The Stud

He was thinking the colors on the Lego boxes are supposed to be matching the colors on the Black Series boxes.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure the blue stripe is for all the saga/movie related sets. They’re only differentiating the stripe colors for the other properties. Also, just one more week until Lego Con and more Star Wars reveals folks!

That’d be an absolute dream wave for me. I hope that we at least get a new Ghost with the Season 3/4 character designs over the next few years. I do have one other Kenobi related set idea to add to that T-47 one. Tala’s Imperial Shuttle ($50): The new shuttle variant they take to Fortress Inquisitorious. Comes with casual Tala (New!), Obi-Wan in his Chapter Four outfit (New!), young Leia (New!) with Lola (could just be printed on BB-8 dome piece) and a Stormtrooper.

Not anytime soon most likely. For spoilery merch, it‘s much quicker and easier to slap an image of the characters onto a T-Shirt then it is to make a molded toy or collectible. That’s why we have so many Tobey/Andrew related NWH shirts (often using the same PNG) and like 0 toys so far.

A bit disappointing that it’s not a 90th Anniversary series, but hey, maybe we’ll get something like that for Year 100 in 2032. Overall, it sounds like a pretty normal CMF series. My goal is to eventually have every series completed which means that I’m now going to buy every new series when they come out going forward, so I’ll definitely be getting all of these. Nothing really stands out as especially exciting to me personally though. I’m just confused why Lego is going out of their way to disrupt the year/series number pattern that they’ve had going since Series 16 in 2016. This is barely even connected to the anniversary going on around the same time so I’m wondering if they just didn’t have another licensed series ready in time. It’s probably too soon for Marvel Series 2, Lego might not want to do Disney Series 3 right after Muppets and also without a new D2C, and they might not have been ready for another series based on a new license yet.

Isn’t The Marvels that all-female movie you’re referring to? Majority of the main characters seem to be female. In any case, I definitely think this Thunderbolts project is the most likely one for US Agent to show up in next, besides Cap 4 maybe.

If I wasn’t already stacking up my VIP Points to save some money on the UCS Star Destroyer this fall (I’ve already got $110 worth of points), I’d just use them to get this Kenobi vs. Vader set for “free” on August 1st. That’s still probably what I’ll save my VIP Points up towards after I use them on that set (and probably also this year’s advent calendars) though. As it stands, I’m now planning on getting the AT-TE, BD-1, Scythe and Jedi Starfighter on August 1st. I’ll wait for deals on Cad Bane’s Ship, the Andor set and Kenobi vs. Vader sometime over the next several months. I’m sure at least one of them will show up at Costco. I also really like this year’s advent calendar so far! Beach Vader is funny and I like the matching sweaters on Threepio and Artoo. Even though R2 technically isn’t a minifigure, I like getting three exclusive figures/characters in this set as opposed to usually just getting one or two.

I just think it’s kinda funny that Lego celebrated 20 years of Harry Potter last year when they weren’t even making sets for a good amount of those years, whereas Lego Superheroes have been consistently putting stuff out for the last decade and it doesn’t seem like we’re getting much, if anything, for the tenth anniversary.

See, that’s how it used to be in the US too. I remember that a good amount of the shopping I planned on doing at the Lego Store on Triple Force Friday, I ended up doing for much cheaper at Walmart. That following January 2020 wave was the first one where I noticed that other retailers weren’t automatically discounting sets like they used to and while sales still occur, they’ve been a lot harder to find since the pandemic. I think it’s kinda interesting that after all the leaks and hype surrounding the Marvel sets from last summer/fall, it’s been relatively quiet this year. The Sanctum is the only 2HY set we know really anything about, besides that phantom Hulkbuster.

That’s what I’ve been hoping for as well. The Vader in the box art for the Scythe looks more like that Rebels/RO/ANH version of Vader for some reason, especially with the red eyes, but the one in the show is more like the ROTS style that we’re actually getting in the set. Kind of a bummer. I also didn’t realize until recently that Vader has different buttons on his chest panel in ESB/ROTJ until recently, and now I want Lego to make that version of Vader as well… Yeah, that set looks really bland. It’s pretty accurate to the setting from the show at least but it doesn’t really make for an exciting display piece. Especially compared to that concept art released ahead of the show (https://images.app.goo.gl/SYD537hU1DbpwQYR6) which would have made for a very intense looking set. Something tells me that we’ll be wishing that Lego did a set of Ben and Vader’s re-rematch that we’ll surely be getting in the second half of the season instead of this one. The fact that they’re recreating the fire scene from the episode is pretty surprising though, and that seems like it’ll make the set look a little more interesting I guess. The Obi-Wan and NED-B figures look pretty good and I’m glad to see arm printing Vader in another set. Tala’s pretty disappointing though. I was wondering if she would have her Imperial Officer outfit or her other one, and without having a hair/hat combo here, I really would have preferred her other outfit. It’s also probably the most inaccurate part of the set to have her wearing that Imperial outfit. It’s not a bad set in my opinion, but it is a bad value. Like I said, the next encounter between these two will probably be a lot more flashy like that concept art, and probably would have made for a better set. I’m still getting this one just to stick to my goal of collecting all the sets from the new shows, but I’m certainly not paying full price for it. I had been planning on getting this on August 1st, but now I’m going to wait for a sale or my birthday maybe. It’s kinda crazy that we’re getting some seriously overpriced sets like this, Cad Bane’s ship and the Andor set in the same wave that we’re getting some actually reasonably-priced Star Wars sets, like the Jedi Starfighter, Scythe and BD-1. All of which are sets I want, but the latter ones are definitely higher on my priority list now.

