MaximillianRebo

I know it's got 660 something pieces in there for $70USD and close to the mythical $.10/p ratio, but this is definitely a case where ppp isn't everything. I'm guessing most of those pieces and small and a lot in the base construction. For this price the set really needs to have Piett and Ozzel, even though they're on the monitor already (and hell throw Needa in there for good measure to get all the ESB officers).

I'm gonna go the opposite direction - and I know this is an unpopular opinion - but I like studs on a Lego model. Studs are what make it lego. If it's too clean it looks like a nice piece of moulded plastic but somehow to me not lego. But each to their own. Yep, that's gonna be a big chunk of AUD for a lot of interior building and black tiles.

Fantastic model! EU ships/vehicles are a gold mine of potential MOCs.

Hopefully this'll bring down Scout Trooper prices on Bricklink by a lot.

I don't get the inclusion of the BARC speeder in this set, especially as many people who will buy it will have multiple speeders from 501st packs purchased less than a year ago. I know, landspeeders, snowspeeders, x-wings etc. are all vehicles that get regular reissues, but none of them are sold as 'massable' items. It feels like the price point was set first at the speeder has been added in to get the part count to an acceptable level. Of course, those 100 odd pieces would have been much better going into the shuttle build itself, but maybe it was a case of adding extra pieces would have required a complete redesign resulting in a possibly even higher piece count and the alternative of another 100 pieces of greebling isn't the way Lego rolls. Or, and spoiler just in case:

The whole thing seems a bit odd; if Disney and/or Lego had kept quiet about everything we would just be here debating if this is a legitimate leak or a custom render of existing info for the next week or so until an official announcement. Bringing in the lawyers just seems to confirm everything. Maybe it's B and each press kit had a slight difference. In one pic the speeder was lime green, in another the shuttle was dark azure, in another the Gonk was salmon... alright now I'm hungry too!

Hoping that the supposed inclusion of the two speeders - which as others have said could have easily been released as a separate set - doesn't mean this is the only BB set that will ever be made. The optimistic take is as it's likely to be the only one released this year they're just getting more material out there quickly and smaller sets will follow next year. The cynical take is that the shuttle won't fit all 5 figs and the speeders are there to provide vehicles for the remaining two...

In a similar vein I'd say a Home One model (notwithstanding the interior set from a few years back). Mostly because of the necessary curvature required and also the lack of distinguishing features that such a ship possesses. It took them years to put out any sort of Nebulon B, whose angular design lends itself much better to Lego, so I can't see a curved capital ship showing up anytime soon.

Even though a couple of reviewers said they had trouble with the legs on the R2 model, that mechanism looks seriously impressive. I'd be interested to see just how it all works. Regarding the lightsaber, I think it's a good representation of Luke's sabre with the available pieces. Yes it's small in comparison with the R2 build but it's limited by the size of the Lego pieces themselves, either it'll be this size with 1x1 pieces or 4x bigger with 2x2 pieces.

Totally agree, sand blue is great for accents against a sea of light and dark bley, but a lot of standard plates and bricks don't yet exist in that colour. Hopefully this new set contain a lot of sand blue pieces and/or expands the parts selection for this colour.

Nice model! I like how snugly the canopy fits on the ship; on builds this size I find it difficult sometimes to fit the canopy to the model in a way that doesn't leave little gaps around the edges but here you've done it well.

These are fantastic and an inspired use of parts! I love how apart from a few plates on the Falcon, they're all made solely from Technic pieces.

Building the new X-Wing tonight and just finished the Technic S-foil mechanism. It really is a thing of beauty; a complex build that hides the underlying simplicity of lift-arms pivoting against each other to make it all work.

This is pure speculation on my behalf (hence why posting here) it wouldn't surprise me if the unknown $30 summer set is ST related. With the 4+ X-Wing being the only ST set known of for this year so far I could see TLG going in this direction. There's no requirement for new sets to all be current content (hello OT ships) like CW or Mando. Not saying this is what I would want, just that I could see it happening.

