BrickPrick

Word up, man. As a pretty proud owner of the MBS Cantina, I will never miss out on something main build-wise ever again. But the same can just not said about the countless Cantina characters that are still up in the air. Like I'm not even close to get tired of saying... this is the definition of wasteful. Even though this is just the tip of the iceberg... as the Smart Slop Hoth Echo Base will be personally much worse to stomach. There was never a chance for me support any of these stuff. But holy hell... this is truly something else.

Yeah, this 1-2 punch surely works wonders for raising anyone's excitement for this Lego Star Wars year as a whole. Like it went from bleak to bliss in an heartbeat. Yes, there is seriously no debate here. The way Lego treats Lando like some sort of irrelevant or semi-irrelevant background character will forever remain a mystery to me. Well, of course this would be a good thing! I meant it in a "imagine them doing nothing really right anywhere else so that the best thing you have to mention in your review is about supporting no actual app" kinda way. Like this was basically their one and only redeeming quality to this slop... that would be funny for me to see. You don't understand it. I don't understand stand it. Others don't understand it. Because there is literally nothing there to make someone understand. It just makes no sense at all. And not gonna lie, now I'm even more pissed one precious Cantina set slot was wasted for all this mumbo jambo. Now you probably gotta wait another five-ish years to get another single shot for some new Cantina Alien characters. Thanks, I hate it. Yeah, we talked about this whole thing not that long ago. A brick-built version, although not my desired first choice, can match their moulded counterparts by now. The final result, however, as expected, is nothing like your clean creature's design. It's actually much worse than I could ever imagined. Like way worse than the Microfighter from 2018 or so. It's tiny, it's blocky, it's a bad joke. But you can see for yourself... if you like @18:42 in all it's glory).

Talking about contrasting emotions. However, like I already said, abondoning the theme... or how you just put it losing all hope, was never on the table and no deciding factor for me. If I had to consider leaving Lego for good every time they experiment on something stupid, whew... that's like running a marathon or rather a sprint in circles on a yearly basis. But I will say all this Smart Play stuff is not quite as amusing as I thought it would be. Yesterday, I actually had some angry bursts because I can literally make no sense of it all and because of the wasting aspects. It's not like Buildable Characters or other formats where I can see they are not for me, but also acknowledge their worth for others. But yeah, one moment I'm a little angry, the next I'm very amused... talking about contrasting emotions again. Yep, that's right. The Bespin Luke is like the light version in terms of limitation compared to the modern rendition of the Cloud City Lando. Hopefully he will be next in line. Hahaha, imagine a pros and cons list about Smart Play integration and one of the very few positives is "it doesn't actually feature an app". And oh man... I hope this whole stuff is gone before we even know it. Let it just be another one of these terrible trends, although on a larger scale than we may used to, and move on with our respected Lego lives. The execution is frankly ridiculous. And the thing is... While Lego may had licensing issues with Disney for some of the audio and music, you still need to go full force in on it. That stuff should be sorted out early on. And if you know for certain you won't get the Cantina theme going, well... maybe don't do a Cantina set at all! But no, they have to serve us the holy grail that is undoubtedly the old trilogy and fast forward their greatest hits collection. I'm telling you, I can't stand this "everything is better than nothing"-mentality. If the result is like this, then no... it's definitely not better! But I ask again, what do you make of that brick-build Dewback? Have you seen it? Internet bubble be damned, other than some people obliged to act out all excited, all I see is vastly negative reactions to it... rightfully so. But I think in the end it will depend on the purchasing behavior of some parents and grandparents (casuals in general) looking for gifts for their children. It absolutely shouldn't be THE future and it's unbelievably unnecessary. That would be the worst case scenario. Beste case would be all this stuff disappearing in just a couple of years. In between solution would be if it just co-exists along with everything else. I occasionally like to swoosh around some ships, yeah... But definitely not in the way the Smart Play stuff wants you to "play in the next dimension".

So it's probably gonna be a Mando season 1 set, right? I mean they may just mixing and matching two scenes into one set for this one again. It's unbelievably underwhelming. The thing is, it not only doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Nope, what it actually does, is incredibly lackluster too. Without the shadow of a doubt, you have to be playing the actual Cantina theme here. I mean you've got part of the band, the stage is set, this is the only right thing to do. But they just don't. And what they do instead isn't even any good. Maybe partially due to the video recording, the audio is very quiet and doesn't appear to be of any higher quality. I'm not even the target audience for all this and it still feels like a slap in the face, because they must have invested tons of resources for this regardless. And the thought they are killing precious system scale set slots for all this slop is kinda unbearable for me right now.

