Kit Figsto

On one hand, this seems way too good to be true. On the other hand, that'd be such a mean April Fool's prank to be fake, given how requested Indy is to return. Someone on Reddit pointed out that the Indiana Jones page is still up on shop.lego.com, which is interesting given that there's 0 sets on it, but Avatar also has not been removed and has zero sets, and to my knowledge, there's nothing rumored to be coming there? I guess we'll know tomorrow. I do think an 18+ set at some point is likely, since they're basically doing every possible license ever at the 18+ level now, and they've gone back and revisited licenses even if there isn't relevant media tying into it (LOTR and POTC both seemingly have movies coming, but it seems like the sets are coming out first? We also had BTTF come with the 18+ DeLorean and there's been nothing from that franchise in like thirty five years).

I'd have to disagree, I think this is better. If it's armorless Clones + a training area or a room on Kamino, I feel like that goes with the Slave I a lot better than a kind of obscure TCW reference set + two more Young Boba figures with different expressions.

I went off of this image, I'm pretty sure most everything on here is either made up or probably from a no-longer-canon 90s novel/comic book, but I thought it was funny nonetheless.  Some of it is just ridiculous, which is par for the course for most of the old EU.

I mean, not everyone is using them to army build, and you have to consider that probably 90% of LEGO buyers don't use Bricklink. Me personally, I never buy figures/parts off of BL, because even if it's "new", it's not (unless it's an advent calendar figure or something that was explicitly bagged separately and is still in the sealed bag). In my eyes, once it's open, it's no longer new, which means that someone who parts out a set isn't selling "new" parts. Also, given the makeup of most BPs lately, I think it's likely that it'd be either 3 and 1 or 2 and 2, with eitehr 3 Stormtroopers and one variant (Sandtrooper, Death Trooper, Scout Trooper, TIE pilot, etc), or a location-based pack that's 2 standard Stormies plus two variants (either Endor with 2 regular and 2 Scouts, Tatooine with 2 regular and 2 Sandtroopers, or something DS based with 2 regular and then like an Imperial Navy guy and an officer or gunner or something). The Mandalorian BP is 2v2, the Hoth one from a few years ago was 3 Snowtroopers plus a scout, and even the clone ones have had some sort of variation - the original 501st had a jet trooper, the other 501st had three different types (if anything, people were complaining that it WASN'T a good army builder, since two of the guys were slightly different) and the 332nd had Vaughan and two guys with jetpacks. The only one that I'm not sure about is if the 327th has any variants. I can't wait for the wave next year where we get an Imperial Dropship, TIE Crawler, TIE Bomber, TIE Advanced, Vader's TIE, TIE Shuttle, Star Destroyer, Super Star Destroyer, TIE Armageddon, TIE Rex, TIE Inflictor, TIE Warmachine... Or something, I dunno.

They'd be CRAZY to do a full year where all of the vehicles are from one faction, unless it's a movie wave, right? Right? Anyway, regarding the minifigures of the DS, I think the big question marks are whether or not they do anything from Rogue One (it'd really just be Krennic and maybe like 2 Death Troopers if anything?). I'm assuming it's a given that we're getting both ANH and ROTJ figures (no chance they could get 40 from one movie unless 30 of them are either Stormtroopers/Imperial Navy/Gunners/Crew/TIE pilots or random officers, which would be a very boring selection). I'm guessing the main ANH cast are a given, obviously Vader, Palpatine, Tarkin, 2 Royal Guard plus ROTJ Luke gets us to 13 already, then probably 4-5 named officers (Yularen, Tagge, Jerjerodd, Motti, one more?), a Death Star Droid, at least 2 Imperial Navy troopers, 2 gunners, 1 TIE Pilot, and at least 4 Stormtroopers, and then we're at around 27 figures, which still leaves 13 slots. Do they fill it with random officers? More crew members? A ton of Stormtroopers? The only other non-army type figures that I can think of are Palpatine's advisors (I think we'll get at least one or two) and then if they wanted to go silly with it and throw in a Beach Trooper (though I'd be really disappointed if our first ever classic video game minifigure is locked behind a $1000 paywall), but I'd imagine it'd pretty much have to be just a ton of officers and troopers.

