Swordy

I hope that's because they plan to bring back Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy as Erik and Charles in the soft-reboot post-Secret Wars. (At the very least, Fassbender deserves to be brought back, since he managed to make each X-Recast film worth the watch. Although I just read something about him taking a step back from Hollywood, so maybe that's not possible anymore.) I thought the rest of the cast were too juvenile in talent. I've never seen the original X-Trilogy, and honestly I'm a bit unsure about ever seeing them. I did work my way through the four X-Recasts; didn't like First Class, absolutely loved Days of Future Past, hated Apocalypse, and thought Dark Phoenix was pretty decent but incomplete. (Two hot takes sandwiching two cold ones, lol.) All I'd want to see from LEGO FoX-Men is a set of the DoFP Sentinel with Magneto and Hugh Jackman. Given the recent rumor, though, it seems I've spoken too late. I love the concept of the Sentinel set! I can't imagine the sentinel itself will be sizeable, given the extra builds said to be included. Perhaps it'll be akin to the X-Mansion build, just with a muted colour palette? As for the minifigs, I expect Doom will be roughly the same as the Bust since the costs are shared there. Mr. Fantastic will have a new torso, likely no leg printing. Magneto doesn't need leg printing from the leaks I've seen, and the mold for his helmet is there if Erik even uses it in the movie. Likewise Thor won't need leg prints (and even if he did, we know he won't). Mystique's design might call for leg prints, given the blue on her collarbone and sides would need balancing out, and hair-wise I could see the live action Bo-Katan piece being reused. No clue about Nightcrawler—I think I saw a design with plain black trousers, but maybe not. They might use the Dreamzzz hair for him given how much volume it seems to have. More than anything, I'm glad that TLG seems to have taken the complaint with Galactus's price and, while choosing to not lower it, have decided to package more characters (that aren't exclusively reprints) into the set and even gone as far as to build out the scene for them. I hope the set lives up to my expectations. A Dark Avengers Quinjet? Count me interested, most interested. I do presume it's a New Avengers quinjet… although I hope it's not in place of a New Avengers tower. Regardless, I'm really excited about Thunderbolts* sets at last. I hope the Quinjet is an enough intriguing design to complement the '23 model I have on my shelf. New Avengers or Dark Avengers, I await news of the full minifig lineup.

The prior version of Bespin Duel was a display set and even half the price. Duel on Mustafar in 2005 had only two, but that was because those were the only two we knew were going to be on Mustafar. Meanwhile Duel on Mustafar in 2020 was $20 and, again, only two figures but at half the price of this new version. It was interesting to look back on the pricing of Jedi Starfighters; a trend of price increases that's very similar to today until it dropped back to $20 in 2018. At least back in TCW era we got more builds and/or minifigs with each price increase (Plo Koon's SF being the exception); whereas just in 2022 we got a $30 SF with three all new figs (considering R4 as a fig for the sake of it), only to now expect a reused R2 and a hopefully deluxe Anakin. It's better than $45 for an Interceptor, certainly, but still feels stingy. The trouble is we get tons of Anakins and Obi-Wans, and while we certainly need those characters to return regularly, I'd like to see a different cast each time to interest me in collecting. The lack of minifgs offers no suggestion of imaginative play too. I imagine an all gold or black greebles and gold banner box-art with the "Star Wars at 50" logo as seen on StarWars.com. The McQuarrie figs seem like a novel way for TLG to celebrate and only that. The approach for branding this 50th anniversary seems pretty straight forward and formulated, for better or worse. If they play the hits, there's no risk of failure, right? This movie has nothing going for it nostalgia-wise, and even with Ryan Gosling, who knows how it'll perform critically and financially. It's an untapped era… and