What a mess. Look how they massacred my Cantina. *Breathing in* Seriously, other than trying to find new creative ways to raise prices and pick even more money out of people's pockets... what on earth is the freaking point about any of this? Who is this for? I see next to no redeeming qualities about playing in this "next dimension". The design is catastrophic for the most part. The functionality already shows it's ugly face, not to say ears, in terms of how limited it's actually gonna be. There won't even be some killer exclusives minifigures included. So you have a new product line that neither bring displayable or playable attributes to the table... not even collectible aspects. What it will do, however, is asking for a lot of your hard earned cash. WHAT. A. WASTE. *Breathing out* And now I do what all this Smart Play Slop TM doesn't want you do to at all: use your own imagination. So I imagine how awesome the new Zam Wesell minifigure is hopefully gonna be. A new helmet mould has to be a given. As well as THE alternative alien face print. 20 days until I will be welcoming my boyo Bane in peak condition into my collection... probably.

Always missed replying to this posting amidst the controlled chaos in here. Yeah, it simply can't be a coincidence. And if it was... Intentionally or not, somebody just did Lego a huge favor. And for some of us fans as well. As no matter how critical you are of the Smart Play stuff, this surprising summer wave news is a welcome change of pace. It just immediately lights up the mood. That's how I feel about it, anyways. By the way, happy for all of you guys who never had a good chance of getting the Bespin Luke due to vastly limited availability. Always depends on your level of expectations. If somebody, for whatever reason, expects MBS level of quality and quantity out of a much cheaper set over a decade later, then they will undoubtedly be disappointed. But if someone can be fine with the idea of getting another Yavin 4 style of huge play set, which this is probably gonna be, then it can be alright. Let's just hope the trees and vegetation has much less 4+ character in the Ewok Village this time around. Yeah, even that had it's 100+ worth of sets. Don't know about a three year plan and whether they wanted to make it the next big thing or not. But compared to their own Ninjago... it feels super small. So I opted for that comparison. But now that I see it... Vidyo is the much more appropriate one! If I had to take an uneducated guess why they hype it to heaven now and not a couple of years ago, then I would say maybe because they are now feeling much more confident about it. Confident enough to push it across various (un)licenced Lego themes. Rather than it being known as just "the Mario gimmick", so to speak. It's now THE SMART PLAY SYSTEM.

I expected the smart brick stuff to be somewhat slop and I wasn't disappointed in that regard. But as long as there is enough worthwhile sets to get out of this theme, which there are plenty for me, I won't abandon it for good. Like given all these different sub-themes, it's only natural to pick and choose certain formats over others. If it's successful enough, that is... If it's not, it will be just end up being another wet fart in the wind. If I had to guess it will be buried as one of many failed Lego experiments sooner rather than later. Like this will be more Nexo Knight and less Ninjago. On Lego's website they hype up the Smart Play system as "their most revolutionary innovation since the invention of the minifigure in 1978". It's good they are not lacking in confidence or anything. Now let's see if it even has remotely the same long lasting impact than the minifigure had ever since. To all people who want to experience this tragedy for themself, Beyond the Brick got hands-on with the X-Wing and TIE Advanced. You can also see the Emperor's Throne Room and the Cantina casually chilling there. What do you think of that tiny brick-built Dewback, @Mandalorianknight? Is that everyone you ever hoped for?

WOOOOOOOOAH... I would gladly take that Bount Hunter Pursuit remake of your greedy hands, Lego! Holy hell, to say this thing is long overdue is putting it mighty mildly... but better late than never. What are the actual odds all these leaks happen on the very same day the super smart stuff is getting revealed? Somebody at Lego HQ wanted to soften the blow or something? That we did! Now it only needs to be properly detailed. But given the continued direction of more and more main characters receiving arm printing, I'd say the chances of that to happen are pretty good.

So, having seen everything there is to see right now, I've got the following to say: no. Okay, now that's out of the way, let's get some positivity in here. I really like the box art for the Smart Play sets. It looks very early 2000s to me. In terms of new minifigures, as expected, only the Rebel Technician and A-Wing Pilot are interesting to me. As you can see, the positive clearly outweighs the negative.

