BrickPrick

So, uh... I just got gifted last year's Advent Calendar completely out of nowhere. It's funny because it's from the very same person who got me the Christmas Jawa, my personal highlight from the set, via happy family trade a couple months ago... In that sense, heavily devaluing this whole thing in the process. Still glad, if a bit irritated at first, for this neat surprise, as I can never have enough GONK Droid™ versions and intend to sell the leftover figures for some good money as per usual. l will also return bespoken Jawa to her for a full circle moment. @Kaijumeister Considering your newest LSW additions, especially the middle one, I want to be you right now.

I'm not as involved in terms of other themes coverage as I used to be, never was too deep into Marvel anyways, so I would need to take a look over there first to know what you mean. The Battle Pack situation became atrocious and I stand by that. There obviously have been ups and downs in it's long storied history, but last decade was way more consistent with it's output than this one is. And we already entered the second half of it, so the tendency unquestionably went downhill. I don't wanna move along the mindset "2026 may have been bad, but look... year 20xx was bad as well." That sorta thinking doesn't improve upon things. It's a bad excuse. Puts things into perspective, yes. But it also needlessly distracts from the current problem at hand. And yes, Lego obviously delivered some highly sought after sets as of late and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Look, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend the Bounty Hunter Pursuit modern makeover ain't worth a damn. That couldn't be further from the truth. It's probably among the most requested sets that you could have hoped for and I'm super stoked for it. It's just that my frustrations with all these erigious experiments took over and got the better of me. When I am very... emotional in the moment, I can often come across more harshly than I meant it to be. Best not to read too much into my ramblings. Usually just need a single sleepover, like right now, and the Lego worlds looks that brick brighter to me again.

You are right about this one. Although the anniversary argument genuinely grows more thin by the day. As you could almost pull and play this card every year, when you can have any anniversary taking place. Is 2029 a better bet? Maybe... because TPM is very neglected by Lego these days. But it will be also LSW 30th anniversary. 2030 will be ESB 50th anniversary etc. As soon as the TIE Avenger sees the Lego light of day, it will almost definitely coexist with some movie's anniversary. Alright! Phew, kinda dodged a bullet there, Sir Studpants. Yes, exactly. It's a complete failure on so many levels. This what happens when a big company is doing too well for their own good. And with no signs of stopping anytime soon, they don't feel the need to keep listening to fan feedback and just stop giving a damn. They're completely out of touch with the people that ensured their ongoing success in the first place. Or even people that supported and saved them facing bankruptcy back then. Too many cooks (sub-themes) spoil the broth (balance). And it's been my personal conviction they could easily release four Battle Packs per year like the good old times and given the plethora of content available by now, probably wouldn't be running out of good ideas for quite some time. Heck, like I keep on saying, I would already be content with just two good and affordable Battle Packs every year.

Ach Alter... Yes, I'm still german, so you hopefully haven't felt the urge to translate these things for me, but just for everyone else. And oh well, sounds like quite... the experience you had there. When I was using the train since like forever a couple of years back, I immediately got caught right between a political debate between two... let's just say, vastly different generations. It was like the living Hell on Earth. Should have plugged earbuds in when I still had the chance. MF stands for maxifigure in that context, right? Or just minifigure? I don't know how tall he was... Woah, woah, woah there... Don't say that! Your sinking feelings sounds so painfully accurate and Lego-like that you might be absolutely right, but still... don't say that! No, in all honesty, I actually believe the real deal is gonna happen... eventually. I don't know about any regional EOL specifics, but let's just hope this second wave is one of those things that would have happened no matter how much the first one failed. If there's no downtime come fourth 2028, I shall be legitimately concerned about the so-called "biggest innovation since the invention of the minifigure". Well, it's not a particular interesting Vader variant to have. But interesting to see you guys coming through with selling entirely owned sets of yours. I could never manage to do that with Lego Star Wars... at least not as far as my precious plastic puppets are concerned. The RTG stuff ain't mine in terms of wanting to own them as well, but at least those things, like you said, have some... finesse and creative spark to it. They're fun for those who want it. And yeah... that Jedi Vader won't be forever able to escape my grasp... fantastic looking fig. Now I'm fully aware we can literally just cover the bases of the Star Wars X Marvel sets and it's genuinely foolish to prejudge something or someone, but yeah... I have a bad feeling about this by principle. It's the last and certainly least thing I could muster up some excitement right now.

