really only have two figures with wider applicability- Nya and Wu). We just got a destiny's bounty, so I would rule that out. This really only leaves us with four options for Rise of the Snakes: Cole's Tread Assault: The largest hero vehicle aside from the bounty. I don't think this is likely. If I remember right the set's supposed to be somewhere around 800-1000 pieces and I don't see the tread assault becoming that large. Ultra Sonic Raider: Possible. We've had a number of Ultra Sonic Raiders in the past, and seem to get a combo vehicle almost every year now... but on the flip side of that, we get a combo vehicle almost every year, who's to say this wouldn't be 2026's? The Great Devourer: Villain sets tend not to do as well, but including essentially the main/final S1 villain, with major impacts on the lore, might be enough to tip the edge, especially if this set is based on older audiences like the other legacy ones. The Ultra Dragon: I personally think this is the most likely. We haven't had a legacy dragon for the 15th, and this would be a good, iconic option for it. There are also a few potential Golden Weapons sets, though I think it's more nostalgia bias that leads me to suggest these as options. Garmadon's fortress: Another location build, and a villain build, so statistically the odds are against it. However, it is a pretty iconic location, and could re-use Nya and Wu. Still, I don't think it's very likely. The Fire Dragon Temple: Despite being in part yet another location, I actually feel more confident on this one. The Dragon would take up a good chunk of the piece count, and it's the first flagship ninjago set- I think that earns it a spot in legacy. And again, it's a set Nya and Wu neatly slot into. Elemental Dragon Collection: This is 100% wishful thinking completely influencing me, but I really do think it would be an amazing set, and the anniversary display and old town show us that these don't need to be remakes of specific sets. A collection of the four elemental dragons with new DX suits for each ninja would be incredible. And with 3/4 of the dragons being about the 200-300 piece size, if they just downsized Wisp a bit to be the same as the others, it would fit among the rumored piece counts I vaguely remember. Same. I can't wait for it to arrive- aside from the scattered battle pack or polybag, this is the first ninjago set I've bought since I was a kid. Getting the entire main cast AND Jay's mom is amazing. Almost got lost in the shuffle of lego star wars experiencing the biggest "it's so over/we are so back" dichotomy of all time, but the NYA ZX fig appears to be confirmed to be coming in a board game of some sort, and NOT the final legacy set.

It's possible it's just a design for the sticker or whatever piece of legoland merch it was, but yup, it seems like we'll have 5 Nyas in one half-year alone. Good for her, since she's been stuck as "the water ninja" for so long and lost her more unique samurai elements. She's got her original suit in the blacksmith, the samurai armor in the display, and while ZX-ish the suit on the merch seemed to have an armored torso plate. Villain sets in general don't do as well as hero ones, which I assume is the larger factor. I can't imagine a giant snake would do too much worse than a dragon. It could be interesting, but I'm not sure what exactly they'd do. Maybe the stone titan, but we already have a titan mech coming in march. The Oni Trilogy suffers from the Legacy sets comprising most of what was shown in the final season of that arc, and there not being a lot of iconic options from SOG or Hunted at the larger size I believe that final legacy set is rumored to be at. Firsborne is possible, but I think a Fire Dragon remake would be more likely. I think for now it's most likely the final set will be based on the pilot or Rise of the Snakes (I know the titan mech isn't, but we didn't have titan mechs back in that era).

Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong, system sets are always the best option, but if we must have starships, let's at least throw a figure in there. Yeah, that's probably bias on my part- I didn't mind Solo, but none of the vehicles were amazing to me, so while the sets are realistically excellent the source material doesn't stand out as much personally. That is a funny dichotomy- my assumption for the Ahsoka series is that a lot of character designs and information about Peridea (though we didn't know the name at the time) leaked very early on, which implies companies like lego might have been given some concept art to work with before the show came out. I think that's often true, but there are also cases where it is baffling to an extent internal marketing wouldn't cover. Like sure, lego might have some internal studies showing kids are interested in the smart brick sets, but the second 332nd pack is just wild to me. The redesign was excellent, even if they had to sacrifice their backpacks for it. There is an extent to which I think army-builders are somewhat overblown- I assume the vast majority of people are only buying 1-2 packs, and even among fans I would assume it's mostly 1-4 (even less for the super packs), but you're right that the sheer quantity some of these guys buy tips the scale a bit. I mean, the 327th pack allegedly moves 10k copies a month on amazon. If there's only 500 army-builders in the entire US but they each buy 20 copies, that's the equivalent of a full month of sales. No better way to put it. Yes, they have the EXACT SPOT the figures would go in, even spaced out so they can fit beneath the ship and not too close to the pole of the stand... but no, no figures. I'm sure we would have heard about it if this was the case, but it almost feels like they were going to add figures and cut them at the last second. Yup- just due to the geographic size and number of states there's a lot here that changes based on where you are. There are regions of the US where I've seen the flagship sets half-off and others where nothing seems to go beyond a 20% sale. (And similarly, a sales tax that can fluctuate by a good 7% based on which state I'm buying the set in). Like you say, it's comparable to different European nations and how sales in Germany might not be reflected in, say, UK markets.

Yup, I bought the endor one back when it released... probably paid too much, those were all super overpriced. I assume their profit margins are somewhat low for smaller sets, especially figure-dense ones, which is also why they're experimenting with the larger sizes and price increases. They were intended to be hovertanks, I believe it changed REALLY late in production, to the point most merch was ready. All the more reason to get a new version! Yes, a good set, but not a good ONLY set. Don't worry, I have no stake in that war. I have an Xbox because I traded my Switch for it to a friend so I could play Jedi Survivor. I think the entire time I've owned it I've had 2, maybe 3 games downloaded. The diorama one I can slightly understand given the figures might look weird scale-wise standing in front of a tiny podracer or the like, but the starship collection ones being on stands negates that excuse for those sets. I mean, there's ready-made spots for them on those 1x2 grilles, anybody with a set can slap them on and see that they look find. With the exchange rate it looks like we're only a few $ off, but I would guess a big part of it comes down to us being a larger market. A lot of our good sales are physical-only- a local walmart had the Evil Falcon for $75 the other day (Though I hesitated and by my next visit it sold out, so I wasn't able to grab that one) I don't know if I'd say one of the best sets ever, but it's definitely the best statue and a great set. It is really funny- it'd only require a new print (and that's even assuming the BD-1 print "expired") since the mold was clearly still around. I assume the helmets will start coming with minifigures, since they're in busts, the sauron helmet, etc. My real hope is the Starship collection starts including them as well. Rogue one's first 5 MIGHT contest that, but it'd be close.

Exactly. People overuse the word scalping. Usually the only things that get scalped are GWPs or other very limited- release sets. (Though when the Rex microfighter came out, the people who wanted to keep Rex's price up definitely scalped that one- it was going for $50 online for like a month). The people selling Sauron aren't buying up all the copies of Barad-Dur, they're not preventing anyone from obtaining anything. With Lord of the Rings, I don't even blame lego for putting sauron in such an expensive set, because they only seem to be doing these large icons sets. And even then they've now dropped him in a $75 set.

I think it's got to be a dragon, and I think you're right that the Morro Dragon is fairly likely, especially after the Nya suit leak. Though it's also possible it's the ultra dragon- probably the most famous big dragon- and that they're just throwing in a made-up Nya ZX (or the Nya suit is just an illustration for that piece of legacy merch and won't be a physical figure). If it could be anything I'd want a big set with all four of the original elemental dragons in it and the ninja in their DX suits, but I don't think that's going to be it. I got lucky and found that Barnes and Noble of all places had some stock left, so I managed to get it after all, but if someone's only passively interested in the set or wants it but hasn't been deep into lego recently, they're just not going to be able to get it for awhile, it seems. All major retailers in the US at least are out of stock, and on lego.com even the two month backorder ran out of stock. Yup- we've only ever had one monastery set, and it was a sort of weird setup with two disconnected segments and no interior. It'd have to be about the size of the Old Town to get a fully complete one, so we might not see it for awhile, but that would definitely be a purchase from me.

