BrickPrick

Yeah, I figured out what you actually meant shortly after my reply. You were referring to the initial list of leaks for the supposed August wave, right? And the news of getting a fresh long overdue Grogu build came after... So yeah, not affected. Of course, the Mando merchandise machine is gonna need some oil, so you can't leave this one out at all... unfortunately. But here's hoping the actual M&G sub-theme gonna deliver some solid sets. Might be finally my time to get an Sandcrawler. Me too, all good. The BS sets allegedly not cutting too much or at all into play scale slots was one of the very few saving graces of the former. Now it seems like all positives that remain are a rotatable R2 head, some neat looking box art and... oh, that sounded like I was listing another thing... some actually not totally terrible ship designs, I guess.

Don't forget about the newest iteration of the buildable Grogu, can't miss that one! Yeah, I just acknowledged the many many waves we are seemingly getting this year. While we would like the additional sets in order for Lego to accommodate for all the BS sets, there's obviously only so much shelf space (though the BS sets are only launching in six countries) they can work with. So an somewhat slimmer sommer offering, dominated with Mando & Grogu sets, would make some sense... even if that's not the way we wanna see it. On the other hand, it's still soon enough to get another leaked list for this August. Well, they best be working on their language barrier, then. =)

Oh, I see. No problem, I can do the caveman just fine. Maybe there is a communication issue in place. Like one of the Lego designers asking "Hey, can we do some Endor sets again?". And then the executive answers "No, we definitely won't do any more Andor sets!". While I didn't assume there would be some dedicated button for it, I remember from elsewhere that you could input some "[QUOTE]" codes yourself in order to make it manually work. However, since I doubt this would make things that much faster, it's honestly fine the way it is. Will go this little "extra mile" from now on, because I think it's much more pleasant to read for the naked eye. That's funny... I always thought the Bounty Hunter Pursuit remake would be pitch perfect for 2027 and it's accompanied 25th AOTC anniversary. But now that we obviously assumed the leaks to be for 2026, I desperately want it to hit stores this summer. Quiet you. You already did enough with your miserable malfunctioning manifestation powers.

Yep, as soon as it was clear Bane would appear this January, so too did I instantly knew he has to be present on my birthday. That's the funny thing... she doesn't. Though I act like she does. On another note, can you tell me how you can split anyone's reply when quoting it? It's been a while... plenty rusty on my end.

Haha, no, it's just my birthday, that's all there is to it. You know... "Der Tag an dem ich ganz groß rauskam". Of course, after all this build-up, it would be kinda anticlimactic if I actually don't receive it. But I trust my significant other to know what she's doing... pretty please?

5 days until I will be granted access and bestowed with the latest and greatest version of the Cad Bane minifigure™... excitedly.

Yep, there better be another Battle Pack, super duper corporate charged or not, for this year. If not, 2026 may go down in Lego Star Wars history as one the weakest delivery years for the format. That Siege of Mandalore BP clearly ain't gonna cut it on it's own. I'm currently browsing Brickset just for the heck of it and seeing a whopping four BPs per year, while we are hoping to at least get half of that, is pretty depressing... even by today's standards. And yes, we are still on the same page for this one, some OT representation would be greatly appreciated. While we have discussed the economics extensivily by now, with these price points ultimately being of little consequence for myself, it doesn’t affect me nearly as much as yourself, I obviously get your point... Even then, a well rounded standard BP would still be much more appealing to me than whatever somewhat generic choice Lego comes up with for a distustingly overpriced SBP. Please let it be another Endor based Battle Pack, either only containing long overdue Endor Rebel Scum or mixed in with some Imperials (2012 callback) and call it a day. They may even include one of their terrible tree builds, I don't care. As having no updated OT troops for over a dozen years is frankly ridiculous.

Yeah, and depending on the timing, there might be fairly little difference between reveal and release. Of course, it screams Super Battle Pack at first. We have not heard about any for this year, but we gotta imagine there wil be a new one. Unless Lego wants to wait how the 327th SBP fares in the 40s before pumping another one out. But man... so many waves this year. I constantly get stuff mixed up and turned around.

Well, we got a rather unexpected huge summer wave blowout after the initial three BS sets were officially revealed. Maybe Lego's also getting cold feet for the remaining BS products and we get some more leaks, minifig list among them, as well.

Yeah, I want that Bounty Hunter Pursuit remake treaty signed. And I want all the hopeful people in here to see how wrong they were for even considering a fourth figure for that set. If not, I will be more than happy to admit the same.