Ah, how I love that sweet smell of a freshly created Eurobricks Lego Star Wars Discussion Thread in the afternoon. Let's see how smart those bricks are shaping up for Lego's business... and what's in store for us anyways. Let the trials and tribulations begin.

I never truly minded the lack of backpacks for some troops. Like I can't have Boba Fett without his jetpack, but I'm fine with Rebels, Imperials and Clones missing their accessory. Yeah, that's probably true. Most people won't be buying multiple Battle Packs at all. It's just begs the question if the ones that do can have an noticable impact in the grand scheme of things. When I see some guys buying hundreds of some good army builder's, I don't even bat an eyelid anymore. While it not nearly became the gold standard by now, it isn't exactly that extraordinary anymore either. Suffice to say, all good as far as I'm concerned. Just saying... make some OT stuff again, please. When they didn't even have enough time to properly cover up the crime scene, that must have been one hell of a last second change, then. Yes, and I'm not just talking about different discounts and sales situations, but different MSRP as well. Every so often I heard about some crazy full priced Lego sets up there in Norway or Sweden. Don't know how much that's the case anymore... but it was bonkers. Okay, Stonewars just confirmed what we were all afraid, er, I mean, what we were all eagerly anticipating. The reveal of the Smart Brick business is upon us. In about a good five hours from now on. Now is the time, Eurobricks. The beginning of the end.

Yes, they were overpriced as heck. Which ultimately kept me from getting any of those. Though I really enjoyed the redesigned Rebel Hoth Troopers. I would imagine they still make a ton of money due to mere amassing some of the better army builders. But when you have the freedom to do like exactly the same thing as you did the year prior, but just slap an additional 50% price tag on it, then yeah... those things are bound to generate even bigger profit margians. Now that you say that... Yeah, I think I've heard about this after all. Memory is a fascinating mechanism, so to speak. That's precisely it. A good set to accompany a flagship set or a variety of other products. A somewhat bad "be all end all" kinda set. Ha, me neither. I was much more involved in the so-called "console war" (always hated that term) before I reached adulthood. But nowadays, thanks to the crazy console consolidation, there is not much of a competition left to fight for. Been a PlayStation fan as long as I want to remember, by the way. And hey, getting a console to play some high quality Star Wars games is always a good thing. Exactly! You even have the 1x2 grill pieces which would be pitch perfect functioning as your minifigure stands. It really is like Lego is intentionally trolling and taunting us putting them there in the first place! No matter where we stand, be it you as an american, or me as an european, we obviously can never speak for an entire continent worth of different countries featuring their own economic environments. I could tell you all day long how awesome Lego deals can get here in Germany, yes. But people in the northern regions of Europe would definitely tell a different tale. Same goes for the US as well... but on a much larger scale. All those different tax territories alone will see to that. Anyways, here's hoping you will eventually get what you are looking for. =) Yeah, I tend to be passionate about the things I care for. But I never want to reach toxic territory while I'm at it. Passion should never equal or involve toxicity. This is where I personally draw the line. I honestly mentally prepare for this as well. To clinge onto play scale sets as much as you used to, despite the clear shift in direction on Lego's part, may be the romantic type of thinking... but not very realistic. Well, let's just say I give myself a few years time to even consider it. That's exactly the point! In all fairness, Lego constantly shows that they do care about the products they make and do listening to fan feedback. Otherwise we wouldn't get some of the long requested minifigures you just listed. And in some cases, certainly not at this quality level. But then there are plenty of other head scratcher scenarios where you feel like you can't afford to give them the benefit of the doubt anymore. It's almost like someday Dieter is in charge of things, but the next day it's Detlef who's taking over business. As much as someone may aspires to be, no one is or ever will be perfect. This defeats the nature of the human being. But this ain't about perfection. And that's not what fans ask for. No, it's about consistency. And to see that level of inconsistency over such a long period of time, one way or another, is what can drive us a little bit mad sometimes. But to speak for myself, I also have a lot of fun doing so. Back to your point... yes, they are clearly overcompensating. Having next to no TCW stuff on store shelves late last decade, was an extreme. But to keep shoving Clone Craziness down our throats is the other side of the extreme. I really hope we can reach that sweet spot level again. Okay, that right there is like the grandmother of all points. If you, due to all these mother flipping different formats, have so few set slots available to use already... at least give us more variety in sub-themes when you do something more exciting again. By today's standards, it actually feels like 50%+ of all yearly released LSW sets are non play scale sets. While like 30/40% of the remaining half is reserved for Clones. That's like saying it's totally fine having only two Sith and thousands of Jedi around at the same time. No, it's not cool, it freaking sucks megablocks! And yes yet again... giving people what they want won't kill this theme in any way. It's not like they completely broke the bank by giving us the incredible new head mould for Plo Koon. They even may have increased the price for this particular Microfighter for this exact reason. Of course. It's always a matter of perspective. Everyone can only play the piano notes in front of them. You may get a new sheet every now and then, but the musical performance will still be your own. And yep... fully aware the veterans or longtime fans were and always will be outnumbered by the average casual consumer. Yes, as entertaining as spending time on Eurobricks is, at the end of the day it's yet another online bubble. One of the better ones out there for sure... but a bubble nonetheless. And I too believe an Avenger, contrary to the general hype in here, would still do decently on the overall market. Andor niche factor or not, this is still an appealing looking imperial vehicle. This is just part of the fun to discuss, predict and speculate about stuff we will never know for sure. Yet if you truly think about it... it makes next to no sense to do so at all! But I enjoy it so much.

