TeddytheSpoon

Yup, unless there's some inside info we don't know about, but even then I assume it would only stretch as far as this year's summer wave. But that doesn't get as many clicks as 'RIP Battlepacks'.

Mando was good, lots of easter eggs again. SPOILER (kinda): that might be an understatement I'm not sure I agree on the generational front, I think it's more of a vocal minority. HelloGreedo did a great video on how (some) Star Wars fans mellow with age as far as attitudes towards PT and CW go, from an OT generation perspective, and I reckon the same thing is starting to happen as PT generation fans mature and start quietly appreciating everything rather than being particularly vocal about what they like and don't like. I agree that M&R is too sensationalist for me (although I respect the hustle, after all he is making a living out of LEGO), but I think some of his comments just feed, and feed off of, the vocal minorities.

Looks great, I love the little ground crew ancillaries as well, they're a great complement to the ship! The only suggestion I would have is to break up the white a bit more, maybe with some tan or sand blue pieces - it still looks quite clean at the moment, although that might be personal preference.

I think the added rumours were based on the interest the first season got. No-one would have been particularly fussed about rumours for yet another new Star Wars show that nobody was even sure was going to be any good before S1 aired, but now that people are on board with it, rumours about S2 become more valuable. And they upped the stakes with the character involvement, adding to the juice factor. That's my theory, anyway. It's fairly common knowledge that LEGO doesn't tend to get story details while producing sets (I know it's been out a couple weeks but just in case) Given Lucasfilm didn't give them these (pretty basic) story details, it's probably safe to assume they wouldn't have told LEGO about Cobb Vanth either. They could have gone ahead and made the figure anyway based on Tom Oliphant and the loose details in the Aftermath books, but even then they don't specify anything about his appearance or the armour he wears, so they would more than likely get it wrong. Even if LEGO were presented with the opportunity to make him, I can picture the conversation going like this: "Who's this Cobb guy?" "Ah, he's a minor character from a book that came out a while back that we've included as a cool Easter egg for fans." "Right, how minor was he?" "Three chapters across three books. And it came out five years ago." "What does he look like?" "Can't say." "Yeah, Din and the Child will do fine thanks."

... I'd be OK with an A-wing and Y-wing to be fair The new sizing of sets is great but I do hope the size of the wave isn't a sign of things to come. With smaller and cheaper sets, I would expect at least the same amount of sets, if not more. Hopefully future waves are a bit bit bigger and more diverse and this is just testing the waters.

I would say black, I'm pretty sure his cloak was black so the hood would be too.

I'm yet to pick up a Mandalorian set, and depending on how I can save my pennies this may well come in before the Crest. Seems OK to me - Beskar Mando and the Child in a cheap set is fantastic, and I'm loving the new Tusken raiders so I'll happily add them to my tribe. While I'm not fussed about Vanth not being there (until two weeks ago he was a minor character from a five-year-old book, and LEGO might not have been provided with details on him), I do hope we see more Mandalorian sets than the three we've got/are getting. It's arguably the most popular Star Wars content since TFA in terms of reach.

That was what prompted my earlier comment about D2C sets. To me, a UCS set means a set that is not minifigure scale, comes with a stand and has maybe one or two figures to sit on said stand. While technically UCS sets are D2C be definition, I prefer to define D2C sets as large vehicle playsets, like the Sandcrawler, AT-OT and so on. The other thing to consider is that LEGO now seems set on having a clearer definition of 'adult' (for want of a better word) sets, with the 18+ stuff being made quite separate from system scale stuff, which seems like it's going to be downscaled anyway. Obviously this could be proved wrong, and woe betide anyone who tries to apply sense to the way LEGO categorise things, so who knows.

I'm not sure about the minority; I've seen a decent chunk of people (mainly here on EB, admittedly) say that they voted for the gunship in anticipation of a wealth of minifigures. As cool as it would be, for reasons others have stated I think that's fairly unlikely, although it certainly seems popular. If the gunship were a D2C set rather than a bona fide UCS set, that might happen - slightly upscaled, around $200, 6 or 7 minifigs. But as far as we're aware it's going to be given the big ol' UCS treatment I think. Co-dy! Co-dy! Co-dy!

This sounds like the most sensible option, actually. It would be cool to get him, I don't think he's had a figure yet has he?

