Kit Figsto

Fair point, but the 2018 Cantina was like a $35-40 set, if I remember correctly, with the main attraction being that it came with Wuher for the first time. It was more reminiscent of the original Cantina from 2003 versus the remake in 2013, which is the only large playset Cantina we've gotten. It just seems that the large Yavin didn't sell very well (because of sales + an early retirement compared to some other large sets that stick around for 2-3 years). Whether that was because of the model itself or the fact that it wasn't as desirable of a location as had been hoped is a question that I don't think anyone can answer, but I don't think it bodes particularly well for an 18+ version if the one time we got a playscale version, it had a "meh" reaction. I agree that an MBS Yavin would look fantastic, but to do it justice, you'd be talking about a $400-500 price point at least. Would that sell better than something Endor related at the same price point? Or Echo Base, Jabba's Palace, the Geonosis Arena, or the Jedi Temple, also at the same price point? I hesitate to say yes.

An MBS Yavin seems unlikely to me since the system set is already scheduled to retire, and I saw it in clearance aisles this past spring. It doesn't seem to have sold all that well. While you're right about UCS remakes, I just have a hard time seeing them already remaking Cloud City or Hoth. The Ewok Village was at least 10+ years ago, and we don't get a lot of Endor stuff to begin with, whereas Cloud City only retired 5-ish years ago, and Hoth was also, what, 7 years ago, and we consistently get a lot of Hoth sets. A Death Star remake at some point is likely since the original/updated version, combined, were on shelves for like fifteen years. I'd love to see Jabba's Palace, but I wonder if it being out at the same time as the Sail Barge would be a positive or negative for it - honestly, I'm not sure.

We don’t know. There’s been no confirmed MBS Ewok Village (or any MBS set, for that matter), so anything has just been speculation. However, some leakers have heavily hinted at something Endor related (which is unlikely to be a set we already know about, because why hint at it?), and we are due for an MBS since the Cantina is retiring(/already retired?). Cloud City and the Cantina check off the first two major MBS-quality locations, which doesn’t leave a ton of options for the next one (especially when you consider that we’ve essentially had MBS models of the Death Star and Hoth, they just didn’t have the nameplate). The next most popular location is probably Endor, before they’d move on to prequel MBS sets. tl;dr - we don’t know, but the speculation does have some logic behind it.

Agree wholeheartedly. I've had the Cantina on display since I bought it during the VIP release window in 2020, so I guess over four years now. I've never had another set displayed that long besides the MBS Cloud City. I've even got Ben's Hut on the same shelf, just to add a bit more to the scene. I think the other thing the Cantina's got going for it is that there's a lot of interesting details on the exterior - the window builds, the Dewback pen, the vaporators, some of the little asymmetrical greebles and things, and so on. The bunker, being a more "sterile" environment (which makes sense, as it's an Imperial building, it's mean to look uniform and flat, not a lived-in environment) doesn't have nearly as many of these little exterior details that make it as interesting.

My hunch is that, given the trend of extremely expensive 18+ sets in recent years, they'll do both packaged as the Battle of Endor and sell it for like $700. I think just the Ewok Village could be achieved as an MBS for $350-400 (Cantina price, basically), and if you added in the shield bunker, the actual shield generator, some of the Ewok traps and terrain, a speeder bike or two, and probably an AT-ST, that'd be somewhere in the $600-700 range. The thing is, I would argue that we don't really need an MBS style shield bunker. It's basically just a gray box with a giant radar dish behind, not the best display model, and we really only see a few small sections of the interior. Yes, I know that the Cantina is basically a tan box and got the MBS treatment, but I'd argue it's different in that it's way more iconic, and we see the bulk of the interior (and thus it can be recreated). If it were me, I'd say do a $350-400 MBS Ewok Village (with minifigures from the celebration at the end of the movie, so we can get Force Ghosts), and then release a $150-200 Battle of Endor set that's essentially a remake of the 2009 set - a bunker that's basically just a 3-sided facade, a smaller version of the radar dish, an AT-ST, some speeders, and some element of the terrain. While together, they'd end up close to the same price as packaging the two in one set, it would allow people to choose which to buy, and possibly result in some people buying multiple Battle of Endor sets to build a larger bunker or have a larger battle scene. Also, the Assault on Hoth UCS debacle sort of proved that it's a little bit more difficult to successfully make an 18+ set based around multiple scenes without losing focus and ending up with a bunch of smaller vignettes that don't really feel worth the price tag (I don't own that set, but from the pictures, it just doesn't look like you get enough "stuff" to justify the $250 price tag).