I can't and won't criticize additional sub-themes just for the sake of it. Execution remains the key factor. If it's a well thought out set that comes with some attractive qualities and even delivers great value on top of all that, that's great in my eyes. Even if not, it's only a drop in the ocean compared to the biggest offenders out there. I can see why you feel this way. We get enough regular AT-ATs, so getting a special one doesn't take away anything from it. While the Duel on Bespin, at least for the time being, is based on something unreasonably rare, so it's mere existence is much harder to justify. It's first and foremost for the casual crowd which tends to Impulse buy stuff first and ask questions later. Because it sure as hell ain't about true Lego Star Wars fans who didn't ask about any of this whatsoever. It gets even worse when you consider the fact how much longer it has been since the last playscale OT themed Falcon released. Spoiler: it's been 84 years. Give or take ~70 years. This is what's tremendously bothering me as well. We, the fanbase, can be quite good at finding excuses for Lego's design decisions and business models. While it basically gets continually harder to strike a good balance in between the army of individually released properties is true, their persistence to keep throwing more and brand new sub-themes at us left or right is their crusade... not ours. Yes, they may have good reasons to even do so in the first place. There have to be enough people who purchases all this stuff in the first place. Otherwise they would have reversed ship a long time ago. And who knows how much the Mouse House factors into all these decisions. But still... The system scale slots getting butchered and cannibalized like there's no tomorrow is completely out of control at this point. One can only hope, I suppose. I need some positive leaks to lighten the mood yet again. I couldn't agree more with your message even if I tried... or even like to admit that I did. The incredibly irritating inflational speech is among the biggest annoyances in 21st century communication. Like you said, if you repeatedly have to say something that is meant to be serious (sorry/thanks) and should convey some actual weight, it loses all meaning rather quickly. It becomes like a stupid gag you can stick on the fridge or something. I think, I only used the term "slop" for the outstanding Smart Play™ sets and come on... If that can't be considered slop, what possibly can? Yeah, the Glup Shitto term should be reserved for absolute background characters (you may or may not know the name of) with very limited screen time. Someone you have to check Wookipedia for to get any grasp of the character's origin or something like that. Certain Cantina Aliens are Glup Shittos, yes. Sebulba, on the other hand, is not. As for main characters, I don't even... I don't actually travel a lot with the highly reliable Deutsche Bahn, but when I do, it more often than not becomes insufferable having to listen to all the stuff people have no inhibitions of telling out loud in hearing distance of total strangers. The principle of privacy has suffered a lot in this world. We will get our glorious TIE Avenger, it just gonna takes some time. If I had to take an uneducated guess, 2028 sounds about right. You heard it here first.

I kinda admire your restraint on this little rant of yours. My words wouldn't be this kind at this point... not at all, actually. If I had to apply a matching metaphor for this matter it would be about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always manage to creep back up on you. Halfway there. I've got two Santa Vader's (2014 & 2020), Beach Vader and the 20th anniversary Vintage Vader. Can only dream about any Chrome figures. Would love to add the Bacta Tank Vader to my collection someday, though. Oh, as things stand right now, I would rather volunteer for a colonoscopy than getting this set. And yeah, I remember writing about this very topic in here not too long ago. If I can manage to find it, I ought to be pretty proud to add this newest entry (in addition to the latest and greatest UCS Falcon) to the long list... not. A special playscale set is still infinitely more worthwhile than a regular 18+ set/buildable stuff. The latter is the root of the problem as far as the unbalanced set distribution goes. Not the former which is still just a single set... and a legitimately great one at that. Exactly. Unless it's part of a hypothetical third season, we already have RTG as our glorified Star Wars What If... sub-theme. Now they try ro shove cross-over sets down our throats... they're definitely taking it too far. And there seems to be no end in sight with all these experiments and distractions. @Meaf The mist unbelievable part is that it's not unbelievable anymore. I can't even get mad at it anymore... at least not from the outside. From the inside, however...

Eh, nothing happened. Not in this life, I suppose. But yeah, it ultimately doesn't matter. It's kinda tough to compare different entertainment mediums anyways. The attached leaked price point may already imply as much, but we'll see. Other than that, when it comes to the holy moly Smart Play™ sets, I don't rule out anything Lego is responsible for... unfortunately. Yeah, we will get one copy as soon as possible; I don't want to leave anything to chance this time around. I also really enjoy getting unique Vader variants. Already got like half a dozen of them, four of which remain single set exclusive to this day. You have got to be freaking kidding me. Anything but a new OT themed playscale Falcon, right? Right. Just imagine myself with my best absolutely annoyed Tony Stark impression right now. Now if you would excuse me, good Studpants sir, I may have lost a pair of eyeballs along the way.

Yep, I'm aware, though I was specifically asking about 2026 sets not to be officially revealed yet. There just can't be, so there just won't be. But to be painfully honest with you, honourable, optimistic Mando man, that's alright. Nothing needs to reach, let alone beat the genius of Episode V in order to be good on it's own terms since then. Yes, it unquestionably provides great value for the asking price. It almost seems like testing the waters on Lego's behalf. In other words, kicking things off by delivering something reasonable cheap to get everybody on board, only to keep on price gauging everything that comes afterwards on a yearly basis. Not even mad at Lego, that's a common business practice. As for myself, I didn't get it due to going out of stock in no time last year. Was then very relived to see it's supposed to stick around for at least this year... EOL at the end of 2027, if I remember correctly. And yeah, you might get it as well, man. We shall do a little Gingerbread AT-AT tea party... or mulled wine, if you fancy. Or just, well, gingerbread. Cassian Andor in his Imperial Pilot Outfit is the Captain Obvious inclusion. The female Technician would be a good get as well. Just throw in two Ranged Troopers equipped with rocket launchers. Or, knowing Lego, just one of them and one useless standard Stormtrooper for "good measure". Like you already alluded to, for a 70 bucks set, you should get like five total minifigures, pretty much regardless of the build, but probably won't be. Yep, we've been there before. It wasn't the first time and it certainly won't be the last. And yes, they definitely are too parsimonious when it comes to including an reasonable amount of minifigs to many given sets. Especially as far as our beloved Lego Star Wars theme is concerned.

