The Stud

Technically, my first Star Wars sets were probably some of the polybags I got for free from Lego KidsFest (I believe I got a TIE Fighter and Z-95 Headhunter, both of which I probably just used for pieces), but I don’t really count those of course. I didn’t really get into Star Wars until I started watching Rebels in 2014 and it wasn’t until the buildup to TFA during the fall of 2015 that I really, really got into it by watching all the films for the first time. It was that following Christmas that I got my first LEGO Star Wars sets. I received 75093 Death Star Final Duel and 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter, and I’ve been collecting LEGO Star Wars for the seven years ever since, which is kinda crazy to think about.

None of the stores near me have gotten any 501st sets, one of which might have just been sold out already, so I just ordered my first copy of the new 501st Battle Pack on Amazon. I’m not in a huge rush to get multiples but I know I’ll wind up with at least ten by the time the set retires.

I’ve been predicting this for a while but confirmation of another Marvel series in fall 2023 is nice to hear. I’m going to miss hunting for CMFs with this change to boxes, but it’s incredibly easy to just buy complete series online these days. I did it with Marvel Series One after all. I imagine another twelve figure series, with two figures dedicated to Hawkeye, six dedicated to the 2022 shows and the remaining four dedicated to two of next year’s confirmed live action series. I don’t see Lego doubling back to cover series that were already represented in Series One, and I’d imagine that there still won’t be many villains. My roster prediction is: -Clint Barton -Kate Bishop with Pizza Dog -Moon Knight -Mr. Knight -Scarlet Scarab -Ms. Marvel -She Hulk -Red/Gold Daredevil -Two figures dedicated to Secret Invasion, one of which will probably be Nick Fury. -Two figures dedicated to Loki Season Two, one of which will probably be a new Loki outfit and the other may be Mobius. I have a gut feeling that we’ll see the animated series (What If? Season Two and X-Men ‘97) represented in set form and Ironheart will probably be excluded like Hawkeye was from the first series as it’ll probably come out later in the year. Heck, since Lego loves making Iron Man suits, I could potentially see that series actually getting a set. I don’t see us getting Werewolf By Night figures either.

Huh, interesting. Well, hopefully the $15 sets are decent then!

That's great that you're getting to share this hobby with your daughter! She's taken her first steps into a larger (and more expensive ) world. I also just got The Skywalker Saga game for Christmas. I'm a little bummed at how quick it is to play through the story mode for the films, but I am impressed at the sheer size of the maps.

It was around the end of when TBOBF was airing in early February. We got additional details shortly after May the 4th as well. As @Mandalorianknight pointed out, we still have the normal $10 microfighters and Brickheadz releasing next year. And Brickheadz wouldn't included in these set numbers anyway. Whatever these $15 sets are, I hope they're some form of army builders.

He said "this isn't everything" in his original post of set numbers, which I took to mean that there's other sets coming. Getting additional information like names and piece counts sooner or later would already be implied. Otherwise, this wave is just a lot smaller than a lot of the recent summer waves which feels odd to me, especially with all of these anniversaries and new content releasing in 2023.

Falconfan’s stated that these numbers we’ve gotten so far aren’t everything we’re getting next summer. It’d be very underwhelming if this was it (though also far more affordable I suppose). As someone who was in the “Luthen’s Ship in 2023” camp, I’m thinking that it’s more likely we get that in 2024 as an “18+” set when Season 2 releases. I agree with @ForgedInLego that Andor probably wasn’t popular enough with the kiddos to warrant getting a flagship set, but I could easily see it getting similar treatment to Marvel’s Benatar from last year, or even the 2019 Tantive IV, which was essentially a playset. I’ve mentioned in the other thread that I think it would be too soon to expect a $160 set from Ahsoka or Skeleton Crew, especially since the latter likely won’t release until later on that year anyway. I still think there’s still a *chance* that it could be my picks of the Gunship or even The Mantis, but otherwise I think it may be something from ROTJ (likely either the Sail Barge or my Battle of Endor prediction) or another large-but-overpriced Bad Batch set like The Justifier. (Perhaps Crosshair’s Shuttle?) I definitely would prefer either of the first two but I wouldn’t be heartbroken if one of those options panned out either. I know that I’ll probably end up just buying some custom minifigures and Bricklinking the parts for that Mantis model I found on Rebrickable if Lego doesn’t get around to making it next year.