I don't wanna sound arrogant or anything, but whoever is in charge of these decisions, has clearly no idea what he's doing. Like it makes no sense whatsoever to ignore a critically acclaimed and fairly popular videogame like that. Not when you literally supported other games that weren't even as well received within the same timeframe. Yes, we are all on the same page for this one. Not much to add beyond from me what wasn't already said countless times in here. Bring back minifigure compatible 18+ stuff or just leave me alone, Lego! Oh, how right we were to have a little bit of faith to see it happen. And how wrong we were by thinking Lego could be even bothered to do the right thing there. On the ongoing topic about Battle Packs right now, not even a Purge Trooper BP saw the Lego light of day. It's kinda maddening, to be honest. Awesome, I will give this a read later on. Thank you for sharing. Yes, its the mixture of two things which makes me go back and fourth on this one. On one hand, the amount of available Star Wars sub-themes for any given set is unquestionably unprecedented nowadays. To pick your poison must be giving those responsible a tough time. Like I said on numerous occasions, I don't exactly envy those people. But on the other hand, seeing an unprecedented amount of Lego Star Wars formats is insane all the same! Like why would you limit yourself in terms of providing a reasonably balanced portfolio to such a degree? Why would you willingly bring that curse onto yourself? But the thing is, to them it's not like that... not even in the slightest. But about maximizing profits across the board. Which they do, when, say, five longtime fans of the theme don't support something, but six new people casually and typically not into Lego do. Because of Grogu or something. All in all, this discussion is a strong reminder that multiple things can be true all at once. What's the perfect heaven to one individual, might be perfect hell to another. Of course, we are the cool, knowledgeable fans, so we just know better.

Darth who? Well, I liked the analogy about the Rancor being a solo beast better anyways. Speaking of additional formats, do you remember these bizarre Action Battle sets Lego did for Endor and Hoth in 2019? Other than the 4+ thing, which I shamefully have to admit is actually in my possession, that's like the closest Endor based play set we got for what feels like forever. And no, I don't really count the Battlefront II Inferno Squad BP. Every once in a while, it is my personal belief Lego seems to be allergic to making even more money than they already do. I mean, come on, is there really an easier, more efficient opportunity to make the most bang for your own buck with as little as possible than freaking Battle Packs? I don't think so. As expensive and overpriced as anything 18+ can be... it clearly ain't for everyone. Battle Packs are truly compatible with all ages. Kids play with them. Adults collect and display them. It represents the best of both worlds. Yet besides experimenting with the bigger Battle Packs, Lego does relatively little with them for the better part of this decade by now. Yeah, you could say it was fun while it lasted. It shore is. Let me reashore you... I intend to own all of those terrific troops. Especially a couple of the regular ones. Also interesting fact about the tanks... I wasn't aware about this at all. Yes, I really like it, too. Emphasis was on "only". As in imagine getting absolutely nothing based on Cal Cestis' journey only to get just a buildable droid a couple years later on. But the build itself was absolutely adorable... Immersive is a good way to describe it. One of the rare few exceptions of this sub-theme I can appreciate the set for what it is. I considered getting it at some point, but I didn't. It just wasn't, like you said, a first choice kind of set. Obviously no match for a Stinger Mantis flagship. On another note, I thought you were one of the good guys, but then you said Xbox. Yeah, it never feels like Mission Impossible to include some neat figures, exclusive or not, to this otherwise appealing format. They just need to do it. Same goes for the Micro-scale Dioramas. Excluding figures just because you can't integrate them directly in the scenary feels like an excuse to me. And not a very good one at that. You put it next to the quote plaque and call it a day. The Lego sales situation you partially have in the US seems so crazy for me. I basically can't acquire the 327th BP for over 30€ anymore. It's been comfortably sitting at ~27€ on Amazon DE for a few months now.

