darththeling

MakingStarWars.net has an interesting look at the Walmart Star Wars signage/displays coming to Force Friday. It's under these displays that we will supposedly first see this extremely secretive upcoming wave of TFA Lego. If you're avoiding spoilers, beware. There's a never-before-seen character (albeit very blurry) pic featured in one of the displays.

Wow - that's really terrible for all the folks working in these department stores. Sounds like a big waste of time. to move everything out and then back again later? Sheesh. I'm not saying it's a poor marketing technique but it seems like a nightmare from a retail management point of view. I'm starting to doubt the list that mintinbox.net released. I don't know... it doesn't seem right to me. Are they a trusted source of info?

Thankful it's not a complete wave of snowspeeders. I wouldn't put it past them. The inclusion of anything Bespin related is good. Personally, I feel the higher the price point/piece count is on this one, the better. So here's hoping for something in the $100 range. Oh noes... I just realized this will likely be a half-carbon freezing pit (or - gasp) one fourth a carbon freezing chamber! Then we'll have to buy two/four of them. A familiar tactic in recent Star Wars Lego kits!

True this. In the SDCC preview video thing last week there was an excellent wide shot of the interior of that transport (the one we think we know it is) and the troopers are really packed in there like sardines. There doesn't appear to be any space for them to sit, just stand. Looking again at the stills from the trailer (when Kylo's shuttle approaches the Star Destroyer with four of these transports as escorts) I was thinking that the outside of the ship may be similar in appearance/form to the Imperial Troop Transport from Rebels. They are both trooper "transports." The engines appear to be an array of four diagonally shaped blue ovals at the back and there is a very small extension on the top at what appears to be the back of the vehicle. Mr. Fusions maybe? ;) If 75103 is really the only way to get FO Stormtroopers this is gonna be the Most Expensive Wave of All Time.... and we're going to be knee deep in extra Captain Phasmas! Wonder what the BL prices will be like for the FO stormies.

Thanks a lot for the instructions, just picked up an extra set so that I can try this out! Very clever idea to use only the parts that came with the original set. Nice work!

The gun turrets include spring loaded missiles, none of which I believe were even 'fired' in the video. Seems odd to include them without purpose since they look so clumsily out-of-place.

Sorry there! - I wasn't being very articulate in the point I was trying to make about TIE piece counts. This was after we got the list of seven sets which comprises TLG's initial wave of Star Wars Episode VII the Force Awakens kits. We got a complete list of seven new kits and I was focused only on that list as a reference. Cut that list in half and the kit in the absolute middle is the Resistance X Wing, which is excellent, but the point is that TIE is in the lower half of minimal piece count kits, namely: Rey's Speeder, the Snow Speeder and the TIE Fighter. So although technically 9492 has more pieces than 75101, my comparison was limited to the list of seven total TFA sets... the bulkier kits being the Transporter, Command Shuttle and Falcon. Still... we haven't seen anything regarding this TIE yet so who knows? Maybe they will continue the technique of putting smooth plates all around the TIE wing (I sincerely hope not). All we really know is that there is a chance we'll get two seats facing back-to-back like the snowspeeder... gunner and pilot. That feature could certainly be an argument for needing more bricks...

I suppose we can maybe hold out in hope that the prices are high because they are gonna be LOADED with new minifigures. Here's hoping. Great to see TIEs with lower piece counts. I can't stand those thick, bulky TIEs with too many pieces.

75103 First Order Transporter: would this be a new version of the Imperial Shuttle, or perhaps a new version of the (Star Wars Rebels) Imperial Troop Transport, updated for space transport？ I was looking at the trailer image of Kylo's command shuttle returning to the star destroyer and wondered if those little rectangular blobs could be Stormtrooper transports. EDIT: The prices. I can't believe we are looking at around $35USD for the smallest kit. Yikes.

It appears to be his headpiece/hat/horns.

^^ I hope that's the case... and that they are two separate ships because I'm starting to think that the red ship was an early concept of what the final design is seen in this leaked photo "Lead Villain Ship." I was really digging the red color and the WWII bomber 'look'. The red craft would look amazing in Lego form. However... if this ship's wings were able to slide up and down in variable modes it might explain all the deep grooves and details on the underside of the wing.

