Kit Figsto

Yeah, this is a fantastic wave for people trying to build up an arsenal of main characters. You can get Obi-Wan, Anakin, R2-D2, Ahsoka, Grievous, pilot Luke, ROTJ Luke, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Mando, The Child, Rey, and you can still very easily find affordable sets with C-3PO, ANH Luke, Ben, Poe, and BB-8. I remember when I was younger, it seemed like certain characters were either only in big sets or weren't always available. Heck, I think my first Han Solo minifigure wasn't even until the 2014 cantina since he seemed to only ever be in the Millenium Falcon. So it's great, especially for kids who don't have all of the main characters yet.

In fairness, and I’m not discounting the lack of prequel sets in recent years since it does feel like there’s typically fewer (although it also felt at times that EVERYTHING except the sequels was getting shoved to the back burner), but the OT sets/fans have similar problems in terms of half the sets being remakes. I mean, this board makes jokes all the time about the constant barrages of snowspeeders/landspeeders. Even this year, the only “new” OT set I can think of at minifigure scale has been Ben’s Hut, everything else is a remake, although some do have legitimate improvements over prior releases, like the AT-AT (at least in my opinion). I think the biggest difference comes in the quantity. It might be different if we got an AAT every 3 years, like one of the OT vehicles, but it’s been more like every 8 years for an AAT. The OT rehashes must be hot sellers, otherwise they wouldn’t keep pushing them out, but I definitely agree that we need more of a mix in the future, which is why I like this wave. I’m only 100% buying one set, and am considering another three, but I think it’s great that there’s some fairly appealing sets for fans of each trilogy. And if it makes people wanting more prequel stuff feel any better, at least you’re not a Rogue One fan like me waiting for something...anything! since 2016 now

While we don't know for sure if it sold poorly or not, and I'm guessing that they'd have the torsos lined up beforehand anyway (unless the pandemic and craziness meant they were planning on using traditional torsos, but the delays and everything meant that they chose to just make things easier and use the burned ones, which I can understand), I definitely did like the Mustafar set, it's one of the Winter 2020 sets that I bought right away (along with T-16/Banta and the Mandalorian BP, which, by the way, I still haven't seen in a main US retailer, I literally found a handful one time in December at a Kohl's, which I think would probably be considered a second-tier department store behind Target/Walmart).

I truly don't understand it either. Another poster adjusted the previous one for inflation and came up with about a $60 price point, which seems fair. Even if the inclusion of Grievous jacks that up by $5-10...I just don't see it. I don't think there's any new molds in the set, I don't see a ton of extremely huge or complex molds other than maybe those triangular bricks that make up the wings, only three figures and no new molds there (the airborne's helmet is the same as the Utapau BP, right?), I really just don't understand it. I'm sure there's some sort of reason for it but, like you said, it seems more than just the typical "LEGO overpriced" thing.

My guess is that they wanted to make a set representing the shield generator scene, which is pretty famous, but they couldn't make a set that was just the DS Cannon, so they needed to add the cannon as a play feature. I think it's a decent set and I love getting another DS gunner, since they're really one of my favorite SW character designs ever, but I think it works best if you combine the set with some of the other Death Star vignettes. But anyway, I am wondering if there's truth to the thing about the factories delaying production on the already made 2020 sets, or if it's just the upcoming ones that got delayed as a result of the pandemic.

This is completely anecdotal, and I know one person's experience doesn't sum up the others, but the other day I went to a Target for the first time in almost three months (haven't been to any stores that sell LEGO in that time). Their LEGO SW section was cleaned out with the exception of a single Landspeeder, a handful of the Death Star Cannon (never seems to sell well near me for whatever reason), a couple other random 2018/19 sets, and then a handful of the Mustafar duel - that was the only one of the 2020 sets that there were multiples of. My guess was that the reports of production being delayed/affected are true, perhaps why their selection was so bleak (City and most other non-licensed themes seemed to be alright, but I think the other licensed themes were pretty picked over as well), but the fact that there were a ton of the Mustafar sets was interesting. My first thought was that it made sense because it wasn't a set you'd likely buy multiples of, so once you have one, you don't need more, but on the other hand, so are the Landspeeder and Obi-Wan's Hut, especially with the Landspeeder, since we get one every other year. So again, just my own personal experience, but it was interesting that the Mustafar set was the only of the 2020 sets that seemed to be plentiful. 100% in agreement here, the black hips, even if not entirely accurate to the costumes, are as close as you can get and provide some contrast that just makes them look a bit more realistic.