Just because it makes more sense to do some things for certain themes than others, in this case to include a single minifigure in an 18+ sub-theme, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't still missing in the first place. As for Star Wars helmets, if you look at the line-up as a whole, you can see a mixed bag regarding the availability of the characters the helmets are based on. Sure, you've got your common everyday main characters like Darth Vader and the Mandalorian, which wouldn't make the inclusion of a minifig terribly relevant. But then you have helmets like Boushh Leia and Kylo Ren, which haven't had minifigures in ages at this point. You have cookie cutter troopers like the Stormie been on steady supply on one hand, but the AT-AT driver is no longer available as the helmet released. Cody is locked behind a set twice the price as the helmet is. Rex wasn't available in a cheaper set until later on. So I don't see this topic as quite one dimensional as it may seem at first. Not that it would hurt anybody to just include a single minifig anyways. Especially at the high price points Lego is asking for.

I was about correcting your comment but thanks to it, I only now realized that it indeed might have been just an random Ent. Could have sworn it was Treebeard all along. Maybe it's supposed to be? I mean the likeness is... uncanny for sure! The new Sauron helmet instantly including a minifigure is the stuff of distant dreams. Take notes, Lego Star Wars. The time of finally getting one of these helmets might be finally here for me. I just want some LOTR minifigures, man. Though depending on how much it settles, purchasing the figure separately might be the wise thing to do. =)

Yeah, this has been my impression as well. Not even Lego is crazy enough to release yet another Grogu so soon that three of them will be simultaneously sitting on store shelves. Disney may have more influence on Lego's decision making than some of us would like to admit. Oh well, like we already touched on, at least we seem to be getting our usual full summer wave worth of play scale sets. When you see all those BS taking up inventory space, two digits of these abominations all at once, that wasn't exactly something I would have taken for granted. So I'm at least satisfied with this situation. Now the actual sets must be actually good and interesting enough, though. On another note, fully aware nobody will remember this, it doesn't really matter and I do it primarily because it just bothers myself... In the old thread, I described the sparse back printing of Cad Bane as "nothing but a few scratches". These lines are of course meant to represent a couple of cloth folds. But yeah, don't mind me, just my OCD kicking in, carry on.

Yeah, I feel this way too. We have to think about the fact that lots and lots of people grew up with The Lord of the Rings during their childhood. In other words, they weren't necessarily at an age with disposable income back then, but they are adults by now. And like it's already been mentioned, Lego wasn't the same company that it is nowadays. It has significantly broaden it's reach to speak to much more targets groups. There wasn't this explicit focus on the "adults welcome" mantra and no regular D2C sets. So you now have to factor in all these additional casuals who may have never touched anything brick-built in their lives. But as far as anyone is concerned, they never had to. As they may just be big enough TLOTR fans and wanna impulse buy Rivendell because it looks very beautiful and appealing to them. So no, in no world would "many people already owning the 2013 Orthanc set" be a good enough reason for Lego to don't do a remake in the 2020s or beyond. That'll make $35, good sir.

Yeah, that's totally fine by me. Disney obviously positioned and intended Mando to the be the next big Star Wars thing, their first successful foray into Live Action TV. Lego just followed suit for this one, reasonably so. And given the first two seasons of the show, I'd say they definitely bet on the right horse. And while I was pretty mixed on the third season, I never expected them to stop their efforts on the spot or something. The buildable Grogu situation on the other hand is something that bothers me the most, but that's more of a general Lego problem (if Disney doesn't intervene as much as one would think they do), not a Mandalorian problem per se. Sounds good. From my point of view... (no pauldrons are evil) it's a great piece.

Yes, exactly. I would be hard-pressed to name any other relevant licensed theme where remakes feel as significant and justified as it's the case for The Lord of the Rings, which was put on ice for a decade. While it's a brutal way on Lego's behalf to ask some people to break the bank to return to brick-built Middle-earth, you can definitely build upon these D2C offerings. So yeah, I'd like to have some of that metaphorical Landspeeder magic. Though not having anything Gondor-related for all this time has been crazy for sure; your X-Wing comparison is rather fitting. Very excited for the official Minas Tirith reveal.

I don't think it's worse than many other Disney+ shows out there. There is some cream of the croup at the top and a bit of bottom of the barrel. In between is basically this one giant grey blob of mediocre™ content. Exactly. It's like, I don't know, ~0.75 worth of pure TBOBF based sets. Technically true. Even though having to call out a Microfighter speaks volumes about the overall support of a sub-theme. But enough of that. What Lego just did, is something I expected the least from them. Come to me boyo Bane... I'm calling for you.

Given I come from the Lego Star Wars theme, don't mind me when "too similar" is something I have to chuckle at. Like when did this ever stop Lego from releasing another set, a long overdue remake no less. And no, I don't think the fact some selected hardcore fans buying off the old Orthanc set for a fortune would prevent Lego to release a new one either. If anything, these sky-high collectors prices might work in their favour when they can offer a cheaper alternative.