We need to put the mech/constraction red lightsaber in the Rancor's hand for a new profile picture. Alright, you went full Larfleeze, I don't think I can beat that. Tanalorr is yours- but Mara will never step foot on it. Yeah, really anything endor (in terms of playsets. Not 18+ gimmick, not smartslop, playsets) would be a big win. EXACTLY! We could have two clone battle packs a year, and if it was four packs total, I wouldn't care at all since we'd also be getting packs for rebels, or imperials, or separatists, or the first order, or what have you. That's true. The Night Trooper pack was the first one since the Snowtrooper pack to not be about clones or mandalorians. Solid pun- the hovertank pilots are excellent too (Although lego lied to you- production changed it late in the game so the vehicle is actually a treaded tank, not a hovertank), I'm hoping that we can get a new mold for them eventually though- as it's not the same as the shoretrooper helmet- ideally alongside a larger version of their tank that fits the full crew. I will say, I like the BD-1 Statue, just because he's with you for so much of the game and as it's close-ish to a 1:1 scale, it feels almost immersive to have BD sitting by your xbox. But would I trade it for a Stinger Mantis system set? in a heartbeat. The starship collection is SO CLOSE to being an excellent subline, they really just need 1-2 figures for the pilot/captain/admiral/what have you. It doesn't need to be an exclusive figure, but I think it would really add something. And seeing as the busts include figures and the Sauron helmet includes a figure as well, I don't think it's impossible lego will start putting figures in the starship collection as well. Yeah- I said in my comment I was being pedantic and I knew what you meant, the "super" battle packs as opposed to the normal ones. (Though I will shout out the 2024 clones vs droids pack as what the super battle packs should have been) I know what you mean- they used to be one of my favorite legions and that $36 clearance price stares me down every time I enter the store. They still aren't moving though, so I'm hoping I can pick one up at $25 or less.

Dude, even $22.99 is a no from me, I loved the Ahsoka show but I still waited until the night trooper packs dipped below $20. But I'm being pedantic- I agree with the sentiment, we need a normal Endor rebel battle pack, not a $30-45 set that happens to contain a few endor rebels I've got around seven of them I think- all the 2012/23 version, those rebel troopers used to be dirt cheap on bricklink- but updated ones I could build a larger number of would be excellent. Especially considering the different outfits they wear and that I don't think lego's ever gotten the color of the trenchcoats quite right. Yes, absolutely, more than it probably should. It's like lego's mocking us- "stop making every battle pack a different clone legion? Ok, here's the SAME clone legion!". Had it been a full pack of mandos... well, I still wouldn't have gotten it day 1 at $22.99, but I would have picked a few up eventually. Unless this one hits $10 (half a battle pack for half the useful figs), I'm not even considering it. The snowtrooper battle pack was awesome, and was meant as a sort of addition to the AT-AT, so maybe we just need an Endor Bunker MBS set to get an endor battle pack on the table. Exactly. There are so many factions that deserve battle packs, but if the soldiers aren't wearing T-visors, lego doesn't even look at it. Yup. I could have stretched it on an imperial remnant pack, but stormtroopers with red cloth and gold trim don't fit anywhere into the OT. The Shoretroopers in general were an excellent design- all the new Rogue One imperial troopers were. Making our only Jedi Survivor set a Botanical Collection one is 100% something lego would do. I agree, the Dioramas were by far the best of the 18+ sublines, probably due to the fact that they retain figure scale/include minifigs. I enjoyed them a lot and own a couple. I don't mind Midi-scale a ton, and would be totally OK with getting 4-5 a year so long as that was it for 18+, but when you add in the helmets, and the busts, and the statues... it's just too much. No, UCS Tanalorr is MINE! It was my discovery, my MOC, and they just expected me to throw it away? At least Doomsday might give us some interesting sets/figures. It was nice- the endor rebel face re-uses were generally pretty solid, if I remember right Boromir also shows up as one.