the two previous times that happened in Star Wars were the Mandalorian and the Acolyte. (Ugh, I feel bad breathing those two in the same sentence.) For the former, it got one set—a redundant remake at that, and as for the latter, obviously it didn't perform well, and I think TLG avoided a shelf-warmer with that one. We'll see the set potential of Starfighter upon the trailer release, so I'll hold my tongue for now. Always glad to be of service. Same. The increasing price per piece paired with skrinkflation… I already feel priced out of new LEGO across the board. (Call me crazy, but I might hop over to LEGO Minecraft.) There's a couple of decently-priced sets, but they're increasingly few and far in between—and generally niche too. I might turn to the secondhand market, providing they are more reasonable. I guess I had expected some Death Star figs or a Shlup Gitto Rebel. I wouldn't mind a new Y-Wing pilot, especially if it's one seen onscreen in ANH. My thought was that we hadn't seen Biggs or Wedge in a minute and (thus I don't have them and I'm just greedy) so that'd be nice. In every economy. Everywhere. All at once. (Legit, I thought up until now that Potential Man was a riff off Henry Cavill's Soup. So this is a whole canon with which I'm unfamiliar…?) The Rebels Crew, perhaps; Ahsoka had the most unnecessary change in my opinion considering she was better off mentally in Book of Boba than in Ahsoka. Hera seems toned down in personality, Chopper is of course Chopper, I forgot about Zeb since he wasn't in the show but he is indeed perfect, and I don't know how you felt about Kanan, but to me he just felt… dead, you know? Of course, the Y-Wing would need to be bigfig-accommodable… in fact, we'd need a whole new line of remade starfighters that can fit a new lineup of SW bigfigs. Obviously the first wave would be a TIE Advanced with bigfig Vader, a Millenium Falcon with a new canopy for bigfig Chewbacca (Han stays the same)—strike that; why go for all that effort when they can instead slap a "Smart Play Compatible" on the box and call it brand-consistent? Long live the Aslume. Agreed. At least the grey version of the MTT made some people happy… I think this Sandcrawler could've been brown and nobody would crying that it wasn't grey. I mean, I wasn't going to say it outloud… but what are the chances LEGO just recolours the current Vader mold? Well, McQuarrie did a particular artpiece that featured Jedi Han Solo, Zebbacca, and female Starkiller (Luke wasn't renamed Skywalker until the day of filming). I don't remember if Leia was included in any concepts during that stage. There's one black-and-white sketch that was adapted into Rebels, so maybe LEGO could go for that? Good point about Starkiller being highly merchandised over the years. It'd certainly be odd if TLG didn't go for him now. I've been noticing how many recent D2C's have a random single figure included, so I think you're on point. I believe TLG (after years of court battles, lol) has realized that the minifig is their one instant distinction from their brick-competitors. There's honestly not much difference between a brick from Billund or not, but the minifig has gained its status as a legitimate collectible. So with Ninjago versus Star Wars, it's almost as if an action figure company has both licensed and original characters on shelves; obviously the licensed has better recognition, so the non-licensed line has to offer better value for each figure and/or bundle those figures together. I was envisioning this Endor BP as a 327th BP without the extra droids to "boost" value when I wrote what I did. If regular BPs go up to $30, though, then I think the world ceases to function as we know it. I kid, I kid… but seriously. Agreed. We have yet to see the builds, and I remain pessimistic about the value those will provide. Nonetheless, this manages to play both the familiar hits while varied across the five fanfavourite shows and films. (Even the up-scaled Luke and Vader art don't sound too bad.) If I was a new collector, I'd be overjoyed, and even as a collector since 2020 who has all but one of these playsets, I still look forward to how they'll be executed. The new Y-Wing and Mustafar may win me over, for all I know.

