CloneCommando99

Holy crap! You’re alive?! I guess. All that’s needed to save the SW brand is a Lego TIE Avenger (Day #390) I hope they do. But Lego’s announcement system for SW is usually KUBAR.

Sure that was retroactively established in future EU instalments. But I don’t think the Vong are even alluded to in the actual HTTE trilogy. So as someone who read HTTE chronologically (most of my other Legends consumption comes from videogames, some comics, KOTOR cinematics, and EckhartsLadder/ Geetsly videos) I just took HTTE Thrawn as an imperial who prioritised the main objective with competence. When I read the trilogy by itself at least. How it feels to yap about Lego TIE Avengers every day: Day #389 of asking for one. I was planning on taking my dad to watch M&G at the cinema this Friday. But after recent reviews (apparently the opening scene is the most cinema worthy part) i’m not sure whether I should wait until D+. I’m just not feeling the hype guys. And that kinda almost scares me.

TIE Avenger for our thoughts? Mainstreet USA with the stormtrooper shirt print got revealed. Looks nice.

Ok. The new Lanterns trailer gives me faith. it appears the white suit with green accents from that fan edit a few months ago is how prime Hal’s suit looks. It does work better than Guy’s ngl. i posted it when it first got made but here u guys go.

I was more generally speaking about the movies. For many shows such as Andor, TCW and Maul a bit of a moral greyness does work well. But it also does help that the empire is absolutely abhorrent in Andor, arguably more so than in the OT as the Alderaan victims were entirely off-screen. I just think that the movies all need to have scale and be a struggle between light and dark. Shows and specials are probably better for self-contained stories like with more morally grey protagonists like Solo and M&G. We don’t talk about Acolyte. Great fight scenes. God awful plot. The great thing about Thrawn in HTTE is that he’s very much still evil. He’s just more likeable and competent than the traditional OT imperial Officer and more complex in personality (not morality) than Vader and Palpatine. Making him a great step up. Zahn basically ponders the question: “what if imperial leadership weren’t preoccupied with dark-side apprentice conversion shenanigans and instead locked the kriff in for the primary objective?” His plan only really starts deteriorating when C’Baoth goes rogue and repeats the same mistake Palpatine made with Luke. (I am still very much a fan of the more morally nuanced take on Thrawn in the canon books though) Now where are my beloved AT AT and TIE Avenger?’ (#387) Why is it so dry currently?

Just realised that the 2 non-Mando show/ movie based sets this year are both based on Siege of Mandalore. Could have done with a TIE Avenger instead. smh. (#386) I think the main problem that Solo had was it lacked the spectacle of all the other SW movies. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool and fun film, I really enjoyed the first part but felt it lost momentum once the Crimson Dawn plot fully kicked in. But I’d argue it lacked the grandeur and scale that makes SW movies so memorable. The self-contained story works well for TV shows and Videogames but not movies imo. Movies need to have big good vs evil conflict. And that’s a mistake i fear they’re making again with M&G. It’s also that I’d argue the film lacked a paragon of morals (they really should have used this for Chewie) that the PT, OT and R1 benefitted from with Jedi and Chirrut. If you take away the moral contrast between light and dark it almost removes what makes SW a special mythology. I’d even argue that Shadow Lord wouldn’t have worked as well if Lawson and Daki weren’t present to remind us that Maul is still a villain. That’s why Solo is less memorable than the OT prequels and even Rogue One. Solo just didn’t have the scale or classic light vs dark dilemma. It’s just evil vs slightly less evil vs morally grey. Kenobi’s final episode and episode 4 were the best in the series because Obi-Wan wasn’t a sad jaded old man in those, he was a straight up Jedi fighting the forces of evil in those episodes. That’s why Luke sucks in the sequels. He was no longer the paragon of the light that we had loved standing against the darkness in the OT. In short SW movies thrive when it is large scale good vs evil. That’s what makes them special. Not when it’s a self-contained story. Elementary my dear Mandoknight. How could I not be referencing the GOAT?

