Brickwright

Maybe this has happened in some other set and I've never noticed, but the box art renders have some weird errors. In a lot of places where there are brackets or curved slopes with cutouts, the 90 degree seam between them and the neighboring part gets turned into a wavy curve. You can see it multiple times on the back of the neck, the tails, the ankles, and the tan assemblies on the front legs. The standalone images look normal, it's just the front and back of the box that has that surreal, soupy, AI-generated feel. The set itself looks outstanding. There's some fantastic Horizon fan creations out there, and this looks like it captures the same feeling while being solid enough for mass production. Really high value too, it seems.

Since TLG appears to be leaning into the animated shorts, Horizon Lunar Colony has good odds, because it's one of the settings of the Recall short. As Oky mentioned, it's also the origin of two of the heroes in the game, and has a lot of story behind it. The maps featured in the shorts (locations that are already appearing in sets are in bold): Recall: Watchpoint Gibraltar (x2), Horizon Lunar Colony Alive: King's Row Dragons: Hanamura Hero: Dorado The Last Bastion: German wilderness (technically the Black Forest map, though its particular area isn't seen) Infiltration: Volskaya Industries Junkertown: The Plan : Not a traditional animated short like others, but I'll put it here, too: Junkertown Rise and Shine: Ecopoint: Antarctica Honor and Glory: Eichenwalde Shooting Star: Busan (MEKA Base, specifically) Reunion: Route 66 So far, TLG has focused on the game's earlier content by basing the sets on launch heroes, launch maps, and the earlier shorts. By that measure, I think Horizon has a particularly good chance. Space-themed sets are also one of Lego's specialties. I've said it before, but Volskaya Industries and Junkertown would be good candidates as well. The former to introduce both Zarya and Sombra, and the latter to introduce Junkrat and Roadhog (and even Wrecking Ball).

Agreed. I had wondered about that from the box art. It looked like the real piece in the Gibraltar set (and looked like it wasn't part of the background), but it isn't shown in the front art or non-box art photo. A little confusing from that, but good to have two of them and it makes sense. - It's cool how they included all the correct names for their weapons. I also appreciate that they explicitly say that Bastion transforms through movement, not through rebuilding. There are sets where that is the case, so it is good to have that resolved. I'm hoping we get more angles on the sets, I want to see the other sides of the mechs, Bastion, and the Shuttle. It's interesting to infer what TLG has to work with when they are writing about Licensed sets. With the Solo sets, the early ones didn't even have the real title, and instead they said "the Han Solo movie", until the second wave had the actual title. The Episode 8 set descriptions were short, vague and had a lot of filler ("Jump into Star Wars: The Last Jedi Action with the new [set]" and the like), which seemed to imply that Lucasfilm was secretive about the finer details, especially story and set context. For Overwatch, licenser secrecy isn't the obstacle, it is brand familiarity from the buyer. TLG is being very deliberate with the messaging in these descriptions and getting people up-to-speed with what Overwatch is. As we all know, Minecraft is the only other theme they've based directly around a video game. It had the advantage of overlapping more with TLG's primary demographic more closely, and that the sets generally look similar to regular Classic/Creator sets. The Crafting Boxes especially. Even as popular as Overwatch is, there are many people who haven't heard of it. The sets look more like Star Wars or Marvel, and that specificity begs the question "What is this?" from people who have never heard of it. There's also a lot of them. Especially when compared to longstanding franchises, this is a big first wave. Episode 7 and 8 each had seven sets in their first waves. Age of Ultron and Infinity War had six. Rogue One and Solo had five. The Hobbit had six, and its sequels each had four. Other big movies like Wonder Woman, Spider-Man Homecoming, and Black Panther got one or two. To someone who hasn't heard of Overwatch to see all these sets come out of nowhere in their Lego Catalog or on Shop at Home, there will be a lot of questions and curiosity that will need to be addressed. To that end, TLG is being a lot more thorough than usual in order to introduce people to the product. The writing is more repetitive from set-to-set to make sure that any one of them provides the same, sufficient introduction to the entire franchise. These descriptions read like an "elevator pitch" more than they normally would.