Welp, that's disappointing. I went from being excited over the prospect of fresh minifigs alongside iconic playsets… to now deciding which sets to grab on discount or pass altogether. The set selection is certainly wonderful, but now I question whether everyone of these could've been priced ≈20% cheaper if TLG was going to skimp out on minifigs. The prospect of quality over quantity is moot; I sincerely doubt we'll see arm printing on the likes of a Princess Leia or Obi-Wan, and I don't believe additional anniversary figures should ever count towards a set's price. Anakin's Starfighter hurts most of all. Go ahead, rub it in my face, those who said Dooku wasn't going to happen… With only one unique figure, the set verges on overpriced for me. Depending on the accuracy of the Anakin figure (at this moment I doubt whether they can bring themselves to do the red and blue), I'll likely buy when it goes on sale. The Y-Wing, like @Mandalorianknight and I were last discussing (last month ), is an essential aspect of any ANH celebration—I'm glad that was proven right.The minifig selection is the worst case scenario in my eyes, though; it's only saving grace would be if Wedge or BIGGS(!) is the second Rebel pilot (we can't have a ANH Y-Wing without Dutch, right…?). Thank you for bringing it up (I think you were first too); my dream LEGO Y-Wing has been the Red Jammer for it's history behind the scenes as well as the epic colourway. In this case and this case alone, the build will absolutely make or break this set for me. Speaking of which, I'm intrigued to see how the greebling will be accomplished this go around, what with all the new odd pieces at their disposal. The Endor BP at $30 is outright disgusting. BPs have been envisioned as cheap ways to obtain a lot of characters, and no amount of superlative bricks which can be provided in a more substantial fashion elsewhere will make up for the price increase. Otherwise, I quite enjoy the fact that Endor rebels are back; perhaps some Ewoks should've been included too but I won't wade into that discussion. The Mustafar Duel at $40 and Bespin at $80 sounded very intriguing at first. After learning that the characters of each will be limited to the participants of said duel only makes me A) skeptical of anything exciting build-wise and B) lament the loss of $20 duel sets. The worst part is that both of these include the concept art figures—TLG are playing their cards right, I suppose, but it turns the celebration into a gimmick. MiFi is overpriced, but decent to see one. No thoughts on the Vader art or Upscaled Luke other than "Wait and see," which I presume is more positive than anyone else. That's true, and a bit worrisome. Given Starfighter is an unknown commodity, I wonder if TLG will limit it's exposure to 3 sets—if that. As for the lack of clones; also true, but I believe that reveals the flaw in TLG's strategy. All clones one year, then next-to-none in the next doesn't create balance, but a wave of complete interest then total disinterest. (Not to mention all of these sets retire at different rates anyway.) I'd rather see a little here, a little there than spurting out a repetitive wave laser-focused on one era. At some point, people will complain about the lack of P2 clones (they already are, in fact). Some of these 2025 and 2027 sets could've swapped spots and I think world peace would've been made. Oh yeah, and the Sandcrawler and AT-AT were revealed while I was gone. To put it briefly, I love them both. Even despite owning and preferring the TESB variant, the new AT-AT still proves to be rather tempting. I'll definitely buy the Sandcrawler for the fact that I don't already have one, the build finally accomplishes the perfect playscale model of this vessel, and I needed Kuiil and the Mudalorian yesterday. Potential Man in a Fant4stic meme? In this economy? Agreed there. Felt like everyone but Ezra had their personality sucked out of them—and only because Paul Eman Esfandi is quite possibly Ezra himself. I always thought too that Sabine took Ezra's request of protecting Lothal to heart and would've stayed there forever—unless Ezra could be brought back. Good thing that LEGO knew ball then. A D2C Trench Run in '27 would be incredibly cool. I doubt if TLG'll ever go that far for an anniversary besides their own, although I see a nonzero chance of it happening. Excellent point; I was being a little too greedy about extra Rebel pilot minifigs. At any rate, getting all of Red Squadron via one set would be an unbelievable dream come true. Hang on, strike what I said about Biggs(!) or Wedge. It's Porkins in the 2027 Y-Wing or we raid Billiund. I might do the same. Even in the Mando episode, it still looks brown to me; it's this and Doc Ock's grey coat that make me question the LEGO designer's eyesight. (I kid, I kid… but seriously.) Regardless of the circumstances surrounding them, I am beyond hyped for anniversary figures. Most anticipating Darth Vader, the Stormtrooper and maybe Starkiller (see below). I'm expecting new molds for each and all of these characters, unique lightsaber blades, arm prints and dual molding—the works. I am curious whether we'll see Luke Starkiller (as seen in that iconic original concept art with him facing Vader) or the female Starkiller as seen in art alongside Jedi Han and Zebacca. I pled for the former, but for reasons of inclusion I'd understand the latter.