I mentioned it and how I don’t think it’s likely to happen… yet. Even if they officially reveal the appearance of the ship in Ahsoka before the show releases, they’re not going to already have such a large set planned for the series. As much as I’d love to see new Rebels minifigures, I think a new version would most likely come with Ahsoka series figures and because of this, 2024 would be the most likely time to release it. I do think we’re bound to get a new one in the next couple years though. It’s partially the same reason I don’t expect the big new ship from Skeleton Crew until 2024 either, even more so here since that’s a completely new ship design. Skeleton Crew most likely won’t be releasing until late 2023 either, so I wouldn’t expect much merchandise of any sort until early 2024.

Neither are likely unfortunately, as Boba Fett's Slave 1 is still available and the Royal Starship won't ever be made until Lego figures out a good way to do chrome pieces. Also, I'd expect the vast majority of releases in 2023 to either coincide with these anniversaries (ROTJ and Clone Wars) or with the new content releasing throughout the year (Mando Season 3, Jedi: Survivor, Ahsoka, The Bad Batch Season 2 and *maybe* something from Skeleton Crew, though I don't expect sets from that until early 2024). Lego is always (well, almost always) going to prioritize what is relevant. That's part of the reason why I think a new Gunship is so likely as one of the large sets this summer. Clone Wars/Prequel nostalgia is very big right now and Lego is capitalizing on it more and more. Even with the UCS version in 2021, there is still a strong appetite for a new playset version of the Gunship and what better time to commemorate this Clone Wars anniversary than releasing a new version of what is arguably the most iconic ship specific to that era? The only reason I've pointed out the fact that we almost always have play-scale Gunships and AT-TEs around at the same time (Rebels AT-TE notwithstanding) is because that's just something noteworthy to keep in mind. There's no pattern I'm trying to analyze because those are largely arbitrary and pointless to try and pinpoint. Lego doesn't play the same level of 4D chess that we do to try and analyze these things, as the vast majority of their consumers don't care about these things. Unless Lego pulls another complete wild card again like they did with The Justifier this year, there's only a few other candidates that I see as especially likely or timely for Lego to release as a flagship set this summer.

To all the people saying that this seems like a small wave, Falconfan has stated that this isn’t all the set numbers. These set numbers we do have could feasibly be anything so I’m only going to talk about the small $15 ones and the two larger sets. The two $15 ones intrigue me. The most recent Battle Packs have been $20, the recent duel sets have also been $20 and Microfighters still sit at $10 or also $20 for sets with two microfighters. The only other Star Wars sets that have filled this price point recently are the Accessory Sets, which wouldn’t have these set numbers. Someone else suggested this previously but with how high the demand was for the short-lived and hard-to-access Star Wars Accessory Sets (mainly the Clone Trooper one), maybe Lego decided to do the smart thing and make more wide-release army builders? I’m unsure, but I’m curious to see what they’ll be. Hopefully nothing gimmicky or lame. The $160 set is nothing out of the ordinary for a summer wave. I agree with the common consensus that this is probably a Gunship. Clone Wars sets are popular, next year’s an anniversary year for that era, we already have an AT-TE on the market and there’s enough demand for a new System scale Republic Gunship. Phase 2 Rex is also very likely to come in either this set or another one coming this summer. The $200 set is very interesting. I’m guessing it’s not the fall UCS, so maybe it’s another psuedo-D2C playset like the 2019 Tantive IV? I have some guesses of what this could be: -Luthen Rael’s Ship: I felt pretty confident about this being it but I did see some compelling counterarguments earlier in this thread. $200 may be pushing it a bit for this particular ship and this set probably would have been designed ahead of Andor’s release. It may still be too soon to expect a set of this vehicle and Lego may wait until 2024 to tie in with Season 2’s release anyway. However, it does make sense to me that Lego would make this a D2C-but-not-a-UCS so that way they can appeal to the older “18+” fans that primarily watched Andor. -Battle of Endor Playset: It’s the 40th Anniversary of ROTJ next year and I could see this being a special commemorative set to celebrate. I suppose this would probably be a MBS set, and it’d sort of make sense as Lego probably doesn’t want another super high-priced Star Wars D2C for a bit. I envision something like a modern remake of 8038. I could easily see Lego doing a larger bunker, some side builds and a decent number of minifigures for $200. Maybe they’ll even do another Endor AT-ST as a seperate set to go with this. -The Mantis: Even though I think The Mantis is a likely candidate for a set next year, I’m kinda skeptical of it being a $200 set. Then again, this Rebrickable design looks similar to how I’d expect Lego to go about this set and it’s estimated cost is around $200. (https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-46309/Bruxxy/the-stinger-mantis-fallen-order-v2/#details) I’m not sure if the figure selection would be from Fallen Order or Survivor but either are possible. Even with it rumored to return in Ahsoka, I think it’s a little too soon for another Ghost. Even more so for the ship from Skeleton Crew; both seem like likely candidates for 2024 sets. Or maybe none of the above will be it and this $200 set will just be something random like that 2019 Boost R2-D2 set. I’m excited to learn more about next year’s summer wave though!

