Swordy

It’s definitely not on the edge of extinction. The theme just appears to be mismanaged, which, if true, will only lead to a decline in sales, causing the theme to drop in quality, one leading to the other until nobody wants to buy from the IP and LEGO can’t afford the IP any longer. Such is the circle of decline for any theme, licensed or not. To be fair, this doesn’t spell doom for LEGO Marvel, but it does make some (perhaps even myself) worrisome for the future. I think kids just aren’t into LEGO or physical toys as much these days, which leads to an abundance of collectibles over play items. (I wrote a short essay on the subject, but I’ll restrain myself from posting it here as it relates only tangentially to Marvel.) I can confirm from my reliable sources of Swardi & Swurdee that the single set we’ll get from FF will be a buildable Reed Richards figure including a stickered 4x4 tile featuring Sue Storm. In the following November, included in the $800 Avengers Mansion will be an exclusive minifig of Sue Storm holding a stickered 2x2 tile featuring Reed Richards. Oh, and out of so much faith in the movie, they will also release a Brickheadz 3-pack of Reed, Sue and Herbie. :P Seriously, though, I agree on Thunderbolts*. That could swing either way, either getting a 3-set wave like GotG or none at all. I also think Fantastic Four sets are as likely as you say too. Then again, I also remember feeling the same about Quantumania, so who’s knows.

I love Bob’s starfighter! The inspiration taken from the Azure Angel is a nice touch and just as good as whatever my idea was. It’s not $40 worth, but that was expected sadly. I agree with Clone O’Patra that the shaping looks too wide, similarly to how the new X-Wing looks. It’s interesting to see the shift in design language from 2021/22 with 75301 and 75333 compared to these new sets. Of course, I gotta have an opinion on every matter, and I prefer the older looks. The Onyx Cinder looks great. It’s a unique ship for a unique show. Obviously, whether or not I’ll buy the set depends on what I think about the show, but at least it doesn’t look like garbage. The minifigs are stellar, if lacking in leg print. Looks like the cockpit can only fit one minifig, but maybe that’s alright. Still, I eagerly anticipate a LEGO Fondor. The Cinder is fine, though. Sign me up on potentially two Imperial Battlepacks, even at the cost of anything RotS related. As long as one contains a Death Trooper (or a Double Death Trooper) or an Incinerator Trooper, I’m game. Maybe the clone fans can accept a Turbo Tank with Gree as an olive branch? Yeah, who am I kidding?

