Redroe

I'm detecting a certain fondess towards gonk droids in your comments. 2020 has been a good year for you! You will have to fight past my 501st legion to get to him. Bring it on! I'm so happy with the figure overall but the printing kills it. Seriously. It detracts from the appearance of the whole figure. I know! Those parts had been around years before they did the current P2 helmet. Totally inexplicable.

Kaadu vs MTT microfighter for 2022. Been staring at Momaw Nadon for a while wondering why he doesn't look quite right. Turns out he looks 100% better with nougat arms. Dual molded legs would have been nice too. Overall I am pleased with the fig selection in the cantina but some big misses. No arm printing on Greedo, some bleed over on some painting, not a dual molded leg in sight. And then Ponda's pink vest.

I like the Luke story also, and Rey and Kylo's development is good. The rest of it really disappointed me. I disliked the political commentary being so to-the-fore, Finn and Poe are left without proper characters in favour of new faces like Rose and Holdo. Snoke's death was a shock moment but it would prove a narrative cul-de-sac (as TROS would prove: grandfather? Really?). Hux is rewritten from a zealot to an idiot, Phasma's part is edited into incoherence and the second act gets totally lost with really odd offbeat comedy from Del Toro. The good moments of it are really good but the bad moments are really obvious. TROS is less good overall but at least more consistent. And i know disney didn't start the marketing frenzy over SW, never suggested they did. What I do suggest is that they should have earned their investment back by making a quality product first and not flooding the market with undercooked content. Ok... PT quality is questionable to say the least but at least it is a story told with conviction.

Yeah we had a discussion on it recently. But the newest rebel pilot torso seems to have stronger printing than its immediate predecessor, unless i just got one from a good batch (I only have one of the newest so can't compare). Tan-on-orange is a new one on me, but I am so disappointed to see it so bad. They took a risk with TLJ and look what happened! Corporate greed is directly to blame for what seems to be agreed as the failure (not commercially) of Disney's Star Wars. If they had stuck to a single trilogy, properly planned and without the backstage bloodbath over directors, and with a proper production window between films, before going onto spinoffs, we would probably be in a much happier place.

I have to say... unboxed my Ponda Baba today and I'm apalled by the torso print. I can't even tell what colour it's meant to be, tan or white. Research makes me think it's tan but it is by far the worst opacity print I've ever got. And this in a high end set. Also I wonder what makes them decide whether to go with the rubbery head material or hard plastic? I was surprised by Labria being rubber and expected Ponda to be the same but no. Agreed but as I said George crafted a good story that was worth making toys of. Would killing Han right after he came out of carbonite have improved RotJ? I doubt it. There are a few ways RotJ can be improved but that ain't one of them in my humble opinion.

Lucas knew what he was doing in the 70's when he took royalties from merch. Well played George. The difference, as you say, is Lucas spent his time getting a wellmade story right first. Disney have made a sequel trilogy that was rushed out to cash in on their investment, a prequel to ANH and a solo film (pun intended) about the best loved charachter... yes you can see their ploy pretty clearly. This is reflected in the sets. Recolours and minor updates of Falcons, X Wings and TIEs. No wonder we afols feel like lego churn out the same stuff year on year. The creative deficit is Disney/lucasfilm's, not Lego's. I do believe the Sequels will become very poorly represented in future waves because they just don't have the staying power of the OT or even the PT. The Mandalorian will become the flagship of SW. Season 2 will be make or break. I really hope they make.

I think the mold is fairly well perfect, all it needs is some black and silver printing for the comb. Its the plainest printing of any mando helmet so far. I can see it could have been based on concept for the first release, but they should undoubtedly have revisited it for the Razor Crest and if they don't update it for the 2021 set I will riot.

It is Cara driving it though and looks like Karga in the gunner's seat? Fits with lego's other codenames. Death Star escape was "great vehicle escape". I could easily see it including Mando, Cara and a Scouty for 30 quid. The ITT they did for Rebels was a great little build in a £12 battle pack. I'd like them to do a 'proper' one.

That's true. I imagine it would mean a less-good version of each location though, and no way we would get the full suite of 40 minifigs. A couple new molds maybe but they probably wouldn't reuse characters like Oola or Max Rebo in favour of new exclusives. Well, the campaign starts here. Jabba for 2022, Lego!