I absolutely agree, I was going to say the same thing. I think it looks quite good - I like the AT-RT and I think that the spider droid looks more like the TCW version than previous ones, but that's not $40 worth of stuff to me. The prices have really shot up in the past 3-4 years, and I really think it's just LEGO jacking up prices because they can, knowing that people will still buy. The perfect example is Obi-Wan's fighter being $30, on discount to $23, on store shelves at the exact same time as Jedi Bob's fighter for $40, which is literally the same set. The manufacturing cost didn't go up, because they're still making new copies of Obi-Wan's ship and can somehow sell those at $23, but Jedi Bob's apparently costs $17 more because...???

*Cereal "Corn Flakes" Korn Anyway, this GWP is definitely an odd choice - two years ago, the Lars kitchen made sense, because it was a desired minifigure and a location that had never been represented, but isn't a scene that people HAVE to have. Last year's was a similar thing, it was a remake of an old set that had only been remade one other time, so it makes sense for the anniversary, and also isn't something that's crazy desired or anything. This year has the exclusive figure factor, and perhaps some sort of compatibility with the UCS Slave I, but it seems really obscure. I do like when the GWPs tie in with the UCS model, so I think it's cool that there's some of that going on here, but I just thing it's an unusual choice. Not a bad one, just different. I feel like I would've expected, if they tied it in with other sets, to get a diorama of Jango's apartment (though I suppose that would've been hard to include a figure, since it'd be the exact ones already included with the Slave I...), or maybe something Geonosis based.

So ideally that means the system version IS Jango's, and not the TCW version, right?

I also found this article that seems to line up with the time frame. https://www.brickfanatics.com/updated-lego-star-wars-zam-wesells-speeder-missed-the-cut/

Hm, interesting, I had either forgotten about that or never knew about it. It's odd, because looking at the 2020 lineup, it wouldn't really have conflicted with any of the sets that we did get. It was a very ship heavy 2HY, but besides Anakin's fighter and Luke's Landspeeder, most everything else was like $70+. The positive side is that they have released cancelled sets before, at least in the case of the Yavin IV temple. On the other, OTHER hand, they've never done anything with those Geonosis arena sketch models that we've seen, so maybe they just dislike AOTC

I was thinking of that but thought it was still around - I guess it's that sand purple that they used for Life on Mars, huh? Lavender seems pretty close, at least from an image. Either way, it's remarkable to me that the only thing we've ever had remaking it was a 2013 Advent Calendar mini build. I know there's some other sets from that era that never got direct remakes (Speeder Bike chase, Cloud Car, Watto's Junkyard, some of the little vignette builds that could combine for a scene, etc), but they've mostly been covered in other things - either part of larger sets, (or in the case of Watto's Junkyard, that was basically a couple of podracers with a side build, and we've gotten some remade podracing sets). The only major ones that I'm seeing are the Bounty Hunter Pursuit and Jango's Slave I. We're getting one of them, so hopefully the other comes soon, since it's not like people aren't vocal about wanting it!

Ha, I think I was batting 1.000 when it came to pack feeling, so at the very least, I went out on top after they switched away from bags! I feel like it was probably mostly to appease longtime consumers. People would still buy them blindly, otherwise the CMF line wouldn't have survived, what, 30+ series (counting licensed ones) of these, since it wasn't just people that knew how to feel them buying them, but I think going to a TRUELY blind format would alienate a lot of people. I know for sure that I would've quit buying them if I had no way of telling what I was getting, especially at $5 for a single minifigure. At least here in the US, "blind bag" stuff is everywhere - Target stores have a bunch of it in their trading card aisles, and now many of them have a separate aisle in the toys that have some cards, but mostly are just those blind bag keychains and stuff. As far as I can tell, there's not a way to tell with most of those what you're getting (some of them you can sort of feel, but it's a lot trickier, since there aren't standardized parts like LEGO). I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem like they'd run into issues with gambling, just based on how much of this stuff is out there, seemingly without problems.