I did a Secret Santa exchange with other people in this Discord server I’m in and was very generously sent every single one of my gift ideas. All of them happened to be Lego Star Wars items. -40557 Defense of Hoth (x3) [I now own 8 copies of this set.] -40558 Clone Trooper Command Station (x3) [I now own 11 copies of this set.] -75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers (x1) [I now own 16 copies of this set.] I also happened to order more custom figures from Grandpa Clone Customs but I’ll wait to post about this until after I receive them.

Oh, I think people have a decent grasp what PR is; everyone is just confused with this narrative you're pushing. I read the actual article after your previous post and have no idea how you reached some of the conclusions you reached. You seem to think this interview is damage control and that Lego was expecting some sort of backlash to this set, as if we don't get these sorts of interviews almost every time a D2C is unveiled and being promoted. We get it, you don't like the set. You don't need to quantify it by performing mental gymnastics. I think the set looks decent. My interest has waned the more I've looked at it over the last few days though. It's a good set and I personally like the colors; unless it needs to be accurate to something like Star Wars, I generally like my Lego to be bright and colorful. The set just doesn't blow me away like a lot of the previous Modular Buildings. I'm also a bit bored with the style of Modular Buildings where it's two smaller buildings versus one large building though. The figures are nice, though I feel like I'm missing the classic smiley faces more and more with each of these annual Modular Buildings. I do kinda wish we got something a bit more impressive for a Pizzeria-related Modular Building though. I've wanted one forever but this one feels a bit like an afterthought and not really what I was imagining. Fortunately, a city can have more than one pizza place and this one especially reminds me of the kind of hole-in-the-wall type places you'd see in NYC. Despite some of my gripes, I do like the set and plan to get it eventually. After all, I have almost every one of the Modular Buildings since the Palace Cinema, except for the Brick Bank, Book Shop and Police Station; which the latter two are still readily available so no stress there. This set is pretty low on my D2C wishlist though as I still have those two other current Modulars I'm missing, the Sanctum Sanctorum and a few Star Wars UCS sets I want to get first.

To me, the idea of Lego continuing to produce two identical helmet molds, one with the holes and one without, is laughable. Originally, the whole point of those helmet attachments were to be able to customize clones. Sure, the helmets don't look the greatest without the attachments but it's not really a big deal. We already have the Mandalorian and Phase 1 Clone helmets with the holes for accessories. Why not Phase 2 Clones? I'm confident that the holeless helmets will almost certainly be phased out once the sets they're still included in are gone. We might even see later production runs of some of those sets like the Republic Fighter Tank or Justifier use the newer mold with the older printing. This "campaign" is pointless and a waste, especially because all these people complaining are going to be buying these clone sets anyway. The 501st movement was in good fun and relatively harmless (perhaps a little obnoxious but at worst, it was just spamming Lego's comment sections and social media accounts), but a lot of these subsequent fan movements have just been flat-out annoying and often come off as entitled to me. Agreed. That newer Obi-Wan is the only one that's fully pulled off that effect without any special printing, dual-molding or fabric. (Though I'm cool with Jedi figures just wearing capes to represent their robes.) I thought I heard someone mention the 17th or 18th as the reveal date for these sets. I thought there was no way that would be true but apparently I was wrong. It's just so absurd and arbitrary to wait so long to reveal this stuff. The secrecy is pointless. We've seen just about every detail from this January wave and for other themes, we are already getting into some reveals for March apparently.

There’s nothing to worry about. Lego and Star Wars are both thriving. They’ve just been spacing their releases out a bit more. We’re probably getting about the same amount of stuff, just far more spread out.

