CallumPears

Dang, was hoping it'd be the white one since that's surely the focus for army-builders. At least if you do what I do and get the GCC 2014-style replacement helmets it doesn't really matter so much. As with half of the figures being Death Troopers in the battle pack, it's kinda crazy that the standard plain white Night Trooper is the one which is the most difficult to get in large quantities.

I hate when they use that soft plastic for hand-held accessories. They immediately get scratched and sometimes barely fit into a figure's hand at all (I usually put a regular bar piece in the figure's hand first to stretch it a bit so that the softer part will fit in better). Various sword designs, the bow and arrow, the fancy LotR spears, those old DC-17 pistols... And recently they've switched out some parts which used to be made of hard plastic for the crappy soft stuff. The modern small pistols we're talking about now? They were hard plastic but as of 2023 (I think the first set was the 501st Specialists pack) they are soft. The macrobinoculars? Introduced all the way back in 1999 with hard plastic, but since 2024 (I think it was the bigger clones vs droids pack, though I didn't buy many sets in 2023/2024 so might've been earlier) those are soft now too. Idk if it's cheaper or something but it just feels like such an unnecessary downgrade in terms of both durability and usability (since they get scratched easier and are harder to put in a figure's hand).

This is me with Clones at the moment. I'd love a world where, e.g., Bly and the Galactic Marines are good figures, but they aren't (no cloth kamas, inaccurate prints, dodgy prints, etc.) and I wish that they'd just not made them at all because now the clock is reset for when they'll next make them (and hopefully next time they'll actually be good), similar to the worries that the Fart Brick™️ might ruin the upcoming TIE Advanced.

Also as far as I'm aware that speeder was never seen with the red colour scheme. Even in TCW season 5 we see Maul's troops using them and they still have the blue colour scheme (as in the set from 2013). I get that making up vehicles is just something they do for battle packs (see the yellow AT-RT for the 327th and blue ISP for the 322nd), but it is kinda annoying when there is a perfectly good canon design they could've used. And yeah as I've said before this pack should've been 4 Mandalorians. Everyone has enough 332nd troopers by now, and if you somehow don't then they're probably the cheapest figures to get on the aftermarket. That battle pack was on clearance everywhere. Is Mando's N-1 becoming the new Luke's landspeeder? In the span of 4 years we'll have had the main playset, the microfighter, the 4+ set, and now a UCS.

My issue with the Rogue One AT-ST, apart from being very oversized, is that the face has those gaps at each side which just don't look good to me at all and the head as a whole looks very blocky, compared with the slimmer and more complete look of the 2009 one. It also has less posability in the legs (you can move them backwards but that isn't exactly what I'm looking for). Sure it's similar in that the 2009 one also can't really be held in a walking pose, but at least the legs can move a lot more on that older version. Also it was £45 here which didn't help my views on it at the time. Set descriptions are out for Cobb Vanth's speeder and Mando's speeder. I guess it confirms that the build for the Vanth vs Bane set is his podracer engine speeder bike from Mando season 2 ep1, and that there are no other figures in the set. It also mentions a Bantha milk carton- I wonder whether this will be a reuse from the Skywalker Saga Luke polybag or just an unprinted one like we saw in Obi-Wan's Hut a few years ago.

Yeah it's not so bad on here but e.g. on Reddit you'd think you committed a murder or something if you dare to point out that maybe, just maybe, the LEGO designers should *try* to make figures like Bly a bit more accurate. Yeah, the helmet holes were never an issue on P1 troopers because they're in the right place. The P2 ones are not (they're the right height for the old visor pieces, which in my opinion should've retired by now anyway, but wrong for the rangefinders, binocular visors, and any trooper who doesn't have accessories). CAC has the perfect system for helmet accessories which might not quite fit LEGO's requirements in terms of how strongly they clip onto the helmets but I'm sure there'd be a way to adapt them (e.g. maybe they could have small dimples in the temple dips on the helmet where the visor attaches, like the ones the LEGO motorcycle helmets have, rather than full-on holes).

