BrickPrick

The answer to your real question: Lego. They wouldn't put more effort into any sets as long as they sell well. Always trying to make the most with as less as possible. Check, check, check, check.

Yes, this thing can get quite amusing. I preferably apply it on sets with terrible piece counts and the results can be... rather interesting to say the least. A lot of your imagination is needed for it to even remotely make sense. I agree. Clearly not every remake equals the other. There can be your average generic remakes of vehicles which needs to be on offer all the time and thus are released on a regular basis. Then there is some sort of middle ground of sets which get made every once in a while in between. And then there are remakes of sets which ever so rarely get remade at all. This year, there has been a lot of the latter two happening. To me, clones or not, this is exciting. Execution is another thing entirely. They wouldn't.

I get that literally tearing apart any given set to break down the overall costs, like if X is this - Y has to be that, can be quite funny. But as much as the consumer wants to believe it, you do know that it doesn't really work that way, do you? To some extent, you pay for everything that Lego does. The work hours from concept to creation of their employees, the logistics, the licensing fees, a little extra due to corporate greed... every aspect is accounted for. The actual production costs got to be but a fraction of the overall asking price. But yeah, I'm probably not telling anything new in that regard. At this point in time, i would take no amount of clones over an actual TIE Avenger. As long as TCW sets are selling well, i doubt that Lego has any incentive to stop pumping them out... independent of how many legions are remaining for the 2020s style. The best example of them getting crazily creative will be the upcoming Battle Pack with yet another inclusion of the 332nd division. So no... as much as we would like it to, i don't think the end is in sight just yet. I want that treaty signed... I want that Range Trooper with a bulky looking rocket launcher. Yes. Kind of a shame we didn't already get him in Ahsoka's Jedi Interceptor early this year. For a set this overpriced it would have been reasonable to get some arm printing, regardless of possible continuity errors of the minifigure's version in question.

While i wouldn't necessarily describe myself as one of the dedicated Clone Bro's, i am generally known to be super sick of them by now. If it still has to be Clone Trooper Battle Packs, you either base it on a never before done fresh unit. Or at the very least make it a legion which hasn't shown up for a while. Or, you know... uh, stop putting clones in everything you can and provide other factions some much deserved spotlight. Yes, the price points bears mentioning too. People completely neglecting the fact that Lego was always a pretty expensive hobby. The difference is you got better balanced price ranges back then compared to here and now. So you've got your fair share of affordable sets besides the obvious overpriced stuff. Nowadays you got a lot less lows and much more highs in terms of price points. But yeah, adjusted for inflation, believe it or not, some sets either equal or are even cheaper today than they were in the past. I might as well wait to get the 327th along with the MTT, which would be a long way from now. Yes, Lego has to ship pieces which vary by color amd shape between several factories. This might be part of the reason on why they use mismatched colored pieces for some sets. As it would obviously be much cheaper for them to use wrong and locally available colors for selected parts instead of having to import the right ones from around the world every single time. Good maker... While i want the TIE Avenger to happen next year as much as the next guy, i hope it won't be revealed anytime soon. Would be somewhat of a shame to potentially miss out substantially on your magnificent meme machine.

Yeah, i feel like some people are missing half the plot when they are gushing about the original sets being supremely superior and all. You can dislike the current downsizing all you want, or just prefer the old model, but there were pros and cons back then just like there are today. But reminiscing in nostalgia prevents some people to see the bigger picture when doing these direct comparisons. When it comes to talking everything Battle Packs, you are my designated go-to guy. So i gotta tell you, seeing the 327th one sub 30 bucks at day one is kinda tempting. If only the set itself was a little more interesting to me. Man, i'm just so tired of it all. While the pricing for other sets already sucked back in the day, you at least could resort to some amazing and much more affordable Battle Packs. When their pricing increased as well, it was a bitter pill to swallow at first, but content-wise they were still great... some aspects were even improved upon. But nowadays they are both pricy and pretty boring... so predictable. Even if the price is to my liking, i am in no rush to get it anymore, because the excitement is kinda low-level. Can easily get the 37th Clone BP way later down the line. It's the end of the world (of clone craziness) as we know it... and i feel fine. Oh no... They might as well wait for Lego to officially reveal it approximately five minutes before release now. Galen Erso minifigure got leaked by get.cooped and i got mixed feelings on it. The arm printing looks nice, but i think neither the hair piece nor the actual face print is representing Mads Mikkelsen's character all that well. That and the obvious lack of dual moulded legs doesn't make it a worthy executed figure for a $1000 set, but honestly... what is so far?