I actually think the black hips look way better, the white just looks...off...to me. I know that there's only a little bit of black where the hip armor has gaps, but limitations in the medium just mean that they can either go all black or all white - and the black contrast looks more appealing to me. The blue arms also look significantly better, especially on the Ahsoka trooper. Mainly, I just wish they'd stick to one design, it's really hard to build a clone force when the design gets changed around every 3 years. Yeah I'm curious too. If it was supposed to be a convention exclusive, I feel like those tend to not be traditional sets and more of display pieces. I'm going to expect a microscale version of Cloud City, but who knows. I could also see some sort of square/round thing broken up into 3-4 vignettes to represent the iconic scenes (hallway, dining room, carbon freezing, duel platform), (something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3a9F-_hzLU, not my video but just an example) but that could be a bit too much for $40.

Landino on Instagram as well as reliable leakers from this board have all corroborated it, so if those individuals have reason to believe we're getting an Imperial Shuttle, I would go ahead and assume that we are. Someone threw out the number $350, which would definitely point to a UCS-sized set.

Well, with that in mind, I'm going to assume it's a miniature scale scene and if it turns out not to be, I'll be pleasantly surprised Seeing as it retired after like a year and a half, I would think it's safe to assume it hasn't. And, while it wasn't entirely exclusive figures, there were 3 very highly requested remakes in there (Bespin Leia, Cloud City Lando, Bespin Luke), an updated Lobot, new Cloud Car pilots, a very detailed Boba Fett, and ESB Han (blue jacket) that was only available in that set with the dual-molded legs. That's at least 5 highly desirable minifigures in my opinion. EDIT: Just out of curiosity, I bricklinked those five figures. Leia is about $10, Lando is about $40, Luke is about $20, Boba Fett from that set (printed arms/legs, jetpack, pauldron) is about $30, and Han with dual-molded legs is about $20. So just those five figures alone is over $100 USD. So I agree, minifigures aren't going to make or break a UCS sale, otherwise the demand for Cloud City would've been way higher. (Worth noting too, Vader, Lobot, and the Ugnaught are also about $8-10 each, meaning that just the desirable figures could go for close to $150 total, almost half the price of the set).

Stoked to hear that this is finally coming! Perfect time to release it with the 40th anniversary, too. I’m curious how it will look, I’d guess quite a bit larger than the one from UCS Cloud City, since that section of the set, if removed, would be (at most) a $20 set. Maybe make the interior/tunnel section a little bit larger and the bridge a little bit longer? I’m also wondering if they’ll use the same Luke figure or update him at all.

I think there's an important distinction here, though, and I don't want to come off as negative towards the idea that people like the prequels/TCW and want sets of them, because I do too. But, I think that a sizeable number of people that are clamoring for more prequel sets or prequel UCS sets fall into the demographic of ages 12-16 or so, the other portion being the older crowd. I can tell you right now, very, very, very few of that younger crowd will (1) shell out $300+ for a UCS set and (2) even be interested in a large, display-based model that contains likely 4 or fewer figures. Kids LOVE minifigures, I would say even more than ever right now, due to CMFs and the way that molding/printing is so specialized now, they truly can make or break sets in ways that they couldn't in the past, even outside of Star Wars. The key here is that a lot of people want more prequel sets, which is great, and therefore like the IDEA of a UCS prequel set, but I think that few of these people stop to think about what a UCS set actually entails. As I'm sure others have said, I know I have before on this discussion board, there's been probably fewer than five minifigure-scale UCS ships, and they're typically all based around sets that truly couldn't be replicated in that scale as a system-set. Many prequel vehicles are either already minifigure scale or absolutely massive. The ones that are already minifigure scale I don't see selling well as a UCS (I mean, if you can buy a tank droid or AAT that's minifigure compatible, why would I spent $100+ when I could get a cheaper one with better figures? It goes back to the prequel-set generation being less interested overall in larger display pieces). The ones that aren't minifigure scale, how many younger people (typically the prequel demographic) are going to put down $700 for a Venator or $400 for a full size AT-TE? I mean, those would be cool, but I can tell you, a lot of the fans that are still young kids don't have that kind of money, and a lot of the young adults probably don't have that kind of disposable income and/or space for huge pieces like that. Using the gunship example, a $300 gunship is going to need to be bigger than minifigure scale, for example, but how many younger prequel fans are going to pay that kind of money for one with a couple of figures and no actual playability, when they could instead throw down $90 and get 8 501st Clones, an AAT, and Ahsoka, then build a battle scene/base with their own bricks? Again, I don't mean to come off as super negative, but I think that the distinction I want to emphasize is that a lot of people like the idea of prequel UCS sets without rethinking what they totally entail.