Interesting that the starship collection ones have sold well there- in the US all the SW sets are still fully in stock, wheras a number of ninjago, harry potter, stranger things and marvel ones are on backorder. (The anniversary display is on a two month backorder :( ) Actually, the AT-AT being on a 60 day backorder makes some sense- the OT did a lot of filming in England and that set's aimed directly at the demo that would have grown up with those movies. But I'm glad to hear that the two strongest sets of the wave are preforming well over there, whereas the rest of the junk at the very least isn't a slam dunk. I remember when the clone battle packs would go on backorder every time one released... Yup, this is why we need a battle pack. Exactly. Every Rogue One set was excellent- I'd probably put every single one of the non-gimmick sets in the top tier of star wars sets for that era. Always fun to meet people in costume. I only own Mando's helmet, but I have another suit from a different franchise I wore to a movie a few times awhile back, and it's a lot of fun to interact with fans that way. Best one was when I ran into two people my age dressed as two of the other characters. Yup. Lego can't make up their mind on these 18+ gimmicks, so we have to clog the shelves with every possible 18+ gimmick. Mark my words, they'll find a way to make a clone trooper book nook, or we'll start getting star wars plant sets like the botanicals line. I couldn't remember if lego still did star wars books or not, so I checked their set and they do in fact still make them. Last two are a Yoda book that taunts us poor fans by putting Dooku on the cover, and a Mandalorian Fleet Commander book, so neither of them would be a big catch, but at $3 each... my name is mandalorianknight after all, and I've somehow managed to avoid getting the fleet commander...

I think/hope that's more likely due to the nature of Titan mechs. The last few we've had have had extremely limited figure selections, with the Fire Knight mech having two-one of them a random villager- and Cole's Titan mech only having one. My guess would be we aren't getting any other season 11 sets, and since these mechs seem to have a very low figure budget it was either remake S11 lloyd or remake the ice samurai. It's excellent news for the theme as a whole, but a part of me wishes the character display wasn't such a smash hit so I'd have been able to get it today! I'm mostly interested in that final legacy set. I'm pretty sure it's either the Ultra Dragon or a large vehicle, but it would be really cool if it was the full monastery, or a remake of the first four dragons.

I hadn't realized it until confirming with brickset that I was right about how long the endor rebels have been gone, but we really have had a lack of endor material. Lego needs to fix that, it was the location of the final battle (at least until TFA came out) The Rogue One troopers are great- very detailed, and while they're ragtag and not super uniform with eachother, you can immediately tell they're all part of the same faction. I don't know that they're still selling like hot cakes. Sales online seem to be doing well for the 327th set, but every ancedote I've heard of the set at retailers is that it's shelfwarming, on dramatic sale for a set as young as it is, or both. Same with the Turbo Tank. And to add to that, a pretty big chunk of the january 1st set selection sold out within minutes on lego.com, but even now, not a single one of the star wars offerings is even on backorder. Yup. With the smart brick sets, we've seen the X-wing, we've seen the prices and piece counts, and we know the figures are irrevocably compromised with tech. I just can't see a situation where they end up being good. I have no idea what's being referred to here, but now I'm imagining you as Cad Bane. Yup, 1HY is pretty much a bust. March is the smart wave, and May is two busts, some mando sets that I suppose at least have a chance of being good, and that $40 set that is 100% a clone battle pack of some sort. Yup. 1HY is pretty much a bust in this theme, so if 2HY starts to sound like last year's, I'm thinking this is the year I bite the bullet on Rivendell. But if by some miracle August brings us at least one or two of an endor bunker, tydrium, TIE Avenger/defender/reaper/advaned/etc, Y-wing, etc, I don't want to count myself out this early in the year.