Yes, everyone, I know I’m crying about first world problems compared to the dumpster fire of LEGO Batman. I do want to point out that DC as a whole seems more interested in Batman lately. Who’s to blame? I name the toasty landfill of the DCEU. ‘Nuff said. Is it heresy to like Marvel for the same reasons I like Star Wars? They both have inspiring heroes, fearsome foes, epic battles between good and evil with lots of colour thrown in, and both have fantastic movies that are among my favorites, and even their bad movies are better than the industry standard. (Before you counter, Holiday Special was a TV Special, not a movie, and I’m only counting Marvel Studios’ movies in my statement above, Spider-Verse and Spider-Man 2 or not.) The MCU’s future looks bright, at least in my eyes. Box office numbers are low, sure, but what are the expectations, Endgame-level or Ant-Man level? Let’s not forget that a lull in the economy, and a mass exodus from the theater have brought the entire industry down. Still, Marvel continues to push forward into cinemas (unlike Lucasfilm) and I believe Marvel Studios will see success soon, albeit not immediately. As for Star Wars? If KK continues to care more about the money than about creating good Star Wars, then it’ll only continue to burn out the fans, including me. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still excited for what’s next, (Andor S2, Ahsoka S2, even Skeleton Crew has got me hooked) but I can’t help but feel underwhelmed. Acolyte doesn’t look to be the new push Star Wars needs, ‘nuff said on that. All of that to say this: LEGO Star Wars is getting a little boring for me. I already have an X-Wing, I already have Luke, Han, and Leia. I already got a good Mando collection. I just added Captain Rex to my collection. What’s left other than filling in few gaps? (i.e. “I need a Qui-Gon,” “I need an Ep. 5 Han,” “I need a Sequels Luke.”) Ahsoka was the only thing recent to breathe new life in the SW and LSW world, and the best set (E-Wing) is on its way out. On the other hand, there remain countless numbers of heroes and villains to collect from just Marvel alone, let alone DC. Those worlds seem to offer more than “an exclusive minifig of CT-0001 with unique arm printing”. What more LEGO Star Wars do I honestly “need”? No matter how much you’ll poke and prod, you can’t take me to the Aslume alive… or until we get Superman sets. (I don’t need any more LEGO Batman sets, and until WB and LEGO come to a new understanding, what’s there for me to discuss?) I get what you’re saying, and yes, I understand LEGO is almost always in it for the money. That being said, I have to wonder why they don’t see the potential and take a risk? Harry Potter continues to improve, despite the ridiculous redundancy, because LEGO allows for a higher budget. Ninjago is successful (in my opinion, and this is ignoring the blatant success of the TV show) because they offer new and complex minifigs every year. So, again, why don’t they take the risk on a known IP as opposed to their own inventions? I say this as a positive spectator of Dreamzzz, but if the LEGO Group put the same amount of budget and energy behind Superheroes as they did Dreamzzz, where wouldn’t we be now? (Besides, they can handle to experiment a little—why, they do it anyways.) Sorry for the overdue replies, everyone. I’ve been preoccupied with other stuff, and also I needed a day to think out my responses.

“Ahsoka Tano’s Duel on Peridea” (1st, not the worst name and it’s justifiable. 2nd, I’ve been misspelling Peridea wrong and I want to apologize—it’s not Peridia) looks better than expected as far as the build goes. The Thrawn minifig looks perfect—thankfully forgoing the dad bod our Grand Admiral has for some reason that’s beyond me—and I’m just happy we got Thrawn back. Ezra’s eyes look just as off as they do in the show, so no complaints there. Ahsoka is too grey than white, and is missing a cloth piece that could’ve added more white back in. The torso should’ve been light grey, and there should be more white on her legs. As for her cloak, I luckily had enough foresight to save a CMF Storm for this purpose, but not everyone is in my shoes. Night Trooper looks too lonely, he needs a friend, like a second Night Trooper. Alternatively, switch him to a Double Death Trooper, a more desired and rarer trooper, then save our Nighty Boy for a battlepack. Other than that, I think he needs more dirt on his armor, and something to break up the plain white on his arms and lower legs. Zombie face is creepy, glad for all of you into that sort of thing, but I’ll be keeping the helmet on this guy, lol. $55 is a hard ask, but after seeing the set next to the Tantive Hallway, I feel better about the price. Still, although Thrawn is Thrawn is Thrawn, I don’t know if I’ll be buying this Day 1 or not. I’m inclined to the former, but we’ll see. “Desert Skiff and Sarlacc Pit” (the most uninspired name yet, and I’ll keep pointing it out every time until they turn ship) looks surprisingly well. Sarlacc seems to be bulked up to meet the price, and I wish more minifigs or a second skiff had been included instead. Seriously, who’s supposed to drive the skiff? Boba Fett is a lazy reuse, especially for the price. I also wish they’d go ahead and dedicate a mold for ESB/RotJ Chewie (I prefer that hairdo over the ANH/sequels look anyway). Han’s shirt print looks too flat as well, thus I prefer the older version. Han’s “flyboy face” is fun, although I do fear that they’re converting over to the 2018 Han face, which doesn’t quite capture Harrison Ford. Beyond that, I really like the set, and think it’s a worthy inclusion for the 25th anniversary, UCS Sail Barge notwithstanding. Luke looks excellent all around (pearl dark grey would’ve been nicer for his torso, but that’s nitpicking). Lando’s return beyond the TRoS Falcon is welcome. Nein Numb is a delight to see, simply a delight. The skiff looks excellent, despite what others (you know who you are) say. The set doesn’t look too overpriced overall. Again, one more minifig and an accurate RotJ Boba Fett, and it’d be an absolute winner. Given its shortcomings, though, it’s not a Day 1 buy for me, but I will absolutely pick it up on discount eventually.