They have been, but I feel like a UCS Razor Crest would be comparable to the UCS Falcon where it’s closer to minifigure scale and is also big enough to have a bit of an interior where you’d want to have at least a handful of different figures to recreate scenes. Lego is usually more stingy with figures when it comes to other UCS sets where there’s no way for those figures to interact with the build because it’s at a different scale, like the Gunship, Landspeeder or A-Wing. I guess we’ll have to wait and see though.

I wonder what figures we could expect if we do end up getting a UCS Razor Crest. Mando and Grogu are no brainers but there are a lot of other characters that they can include as well, particularly exclusive ones. It’d suck to have notable characters like Mayfeld or Kuiil limited to the set but it could be a way for us to finally get those figures. I think an exclusive Frog Lady figure using the CMF Kermit head mold would be a genius idea.

I’m really doubting the existence of the Hulkbuster at this point. It’s been rumored for far longer and was supposedly coming this summer, and yet the Sanctum, an August release, is getting revealed first. We also have the $500 set supposed to be coming out this fall. Which for that set, I find it weird that they’ll be releasing two Marvel D2Cs within three months of each other (let alone three if the Hulkbuster is coming), though stranger things have happened. I think Star Wars released three D2Cs last year and they were all about three months apart so I guess there is a precedence.

Here are my thoughts on the figures so far: -Doctor Strange himself will likely be identical to the one from the Gargantos set which I just built last night actually. (Phenomenal set in my opinion.) The figure itself is great, I just don’t like how Lego has changed the hairpiece from the one used in the IW Sanctum. That was a perfect hairpiece for Doctor Strange but for the NWH/MoM figures, they’ve changed it again to a very overused hairpiece, especially for licensed male characters. -Meanwhile Sinister Strange actually does that Series 16 Dog Show Winner’s hairpiece. I think the figure looks pretty good, no complaints here. -I think that new Wong figure is a massive step down compared to the Bricktober figure. I agree that that face doesn’t really look like Wong and it’s being used in like three sets now. I don’t agree with making his IW figure bald as he was only really bald in the first Doctor Strange film. He should just have short hair here. -I feel the same way about Ebony Maw. I think the skin color is a tad more accurate than the 2018 one but overall, it’s a far worse figure. -Despite not being super accurate to the film, I do like the Zombie Strange figure. It’s a solid design with good detailing and the face details are consistent with Zombie Cap from What If? -Somehow the updated Stark Suit Spidey seems to be the standout figure in a Doctor Strange set, so far anyway. The previous Stark Suit Spidey was already a phenomenal figure but this one improves on the detailing and the blue used here is far superior. It bugged me that the previous Stark Suit and the 2018 Iron Spider suit use the same shade of blue when the latter suit should look darker than the other one. I feel like Lego keeps outdoing themselves with their Spider-Man figures and this is another amazing one. (Pun intended.) Overall, the figures seem like a mixed bag so far. Hopefully Scarlet Witch looks really good at least. A little disappointing for a set of this size, and also because we likely won’t get any other MoM sets for a while, but I still have high hopes for the set itself.

That’s the thing though; the Eternals sets didn’t sell well and I don’t believe that smaller Shang-Chi set with the car and two bikes sold particularly well either. (Don’t know about the dragon though.) They’re constantly on clearance. I don’t think that necessarily means that Black Adam sets would sell poorly too but to my understanding, a lot of the DCEU sets have not sold well and Lego would probably be even more hesitant about making sets off a new DC property than they would be about making sets off a new Marvel property.

I think it’ll do very well. The Mandalorian has been a gigantic success, so I think any adult collector set based off the series would do well. The Razor Crest was destroyed, sure, but it’s still a very iconic ship and I’m sure it has a comparable amount of screen time to other ships that have been represented in UCS form. I also think it will do well since it’s releasing just a few months before the next season of the show starts, which will also help boost sales even if there isn’t a Razor Crest in Season 3. I really like that new 212 Trooper. It’ll go perfectly with the other Clone Troops of the 2020 style. The helmet is also really done well too; it’s almost identical to the previous mold but finally allows for accessories. I think it looks amazing with the rangefinder, I have no doubt that we’re going to see updated Rex and Crosshair figures in the next year or two. The visor looks a little oversized however, but I’m still okay with how it looks.