No offense, but anything beyond $20 is pushing it without good reasons. Like I can't think how anyone would say $23 for a standard Battle Pack is still somewhat okay, but $25 would be a deal breaker. Feels like moving goal posts to me. As the 33% price jump from 15 to 20 bucks was pretty substantial to begin with. And was supposed to be relatively future proof. Haha, I knew I was right to doubt you. But yeah, sounds very Sith to me. Or like the mindset of an confident, self-serving beast. A continuation of the MBS line would be awesome in general. An Endor Bunker/Battle one could be a perfect opportunity to finally return to this location. A fitting Battle Pack would be the cherry on top. Although I would already be happy if just the latter is happening. Yep, an issue that could be easily solved or at least kept to an acceptable level if we were back to the good old days of getting four Battle Packs per year. Yeah, though it was a nice break from the Clone Bros regardless. Even if it felt like a rather short stop in between this extreme Clone Extravaganza. Oh, absolutely. I can ashore you, I will try to get the other two Shoretrooper variants sometime. A couple of Imperial Hover Tank Pilots as well. Yes, you can't understate how ludicriously Lego this move would be. Same way we only got the buildable BD-1 for Fallen Order several years later on. Such a shame... what a waste! I absolutely agree. All things considered, Dioramas just have the most value compared to all other 18+ and non system scale formats. I don't mind the Starship Collection either. Sure, they are all overpriced as well... what isn't? And sure, their value would be greatly increased were they to include some cool exclusive minifigs. But those are some sharply designed models, so I definitely see the appeal. Helmets are comparable to that, though not quite as appealing to me. Stuff like the upcoming Busts, Mechs and Buildable Characters... sorry, not sorry. I just can't. What's next? A Star Wars equivalent to the World Map set?

Yes, please. Kinda ironic that we kicked things off with the awesome 75320 Snowtrooper Battle Pack after the one year hiatus. And got nothing in terms of OT representation since then. Other than the 40755 if you want to count this. If Lego indeed miscalculated the demand for the 332nd BP, I would be absolutely fine with that. Seriously, just stop this madness for once. I want to be excited again. Indeed it is... in your dreams. It sits right next to the scrapped concept art of the Crab Droid in Lego's brainstorm room. Usual August wave or not, let's just have some actual exciting play scale sets beyond the expected Mando onslaught. Otherwise it could be a bleak year even for my taste, but until we know for sure my glass remains half full as always.

Yes, a tried and true OT themed Battle Pack, the Night and Death Trooper one I would consider to belong to the Mandoverse, is definitely long overdue. A truly magical time of the theme, if you ask me. It helped immensely getting me excited to get back on track. Or to constantly collect it in the first place. To this day, I like to admire my one and only Shoretrooper Captain minifigure. It's so refreshingly different from any other Imperial troops, which I own quite a lot of unique ones by now. I own absolutely nothing as far as Star Wars costumes go. Not even a single cool helmet. Someday, I will change that. All I remember is getting some semi-cool lightsabers back when ROTS premiered here in 2005. Oh my maker... I didn't even consider this, too! You've got all the nightmare fuel in the Adults Welcome world up and running now, Mando man. Imagine them selling a Botanical Collection based on Jedi Fallen Order/Survivor this late to the party... Even Lego wouldn't be this crazy, would they? If I want any 18+ sub-theme to make a comeback it would be the Diorama Collection. It has by far the most potential to deliver exciting remakes (or even never before done stuff) by replacing their system scale counterparts. With Palpatine's Arrest being just one of many fitting options.

