Kit Figsto

I still think $250 is too big to be minifigure scale. The thing with the gunship is, the system versions (which I think at most would be like $150 if released right now) are already pretty much in proportion. They can't really make them any wider without having to make it taller, and making it taller would be pretty ridiculous, since they're already pretty much the ideal height right now. I guess they could make the wings a bit beefier and some more interior detail, but I don't see that adding nearly $100 of value to the set unless they scaled it up. The only minifig scale UCS ships/vehicles I can think of were Slave I, the Millennium Falcon, and the Sandcrawler (which actually still I think might be smaller than minifig scale). All of those were vehicles that are way too big to accurately capture in a system-sized set, so while they can do a Slave I for $90 or a Falcon for $120, they're passable but not large enough to truly be in scale. The problem with the gunship is that the system scale version is already pretty much figure scale at $120-130, so other than the fact that they haven't put one out in 7 years, there's no real reason for it to be sized up to $250 when they can do it for much cheaper.

I think it's more to do with licensing issues than enticing people to buy the sets. DC got a CMF set and while there's more alternate costumes and stuff in those, those also are basically just the Lego version of action figures and make it pretty easy to amass all of the main heroes/villains without spending much on the sets. I'd love something of that line too, but every time they release a non-army builder one (eg: Jedi and Clones, Bounty Hunters, Tatooine) a lot of people get all up in arms for whatever reason. Maybe it's because I don't army build, but I quite like the more unique ones like those. Especially to complement the MBS sets, like it would've been perfect to put one out with Cloud City that came with an Ugnaught, a couple of Cloud City guards, and a citizen, or do one for the Cantina with a Jawa, Sandtrooper, and a couple of cantina patrons.

About the discussion of parting the set out or buying just the building, I would definitely wait to buy the building by itself, since the set still isn't available to the general public yet. When the set is still in production but is widely available, the building will probably be even cheaper than the $150-200 it's going for now. Once it retires, then it'll go back up in value, but I'm predicting this one sticks around for at least two years, considering how quickly it sold out. Looking at BL or eBay right now, it seems like each of the seven new figures average about $25-30 per fig, which is about $175-200 (you may want to keep the extra Hrcheck, since there were two Saurins in the cantina in ANH, so that still gets you at least $150 for everything). The Dewback looks to be about $40 for just the pieces, so I would guess if you threw in the saddle, that's about $50. You could probably sell the V-35 for another $20, the Ubbrikkian for maybe $15, Greedo, Wuher, and the main characters for another $20, and that would come out to about $250 and you could keep the two extra Sandtroopers, the 3 Bith to make a full band, the buildings, an additional Jawa, and another Saurin figure. All that for basically $100 seems pretty good to me. You could also keep Wuher and swap the head to make a random Mos Eisley patron. Now, it's a lot of work to actually sell all that stuff, and the prices may drop once the set's been out for a little while, but if you take the time, it'd make one heck of a cantina display piece.

Would love a return to some classic muscle, since we got the Mustang, Camaro, and Charger, there hasn't been a ton since. Someone else suggested a Charger Daytona, that or a Superbird would be incredible, I'd love a Chevelle or Olds Cutlass (not sure if they're really doing anything with defunct brands, even though it'd fall under the GM license), and if they did a Firebird, that'd be pretty neat too. I'd also like to see even some older stuff, like a Tri-Five Chevy or Hudson Hornet. The Ram with Charger is a great idea too, it'd be a nice companion to the Raptor + Model A we got a few years back. Another two-pack idea is a 2021 Bronco with a 1968 Bronco, although I'm not sure if they want to venture into doing off-road trucks without any car to go with it.

