Kit Figsto

Didn't they use the "send out legitimate details but very slightly change some details between them" strategy with the UCS Landspeeder reveal a year or two ago? I feel like I remember a whole fiasco involving some LAN YouTubers/bloggers getting in trouble, but I can't recall exactly if I'm combining multiple incidents or completely fabricating this story in my mind... Anyway, I'm super excited to hear about the Rex microfighter. Not counting the Bantha, I think that this is the first vehicle we've gotten a microfighter of before a system scale version, which is a little interesting. I would bet within the next couple of years, we might get a full-scale version of this Y-Wing color scheme?

Finally was able to get the 1992 Batman polybag at Target. I checked a ton of Walmarts over the past few months and every time they had a bin for them but were sold out. Target now appears to be getting them in stock after all of this time. Evidently it's a popular set, and I can see why - the figure is awesome and the build is a legitimately great display companion for him. I'd love to get more polybags like this in other themes going forward.

I've heard that too about the minifigure packs, I guess the point I was trying to make was that the Funko thing also would suggest that there's merit to the Hasbro license rumor, as that's another company production action-figure adjacent toys who has to change their way of doing things for Star Wars specifically. Now, what's unclear to me is whether or not that's still the case, because we did get those two SW minifigure packs, which still came with accessories like a battle pack, but were way more minifigure focused than even a BP is.

Honestly, I'm not sure if anyone will ever know the full truth, but I do genuinely think that there is SOMETHING to the Hasbro rumor, and the thing that leads me to believe it is that Funko Pops are slightly different for SW character than any other franchise. I'm not a Funko collector (I have a couple but that's it), but from what I understand, the only ones that are bobbleheads attached to the base are the Star Wars ones, all of the others are solid figures that can be removed from their base. I'm also fairly sure at this point that if they could've done a SW CMF series, they would've, because they've done basically every other major license, and it doesn't seem like having a Marvel or Harry Pottery CMF has hurt sales of those sets. It would print money if they did a LSW series, since they'd have a way to include variants/obscure characters that don't fit into sets.

I still think D2C dioramas are possible in the future (the reception to the Idol temple was very, very strong, so if the sales back that up, I could see them doing more), especially since they've done stuff like Rivendell or the BTTF DeLorean without having a LoTR theme or any movies from that series happening right now, but as far as any system sets, I don't think we're ever getting any more.

True, but they've done it before where they'll put a desirable fig in an expensive set and then a year or two later, put them in a much cheaper set. It's happened a bunch of times with the European magazine promos (Cloud City Luke, 212th clone trooper, Bo-Katan, etc), a few advent calendars (Omega, Cloud Car pilot, General Riekaan, etc), and even this Vader from the mech I believe was exclusive to the Imperial Shuttle set that was like $70 or something.

In terms of GWPs, I'd say remakes of Pizza to Go, Guarded Inn, and Volcano Island would be super awesome, and I think those are fairly recognizable sets that'd be similar in size to the Forest Hideout, Majisto's Workshop, and Blacktron Cruiser sets. In terms of sets, I'd like to see a remake of Gold City Junction (realistically I think any Western remakes aren't super likely since it wasn't included on that 90th anniversary survey, and if they did do anything Western, it probably would focus exclusively on the cowboys vs. bandits side of the theme), anything Castle is cool but I'd especially love to see remakes of Dragon Knights, Fright Knights, and Wolfpack, I'd love just about anything Pirates, especially more of the location based sets (I think Skull Island, Forbidden Island, Rock Island Refuge, and anything Islanders would be cool, though I doubt we get Islanders remakes). I'd also love to see anything from Rock Raiders, Ice Planet 2002, or Life on Mars. Probably my top wish would be Adventurers remakes, though. I think a GWP of Sphinx's Secret Surprise, Treasure Tomb, the Expedition Balloon, Aero Nomand, and a remade set of Pharoah's Forbidden Ruins, or maybe even the Dragon Fortress would be amazing.