I am so excited for these. They have a too-good-to-be true feeling about them, but here they are. It seems that the "Assemble Your Team" teaser was deliberately hinting at Hanamura, Gibraltar, and Dorado, as I had seen some suggest. D.Va and Reinhardt: They knocked the D.Va out of the park. Scale is slightly large, but it fits a minifig and is still a reasonable size. Rein looks good, even if he's oversized, but his proportions do look right. A technic axle would have been a stronger choice for the shaft of the hammer, I think. This set is kind of an unusual concept. I would have guessed they would have put either of them in a set with other characters and objects, but instead, this set is both of them with nothing else. Bastion: This is unexpected, but very cool. I am a little sad that it lowers the overall minifig roster potential, but it looks awesome and is an enticing buy. It probably looks nice on a shelf next to the UCS Hulkbuster. It seems there's a light brick in his head that changes his eye color to "attack mode" like in "The Last Bastion". Nice touch. It remains unclear if TLG considers the Blizzard Exclusive Omnic Bastion set to be minifig scale. Characters like Adult Groot or now Reinhardt are bigger than they should be, but are treated as minifig scale. If that is how they intend Bastion, we may see the Exclusive adapted to a Classic skin version in the future. Watchpoint: Gibraltar: The Gibraltar shuttle makes a lot of sense as the subject of a Lego set. The build seems pretty well done. I'm not familiar with those white wedge pieces that make up the fuselage, have they been seen before? Winston as a big-fig seemed like the likely approach. He looks better than I expected, since they added a lot of his details in there. In two of the photos, Reaper appears to have the "Ghost Legs" like the new Death Eaters, which approximates his Wraith Form ability. They have Mercy and Pharah running the "Pharmercy" tactic, which I'm sure fans will notice and enjoy. I'm hyped that Pharah made it, as she is my Damage hero of choice. Her helmet looks so good. Dorado Showdown: This set seems to succeed at the intended idea quite well. I was just now playing a match in Dorado (trying to concentrate knowing there were set images to dissect), and the truck looks exactly right. The structures are an unexpected inclusion for such a set. Reaper's shotguns seem to be the best of the brickbuilt weapons. A higher hairline piece for Soldier: 76 would have been a better fit, Tobias Beckett's perhaps, but in white. Hanzo vs. Genji: This set has some of my favorite box art of all time. That poor guy. It seems to have little disc shooters for each of their Ults, with corresponding blue and green dragons. The build follows similar beats to Ninjago sets we've seen recently, like this year's Throne Room Showdown, though this set has more aesthetic restraint. Small healthpack makes an appearance. The inclusion of the third character indicates that they are open to including non-heroes. Minifigs of Talon or Overwatch foot soldiers, or some of the other animated short characters are now a possibility. Tracer vs. Widowmaker: Back in the days of speculation, I (like others) had thought that the Gibraltar payload had a good chance of making it into a set. A little spaceship just seemed like Lego would target it as set material. Getting Tracer into a low-pricepoint set was a must, and payloads make ideal sized builds for sets of that size. Widow's rifle doesn't have much of a resemblance to the in-game article, but could easily be replaced with something that does. I'm a sucker for sets that are meant to work together with each other, so this set and Watchpoint: Gibraltar get extra points for that. - Particularly surprising is the revival of the 1x2x3 train window in white. That one of the rare pieces needed when Bricklinking the Green Grocer. They start just below $2 apiece on BL and climb from there, and the set calls for four of them. A piece like that being brought back in such a small set this is good news for people taking on the Modular back catalog (such as myself). - So the grand total then is: Heroes 12: D.va, Genji, Hanzo, McCree, Mercy, Pharah, Reaper (twice), Reinhardt, Soldier: 76, Tracer, Widowmaker, Winston Not Included (of the launch heroes): 9 Bastion (minifig scale), Junkrat, Lucio, Mei, Roadhog, Symmetra, Torbjorn, Zarya, Zenyatta None of the 7 post-launch heroes were included. The Animated Shorts seem to play a significant role for locations and minifigs/minifig pairings. Hanzo vs. Genji is the most obvious of them; based directly on "Dragons" right down to the inclusion one of the nameless henchman from the short. Bastion's box art places him in Germany, like "The Last Bastion". Soldier: 76 starred in "Hero" and therefore is in Dorado Showdown. Winston and Reaper fought in "Recall" (at Watchpoint: Gibraltar no less) and both appear together in the Watchpoint: Gibraltar set. Tracer and Widowmaker fought at King's Row in "Alive", which is adapted to a Gibraltar-themed set. Collectively, the two Gibraltar sets include Tracer, Winston, Reaper and Widowmaker, the four heroes seen in the original announcement trailer. D.va and Reinhardt seems to be the only real wildcard here. They have each had their own Animated Short, but their set doesn't have to do with those, especially since the box art depicts Numbani and King's Row. With the characters that are still left, there are some lore-based groupings that would work for later sets. Junkrat and Roadhog are the most obvious, with a Junkertown set based on the "The Plan" short seeming very possible for Wave 2. Sombra vs. Zarya (ala the "Infiltration" short's ending). Orisa vs. Doomfist. Lucio vs. Symmetra. Torbjorn and Brigitte and/or Bastion. Looking forward to these!

