Lordhelmet

This is a good point, the clone army building options the last few years have been significant (no matter how many complaints about the helmets and prints there have been it has not seems to hurt the sales). Clones army building has shaped the current landscape substantially.

Agreed, things were watered down too much. We got one strong movie out of five and one and half good shows out of 7 or 8? focusing resources to produce less but excellent content was a better choice. Interesting note on this, there’s a store called Ollie s in the US, they basically collect everything that doesn’t sell at discount at places like Walmart and sell at a reduced amount. I don’t think Lego has ever been in one but there were a ton of last Jedi action figures selling for $2 at one this weekend (they were not selling). Ashoka was also well represented. To note most of the other toys were from wish, black panther two, and random other toys. The over saturation of mediocre shows and movies leads to poor merchandise sales. This leads me to two thoughts. 1) I am curious what Legos negotiating power is with Disney, is Lego bolstering merchandise sales for them now? Or is Star Wars bolstering Lego sales? Probably a combo, but not sure that it is as one sided as it was years ago. 2) Lego should be responsive to the few good things (looking at you tie avengers) more than trying to have a bunch of stuff out for new movies (I think this just means better mix of products each year with a more balanced approach vs. dedicating half of a wave to a new movie) We will see how mando changes the landscape.

Very likely, they did use this in Neuschwanstein for windows in addition to the prints. This was also used in the ideas challenge exploring middle earth (by the winning design which is a micro scale minis tirith). Worth checking out. My assumptions is the actual set will have a bigger city and less rock work and field work than the winning set but this at least gives a good idea of what mini scale can look like

Just built Neuschwanstein and it made me excited for minis tirith, I am hoping and expect it to look awesome. Hoping for a bunch of printed parts like Rivendell had to capture windows or details.

Imagine how many books they would have sold with Mara jade (I suppose any random unmade character would also sell well too but Mara jade was an opportunity with keeping the theme and would have sold great without needing unique mold)

This is a good one I’d prefer no gothmog but two orcs. also, a robin or two, or some extra guards would also be nice small siege tower with a few orcs

I am still hoping for a bottle pack some day - I suppose after 14 years I should lower expectations. i m very excited to get these minifigures. Holy to know the date. i m also good with a micro scale exterior (probably like barad dur. price at $650 is more than i want to spend but June is more than enough time to be ready. If done right I will be very happy.

I really like the shire, i did add a bunch of hobbits from PAB (and a handful of bricklink torsos) and a small farm scene to mine. But it looks good and I liked have a $260 set after the $500 ones.

Hoping for more if this is the biggest and potentially most expensive LOTR set. If it costs more than Rivendell I expect more than 21 figs (even if 6 of them are identical)

Happy to get Gondor stuff, sad it will cost a lot. Hopefully it is well executed, when are we expecting the set? Need to make sure I am planning for the cost.

Fair points, my wishlist then is a series of cmfs prequal trilogy Boss Nass Mas Ameda Padme (pick any random dress padme needs better representation) wat tambor tactical droid yaddle depa billaba adi gallia oppo rancia shmi rune haako ric Ollie (left dexter off and Zam because they have sets that should be made) OT CMF cloudcity Leia (white outfit) force ghost obi wan Captain Needa vader while being electrocuted Sy snootles droopy mccol Lyn Me Rystal Yak face Klaatu snaggletooth Shistavanen wolfman

What do we think is the primary barrier for Lego making Depa Billaba, is it a new hair mould or is it a reason to make her (a set that would include her)? I have the same questions about Sidious, Senator Palpatine, and Chancellor Valorum. They all seem like easy minifigures for lego make, just maybe they don't have a set that could include these in. I understand Boss Nass and Mas Ameda would need new moulds as well, but I am not sure why these other ones have not been made.

For the 50th I am hoping they emphasize A New Hope (I wouldn’t mind a nod or two to the concept art either). It’s really the 50th for A New Hope though so hoping it stays focused.

Wishlist based on modular idea. Can be applied to other locations but my top wish list. Endor, 5 sets plus two battle packs. $250. - Ewok village (two large trees with a rope bridge connecting them and ground pieces/ foliage like the speeder diorama, no border on it it these would have connection points to other set) Comes with Luke, c-3po Leia, Han, chewie, chief chirps, wicket and three more Ewoks $100 - Ewok celebration - another Ewok tree but have the helmets, comes with wedge, rebel trooper and some Ewoks (same base structure) $150 - bunker - bunker build (Han, Leia in Endor prints, r2, rebel trooper, biker scout, imperial officer, storm trooper) connects at base with foliage $250 - battle of Endor (few trees with central battle area, same base connecting to other sets with foliage) AT-ST build, and some of the traps from the trees. Includes 2 rebel troopers, 2 scout trooper, 2 storm troopers, navy trooper, imperial officer, AT-ST pilot, chewie, 2-3 Ewoks) $100 - endor chase. Base with foliage to connect different parts of the forest, smaller trees, speeder bike. Comes with 2 scout troopers, Endor Luke, and an Ewok. Endor battle packs imperial small terrain build that could connect to the main battle scene. Includes two storm troopers, 1 scout trooper, and 1 officer rebels - similar terrain build includes three different rebels and one Ewok

I love the modular idea. The current Harry Potter Hogwarts sets combining are really cool and I wish some other themes would do this. Sorry not trying to get wish list here, but I do love the idea of multiple sets combining in a wave, or over the course of a few years. And I agree with the outlook.