Excellent rivals ideas as ever. The pirate ship would be a wacky and awesome set to get. My pitch for a whole Superheroes year, including both Marvel and DC, based off a variety of the best movies, comics and animated TV shows. January (Let’s get nuts) TDK Bat-pod (£8.99): Batman vs Joker Green Lantern mech (£12.99): Guy Gardner vs Cyborg Superman X-Men’97 Sentinel (£12.99): Rogue and Nightcrawler X-Men’97 X-Porsche vs Sentinel (£39.99): Cable, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Mr Sinister 12+ Bat-wolf (£74.99): Batman (Exclusive Absolute Power variant), Hal Jordan (flight jacket over uniform), Wally West (Absolute Power) and Zurrh en Arrh failsafe Epic Moments CATWS Helicarrier Showdown (£24.99): Captain America and Winter Soldier Baxter Building (£99.99): Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben, Dr Doom, Namor and the Bombastic Bag-head April (On a mission in an armour of high tech ammunition…) Aim Assault Tank (£54.99) Iron Man (stealth suit), 2 aim agents, Grey Hulk and Black Panther (Based on Iron Man Armoured Adventures) Shield Helicopter vs Crimson Dynamo (£64.99): Iron Man (MkII), General Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Ivan Vanko and Whiplash (Based on Iron Man Armoured Adventures) Legendary Batmobile Collection: Brave and the Bold (£24.99): Batman Absolute Joker construction figure (£29.99): Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Batman August (This is good news…) 6160 Ultimates Hero Pack (£34.99): Iron Lad, America Chavez, Wolverine, Doom and Sif vs Captain Britain (build is one of Britain’s trolls) DCU Synergy Hero Pack (£19.99): Supergirl, Hawkgirl, Captain Atom and Mr Terrific. (Build is Gorilla Grodd) Amazing Fantasy #15 Book Nook (£49.99): Spider-man and crook Action Comics #1 Book Nook (£54.99): Superman and 2 crooks (you know the cover) Mini-modular Lanterns’ Apartment (£44.99): Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Red Lantern Sinestro and a Manhunter Mini-modular Hell’s Kitchen street (£109.99): Daredevil, Matt Murdoch, Spider-man, Punisher, Mr Negative, Wilson Fisk, Bullseye and Betty Brant. (Fisk Tower, Nelson & Murdoch and Punisher’s hideout are the buildings CACW Crossbones Pursuit (£34.99): Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Crossbones and Captain America Thor vs The Destroyer: Return to Asgard (£29.99): Thor, Agent Coulson, Loki. (Destroyer and Asguardian gate-house are builds) 12+ Hydra Quinjet (£99.99): Superior Iron Man, Secret Empire Cap, Anti-Venomised Spider-man, 1610 Hawkeye and Dr Doom Modular Comic Book Store (£219.99): Superboy Prime, Gwenpool, Scarlet Spider, Invincible, Kyle Rayner, Joker, comic store owner (Stan Lee), Batman (blue and grey), Alan Moore, Ms Marvel (OG), kid 1 (flash T-shirt), kid 2 (X-men t-shirt), kid 3 (Superman t-shirt). Filled to the brim with references, including Spawn and Absolute Batman sticker posters. (I know that Warrior’s bar would never happen no matter how much I want it to, but I think I figured out a cool idea to have a modular that celebrates superheroes as a genre)

Officer Balls. We already have Captain Soul-patch And yet the Imp with the impeccable moustache is still nowhere to be seen. (Space Watson! I need you Space Watson!) What?! You don’t mean that Smart Play was completely unnecessary and the answer to the growing youth deficit is just making more prices and characters accessible to kids? No way! But is he stinky?

Either he or Ward will be revealed to be the real Gideon in a mask. I wouldn’t consider Dryden Vos, Reva or Morgan Elsbeth to be fan favourites. I can’t even remember who exactly the big bad in TBoBF was supposed to be. Was it Cad Bane? The Pykes? The Lannister Hutts? The bikers? Disney’s need for Grogu merch? The villains in that series were all over the place and they randomly chucked in Cad Bane at the end of the penultimate episode? But you know who is a fan favourite? That pesky ship that keeps eluding our grasp! (Day #385) The AT RT attack is already on a £5 discount on Amazon. I hope that means it’s selling abysmally and will improve future pricing but we’ll have to wait until the end of the month to be sure. There are some reviews from the premier last night. They’re mostly very mixed and with some saying it’s ‘fun.’ Which in itself is decent but I fear the fact that this sounds very similar to how Love and Thunder was received at its premiere. Some people won’t want to dunk on the film out of fear of not getting invited to the next one.