Taking a guess at features here: One, maybe two green flick fires. Does anyone think, scrutinizing what looks to be Technic bits underneath the wings, there is some collapsing feature to the two wings? There seems to be a great deal of care in detailing and depth that suggest something functional in them. A ship this large should be teeming with at least a few features. Is that the jungle of Yavin IV on the cover?

Underworld has a pic of the new Lego 75104 [Lead Villain Vehicle], we have a user over there named Damian to thank! http://www.starwarsu...t-revealed.html Most certainly this ship belongs to ... and certainly that's his image on the cover of the instruction books. It looks big, menacing and expensive! And the wings appear to have variable mode, as it appears in the trailer vs. that image. The colors and construction remind me of 7680 The Twilight. At that size (and likely wallet slaying price point) we should expect a decent interior.

This is really nice work.... and nice to see someone tackling this scale for an Imperial Troop Transport. You've put a great deal of care into the details and slopes of this vehicle. I'm really digging the interior! Looks like a few figures can comfortably fit in there. Is it flat on the floor or are you using any of those round tiles underneath to make it "hover"? If this is your first attempt, keep building LegoFan82!

Cheers, great review. The multiple angles confirm what I suspected - it's not quite as good as the version from 2008 (7670) but that one isn't so great either because the transparent dishes are kind of a pain to clean/dust. Well, I guess all transparent pieces seem to attract dust but cleaning those specific pieces are just the pits. Good use of red spring missiles, though. And the figs are good. Will probably wait for a sale for this one.

