mirkwoodspiders

That'd be my only criticism. I'd have liked something from TPM or RotS prior to a Razor Crest. I have to think UCS sets for those movies are inevitable at some point, though.

I think so, too. If there were ever a time to release it, this is it with season 3 close at hand. The ship biting the dust hasn't made it any less interesting for me. For a $530 price point I'm imagining UCS Gunship footprint, possibly bigger. They must be supremely confident in the market for this thing - $530 for a non Skywalker saga UCS set is bold.

Any more word on what the D2C this fall is? I doubt we'll see/hear anything at LEGO Con, but this time last year we were already fairly certain the D2C was the AT-AT.

Agreed on both points. Can't wait to see this thing.

It'd have to be a near-perfect castle for me to fork-over $450. I understand the price increases in general. LEGO exists primarily for their benefit, not ours... pursuing their desired profit margin will always come before cutting customers a break. Those aren't mutually exclusive things, but one is definitely more important than the other for LEGO. It will just make for some tougher choices as to what I do and do not buy is all.

Most likely, but anything could happen at this point. Stonewars.de have not confirmed but feel confident that it will be a set by the name of "Hogwarts Express Collector's Edition". Normally Stonewars won't touch a rumor unless they feel it's strong, so I'm thinking it will indeed be the Hogwarts Express, but at this point it really could still be anything. Fingers crossed we'll get some more info one way or another at LEGO Con but I'm not optimistic.

A D2C reveal would be fantastic, but I seriously think we'll have to wait longer. It's slated for a fall release, right?

You are probably right. I figure if they could have made the neck more slender, they would have.

Her neck looks too stout, too. It doesn't capture the long, slender look of the movie character. I don't know if LEGO could have done much different, but I'm not a huge fan of the minifigure the more I look at her.

Is that a new red glass canopy piece for the scythe?

First images of Obi-Wan's starfighter are circulating. It looks great! Taun We looks a little stubby, and I think Obi Wan would benefit from a physical cape versus a printed one, but all in all looks like a great set

Good point. I was puzzled at the lack of a king, mostly because Promobricks teased the name as "King's Castle" or something close to that. A medieval queen will be a welcome addition. I have King Leo from 6098 who should fit nicely in the set anyway.

From the drawing, I'm guessing it can't be closed together? It's not a deal-breaker at all, but I'm curious if it is facade only or can be closed to look like Fort Legoredo.

Forgive me for prodding, but anything new to report on the current UCS Razor Crest speculation?

Agree with all of this. I'm intrigued/excited at the possibility of a UCS Razor Crest, but there are a lot of factors making the whole prospect difficult to believe. That said, if there were any time to release one, it'd be this fall. Season 3 of the Mandalorian releases in November, and I'm not sure the show's popularity will ever match what it is now, which probably translates to decent sales. I don't necessarily think the absence of the ship in season 3 would hurt people's interest.

Full disclosure... I'd never heard of Cad Bane before BoBF and still don't know much about him or his ship. I'm just starting up the Clone Wars series and am loving it, but have a long way to go to get to the Bad Batch, Rebels, etc., which also means a long way to go before I get to know Cad Bane enough to want this ship. The Justifier does seem obscure to me, but I would have to think LEGO is confident enough in a ton of fans who have seen far more than I have and will want the ship.

Yeah, I have the system one and it's pretty good, but a UCS one would have to be minifig scale and a lot better quality. That said, I'd never thought about how massive this thing would have to be if it's indeed $530... UCS Gunship was 3,200 pieces at $350. We'd be in the 5,000 piece range for $530, right? Jerac's Razor Crest is really good and it's 4,888 pieces, so I guess it's possible. We'll see.

Exciting news! I hope all of the Phase II Cody fans are happy, I certainly am. There are only a few sets on the entire list that I'm for sure not picking up; everything else sounds at least interesting enough to wait until the reveal to decide. I'm most hyped for: 1) UCS Razor Crest, 2) AT-TE, 3) Scythe. What are everyone else's top sets in the wave?

If that's true, it's a rather cruel way to tease something

All this hype for news on Cody today and... Promobricks publishes a story on LEGO Classic summer novelties. The vague hints/rumors are getting annoying.

We got a fairly confident statement that it'll be a UCS Razor Crest awhile back from @no_one_of_importance173. He posted on instagram about the rumor, saying he'd received info from @brick_clicker and @republick_studs affirming this as the likely model. No offense to these individuals, but how reliable are they? @no_one_of_importance173 said in his post, "Take this with a grain of salt. Looking likely, but it’s just a rumor for right now… Posted due to info from multiple sources...". I don't understand how something like this is "likely", though... at this point it in the process, it either has to be a definite "yes" or "no", right?

UCS' main draws for me have always been display presence, accuracy, finer details, and whatever functions they can slap on. Minifigures have never and will never be a deal-breaker for me. I've always wondered what portion of purchasers are eyeing these sets because they want to add to their impressive minifigure collection; maybe 10%? I can't imagine many, but who knows. The model is the point, not the figures. If the model isn't compelling, I'm fairly confident the figures won't sway a lot of people, no matter how amazing (most just bricklink the fig later anyway). Reverse the situation and I'm fairly confident the lack of compelling figures won't be enough to prevent people from picking up an amazing model.

It's a hard line to toe, but you're exactly right. Some faction of fans will have a problem with any decision you make, so just go ahead and do what you think makes sense and is best for the general public.

Review embargoes for UCS Landspeeder have been lifted and there are a bunch of them out there. Watching a few of them have really endeared the thing to me. It looks really good - colors, shape, accuracy, etc. I think they had enough requests for this that they felt they had to release it at some point. Now that it's on the market, I really feel they will begin mixing UCS prequel sets into the lineup soon. There just aren't a ton of OT sets left to remake or release 1st time - Vader's TIE, TIE Interceptor, TIE Bomber, Nebulon-B, AT-ST, Imperial Shuttle and... I think that's it?

Yes, but I honestly think minigifure scale version would need to be large enough to accomodate the figures that it would be impressive and display worthy anyway. I'll likely buy it either way.