Makes sense, yeah... But I'm not sure this is how Lego operates. When it comes to set coverage of Disney+ shows, it doesn't feel like quality matters as much as it should. And what receives how much and for how long is frankly all over the place by now. Something beloved but a little more limited in terms of range gets next to nothing. Something mid but more popular gets a lot. I also wonder how much say Disney has when deciding what goes into which set slot. We also need to consider that Lego usually does their initial wave of sets well in advance of the newest show release. So they don't even know the impact it may or may not have on the general audience. As soon as they do know (plus reviewing commercial performance) may indeed be the deciding factor whether it will receive more coverage the following year or, if at all, much later down the line. All that is without addressing the obvious elephant in the room... Too many Lego formats for too many Star Wars sub-themes both make up for a difficult balancing act.

Okay, gotta say, with my personal The Lord of the Rings fever slowly but surely reigniting, it's time to step in some yet to be explored Eurobricks corners. I always said to myself if Lego was to bring back play scale sets of this undercooked theme again, I would even put my favorite franchise, Star Wars, on ice for the time being. So many opportunities for great remakes waiting to be re-released. Leak-wise, though, I'm not quite as engaged for this one as I used to be, so nothing new on that front, I guess? We are still at a single expensive D2C set on a yearly basis, plus a few gimmicky products along the way? Helm's Deep can only be a matter of time. So is a new Orthanc to pair with Barad-dûr. So I see either of those for next year. Here's hoping they won't touch anything from the Hobbit anytime soon.

I really came around on the new Mando box art. Was criticizing it at first when the blurry pictures were leaked. Thought the colours were clashing to much with each other. Like the contrast looked wild to me on the Cobb Vanth's Speeder set. But now I really like it. However, if other play scale sets retained their ongoing Black Series style of design, which going by the new Battle Pack and Mech looks to be the case, I would be absolutely fine with it. I adore these aesthetics ever since. How they didn't do a Boba Fett's Throne Room modular expansion is absolutely beyond me. Given the past controversy sparking from Jabba's Palace, they really don't wanna do a proper roof for that particular location again, do they? I may be in the absolute minority here, but if those Royal Guards were using slope pieces by now, I would let them hopping like a bunny... or waddling like a penguin to get a move on. Yes, of course. No need to take anything as gospel when it's just every so often a matter of personal preference. I for once am split on modern day Clones. There are aspects about them I wholeheartedly disagree with as much as the next guy. But there is also stuff I don't mind as much as others. 10 days until I will be witnessing the end of the long lasting bane of my existence, TBOBF Cad Bane, becoming reality... eagerly.

Impossible to disagree with you there. Can't possibly be equally concerned with every shortcoming there is. It can already give you a tough time to keep track of all these different issues. I honestly don't even know why the legs instead of slopes are bothering me this much either. Who knows, might be due the Skywalker Saga influence and my general passion for videogames. The Sith pupils are one of the absolute worst offenders, by the way. Modern clone design I am semi-okay with. The Family Guy Stormtrooper helmets I actually got used to pretty quickly. The lack of dual moulded legs is a definite no-go in expensive collector oriented sets, but that usually doesn't affect me. We would like to invite you to live in the BS era now. So please proceed and put aside all your imagination. Then follow suit by telling your kids to stop imagining things as if he or she is merely having fun playing with a toy or something. This is about playing in the next dimension. In there, you better stick kindly to the script. Royal Guards are only there to look cool and don't do anything of importance. So I advise you to just put them on some studs and enjoy. Thank you. Sincerely, probably some Lego representative.

It's at least so smart that it makes regular Lego look dumb in comparison. Too bad lots of people, myself included, will still prefer the latter. Yeah... no. I think if Lego made an effort to create a new piece for accuracy reasons and already did a number of them, they should consistently apply it wherever appropriate, rather than sticking to old relics of the past. The new TROS Palps, although not released in a play set, looks pretty much perfect with the slope piece, but would look like slop without it. In an ideal Lego world, we would get both regular legs and slope pieces to combine playability and displayability in a single set, but alas... Apparently you need to shell out 500 bucks nowadays to get some additional leg pieces.

Oh okay... gotcha. I just didn't associate the guards with the dueling function. Because all they did in the movie was menacely standing around in the background. And maybe parents should tell their kids to not use their own imagination and making any sound effects at all. Otherwise they might not be able to hear any of the cute, crappy little sounds that the BS is capable of... sad as that all may be.

What play features, though? The Royal Guards are dumb figures. They may have cut their capes in half to match the BS minifigs for consistency sake. Or Lego just wanted to save approximately one penny.