Willsy

If we can get arm printing on Mando and Spidey in basically every set they come in, I don't think it's a stretch for Lego to give Artoo and Threepio back/arm printing on the regular going forward. Especially since Threepio has the super special dual-molded legs version in the UCS Landspeeder, I can't see them having three versions of the character in circulation.

This is brilliant @Kozikyo86! I'm currently working on my own playscale+ AT-AT but this is several steps above what I'm doing! I especially like the engine compartment at the back, very reminiscent of the UCS model!

Could be an upsized version of the DSD to be fair. I think it's reasonable to assume the walker will have quite a few more pieces than the original too, potentially to improve the interior space (since 2013 was lacking in that regard). As for minifigs, maybe they'll throw us a bone and include a decent number of clones? The 2020 AT-AT was pretty generous in that regard, with two pilots, Veers, two Snowtroopers and Luke. Would be nice to get an updated clone captain along with a couple of the shines from the accessory pack.

The 2013 AT-TE had 794 pieces and was just the walker. I believe Promobricks said the walker is very similar to that 2013 version, so we could assume a broadly similar piece count. Let's say the Dwarf Spider Droid has around 200 pieces, so that's ~994 pieces, leaving around 100 for something else. My guess is a speeder bike that can deploy from the back of the walker. That would also harken back to the original 2002 version.

Hoth AT-ST and Snowtrooper BP recently, and I'm currently planning on building a plus-scale AT-AT from the 2014 and 2020 versions. Also Bricklinked the pieces for 75092 (though just the N-1 itself) along with a replica sticker sheet, since aftermarket prices for the set are a bit crazy.

I just tried measuring out the dimensions for Mando's N'1 and....wow is it oversized. 42cm long versus the 35cm of the previous N-1 (which could be classed as oversized itself). They could have easily made this a smaller set with a smaller piece count, did they just drop the initiative they started last year with the cheaper and downsized vehicles? Was that ever supposed to be a long-term approach or just a short-term experiment? I think I'll definitely be heavily modding mine to make it smaller,

Also I'm sure this has been brought up before but I'm actually rather surprised that Lego have never used this piece for the Darksaber: BrickLink - Part 37341c : LEGO Minifigure, Weapon Sword Blade with Bar, Square Crossguard [Minifigure, Weapon] - BrickLink Reference Catalog Sadly it's not been produced in black, because trying a silver version on a gunmetal grey hilt, it's a pretty good representation on the Darksaber barring the inaccurate colour. Surely Gideon's cruiser would have been a good time to use it, let alone Mando's N-1.

I feel like the Clone Command Station just lends to the idea of *some* Republic vehicle coming this year. Much like the Hoth Rebel Troopers tied in with the AT-ST, UCS AT-AT and Snowtrooper Battle Pack, I feel it has to compliment something, and that can't be the UCS Gunship and Obi-Wan's Delta-7 doesn't make much sense. I feel like the AT-TE is extremely likely as a result, but I doubt a minifigure scale gunship will come before next summer at the earliest with the UCS model on shelves still.

If the N-1 is indeed supposed to be revealed this week I could definitely see a March 1st soft-release happening. Remember that the AT-ST Raider was released *before* The Mandalorian even first premiered, and similarly Anakin's Starfighter was released a whole half-year before TCW first premiered. Toy manufacturers are also pretty on the ball with movie tie-in products as well, at least where the main here/villain vehicles are concerned. It's ultimately down to what licensees have access to from Lucasfilm and when, and it has long been rumoured that Mando would be flying an N-1, it's not unreasonable to imagine that Lucasfilm tipped licensees off quite far in advance. Especially since it took them almost a year to get the Razor Crest and a Grogu figure out, I'd image both parties want to avoid a repeat of that long period of time where money is left on the table. The PPP is definitely not great, under other circumstances I would be waiting for a sale but as soon as I saw the ship in Ep. 5 I knew it would be hard to pass up buying an inevitable set of it day one. Peli is such a welcome inclusion as well. I hope there are some drum-lacquered silver pieces like on the Din helmet but I doubt it.

I'm intrigued by the jumbo playscale AT-AT, would love to do something like that with mine as somebody who can't really afford the UCS version!

Oh I think those pieces being used on a new playscale Falcon is all but a given. Question is when we'll see it, I wouldn't be shocked if they were introduced primarily for it but have found their way into other sets.

Interesting. Perhaps they're increasing the price of battle packs by another $10? Seriously though if the price for 75332 is indeed correct it'll be interesting to see why it's so high for a piece count so low.

