Kit Figsto

Semantics, but I think Target exists in Australia? Not 100% sure though. Either way though, it's strange that we got info on the set purportedly slated as the WM exclusive and not on the Target exclusive. At least it gives a bit more to look forward too, since last year we had the slow trickle of leaks and this year it was just "Bam, here's what we're getting."

Hmm, yeah, that doesn't look great. I think they probably wanted to include the stud shooter there, but the wedge plates on the side really should extend further and the front slope bricks probably should tilt down a little bit. The good thing is, that's a fairly easy modification, but that shouldn't really be necessary in the first place.

I think the only "rumor" we've had is that supposedly Hasbro no longer has exclusive rights to sell action figures, so LEGO wouldn't need to to limit individual minifigures to promotional items only, and the fact that battle packs are MIA. LEGO clearly is starting to go into licensed CMFs (and not just in-house ones with the LEGO Movie and stuff) with Harry Potter and Marvel, as well as the mysterious Looney Toons one (still remains to be seen what's going on with that one since there's been like zero info for seemingly several months now), so it would logically make sense for a SW one if the license truly would allow it now. So basically, no, there's not a rumor, and if there is one eventually, it would almost assuredly not be this year just because of the quantity of CMFs already confirmed for this year (I think two VIDYO, Marvel, one or two regular series, and possibly the Loony Toons one, in addition to the Mario blind bags). Back to the topic of the Gunship figures, was it just those two or is there a third, because I seem to remember a comment saying there was one more, but that may have been speculation.

It could be, I don't really know. But I think if you scroll through most of the communities that really wanted this set (the aforementioned Youtube, Reddit & Instagram), the number one thread was minifigures, and that's also a common thread of other discussion there too. Heck, look at the prices for clones or prequel figures (other than the common ones). Which is why I say I feel like people were voting for what they think a massive gunship should be, not what it's going to be. Maybe I'm completely wrong and the leaks aren't right and this thing will sell like hotcakes, in which case the crow will be delicious for me, but this thing just seems dead in the water if the largest demographic of prequel set buyers is out from the beginning (and also I wonder how many of these people were really going to put down $350 for a UCS set in the first place, even if it did have the ideal number of figures, since a ton of the comments and stuff on the videos were always talking about how it's super expensive and all).

Probably a combo of that and wishful thinking on the part of Instagram/Reddit/Youtube. Part of the problem is that people on Instagram like to use #legoleaks for EVERYTHING that they post, so people will just assume anything posted under that hashtag is legit. I've seen people post customs or concept box art/set designs or whatever to that hashtag, which opens a whole can of worms in terms of causing misconceptions about what is and isn't real. Agree, it was never going to be a Clone Wars based set, so that knocks out every clone but Cody, and even if they did appear in ROTS, they had pretty much no role. I'm a little surprised it's Mace Windu and not Yoda (since he was the one that brought all of the clones, after all), but this is what most people on EB have been saying for like a year now, and I really wonder if the set will sell poorly because people didn't think about what a UCS set actually entails. My prediction is that this will sell poorly because most people that are very into the prequel sets want figures and a smaller scale, not a giant ship that has to be put on a stand and can't be handled very easily, which will probably kill prequel UCS sets. I mean, look at the ATT - the build is okay but not amazing, but it has Ahsoka and a 332nd, so everyone wants it. Nothing wrong with that, that just seems to be the common thread among prequel sets that sell well. Call me a pessimist if you must, but I feel like with no appealing figures, a high price point, and no playability, this thing will probably have like a year and a half shelf life, max. The fact that very, very appealing new sets are coming this summer and there's two that are $100 or more mean that I think people might opt to pay $200-250 for a bunch of system scale stuff rather than close to $400 (after tax and all you wind up paying nearly that much) for one set.

Agree, if Pirates were to win, I'd like to see a harbor/pirate village, since we have one and a half pirate ships on shelves right now (Creator and the Ideas thing I'm counting partially as a ship since that's one of the builds). Agree, especially after there's been a motion in the US to get rid of that kind of stereotyping (renaming sports franchises, etc). I feel like they could still do Western without worrying about that, and just do basically a remake of Gold City Junction with maybe a stagecoach, sheriff's office/jail, bank and saloon or something with the sheriff and deputies versus cowboys, but who knows, maybe there is logic behind thinking the Ideas set might make it through.