75440- looks like it's the midi AT-AT (I was using the list on get cooped's instagram which just had the number and price- I guess that list is a little out of date by now)

I think I'll be getting the Bane vs Vanth set and the Mando vs 332nd pack... but both will need a good discount. I guess we don't know how good the value is going to be for the Bane set, but certainly with the battle pack I'm basically writing off 50% of the content as clones I don't care about since I already got 3 copies of the 332nd pack on clearance last year. Argos is currently running a 2 for £20 offer on the Night Troopers pack. Personally I only want one of those packs so am waiting to see if somewhere has a similar discount but for only one of them (or just get a used one on eBay), but if they did it for this Mando pack then I'd be tempted depending on the final quality of the figures and build (part of me is hoping the visors aren't finished on the Mandalorian figures since the previous leak of the helmet had even less print on it, but I'm not confident of that). What else is rumoured for January other than the buildable BB-8? Clone mech of some sort (we think Shock Trooper but I've seen people talking about Fives), the little Mando set which is a nice concept but I already have a dozen Din and Grogu figures, and a few others but I'm a little confused as the list I'm looking at has the ""smart"" TIE Advanced and X-wing listed as January but I thought those were for March. Edit: ok found another list and there's also something with Grogu (possibly a hut), a midi Venator which I might get on clearance like I did with the Invisible Hand, and another unknown set. Yeah not exactly a lot of competition for great minifigures as you said.

Jango Fett Open Seasons battle pack when? (Seriously I've wanted some of the designs from that comic in LEGO form for a looong time- Jaster Mereel in particular has some very nice red markings on his armour, as does Jango on Galidraan)

Yeah not loving the empty visors. They definitely don't look right, especially on the female one

Someone put the Maul Mandalorians vs 332nd troopers on Reddit and it got taken down within 5 minutes (post is still up but the images are gone) Even if we can't see them, I'm sad that this destroys the 1% of hope I had that the leakers were wrong about 332nd troopers being included. Edit: ok someone else has posted just the Mandalorians and they look pretty good. Not sure about the silver visors, but I'm glad it's one male and one female (helmets are switched in the photos), though as I mentioned above I wish it was a mix of 4 Mandos and no clones. I'm slightly disappointed about the male one being the same design as the ones we got in 2013 (I was hoping they'd use a design we hadn't already had), but at least it is updated now with leg printing.

Can't wait for them to make a Commander Bly with the details actually correct but this time they make him into a Fart Brick™️ figure. Hopefully these end up like Vidyo, so we can buy the discounted ones for the normal aspects of the sets and ignore the ""smart"" stuff.

Yeah I was already standing by to hate on whatever "smart" features they have, but the simple aesthetics of them being covered in ugly prints (I guess they need the warning labels? Could've hidden them better like inside the legs or something maybe), especially the back one, has been a bit of a curveball which has made them way worse. Is that back one going to be functional like a QR code or is it purely ""decorative""? Could be that it still includes aliens, just without them being smart figures (which I would prefer, especially if they're ones we've not had before). What would a smart Greedo even do? Is he gonna shout MACLUNKY! and then explode? Personally I'd never want them to do side printing anyway- it's why I avoid CAC and most knockoff figures- but yeah there is definitely a level of comedic value here.

Mara Jade "smart" figure in 2027 Based on the figure list, it sounds like we have a Cantina (Greedo, Han, farmboy Luke, Chewbacca), Yoda's hut (Yoda and training Luke), X-wing we already know (pilot Luke), Vader's TIE we already know (Vader), and something with Palpatine assuming he's not in the TIE. Edit: ah I got ninja'd lol

Yeah this is me too tbh. Subjectively, I don't like the new Stormtrooper helmets (6 years is still "new", right? ...wait I just realised that the Family Guy helmet has now had a longer lifespan than the 2014 design ever did ) or the TCW animation style they incorporate on modern Clone minifigures rather than them being in the realistic movie-accurate style, and objectively there are just so many unacceptable mistakes with modern figures, especially Clones (I've ranted enough about them in the past but, ignoring stylistic choices such as the design template or printed kamas, things like the mistakes on Bly are just so obvious and any competent designer could've fixed them in seconds with very little effort). I'm pretty much done with army-building anyway now. I've already got plenty of Clones and Stormtroopers in the older styles so as far as modern releases go I'm only interested in getting 'special' figures which LEGO did a good job with, like Lama Su or Saw Gererra, and builds I particularly like (e.g. the E-wing or V-19 Torrent, both of which I got cheap on eBay without minifigures) but it's pretty rare for a set to have me wanting both the figures and the build (the V-19 does have the nice TCW Obi-Wan so might get a 2nd one if it has a good discount, and the U-wing would probably tempt me if I didn't already have the 2016 version). It's interesting that outside of Stormtroopers the modern Imperial figures have been pretty great. A couple of issues like the Snowtroopers not having backpacks and Thrawn having the wrong number of code cylinders, but e.g. Scout Troopers and the Imperial Commandos from the Mandalorian are absolutely perfect. Got the original Anakin's podracer as a kid. Nice set, but as all the other podracers were extremely hard to get there were basically no scenarios where I could actually play with it. I think podracers would be perfect for the 2-pack sets we get more often nowadays, like they did in 2011 with Anakin's and Sebulba's. Unironically one of my most-wanted figures for them to make when I was a kid was the version of Naboo guards with the dark-orange tunic and black helmet. Idk why I always liked them. Had a go at making custom ones using the helmets from the 2008 Imperial Navy Troopers but could never settle on a suitable torso. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEGO I BEG YOU HIRE THIS MAN TIE Avenger and these 2 battle packs would make me never complain about anything ever again Also would love a TIE Reaper or a Cargo Shuttle (ideally both but we know they'd never be so generous) for the Rogue One anniversary. Just more Imperial vehicles in general really.