In August of last year, I started developing a RotS Anniversary wave that excluded clones, in response to the Clonemania of 2025. I must have stopped somewhere along the way for some reason, but today I finally completed it. Anyway, yes it's a bit late, but I've always wanted to add something to this thread so here it goes: Dedicated to all those who criticize Ewoks or Babu Frik and say "But Swordy, you can't celebrate RotS without its most merchandisable aspect!" $10.99 - Invisible Hand microfighter Minifig: Count Dooku (I don’t think Grevious could work in a MiFi—Grevious tax aside—plus I believe it’s been so long since a Dooku that this would be seen as mostly positive.) $19.99 - Anakin’s Jedi Interceptor Build: a much smaller build, uses a Jedi SF windscreen instead of either Interceptor windshield Minifigs: Anakin (returning to the 2012 design) and Artoo’s head (Purpose of this is to return to the intend of Inceptors/Starfighters as toys: cheap vehicles to carry your favourite Jedi. However, I don’t know if a smaller and still stable Interceptor is possible, let alone easy for beginning builders.) $34.99 - Yoda Vs Sidious: Senate Rotunda Wreckage Build: the main speaker chair with ascending or descending function, 3x Senator pods with stand that can flick them out Minifigs: Yoda, Sidious (RotS) $44.99 - Obi-Wan’s Interceptor Vs Tri-Droid Build: Recolour of Anakin’s downsized Interceptor in dark red and a tri-droid in sand blue Minifigs: Obi-Wan, Nute Gunray, B1 Pilot, B1 droid (I adore the original tri-droid in sand blue for reasons I can’t reason, so selfishly that’s been chosen over a Vulture Droid or Hyena Bomber. Furthermore, this set’s purpose is to ensure that the main characters of RotS stay under $50) $64.99 - Droid Gunship Build: redux of 2019 Gunship but with the added sidebuild of the Wookiee flyer Minifigs: Yoda, Luminara Unduli, Chewbacca, Wookie Warrior, 2x Kashyyyk B1 Droids $69.99 - Grevious Wheelbike Vs Obi-Wan’s Lizard Build: Wheelbike is similar to 2014(?), lizard is a new mold in the style of JP dinosaurs. The price reflects such an inclusion (plus Grevious tax). Minifigs: Obi-Wan, Grevious (tan, movie), Tion Medon $79.99 - Droid Attack on the Wookiees Build: redeveloped Catamaran vs Corporate Alliance Tank Droid Minifigs: Chief Tarfful, 2x unique Wookiee Warriors, Quinlan Vos, 3x B2 Droids $109.99 - Palpatine’s Office Build: I want to see a complete overhaul of the 2012 model. It would still include speeder for play, but landing pad would be right outside the door for consistency. Back wall would build out a lovely silhouette with a window that can “shatter”—huge chunk can be shoved out with lever. “I am the Senate” chair remotely swivels because that’s cooler. Minifigs: Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine (with Sidious face), Mace Window, Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, Kit Fisto $169.99 - Jedi Temple Build: a facade of the Jedi Temple, similar in principle to the Yavin IV base of ’23 Minifigs: Yoda, Aayla Secura, Ki-Adi Mundi, Kit Fisto, Jocasta Nu, Shaak Ti, Zett Jukassa, Jedi Youngling, Jedi Temple Guard (Turns out that you can provide all the necessary Jedi for a proper RotS celebration without referencing the murder of said Jedi–and it’s for that reason that Anakin wasn’t included, lol. Then I throw in the Temple Guard since that’s one of my top wishlisted minifigs.) $179.99 - Invisible Hand Seperatist Drednought Build: large Invisible Hand build, divided into the scenes of the duel with Dooku (which would reside where the hanger is on the in-universe vessel) and the command bridge (which is contained in the front nose); the build between the two has a Technic locking system that, when undone, allows the ship to slide apart Minifigs: Count Dooku, General Grevious (tan, movie), Obi-Wan, Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine, Artoo, 2x Magna Guards (Flagship sets with unbelievable playablilty like this sound entirely plausible to me, but given we don’t see them ever, I don’t know. My idea for the splitting function is that they’re two Technic beams that protrude from each half and lock either side-by-side or outer-inner style, but I’m unsure if that can be accomplished. There’s also the fact that including both scenes with enough room for each may be a stretch as well. Point being, LSW designers, I hope you’re reading this and can prove this is indeed possible.) $199.99 - Buildable General Grevious Build: One sick looking droid. ‘Nuff said. Minifig: Grevious (white, leans 2D microseries with sensibilities of live action)