That's true, with how well the anniversary display and blacksmith shop are both doing, I'm sure lego's hurrying to remap their 2027 sets. The ghost mech was considered for the last run of legacy, though unfortunately since they just showed off the prototype a few months ago I think it means they aren't currently considering it. Kai's Final Battle (first of four final battles) mech was pretty solid though. Though for me personally, I'd only be interested in a new monastery or dragons. I get why they do the vehicles, I enjoyed them as a kid, but I wouldn't be interested in any of them as an adult. (Aside from the titan mechs, but I'm not interested in those as ninjago sets as much as them being lego gundam) I think with the legacy suits it was moreso that they weren't an actual remake of any of the OG suits and because of that were being used for sets across three different seasons. If lego continues to only use them for Rise of the Snakes sets or time-ambiguous sets like Old Town, I don't think anyone would have a problem. It's possible it's ZX nya- it wouldn't be the first time lego's forgotten she used to be a samurai- but given we've had both her original and samurai X suits this wave, it could just be an exclusive of some kind. Or it could be possession- we have a legacy set based off Forbidden Spinjitzu coming, so it's not like they're hard-stuck on the first few seasons. Given how faithful this run of legacy's been, I'd hope they avoid some of the inaccuracies the last run had (Nya being a ninja during times when she should be a samurai, the suits not being accurate to any season, Lloyd showing up in sets based on the pilot, etc) It's both, I'd love to see that MOC when it's done. The Shadow Box batman set could be a good set of parts to use to enhance the dojo, if you own that.

I sat in the queue to get into lego.com and the Ninja Anniversary Display was already sold out when I got in ONE MINUTE after midnight. Disappointing- a lot of the January 1st sets in a number of themes are, I can't believe lego doesn't try to keep a larger stock.

I agree with how the figures would be set up, but I don't think it makes much sense to put Bucky or WW2 Cap in the helicarrier. The Hydra helicarriers were a different design from the avengers one, and given I don't think it'll have all that many figures in the first place, I assume they'll stick to avengers. My guess would be: Near-guarantee: Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Cap (avengers 1), Iron man Moderately likely: Thor, Hulk (minifigure), Coulson, Loki If it's our modular replacement and includes some figure-scale areas in the interior: Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, some shield agents/pilots/staff Please: Galaga Guy I do have to wonder if that means it wasn't doing as well as they thought it would- it seemed to get some acclaim at first, but the only one I ever really hear people talking about much is spider-man. I bought the first spider-man volume and enjoyed seeing spider-man's life not be terrible for once, but I still dislike how in the wider universe most of my favorite characters are either turned into villains, don't become heroes at all, or don't even show up (but are implied to have been villains) Same. I'm still pretty cynical, but if the movie actually focuses on Steve and Thor as much as the trailers imply, sure, I'd be interested. They do seem to have remembered how Thor is supposed to act, and it was a good reminder that the Russos tend to know what they're doing- Infinity War's Thor was my favorite take on him in the movies by far, but we'll see. I would guess anywhere between September 15th and November 15th. The Star Wars december films used to get september/october waves, but endgame's wave was like a month out if I remember right.