Hello Eurobricks members and web crawlers alike. Let's review a set that I feel isn't getting near enough love this wave: the Imperial Troop Transport 75078. USD $12.99 CAN $15.99 UK $11.99 GER €16.99 FRA €14.99 Product Description: Track down the rebels on planet Lothal with the armored LEGO Star Wars Imperial Troop Transport battle pack. Issue your Stormtroopers with stud shooters, load them up and get ready to deploy. If they come under attack, jump onto the roof and fire the dual flick missiles from the turret to send the rebels running for cover! Includes 4 Stormtrooper minifigures with assorted weapons. Includes 4 Stormtrooper minifigures with assorted weapons Imperial Troop Transport features a dual flick missile turret and space for 4 Stormtroopers and their weapons Also includes extra ammunition Weapons include 4 stud shooters Load up the troops and track down some rebels Man the turret and fire the flick missiles Store the extra ammunition in the storage box with handles Expand your LEGO® Star Wars collection with this great battle pack As featured in the Star Wars: Rebelsanimated TV series Imperial Troop Transport measures over 3” (8cm) high, 2” (6cm) long and 3” (9cm) wide I wanted to do a review of this set because I think it's an all-around keeper - a well rounded battlepack with some great value. It's also going somewhat unnoticed in a wave with more exciting designs and figures. It's true this kit is only 4 of the same figure, but in my opinion it's a solid figure to have four of. If any moderator wants to add a poll, be my guest. Otherwise, feel free to reply with your impression of the set. Here's the front of the box, standard 2014-2015 wave "Rebels" grey/orange. And the back. Love the four-shot at the top right. The contents: Here are the stars of the show - the Star Wars: Rebels-era Stormtroopers. From what I've read the printing/grill on the front of the trooper mask is a cause of some protest for Lego Star Wars fans - some say it's too grinnish, distorted and unfamiliar. We'll get to that later. All four troopers are identical, except two of them have a different facial expression. Here's the troopers' backs. And with the stud shooters, which although I agree are somewhat not-so-great for minifigs, have had success recently integrating them onto ships and vehicles. Here are some steps throughout the build, which is surprisingly more time consuming than it looks. And that's the whole Imperial Troop Transport. Does it look like the real one? Sorta. With that economy of pieces? Certainly. But... it's small. It's actually around the right height... about as high as a person standing, a bit taller. On the show, there are three placements on both sides for troopers to ride in (or prisoners to be transported in) and this model only has two per side. Big drawback: there's no interior. But I guess the general shape is represented with pretty small pieces and simple slopes. If you can squeeze those 4 studs into the crate, great. Slide the cargo crate in the middle (always nice to have more of those) and the troopers pit more or less easily into their placements. If they are holding guns, particularly stud shooters, it is cumbersome to align them in properly. Very few spare pieces left over, but I do like me some extra x1 white round studs. You can turn them into jogan fruit. :D All together, here's the side view... ... and the front. Neither side is a beauty, these ITT blobs look best at an angle. It's a surprisingly sturdy build though, all together. Here's a look at the underside. This kit comes with enough 1x2 trans clear bricks to make some people happy... about 6 or so in total I think. Here are a couple of my improvements: First of all, give these troopers some proper blasters. Second, that turret on top doesn't look right. Not a fan of the flick fires on something so small. So with two black lightsaber hilts, I switched around the turret a bit in the hopes that it looks a *tiny* bit more screen-accurate. Ratings: Personally, I love this kit because the price is great for the number of troopers you get... and I don't mind the Rebels-era stormtrooper helmet variant. Some people do, though. They don't like the shape of the mouth and I can understand that. I'd also read that some don't like how pronounced the blue grill details are on the sides of the mask. Well here's a bit of a perspective: I have a number of "vintage" stormtroopers from various sets all the way back to 1999 and the printing on stormtroopers then was terrible. Here's a comparison: Yes, there's a huge gap in printing between the "teeth" of about a dozen of my Millennium-era troopers (above, right) and it looks sad. I have all of them assigned to the bowels of the Death Star and on board the ISD so that most people don't see them. Compared to these old dudes... four troopers for fifteen bucks, IMO this kit is a no-brainer. Snap these up on sale! I plan to get at least two more next sale and then I'll store some away for future gifts. I can only hope that the episode 7 kits coming out are this generous in an offering - 4 troopers for $15 is a great deal. You can never have too many troopers. ;) Can you? Parts: 9/10 Decent! These are useful slopes and bricks in grey, a few clear pieces and grey plates. You could probably do a lot with this pile of pieces. Price 10/10 Absolutely stellar. Bring a shopping cart when these are on sale... unless you only can stand pure original trilogy stormtroopers. Build 8/10 It's okay... I built two of these and got lost briefly both times because the pieces looked so similar. Again, the flick fires make me crazy and I had to tweak it right away. Design 7/10 Scale wise: the size of the transport compared with the AT-DP is pretty close to what we have in the show. There is criticism to be leveled here, though. Looking at the wide berth of the transport in the show I think better pieces could have been chosen to create the round front. And I know it needed to be a certain price point but... I dunno. Take out the stud shooters and make it a full stud wider? I would have enjoyed an ITT at a $25 or $30 price point but I'm expecting some clever MOC'ers here to come up with something. Minifigures - 10/10 Awesome. The reason I am doing this review is to give this sweet, misunderstood set for what it is - a battlepack for Imperial Troopers that hasn't been matched since 7667 Imperial Drop Ship back in good old 2007 (OMG it was USD $9.99). I won't ding points for the helmet because it is meant to be a representation of troopers from Star Wars Rebels... and that's how they look. And sometimes It's great to get four-of something in a battlepack instead of two you want... and two you don't. Playability- 9/10 This is a pretty solid set, it looks okay without troopers, great with them loaded and there's a Lothal vibe where they're parked. It's solid and is easy to handle and manipulate. Overall 9/10 My final thought... run and don't walk the next day these babies are on sale. As a Canadian AFL, there aren't that many sets that I feel are of such good value even at regular retail price. If you like the Rebels Troopers, now's your chance to really expand your imperial army. Feel free to add your comments, ratings and why. You can, of course, re-enact some rad battle scenes on top of these transports: "Your master has deceived you into thinking you can become a Jedi..." Rebels Season two can't come soon enough!

