TeddytheSpoon

It seems at this point that the only information out there is names and set numbers, and I don't think pictures tend to pop up this early even with leakers (though I could be wrong, since I'm not one of them). Out of interest, what were his ideas?

I'll bite. The one thing I'll say is that these sets at least have me intrigued as to what they'll look like. I'm interested to see what they will throw in to bring Yoda's training up to 80 bucks, and what exactly they mean by Death Star battle. I would assume it would be ANH based, since we just had the RotJ Final Duel. I think that is scraping the bottom of the barrel for this wave though. Of course we need an OT presence, but to have the wave so one-sided doesn't feel right, especially given the bias is skewed so far towards one film, let alone the trilogy as a whole. Even with Boba's throne it feels very samey, despite the fact that some of the sets have technically not been done before. As ever I'm reserving my final damning judgment for when pictures come out (and I am unironically quite interested in this UCS landspeeder). It isn't looking good though; if not a change of staff, I do feel the Star Wars team at least needs some fresh blood somewhere, be it in design, market research, wherever.

I'm intrigued to see what these sets are, but this wave is looking more and more affordable for me by the day.

The first ARC-170 came out after RotS, so that is a set that's been remade once. I agree, I think the issue is the production capacity on LEGO's end. With the 4+ and 18+ sets becoming a regular thing (and seemingly more prevalent for one-off things, as far as 18+ goes), there's less capacity for system-scale sets, especially bigger ones. Thinking about it I wonder if that was part of the justification for moving back to smaller X-wings and TIEs...

There's only three accounts that have posted it so far, none of which are the usual reliable sources, so I'm taking this with a major grain of salt. It makes some sense based on what we saw at the end of Mando, but for all we know (so far, anyway) the show might not even touch Jabba's (ex-) palace again, so if we do get BoBF sets, I feel like we'll only know after we see the trailer.

Possibly - Disney+ certainly will have changed that, although it hasn't been around for long. I think most people would probably have watched the films, then the Mandalorian, and then TCW off the back of the second season. I still don't think it would be a landslide but you could be right.

I agree that in the grand scheme of things, it's nowhere near an X-wing or TIE fighter in terms of recognition. Compared to the two vehicles mentioned though, I think it is. Its close association with the protagonist helps (it's pretty much Luke's only way of getting around Tatooine, at least that he uses on screen). In contrast, the Venators and ARC-170s mostly play a supporting role to the main characters in that scene in RotS (I'm assuming that most people won't have watched TCW), and even then there isn't really any direct interaction between the main characters and the Venators. The further removed from the protagonists a thing is, the less likely Joe Bloggs will remember it, IMHO. Sticking with RotS, I'd say the landspeeder is on about the same level as the Eta-2 Jedi Starfighters, which is reflected in the number of playscale sets they've had - it doesn't scream Star Wars in the same way the Millennium Falcon or a Star Destroyer would, but I think most people will recognise them. The difference is that there are at least four unique colourways for those, so they may not feel as repetitive as the landspeeder. Hopefully that will be our next prequel UCS.

For Star Wars fans (where SW is their main franchise of choice, I agree, and I'd love an ARC170 especially. However if you lined those three vehicles in front of your average Joe (i.e. has seen the movies but doesn't consume any other SW content) and asked them to pick out the most recognisable, I'd wager that the landspeeder would come up trumps because it's far more prominent in the films. Both the ARC and the venator got a few seconds of screentime at the start of RotS, normally in the background. The landspeeder was a bit more prominent and was the only vehicle on screen in multiple shots. That's my two pennies on iconicity, and probably why this has come up before either of those two.

This has surprised me also. There's clearly one person with the list who is dripfeeding it to the community, so we're at the whim of what they decide to reveal really.

The rumour is that three exist, but one is likely to be cancelled. It's a bit of a weird one for sure but that's what the various (reliable) sources are saying. Adding my name to the list of those in favour of the UCS landspeeder, BTW.

Except maybe two and not three... Based on what we've seen so far, I'm tempted to agree. It's far from being dreadful but compared to recent waves it's not sounding strong for me personally. However we haven't had the whole wave revealed yet so I'll reserve my judgment for now.

Oh man, people are gonna be upset about this... It's from Promobricks so unlikely it's a fake. I am actually quite excited by a UCS landspeeder though. Land vehicles don't get nearly enough love in the UCS line, and some of the fan-made ones are amazing. It could be a really interesting build and it'll make for a very unique display piece.

Oh man, I'd erased that awful set from my memory... No thanks for reminding me Nice to see those two pictures together, being so used to the RotJ version does make the ESB one look quite odd! All I remembered was that is slightly spindlier... Since it's an 18+ set I have to assume it'll come with a base, I wonder if that means it'll need a stand as well. That would allow them to get some quite accurate shapes without having to worry too much about the physics of it. Having this many sets intended to complement a UCS is an interesting tactic for sure. Has this been done before? I know they tried to do it with the infamous Assault on Hoth (it was said to be UCS at the time IIRC) but delays kinda screwed that one up. On a separate note has anyone in Europe noticed anything weird about the distribution of the summer wave sets? I've checked in various shops in both Finland and Switzerland now, and the only ones they seem to be stocking are Duel on Mandalore and the Slave I. I haven't seen Gideon's cruiser or either of the Marauders anywhere.