Love the Helicarrier. It reminds me so much of The Avengers and LEGO Marvel Superheroes. It looks really clean, despite the multitude of stickers. So it’s a shame that it seems like LEGO sabotaged the set with a high price, just like they did with the X-Jet and Star Lord helmet. Is it me or does the LEGO Group (the corporate overheads) legitimately dislike the Marvel line? A limited budget, overpricing, uninspired selection as opposed to very inspired builds. I believe that the LEGO Marvel theme has the potential to become the best selling license with the rich amount of comics and now movies from which to pull inspiration. The only thing holding the theme back seems to be mandates from corporate, but at Marvel or at LEGO?

I will go to the Aslume if and only if we get Superman sets in 2025. Or if we get a TDK Bat-Pod, which seems more likely. XP

You will try. *ignites blue lightsaber, backflips in the air* You can’t take me to the DC Asylume alive!

Fair point. I prefer Jaina Solo over Mara as an anniversary figure for this reason—a black X-Wing jumpsuit is harder to recreate puristly than a regular black jumpsuit. That being said, Jaina feels like an even deeper cut compared to Mara, plus there would be confusion over how she is related. Still, I’d take Mara as an anniversary figure over Young Leia, who I argue could’ve been in one final Obi-Wan Kenobi set. (Anything with Battle Damaged Vader… Man, the checks would write themselves.)

Brothers and sisters of the Mara-Jade-Is-Great faith, we must band together against these forces who dare speak against our beloved! 😂 Sorry, I can’t… 🤣 I have the same problem with the Inquistors. Too many Force-users are running around now, and it calls into question Motti’s line, “You’re all that’s left of that old religion.” (or something of that effect) However, Mara being one of few assassins of which only the Emperor is aware can still fit with that line, although, again, I can understand your issue. Also, what was the name of this hamster?

Brickbob, it seems as if you have had some traumatic experience with Mara Jade, perhaps as a young child, that has driven you to this point. Is this something you want to discuss?

I concur. It’s the same thing with Luke Skywalker in LSW. Every time, he has the same smile and frown. It works fine, but we need some variety after nine years. Luckily, we do have a couple Luke heads designed for specific moments that give us more expression and work with the design language of the pre-existing head (see 75330 for example). The same can and should be done for Tony Stark and others like him. Captain America at least gets a head that depicts his character well (patriotic smile/angry grunt). Tony’s simple smirk looks plain. The HUD face looks fine, but switch it up for when Tony’s out of the suit. At least give him more of a definite sass instead of a half-hearted one. I like the Thor head we have now, but he definitely needs a different head when he’s younger and more stoic. Same style, but different expression and details. Don’t get me started on Hawkeye… I’m looking at it from the perspective of creating a story with LEGO minifigs. I need a wide variety of heads and expressions for a variety of moments.