Great choice for #7 Congrats man! I assume all knights are apprentices of the Rancor guarding the forum That's a funny coincidence Shocking, I know, nobody could have guessed. It would be really nice to get a rebel battle pack. The fleet troopers were in a couple sets in 2024, so as much as I'd personally want more I can understand why another outfit may be a better option. Endor Commandos, maybe, who have been absent entirely for a decade! The Rogue one troopers would be another good option with their variety of designs. Yup. If they'd just pump the brakes a bit, it would be nice. I would have bought a few copies of (a reasonably priced version of) the 327th pack had it not been preceded by such a deluge of sets. It's all about the cinematography and how it's adapted. The first two seasons of Mando and Andor both feel more cinematic and like star wars than some of the live-action movies. Maybe overall, but anecdotally around me they usually end up on the clearance shelves. I would guess that's why the Holiday AT-AT, as good as it is, is reasonably priced and a D2C- they're fun, but the appeal of a christmas version of a figure might not be as wide as the canon version. They are fun designs, though, I liked the nutcracker purge trooper they did recently. Exactly. Even lego's own IPs have started to blend 18+ with normal sets, and yet with star wars they just can't figure out how to do it properly. Endor has really gotten the short end of the stick in terms of sets, in both the Sequel Era and the Modern Era it's been almost entirely left behind. We got a diorama and some 4+/action battle gimmicks, but that's it. No normal Endor Rebels in a decade. No bunker, no ewok village (aside from the bits in the gimmick sets), no Tydirium or endor AT-ST or battle packs or Ewok Attack style sets. And next year will only dig a deeper hole for Endor's grave with the next AT-ST being a smart brick (and I use brick here the same way you did in enbrickification) set. I just can't explain how much I dislike the smart brick sets. It's so much worse than just scratching a wave- it resets the clock on a variety of characters, vehicles, and locations that I would have wanted normal versions of. Don't worry about it man. Nobody rational is going to look at your post and actually think it's something messed up. Hopefully we get some information on the august wave soon... I'm not sure there's anything left in 1HY that anyone's actually excited for. Maybe a few people want the Mando's N-1 UCS? But I can't imagine anyone is excited for the smartslop or the Yoda and Vader busts.

It is. It's one of my favorite sets- the size is very imposing- about the size of my dog- and the ability to fill it up with figures really sells the figure-scale. I love sets that feel complete in that manner, like here's where the speeders go, here's where the troopers go, etc. You've luckily got some time there, UCS sets usually last a good few years unless they're selling really poorly. I agree- definitely looks like an iron. I thought I would check this- I have ~30 back at my apartment so I can't give the 1:1, but I have roughly 500 SW minifigures (all official lego, but many of them being purist customs- I have a good 30 or so generic aliens and civilians that are kitbashed from other themes' figures). Some of my highlights: 77 Mandalorians (This counts my named mandalorians as well, so 3 Dins, 3 Bobas, 2 Sabines, and then The Armorer, Paz, purist custom Bo and Jango, etc): Shocking, I know, you'd never guess from my name and profile picture that I like mandalorians. Despite this, I don't actually have every mandalorian- I don't have the full official figures for Jango and Bo, and I don't own Gar Saxon, the torso of the 2013 mauldalorian (Though I have a TON of their helmets from a bricklink store that was selling them cheap), or most of the rare bobas. 33 Rebel Fleet Troopers (23 of the 2008 version and 10 of the 2024 version): My favorite rebel design, and they used to be dirt-cheap to army build the 2008 version. 139 Clone Troopers (Counting named clones like Rex, Fives, the Bad Batch, Cody, etc- a big part of this is an order of multiple battle packs I made that lego accidentally duplicated, as well as the fact I wouldn't accept payment for helping a friend of mine with a physics class so she decided to just give me copies of the 501st specialist pack instead): Never let it be said that I don't like clones, just that I don't want them to be every other set we get. I like this, this is a good way of looking at this: The good: -Plenty of long-requested characters appeared or were updated. Our first ever Bacara, Bly, Galactic Marine, Babu Frik, and the Eternal Emperor outfit for palpatine. Even more obscure ones like Lama Su or the Purple Hat Man. Long-off-shelves requested characters like Jango, Plo, K-2SO, Colonel Yularen, Ventress, Clone Wars Obi-Wan, and the Clone Pilot (Take your pick of the four). And the Night Trooper became army-buildable. -The $50-70 ship with 3-4 figures price point, as you say. The one real bright spot left in the theme's playset rollout, with pretty much no misses (aside from the Slave One not really fitting the price point, but it's still a competent set) -The best holiday selection for the theme. Ever. The Gingerbread AT-AT is an excellent, whimsical set, and the Advent Calendar, while light on figs, finally broke the mold to be a themed calendar not reliant on a ton of microbuilds and actually created a figure-scale build with FIFTEEN droids (counting the battle droid that can be fully built from different days' part bins). -Lego remembered the sequels exist. Not everyone likes them, but they ARE a third of the saga, and have plenty of cool designs that would make great sets. A Black One remake is one of the few sets left that would be a day-one buy from me even in this state of the theme. The bad: -Disgusting prices, specifically the battle pack price creep. Ahsoka's Interceptor heralded this in, but I'd say it's most egregiously shown off by the 327th pack- 50% more expensive than what is essentially the same type and value of set from just a year ago. -Quality slip. The house-of-cards juggernaut displays this best, but print quality and sprue marks continue to become worse instead of better as lego's QC department seems to be apathetic. -As you say, the continued loss of normal, system, lego PLAYSETS at the expensive of gimmicks. Whether it's mechs and microfighters, 18+ sets, or the godforsaken smart sets, we get fewer and fewer playsets. -Going hand in hand with that last one, the clone domination of the few playsets we get. The majority of playsets this year were clone-related, and this marks the first time in a quarter-century, since almost the start of the theme, that there were no OT imperial troopers of any sort in system sets this year. That is extremely concerning. Nor could any system sets get you Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Vader, Lando, Palpatine, Yoda, or the like. Since 2026 appears to be curling the monkey's paw and making the OT sets all smartslop, there's a real solid chance that by mid-2026, anyone wanting a normal, "dumb" version of any of the main cast of the OT will- I believe for the first time- be entirely out of luck. And it's not just the OT- The sequel trilogy may be remembered now, but we didn't get any minifigure sets, so any kids wanting Rey or Kylo or Poe or Finn are out of luck. Even the prequels aren't safe if they aren't fighting alongside the clones- Dooku's absence isn't anything new, but this is the longest Grievous has ever been off shelves. The ugly: -75430