I think the flick-fires looked the best, but anyone saying they worked the best is purely looking at them through nostalgia goggles. The original method of just using a 4L bar or whatever was better for the actual functionality, because they just sat in the Technic pin hole, but the second that you tilted the ship forward, they fell out. Once they moved to the Technic pin bar, they stayed in, but there was a lot of friction, so actually getting them to fire was more difficult. The new laser shooters definitely work the best, the main issue I have with them is that often, the trigger section is very exposed such that if you pick the ship up wrong and basically place any amount of pressure on the back of the missile, it’s instantly gone somewhere across the room.

While true, I took a brief skim through all of the microfighters that we've had, and I don't think there's ever been a new mold introduced exclusively for a microfighter. There's been a few instances of new molds used (Zorii Bliss' helmet, First Order Snowtrooper helmet, etc) but all were included in larger sets as well. Given that the most recent Plo Koon will have been 11 years old once this comes out, I think it's safe to say that they'll have to make a new mold for his head. To your second point, I agree, that doing things like they did with Captain Rex makes the most sense from a sales perspective, but it's also possible that whatever set Plo Koon would come in later also includes some other desirable minifigures/build. Like, it wouldn't make a ton of sense for them to put out a full-size Plo Koon Jedi Starfighter in July, since there's already multiple Jedi Starfighters on shelves and there wouldn't be much to differentiate it if people can just buy a $12 version to get the Plo Koon fig, but if they did, say a Coruscant Police Gunship or Jedi Shuttle or something else that we haven't had made for a while, AND threw in Wolffe, I feel like people would happily shell out whatever amount for it, even if they already paid the $12 for the microfighter earlier in the year.

I feel as if they're sort of in a lose-lose situation here, as some people will want an updated/re-vamped version of the original figures that reflect more of a modern take on it, while others will want it to remain as close to the original as possible. I think it's interesting that their throwback GWP sets have taken both approaches here. The Forestmen's Hideout definitely went for the "modern take on an old set" approach with both the minifigure and the set itself, whereas the Blacktron Invader was pretty darn close to the original, save for some areas where old pieces aren't made anymore. I personally prefer the second approach, but that's just me, and it's partially because there's a lot of old sets that I'd really love to own, but can't, so when they're being "re-offered" (sort of), I think it's awesome.

Is Zam the only movie character pre-sequel era to have not been re-released ever? I can think of Altar Beedo (who was barely even a minifigure), some random clone variants (I don’t know if we ever got a remake of the P2 clones with a green or red stripe), and some super obscure droids (like some from the original Sandcrawler), but in terms of actual, named characters…not sure I can think of any. Once you get into shows and the more recent films, it gets dicier, because there’s either characters that realistically won’t get remade (Rotta the Hutlett, some of the sequel background characters, probably anyone from Kenobi, Solo, or Rogue One), but I can’t think of anyone from 1-6 that falls into the category.

I'm happy that we're getting a lot of new-ish stuff (pretty much everything except the BP is a remake of some sort, but it's a lot of remakes from 10+ years ago, so I consider that to be essentially "new"), but I probably won't be getting much of what we know about so far. Admittedly, Plo Koon's starfighter is basically only a buy for me if it comes with Wolffe - I'm not usually a "buy a set for one minifigure" guy, but I've been wanting a P2 Wolffe for a very long time, so that'd put the set over the edge for me for sure. I'm really happy that we're getting a U-Wing, as any Rogue One stuff is a huge win in my book (even if it's Andor-based), but I do have the old one and don't feel as if I need a second one in my collection.