I didn’t think it was possible, but they made me not want an anniversary figure this year. Leia looks fine, but yeah, that Lola has got me questioning a couple of the designers’ choices here… Beyond that, I may actually like the Droid Factory—er, “Creative Play Droid™ Builder” more than when I first saw it. Like, sure, the droids’ base builds look goofy, and anyone can send $100 on something more worthwhile…but that Chopper in the hat and mustache kinda sells it for me. I still won’t buy it, but if I ever did—in a moment of pure insanity, of course—I’d do it for Chop. (Wait a minute. Chop is in a cowboy hat… Genius.) “Buildable Display and Collect Dust™ C-3PO™ “ looks great. As previously stated by LEGO Nostalgia, flex tubes should’ve been used instead of stickers, but I can understand if that simply wasn’t possible. I’m honestly impressed that they managed to depict him so well. The face isn’t scary, so that’s a plus. I don’t collect buildable droids, but I might buy this depending on if the Artoo from this year looks next to this. We shall see. All of these reveals, though, are simply the appetizer to the main course, the Battle of Peridia—oh, sorry, “Climatic Play Battle Between Ahsoka Tano™ the White and Wanderer Ezra Bridger™ vs fan-favorite Captain Enoch™ and fan-coveted Grand Admiral Thrawn™ and Scary Witch Lady Morgan Elsbeth™ with Peridia™ Side Build to Display Figures or to Part Out”. Why the long names? Why?

Was this to what Renown was referring? I mean, probably not, but it’s a nice thought.

Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter was and is still $30 in the U.S. with 282 pieces, although it did increase by 5 euros in other regions if I recall. Yoda’s was $35 with 253 pieces. The leak from Falcon stated our lord and savior Jedi Bob’s starfighter was $39.99, which implies U.S. pricing as opposed to European, with 310 pieces. I don’t know if it’s inflation or the content of the set causing an increased price, but I hope it’s the latter. I like your idea of customizing the look of the starfighter, but I don’t know how much can be done with 28 more pieces, but anything’s possible. My crazy idea is that the starfighter’s wings can be swapped with the X-Fighter’s wings as well. (It dawns upon me as I type this…) Wait! What if it can swap between Starfighter and Interceptor wings? What if it’s like Dreamzzz and you can decide which model is built, so that it can represent two different starfighters that Jedi Bob uses in RTG? (I’m just spit balling [typing?] now.) My final prediction for the second figure: Cala Captain Rex, a Mon Cala with Venator Captain Rex’s torso and arms, no paludron (or else the set’s price increases tenfold on the aftermarket, of course), legs with a cloth waist cape, and a printed bandage on the side of his head, armed with twin stud shooters.

We already have a Delta 7 on shelves right now, we’ve had plenty of Interceptors in the past. I can simply recolour one to my liking for a particular liking if I so desire. (I plan to do that with 75301 to recreate a couple of particular X-Wings besides Luke’s T-65.) Obviously an orange and teal starfighter doesn’t work (the colours would clash like Poe’s ROS X-Wing!), but simply recolouring 75333 would just seem boring to me. Unless it’s meant to recreate a known character’s ship, (like if Jedi Bob’s starfighter was actually the Azure Angel) why not go a bit wacky? Especially if it’s $40. Yes, may I as well?

I’d be down for a remake of the Ewok Village. The original set is fantastic, and I imagine that if released today, providing a new version is given a budget of $350-$400 instead of $250, it could look even better. A remake of the Endor Bunker is irrelevant to me, though. It would make for a great $100 set that compliments the Ewok Village, but not as part of a $500 set. I’m with @wesker and hoping for some Force Ghosts at long last. I remember hearing that. I hope his starfighter is more creative than that, given the wackiness that the LEGO Group could go to with this show. It doesn’t make sense to me to put out two similar looking starfigters at the same time, (75333 is supposedly staying until 2025) but, hey, look at the love Artoo is getting recently. On the topic of the white-red colour-scheme, what if the starfighter’s design is the Rebel phoenix? 🤔