I can see both sides of it. The Imperial Shuttle is pretty highly regarded when it comes to UCS stuff in that a lot of collectors really like it, but it's been long enough (it feels like it's only been about five years, I was really surprised that it's been ten!) that a lot of people who weren't into LEGO and/or LEGO Star Wars at the time (which is probably a sizeable number) don't have it due to the secondary prices being so high. Plus, you'll have a good number of people who will buy it anyway as completionists. On the other hand, new stuff is always nice, but we are starting to get more into the obscure territory. I mean, Jabba's Sail Barge would be freakin' awesome as a minifigure scale UCS model, but anything that would be totally new, besides that, is either from the prequels (which, as most people are guessing, the gunship will be sort of a test run for how prequel UCS stuff works) or getting into the territory of very very minor background ships/vehicles. Also, part of the reason that I think we're getting a shuttle is that, based on jdubbs' previous comment, he seemed to be hinting that it'll be $350, and there isn't a whole lot that could be remade at that price point. The second-half D2C generally seems to hold a higher price point than the first, so a TIE variant would have to be almost comically large to fit that price point). I'd love to see some new stuff too, but I can see the justification for this specific remake.

If it's $40, my guess is a larger version of the catwalk from UCS Cloud City with a tunnel and breakable window at one end and the wind vane bits at the other. Alternatively, it could be some sort of mashup where it's partially based on a Cloud City hallway and partially on the duel/carbon freezing chamber, but that seems less likely.

So I guess the additional set is something Bespin duel related that appears to be $40, while the fall D2C is another UCS Imperial Shuttle? I'm definitely interested in the Bespin set, but it sounds like it may be difficult to get if it was supposed to be a convention exclusive...But at the same time, would leakers be giving it this much attention if it'll get a really limited release?

As the other replies have said, a full wave is unlikely until late December/January, but we are almost assuredly getting some sort of D2C (Direct to Consumer, basically a LEGO.com, catalogue and brand-store exclusive) set this fall, whether it's a UCS ship, something like a MBS playset (even though it's not called MBS anymore), or a large system scale set, like the Tantive IV from last year, but we don't have any concrete rumors on that set. There's also a couple of sets coming after August, the Razor Crest and Advent Calendar are both slated for September 1st (apparently there's a chance they might get pushed back due to the pandemic delaying production), and two sets without a confirmed release date, a statue of The Child from The Mandalorian and a mosaic of either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. So we'll see some sets after the August wave hits stores (which also could be delayed), but not really a full wave per say. Also, about the clue we've had, I've thought about it. My guess is either it's something involving Count Dooku and it's $40, or the "Count" reference is irrelevant and the only important part is "forty" which points to another ESB set. Given that most leaks don't contain prices immediately, I'm leaning towards the latter. Regardless, I'm sure @jdubbs is getting a kick out of all of our guesses, especially since some of these are bound to be way off the mark

Yeah it definitely could be either (Count or Forty), but I'm with @Mandalorianknight that this probably isn't the D2C (especially if the clue was referring to Dooku, since I don't see us getting a large D2C-sized prequel set before the gunship). A re-released Wampa Cave would be welcome for sure (I would scream if they gave us a ghost Obi-Wan minifigure in the set ). There's also the TIE Bomber that people were originally guessing Final Duel could've been. I'm trying to think what other ESB related sets we haven't had lately. We just got Slave I, Cloud City and Echo Base have both had sets within the past 3-4 years, same with Yoda's Hut, there's currently an X-Wing and a 4+ Snowspeeder on the shelves (also I kind of doubt people would be hyping up a Snowspeeder re-release, as hilarious as that would be), an AT-AT is coming...that doesn't leave a ton. If it is Dooku, I'd guess the Invisible Hand, Solar Sailer, or something Geonosis-related are pretty much the only options, but those seem almost too out of place right now...Who knows?

EDIT: Okay I had a whole thing written out about the possibility of what a Count Dooku set could be, but now I picked up on forty - ESB's 40th anniversary! So I'm assuming this isn't the fall D2C, since we already more or less knew that was coming, whereas this appears to be something completely new?

We might eventually get a Razor Crest Microfighter, but the 2021 "leak" list is fake, that's been confirmed as such by reliable Instagram leakers. If we do end up getting one next winter, it's completely coincidental. Also, about the new pictures, I actually think the AAT looks...better? I know the long gun isn't accurate, because the front skirt area should be about the same length as the main turret, but I think the gun being longer makes the whole thing look a bit less stubby. So, it's less accurate but I think it makes the model look a bit less compressed.