Yes, it's insanity. The only Endor Rebel Trooper I've got is thanks to an Advent Calendar, the 2013 one I think. Yes, their printing details are distinct, yet their overall look is designed in such a consistent way, it makes them all feel they belong together. Beyond that, the Rogue One sub-theme truly delivered one banger after another. I was lucky enough to catch like a handful of sets, like the Y-Wing, TIE Striker and both Battle Packs, shortly before or after they retired. Yes, you are right. Some differentiation is in order. I looked up the most recent monthly Amazon sales for Lego Star Wars. And what do you know, the 327th BP sits comfortably at the very top. Everything else, Clones or not, tracks far behind, though. This is all obviously very limited when it comes to getting a meaningful broader picture, but maybe, just maybe, things are finally slowing down for good. I can only speak for myself, but this wave may only exist to add to my personal amusement. My cynism will be on display in full force! Haha, I'm not nearly as cold blooded to even come close to being Cad Bane. Still love the blue Duros dude. And I actually took advantage of an unexpected photo opportunity when I met a pretty cool TBOBF Bane cosplayer at a fairly big fan exhibition last year. Oh, for the maker's sake. I already pushed away the fact the busts are now coming to Star Wars, too. It quite literally is a bust, then. Here's hoping some of the Mando & Grogu play scale sets can bring something solid to the table. You sure you guys are back to getting Clone Super Battle Pack priced at $40? It might as well go back to the current price point before we know it. Before the supposed price increase, Cobb Vanth's Speeder set was initially 30 bucks, too. So yeah... let's see those totally unique, brand new colored Clones you got in store for us this time around, Lego. I can honestly barely write this very sentence without falling asleep. Oh great, we now have some sort of dedicated doom and gloom debacle countdown at our disposal. 25 days until I get my first out of the box Bane... hopefully.

New year, same strategy. Ha, can do both things in the name of the TIE Avenger and Andor. Not too keen on doing the Mara part, though. Not just because I don't have a connection to that part of the fandom, but because defending the innocent probably wouldn't exactly be my specialty... Not my core competence. Not my cup of tea, so to speak. But thanks for your blessing, Commander 99. I shall go fourth doing the biding of everyone sharing this noble cause. They are up there for sure.

Thank you kindly, Mando man. I like to think I'm one of numerous Rancor's apprentice's as well. Though I doubt he would see it that way. Would you, Rancor? Yes, it is. By the way, I love dogs with every cell of my body. Well, I just did. The Fleet Troopers we pretty much got in spades I think. Everything else? Not so much. Did you ever hear the tragedy of the Endor Rebel Troopers missing in action? It's not a story Lego would tell you. As for the Rogue One Rebel Troopers, I gave them a closer look when cleaning them up. They actually look incredibly detailed. Yes, but why would they want to slow down even a bit if they still sell like hot cakes? We can criticize Lego all we want... rightfully so. But it still begs the question, if we were them, would we do anything different ourselves? Probably not. We would shove down Clones anyone's throat as much as possible. It still makes me a little sick, to be honest. Beyond first impressions, I always aspire to reserve final judgements until I see the real deal. In this scenario, though, I have literally no hope whatsoever. I'm inclined to agree with you... reset the clock on quite a few things! Oh man, that's ironic. In terms of Eurobricks environment, I don't have a reason to worry about anything. Some mighty fine moderation in here. So I am not worried at all. But generally speaking, even if it feels like a lifetime ago, I have every reason to tread carefully. This topic doesn't belong here and I won't elaborate any further. Let's just say I had my fair share of troubles with online authorities before. Nevertheless, this one is easy to edit and just move on with more fun things. And yeah, that's what I intend to do. I'm honestly not so sure about anything exciting left for the first half of 2026 either. March wave is, well, whatever? May/June is a lot of Mando stuff? So yeah, almost feels like we are already ready for the August wave. Good thing I always have sets to catch up to in the meantime, though.

Oh. Well yeah, I... see that now. What was meant to be a mere callback, I did the same for the rank of "C-C-Citizen", kinda took an unintentional turn for the worst. Anyways, thanks for the heads-up, I edited my posting. Oh, thank you, Master Kaijumeister. I hope to still be around for the next one. Yep, more widely available UCS sets akin to the AT-ST would be great as well. Would work wonders in terms of some additional pricing flexibility. I second that. Happy new year to each and everyone at Eurobricks. Here's to a happy leaker phase ahead.