I'm not even a huge fan of The Bad Batch but I would really like to get more sets from it because there's so much material to work with. The Justifer was a total waste, though those new and exclusive figures are neat. (Funnily enough, I should be getting that set today. I got it for free essentially thanks to my VIP points.) If we could get those two ships with a bunch of those figures, I'd be satisfied. I can definitely see Imperial Cody coming just so Lego can get some extra brownie points by making another new Commander Cody figure. The game looks fantastic. I've loved the first game ever since I attended the Celebration 2019 panel and I can't wait until this sequel comes out. (I'll have to borrow someone else's console to play it though...) So much material for Lego to work with if they so choose. Because of the existence of BD-1, I feel like the Stinger Mantis is somewhat of a lock for the next year, though I'm not sure if it'll include figures based on Fallen Order or Survivor. Lots of cool designs Lego could include in additional sets too, I'd definitely like an Imperial Police Gunship and some playsets. I'm sure we'll still see Purge Troopers in this game at least. The tie-in novel Battle Scars has OWK's Phase 2 Purge Troopers on the cover, as well as the Fifth Brother. I thought this game would have been a good place for Fourth Sister to show up since that was a new character in OWK and did very little with her, but we'll see. I definitely expect sets from the first four, and then some Clone Wars and ROTJ 40th Anniversary related stuff to fill the year. (Hopefully some additional Andor stuff too but that remains to be seen.) Visions S1 didn't get any sets and I don't expect sets from S2 either. Skeleton Crew will probably be late 2023 so we might not get anything in Lego form until 2024, especially since that show's new spaceship seems like prime flagship set material. The Acolyte only just started filming so nothing from that until 2024 either. As for Mando Season 3, it took a while for Lego to do more "spoilery" sets for Mando Season 2 so I don't expect much more aside from another set or two until 2024 either. I think Lego/Hasbro are using this Clone Wars 20th Anniversary as a catch-all for every Clone Wars related story. From what both companies have revealed so far, they seem to mostly be focusing on 2008 TCW though which makes this whole situation even more perplexing. Like that updated TCW Mace Windu we got this year, I could definitely see us getting an updated version of Clone Wars-era Ahsoka in a random set to tie-in with the anniversary and her upcoming series. As for the new TIE Bomber pics, I think it looks even better than before. Reasonably sized, well detailed, nice play features and an okay minifigure selection. I do think it's funny that they threw the ROTJ 40 logo on the box when it's clearly an ESB set. My biggest gripe is Lego cheaping out and giving us a plain Vader without the arm printing like they did with last year's Imperial Shuttle. I already own three of the sets that included Vader with the arm printing but it's still so annoying when they pull stuff like this; you'd think it would take even more effort to produce other versions of the same torso without the printed arms. And it's not even a situation where they're saving it for the big, expensive sets as this summer's $50 OWK duel set includes a Vader with arm printing and an exclusive face print. Fingers crossed that is another situation like the recent Advent Calendar, where the renders didn't show arm printing on the exclusive beach Vader but the physical figure did. Won't hold my breath though.

If we get a similar structure to previous summer waves, we could potentially (and ideally) get all three sets next summer. We usually get 2-4 sets in the $100-170 range each summer wave and depending on what size they do each ship at, a new Gunship, the Mantis and the Fondor Haulcraft could all be done within that range. Speculation and hoping to validate my predictions for next year aside, I think it's pretty neat that Lego will have the primary TIE variants from the OT (not including Vader's TIE Advanced or the TIE VIP Shuttle which had little screen time) of the standard Fighter, Bomber and Interceptor all available at once.

Maybe they moved that Clone Wars 20th Anniversary logo to the side of the box to be consistent with the Snowtrooper Battle Pack? I recall that one having a little emblem on the side depicting Hoth to indicate that the set goes with the Hoth AT-ST and UCS AT-AT.

Very excited to finally see these pictures. The Boba Fett Microfighter is definitely one of the Microfighters of all time. I get why they didn’t include it, but having Boba without his range finder here is so weird. I’ll still buy it though just cuz it’s cheap and it’ll go nicely with my Falcon and Razor Crest Microfighters on my dorm room desk. The new 501st Battle Pack is pretty stellar. All of the figures are nice and I like the little AV-7 cannon build. The only thing I dislike are the guns used for the Heavy Class Troopers, which should be simple enough to replace. I look forward to expanding my clone army even more, as I plan to get ten of this set before it retires. (Which will go well with my 15+ 501st sets.) Lastly, the TIE Bomber looks fantastic. I really like how the build looks and though the minifigure selection is a bit eh, I’m still looking forward to getting that Rae Sloane figure. (And who doesn’t love adding more Gonkies to their collection!?) I plan to get all three at the Lego Store on Jan. 1st, along with some Series 24 packs. And oh yeah, the X-Wing polybag and Tusken Raider Brickhead are cool as well. I’ll probably get em at some point cuz they’re cheap.