Sort of agree, I think that this one has the same sort of appeal that Dimensions had with people buying them for the printed tiles/cool minifigures (in the same way that people bought Dimensions packs for stuff like the Back to the Future/Knight Rider/A-Team/etc figures or accessories that were only available in Dimensions stuff), but I don't know if it has the long-term staying power. The only LEGO theme that seems to truly have worked in combining some sort of video game/digital element with bricks is Mario, and that's probably because it's probably the most famous video game in the world. Dimensions seemed to do okay but I think the only reason it had staying power was because of the licensed builds/figures, Life of George was pretty much a one-off that didn't last very long, I forgot if LEGO Universe had a physical component or not, and Hidden Side lasted for a wave and a half if I'm remembering correctly (although I'm still attributing that in part to the box art that didn't show the builds at all). It seems like LEGO wants to capitalize on the popularity of video games and apps, but I feel like people don't really want to mix the two. If I'm playing a video game, I'd rather just play it, and if I'm doing stuff with LEGO, I'd rather just build/play with the bricks and minifigures. This theme seems like it's riding almost entirely on whether or not it catches on with kids, and I don't really think there will be any "in-between" here, it's either going to catch on and be a hit or completely flop.

Agree, with the AT-ST they probably legitimately didn't know if they should include a face print, since him removing his helmet in the season one finale was kind of a big deal, and even with the Razor Crest, since they rushed production, it was probably too soon to not be classified as a spoiler. I think that the black looks better, but it would be nice to get a printed face, especially for that set in particular.

True, but there's also been somewhat of an apprehension since Rebels about putting out stuff for TV shows prior to their actual release. The Mandalorian got one very safe set (AT-ST, which is a vehicle people are already familiar with, LEGO can't really make it inaccurate from the show, like how the Ghost interior was severely lacking, and pretty cheap), Bad Batch has one set that was already introduced in Clone Wars and seems very safe (expensive, but people already know the model, the ship design is close to Palpatine's Shuttle, and the characters that are included are ones that people were requesting anyway, and LEGO finally seems to get that Clone Wars stuff does have a demand, and this show seems like it's going to be very very close in style to TCW), and that's it. Not even the Book of Boba Fett, which in theory should be a very easy show to market, since they already introduced Fennec and re-introduced Boba Fett, has a set coming in this summer wave.

Those are all very valid reasons, but those are issues that I could still see with a re-booted set. I never got into Bionicle (although I'm not opposed to constraction, I have some of the Star Wars figures and I do enjoy doing custom figures out of Bionicle parts) but I had two cousins that, growing up, were super into it - I mean, that was like 2/3rds of their LEGO, they knew all of the lore and names, that kind of stuff. It would be nearly impossible to re-capture that same magic of the story and lore in one set, meaning that again, the appeal to new consumers just isn't going to be as strong. I don't think LEGO has lost their touch in terms of original stories, either - look at Ninjago. Potentially one of their most successful in-house themes of all time, I would suggest it's probably the Bionicle of the 2010s, and a largely story-based theme with the same recurring characters and vehicles. But it'd be impossible to do anything of that depth in one set. Prices also haven't really gone down, although this being an 18+ set, I think it's to be expected that it's at least $70-80, likely $100 or more, though. Again, I don't mean to poo-poo on Bionicle, I hope I'm not coming off that way. It does really suck that there hasn't been really anything in the vein of constraction for, what, three years now? (I forgot when they stopped making the SW figures, which was a shame because a lot of those were pretty cool). It's a niche that I would like for LEGO to tap back into, since there's clearly a subset of consumers that are interested in that type of product executed well. I just don't think making only a Bionicle set as the anniversary celebration set is a great idea.

I was also expecting it to do a bit better, considering how gosh darn expensive those sets are on the secondary market. Clearly there's an appeal but I guess it's more just becuase the sets aren't super common, so people that have them know they can jack the prices up. I know it's kind of similar to Creator Expert vehicles, but those are licensed and I kind of like the unlicensed off-road van and semi truck builds. Wish we'd get more of those. This is the problem I also have, if those are real votes and not just people making bot/dummy accounts. Bionicle's reboot failed pretty hard, which may have been a case of the theme losing momentum after it got cancelled in 2010 initially, but I think that points to the idea that a potential Bionicle set probably would not have appeal to those outside of the Bionicle community, since they failed to really capture a new audience with the reboot sets. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on Bionicle, I think more just the concept of one theme winning when that theme, if it's Bionicle, has a much more specific appeal. They needed to either do multiple sets or something because I just cannot see an 18+ Bionicle set selling the same as an 18+ Castle or Space Ship or Pirate Ship or even Adventurers Pyramid.