It's surprising to me the lack of support here for the 75106 Imperial Assault Carrier. Are we not in favor of new designs? Seems like most waves are 70% rehashes. I was a fan of the carrier from its first appearance in Star Wars Rebels and hoped we'd get a proper Lego version. And it ain't an easy design to build - lots of weird slope areas. For a Rebels fan and someone who is building a sizable Imperial navy, this entry is a must-have and I'll be getting this at full price - cannot wait. Got a soft spot for capital ships. There is some interior space - a cockpit and what appears to be a sitting room only space in the middle. Two consoles and two cargo areas. It looks reasonable to me, as some have protested that there is no interior space whatsoever. The only thing I'm not crazy about are the stubby little TIES. But it remains to be seen it the ship displays better with or without them. This is going to look pimpin' next to an ISD.

Outstanding work on the ship, inside and out! And the base is a work of art in it's own right, with the hallway exposed it really engages the imagination. It kind of reminds me of the prison on Stygeon Prime.

Any in-hand pics of Yularen? Mine's supposed to arrive tomorrow. He's got a seat reserved in 10188's war room. I don't suppose there's any noteworthy printing on his back? I found one pic of him out of package here.

A lot of discussion boards deal with spoilers as a matter of specified policy. For example, many boards suggest that while any material from a teaser or trailer is open game, info divulged in novels, comics, (as well as the actual movie) are off limits until everyone's had a reasonable chance to view the tv series/film in question. I checked the FAQ and help board but didn't see anything re: spoilers. My question is... if you come here looking for info/photos of new Star Wars sets including Episode 7, do you have no suspicion at all that some of these images to come of upcoming sets are going to be straight up spoilers in and of themselves? This box art lists Sept 4 as a release date for the box images of all toys or would this not include Lego? Either way, I'm sure we'll see TFA Lego pics before then.

Ah 75059. My wallet shrieked, tore off screaming and hasn't been seen since. So I gathered up all the brown, tan and greys I could find and put together a sandcrawler, of the Tatooine + Jawa variety. Here's a MOC in the possible Midi-scale range; however it is also large enough for figs and features 4 custom Jawas... and a number of captured droids stuffed in the hold. I wanted something a bit more like the previous sandcrawler - but smaller. The result is something that fits well among the other Tatooine playsets and vehicles. In other words, I want a sandcrawler at a scale that won't compete with The Death Star 10188 for shelf display superiority. I didn't have a substantial number of brown and light brown plates around to make the exterior so this sandcrawler actually has more in common with 10114's than 75059. And of course, much smaller. The windows aren't exactly screen-accurate in their placement, however they provide an excellent view from inside the cockpit. I was able to score some simple treads for the bottom and although, they are also not the most screen-accurate representation, I feel they capture the spirit and also allow the crawler to move fairly smoothly. Here's the crew. Custom Jawas include torsos and feet from old Ewoks and black head pieces from Stormies. The brown hoodies are from surplus Obi Wans collected over the years. The yellow eyes are single blobs of nail polish. I didn't feel they needed decal torso prints but hey... maybe someday. The back area was the most fun to detail. I looked at some official schematics as well as some incredible builds from around the 'net for inspiration. The two cylinder things at the rear are distinctive and needed to be included. A couple of simple, strategically placed round studs provide a stopping point for the angled front walls of the crawler. The result is a snug fit when the door is raised - however the pieces are fairly worn and it won't hold in place. :/ On the top I had to take some liberties with the overall shape of the front since I wasn't using bricks that would allow such dramatic slopes. Here's the interior view from the forward bay. Junk and droids lay scattered along the entire first floor. You can see a maintenance bay above that - this piece is part of a large hunk that is removed for access to the interior. Here it is removed: The detachable part by itself: Overhead view of the cockpit and the hold below: The cockpit is just high enough for a Jawa to stand and the lid opens and closes easily. Over on the other end is a small platform where an engineer Jawa can access the main reactor. Well, that's that. I think the scale is good for my display, so I'm not looking to enlarge it but I do feel the shape of the upper front (cockpit area) might find improvement somehow. Also I'm looking to do a bit more color swapping in favor of the color pattern from 10114. I'm certainly open to comments and criticism. Thanks for checking it out and best of luck sweeping the deserts for salvage!