Nobody knows yet (or at least, if anyone does, they haven't shared it) but I think it's probably a safe assumption that it would be an OT TIE. It's being released as a companion to the X-Wing, which people have said is Red Five/includes Luke and R2-D2, and also if they're trying to scale back the sizing/pricing of the models, it would make sense to start with very recognizable and popular stuff first - X-Wing, TIE, Y-Wing, Slave I, etc, and if that's successful, use that same model going forward for more obscure stuff. I know that the TIE isn't obscure, even if it includes Mandalorian characters, but it would make sense for them to start with the absolute basics and then branch out in the future. The 3 figures thing was semi-confirmed but it's also possible that it was just placeholder box art, since apparently that's what gave the indication that there were 3 figures in the first place. There's been instances in the past where prototype/early versions of sets are shown to have more figures than they actually end up coming with. To be honest, I don't really know what other vehicles or locations are even feasible from the PT that don't include clones beyond the ones you named. They could remake Palpatine's arrest, a Jedi Temple could likely be done without clones but I think they'd throw one or two in, Jango's Slave I, which I do agree is due for an update (but they could also very easily throw a clone in there), I guess like Bail Organa's speeder from ROTS or Padme's shuttle from the beginning of Episode II (but at that point you're getting pretty obscure), and then Jedi Starfighters (which we already get one of every other year or so). Basically every one of the major ships/vehicles was either operated by clones or fought against clones (so they get included for playability).

I would guess if those couple of fig leaks were legitimate (Elmo/Cookie Monster) then we'll see more soon. It seems like with most UCS stuff, you maybe get a couple of figs leaking but once that happens, the floodgates will open soon. Mos Eisley had Ponda Baba/Dr. Evazan leak in mid August, then about 2-3 weeks later we got some blurry pics leak, and then the official reveal about a week and a half later. Cloud City was something similar if I remember right, the Cloud Car pilots leaked mid-August and then the set was revealed mid-September.

The thing is, with Sesame Street, I feel like the appeal is either to very young children (preschool age) or older collectors who see it as a nostalgic piece. It's certainly got a universal recognition, but I don't know if people who are sort in the middle there (older kids/teens) would prefer it to say, Star Wars/Super Heroes/Technic/City or whatever else. With some D2Cs or more expensive sets, kids in the middle can still get them if they either save up enough money or get it as a large gift or something (say for example, a $150 Batcave or $130 Millenium Falcon). A kid that's still at Sesame Street age likely isn't going to have parents that will shell out $120 for a Sesame Street toy that is both fragile and has a lot of small pieces (ie potential choking hazard there), and is something likely too complex for them to put together anyway. I know when I was a kid, I had Sesame Street toys, but I don't think my parents would've spent a great deal of money on one item like this. Which is why the Abby idea is perplexing if true, that was within the last 15-20 years, so the only demographic that could really relate there is older teenagers/early 20s adults, whereas I don't know if that's the main demographic that's going to be buying this set. Plus, it's not like the other characters are less relevant, everybody who owned a TV as a child knows who Grover or Oscar or the Count are.

Yeah, there have certainly been many collectibles that fall into that same sort of trap like you said. Now that I think of it, I think there is definitely a similar thought process between people buying this type of stuff and stuff like Beanie Babies, 90s trading cards, 90s action figures, etc - the "old" stuff is worth money, so this stuff must be too! The problem is, the companies realized the demand was high, so they jacked production way up, so at the time some of the stuff was valuable, whereas now it's not really worth much more than what you originally paid for it. I think with LEGO, particularly SW, the old stuff will always have value. 2003 Cloud City, for example, is still going up and the supply of it is so limited to where that's never really going to come down. Same deal with the original UCS Falcon (or, in all honesty, probably the current one too, just because it's so expensive, people can't really hoard it to resell later, so the quantity of them will be fairly limited), or sets like the original cantina, original gunship and turbo tank, all that sort of stuff, simply because the supply is so low. Same with some of the original Clone Wars sets from 2008/09 - the supply isn't very high but demand is, so you get stupidly overpriced sets on eBay. The difference here is supply will eventually be much, much higher than it is right now. I think at some point the market for the non-licensed stuff will perhaps start to drop a bit, so you won't see stuff like a $20 City set from 2015 going for $50, and this definitely could be a case, like you say, of people speculating the market and it completely flopping. I mean, it's only been a month, and I've never seen a set this hard to find, but at some point or another, it'll be out there. LEGO isn't like other collectibles where certain sets are particularly rare (like action figures, for example, where a store may only get 1-2 of a certain character and once that assortment is gone, it's gone for good), but I am curious to see what happens in 2 years when the hoarders have their 5000 clone army and don't need to buy any more.