The live-action shows definitely have as well, but I think the movies contributed even more. We've had shows before- we've had live-action content outside the saga films before- but they were mostly forgotten. TCW stayed by virtue of how long it ran and how it redeemed the prequels, but most of the rest faded into the background, and I think the movies would still have felt special if we didn't drop five of them in five years. I'd go so far as to say the best move would be a movie every 3 years for a trilogy, then a decade-long gap between trilogies. You want to explore other genres/lower scales like Mando or Starfighter, that's where the live-action shows would go. I gotta know where your Ollies is, the ones I go to don't have any Ahsoka merch besides the monopoly game and those weird montral headbands (And believe me- I look for Ahsoka show merch every time I go). Most of the rest is the same though. Still a TON of figures from last jedi, plenty of stuff from Kenobi and other TbobF shows, to @CloneCommando99's point a surprisingly large amount of Mando merch, and we started getting some Acolyte stuff in now that the retailers have finally given up. (I don't look at stuff like Wish, but in terms of marvel most of it is Black Panther ll, Eternals, What If, and some BNW stuff trickling in as retailers realize it's not going to sell) In terms of lego, the only official set I've ever seen at Ollies is the young jedi temple one, and even then it was only like 30% off. (And some of the books with minifigures- always check the book aisle, I haven't seen any star wars ones yet but you can get a fig for like $3) This is a BIG issue for lego. Baby Yoda was already getting diminishing returns- the last statue has been heavily discounted already, and if you look on bricklink, even the statue from 2021 routinely goes for like $20 complete, which is absurdly low. Yeah- I think Lego has a lot of freedom in terms of what they do. It's also clear that while they make a lot of baffling choices (and I think we're starting to see the clones become oversaturated), lego obviously does have some marketing sense (Though I feel like everyone saw Acolyte coming, I don't know how much credit I can give them for dodging that bullet, especially when they turn around after and make a $140 set for the live-action series most aimed at kids). This is almost 1:1 with what I've been seeing. Either we go to the same Targets or this is a nationwide issue. Yup. You get one or the other, you can't have both. I was the same with Boba's for awhile, before I got a good deal on the AT-AT by selling some other sets. You'll pick up Jango's Slave One eventually, I'm sure.