It was indeed Dodonna. My first thought was the Masasi Temple but I don't want to get my hopes up, I would so dearly love for that to be made. I'd be surprised if they released another Death Star so soon after retiring the playset one, but then again... I really wouldn't.

This looks both ridiculous and hilarious. Can't wait!

In essence, I think the boat would effectively be the ITT without a roof. Its shape could be more easily achieved with large plates or panels, whereas the ITT would require more pieces to have the roof and an interior, as well as the troop compartments on the side. It's pure speculation of course - I'd be happy to be proved wrong!

From what we've seen, I reckon it'll be either the ITT or the boat thing from the trailer. I think I'd prefer the boat, since a) it's something a bit different and b) I'm not sure an extra 100 or so pieces would be enough to elevate the ITT to a decent build. Either would be good though.

Solid start to Mando S2, lots of really cool moments. To be honest I think we'll be doing the "what if that's the vehicle from 75299??" thing every episode.

I was thinking of picking this up and swapping it to blue or phoenix squadron given its a bit easier on the wallet. Unless there are any printed details in there it shouldn't be too hard to colour swap parts, and realistically any OT x-wing is going to be from red squadron.

That's what I like about the current canon 'rules' - you can think of the Legends stuff as just that, legends, that in-universe might have been passed down through hearsay and word of mouth rather than 'official' written records. It means that apart from contradictions you can almost pick and choose the bits of Legends that you like. There's what, eight episodes in a season? That would make the last Mando Monday mid-December, with a set that comes out in February. Possible, although I do feel like they'd wait until the season finishes. Maybe there'll be one last Mando Monday after the season finale.

I may have come across the wrong way - I agree completely with what you're saying! TPM is pretty well represented in the LEGO Star Wars line, perhaps what I meant is that TPM may not be the obvious choice for 'good vs bad' toys when compared with the Clone Wars era stuff, which is a bit more clear cut in that sense. I will never be disappointed with more TPM sets. As for the Naboo cruiser... I would of course love to see it represented, especially as it's such a central part of TPM's plot. The colour is the big issue; yes, flat silver would work, but even then I don't think it's particularly cheap to accomplish, especially in the numbers a set of that size would require. Since I'm lazy, does anyone know what recent sets have had the highest proportion or number of flat silver parts?

@Makin Bacon 18 quid in fact! I picked one up cheap earlier this summer, it's a decent parts pack as well. It is listed as retiring soon on the site so if you have warriors want some scout troopers, now is the time.

A podrace microfighter twin-pack could be a good way of getting some of the more obscure characters. Aldar Beedo vs Gasgano, Dud vs Clegg Holdfast... You could have any combination.

This I think is the root cause of most of the things you mentioned in your later post. For all the stick they get, the prequels were spread over 8 years, were properly planned and had a single creative vision behind them. The sequels were released within four years and with two or three different directions suggested by the directors. The result is what I'm gonna call story whiplash - going one way only to be pulled in another and then back again. They should've done something similar to the Mandalorian IMO and had a Favreau or Filoni in charge of the story, and you can have whatever director you want to give the film its own schtick. ANYWAY. I like the idea of the hero vehicle being the ITT looking thing from the second trailer. I reckon they could make it fit the $30ish price range well and you could easily have Mando, Greef, Cara and/or a scout trooper in there. I would also like to lend my support to anything GNK related.

Another great model - that ball socket is the perfect solution for the cockpit.

LEGO seems to really struggle with printing on orange for some reason. As for the rubber vs plastic, I imagine it's one of two things: either the figure has features that would be liable to snapping off easily (Labria's horns, Plo Koon's tendrils) or the rubber is easier to get into a mould to make sharper details. Purely speculating though. Star Wars has always been about merchandising, but I don't think the Disney era has been all bad. Eckhart's Ladder did a good video on this recently where he talked about the new things in Rogue One in comparison with the sequels, and it's almost night and day. Solo and Mandalorian have some cool additions to the universe as well. I do think that Disney+ and the High Republic stuff will lead to the Mouse taking more risks with Star Wars as the financial stakes are slightly lower, which can only be a good thing.

Tantive IV, in what will be probably be my last purchase for a while. Great set and a real looker, although there are a few annoying gaps that could do with being filled in.