I think the best explanation is that Indy merch has never been the same giant that Star Wars or Marvel has been, unfortunately. The only movies that even really got much merch in the first place were Raiders, Crystal Skull, and Dial. If you go way back to the 80s, you can see that the toys and stuff must've been a bit of a failure, for multiple reasons that others have already covered (distribution, figure selection, etc). Temple of Doom barely got anything merch-wise (most notably, nothing from Kenner), and I don't even know if Last Crusade got ANYTHING. Crystal Skull definitely had the biggest merch push of any of the films - you had LEGO and Hasbro on board, plus brands like Topps, Gentle Giant, and Mighty Muggs (basically Funko Pops before Funko Pops), as well as a bunch of food promotions (off the top of my head, I believe Burger King, Dr. Pepper, and M&M's, among probably some others). Indy was everywhere in 2008, and even though the movie got mixed reviews, it still did well at the box office, it was the 3rd best movie of 2008, only barely behind Iron Man for the #2 spot. I think despite all of this, the merchandise just wasn't selling that well, because pretty much all Indy tie-ins were gone by 2009. If you look at the Dial of Destiny merch push, most of it was adult focused, whereas the Crystal Skull merch seemed to aim more at getting kids interested in the movie, which they may not have seen before. Anecdotally, I can say that it worked, because I literally wouldn't be an Indy fan if not for the LEGO sets. The Hasbro Adventure Series figures (while expensive) are phenomenal, but their other Indy action figure lines were much more scaled back. There were a handful of Funkos for the movie, but they also license basically everything as a Funko, so that's not a huge surprise. That's basically it as far as other main tie-ins. I think that the problem with Indy merch is that the universe is much more grounded than something like Star Wars or super heroes. The movies aren't as character-driven, outside of Indy. Yes, there are tons of cool and memorable side characters, but if you offered action figures of Marion, Henry Jones Sr., Sallah, and Short Round, versus Leia, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and Yoda, I feel like almost anyone is going to choose the second option. There's also fewer options for location/vehicles than something like Star Wars or Marvel, where you can either sort of invent your own thing, or there's so many background ships/vehicles that are still cool enough to warrant making a toy out of it. Don't get me wrong, I really want more Indy merch in any capacity, but I think that's just the reason why we don't get much at all.

My guess is that they don't want to oversaturate the market, but at the same time, I think there's a difference between too many and having a good assortment of cheaper minifigure packs available. Like, having 8 different BPs on shelves, they probably would cannibalize each other in sales, but I think 3-4 regular and one "mega" BP (like the Clone and Droid one or the 501st one) on shelves at a time is a good number. That's pretty much what we're at right now, but I think the reason it seems less exciting is that the shelf life seems to be way longer, so you can still find the 501st Specialist or 332nd BP on shelves even though those are, what, like two years old at this point? I'm actually kind of confused why their life cycle has been so long, because the 501st one in particular seems to hang around constantly on store shelves. I'd like it if they did 3-4 new BPs per year and just kept them at either a 12 or 18 month shelf life, maybe two in the winter wave and two in the summer wave. That way, we're consistently getting new factions and minifigures, and there's not a ton of overlap.

Also this. The 2018 version is great. The minifigures hold up completely fine, there aren't any major characters that are omitted (the only Cloud City specific characters not included would be Willrow Hood, the E-Chu-Ta droid, and various Ugnaughts, but none of those are particularly important characters), and the model covers everything from those scenes in the movie (plus a little more, honestly). It doesn't look as "complete" as something like the Cantina, but I'm completely okay with them sacrificing an outer shell in exchange for all of the interior detail, whereas the Cantina's shape and simpler form was much more conducive to a dollhouse style model. If they ever do re-release a Cloud City, I'm not sure how much they could really top the MBS version.