I don't think they'd do the palace and sail barge as a single set (at least I hope not). Imagine getting that past a marketing person! "You mean we could sell this twice?" I'd want the sail barge to be basically a remake of the 2006 one, with a thousand more parts. Two skiffs instead of one, and not ugly like the 2016(?) one. A sarlacc of course with more built up terrain that supports the skiffs. Figures are a tough call. Jabba, Boba Fett, kithaba, Barada, Nikto, Weequay, Luke, Han, Slave Leia, Lando in disguise, 2x droids, Chewie are the bare essentials and that takes us to 13! Add Yak Face and Tessek. The palace should have the three main visible components: the main rotunda, tower and dome. Then you can lay it out like a Hogwarts. The dome has the trophy wall with a little lever to flip round the carbonite, and the droid dungeon. Tower has the main gate, a cubby hole for some awful freak aliens to hide in, and a guard post. Main build is the throne room and rancor pit exactly as 2012. Figures for the palace are so numerous I would struggle to pick. But lets set an upper limit of 20. 7x Core crew: Luke, Han, Chewie, 2 droids, Lando, Leia as Boushh. 7x villains: Jabba, Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, Boba Fett, Malakili, Gamorrean, EV9D9. 6x AFOL-baiting exclusive minor characters: 8D8, Ephant Mon, Sy Snootles, Amanaman, Max Rebo and Ree Yees. 5 new molds in there which seems comparable to the cantina. I can't see them doing more for a single release. You can play tunes on it: I would like the big woolly guy whose name escapes me, and Bubo, and Rystall but I think that list is probably the most realistic. Sadly the days of TLG releasing a wave of complementary sets seem to be behind us, they have a wide range of sources to pick from and they're going with the approach of throwing mud at a wall. A "Jabba's thugs" battle pack would be utterly beautiful but they have taken to releasing smaller stuff as part of big MBs sets. (Aforementioned Cloud Car, v35 landspeeder, etc).

Confession. I found a Cantina on ebay with a damaged box, starting bid £99. Leaping for joy, I placed the bid. Then I realised its not the new one. It's the 2014 one. So far..... no other bids. Remember when Leonard bids on the time machine? That's how I feel.

Cue the meltdown as we start arguing over whether the Sail Barge classed as UCS or MBS. These are my dream sets. As i've noted previously, I have serious doubts about them ever happening. My favourite bits of the movies, bar none. I missed out on Jabba's Palace and the SB due to having no money at the time, so despite having most of the key figs off Bricklink since, I'd give my left arm for new releases. Sy Snootles and Ephant Mon for the palace and Yak Face and Tessek for the sail barge. Those would be my top minifig picks.

Kuill's blurrg sled, I'm calling it now. Mando-with-mud. We inch gradually closer to Beskar. By the way what is it about these offworld Jawas? Why are they red eyed and wear grey? And drive a sandcrawler on a planet not-Tatooine, when lore has it that the sandcrawlers are mining vehicles left on Tatooine? Coincidence? And Navarro is "lousy" with them too. The red eyed ones. They are apparently the Star Wars version of cockroaches.

Scalpers is why. They know some people will pay through the nose for it and keep it in the box for years to come. I don't know if I detest them or admire them, I for one wouldn't have the strength of will to keep a lego set boxed for any lengrh of time.

Have you looked at ebay prices for bespin duel? Eyewatering.

Occured to me that (on my rewatch of the series this month to get hyped for series 2) this set could be Kuill's Blurgg sledge. In which case they could screw us over by giving us original Mando again! Hobson's choice... Kuill or Beskar Mando.... you can't have both....

Not sure I buy that (though I would definitely buy it!) I haven't done an inventory but I am confident that most if not all of the parts are available in dark orange, the closer match, if not normal orange which is actually less screen accurate than the red. Is orange a notoriously expensive colour? I always see it as red anyway! See the newer releases of TESB with the special swoopy scene over the Bespin rooftops, then a couple sat on a landing pad opposite Leia's window? Those things are red. Brick red maybe, but red. And that's broad daylight, no sunset colouration. I can't help but think that it's a bit of special-edition hate at work that insists on the orange. And yes I know about original prop colour etc... but I can't say the colour of a prop in a studio is as relevant as the appearance in the film. I'm more bothered that they get the shape right. The one in B@CC was a lovely, lovely model but it still wasn't quite the right shape. And an advent calendar don't forget. Just to P off any AFOLs who'd sunk money in them on bricklink.