The one exception in my opinion is Chewbacca's bowcaster. I think the weapon in the movies is huge anyway (remember in TFA when Han used it?) and the stud-shooter version looks fairly accurate to the actual weapon's shape.

Yeah, I agree about the unnecessary printing at times. I was looking at my Cloud City set's figures earlier today and paid attention for the first time about which figures actually have leg printing. On the lighter colored figures or ones with more elaborate printing (Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, Luke, Han's dual molded legs with the boots, C-3PO), it's nice, but even on Vader, the leg printing isn't really noticeable unless you're looking up close at it. Or take some of the other figures, like Lando or Lobot (or, for example, a Rebel pilot, or Imperial Officer). They're just wearing a costume that's plain on their legs, there's no need to have random folds in their pants, especially since in some cases, the actual costume doesn't even have them. I agree if the person has armor that extends to the legs, a shirt/upper body covering that extends to their legs, or a distinct change in colors of their lower half, it's nice, but I don't think every single figure needs it. I mean, I'm looking at a picture of ROTJ Luke (the famous one of him with the lightsaber on top of the Sail Barge) and his lower half is literally all black, there's no need to put leg printing because he's just wearing black pants and boots without any folds or anything.

I specifically remember holding that set in my hand when it was out and I think on sale at my local Target for like $15 or 20, thinking "I haven't seen this show, but I know Thrawn is a popular character...maybe I should get it and either hang onto it just for the figure, or on the off chance I end up watching the show someday..." The practical side of me took over and I put it back. Oh well! I do wonder though, will this Ahsoka have the same aftermarket value that the others have once the AAT retires? I mean, it's a relatively cheap set, but in my opinion, it looks the best out of any Ahsoka we've had so far (the early ones aren't really compatible with non-CW eyed figures and the Rebels one's eyes have always been weird to me), and I can't imagine we'll see a figure of her again for a little while.

I like the idea of making these modular. Between these sets, the gunner station with power generator and the chasm swing, you could pretty much put together a minifig-ish scale diorama of the important Death Star scenes, other than maybe the control room (but there's not really any playability there, unless they went the route they did the the gunner set and took some artistic license).

On the topic of re-boots, another re-boot I'd love to see (and one that I could definitely see happening) is another couple of waves of Indiana Jones stuff. If/when Indy 5 is released (date got pushed back again and I'd imagine the pandemic delayed filming, which I had heard was maybe going to start this summer), I could see another wave or two, but hopefully we could get both some stuff from the original movies that we never got with the first sets, some remakes of those sets, and stuff from the new films. A larger version of the truck chase with more vehicles, the Grail temple (similar in style to the temple escape set from the beginning of Raiders), an updated jungle chase from KOTCS, maybe a Map Room from Raiders, a Castle Brunwald set, lots of possibilities. We had most of the iconic/important scenes covered in the initial waves, but are still missing quite a few figures (Sallah, almost every named bad guy, Marcus Brody, Katanga, the Grail Knight, Mac, Oxley, Monkey Man, etc), and I think some of them would be awesome with some of the pieces/techniques used today. Definitely hoping we eventually see more IJ sets.

With clones I actually think the molds don't look horribly different anyway post-2008ish when the original TCW sets came out so they re-designed the P1 helmets, and then from there on I think everything has been fairly close to each other outside of color differences. Stormtrooper helmets though, I honestly prefer the original mold, especially the version from around 2007ish where they finally seemed to get the printing nailed down, and then ever since they did a re-design for Rebels, they won't stop messing with it. I really think the old one had the proportions as good as they're going to get in LEGO, the new ones are just bulky in my opinion.

That's honestly my main gripe with changing the designs of Stormtroopers/Clones. With Vader or Boba Fett or whoever, it doesn't matter when they change the helmet design to be more accurate, since you can just replace the old one with the new one, but if you're trying to army build and they keep changing the design every four years, it's really hard to accumulate a lot of a figure just from buying sets. Honestly, my issue is mostly with stormtrooper helmets. I don't care if they slightly re-print the torsos/legs to make them more accurate, but I wish they would keep a consistent helmet mold so that they don't look so different. With droids, I get that the ones we've had for 21 (B1) and 18 (B2) years aren't the most accurate, but it's way easier to make a huge droid force when every set ever has the same design of battle droid figure.