That’s not a bad theory honestly. I’ve been scratching my head at the fact that Lego would make the biggest, non-UCS set of the year a Bad Batch ship. It’s not even that prominent of a ship either. Ever since the Rebels line, Lego has been playing it very safe when it comes to making sets off the animated series and now they’re making the only two Bad Batch sets $100 and $160 (now $170…) respectively? The only problem with this theory is that I don’t know if the timelines would have added up with the production of TBOBF and the time spent designing this set, whereas the ship debuted in The Bad Batch about a year ago which would have given them plenty of time to design the set for this summer. I guess the one silver lining here is that it’s only a few sets according to this list and they’re generally only being bumped up by around $5 to $10 each. Not that I’m defending Lego‘s move here but it definitely could have been a lot worse. (I was dreading the possibility of seeing the UCS Falcon or AT-AT becoming even more expensive, which could very well still happen down the line.)

Eh, disagree. I like the story and characters well enough, it's a great character study of Kenobi in particular. There's something else with the filmmaking itself that's bugging me.

Lego’s raising the prices of over 100 current and upcoming sets this September and Ninjago City Gardens is one of them, going all the way from $300 to $350! It feels like kind of a random choice: it’s one of the few >$200 sets on the list and it’s one that’s been out for a while. Still a good value though. Some of this summer’s sets will be going up in price too.

While I do mostly like the series, I agree that something about it does feel a little off, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. It might be because of the largely bland score and some things just looking off in the series due to budget issues or limitations of the Volume. Overall though, I’m enjoying it. However, I’m not sure what other sets Lego can make from this series to give us some missing minifigures. As for the list of Lego price increases, I’m honestly surprised that more Star Wars sets aren’t on there. Thank goodness there aren’t any UCS sets on the list as well (yet anyway). Most of the sets are either ones I already own, ones I don’t care about or ones I will likely pick up before this price hike goes into effect. In general though, it’s still annoying, especially for sets that already feel overpriced like Mando’s N-1, the diorama sets and most certainly The Justifier.

Every word of what you just said… was right. The Bad Batch Season 2 trailer just dropped and it looks like The Bad Batch themselves are getting new looks. I really hope Lego gets caught up with making sets for this series, there’s still stuff I want from Season One let alone getting new minifigs for the entire main cast as well as still needing a Republic Crosshair.

T-6 Jedi Shuttle showed up at The Mandalorian exhibit at Celebration and will show up in the Ahsoka series as it did during the Rebels epilogue. I’m predicting that’ll be the set we see to coincide with the show next summer. Probably come with Ahsoka and Sabine at least, maybe Huyang as well? The big ship from the Skeleton Crew concept art will likely be a set at some point next year or 2024. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some 4+ sets for the new Disney Junior/High Republic show as well. I’d love some stuff from this series as it looks really interesting but I worry that it’ll be like Visions and probably not get any sets.

I like it overall; the ship and speeder bike both look like interesting builds. The figures are cool. It’s based on a show that I think looks really good and unique, and it’s also appealing to me as I’m collecting all the sets from the Disney+ shows since I don’t want to miss out on anything like I did with most of the original Rebels and Clone Wars lines. That being said, the price sucks given the size of the set. I’m not a huge PPP person so while I guess that’s a pretty solid ratio for a Lego Star Wars set, the size of the ship itself looks more akin to a $40 or $50 set. It’s kinda disappointing as well because I feel like Lego Star Wars has surprisingly been reasonably priced this past year (with the exception of some of those 18+ sets). I’ll still be getting it but not until I can get it on sale or use VIP points on it.

That BD-1 set looks fantastic! I look forward to getting it. I believe that it’s only a matter of time before we get more Fallen Order sets. The Andor set looks pretty cool, but a lot smaller than I expected. $70 seems like a bit much for it so I might just wait for a sale or try to use some VIP Points on it or something. I also really like that Advent Calendar Vader. The irony of Vader/Anakin building a sand castle is not lost on me. I wouldn’t be mad about all the advent calendars being based on whatever that year’s Lego Star Wars Disney+ special is. They said at the panel that it’d come with the Calendar this year.

I reread those Vader comics recently and I believe that both the unidentified Inquisitors had helmets/facial apparatuses of some kind. I think there’s going to be a special reason why Reva doesn’t wear one. And I agree with you about the Fourth Sister. I’d like to have all the Inquisitors in Lego form someday. Maybe she’ll come in a set next year, hopefully with some Purge Troopers? And yeah, I read those leaks. That part kinda concerns me, but otherwise, I like just about everything else we’ve seen, read and heard about the show. I initially had my concerns about Kenobi and Vader crossing paths again but I’ve since been sold on that idea. It’s a good way to show us how Obi-Wan gets over his guilt and grief over Anakin in order to transition into the calm Alec Guinness version we meet in ANH, and this can also recontextualize the “Obi-Wan once thought as you do” line from ROTJ. Also, I can’t believe I didn’t notice that the Vader on the boxart is new as other people pointed out! It was one of my predictions for this wave so I’m glad to see that pan out. I’ve been wanting a new Rogue One/ANH styled Vader ever since the one from that one Rebels A-Wing/TIE Advanced set, but this one actually has the reddish eyes. That’s awesome.