Just a thought, but hear me out. Steve comes from a time where the people were thought to be the government, whereas Sam lives in a time where the politicians are thought to be the government. Thus, both are changing to change government policies, but address different aspects. I think Steve’s line of thinking is more correct, but I’ll be interested to see how Sam’s dynamic develops in CA:BNW. To be fair, the speech is still dumb, but nonetheless intriguing. Meanwhile, I’m cautiously optimistic about BNW. Kevin compared it to TWS, and that alone gives me hope. The only thing that could hold BNW back is a lack of the emotion that TWS has. Regardless, we’ll get Old Man Han Red-Hulking out and I really enjoy Anthony Mackie, so those two aspects alone should hopefully redeem the movie, right? (“We’ll get Kang the Conqueror and I really enjoy Paul Rudd, so nothing can wrong!”) For sets in 2025, bring forth Galactus! At the very least, though, I expect Fantastic Four set or two and a Thunderbolts* set as well. I also hope for Civil War, AoU, and RagnaThork sets. An X-Men ‘97 set, similar to the Surtur set with a Sentinel, Gambit, Wolverine, and Jean Grey instead, would be appreciated, That Doc Ock construction figure is a genius idea, @Scarilian, I would really love that. Maybe we can even finally get AtSV-inspired sets?

Okay, that Dark Falcon looks sick. It isn’t something I’d ever thought I need, but I’m really warming up to it. The gray and red greebling provide nice contrast, while that trans-red cockpit looks stellar! Jedi Vader looks excellent, C-3PO is good for RoS fans, Darth Dev almost looks Starkillerish…? Darth Jar Jar is a little plain for my taste but nice to finally have, Darth Rey should’ve had a skirt piece. Beach Luke on the other hand steals the whole show for me. Reminds me of Bro. Thor and I’m here for it. Would’ve been cool to get a printed Green Milk piece to pair with the Blue Milk, but whatever. The only thing I’m left with, though, is why do I need this? It takes a little too much explanation to display, and it’ll be a dust magnet. The only thing I really want are the figures, but I still can’t use them in my current display. The X-Wing V. TIE Starfighter—er, TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up (tell it exactly like it is, man) is boring and even upsetting. The OC minifigs are generic, which is good for MOCs, but not for me. The Droid, L3-GO, is a nice touch though. TIE Pilot is nothing new, which is disappointing. Then the Rebel Pilot. His name is Rebel Pilot. Ahem, excuse me. (WHY NOT LITERALLY ANYONE THAT ACTUALLY EXISTS IN CANON? WHY NOT A FEMALE PILOT OR A PILOT WITH A SUSPICIOUSLY FAMILIAR MUSTACHE! WHY? WHY!) The TIE pod is a little messy, and the wings are nothing revolutionary. The X-Wing actually looks better than last time, except that it’s maybe too short, but what do I know? As for the droid 4-pack… someone from Dots was bored and decided to build something from Star Wars. They look cute, great base for customs…they look fine as far as the torso and head. The legs mess up it for me, they look too chunky. Chopper looks odd with the pupil, R2-KT looks tall…? I’m leaning toward a pass, but I would like Young Leia, and the aftermarket probably won’t be favorable to me, so I’ll apply all of the wacky accessories so that it distracts from the odd proportions. Not hating, but “meh”. Now Jedi Bob remains our last hope. I don’t expect a Jedi Starfighter or Interceptor or any hybrid in between though.

Another Artoo? This is getting out of hand… now there are three of them!

If I may counter, in a poll the German site Stonewars did among their readers, who are the longtime AFOL crowd, and Teal was slightly favored over Pearl Gold. Does that mean everything? No. But it does mean that not Pearl Gold isn’t quite as poised to win as it may seem. I won’t be surprised if Pearl Gold wins, but I personally am still holding out hope for Teal.

Thank you for reminding me—yes, a Ragnathork Final Battle would be a definite must, and I like your idea of Fenris. I’d also love a portion of the rainbow bridge included for Hela and Thor. All that’d be missing is Led Zeppelin to make it perfect. I should clarify what I meant with a hypothetical Asgard D2C: the palace facade, maybe the opening gate in front, and the Bifrost structure connected by the rainbow bridge. I could see the palace being similarly sized to the Disney Castle, and the rainbow bridge plus Bifrost being around $100 in value. Although now that you mentioned microscale, I would love to see a Hogwarts Grounds-style depiction of the whole city of Asgard… with additional lava pieces and Surtur bigfig. 😉 Which would y’all prefer?