Yeah, no chance we're getting a Cloud City D2C anytime soon. If the Yavin IV set has done really well and they continue with the $150ish location-based playsets, I could see Cloud City being a logical set to get there at some point, but there's 2-3 other location-based sets that I think would take precedence in terms of demand and "needing" to be made (Jedi Temple and Geonosis Arena, namely).

True, but I think in the case of the Mando AT-ST and the X-Wing/TIE combo from this year, they were both show tie-ins (similar to the Rogue One AT-ST). The Hoth AT-ST was a bit of an outlier, but it was essentially the same model as the regular Endor one, just different figures/side builds. My theory on the Mando AT-ST specifically is that, if you remember back to the time it came out, LEGO was reeeeally adverse to putting out sets from SW shows. They went all-in on Rebels sets (presumably because the big TCW waves from the late 2000s/early 2010s did well), which seemed to not sell super well, I think partially because Rebels took a bit longer to gain in popularity, and also that some of the set choices weren't really all that relevant (whereas TCW could basically just use any prequel vehicle or starfighter and throw a random assortment of clones + a Jedi in). We only got a handful of Clone Wars related sets afterwards, and it was all inexpensive stuff, usually with named characters (probably so that it could at least sell on minifigure attraction), and no other TV stuff at all. I think that with the AT-ST, they were unsure of the show's potential success and/or how well merch for it would sell, so they opted for a vehicle that was recognizable from the OT, but had some new minifigures, so at the very least, people might be more interested in it than something like the Wookiee Gunship. I think that given the choice between the OT version of a ship and the PT/ST version, they're probably going to lean OT 9/10 times unless it's a tie-in with a movie/show currently being produced - which is likely why we haven't had something like the Naboo Flash Speeder or ARC-170 in quite a while, because it's essentially filling the same price point and idea as the Landspeeder or X-Wing, the latter options being more well-known and iconic. I know we're getting an ARC-170 remake next year, but that's, what, the third one in twenty years, compared to like six X-Wings in that span, one of which was on shelves for quite literally 5 years. Semi-irrelevant tangent below

No one has confirmed anything, so it could just be on hiatus. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I remember a reliable leaker saying that they're not necessarily done for.

The consensus on Eurobricks seems to be that people generally dislike the 18+ "sculpture" type models, but they're obviously selling well if they're dedicating more and more set slots each year to the 18+ side of things.

I'm just surprised that they're going this direction with it, assuming that the leak is real. We haven't had any sequels stuff since the 4+ Poe X-Wing, IIRC (which was a choice that made a lot of sense - 2 main characters included, plus a well-known, at a cheap price point), so if they are indeed going to start including the sequels in the 18+ line, I feel like a better choice would've been in either the helmet or diorama line instead of the ships line. I think a Kylo Ren or Captain Phasma helmet would both do really well just because they're very cool designs, regardless of how one feels about the characters/movies. There's also a handful of scenes that would lend themselves well to dioramas - Rey vs. Palpatine, Kylo vs. Rey on the Death Star wreckage (that would probably be an insta-buy from me), Luke vs. Kylo on Crait, Rey and Kylo vs. the Praetorian Guards, and maybe even Yoda visiting Luke on Ach-To. I'm pretty convinced that in about 5-8 years, there will be a resurgence in popularity of the sequels, once the kids that grew up with those movies are a bit older, similar to how everyone started revisiting the prequels in 2015 and retroactively decided that they never hated them in the first place. My reason for bringing that up is that I'm sort of surprised that they're targeting adults with a sequel set and it's not one that's as instantly recognizable as some of the other options listed above.

Any idea on whether or not Plo Koon’s starfighter was legit? I saw some people say Landino confirmed, but it was also lumped in with all of the other BS that people were posting. Still holding out hope that a certain…canine…clone commander will be made, and that seems to be the set where he’d make sense.

