Alldarker

Thanks everyone for the positive reception of my theorie about the Rancor Pit! Although I'm pretty optimistic about a Rancor Pit, I am left wondering what the designers will do about the tower with the entrance. If the palace is raised up by the Rancor Pit, it will need a pretty tall entrance ramp to get to the entrance. On the other hand, the tower is modular, so perhaps they will make it connect to the lower 'Rancor Pit' part. Oh well, I guess only time will tell...

I just finished building 9516 Jabba's Palace, and it's a nice build, with great figures, but a little on the small side. I'd seen quite a few pictures of the Palace already, but one side I hadn't seen, and that was the underneath. I told myself that when I'd be building this set, I'd keep a careful eye out for any hints which might suggest this set could one day be added on top of a Rancor Pit. I'd already seen some hints, like the trap door leading to... floor, and double grates in the floor which would normally allow a clear view right through the bottom. To my surprise and joy, the underside turns out to indeed hint even more strongly at a future Rancor Pit!!! See the picture below: The underside has four 2 x 2 holes, which have been very purposely designed into the bottom and serve no purpose for the Palace itself. However, their placement, at each corner of the Palace underside, strongly suggest these have been prepared to lock on to some sort of construction... Some sort of construction which can only be a Rancor Pit!!!

Thanks, very kind of you! I will wear the tag with pride!

Jeroen_K did a Dutch language review here on Lowlug, but his review also includes pictures of all sides of Jabba's Palace.

Amazon.es was right . Both arrived in perfect condition yesterday. An incredible €60 difference between their price and the regular Dutch retail price for Jabba's Palace!!! And a €10 difference on the Desert Skiff! Definitely going to check out that Amazon site more often. And I can't wait to build both the Skiff and the Palace tomorrow!!!

I thought this part already showed it is all speculation on my part. Educated guessing at best. But it wasn't the point I was trying to make anyhow. Anyhow, I'm sure a mod is going to come along soon and remind us to stay on target!

Funnily enough, although you might be right about the new conplicated/prepainted molds coming from China, it makes my argument even more valid. It means the factory doesn't have the capacity to produce enough Jabba's for both the US and the rest of the world. So they first provide enough molds to cover one half of the market (be that US or EU & Australia), before switching around two months later to cover the other half. Because TLC doesn't want to leave half of the world 'dry' of new sets while providing two popular competing waves (SW & LotR) at the same time for the other half, marketing and distribution is staggered, so both halves of the world get different products in turn, with two or three months in between so they do not compete with each other too much. Anyhow, even if all that is only part of the story or even simply wrong, and whatever the reason, the fact still is that the LotR sets already prove that it was a dumb notion thinking 'the US always gets stuff last', which was the point I effectively disproved.

Hi guys, I'd appreciate a Star Wars tag! I'm pretty sure I should qualify easily: although I can't seem to find the percentage of posts in the SW theme... Regards, Alldarker

Not true at all. The US got the Lord of the Rings sets back in May. Europe will have to wait until August. Staggered release is probably better for production: it means production of a (popular) wave of sets can be spread out more between factories. So you can have one factory (in Europe) making Star Wars sets while the other factory (in the US) makes LotR sets. It makes it a lot easier to swap a single new / unique mold (for example, the Jabba the Hut mold) between the factories, without needing two of the same mold, due to both factories making the same item at the same time.

There's no risk with Amazon.es: it's a regular and dependable Amazon service like any other. However, their current prices on the Star Wars ARE simply amazing, considering the S@H prices: discounts of up to 35%! I 'came to the party' a little earlier than the Hothbricks guys: I ordered the Skiff and the Palace on May 29th, and both were shipped today (strangely, through Post.nl: my own local Dutch postal service). They are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, June 5th, but I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up tomorrow. One word of caution: on Brickset I did see messages from two different people who had ordered these same two sets on Amazon.es. Both of whom had also received shipping notices, but both for just one of the two sets they ordered: one was only receiving the Skiff, and the other only the Palace! And one of these guys had actually placed his order a full day before I had! Still, I'm sure they'll get more stock in the coming weeks.

And thank you again for your tip! If A-Tembo has these available on their site, they will also have them in their shop. Ask for them if you can't see them on the shelves. And for more news regarding availablity: European S@H sites now have the Star Wars sets in stock (except Palpatine's Arrest).

Just spotted all the 2012 Summer Star Wars sets (except 9526 Palpatine's Arrest) at Bart Smit in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (they also had the City Mining sets and the new Ninjago sets).

Gray Hulk would be very handy as Batman: AC version Solomon Grundy.

WOW!!! Nice proof that it will available in June (in Germany / Europe)! Palpatine's Arrest! Available in the shops! Thanks for the link: that actually looks very good indeed!

Thanks for that! You did a fine and fair review. Definitely looking forwards to getting this set A LOT! Looks like this set could really do with more figures, although the 8 in teh set are all winners. I don't really mind the large panneled brick walls in the keep that much, but mostly because I will have it on display with the throneroom hardly visable. I really do think the designers did a fine job in recreating a pretty big fortress within their design constraints (driven by piece-count and price-point).

Once these are out on general release in the USA (in June) and prices have come down, I'll most probably be importing them all. Even with customs duties over the price + shipping, it'll most probably be more cost-effective to import them. I've grown tired with Lego Europe's current delay in set releases AND higher prices and I will stand for it no more. I already imported all the Prince of Persia sets back when they came out in the US, several months ahead of the European release. Worked a charm.

Same guy who did the the excellent Youtube video review for the LotR 9470 "Shelob Attacks" set also has another excellent video review of 9464 "The Vampyre Hearse"!

I didn't see it mentioned in this forum yet, but someone (NOT ME) did a pretty cool and well-shot Youtube video review of the Lord of the Rings Set 9470 "Shelob Attacks". Looks like a pretty cool set to me! Especially if you compare Shelob to either version of Aragog from the Harry Potter sets! EDIT: I just noticed this review WAS already mentioned in the LotR main topic. My apologies: mods, feel free to deal with this topic as you wish.

As a strictly OT fan, I first thought the figure WAS in fact E-3PO. I didn't even realize there was a canon U-3PO, but that indeed would also fit this figure well!

I actually watched the 'Thor' movie last night, and I noticed that Loki's staff in that movie was used as the inspiration for his staff in the Avengers sets. Perhaps Lego didn't have any pictures of his new staff in the movie and (logically) thought it would be the same staff as in the 'Thor' movie. The Lego staff resembles that one pretty closely.

No, I don't think so. It's one TC-14 figure per order, no matter the amount of the cost.

Oops, my bad! I actually though this whole thread was obviously pretty spoilery, but I guess I should have exercized some extra caution for plot points like the one described. mrklaw, no, it was definitely not a Quinjet in the movie. I guess marcosbessa, who designed the Quinjet, took some artistic license!

Good find! Yup, "Electro Suit Batman". The link I provided is the correct direct link (the link Piemaster1446 provided IS the correct adress, but gets cut off due to the double comma's. You have to copy it all).

I figured it's supposed to actually be the

Yeah, you are probably right on both counts, and perhaps I was thinking too much about that specific set when I claimed that character choices might have been different. Yes, definitely the set which could have and should have featured Fury.