Both figures look awesome and get the style just right! The skin-tone might indeed be helpful for TLG to keep it from being too much. When Black Canary appeared in TLBM and later as a CMF, they took the safer route and based her appearance on the Golden-through-Bronze Age costumes (or the modern callbacks based on those). Those ones have the pants+fishnets, rather than the fishnet-only versions that appeared starting in the 90s. How do we anticipate they will portray the weapons? SW has accumulated a handful of blaster elements to use as shorthand for the various blaster models used in the films and shows, but OW is starting from scratch. GotG 1 and 2 sets are probably a good comparison for having to outfit weapons for a brand new licensed theme. Star-Lord's blasters and the Sakaaran blasters were new molds, but all other weapons were either brickbuilt (like Rocket's guns, Taserface's gun [also flick-fire], Ronan's hammer, and the Hadron Enforcer) or were repurposed existing weapon molds (Yondu's arrow, Gamora and Nebula's swords, Drax's knives). After going through all the OW heroes, I believe they could get far by brickbuilding stuff (the overwhelming majority of the weapons, particularly the Tanks), and by using existing molds (i.e. katana for Genji, revolver for McCree). They would only have to mold a few new items for characters like Tracer where brickbuilt weapons would be too cumbersome. We'll likely find out soon, hopefully at Blizzon in a few weeks. As much as I'd love to see the full roster of characters, it will likely need a second wave to get there. Infinity War's 20 named character lineup was certainly impressive for 6 sets, but even with the movie's decade+ of anticipation, it still had to push Bucky, War Machine, and Wong into the Bricktober set, and had a bunch of characters that had to be left off altogether. Lego OW's lifespan is difficult to predict. Like Minecraft, it's a theme based on an ongoing IP that already came out well before Lego arrived, but doesn't have the evergreen clout of Marvel/DC/Star Wars that allows them to make sets forever. It's hard to guess what the "endpoint" is right now. We'll see. In the meantime, I'll wait for Bastion to come in the mail.

Over the past year, I have been building miniland versions of some of David Bowie's most famous characters, costumes, and looks. I hope you enjoy them!

Yeah, the dome interior was an oversight on my part. The instructions and document have already been fixed. It was missing a whole 1x2 brick between the plate and the grille tile, so yes, it would have required a lot of rubber bands if it was built as such. I like the curved slopes a lot better, too. The internal structure underneath them is the same, but with the slopes being 1x4, they should add more stability from the outside by tying more of the engine together. The cross-axle was completely removed and was replaced with headlight bricks and a plate. This helps maintain the shape better, is more legal, doesn't have the possibility for the nozzle assembly to rotate, and ups the stud connection from 1 to 4, so it is much, much more practical.

Hi everybody! Bear was kind enough to mention the recent interest in this build, so I thought I'd stop in. As stated on the Flickr image, I have (finally) completed the update to the model, and its instructions. The supplemental document now features the XML of the parts list, allowing anyone to create a Bricklink Wanted List rather quickly. I had never used this tool on the site before, and for others in a similar situation, I included instructions on how to go about doing it. I'm several months late in responding to this, but like my Y-wing, you can also find my AT-ST hosted here. Thanks so much for your interest in both models, and for helping Sayroll above with some of the most finicky aspects of the Y-wing. There are a bunch of projects I've got going on at once right now. My main project, the BT-7 Thunderclap from The Old Republic, is nearing the end of its design phase in LDD. Once it is done, though, the AT-AT I began work on a couple months ago will be my main project going forward. The goal is to create an AT-AT that is not only true minifig scale, but will be motorized, using the same walk cycle shown in the movies. This won't be for a while, but I hope I can see it through eventually. Thanks again everybody for your kind words and interest in my builds!