I ended up receiving the 2024 Sith Infiltrator from Santa after all. Glad to add my first Phantom Menace set to the collection, especially since I love TPM’s design language best. (LEGO, please do more with Episode I.) I did make a couple modifications to the ship and minifigs—Maul’s pupil-less eyes and the Sharpie had a moment—which makes me all the happier with my Christmas gift.

Well, no, that’s Watts Goblin (as in Jon Watts, the director of NWH). Raimi Goblin in his Power Rangers armor is exclusive to the 2002 Spider-Man, and as goofy as that version is, it’s a wicked cool design at that. “Don’t take money… don’t take fame… don’t need no credit cards to ride this train… it can be hard, sudden, and a little cruel sometimes… but it might just save yours and all of NYC’s lives… that’s the power of love.” XD Obviously that was a joke suggestion, but it is a surprisingly wholesome moment from the MCU, which can’t count for nothing. I’m gonna leave this discussion as it was between you and MandoKnight, but I don’t believe “non-superpowered” is the correct way to describe a man wearing the firepower of a tank on him. Moreover, Cap’s goal was to keep Tony from killing Bucky, thus the main objective was to get rid of the potential killer’s only weapon… which so happened to be the wearable tank. All that said, to your point, I have never thought about how exactly Tony got home from Siberia, and considering that T’Challa potentially recovered Tony then turned around and aided Steve, T’Challa might be the MVP of the Infinity Saga. Spider-Man 3 is considered the worst of the Raimi trilogy (I’d disagree) and AoU the worst Avengers movie (on which I’d very much agree); quality of films doesn’t seem to be a factor so long as there is merchandise to be made—coincidentally, that seems to be a major factor in these films’ lack of quality. Good call; I adore the original Doctor Strange film, yet I hadn’t considered the potential therein. (Perhaps a minifig version of Dormammu would be used? The scale would be off but it would provide more than just the Weird Doc and a floating head.) I had considered the Battle on Titan, but I do believe, what with its scale, that battle should be reserved for a “Final Battle” set instead. Leg printing is a must—particularly with the NWH Goblin in mind—but arm printing would be above and beyond any Raimi fan’s expectations. Considering that Tobey still lacks arm prints, though, I do doubt we’d see anyone else from those films get as much detail. Love to be proved wrong. I’d actually prefer the World Fair/Times Scare battle so we could have an updated minifig of MJ (maybe even Harry for the first time), plus that scene has a better aesthetic in my eyes. Of course, additional minifigs would compromise the detail of said GG, nor would we have a battle-damaged Spidey mask, so I can see the point there. Nonetheless, however, would TLG really produce a set based off that tragic of a death? LEGO Marvel is in a brighter position than in the past few years. Paired with what you already stated poetically, however Doomsday will pan out, I remain optimistic for the potential upcoming sets to come out of it, and BND is looking more and more promising. To my knowledge, the torso Ned uses is a reuse from either LEGO City or Peter Parker in the Bugle. The arm/torso configuration is different, though. (I certainly wish Ned had been given a unique dark blue torso instead of a blatantly inaccurate red one—but hey, at least it wasn’t, like, two years of waiting for those characters.) I see, and comparing some of the set’s pieces with other GR-cycle MOCs online, I do see promise. I may wait for a discount since it seems smaller than I had anticipated, but I’m nitpicking at this point; it’s a fine bargain at $10. Certainly. With retrospect, I will retract my comparison of it and CA:TFA; the latter was a true and successful adaptation of the comics and Cap’s character while perhaps not entirely succeeding as a film, whereas FF:FS is perhaps the vice versa. With First Steps, I believe the proper characterization is there, but perhaps only if you read outside material (i.e. comics) into the film, whereas The First Avenger presents the proper characterization without question. I’m still working out my opinion on the movie. I do believe that aspect of Johnny is in the movie. The line “Johnny loves women” does hint toward that, but I would critique First Steps in that it tells us instead of showing us. Possibly a simple outcome of the rigorous editing process—not to deny it is a fault, of course. Interesting to hear that. Perhaps the goal to redeem the Human Torch character went so far as to downplay the other characters. The more I think about it, all four of the FF needed to have that heart-to-heart talk that only Johnny had. The other three were too antagonistic to Shalla Surfer on Galactus’s ship for any of their characters to shine through. Yikes… that sounds rough. Not a fan of things TV-MA, but Daredevil is a favourite character of mine. (Not an unpopular opinion, I imagine.) I was initially excited to see if Disney could adapt the Netflix Daredevil into a TV-14 rating, and though the move to TV-MA was saddening to me, my hope was that it could only hold the same integrity if a more mature rating was given (something, something, complexity in television equals gore*). Sounds as though Born Again proved to be neither a jumping point for new fans or satisfactory for established fans such as yourself. That sounds about right for Doomsday, but I’m saddened to know that the film will revolve around my least favourite FF members. At least I liked most, if not all of the Thunderbolts/New Avengers. The Samvengers have never sounded intriguing to me, and the most I hope for from that team lies solely in the Russos knowing better about fight choreography than anyone working on BNW. (All I wanted was some new tricks with Cap’s shield, and I didn’t even get that.) You really hate that beret, lol. It’s stupid, sure, but I do appreciate that he now has a distinct silhouette from Red Guardian as well as two Captains America in a movie filled to the brim with superheroes. Obviously, his original U.S. Agent attire is far more ideal. First Steps wasn’t an origin movie, though. It sought to show the Fantastic Four in their prime, when everything seems to be going right for them until doomsday comes a-knocking. (No, not that Doomsday!) I don’t know if Ben’s grim mental state would have gelled as well with the movie’s storyline as the other three. I could envision a storyline with Ben discussing his monstrous appearance with Alicia that could later on connect to the Shalla Surfer story arc (sorta like I had mentioned earlier). At least Ben would then have had something to do; he just doesn’t have a critical/memorable role to play in a storyline where brute force means nothing. I’m more hyped for BND sets than Doomsday sets. We’re more likely to get classic Spidey villains than classic X-Men, I think.