It's close and definitely very high up there for me as well, but all in all not quite there. Some pacing problems prevents it to reach that endgame level. Well yeah, that's usually how it goes with such occasions for licensed merch. Does it really make sense in and of itself? Nope. Is it more like supposed to make, well, a ton of cash? Yes. I don't want to judge these things purely based on their Christmas properties. While that obviously makes up a big part of the overall package, I always prioritize and value the quality of the set itself. And yeah, stuff like the Gingerbread AT-AT, along with the affordable pricing, looks quite attractive to me. And it's not like it's eating up way too many set slots or something. These dishonorable mentions go to all the buildables/18+ thingamajigas.

Okay, that's good to know... thanks for the confirmation. I firmly believe you can't even reach that level. Nothing on earth can replicate that kinda movie magic. Especially when the modern Disney Star Wars era deliberately hits different. I think it's welcoming to see more of the non-canon goofy Christmas stuff beyond just the annual Advent Calendars. Especially some proper builds for actually affordable prices no less. Not just selected employee gifts that end up on Ebay for morally questionable price points.

As odd as two of those *insert infamous Nute Gunray quote* sets within such a short timespan sound like... Given the leaked Christmas Vader minifigure, which looked ludicrously legitimate all around, I think so? Unless both of those things truly are one and the same, which would be pretty wild as well...

What 2026 sets are actually left to be officially revealed for the remainder of this year? Anything else besides the UCS Super Star Destroyer and the supposed Duel On Bespin Christmas set? I wouldn't be exactly opposed of picking up the latter combined with the thematically compatible Gingerbread AT-AT that's still on my agenda anyways. Could definitely imagine worse things than building both of those bad boys, while watching their corresponding movie, which also happens to be my favourite Star Wars movie... probably never to be beaten. Haha, you people of the world seriously have brought the Rancor onto yourself this time around... you had to see it coming at this point.

Well, given the price point controversy and it's ridiculous minifigure selection, it's a set worth forgetting for, I guess. Yes, I agree. These thinly printed stripes will never do it justice and look like anything but a proper waist cape. I like your idea of aprons (new word for me as well), because then they ain't exactly cooking too hard, if I wanna say so myself. Oh no, I didn't necessarily disagree with you on this matter at all. Granting Troopers some dual moulded legs or even side leg printing would go hand in hand with rasing the quality standard as a whole, which I will always advocate for in that sense. It's just that I tried to be somewhat realistic by looking at the full picture and some stone cold facts. So I wouldn't be against the return to classic physical cloth karmas, no... But that doesn't rule out your ideas, even if more unlikely, about going even further. Oh, like I just tried to made myself clear... Yep, we definitely can imagine better modern Lego Trooper treatment. Oh shoot, who would have thought? Who could have possibly seen this coming?! It might be the next huge set bordering on four digits in terms of pricing. Very long, I imagine. Who in their right mind would actually be crazy enough do that?!

Yep, that's why I was trying to be careful and proceed with caution before making auch claims. As far as this unwavering amount of positivity goes, there's just no such certainty with Lego these days. Money, money, money... must be funny... in the Lego world! We could and we would. But so too does Lego. Only they would take it much more easy than ourselves, because it wouldn't amount to more than just another drop in the ocean. Define "you all"... I wasn't part of that crusade at all. I was but a spectator as you were. Making it much more funny to witness whether you take action or not.

Yep... It's a non-trivial matter for sure. Given the ongoing Clone Craziness™, I haven't been too keen on getting new Battle Packs for quite a while now. But now that it actually is based on an exciting and long overdue scene and sought after factions, I currently can't be too bothered due to the arbitrarily price increases. Still holding out hope there's more to it than we're afraid there will be, though I never considered an actual anniversary figure, but we'll see. Word up, man. I'm telling you... It has to be General Skywalker with some pristine arm printing. It. Has. To. Happen. At. This. Point... you know? I mean, the now leaked info has it at near 20 cent per piece... I know PPP ratio is far from everything, never was and never will be, but with just R2 thrown into the mix, this is where the substantial amount of budget went to. Where else would it be, other than Billund billionaire's pockets? Time to abandon the Avenger ship... when it finally becomes reality.