I feel like there was an excellent opportunity for some smaller locations ($30-50) when we were getting those about 6-8 years ago (Ach-To Island, Obi-Wan's hut, Yoda's hut, that $40 Cantina from like 2019, the Hoth Medical Chamber, probably a couple of others that I've forgotten). Dexter's Diner would've worked well, as well as maybe a section of the Droid Factory, and while we're not going to get a large scale Kamino playset, I do think something involving a couple of rooms and a hallway, or a landing pad plus small interior section could've been a decent set. Apparently we're not getting location sets anymore unless it's MBS, so those are out the window now, but there are at least a couple of location sets that I think would've been solid. I agree, though, outside of Jango/Obi-Wan's ship or clone specific stuff, it's unlikely that we're getting anything else. I still don't get why the Speeder Chase hasn't been remade. Clearly there's demand for it, it can absolutely be done for $50 in this day and age, and none of the colors or anything have been retired. Two ships, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Zam, and Jango, and call it a day. You probably don't even need a terrain side build.

I'm unsure, but the thicker paper does seem fairly robust. I'd be curious, if they double-layered it, I feel like it might be okay. I dunno, something about the "feeling the pack" was always a fun part of it, and I think that just scanning with a cell phone ruins some of the fun of the chase.

I think that there's never going to be a good solution. I want some method of figuring them out, and I think that LEGO knows that if they get rid of this method entirely, sales will probably drop quite a bit. You'll still get people who go for the random blind-bag draw, but a lot of hardcore collectors will probably either stop buying them, or will start buying out stores and returning them after getting the ones that they want. In a perfect world, they just bring back the bags. Personally, I'm unsure why they can't go to the paper bags that they use for the magazine gifts. I've only ever bought one of these (I'm in the US, so we don't get them here), but the paper seemed pretty robust, and I don't think it's an issue of theft prevention, because the cardboard would be just as easy to rip open as the paper bag would. I agree that the scalping with the boxed series has definitely gotten worse, though, between the Beastmaster and Dragonborn Paladin, whereas previous desirable figures in sets could be tough to get, but usually didn't require going to 5 stores just to find one.

Strange, I didn't really have any issues finding them, and I'm still seeing D&D figures on the shelves. Typically, I don't really see CMFs hanging around on the shelves long after the series ended, with the exception of at smaller toy stores or book stores.

Ah, I couldn't remember if the bar codes were still around for S2. So it must've been S3 that they transitioning to the bump codes, because I do seem to recall looking for the fisherman using the bumps. Maybe my memory is wrong there too Either way, though, you're correct, I don't think the collector hype really existed. I also think that Instagram/Reddit has made army building more of a thing (especially in Star Wars) and has brought that to other themes. I feel like if someone was army building S2 Spartans at the time, it would've been for a MOC or some sort of LUG/convention event. You've still got people doing that, of course, but there's also contingents of people that literally just buy figures to line them up on a baseplate, which I don't recall being a thing 15 years ago. I feel like it also doesn't help that this series doesn't really have another super desirable figure. The rest of the series is okay, in my opinion, but none really stand out as figures that I MUST have. I might grab the Boogeyman at some point, I really like the book piece with him, and I think the plush pieces are neat, but I don't really know if I'll shell out the $5 just for a couple of pieces.

I can't remember one being this hard to get. With the Spartan, it was a while ago, so my memory isn't 100% clear, but I don't remember it being as hard to get, because you had to either decipher the bump codes (which were tricky, since you had to hold the pack just right to get the light to reflect a certain way), or feel the packages (which only hardcore collectors were going to take the time to do). The anniversary police minifigure was a chase figure, if I remember correctly, but even then, I didn't have any issue finding it, probably because you had to feel for it. This seems to be a major downside of the boxes, as we haven't had any figure since transitioning away from bags that's had this kind of demand, and now it's way easier for anyone to figure out what's in the box. S24 had the Falconer and brown Spaceman, but they were bagged, S25 had the Goatherd and the Basil the Batlord, but Basil wasn't a figure that people necessarily would want to army build (and I don't think Fright Knights has the same popularity as Wolfpack) and the Goatherd was basically just desired for the goat itself, not the figure (it's actually still only $5 on BL, which is significantly less than I would've expected). The Beastmaster has basically everything going for it - a new animal mold, a popular faction, and a cool looking figure.