Just recently watched Thor: Ragnathrok, and it’s got me thinking… If the new Surtur set was to introduce that Ragnarok Thor, could we see more Ragnarok sets in the future? Additionally, if the X-Mansion is going to be the first to break away from the modular format of building, could we see standalone D2C location sets in the future? If yes to both, could we see a $400-$550 Asgard set with roughly 10 figures in like 2025 or 2026? Figures based of the main cast of the first 3 Thor movies? Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, Heimdall, and Hela from Ragnarok, Malekith, Kurse, and Jane Foster from Thor: The Dark Thor, and Odin, and Frigga from Thor?

I’d urge you to reread my original statement. I expressed doubt to make a contribution to the discussion, not to make a sweeping claim. Ackbar just seems like a random hypothetical inclusion, but once again, I’d love to be proven wrong. I hated the idea at first, since I really want anything else, but after sitting on it, I wouldn’t mind an interrogation droid. As I recall, there was a prototype sitting at LEGO design offices in some picture, so it makes sense as a 25th anniversary set. Outbound Flight is my favorite Zahn novel so far (which is it plus the Legends Thrawn trilogy). I liked the Chiss Ascendancy more than I expected, and Zahn handles the legacy characters well, as always. Good read if you’re interested. David reads in the video more as “hear no evil, see no evil,” although LEGO seems to have decreased the amount of, hm, cross-product advertising(?) went to comes to the instructions. I miss the old days (2021) when I could look at all the minifigs from the winter/summer wave. I wonder why they’ve stopped (outside of preventing leaks, but is a kinda dumb reason really). I already liked the Star Destroyer when seeing the images, and now I like it slightly more. Minifigs and limited interior are a let down, but I’m buying this purely for display, and it accomplishes that well—although the bottom looks pretty rough. If Praij had been a minifig before, then I’d be crying for a Chimera instead (the dirty look would’ve been made it a unique entry), but it’s always nice to grab more Imperial personnel. Cal’s face looks really good; it’s such a shame he looks so plain compared to the others. Agreed. If only we hadn’t had it confirmed with that animation, then we might’ve had hope. To be honest, I’m more upset that this implies no more Kenobi sets—which, sure is fine I suppose, I just really wanted a battle-damaged Vader. I’m in the camp of Mara Jade over Young Leia every day and twice on Sunday. Only Renown could know how LEGO reached that conclusion, and even then there might not be a simple answer (other than the obvious “‘cause Lucasfilm said so”). Congrats! Hopefully you don’t lose your sight in battle, lose your father-figure, or get tattoos from insects soon hereafter. I mean, I prefer the older pic, but I like the LEGO aspect of the new. However, we all know the real commandos from LSW 3 were those gym clones.

I was aware of Alliances when I wrote what I did. Outbound Flight took place prior to the start of the Clone Wars. Thrawn at that time worked with the Trade Feds, which were under Nute Gunray, when Outbound Flight crossed into Ascendancy territory. The Separatists whom Thrawn fought in Alliances are to my understanding not Gunray’s forces. If I understand what you mean, then yes, I agree. Unless a new movie with any faction in large quantities is made, I doubt we’ll see more than we do now. At the very least, I’d like to see some Trade Federation representation (anything other than a GWP) and a return of some classic Rebel starfighters, like a Y-Wing or B-Wing. Unfortunately, with the current slate of shows that LEGO will have to address set-wise, there’s just not all too much that can be done, unfortunately. Dooku would most certainly be displeased. Although 300 droids compared to 3 clones may be a little too much.

For the fact that I can’t have a Blind Kanan at a reasonable price because you, 75170, include Thrawn, yes. Okay, but yes, fair point.