Boring. But what are the chances that they make it 19 inches tall?

The new Entertainment Weekly article on Lanterns gives me some hope. They are confirmed to go off world. And it has two storylines taking place in 2016 and 2026. So intriguing. Also the mystery is now confirmed to be alien based. So at least there’s a logical reason for them being in Nebraska. My bet is Atrocitus is the main villain.

I feel like this is where the Luke’s X-Wing MF comes into play. Oh how the turntables… I’ll be expecting the start of your Hex campaign any day now. But nothing can stand between me and mine. (Day #384) If Ahsoka S2, the big army vs army show releasing in early 2027, doesn’t get the January BP then what is Lego even doing? Stormtroopers vs the new armoured NR trooper design would honestly be peak BP material. Perfect for the recent 2v2 format. We used to get 10 hour long GOT episodes annually…. Things like HOTD’s 2 year intervals I can understand as it’s more CGI heavy. But the best part of 4 years to wait is just crazy. Even Andor (2.5-3 years) had the excuse of 12 hour long episodes and the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Ahsoka is 8 45-55 minute episodes at best. X-Men’97 is the only thing on D+ I’m looking forward to for the rest of the year,

Surely having a 3.5 year gap between seasons of show with divided reception isn’t the best business move? I’m just waiting for a hopefully awesome Thrawn campaign tbh. I fear the best we can hope for right now is at most 2-3 sets. A Starfighter Duel Pack for the NR vs Thrawn conflict (NR A-Wing vs TIE Defender with Thrawn, Enoch, Ezra and Hera?), a Peridia set with the titular character and maybe a NR vs Empire BP. You forgot to mention something really important. HERETIC!/s (Day #383) I think a Y-Wing and Stormtrooper BP wouldn’t be unappreciated though. But otherwise spot on. Maintaining the agenda is our top priority. If Officer Beard hadn’t already leaked I’d be seriously questioning if there was another AT AT scene at the climax of the film. Or even if it was a Ahsoka S2 Dathomir set (AT AT in concept art). But no. There’s literally no reason not to reveal it. The entire scene has been on kriffing Disney + for a week now. And yet it was the Hutt Droid set that got revealed, surely that’s more of a spoiler? This guy gets it.

GROND!!!

5 years after the events of Waiting Game… the TIE Avengers are no more. But when the chance at victory rears its head a lone wolf will form a brand new team to infiltrate the Lego House and extract the experimental TIE Avenger model. Will this ragtag group complete the mission the original TIE Avengers fought for? Will they undermine the corrupt Corncob? Or are they stupid? They are… Day #382 (I’ll hop to it once Doomsday gets its inevitably convoluted poster. Really hope we get some more users to fill out the cast by then though) Leaker gods! Give me AT AT pics and my sanity is yours! Yeah and the award ceremony scene at the end of ANH is very reminiscent of Triumph of the Will. What did Lucas mean by this? Oh I know. The carpet bombing of that ridge from those Y-Wings in the 1st episode made it very obvious. Also when Umbaran infantry showed up it was always close quarter combat. Which really fits the Viet Cong “grab their belts to fight them” strategy.

Marvel Midnight huh? Can’t believe they cancelled Ultimates to do Man-Spider and X-Men vs Vampires for the 50th time. DC is absolutely annihilating marvel on the quality front in both main and Absolute rn. Fantastic 4 might be cool and something original though. Mini-modular with midnight Spidey in 2 years? Depends. Any minifigs based on Ultimates I’d buy in a heartbeat.

What SW YouTubers do you guys watch? I’m a Generation Tech and EckhartsLadder guy myself. But I’d be interested to hear who you guys watch for SW lore/ reviews.