If they don't put Slave I on it, I should just start selling decals on eBay that are the exact same but say "Jango's Slave I" since inevitably it'll be a whole big internet controversy (again)

I believe that the 332nd BP was the same way. The original rumored retail price was $26.99, which was quickly dropped to $19.99 before the set hit shelves. There was also something where Target in the US had the Indiana Jones Temple Escape listed at $79.99, which was switched to $39.99 shortly before the set appeared on shelves, but the assumption was that some wires got crossed somewhere and it was listed under the Temple of Doom price, as that set was supposedly $79.99. The U-Wing rumor is great. I have the original, so I don't need a new one, but anything remotely Rogue One related is a massive win in my book. I'm curious if it'll tie into Andor or if it'll be actually from Rogue One. Jango's Slave I sounds like a great UCS, and $240 doesn't sound bad for it, assuming it's a similar minifig-scale to the last one. I'd be curious if they go the Captain Rex route and give us a cheaper set with Jango Fett in it at some point down the line.

I say this as someone that doesn't get what the all of the fuss is about (the figure looks great, IMO), but I think this is probably the biggest reason. Printing tan/white over a darker color usually looks bad, and someone else pointed out too that if they went with a tan leg piece with some red printing on top, it would give that weird effect where the inside of the hip is tan, so whenever you pose the figure with a leg bent, you've got this tan speck that looks out of place. Also, I feel like basing off of this photo, the figure looks fine.

I agree, I think it's more in line with the UCS Sandcrawler, where it's a minifigure scale UCS vehicle, so there's an expectation of more minifigures than a normal UCS ship (especially since it has a larger crew than something like the UCS Slave I, which really only needed like three figures), but this one is in a gray area for sure. The fact that they put the skiff/Sarlacc pit as a separate set also kind of changes things, because you've got like five main characters already in that set, and therefore they aren't going to repeat them in the Barge. The Sandcrawler is probably the best comparison, actually, now that I'm looking at it. It was $300 and had ten actual minifigures/droids and then a handful of brick-built droids, and that came out ten years ago. Had it come out today, I would guess it'd be at least $400, which is close-ish to the Sail Barge price.

Probably the rumored Jango Fett helmet? I know that there was a rumor recently that we're getting both a Jango and Bo-Katan helmet, so perhaps this is further comfirmation.

Conversely, the LEGO store by me is always sold down on Star Wars products, and for the past 3-4 years, I've had a hard time finding new SW releases at big box retailers once they come out, usually it takes me about a month before I see some of the non-battle pack/microfighter sets. For example, I just saw the Dark Falcon in stores for the first time yesterday, and I'm at Target/Walmart usually at least twice a week. To be clear, I don't doubt your experiences, I'm just pointing out that there's not a whole lot that we can definitively conclude from anecdotal evidence. I certainly agree with you that it's interesting the direction the line has gone in - clearly the 18+ stuff is selling well, otherwise they wouldn't keep making it (and I'm not sure why people on this forum continue to suggest that "no one wants it" when very obviously people do, otherwise these lines would've been cancelled long ago), and while I personally am more interested in the playsets and MBS stuff, I've been tempted by some of the dioramas and buildable characters as well. What I would love to know, and there's no way that this would ever come out, is what the sales and production figures are for, say, an 18+ helmet set versus a $20 battle pack or a $50 playset. If a helmet is roughly $60, are they producing and selling 3x $20 BPs for every one helmet? Are the BPs outselling the helmets? What about a similarly sized playset? Because I think that you raise a good point, with the adult focus on the line, are kids still interested the same way that they were 10-20 years ago? There's more competition for it these days, as there's way more licensed lines (and seemingly themes in general, compared to say, 2007), and there's also been a shift towards more of a story-focus in some of the non-licensed themes. City, for example, when I was growing up, was more of a realistic depiction of everyday life, whereas now, there's aspects that are much more story/action focused, something that I could see drawing in more young buyers. Anyway, just my thoughts.