I don't even think I'd say that, I haven't even caught so much as a whiff of it. It's actually ridiculous. In my area, which is a moderately sized US city, there are no Target or Walmart stores in a 40-50 mile range (no exaggeration there either, I've checked the store inventories on their website and not a single one near me has them or the AAT), the physical Lego store near me has neither, Target.com has the AAT for shipping but no 501st, Walmart.com doesn't have either, there's a Barnes and Noble 92 miles away that has the 501st set in stock and nowhere else in a 100 mile radius (and they're sold out of it to order), and Kohl's is sold out of both (actually I don't know if they're selling the AAT, it seems like they don't get the entire wave of sets in often, only part). Now, I get that this set had hype and that people wanted it, but there's absolutely no way that these are all people who are buying this to open and play with or whatever, this has to be scalpers/resellers capitalizing on the hype or people who are just hoarding them because it's rare. I get it, its their right to buy it, but is it really necessary to clean out every store in a 50 mile radius? You would think that, but LEGO stuff right now is stupidly expensive to resell. It seemed like 4-5 years ago you could typically find non-licensed stuff still NIB for close-ish to the original price (except for very old stuff, obviously), licensed stuff would end up a bit more expensive but if you were patient you could find deals easily enough. Now, stuff like a City Cement Truck from 2014 or so is going for like $5-10 more than it's original price-and that's a used set! Star Wars Microfighters, except for the ones with like battle droids, are $15-20 even for figures that aren't all that amazing. I see people selling some of the clone battle packs for like $50-60 - and people actually buying those! Unless the market as a whole for LEGO crashes, I think it's going to be this way for a while. Maybe 5-8 years ago was when people started to pay more for non-classic LEGO (when I say classic I mean like 70s-80s era stuff) and it seems like ever since, it's steadily gotten more and more crazy in terms of resellers figuring out that they can capitalize on stuff like this or the UCS Falcon and that subsequently forcing people to either pay those prices or probably never end up getting the set. Now, as someone trying to get rid of parts of my collection, I don't necessarily mind it since I'm actually getting a bit of a return on my investment, but it sucks for those trying to buy old stuff.

Oh, wow, I hadn't heard that. That is quite annoying since most other stores were apparently following the promotion like they were supposed to. I wonder if larger stores got more in, since I think there was someone in the Los Angeles area saying theirs had 20+, whereas mine in a smaller area only got like 8 in. Strange, strange distribution of this one, and I also am wondering employees weren't told it would be this limited.

Interesting...Where'd you hear this? My store had the sets (and subsequent Yoda Lightsabers) behind the counter, they would grab them for you if you wanted and wouldn't ring you up without a VIP card or email address.

I think it was just while supplies last. I know that the physical stores apparently only got a limited number and once they were out, they're out. At least, that's what the associate at my store told me.

At this point it seems like there are the few Instagram/EB leakers that everyone knows about and trusts, and then there's like seven hundred other accounts that claim to be "leakers" but either are clearly just reposting info from other places or make up stuff that could potentially happen and then people believe it, especially when they mix in some reposted stuff that they claim to have broken first.

I feel like if this were five years ago, we would've had a BoShek polybag or something, which people would've gone even more nuts for, though I'd also guess those minifig promos weren't nearly as limited as this. And that's my theory as well, I think given how we've had the creature/character busts, mosaics and helmets, both of which seems to get a fairly positive response (plus the Brick Sketches too, but those aren't as AFOL targeted), some sort of lightsaber models were inevitable, especially since these can be close to actual size.

Yeah, it's cool and all, but it's not like Luke's saber or anything where it's a super iconic display piece. But I think the fact that it sold out almost instantly meant some people missed out on it (plus people who didn't want the cantina but were interested in it), and with the supply so limited, it's no wonder that the prices got jacked up so high right away. I feel like this may fall into a similar category as some of those convention exclusive sets, where they aren't terribly exciting or novel, but they're exclusive and scarce, so completionists will buy them, and a small supply means that people can set the price much higher.