Maybe? It's hard to keep track of all these release dates haha.

I just found them. No 100th Anniversary set pictures yet unfortunately.

Where'd you see those pictures at? Also, I loved the new Oswald short. Really hope he's in the CMF.

I wouldn't mind Castle Brunwald or the Holy Grail Temple either; I honestly love The Last Crusade even more than Raiders. Having the Hovitos temple as such a large set is admittedly a bit of a headscratcher to me but I also just think it'd be incredibly weird for Lego to not represent that scene at all in this wave. It's also far more iconic than those other locations which is why I think it's the most likely, well besides more buildable objects that would have zero interest for me. If it were to be an Icons type set, I guess that would just save me $150 and be the one set from this relaunch that I pass on.

This was a pleasant surprise this evening. I'll try to (somewhat) briefly go over my thoughts on all of them. 76244 Miles Morales vs. Morbius: Yes, this is indeed one of the sets of all time. I'm going to be honest, I only care about that Morbius figure. That build for the car is surprisingly well done, I just have zero use for it in my collection. I'm probably going to order Dr. Michael "It's Morbin' Time" Morbius off of Bricklink just for the memes. 76245 Ghost Rider Mech & Bike: Not going to lie, the build for this kinda looks like a bootleg toy. The oversized bike is okay I guess but that mech is awful. I don't understand why Ghost Rider would ever use a mech either though I'm obviously putting too much thought into that. This is the line that had the infamous Mandarin Flamethrower Golf Cart after all. 76247 The Hulkbuster: The Battle of Wakanda: I have conflicted feelings about this one. The model itself is amazing and easily beats out every Lego Hulkbuster, including that $550 one and I sorta want to replace the 2018 version with this one. I like the updated Bruce Banner and Okoye a lot, thought the minifigure selection in general is very weak here. The price of $50 is also a bit absurd for what you're getting. This one's going on my MAYBE list, like possibly if I find a great deal on it. 76248 The Avengers Quinjet: Now this is the one new set here I can say that I am 100% getting. It surpassed my expectations and I'm glad they're doing something I've wanted to see for like a year now: a pseudo-D2C Quinjet with a stand like the 2021 Benatar. The model looks pretty good with a decent interior that's accurate to the film, plus the cool interchangable S.H.I.E.L.D/Avengers stickers. The Thor figure is eh, fine, (I dislike that face print) and I mentioned yesterday how they should've used a lighter shade of blue for 2012 Cap. Otherwise, the updated 2012 Black Widow with arm printing is phenomenal, the new Loki is great, especially with that alternate face print and hair piece, and new helmet aside, it's great to get a new Mark 7 Iron Man. Hawkeye definitely should have come in this set though. I'll probably pick up this set over the summer next year. Also is it just me or does the box art of Iron Man with the nano gauntlet looks kinda weird?

I've taken advantage of just about every double VIP event this year so I really racked up a ton of points. I just redeemed $215 worth of vouchers to get 75323 The Justifier and 75339 Death Star Trash Compacter. Both are very overpriced sets and I only ended up paying $45 total for both of them, plus I'm getting four free promotions along with them. (A Lego fleece blanket 5007622, the Fun and Funky VIP Pack 40512, Winter Holiday Train 30584 polybag and 40565 Santa's Workshop, which was my main reason for placing this order.) I've also ceased to be a Lego purist and have been dabbling in adding some custom minifigs to my collection. I ordered The MinifigCo's Grand Admiral Thrawn since the Phantom 2 I got over the summer didn't come with one and I'm not paying $100 for the inaccurate official figure on its own. And from Grandpa Clone Customs, I ordered: Kamino Apartment Boba and Jango, based off The Skywalker Saga character models. Battle of Naboo Padme, based off The Skywalker Saga character model. A custom torso for AOTC Padme of her shirt before the midriff got torn off. Aside from potentially ordering some more custom minifigures this month, this is probably it for my Lego spending this year! It's been a very expensive one, that's for sure.