There was a similar debate happening on the Castle sub-forum about the new Blacksmith Shop. A few people were questioning why a goat wasn't included (which would've required a new mold, since apparently the old one is unusable), yet smaller sets like Friends or Ninjago can get new molds all of the time. One user linked a Reddit comment from Mark Stafford who basically said that larger sets, like those 18+ sets, tend to get produced in much smaller quantities than your average Ninjago/Friends type set. As a result, it can actually be cheaper to do a new mold in those smaller sets, when they're going to have a really high volume of sales, offsetting the cost. I don't have the exact comment offhand but that was sort of the gist of it, it was in the Blacksmith Shop thread if you're curious about the actual wording of his answer. Anyway, my point is that, while I don't think that's necessarily what's happening here, there might be other factors that LEGO has to deal with that we as fans aren't as privy to beyond just "LEGO is being cheap" or whatever. In the case of a $30 set getting arm printing in this wave, it might have something to do with that same quantity issue, perhaps they're expecting more of it to sell than they are the $80 Shuttle, so they can justify arm printing for Mando, and maybe the budget for this wave only would allow for using arm printing with one figure, and I'm sure most would agree, Mando would definitely take precedence over some gray lines on Vader's arm. That's 100% speculation on my part, but I'm just saying that there's probably more to those types of decisions that could make seemingly random decisions appear more logical. I agree it kind of sucks from a fan's perspective, but it seems like expecting printed arms at this point is just going to result in letdowns. I was kind of disappointed that Ponda Baba and Greedo both didn't have printed arms in the Cantina, and to me that decision made no sense, but I'm willing to give LEGO the benefit of the doubt that there was some justifiable reason that they didn't print those characters' arms.

I think, like some people said a while back in this thread/the 2020 one, treat arm printing to be the exception, not the norm. As far as why the Vader in the Final Duel set got arm printing and this one didn’t, who knows, but I feel like tempering expectations is probably best, that way waves like this summer’s are a pleasant surprise.

I do find it somewhat ironic that he was celebrating the Brick Show's channel getting shut down a few years back for showing leaks, only for he himself to get a copyright claim for leaked info. I don't think we know yet but last summer, Europe saw the sets appearing in early-mid July all at once, and the US got them all at once in August. This winter wave thing isn't a typical release pattern unless I'm forgetting something. I think usually every wave releases all at once with the exception of times when there are random individual sets or groups of sets that are released all at once (like the Mosaics last summer or the Razor Crest on September 1st). Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Thanks for educating me! I do think that would work quite well as an 18+ set, not my cup of tea but that does seem like a very viable type of set if Bionicle were to win. I still stand by my suggestion that they needed to do multiple sets based on several themes, though!

Depending on what you count as medium sized, the 2018 Cantina might fall into that, and technically the Final Duel set from last summer could be a location, although I don’t think it’s as location-based as some of the other sets. I do agree though, I’d like to see more of that type of set, especially since those $30 locations (Yoda/Ben’s Huts) were pretty great sets.

I agree that Bionicle is deserving of recognition, since it was probably one of the most innovative themes LEGO ever made and arguably saved the company from folding entirely. I never got into them, but I can totally understand the appeal, and I absolutely don't think people are wrong for liking them. However, I don't think that it should be in a poll running against traditional system sets. They're just too different to really be compared with the classic themes. Bionicle has a big fanbase, but those that were never into it probably aren't going to be very interested in a one-off anniversary set of it. I feel like it's one of those themes where you either "got it" or you didn't. With Castle or Space or whatever, I think that the model has appeal even if someone isn't inherently a Space/Castle collector, but I don't really know if that's as much of the case with Bionicle. I also would hazard a guess that it probably wouldn't have as much appeal to those that were never around for the original run of it, considering it was heavily story-based and they can't exactly delve super deep into that with one set, plus, recent iterations of action figures (Bionicle reboot, Hero Factory, Star Wars constraction, etc) all didn't seem to do as well as the original Bionicle did. The other thing is that the article says the set will be part of the "Adult Portfolio" which I assume means a large, 18+ set, probably similar in size to most Ideas sets. How would that work for Bionicle? There were larger Bionicle sets, but looking at brickset, I count only ten that were over $50 and three of those were the minifigure sets, which I seriously doubt they would bring back, since the large figures were the more well-known ones. Realistically, I think they should've done an "anniversary wave" of the top handful of vote-getting themes. That way, fewer people are disappointed and they could do themes are are more conducive to small sets (like Bionicle) as well as themes like Adventurers or Castle where people would want a large, $100+ set.