While true, I feel like the flip side is that it was a lot harder to tear into the bags than it is these boxes. You 100% needed either a knife or scissors to get into the bags, and I feel like that'd be more difficult for someone to subtly do that to just rip open a box and pocket the figure. I'd be curious to see which has a higher rate of theft. Personally, I don't really remember seeing bags torn into ever, and I think I've only seen a couple of the boxes ripped open in stores, which is fewer than I would've expected. Either way, I doubt that they're ever going back to the bags, I'm just reminiscing...

Finally tracked down the Wolfpack Beastmaster today! I was off work early and figured that I'd check the LEGO store at my local mall (different than the one that I checked last weekend), since it was a weekday and maybe I'd get lucky if they put more out and haven't been crowded yet. Instead, I didn't even need to check the figs at the LEGO store, because the Barnes and Noble that I cut through on my way into the mall had a near-fresh box out at the cash register lane. I had assumed it was already picked through, because the top layer was missing about 8-9 figures, but the bottom layer had 3 Beastmasters on it. I bought two for myself and left the last one in there. Very excited to finally get it, the torso and shield are great, but I think what stood out to me was this cape, I had no idea that they made capes of this softer material and it looks great.

I feel like part of this was the switch from bags to boxes. Certainly not all, but it makes it way, way easier for someone to go and clean out the desirable ones from a store when it takes three minutes to scan an entire case of 36, whereas before it would probably take at least 15-20 minutes to feel through that, and that's someone who knows what they're doing. I keep harping on the scalping of the Wolfpack figure this series (which I finally did find today!), and I think part of the issue this time around, compared to some of the other desirable ones from past series, is that people now have to spend way less time and effort to pull the desirable figures out of a box. Someone who's goal is to scalp toys and resell them wasn't spending 20 minutes standing there feeling through a package. I appreciate the environmental aspect, but I do miss the fun of feeling the bags, in addition to it seemingly help make CMF less of a "who can get to the store first before they sell out" race. I wonder why they couldn't do a thicker paper - the magazine gifts do it.

Same here. Even with some of the other popular ones from previous waves - the Dragonborn Paladin, the anniversary Policeman, the Ice Planet Explorer, the Falconer, the S20 Viking, even the S2 Spartan, though that one was so long ago that I don't think reselling was the same "thing" that it is now - I never had a problem finding at least one. I'm at probably 100+ boxes scanned and nothing. While scanning, I was sort of making conversation with an employee standing there about it, and I was like "I'm just looking for the Wolfpack fig" and he said something to the effect of "Yeah, they've been going really quickly." I asked if he thought they had any and his response was basically "Given the amount that you've scanned, I'm guessing probably not," so I don't think they had extras, even though I didn't directly ask.

Hit a LEGO store and scanned probably 60+ CMFs, as well as a Barnes and Noble that had about 15 out, still no luck on the Beastmaster. The problem that I think I'm having is that I'm either finding places that are well-stocked, but are only putting out a few at a time (the B&N had them in the checkout aisle, so they only had a small area of shelf space for them), or are putting out full cases, but they're instantly getting pillaged. The issue with that is that it seems that big-box retailers aren't constantly refreshing them - Target near me is basically one and done, so that leaves stuff like LEGO stores, but the problem there is that I both live too far to be consistently checking the one near me, and you're going to get the hardcore LEGO fans there who know how to scan them and are going to be specifically looking for the desirable ones. I'll probably just have to suck it up and buy a box online or something, since I just refuse to give the resellers money on this one.

It's still greedy, IMO.

I've even seen some of the major, brick and mortar LEGO resale shops selling them at $20 each, which is just plain greedy IMO. I'm betting that these stores are ordering actual cases of the minifigures, scanning them, and then pricing them accordingly, and since it's a store, they're getting enough business to actually sell off the less-desirable ones, whereas the average person can't really buy a case just for one figure and expect to be able to sell the ones that they don't want. Bricklink prices have hovered around $10 each, no reason that these places should be charging double, ESPECIALLY when this series is still available at stores!