Ma-ker rest ye A-FoLs, let not prices give you dismay, Remember our TIE Avenger was born on Andor Day, To save us all from clone’s power, when LEGO was gone astray, O TIE-Ding, Avenger, and Joy, TIE Avenger and TIE Joy, O TIE-Ding, Avenger and Joy… (My parodies get more nonsensical as LEGO’s lack of sense about the TIE Avenger is further revealed. Not May, not August, not January or March? Not even the GwP for crying out loud?) Absolutely love that the Darksaber will the May 4th promo. (It is probably my favourite lightsaber, right next to Luke’s RotJ saber.) However, the more pressing matter to me will be the distribution of VIP points; I would’ve gladly spent more than my budget would’ve allowed so that I could obtain the Clone Cadet GwP, but upon seeing neither the Oynx or the Sith Infiltrator on double points, I opted out. A set idea so nice, it had to be said twice. ;) I do agree, even if the Rebel-style Stormtrooper BP would like to speak up. Additionally, the mention of an Imperial transport also reminded me of the lack of Miggs Mayfield. So fine, two more Mando sets from older seasons would be most welcome. Wholeheartedly agree. In fact, most of the recent anniversaries, aside from maybe RotJ’s 40th, have felt underwhelming or bloated. Discounting Brickheadz, which is it’s own budget(?), we almost never get new or long-gone characters from the films. The sets are either buildable or generic. I don’t believe RotS got it’s due this year since the only “anniversary” sets leaned more Clone Wars, which is much of the same with the previous years. Funnily enough, the best RotS anniversary sets (like a midi-Invisible Hand or Venator) released in every year but ‘25, it seems. TPM, like you said, suffered from big opportunities missed, and the anniversary sets aside from the overdone Infiltrator (the ship showed up for, what, 17 seconds in one quick scene?) were only buildable sets with no new prints. The fact that the Gungan head mold was brought back this year but not utilized for a normal Jar Jar… is more accurate, actually, but a shame since we don’t have his iconic disguise on shelves. RotJ felt the best done, yet the minifigs were lacking in several areas and the new prints created were wasteful updates that brought nothing new to the table, in my opinion. 2022 is best left unspoken; the lack of attention that TLJ’s five-year anniversary received is downright shameful. /s Could be. Depending on how the sequence is executed in the film, I’d be equally interested in both. I find that the trouble with a Petranaki arena is that it involves the less “iconic” or “cool” aspects of the Battle of Geonosis than a Republic Gunship or AT-TE. Those both already supply the purpose of providing the minifgs from that third act without new molds for the creatures required. Additionally, a Petranaki Arena would be a rather expensive set, and so TLG potentially risks price-locking the three main characters of the Prequels. The question would come down to how much of the actual arena is included—moreover, don’t we all really want a Coleman Trebor and Count Dooku battlepack instead? Given the low piece count of the larger, I’m unsure if the AT-AT will be in the May wave at all. The previous AT-AT was around 1300 pieces, and arguably just big enough to play out Mando’s infiltration and takedown. Maybe a smaller AT-AT could work, but that’d be too similar to the midi-scale one I think. My personal theory is the gladiator arena and the New Razor Crest™ for the $70 and $100 sets, respectively. That said, I adore AT-ATs, so I’d far prefer to be proven wrong in this case. If the same guy who did the buildable Iron Man did a Mando, I’d be interested, actually. If it follows suit with an exclusive Mando, it’d be great to finally get arm printing on Beskar Mando too./s (I hope I’m using that correctly…) I’m sure the big guard robot will be in the summer wave. I could see the Y-Wing then too, although the New Hope anniversary might override that potential. We will surely have a set with Zeb next year too, although I could see him appearing in a Ahsoka S2 set instead. The speeder with Anzellans and Grogu are guaranteed to be the next BP, right? Honestly, I’m more shocked than the Spider himself that the AT-RT hasn’t been confirmed yet. I would have chosen that over a Mando speeder for $10, but hey, this is the same Lucasfilm that didn’t allow a Light Cruiser until nine months later, or a Luke Skywalker V Dark Troopers until one year and three months; combined with the short shelf-life of recent sub-$20 sets, I predict the AT-RT with Mando and Grogu will come squarely on January 1st, 2027 when the bell strikes one.

So is the Iron Man vs Ultron mech—and I believe the Spider-Man vs Anti-Venom too, but I could be wrong on that one. I see this as either A) the LEGO Group is seeing decreasing sales of mech sets, or B) TLG simply want to make mechs more collectible. I don’t see this as a failure of Superman in LEGO (a spoiling of Soup, if you will), but a mere casualty of the current release cycle of LEGO: overwhelm with new sets at the beginning of the year, overwhelm with retiring those new sets at the end. Regardless, I did my part; I bought the mech, I photographed the mech—why, I took the mech out to dinner. We’ll see soon enough if the sales numbers will influence TLG toward absolute Batman—er, absolutely anything besides Batman.

Usually my end-of-year purchases focus on retiring LEGO sets over newly-released (and likely less discounted) ones. In that case, I’ve already purchased the one retiring set I truly “needed,” which was the Oynx Cinder (I’d be personally remiss to skip Skeleton Crew’s one and only set) and the Milano from Marvel (purely bought for how cool it looks). I lacked the budget to purchase the Sith Infiltrator for Saw Gerrera, so I’m hoping that will be Santa’s delivery come the 25th. If not, I am likely, albeit begrudgingly, to purchase the rhydonium-fueled fellow on his own. The same will be true of the Desert Skiff with Nien Nubb (Sarlacc-wha?), although that set was skipped largely due to its still egregious price-tag. I’m late to the discussion of the official January ‘26 reveals, but instead of looking inward, I’ll excuse my tardiness on TLG and leakers’s ignorance of the American Thanksgiving celebration, but I have to celebrate that my beloved Cobb Vanth is finally a LEGO minifigure—and lovingly detailed at that! Chapter 9 being my favourite episode of the Mandalorian, this brings tears of joy to my eye. I would never purchase at $35, but I’m certain it’ll be heavily clearanced, at which it will make a merry addition to my collection. Actually, on that point… The fact that recent sets like Paz V Gideon: Dawn of Evil Lamp Post or the Kelleran BARC have been offered at high discounts does not bode well for future Mando sets. That said, I’m not terribly concerned with adding Jack Black or Lizzo to my SW collection; i.e. what more Mando sets do we need/will TLG make? I’m looking forward to movie sets, and for me a cheaper set with Kuill would help fill a sore gap in my collection, but that is all.