I'm curious if LEGO will ever truly reboot Castle/Pirates/Space again, or instead keep sort of doing what they've been doing the last couple of years with adult-focused sets that are very, very reminiscent of the 80s/90s sets and then continue to have GWPs along the same lines. It's been almost 10 years since our last full Pirates theme, and 10 years since our last full Castle and Space themes (by my count, the last Space theme was Galaxy Squad, unless I'm forgetting something). It seems like these themes don't have the same draw that they once did, especially with the number of licensed themes competing with them, otherwise we probably would've gotten reboots. There clearly is a demand, otherwise we would've have gotten a half dozen D2Cs based on classic sets, but I'm just not sure if it translates to full on themes. What's sort of unfortunate about that is, while the D2Cs we've gotten have been super cool, it doesn't leave any room for the smaller sets that a full theme would've brought. For Pirates, for example, that means it's pretty much just going to be large ships and forts, not the small forts or buried treasure sets. Of course, GWPs can fill that niche, but there's only a couple per year, and you have to buy other stuff to actually get that. So to bring it back to this question, I would say it's unfortunately not likely, probably the best we could get is if they did a Castle set that included Fright Knights as one of the factions, or maybe a GWP remake of the Witch's Windship set (that's probably the Fright Knights set that I personally think of most, at least).

Interesting. In the US, I've seen plenty of Yavin IV (which makes sense, since typically the massive sets don't sell out right away), the mechs have been mostly available, most stores have been sold down on the 332nd BP, but usually have at least a couple, the spider tank was hard to find at first but has been abundant the last few times I've gone to the store, and I honestly don't think I've seen Yoda's Starfighter yet. It's odd, I can't tell if it's because of the popularity of sets or something with distribution. For the last ~3ish summers, it's been really hard to find sets right after they come out, especially ones with desirable minifigures, and I'm assuming part of that was due to supply chain issues caused by covid (like, in the summer of 2020, it seemed to take several months until one could reliably find the AAT or 501st BP on shelves).

I grabbed the last 332nd clone battle pack from Target last night and built it. I have to say, I really like the swamp speeder build. It's a nice improvement on the one from the Kashyyyk trooper BP from 2014 (I think it was 2014?). Not massively oversized, but also big enough to fit two figures and have some space to store their weapons, and I like the curved quarter dish pieces for the parts in front of the seats. It's also nice to have a little bit of variety in the figures, but not so much as to where they're all entirely different from each other. Two jetpack troopers, Vaughn, and one guy with a different gun is a nice selection. Also, what's funny is that so far, of the August wave of sets, I've had basically no problem finding any of them with the exception of...Yoda's Starfighter, the one most everyone was completely baffled by.

It seems possible, but on the flip side, code names are also a total crapshoot. For example, I believe Mario was "Leaf" (which I guess is kind of maybe related to Mario since there's a Leaf power up, but I feel like it's not really that associated with the brand in the way that a name like "Mushroom" or "Shell" would've been). Same with the May thing, it would make sense, but the Disney 100 CMF was also a May release, so I'm not sure if that necessarily indicates anything. I do remember some folks in the Star Wars thread discussing the licensing issue before, and a user that had shared leaks in the past said something about the fact that LEGO was able to sell the Obi-Wan 20th anniversary minifigure polybag (after the promo had expired) seemed to point to the fact that there was no longer an exclusivity contract with Hasbro or something, but as far as I know they were not hinting at anything. This was also like two years ago, so it may have been just an offhand remark, since I highly doubt they would've known about this CMF series that far in advance, if it was Star Wars. Personally, I'd love a SW series, but I'm also really disappointed in the boxes. I haven't really bought many CMFs in the last few years, there just weren't many that caught my eye as one that I HAD to have. I grabbed a couple of the Disney 100 ones since I really, really wanted an Oswald and there were some other fun characters in there, but I'll be a lot more discouraged going forward if I can't feel for the figure that I want.