I'd love that, especially since we got a NASCAR inspired Camaro. I don't know if they could make a body that is both stable enough to hold together and also be raised/lowered at the Speed Champions scale (it would for sure work at a Creator Expert/Technic scale, though), but it would be a pretty cool set to get one of those. What would be REALLY cool, but probably not going to happen, is a two pack with a funny car and top-fuel dragster, but I don't think there's enough appeal there to make a set out of.

Makes sense, thank you so much for your help!

Honestly I think there are ten or more of these themes that deserve a reboot, even if it's just a one-off set. I do think some of the choices are a bit odd, I sort of see why they split Castle into several different subthemes, but I don't really get why they chose they didn't also do that for Pirates. Take Wolfpack for example, it was a cool subtheme, but it was only three small sets, whereas Armada also got three small sets under the Pirate theme, but isn't represented. Ninja or Fright Knights, to me, may have been more popular. I'm fine with them splitting it up, but it's just strange that some of the Space/Castle subthemes aren't included. Similarly, the lack of Western is really weird to me, as that's a super popular theme on the secondary market and the only thing that was even close to it was Lone Ranger like ten years ago.

Voted for it as well! I would think it's probably one of the themes more conducive to this type of anniversary set, since I think they want to go large-scale with it, and some of the themes in the poll (like Wolfpack or some of the space/town subthemes) never really got much in the way of large sets. A remake of the Egyptian pyramid seems to be most logical, since that subtheme was probably the most iconic (even though Dino Island was probably my favorite!).

Got it, so the shipping cost is calculated based on Bricklink's listed weight for each item?

Gotta be honest, I saw something on Instagram advertising this poll and assumed it was fake! I’ll probably be voting for Adventurers, Model Team (mostly because I think they would remake the Black Cat Semi, and that’s one of my most wanted sets ever) and either Rock Raiders, Trains, Studios, or one of the Castle subthemes. I’m curious what they have in mind for some of these sets should the theme win.

Last year was sort of all over the place, so I would say it depends. We had a very, very blurry picture of General Grievous' fighter leak in February, the 501st official pictures come out in April, the UCS A-Wing revealed and released in May, official pictures of the AT-AT in May, and then the AAT, Final Duel, IT-S, Anakin's Fighter, and Knights of Ren ship all leaked in late May/early June. Sets started to appear in like late June/early July in Europe, early August for North America. However, last year's leaks were also very spread out, we didn't even know the full contents of the wave until maybe late February/early March, and even then, we only had loose details (for example, the 501st set was just described as a BARC without any other firm information), and we had no idea about the exclusives until the pictures actually leaked (we were told there might be exclusives, but the IT-S was a complete surprise and I think the Final Duel had been given a set number and price point but was just "unknown exclusive" prior to the pictures). The fact that the list leaked this early and was this complete might mean pics come sooner, though I have no idea. Also, I wanted to say, anyone else find it funny that we had almost the entire summer wave leak with fairly clear details and we still have no confirmed info as far as the third helmet this spring?

I'm intrigued by the Dodge two pack. I'm fairly certain the Challenger/Charger two pack is on shelves right now, and you can get the Ghost Rider "Challenger" on shelves (don't think it's licensed but the car is technically a Challenger), and I don't really know what other iconic Dodge cars there are. A modern Charger's model would look very similar to the model of the Hellcat Challenger, a problem that also exists with many of the popular Dodge models from the 60s/70s (Super Bee/Coronet or Dart) and there aren't really that many other iconic Dodge cars besides the Daytona or trucks, or cars that would fall under the Plymouth brand. A two pack of a Barracuda and Challenger from the 70s would be pretty cool, as would a two pack of a Daytona and a Superbird.