Yes, the GWP is back to be bought with the UCS Slave 1. Amazon DE just got things started and hit the entire Lego Star Wars summer wave with up to 28% discount. As impressive as some of those deals may seem, many of the sets have now reached the price point they should have launched with in the first place. This marketing strategy of purposefully overpricing products to make discounts look more attractive in consumers eyes is getting more popular for Lego by the day.

But it probably won't be a love triangle. No-brainer in terms of terrific timing or not, thanks for the reminder Lego never did and possibly never will do an official 99 minifigure.

I really don't enjoy bringing the bad news for your viewing displeasure. But i would feel worse sweeping it under the carpet. Even though somebody else would have posted it anyway. As far as purchasing behavior goes, i usually get only some of the smaller brand new play sets of the year, while always catching up to the bigger ones from the year prior... rinse and repeat. Ha, how do you keep up with all these different ideas? I mean, do you brainstorm these templates in advance and use them whenever you see fit? Or are you just making this stuff up as you go along? Oh, and do you need to visit the Clone Commando Collage in order to make it work?

I spoke too soon about the upcoming Battle Pack being back to the original price tag in the US... Apparently, it will again retail for $23. While the Cobb Vanth Speeder set is actually gonna be $35. What better way to kick off a new year than with another batch of some much needed price increases.

To be clear, this just refers to the Disney era of Star Wars movies and shows. Beyond that, there are a variety of games, both new and classic re-releases, to keep my occupied. There is obviously Lego Star Wars as well. In addition to rewatching older stuff and listening to the soundtracks. So yeah, i'm always getting my fix one way or the other. Star Wars is, was and always will be a part of my life. It's just my "take if or leave it" attitude that I've been building towards Disney's vision of Star Wars that can either enhance the overall experience or stick out like a sore thumb. But back to topic, since so many Death Star plans leaked all at once and we already got a blurry look at the top of the box, how much longer do you think until we see the whole packaging in true potato leaker fashion? Next month, i guess.

To be totally honest, i haven't been exactly and consistently looking forward to too much Star Wars media since the Disney acquisition. The sequels killed of my hype rather quickly, so my focus - my only hope if you will - then shifted to their TV show efforts, which faired a lot better for me. The animated stuff like The Bad Batch, The Clone Wars Final Season and the Tales of's? Sure. The first two seasons of The Mandalorian? Definitely. Andor? After the first season more than anything else. But now that's done for good i'm basically starring at a big black void again. This might be part of the reason why i'm so excited every time when Lego actually does some much requested remakes or something entirely new based on the core Skywalker Saga to fill in the gaps.

While the MBS label might as well be dead as this point, i wouldn't be too upset about it. What i actually want is more sets in the same vein, despite the differences you can make, regardless of what's on the box. Would be such a waste to not do any more large location based sets, which are collectable, displayable and playable at the same time.

Well, the difference between a UCS and MBS set matters to me on a mere personal level. But like i said, i don't think either format is gonna work wonders as far as suddenly increasing consumer's value is concerned. Having more UCS sets like the UCS Sail Barge (or the AT-AT) containing more than the regular pair of minifigures doesn't speak against more MBS sets, though. As the latter are always based on locations, while the former are obviously ships. I more so perceive the ten-ish minifigures for more expensive UCS sets as sort of middle ground between your regular priced ones with two figs and MBS sets with a line-up of 20+ figs.

Are we even absolutely certain the upcoming Death Star will be a UCS set instead of MBS? The total amount of minifigures is unprecedented for any Lego Star Wars set and would be much more in line with larger play sets (MBS). Sure, we had the previous two UCS Death Stars, but much like the Ewok Village and Assault on Hoth sets, those were MBS style sets in everything but name. Not that mere MBS box branding over an UCS label would necessarily improve the value proposition of the product per se, but it would make more sense why this thing is seemingly designed as a large diorama instead of a sphere-like display piece. Timing-wise, as the Mos Eisley Cantina is finally retired by now, it would fit in as well. But yeah, in reality, it will probably be yet another MBS set in nature masquerading as an official UCS set.

A slice of the Death Star would be alright... if the price was a slice of what they will ask for as well. As of right now, very sad indeed. I have a bad feeling about this. Yeah, this is not supposed to be just another UCS set. This is basically THE definitive UCS set. They should go all-in on this one. But if they are still cutting corners to a fault, while somehow still charging 1000 bucks for it, what's stopping them to be even more strict and less lenient for everything else for this theme? Imagine this thing at least meets sales expectations and is commercially successful? It could prove a dangerous precedent for unrelated sets.