The "emptying" hatch on the bottom is bizarre, but it seems to be a useful feature. It was obvious from the earlier images, but the top (in flight mode, that is) is more square than it should be, which is a problem the "curved slope" Slave I's all had. However, the Slave I has so many crazy shapes to begin with, so all things considered, it's a very well executed representation. The side profile is perfectly done, and it also looks great from the straight top-to-bottom, 3/4 in landing mode, and head-on positions. Others had said that the staggered dark red quarter-circles on the bottom seemed lumpy. Before, I had agreed with them, but it doesn't really bother me anymore. I imagine if they didn't have to come up with as much structural support for the nose, they would have been able to include more features. I'm sure people will mod interiors into this thing once it's out. They were pretty tasteful with the stickers. For the contingent of fans that don't like using the sticker sheets, it seems like you could leave out the stickers without ruining the overall look of the model. It's a little weird that the engines are blue. Anywhere you look, they are orange or sometimes yellow (including all five Lego iterations of the ship that have engine glow). Simple enough to fix though, and most certainly not a significant flaw, since those elements exist in trans-orange or trans-neon orange. I haven't gotten a UCS set since 2006, but this one might change that, especially if I get around to Bricklinking a UCS Falcon.

(I was going to comment on Flickr, but there was too much I wanted to say. It seemed a little overbearing to post it there ) I love stuff like this that matches the film scenes so closely. There are so many subtle details, like the broken tread on the sandcrawler and the little pneumatic bit on the landspeeder. You even matched the bumpy, uneven texture of the sand where they shot this scene (compared to locations like the Lars homestead or Mos Eisley). The sandcrawler itself gives the scene an ambitious feel. Like Robianco said, something about it seems to imply that it is the whole vehicle, even though it could have very easily been built only to the top of the image. The minifigs are the best Lego has to offer, too. Even though the C-3PO minifigs from '12, '13 or '14 are more detailed, the chrome gold one was a better choice in this case, since the reflective surface really sells the look of 3PO when he's on Tatooine, and most of those details are on the front anyway. Excellent work!

Thanks again, everyone! That would be a great substitute. My collection is a little outdated, so I don't have any of those, but the smaller profile would definitely give you more options for the interior. Thanks! The head is alright. It's the long part of the legs that are the weakest point. You can see from the instructions that they are basically structured around the technic 1/2 pins and the outside 1x8 tiles. At one point during construction, a cheese slope (where the 1x1 round plate and neck bracket are now) was necessary to keep it from falling forward. So that should give you an idea of how precarious it is. Thanks! That is so nice of you to say.

Thanks everyone, I wasn't expecting this thread to hang around this long. They are indeed ball joints! After messing with conventional hinges to get the right position, the rigidity, simplicity, and range of motion of the ball joint just made so much more sense than anything I had figured out. They need to be lined back up sometimes, but it is still better than the alternative. Plus, the hinges themselves sit behind the seats in such a way that they look like backrests. Exactly. My models don't get moved much and I don't go to shows or anything, so for my purposes it works out okay. I dig your username, by the way, I totally get it. For montyofmusic and tilko: I don't have LDD, but I started using Bricksmith and LPub on my last project, the Y-wing. In the same way, I've produced instructions and readme/parts list for this model. It has some important details about the missing 3mm hose at the end of the build (LSynth doesn't work well for me), hinge angles, the inside-out tire, and the part IDs for the decorated elements that are not in Bricksmith. I tried to be as verbose as possible in the Readme and these two docs should tell you everything you need to know about how it fits together, but if you have any other questions, let me know! Instructions Readme and Parts List

Thanks everybody! Thanks. The side control panels (below the viewports) came together late in the build, but it's better than the empty space that was there before. Thanks for saying that. The feet and overall proportions were two elements that I was skeptical about. The head has a tendency to look a little large depending on the angle (The first 3/4 shot in the album is ideal compared to the other more disproportionate looking 3/4 shot of its left side) so I had to be careful when taking pictures. The two figures sit side-by-side symmetrically, but because of the taper of the sides, they do sit facing slightly towards the center, rather than straight ahead. I do like this better anyway; it seems a little different. The minifigs ending up sitting higher than I initially planned, since the higher they sit, the more room for their arms there is. Aesthetically, the hatch is probably the weakest point, even aside from its lack of functionality. The wings that make up the roof nix any possibility of punching through. But yes, it does deter any would-be hijackers. I might revisit it with a different approach, because the ability to have a minifig looking out from the top would be nice.