Honestly it doesn't surprise me if this were true. There's a whole side of Instagram that's obsessed with "investing" in LEGO, which often consists of getting a bunch of people to buy up the entire supply of a desirable but still somewhat cheap minifigure on BL then re-list it at a higher price to artificially inflate the going rate. This is arguably even dumber, since one part isn't nearly as scarce as an entire minifigure in good condition.

I feel the same way. Even if it was just that initially rumored 4 set wave (which I guess was never a thing to begin with), it would've been pretty perfect. Like, they could've done:

That seems really, really, really wishlisty/too memey to be true. I mean, it'd be a cool set, but I just don't really see it. Didn't they also say no more con exclusives after the Cloud City duel thing?

Long dissertation post ahead, essentially giving my thoughts/theories on the future of Indiana Jones merchandise as a whole. No movie spoilers in here (haven't seen it yet, but I'm excited to do so, hopefully tomorrow!), I just spoiler tagged it to save space.

Allegedly, there is a Mola Ram figure coming in the Adventure Series line. Someone on Reddit found a Target product description from some other figure that mentioned a few as-of-yet unrevealed figures (I think ones that had already been announced, like Henry Jones Sr.) as well as Mola Ram. I know that doesn’t mean it 100% is coming, but it seems likely since it wouldn’t have even been mentioned if they had no plans of putting out a figure for him. With respect to the LEGO sets, assuming we don’t get a second wave (which I know is the likely scenario, though I still think something in 2024 is still at least a remote possibility, albeit not super realistic at this point), I have to think, what could have been. I mean, I only have the $40 Lost Tomb set (though I will definitely be getting the Fighter Plane Chase too), but the quality of these sets seems absurdly good. Good prices, a nice mix of playability and display value, fantastic minifigures (seriously, even the mummy figure is great. The biggest complaints I’ve seen is just minor stuff like a lack of leg printing on Sallah, which I can excuse given it’s a $40 set with four figures and one of the best price/piece ratios I can remember), and an all around attention to detail. I would love to see the same treatment to some scenes like the truck chase, Grail Temple, Cairo street fight, Shanghai car chase, the ToD bridge battle, and a handful of other scenes. If this is all we get, I’m grateful that we at least got something, but boy, there are at least 3-4 sets that I would like to see before LEGO Indy retires, likely for good this time. Or at least the truck chase, please! I do think there’s a possibility of the line continuing on a semi-regular basis in the form of more dioramas, if the Idol Temple one sells well. I can think of at least a couple more scenes that would be conducive to that, and LEGO is at least aware of the AFOL appeal, since the only quote sets we’ve really gotten have been for really big franchises with evergreen themes (Star Wars, Jurassic Park).

Some ideas, all location based sets in the style of the Yavin IV set. Echo Base ($160): Sort of a beefier remake of the 2007 version and 2011 versions, combined into one. Includes the main hangar doors with some ice wall facade on the outside and a gear function to open them (just like the 2007 one). Inside has a docking station for a snowspeeder, Tauntaun pen, a computer terminal/command station, and some weapons/helmet racks. Also includes a small turret and snowbank on the outside. Essentially, think the UCS Hoth, but scale it down a little bit and don't include most of the exterior details. (Sidenote, I know people complained a lot about the UCS Hoth, looking at it now, it seems like a decent set, granted a bit disjointed, but I have absolutely no idea how this set cost $250). Minfigures are Luke, Dak, Hoth Han Solo, Hoth Leia, Toryn Farr, General Riekann, Bren Derlin, snowy Chewbacca, K-3PO, Hobie, and a Tauntaun. Endor Bunker ($160): Again, a larger remake of the 2009 version. Includes the bunker with an interior command station and opening doors, a small tree/foliage build, Ewok catapult, 2 speeder bikes, and a small AT-ST. Includes Endor Han, Endor Leia, Nik Sant, C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, AT-ST Driver, Imperial Trooper, 2x Scout Trooper, Wicket, and Paploo. Geonosis Arena ($160): Includes 3 small sections of the stands, the middle one being the booth with Dooku, 3 pillar builds, a brick-built Acklay, maybe a molded Reek and Nexu? Minifigures are Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan, Count Dooku, Poggle the Lessor, Jango Fett, Mace Windu, young Boba Fett, silver C-3PO, Kit Fisto, 2x Geonosian warriors, and 6x Geonosis battle droids, including one where you can swap the head for C-3PO (not sure what the deal with Super Battle Droids are, so I'd just assume they're not included).