Oh well, what can i say... Lego doing Lego things is hardly surprising. Although you would assume that if they ask people to break the bank for a single set, they would be inclined to raise the quality bar to a certain level as well. But no... they won't have it anymore. Will reserve my final judgement as soon as some official images or non potato-camera leaks drop, but it doesn't look extremely encouraging right now. And yes, despite having to make different design decision based on a limited budget, deadlines and all that jazz, there absolutely should be some set rules tied to a justified quality standard. If you release the ultimate version of a single minifigure, you better release it in every other even more expensive set releasing afterwards without exception or excuse. Imagine paying top dollar for what is supposed to be a premium product and just getting the bare minimum out of any minifigure. That's what happened to the UCS Sail Barge... only now it's twice the price (double the greed).

Yes, as far as i can tell, i prefer his May the Fourth promo figure as well. And i don't think they would base just a single figure on Andor for the UCS Death Star. Just Episode IV, VI and Rogue One. Yeah, it would have been a close call if they included Cal's poncho. But in this scenario i gotta give the edge to Gerrera. His dual colored cape is spectacular and the detailed printing is very much to my liking.

Yep. And to top it all off... They released that exact superior C-3PO as a key chain for 6€! What can i tell you, it was already embarrassing to skip over his inclusion in the $500 UCS Sail Barge. And now it's even more embarrassing in the $1000 UCS Death Star. Twice the greed, double the money, if you will. I mean, downgrading UCS figures for their much cheaper system scale equivalents is one thing... But not keep on giving them in much more expensive UCS sets is straight up unacceptable. On a happier note... Where are you, Saw Gerrera? You're here! You're not having to show up in any more Star Wars properties before Lego finally decides to give you a much deserved official minifigure! You're here! You're right here, and you're ready to fight! Honestly, what a magnificent minifigure. In my opinion, the best 25th anniversary figure bar none. That's four down now, up to two more to go! Screw you young Leia, though, i've got no plans for you.

That is one wonderfully meaty wishlist, man. Mine would be basically yours... just without the TROS additions. Although not new characters, i'm very glad about finally having Plo Koon plus at long last getting a solid Jango Fett and Asajj Ventress in the near future, while always taking more troops. Also very much looking forward to Lama Su. And, of course, my profile picture, also known as TBOBF Cad Bane will be a terrific treat to kick off the new year. Everything else, figures from the CTT & MTT, is much further away for me, though. Don't know yet where the U-Wing will fit in. My wishlist of never before done characters would be heavily based on the PT. So i definitely share your picks of Shmi Skywalker and Boss Nass. In addition... how about Dexter Jettster? Wouldn't say no to some Separatist leaders like Wat Tambor either. On the imperial side of things i wanna add some long overdue Purge Troopers to the Incinerator ones. In terms of much needed modern makeovers, i mostly have to think about Zam Wesell and Count Dooku. The former came out around 1984 or something. What do you think about Yularen sharing the same hair piece as Tarkin? I think that's an odd choice on Lego's part. Easy enough to fix as well, but still... The lack of dual moulded legs for the Lego Star Wars theme is a tale as old as time. So even though that still sucks, more so in a set of this magnitude, i never expected Lego to give them some, which keeps my disappointment in check. What i can't fathom, however, is the ongoing lack of skirt pieces for both Palps and his Royal Guard. They are fully cloaked characters and their design would greatly benefit from having them. I mean, they even got the alternative piece from the Rivendell set in order for them to sit down properly. Why not make use of those? It might have been too soon for the Final Duel Diorama... but two year later?