With Battle Packs on the back burner for the time being, I've been thinking about a type of 'People Pack' that could contain minifigs of the various humanoid species that populate the Star Wars universe. We only get these types of figs rarely, and almost always when that species is represented by a named character. These minifigs could be used to populate Mos Eisley or Coruscant scenes or as unnamed pilots or crew in ships. I think the Rebel Alliance Battle Pack 75133 with it's Rodian and Duros figs is the closest we've come to something like this. The packs would contain head moulds and prints of the various species, plus an array of torsos and legs such as flight suits, street wear and other garb to mix and match in a type of create your own character situation. An assortment of accessories, weapons and hands (to match the skin tone of the head piece) would also be included. As the aim is background characters, no Jedi robes or factional uniforms are included. Not sure how any of this would sit re licensing issues, but the idea harks back to the types of packs that were available in the Space, Town and Castle lines. Here's two possible packs of six (one of each species per pack): Pack 1 - Weequay, Rodian, Twi'lek, Ithorian, Sullustan, Duros Pack 2 - Chiss, Zabrak, Togrutan, Nikto, Quarren, Trandoshan I think out of this only the Quarren needs a new mold. With all the species available in the SW universe there would be many more possibilities, I tried to think of ones that were more recognizable, and put a mix of prints and moulds in each pack.

It's understandable not giving a release date at this point as they'd only be setting people up for more disappointment if that future date also isn't met. Much better to wait until they're sure rather than continuing the cycle of announcement/postponement.

Speaking of low stock levels, I'm noticing that the new X-Wing seems to be out of stock in quite a few locations. Maybe it's again just Australia only (or just my area) but the model seems to be a lot more popular than the calls of "ANOTHER X-Wing??" when it was announced would have indicated. Maybe it's the demand for the Leia and General Dodonna figs driving the sales, or the 'less detailed models at a lower price point' strategy is proving effective.

With most of the late 2019 wave disappearing off shelves never to return and the 501st/AAT sets never being seen in public, I'm pretty wary of snoozing on sets, but not looking forward to a situation where day 1 full retail is the only way of guaranteeing a purchase, especially at these prices. Hopefully it's just covid and supply levels will increase in the future, but that doesn't make the price gouging any better. I can see someone at corporate saying 'Those helmets? They go for $90. And the buildable figures - all $120' without checking size, details, other region prices... I'd really like to see the Probe Droid next to Baby Yoda or D-O, it feels like they've lumped this new set in the same category and set the price purely on that alone. Totally agree on those price. $60 usd for the probe is $80 aud, so say $90-$100 max to take in to account taxes and other things.

I get that PPP isn't everything but the Scout Trooper helmet has about 350 pieces less than the Vader helmet and they're both $90aud... Although the trooper helmet does appear to have a number of largish wedge plates. And then the Probe Droid for $120aud... will need to wait for a good sale on that one.

These are all fantastic! I especially like how you incorporated all the old printed pieces into the models. Ten year old me would have been in heaven with sets like these.

With two stickers on the grille and the unavoidable gap in between them Vader looks like he's trying to smile in an awkward family photo. This is a situation where a sticker across multiple pieces would be warranted.

The proportions for Vader look a little off - the grille around the mouth area should have been extended to cover all that triangle section and perhaps the eye covers could be slightly larger, but it's mostly the grille that makes the face look small compared to the overall helmet size. Scout trooper looking good and I'm really liking the Probe Droid, might have to pick that one up.

Personally I can't stand blind bags as a general principle, and if Lego start use the Vidiyo boxes everywhere.... Anyway, that's just me, I'm sure a hypothetical Star Wars CMF would sell like hotcakes in any format. I'm liking the suggestions above and elsewhere for figs, seems there are enough variations of main characters and/or rare characters either unreleased or needing a rerelease to make it work. In the past we could have expected such figures to show up as the 4th,5th etc. fig in a play set and get them that way, but that's happening less and less lately (apologies to General Dodonna).

I've got the shuttle on order and have some white tile and grille pieces ready to add more greebling to the side wings - although I'll probably display it in landed position so the extra detail won't be much visible anyway. Will see what's possible with the nose, hopefully some inverted slopes will create a better contour. If that means loosing the stud shooters, no loss.