Not sure how long I'd been lurking either but certainly a long time- I remember reading reviews of sets in like 2012ish. Made my account in 2020 to talk about the 501st pack (specifically to point out an inaccuracy that other people hadn't mentioned- I guess some things never change lol) Also coincidentally this is my 501st post

Edit: nevermind, it's from a knockoff

One thing to note is that they didn't run out of the TIE Fighter GWP. It was still available up to when the promo period ended here in the UK, and is still available in the US (where it will end in a few hours due to the time zone difference). Compare that with some previous sets like the Mos Eisley Cantina or the Lord of the Rings Barad-Dûr where the GWPs went out of stock in a matter of a few hours. Same, I basically want Tagge, Motti, Sim Aloo, and the 2 Imperial droids. Maybe Tarkin too depending on whether it's easier to get this one or the 2016 version. If I can find the set at a reasonable price (30% off or better) then that'd be the easier way to do it and I'd get a huge pile of bricks for MOCs.

Yeah the Pikachu looks like they took the worst aspects of Brickheadz and the Mario sets and smushed them together. The X-wing looks slightly better than the sketch, but still pretty terrible. I guess whenever you're feeling down about yourself, you can just think about how someone actually got paid to design this thing. As a downscaled 4+ set or something I guess it wouldn't be terrible, but for $90? All for the sake of some electronic feature nobody asked for? In particular I really don't like the patch of bright red where R2 is sitting- could that be a button or something to activate the Stupid Brick™️? It just screams "look at me" like what they sometimes do with levers and knobs in sets with the more traditional play features.

Some other cool things in the M&G trailer are one of the Dejarik creatures (wouldn't surprise me if we got that as a buildable creature set) and something resembling Amanaman (would be good to get a minifigure of him for Jabba's Palace). I wonder if LEGO knew about the U-wing showing up and whether that influenced them choosing it as one of the Andor S2 sets rather than making something new (such as the TIE AVENGER). Maybe we'll see the Babu Frik mould reused.

Emperor's Throne Room™️ with Darth Vader No™️ sound effect Yeah I don't like when they mess with minifigures. The old light-up ones were already annoying enough. Hopefully these ""smart"" ones are similarly short-lived.

Are we believing the rumour of a new UCS Executor? Only source I can see so far is Bruce Swift and idk if he's ever leaked anything before but he presumably has some inside contacts, e.g. with how he was able to get so many of the Kamino GWP.

Yeah they did really well having the Snowtrooper pack coincide with the AT-AT (even if I do have a couple of minor issues with the minifigures in that one). My main complaint with the Sail Barge (aside from the price) is how few minifigures it has. There was so much opportunity for more Glup Shittos and a battle pack of some sort would've helped with that. Also should've had at least one guard in the skiff. I've mentioned before that I like the idea of the Peridea pack but hate the execution; to me it seems very straightforward that the set should've had 1 Death Trooper, 1 grey-helmet Night Trooper, and 2 white-helmet Night Troopers. Having only a single standard Night Trooper in the actual set really ruins the army-building potential, even on the small scale of only wanting to buy a couple of sets to get a single squad of troopers, and you end up with a bunch of duplicate Death Troopers.

Yeah that would definitely have been best, especially since the Death Star is basically a big diorama so you want the figures to be 1:1 with the scenes from the movie. An Imperial battle pack to supplement the DS, with 2 Navy troopers, 1 Stormtrooper, and 1 technician (with an accurate face with the headset), would've been ideal.

Yeah as I've mentioned before I don't mind the idea of doing this, but as with many things in this set the execution isn't great. Lazy use of a generic female face print on the technician who should be wearing a headset, and Shann Childsen should be a named character. I actually quite like the new chinstrap head though. We've never had a reddish-brown one before so that'll be good for customs (e.g. Army Troopers from Andor), even if it's not accurate to the Death Star scenes specifically. Heretic! Dare ye not try to end his noble crusade!