Yeah, i truly do not know what went wrong there. I agree, it's a soulless husk of what could have been or still be some decent looking box art. Not that i mind a more minimalistic approach. Like, i don't need tons of explosions and special effects in order to find something astehtically pleasing... especially for something that is meant to be a display model. Less can definitely be more there. But starring at a black void with just a little bit of colouring on there ain't gonna cut it for me. Honestly, doesn't need to, since i don't have interest of getting any 18+ sets anyways. But yeah, like you said, considering it has to help cutting costs, that might be a good thing in the bigger picture. Depends on how or if Lego uses those actual savings, i guess. Ha, this is actually how i like to describe the Star Wars franchise as a whole. It comes across as this vast universe filled with so many different characters, locations and stories to tell, but upon taking a closer look you may find that it's actually rather limited. Yep, i don't see a problem with this format by design, just take issues with the rapid pace Lego is launching these things. This would have been fine in the last decade or so when we got like north of 60 sets per year, but nowadays all that it does is killing much more valuable system scale set slots. Curious what the other two most wanted minifigures of yours are? If i had to take an uneducated guess, i'd say they are Babu Frik and Lama Su. I second this. Well, you can't spell Lego without an L, so it kinda checks out. After all, this set is only retail for a thousand bucks. What did you expect Lego to do... applying some much needed logic in favor of their consumers paying them a premium? Oh boy, i can already tell you are going to have a field day with this one. Too easy...

I'm a Lego designer believer at this point. I believe they mess up some specific details and tend to troll us on purpose. There is just no rational reasoning for me to think otherwise. I mean, the only thing i can think of is when they haven't had early access to Disney/Lucasfilm concept art or something, but that's another matter entirely. As you can only play the cards you've been dealt with beforehand. This obviously clearly ain't the case for the clones when you've got everything you need at your disposal for at least two decades. So seeing them getting the most simple of detailing wrong is ridiculous in my eyes. Why they would actually do that, like just to spark some controversies, i don't know. The most positive publicity comes from their LAN, whosebmembers won't necessarily call them out for all these inaccuracies. Like not even close to the level as people like you do. You know, that's funny... Before i got to the second part of your posting, i was thinking about Thrawn too. First they messed up his imperial rank Insignia, while printing the right amount of code cylinders. Then they were doing it vice versa. I know they were probably different designers, but things like this make me genuinely question their sanity. There's seriously almost always something with Lego. Oh, for the maker's sake... Talking about making the Lego Star Wars universe as wide as the ocean and as deep as a puddle. I don't wanna say it out loud, but as far as box branding goes, Hasbro's Black Series, which Lego clearly took inspiration from, does it better. About anniversaries... We had this conversation numerous times already. If you keep doing it every time you can, it doesn't feel special anymore. Can't have everything, blah blah. But would it kill them to put some logo on the box for every property they portray in the years of their respective celebration; how about some actual consistency? Speaking of minifigure details, a new Princess Leia torso has been leaked for the upcoming Death Star. Don't know if it's more screen accurate or not, but she now has five belt buckles instead of three.

Well, something tells me that even without all these specialized moulds, Lego wouldn't do those alternative builds anymore. Not for big licensed themes, that is. That's seemingly just not how they operate anymore. More than ever, they want you to invest lots of money to constantly buy new sets, not investing too much time rebuilding already bought ones. Might be completely wrong on this one, but this is how it feels like to me. The key pillar of the actual building experience is not a top priority for Lego anymore.

Typically used to 18+ sets having no design on the packaging at all, while many play scale sets are actually pretty appealing and nice to look at. That being said, now that i can see it in person, what on earth were they thinking when they made the box art for Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator? It's so depressingly devoid of any natural colouring and lacks an interesting background... it looks like a vampire sucked the life of this thing dry and then some. Basing it off the very first shots when the ship flies into orbit on Tatooine would have been the better call. Still curious how Lego messed it up this badly. Maybe they didn't bother to make something better beyond what we got due to the set's limited availability as a Lego shop exclusive. That way, it can be considered advantageous not everybody gets to see this design debacle at any given shop. Or not, because then they would have put more effort into designing it. But thanks for reminding me that TPM got an awesome anniversary logo, while ROTS, arguably the most popular prequel flick, got nothing. It always comes back to clones, ain't it? Clones are the key to all of this much? Like ROTS sets getting TCW branding means you can't print ROTS logos on the box?

Yep, i just saw this alternative build is possible straight out of the box, no extra parts needed... that's even better. And of course, even though the focus on the building experience ain't that big anymore, Lego as a hobby still gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. On a level of ever present backwards compatibility and flexibility that other toys simply can't match. I remember how Lego was actually advertising vastly different, non-canonical builds on their instruction manuals... good times.

This honestly looks great! The biggest design flaw is obviously the thick nose, which doesn't fit the sleek elegant aesthetics of the ship at all. And i wouldn't say this compromise was worth the (admittedly cool) play feature. Unless i screwed up something in the building process, i never intentionally modified any of my sets, but i might look into this. Thanks for sharing. First, the set needs to arrive here; Lego's taking it's sweet time with shipping.