The Frankenstein Brickheadz is awesome, I just saw it for the first time today. Never bought any Brickheadz but this might be my first. Really hoping that we get more Universal Monsters sets, those monsters/characters are some of my favorite ever. A CMF series with Frankenstein, Dracula, the Bride of Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, Invisible Man (Using the Rey head cover piece from the TFA speeder), the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Wolfman, the Mummy, Phantom of the Opera, and then some other characters, like Igor, Dr. Frankenstein, etc (maybe even Abbot and Costello ).

I heard somewhere it was limited to 3,000 total sets, which seems much lower than any other GWP. The store I went to had like six in stock about a half hour after they opened, Google tells me there's roughly 180-200 total stores around the world, so if the 3,000 number is true, that means only about 1,000-1,500 or so sold online across the world (assuming each store got about ten in, not sure if stores in larger cities would've gotten more), which appeared to be split by country or continent? I mean, I know that typically they're limited, but I don't remember the May 4th sets or polybags selling out within like fifteen minutes like this one did online. I was expecting the price on this to be closer to $30-50 like the mini-dioramas are, there are already some selling for $80-120 and I don't really see that dropping.

I think they could throw one or two into the next Landspeeder, or maybe do some set based on the Sandtroopers searching Mos Eisley with a small building, speeder, some troopers, maybe a Jawa, and one or two cantina patrons. I think a CMF series is the most conducive to this, a polybag might be a bit random. One would've been made sense as the gift with purchase for this, whereas one with the UCS Gunship or whatever the May UCS may be is extremely random and I think there's a smaller chance people with the cantina will actually end up with it, since they're very unrelated sets. BoShek and Duros seem to be no brainers since neither would require molds and both are fairly well known. Snaggletooth was the main "classic" alien that we didn't get, but I don't know if they'd do it without a new molded head. Muftak also would be very nice but I don't know how easily they could just modify the old Talz mold, or would they need a new one? Elis Helrot would be awesome and again, no new mold required. Myo I think they could do without a new mold, and Brainiac they could maybe use the afro hairpiece recolored for? Dannik Jerikko would be very easy too but I don't know if they'd make him just because he's smoking in the movie.

Anyone still looking for the GWP, if you happen to live near a brand store, it's worth calling and seeing if they have it. Mine still had a handful and no signs of anyone else looking to come buy it late this morning. Thought I was out of luck after I missed it online, but I still managed to get one. I'd guess after today there's probably not going to be any more outside of 3rd party sellers, though.

Local store had the set and GWP, glad to have picked it up. Probably won’t build it just yet due to a busy couple of weeks coming up, but very excited! Never bought a D2C/UCS on day one like this, but super stoked on this set.

Well, darn. I was ready for a midnight/1 am release and went to bed hoping for a 10 am EST release, missed it by an hour. Going to see if my local LEGO store has the GWP available still, otherwise I may think on it another day or so.

I've never done a VIP early access thing, so I don't pay attention when the emails do come over (never had the desire to actually drop money on any big $$$ D2C this early until now). I'm likely going to do the Cantina, is it typical to have this little info about it other than just a date? Was there any confirmation of double VIP points, or was that just speculation, and all that we've heard of is the Yoda saber?

X-Wing reportedly includes Luke and R2-D2, so no dice there sadly.

Intriguing...

Thank you for this review! I was pretty sure I would get the set but I wanted to see a review first. I love the build, but there are a few slightly disappointing things with the figures. The lack arm printing on Greedo is something that I agree is needed, and not including a hair piece for Ben is a bit annoying as well. The selection I think is mostly okay, Snaggletooth and BoShek I think are two that I would've definitely wanted, and perhaps the Duros as well (especially since they've already done 2-3 Duros characters in the past and they don't need any new mold), but I don't think there's any figures that I would most definitely want to remove. The size/value for money seems good, it seems quite a bit bigger than Cloud City which I felt was worth the price, and I might pick it up early then re-sell the Yoda saber to make a bit of money back.