Eurobricks K-Knight. Not the worst thing in the world to end the year on a new title. Right now I picture myself as Starkiller getting crowned as apprentice by Vader after the opening of The Force Unleashed. Only question is... who is gonna be the Darth for this one? Haha, UCS collection? Easy there, space cowboy, I'm only here for Jango's Slave 1. Although I did say something similar when dreaming about the MBS Cantina, so who know's what the future holds. Well, more than enough larger set options to choose from nowadays, I suppose. Though I agree the pricing for clearly different scaled UCS sets should be a lot more flexible. A freaking UCS Landspeeder should not be priced the same as an actual X-Wing. Stuff like this really highlights the problem with pre-determinded price points. Yes, truly most impressive. And it's funny you would mention the size comparison with your dog. I said the same thing about mine but with the 2020 play scale AT-AT. Ultimately, doggo still had it dwarfed quite considerably when standing up. However, as far as the UCS one is concerned, I definitely wouldn't be so sure. Yeah, I figured I've probably got at least two years to get it before officially retirement. Need to check how the UCS Gunship did and when it went EOL; might be a valid point of comparison, if only because of it's OT, uh, I mean PT heritage. Oh no, I never would have guessed you had a thing or two left for Mandalorians, Mando man. So glad you finally cleared this one up. I have a whopping four (!!!!) Rebel Fleet Troopers. One of the old 2008 ones, the remaining three are the updated 2019 and onward ones. In terms of pure troops, when compared to the Empire, the Separatists and the Republic, the Rebel Scum TM is now by far my smallest main fraction. I find their lack of overall presence in the last couple of years disturbing. Including the Bad Batch, I've got to be in the three digits area for Clones as well by now. And just like you said... I love my Clones as much as the next person who grew up as a tiny toddler with the prequels. I just don't like the ongoing overkill... especially at the expense of certain quality standards. No, I actually counted them one by one by myself. Though I need to check again for the actual precise numbers. Think I am shy of ten minifigs or so. In terms of defining "unique minifigs", other than taking the official way where every tiny little printed detail already is enough to make up a new variant, everyone probably got an own way of thinking about it. Mine is... complicated, to say the least. What I will say in addition is the overwhelming majority of my minifigures, except just a couple of those Magazines for a little bit of boosting, came from different sets. There are no duplicates for army building purposes, which puts the total amount a little bit into perspective. =)

Oh man... The UCS AT-AT is such a heavy hitter as well. I remember it took them quite a while to figure out the stability for the legs and all. And to pull it off like that, despite maybe being slightly top-heavy, with a fully designed interior fitting all those troops, whew... it truly is a sight to behold. As for my case, well, it heavily depends on both the set's lifetime and on personal spacing. But yeah... after the MBS Cantina, this would be another dream come true. When in landing position, the design of the Slave 1 always reminds me of an iron. You know... the one for clothes, the Bügeleisen? Just a couple days back, when I finally finished cleaning up all my Star Wars minifigs, I re-counted them as well. So after eight full years of collecting, it has technically been a decade since my first sets after childhood, if I remember correctly, I currently have 316 unique figures, including a couple (brick-built) droids and 139 generic troops for a grand total of 455 figures. Not too shabby, but there's still lots to be done there.

Before I forget, reading this made me quite happy for you, man. It must have been quite the Christmas treat building this beauty from start to finish. I don't have any UCS sets at my disposal. Or any 18+ sets (except the MBS Cantina) for that matter. But I said to myself, if I ever get to own one, it will be Jango's Slave 1. On another note, I was lucky enough to get one of the most recent Lego Star Wars Magazines featuring the Clone Pilot. Now a little tempted to rip open that minifigure bag and replace the very old version with it. But given I get that figure soon-ish anyways, I'll best be off saving it for family, as intended.

Yeah, despite a couple of bright spots here and there, it definitely did more harm than good to the Star Wars brand as a whole... or it would have, anyways. Because the funny thing is, they initially wanted to release a new movie every freaking year for such a long time that most of us wouldn't even be able to experience them all. But after the massive box office flop that was the Solo movie, they changed course rather quickly. And switched things up to TV shows in order to feed their freshly established Disney+ subscription service. Like good old George once said... "I sold it (his baby) to the white slavers who do that thing."