I suspect you could be right on the price and build contents. It seems very odd that an AT-ST would sell for more than the X-wing. Normally I'd be quite meh about an AT-ST since I don't find it a particularly inspiring vehicle, but at least the prospect of it being the Hoth version could make it something different. I hope it is actually different though, and not the same shape as the RotJ version (even though they are technically the same vehicle). I can't remember if it was here or in the Wishlist thread, but someone suggested an all-Hoth wave and I thought it was a pipe dream... But TLG seem to have taken that idea and run with it. Even taking the AT-AT tie-in into account this seems a bit much. I hope the next rumours have more of a mix of content. We can but hope. I've been thinking of getting a few 41st troops since they seem to be a bit cheaper than 212ths, would love to see them come back.

I'd prefer for all three helmets to be released, especially as Mando is apparently likely to be one of the released ones. I'd love Luke's one to be a thing though, about time we had a good guy helmet!

I don't know about the 'best designers' comment - some of the recent LEGO Star Wars sets have been of a ridiculously high quality, especially in the UCS and MBS range. I wouldn't want to speak for them, but I would imagine a company as open-minded as LEGO wouldn't let the team behind one of its most successful product lines start slacking off in the name of theme preference. While I think that's slightly hyperbolic, there does seem to be a lot of small mistakes creeping in. Mistakes happen, of course, but there have been enough recently to suggest a lack of attention to detail. Whether this is complacency on the LSW team (not just the designers - they are far from the only ones who make LEGO sets happen) or a lack of time and/or manpower to address these is up for debate. By and large I'm still very happy with where LSW is at this point in time, but there are a few rough edges that would be relatively easy to clean up.

I haven't got around to watching the trailer yet (been one of those days), but I wonder if there's any figures that could be tied in the same way that Blue Milk Luke was. Heck they'd have time to make this one in time for TSS as well

I was wondering that, especially since the City and Harry Potter ones dropped all in one go. Clearly whoever has the Star Wars list is doing a bit of drip feeding... How many sets is enough to open a new thread? I think my parents would dispute that first point given some of my antics as a young child that Brickset list is fascinating though. Rey's Speeder is especially surprising. I agree that they really should give Mando a face in the microfighter, he's had plenty of incremental upgrades thus far but sticking with the plain black head would be an odd decision to say the least.

Is this true? That's quite interesting, I never would have guessed it would be that one. RC microfighter is not unexpected, but I'm not crazy about it. Poor Mando seems to be turning into the new farmboy Luke

I knew someone would bring up the Mando one I think that's a bit more of an exception though, since apart from Death Watch all Mandalorians have unique armour anyway. If we're talking about pricing I'm not sure the 'rainbow' clone BP would improve that though. If you want to build a squad of, say, 12 troopers, then achieving that goal with packs of three troopers will set you back 60 bucks (or 80 if we take the new price). To do the same with the rainbow pack, you'd need to spend twice that to get the same result. Sure, you'll have three other legions as well, but if you're focusing on one faction (which I assume is what army builders tend to do? I might be generalising massively here so apologies) it's not as effective.

I would quite like a mixed legion BP, and for collectors it would certainly be ideal. I can't really see TLG doing it though; this might just be me but having four different legion clones doesn't really fit the vibe of a BP. The ideal BP make up for me is either three troopers and a specialist, or two troopers, a specialist and an officer, which you wouldn't have room for in a mixed one. We live in hope though.

I think this is partly (not wholly) why we constantly see demand for clone BPs. Everyone has their favourite legion of clones that they want to build, be that 41st, 212th (woo!), 327th, 501st, whatever, which is totally fair - but of course not everyone can have a pack at the same time. 501st collectors will be happy now, but all the other legion collectors are left with cold feet. To add to that, clone BPs don't have to be legion-themed; after all, there are plenty of coloured stormtrooper variants as well (flametrooper, shock trooper, mortar trooper, etc). There are plenty of regs outside of the clones with painted armour, especially phase 1 armour (although I assume you're talking about phase 2). Personally I'd like to see more regular, plain P2 clones - we've only seen *one* with the new helmet mould. That is what the army building should boil down to.

I would imagine they'll be more or less the same as the ones from last year's AT-AT. It doesn't feel like that long ago that they were updated from the one-piece helmet and backpack, but maybe that's just me. It is well-timed to go with the UCS AT-AT, I hadn't thought of that. I'm going to pour some fuel on the speculation fire here - but if only there was another flagship UCS set on shelves linked to another army-building faction....

Well, we have our first 2022 rumour... Hoth battle pack, and it sounds like a return to form - three regular (snow)troopers, and one specialist (Hoth scout trooper... Is this any different to the regular one?). Interesting that it'll have minifigure stands, and no stud shooters more importantly. I guess it's time to start a new thread...

There's been a persistent, if unconfirmed, rumour that the GWP with the AT-AT will be some sort of miniature Star Destroyer, but aside from that I don't think there's anything left for 2021.