Just to put the leaked prices from before alongside some of these: 75321: $529.99 75323: $159.99 75332: $29.99: 87 pieces 75333: $29.99 75334: $49.99 75335: $99.99: 1062 pieces 75336: $99.99 75337: $139.99 75338: $69.99 75340: $44.99: 329 pieces 75242: $39.99 75243: $59.99 $30 for 87 pieces? Perhaps a new format of set with very specialised pieces, or a 4+ set?

Local Lego store (Cardiff) had a ton of both accessory packs and Ahsoka. To say distribution on some of these sets is weird would be an understatement! Picked up a couple of Clone ones and it really does feel like the Clone battle packs of old, granted with one less figure. Gunship controversy aside I really like the commander, and the shinies of course look great. The command center build is surprisingly well done for the size too. Curious why they didn't throw in another trooper and try to sell this as an actual battle pack though.

When are we expecting the Sonic set to be revealed if it's a Jan 1st release? Or has it been delayed?

So I actually have a feeling that the $160 set is a playset-scale Millennium Falcon. Reason being, the new City space sets introduce a new cockpit piece which is if half cone and half cylinder. I think this would work quite well for the Falcon, might even allow for a third minifigure to sit in the cockpit though I'm not sure on that. Also wouldn't be shocked if it was Empire-based, to go with Lego's recent spree of Hoth sets.

I'm honestly totally fine with getting the phase 1 variants. Not only do I somewhat prefer the phase 1 clone trooper armour, this seems to suggest the pack is specifically Clone Wars-themed, which is exactly what I want to see more of (though I can understand why that might not happen). The Mando fighter was my favourite Star Wars set this year for that reason. Phase 2 Cody would have been nice but it always seemed incredibly far fetched that a highly-demanded figure requiring a new mold would be included in a $15 Lego store exclusive accessory pack, when these types of sets have a history of not including new molds.

The UCS AT-AT is a thing of beauty, but I'm actually really impressed by how well the playscale one holds up when directly compared to it. This doesn't feel like a Falcon situation to me where owning the gappy playscale version with funky proportions just left me yearning for the UCS version, this very much feels like you could get by with just 75288 without losing much. You still have the troop bay, the same speeder bike design and E-web, the winch mechanism for Luke, the head can fit Veers and the two pilots, and the only notable aesthetic compromises are the blue and brown technic pieces showing by the leg joints. The UCS version is still seriously impressive and I will spend a lot of time staring at it in the Lego Store, but I doubt I will ever buy it (especially not at £750). Besides, the UCS Falcon already dominates too much of my bedroom.

I Bricklinked (most of) the pieces for the 75019 AT-TE this week, since aftermarket prices for the set (and pretty much any AT-TE) were unreasonably high. I'm really happy with it overall, though it was a real pain to get source some pieces such as the ball turrets. All in all I think it took around 7 separate orders to get everything needed, and even then I'm missing the black rotated ratcheted hinges, the printed dishes and the sticker sheet.

Bought the Havoc Marauder yesterday and I have to say the box art doesn't do the shuttle itself justice. The sand blue was a great colour choice (I don't think it would have worked nearly as well in light-bluish grey) and it looks imposing with the wings folded down. Aside from a few design quirks (no way to lock the top hatch, very easy to fire off missles) it's a tightly put together set and an enjoyable build. The speeders are fine though this is the fifth time I've had to build this (essentially) exact same BARC speeder. Figures are fantastic, I think Wrecker is my favourite (who coincidently also had the reported spare armour piece). Overall I think this is my favourite set of the new wave thus far. Value proposition is decent, great minifigure selection and very solid main build.

I think the first order of business would be to do away with the removable sides and lengthen the back. I appreciate they were trying to incorporate Ultra Stealth Raider features into it but the removable vehicles look ridiculous with those tiny wheels.

Does anyone have any impressions on the Ultra Sonic Raider yet? I'm eyeing it up mainly for Golden Zane as I think the Raider itself is a big downgrade on past iterations, but I was thinking of perhaps modding it to better resemble those versions.

Oops I forgot about that! I'm due a rewatch of SoG and Hunted.

Managed to get the Fire Dragon, Water Dragon and Brickheads from the Leicester Square store. I think Firstborne is actually my favourite of the three Brickheads, he's adorable!

I managed to get Killow vs Samurai X from eBay the other day (since I wanted Killow and in general really liked the concept of a bigfig vehicle) for...a rather steep...price, and I kind of find myself wanting a Legacy version of P.I.X.A.L's Samurai mech. I really like the one included here, more so than I expected as it wasn't what I primarily bought the set for. Definitely gives me strong Exo-Force vibes and I like the colour scheme and proportions of it a lot.