Has CC not already retired? Pretty sure it was unavailable on S@H in UK.

Not really. I strongly disagree and in fact think that the total lack of a stringent story and world-building is a strong contributing factor to the series' demise. Ok- I admit I spoke there without actually being familiar with the story, I should have said an imaginative premise. Like ninjago the premise is obviously Ninja, the story exists but you can ignore it if you want and make up your own. Hidden side the premise is ghosts, and quite well executed as far as i can see. Can't speak for the story.

Wow you went deep. Haha! Seriously though... you can see why most of those sets were never made (and probably won't be). I honestly count anything from a game or something like the IT-S as a real curate's egg, they will get a single set as part of the marleting push at day of release and if not that... never. Same for animated show stuff, but to a lesser degree.

This is very much the truth. They used to go deep on one film per wave. Like when AotC was slated for a 3d release, they redid just about the entire battle of Geonosis (I think it was 2013, a great year). Alongside we got some great OT sets (OK one was the Sail Barge remake, great for minifigs but pig ugly). The sequels and Rebels hadn't cropped up by then to muddy the waters, however. Releasing a bunch of related sets together maximises chance for a mix of star and supporting minifigs, and avoids awkward situations like having the AT AT retire a year before releasing Echo Base (then bragging about it in the instruction manual how cleverly marketed it is, forcing you to buy a set that OOPS isn't available anymore).

I shall endeavour to explain myself a bit better. But yes you are absolutely right. The most popular remakes, being the most popular and marketable ships, will undoubtedlt get the new treatment first. We have several years of this. What I mean is, when the "new wave 1" of sets is complete, they have a lesser bar to clear when releasing brand new ones, like the Bomber, so the new ones are more likely to be considered ahead of yet another remake. So, delayed gratification. A few years rest for AFOL wallets. Ok, I'll really scratch my head and come up with a list of firstly, Never Done Before sets. Lucrehulk, as Mando says. I can see why they never made this. A big sphere and a big unsupported donut. Some niche podracers. Gasgano could do with an update. (What do we count as recent history? AFOl memories are long. I still think the 2011 pods are 'new'.) The Naboo royal starship. This is #1. Capital ships are kind of special case. They are either very organic looking or really skeletal or eff-off enormous. Nebulon B and Home One are extremely tricky prospects for designers. Sequel stuff... there's probably still time to get sequel stuff as a first release. Ochi's ship top of the list. Resistance shuttle close behind. I think that the sequels will run out of gas very quickly though, and be limited to one ot two smaller sets a year, rather like TPM has become. The required rerelease of really old sets list is easier. TIE bomber and interceptor, Zam's speeder chase, Jango slave 1. Republic cruiser. They've never done a B wing I was happy with. Ok, challenge accepted. Patience. My building time is severely limited. God and corona willing you might see it withim 12 months.

The Overwatch sets were shocking, as if they'd been rushed off with a tight deadline and I say that as someone with no interest in the source material. I'll be sad if Hidden Side dies though. It seems to have good models, characterful minifigs, an imaginitive story with a stranger things-y vibe - all the things Lego does well.

It is a problem but it's not a deal breaker. No one can pretend that the Death star or Cloud City or to a lesser extent sets like Jabba's Palace are source-material-accurate with the layout of their interiors, but they get the point across with a hugely recognisable shape/exterior, and detailed insides that evoke the location more than painstakingly recreate it. Well, I now have no choice but to build my long-gestating temple Moc and prove my point. Dammit Mando! My big question on the summer wave is how much they double down on the new, scaled back approach because if they do, we will see remakes for years to come. The upcoming Mando set will be the acid test. Are the new sets supposed to sit alongside continuing big detailed stuff as their own little subset, or do they replace it altogether and restart the line from the ground up? I don't have a problem with this really. I consider that the scaled down sets actually give more scope for new releases or less common rehashes because they aren't so heavily reliant on large piece counts and high prices. TIE bomber for example. Even (whisper it) Naboo starship. I can't actually think of many ships that just haven't been done, full stop. Naboo, Nebulon B (almost), Invisible Hand. Any more?

The very thought of a UCS quadjumper makes me shiver with glee.