True, true. I just happened to notice it since we have a similar speech pattern at times, and “In all fairness,” is very interchangeable with “To be fair”—honestly, I’ve stopped myself from using “fairness” to avoid repetition (which is kinda dumb of me to both do/admit, but here we are). Thank you—it’s very much appreciated! I wasn’t around then (oh great, I accidentally narrowed down my age), but I do find the old catalogue photography… magical. A lot of the fun of the LEGO Movie stems from the zany mashups and whimsical humor too. However, TLM does lead into the issue of modern LEGO, which is that it’s more reliant on competing IPs than ever before, which means very few, if any crossovers. Fans are the only way of preserving that old magic of unadulterated imagination. Whew. Dare I tempt the Dummy’s wrath? Never. (Yes, I must definitely did when I was working at Blacktron, but by-gones are by-gones, right?) Good point, it is a lot cheaper to produce simply because of their identical skeleton of builds. I don’t notice it as much since I collect maybe one superhero or SW mech every couple years—so much agreed on the intention being anti-completionist. At least they get popular characters into cheap sets, and I do feel the design philosophy has improved immensely since 2020–even if I still have half a dozen armor panels for which I have no use whatsoever. I do remember the Thor mech being a weird cross between being a piloted mech while acting as if it was a brickbuilt version of said pilot. (For instance, the mech had a cape and its own Mjinor, but not consideration that the mech Mjinor wouldn’t work as a method of flight; whereas, the Soup mech makes the “cape” into a jetpack, much to Turtle’s delight.) LEGO DC 2026 gets a Man of Snow but not a Man of Steel. TLG truly is listening to @legoturtle. (Like, seriously? A new, exclusive—and very, very cool—print for the snowman, but not for Killer Croc or Bane? Much less that it’s exclusionary to the United States.)

Conversely, I’m definitely getting the SM3 set, while the Ghost Rider bike is a maybe. I’m just not as in love with the finished set as I was with the concept, nor do I love the penance stare face for our first “removable flame” Johnny Blaze; so I might buy the ‘23 mech GR and MOC his bike separately. (Although both of those tasks are much easier said than done, so simply buying the bike is still on the table.) On the other hand, the SM3 set is a win all around in my case; Sandman can just as easily be a Sand Goon while I use the NWH Sandman build, and I have yet to own a Tobey minifig; plus I feel I should support good value, sub-$30 at that, sets. Agreed! I’m shocked—SHOCKED, I tell you—that TLG hasn’t made Raimi Goblin yet, so I expect it this year or next. I also hope this subline emphasizes affordability over shoving everything in one single package. As for Epic Moments—just to spitball on my keyboard—I could see a Cap/Bucky V Tony Siberia battle, Amazing Spider-Man V Electro—why, perhaps even the Thunderbolts* hugging Bob! (Just kidding, that last one is too wholesome for TLG’s standards.) I’ve always thought TLG’s dual-moulding criteria to be dumb—particularly with a piece currently available to purchase on PaB. Sometimes I feel like John L. Ego wants to keep the optimal Spidey out of reach from kids… oh wait, the ‘23 Spidey V Doc Ock mech didn’t care. I can see that; I’ve heard a similar sentiment from others, so I can understand the sentiment. I will say that my knowledge of the FF comics is pretty limited (I hope to change that soon), so I’ll respect y’all’s assessment. Nonetheless, like you said, while it’s not perfect, it is the best so far. My feelings going into the film were shaky after the discussions here and abroad, but after rewatching on Thanksgiving, I believe I’ve ended up loving it, despite it’s faults. (I’d probably compare this to CA:TFA, a film that isn’t perfect or outstanding but has the right feels for me.) Well, same Johnny, yeah, except less of a jerk than the 2005/07 film, correct? (I don’t plan on seeing either anytime soon, so I stand ignorant in this case.) I guess that’s what the press statements meant, albeit a bit too far in pushing “modern” instead of… normal, I guess. Thank you for Swordy’ing my unspoken feelings on Sue, actually; she seemed off the entire time, and I partially blame the modern hairstyle. I feel better about Pedro as Reed than my first viewing, but I do think he works best bouncing off Johnny or Ben than with Sue or on his own. In fact, as much as the cast individually may irk me still (which isn’t a lot, to be fair), I do find their combined chemistry most redeeming. Sue’s arc? I mean, my major fault with the movie is that it lacked any notable interaction between Sue and Shalla-Bal. Agreed on the need for the proper Silver Surfer in the MCU; I know gender shouldn’t matter, but with the different… physique, it kinda does help having the Surfer be male—oh yeah, and comic accuracy supreme too. So, with the sketches on Reed’s chalkboard depicting that the teleporter could potentially open a whole into another universe, I wonder if Galactus and Shalla Surfer will end up in the MCU after all. I’d find it idiotic, but I do think a show about what happened to the Surfer after pushing Galactus through the portal is an intriguing concept. (Again, I’m on the side of Norrin Rad, but we already lost the chance at a proper film adaptation of FF #48-50, so I’m over it at this point.) (I love that idea and I need to see this happen. However, I’m in extreme dismay that Human Torch is going to be sidelined in Doomsday, and I can’t conceive a reasonable explanation why Stretcho is chosen over Brawn and FIRE POWER.) That explains a lot… and makes me more upset than I was at the first. (I also feel so disappointed in myself for forgetting “synagogue”.) The film references Jack Kirby’s quote about putting himself in his characters, yet ignores the main aspect of Ben Grimm that he and Kirby share? With DDBA’s use of Catholicism in mind, it’s not unlike Disney, sadly. I mean, the idea that, four years into being a superhero, people are kinda used to the Thing’s appearance makes sense. (That was kinda the intent of Reed for becoming superheroes in the first place, right?) After all, we in the U.S. got used to an orange-skinned, golden-haired man being president, right? Lol It’s all relative.