I agree, I've seen mixed opinions on the Y-Wing, but I disagree with the thought that a vehicle was unnecessary. In a hangar-centric base like this one, I think it's really necessary to have a vehicle, especially one that actually fits (since a full size Y-Wing or X-Wing probably can't fit through the entrance door, or at least it would be a very tight squeeze). It's the same way that the 2007 Echo Base set has a Snowspeeder. Yeah, the base isn't as substantial, but it's largely depicting the main hangar, so it'd be odd to not have any sort of vehicle. And as always, remember that the target audience of most system scale sets are kids, who definitely would want a vehicle to fly around with the base. Especially in this case when there probably aren't a ton of play features (realistically I don't know what could really be incorporated on the inside. I could see some sort of lever to change a display screen in the briefing/command rooms, but that's about it?), so it's sort of necessary to have a ship that can fly around.

It looks like the left side has a viewing screen, so I'm assuming that's going to be the room where the Rebel command were monitoring the Battle of Yavin, while the other side looks like it's the room where the pilots get briefed. I'm assuming that the top of the pyramid will be where the awards hall is, since Leia/Han/Luke are based on that scene and it'd be a pretty glaring omission. Plus, I don't really know what else there is to include in the set, since the only rooms we really see in the base are those three plus the hangar, which I assume will have some extra details at the ground level.

I feel almost 100% confident Mando will be one of them if we get more of these. I could also see C-3PO/R2-D2, some form of Luke, a Clone, maybe an IG-11/Grogu combo, or Kylo Ren if they wanted a sequel character. Jango Fett would be fantastic as welll.

Was the Jabba’s diorama ever confirmed/confirmed for this year? I remember during the initial leaks, there was a LOT of ambiguity about “throne room” and whether or not it means Jabba’s or Palpatine’s. Is it possible that we were never getting Jabba’s throne room at all? Or if we were, it was always a 2024 set?

I have to say, I saw this set in person in a store last week and was a little bit tempted, but for $35 it's just too much (especially when I can get the Indy Fighter Plane set with another vehicle and another minifigure for the exact same price). The ship looks great, and the pilot figure especially looks outstanding, but the price is just a hangup. I think a $30 price point and including another figure (S3 Greef Karga would make sense, since there's really no other set that he'd come in for S3 unless we get Mando's hut next year) would've made this a lot more attractive to me. Maybe on clearance I'll grab it. Nice review!

Ahh I love that comparison! I remember some of the old animations from the 2006 Batman line having a similar art style - the actual minifigures and everything were slightly different from the way they were animated. This polybag is pretty awesome, I saw the figure for the first time at the LEGO store on the keychain rack and really liked it, but I'm not spending $200+ to get a single figure, so it's fantastic that we're getting it in such an affordable set, along with the nice little mini build.

This one also has the Christmas Ewok that leaked a month or two ago.

Yeah, unlike properties based around licensed themes, in-house stuff isn't restricted at all by what's on screen. I would assume in this case the sets come before the show, or at least are designed in collaboration with those developing/writing the show, so they can pretty much just make whatever they want and incorporate it into the show. It seems like, based on the trailer, they've covered all of the main characters and a lot of the major vehicles/locations so far, which makes sense, because it would be odd for an in-house theme to be missing some major characters from the show. Sidenote, I also quite like a lot of the builds, and I was smiling the whole way through the trailer. It seems like it has fun potential, and I hope it's a hit with kids and AFOLs.