Minimalism! It's employed by TLG often in cheaper, lower piece point sets and especially when dealing with Star Wars locales. I present today a draft of a Lothal market as I think it is the among the least likely of locations that TLG would offer at retail... and include some sweet Star Wars fruit as well. Here's a wishlist of other Lothal locations, some I may attempt later: Old Jho's Pit Stop Lothal Captial (street, alley scene?) Stormtrooper training facility Tarkintown Ezra's Tower Communications Tower In this MOC I'm using standard yellow for the ground of Lothal and I feel I must defend this choice by pointing out that Tattooine is pretty firmly established on our shelves as tan. Additionally, we're looking at a new planet in Episode 7 (Jekku) that looks identical to Tattooine - tan. Therefore I think Lothal should be built in the most distinctive color possible; leading yellow to be the only readily available color lying about (maybe light brown would be better?) I need to mine for more yellow so at the moment the playset is just 3 small scenes on plates and a Lothal hill, seemingly everywhere on that planet. This project was originally just about making Lego Star Wars fruit. A common fruit found in the Star Wars universe is Jogan fruit, seen in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It's palm sized with wavy purple and white lines so I figured that 1x1 white and dark purple round studs might do the trick. In barrels or boxes they look a bit more convincing. It will give your imperial troops something to bully innocent vendors over at least... plus you could send some droids to pick some up for Jogan Fruitcake. ;) The meiloorun fruit was a bit harder to determine size and color. It needed to be a bit larger than the jogan. At first I had yellow+yellow+orange but reviewing Fighter Flight again I noticed the bottom end is dark pink. But! - I only had round light pink round studs lying about. So with a small green tip at the top, I settled on lightgree+yellow+orange... for now. If anyone else has a better solution to this fruit, please post it! . It almost seems like the Imperials - the galactic ruling class - have no problem acquiring vast quantities of meiloorun fruit on Lothal... a planet thought unlikely to have any at all! Just another example of the inequality in the Star Wars universe. ;) Both of these vendor stalls have adjustable awnings overheard. In the show there is a collapsing brace for the awnings that I could not reconcile with technic pieces.. yet. So for now just a pole and anchor keep the vendor spots shaded. The planet Lothal... is a pretty dull place overall. Some exciting action takes place here but besides maybe some Loth Cats there isn't too much in the terrain that makes it stand out as a Star Wars locale (giant mushrooms on Felucia, for example). Hills and grass seemed to be the only defining elements of the terrain. As such, a tan blob of a hill is placed next to the market for atmosphere. Additionally, a small patch of grass and... what's this? A box of T-7 Ion Disruptors? Zeb isn't gonna like that. With a couple of walkers you could re-create Droids in Distress... surely we'll be seeing a Vizago someday. Finally, I added a custom MOC of a figure we very likely aren't going to see: Taskmaster Grint. In my opinion, the Imperial Officer that comes in the Inquisitor's TIE set is supposed to look a bit like Arseko... sunken eyes and gaunt complexion. So he will need a Grint to pose together with! I will swap out the proper uniform color later. The "unshaven" head I raided from a Lone Ranger set... either the stagecoach or the train, can't remember. But the look on his face is pretty close to the one in Spark of Rebellion when he harasses the jogan vendor. "Loth scum!" I hope others try making Lothal environments. I am experiencing a shortage of spare pieces for projects like this so I had to go 'full minimal.' However TLG has surprised with nice little scenes like this one from time to time and this one would only have a $20-25 price point. For wherever season 2 takes us, the first season of this show will always be set on Lothal so it's nice to get some representation on the shelf.

And they have the correct lightsaber color for Luke (green)... whew!! The fact that the display model used a blue one was driving me nuts.

TheBrickFan via Brickalandia.pt has the new summer box art images: http://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-star-wars-summer-2015-official-box-art-images/

Thanks for sharing. This is very interesting. I was wondering if I should hold out any hope of there ever being an official TLG arena scene release before I spent a lot of time, money and energy on a custom MOC. Props to your brilliant Lego Ideas set as well, LegoAcklay. I'd say this scene as well as the Royal Naboo J-327 are the two most ignored-but-critical pieces of the prequel trilogy in TLG's catalog. I sure wish we got this instead of another Republic Gunship.