And even when some P1s do have customisation there’s something charming about the simplistic/ more angled patterns. P1 Keeli, Denal and Cody designs are a lot simpler than most P2 but work really well. A lot better than Commander Doom who’s a bit over designed imo. Much rather it’d be the end of the road for clone domination. But it’d be something ig. Hopefully. Though I will admit that discontinuing the Smart Brick for SW before getting a Buildable R2 D2 that makes the sounds would be stupid. If we have to have the SB then at least do something that makes sense. Oh. So that’s why the war crimes increased exponentially from season 4 onwards /s If at first you don’t succeed. TIE, TIE again. (I said to myself for the 381st time)

So we’re not getting a Guy Gardner mech this year? It was promised to me in a dream with Cyborg Soup being the 2nd minifig. Corncob is the reason why the TIE Avenger isn’t getting made? Perhaps it is his petty vengeance for that small matter in 2024? Yes it would have been. But we’re not allowed cool things apparently. 2025 Soup Mech is arguably the best mech set Superheroes ever got as it received 2 brand new minifigs and one with leg printing. Shaggy’s been cast in MOT. Can’t wait for him not to get a minifig. (I could see Lillard being Barry Allen since Hal’s old)

Yes but that’s now irrelevant because… A) My Commando Corps claimed it by right of conquest B) Luigi controls all markets and industry with his pizzeria C) Brickheadz Joker is coming I will have my TIE Avengeance! (Day #380) Excellent. At this rate 2028 might be a return to form. Tbf House Vizla was still prevalent via Paz. Also the Night of a Thousand Tears is established to have wiped out all of Clan Wren (except Sabine) Phase 1 has always worked better in Lego imo. I also find it quite funny that Clone Bros are so fixed on army building P2 clones on grey baseplates when the only scene where we see clones in parade formation to that scale was with P1 clones in AOTC. P2 Clones for me have always seemed to work better as squads- platoons of army building/ mission teams. While P1 have always struck me as working for both missions and mass parade formation. I don’t know if that makes sense?

TIE Drones are the perfect way for Thrawn/ Remnant to keep a standing defensive fleet for their territory. No recruitment or life support systems required so they are cheaper to make and virtually unlimited due to lack of needed manpower (aside from maintenance) Thrawn I imagine is going to have a cache of TIE Defenders waiting for him back in the main Galaxy for offensive operations. (It was established in TOTE that Morgan was producing some and her factory was still in operation during Mando S2, assumably batches were probably picked up frequently and ASAP by Pellaeon or Faro in case similar events to those in that episode transpired) In an ideal Galaxy the remnant would have the resources to mass produce TIE Avengers. (#379) My one very minor gripe with a INT-4 being the next imp BP build is that the last 2 imp BPs (Dropship v Speeder and Night Troopers) also had air based patrol ships as the build. Granted the INT-4 is much more the empire’s equivalent of the T-47, but still imperial troops are in dire need of reinforcements in both infantry and ground support systems currently. Smart Play still isn’t really moving anything extra on Amazon despite all the May 4th discounts. Everyday I am thankful that there wasn’t a Smart Play Wolfpack Gunship in the March wave. Then the theme would truly have been cooked by clone bros who would have been too short-sighted and single-minded to understand what they’d be unleashing.

Day #378 of being in the mood for a tie avenger

Ultimates TIE Avengers Unite! (For day #377) We really just need a generic imperial BP. If the build is a turbolaser, riot control speeder or INT-4 I’d be extra happy. Recent TV spot shows the RC’s dogfight in the trailer is nearby to Officer Bald’s palace. So those fighters chasing it are definitely imperial ships. Odd Lego didn’t make it. But I guess it’s technically not a TIE fighter unless it’s a TIE drone.

Alec Guiness, Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Neeson, Stellan Skarsgard, Jack Black, David Tennant, Forrest Whitaker… Just say you’re not sure on Ryan Gosling. That’s fine. But a big actor in SW is nothing new. So a recent article by Variety revealed that Andor is the most watched D+ show of the last year. Hopefully this leads to what we’ve been searching for over 376 days. Clone Wars is the most popular piece of content among Gen Z. But that only makes up for only 18% of viewership. So either there’s some crucial overlap between this percentage and Lego’s market or times have changed in the last 24 months. This with 2 remnant stormtroopers and 2 remnant snowtroopers would be a great January battlepack. Or Stormtroopers vs NR Troopers for Ahsoka S2.