Does anyone know what the expected price will be for minis tirith? Would like to know sooner than later to plan.

Opposite for me but I largely agree that clones and officers are easier to recognize. I didn’t know the chipmunk clones name but knew he was some special clone that looked familiar. We need more “glup shittos” in sets, I would love a set with just background characters, they are hard to find in sets but when we get some they really make the sets feel more like Star Wars. They should make a “village” style set for tatooine, just some random building with a handful of aliens that show up in the cantina or jabas palace. Like castle gets town sets without all the knights, Star Wars could use that too. Would be great for MOCs.

Looks great!

These brick built creatures would make awesome battle packs. Like the drawback with some sand troopers, or clones vs geonosians and one of the creatures would be way better than what we are getting for side builds in general. I still would like moulded dinosaur styled versions but I think there’s room for both and would like to see both.

From the request the other day about minifigures. I created a chart (based on bricklink) with each category by year. Unfortunately I cannot post it here due to size restrictions and making the chart fit under 5kBs makes it unreadable. Some notes from it. We have actual seen a general increase in Minifigures overall with 87 this past year, although the Death Star and robot builds from the advent calendar played a large role in hitting that number. Since the low of 45 in 2021 there has been a gradual increase to this year which is closer to the average numbers from 2012-2020. Also worth noting the TV series have taken up a lot of the minifugre selection from the past few years. Between 2021 and 2024 around 25% of the minifigures have been from TV shows, mostly Mando - which does explain some of the fatigue during that time. OT rarely falls below 30% of minifigures in a given year. As we know, what is most apparent is how new media effects sets, a new TV show or Movie spikes the percentage for a year or two and then it drops down (for more recent things to 0). This creates a lot of imbalance in the older sets/minifigures that people want (like the clone drought during the sequels and stand alone movies), or the current issues with too many TV shows (albeit not the sets people really want from them like a tie avenger). Another thing impacting the numbers are sets like the Death Star with the significant amount of minifigures (and cantina, cloud city, etc.). Even though we had 87 minifigures this year, 45 of them were from the Death Star and the Advent calendar (and these numbers do include buildable droids - same as brick link).

I agree with this, leaning into the big moulds is a better approach, Star Wars has so many options for big moulds too (bantha, ronto staying on Tatooine themes). I think I would like the brick built options more if there was better consistency with the moulded versions and it was a nice change up similar to the mosasaurus set (where jurassic world gets a ton of good moulded Dinos with the occasional brick built)

Sad but good point on the 50th anniversary. The smart sets are really hurting what is feasible for the 50th anniversary. Trying to avoid a wish listing, but thinking about what is likely if Lego won't have two of the "same" set on the shelves. Scenes/Set ideas that are still available (as in not currently on shelves by then) in order, Tantive IV, escape pod, Sandcrawler, Lars Homestead, T-16, Bantha, Obi-Wan's hut, Ronto/Mos Eisley street, Outrider, Death Star playset?, Tie Fighter, Yavin, Y-Wing. Still some good options, but not the key/best ones available. And they may even double down on the smart brick thing next year too, hopefully it tanks so they avoid it, but it could be too far in the design/production process to shift.

I am an OT fan, this wave doesn't offer anything to me. The two builds we could use a remake of are the Tie Advanced and an AT-ST (from Endor). These two builds would have to be good to consider (especially at the crazy prices). Based on the note about the AT-ST , that it has a giant head, and the previous X-wing picture that was floating around I have my doubts about both of these builds. The rest, nothing new or unique to set them apart (so far, although the Ewok being Teebo, or a new alien mould might sway me on one of them). No special minifigures called out, bad pricing, just smart brick or comparable. Hard pass, hoping I am wrong, and the AT-ST and Tie advanced are great builds but this is a sad wave. Maybe kids will love it? Edit: Between smart bricks and Mando movie sets (I am over all the Mando lego) I may pass on everything this year (not the worst situation with some LOTR rumors, and the OOT teaser)

I remember the discussion too, I think I had a post in 2024 about averages over different time periods in response to someone's post about playset percentages, but I think those discussions were 2024. There is a good resource from bricknerd covering through 2022, https://bricknerd.com/home/the-missing-minifigures-of-lego-star-wars-3-24-23. But it does not have the data from the past few years.

The sets all look nice. I like that then-8 is sized to r2 (I don’t other with the buildable figures but having them scaled the same way is cool). The Venetor is nice too, looks great makes me want a star destroyer if they can get all the shapes right. I won’t be buying it but think it’s very good. the ATAT is a must buy for me, looks awesome, I have not been disappointed with any of the models in the starship line and am happy it’s covering vehicles too. I would mind the redoing every ship (that cannot be properly done at a reasonable cost and detail in mini figure scale) in this style from the OT. My one complaint (outside of prices) is that the don’t have a minifigure. I think if each came with a minifigure they would be perfect sets.my reason for this is I keep building the starship line and keep being impressed by the builds. They have become my favorite builds in my display, and it is making it hard to choose which ship to display. Currently trying to pick between the falcon and one of the playscale ones from a decade ago. the AT AT will give me the same issue of which one to display. Would like to see a sandcrawler at some point. Regardless AT-AT looks great and despite that I think it’s $10 too much will end up paying full price in January for it.