Thank you! :D Absolutely, feel free to use it! That’s why I shared it here. In all fairness—as MandoKnight would say, lol—if it weren’t for the great group of folks that invited and warmly welcomed me, this causal DC enjoyer wouldn’t have stuck around for this long. *scarfs down a bottle of hopium* Yes, I can see all three, in my mind’s eye… *insert me screaming in the desert like a certain Zabrak* (I mean, everyone’s hoping for a Supergirl Mech vs Lobo too, right? Just me?) Yeah, the coffee mug is one of my favourite LEGO pieces; it gives me a non-Aslume-induced smile to think the LEGO characters always got something to drink. Thank you! (Oh, naturally. I had thought of adding D.D. to the Christmas photo, as part of a scene with the U-Wing and a Blacktron operative with outrageously huge hair, but I decided to keep it simple.) Aw, thank you so much! I really do consider both of you a lot funnier than myself, so I do appreciate hearing that. Kinda sad, but nonetheless true. Photographing the mech, coming up with unique, silly poses, made me realize that, for what they are, the $15 mechs make great representations of the given characters. So long as there is insanity—and the smart brick doesn’t disappoint seem to disappoint—there will be Aslume.

A couple of Soup mech photos (enclosed in the spoilers so not to spontaneously fry anyone’s eyeballs) before the year is closed out. My previous profile picture, depicting the Soup mech and compatriots riding the U-Wing—all while clutching onto their coffee mugs. Unfortunate that a lot of the references got lost in at miniature. Soup mech at Christmas. Babu Frik is included because he is Babu Frik. (I also find the droidsmith/mech connection a nice thought—although, on second thought, Babu would probably reprogram the Soup mech to be evil, wouldn’t he?) I’ve been dreaming this one up for months—what with Absolute DC, the ballad of Soup and the Aslume, and the remixes of this meme I’ve seen around, I knew this had to be made. I got to thank the Aslume for inspiring me to find creativity and joy yearlong from a dumb, silly mech that I would’ve otherwise never built. I sorta wish the Soup mech hadn’t become my calling card… but it’s not a bad one at that. Long live LEGO DC (excluding Man)! Long live insanity! Long live BLACKT— the Aslume!

Massively disappointed in the leakers and TLG for ignoring the three-year standing Thanksgiving tradition. At least we’ve gotten a leak, even if it was two days late. BB-8’s head looks a bit chibi, which is fine in my eyes. The mechanism of deploying the “Thumbs up” is messier than the 2017, and the detailing this time around seems more reliant on prints, a trend for which I don’t care in the slightest. Even the SNOT technique is messier than it was in ‘17. I wish I had a positive spin in mind, but this is yet another buildable character (we’ll see whether it’s overpriced or not) and not a particularly great one. Sad to see the character that truly kickstarted this subline of sets given a subpar rendition a near decade later. Totally random: I found an IKEA droid in Phantom Menace whilst rewatching the Nubian Starship escape Naboo, although it looks more like the McDonald’s/L3-G0 droid but the blue swapped out for the red. (So further proof why the X-Fighter vs TIE-Wing has the worst minifig line-up of the past five years. I will die on that hill, lol.) Oh, the Venator got leaked. (Again, a full two days late, but I digress…) The front end appears maybe one stud too wide. Other than that, another solid midi-scale ship—just definitely overpriced. Love the use of the NEXO Knight shield on the main red stripe and the barrels representing engines.

Absolutely zero interest in D&D, and the only “useful” figure to me of the initial series is, of course, one of the hardest to find/most expensive. Not my cup of tea, if true, but I still have an immense amount for TLG not only acknowledging Spider-Verse’s existence, but also devoting a full CMF series to it. Love this concept, and I’d equally adore a minifig series (of the best Christmas carol adaptation, no exceptions). A bit disappointed in myself for not buying the Kermit minifig to make a custom of Bob Cratchit. (At least I have Gonzo—er, Charles Dickens.)