Hi everyone, This is my version of the AT-ST. It's very fragile, but I'm happy with how it looks. While building it, I poured over source materials from the ILM models, replicas of those, and the old reference books. It has an interior and seats two minifigs. It borrows some elements from past walkers (both official and fanmade), which are noted below the images. Flickr Album Instructions Readme and Parts List

Count me as one of the ones who prefers the House Of Plates design. I never liked how the 2005 one was shaped because of the bricks. The colors on the hull are also much improved. The addition of dark brown and dark tan, as well as the reduction of tan and black has made for a much more consistent scheme. I'm very surprised that Lego stacked the plates up near the top front along that downward crease. It doesn't quite feel like a technique they would use. The screen on the bridge looks like 3PO in the desert. If so, fans are going to get a lot of use out of it as a TV playing the film. I think the RA-7, and new R4 droids are likely, as wesker said. Malgus' comment about a 3PO with leg printing wasn't something I had considered, but it seems very possible. If they do, I'm guessing they will incorporate his silver right shin into it, too. In addition to R2 and 3PO, I figure it will have an RA-7, R5, a new treadwell, and a new gonk droid. A new R1 would be nice (especially in dark green), as would that black dome droid, but I think these are secondary.

From what is shown in the picture, I'm surprised at how much they put into this one. A set like this would normally be simplified and shrunk to fit a lower price point (like Iron Man's Malibu Mansion or the Krusty Krab), but this is a lot bigger than I would have expected. Fully enclosed is also a big plus. Splotchy color-blocking could have also ruined it, but they kept it clean. I do wish the roof had a little more to it, though. As far as the minifigs, molded heads really seem like the best way to go. I think a regular minifig head with a hairpiece for each of them would have mixed results (great for Marge, but not for others, especially Homer). The problem of nose/no nose and how to implement the 2-dimensional "Groening overbite" works out nicely this way. Like Oky said above, the neutral/familiar expressions for the characters will likely be in the smaller sets because that's where more buyers will be able to get them. This set is primarily for diehard fans who are willing to pay for a $200+ set. I think it would be frustrating if I blew that much money just to get the house with the same figs the smaller sets have. I think the somewhat muted color of the house (rather than something more extravagant like Medium Orange or Salmon) might also help in this regard.

This one in particular seemed weird to me. Usually a set with a "hero" or "villain" vehicle will have more from the opposite side to balance it a little. Commander Cody would have been the ideal way to balance it out. I would agree. I think I'm mostly caught up in the spectacle of the Ewok Village, and remember really enjoying the old Cloud City set. The upcoming 2014 is mostly mid-size sets, and if that's indicative of the direction Lego wants to go, a series of sets may be more likely than a single, huge one. Plus, even if they were going to do a huge playset, it would probably have to wait until the Death Star (and maybe Ewok Village too) are out of production. The sandcrawler wasn't something I had thought of, but it might be due for a new version. The original was sort've hit and miss for me. It would be interesting to see Lego attempt it again with a house-of-plates building style and dark brown elements. The brick-based construction of the original drove up the number of pieces (and pricepoint), and forced the model into a more straight up and down build that lacked the angles of the vehicle as it appeared in the films. The R4 head is also something that was sorely lacking the last time around, and it would be good to see Jawas in production again. All this to say, Lego has several tricks that can make it into a different (potentially better, in my opinion) set than the original. The concept I had was of three sets: Ben's Hut: Luke, Ben, the droids, and two sandpeople. This set would be similar in proportion to the old Cantina set, based in three parts with the hut, a landspeeder, and a bantha. Iconic scenes like Luke meeting Ben for the first time, Leia's hologram appearing to Ben (with a trans-blue 1x1 round brick representing Leia), and the reveal of the lightsaber all are represented here. It also gives an opportunity to include sandpeople as they wouldn't appear in Mos Eisley itself. Cantina: Han, Chewie, 2 Bith, Wuher the bartender, Ponda Baba, Garindan, and Greedo. One of the biggest problems Lego might have with a cantina set is that it is a set based around a bar. In order to make it work, the set needs to focus on the action, rather than the environment to make it interesting and reasonable as a kids' toy. 3 Bith would be nice, but it might have to be knocked down to 2 so as not to monopolize the overall minifig count. Greedo and Ponda Baba allow for some sort of action to help motivate the set, as well as the presence of Garindan spying for the Empire. The build itself would probably include two (maybe three) booths and the bar itself. Sandtrooper Battlepack: 3 orange pauldroned sandtroopers, 1 white pauldroned sandtrooper, and a dewback. There would probably be some kind of filler added (turret, E-web etc.), but of course that wouldn't be the draw for the set for any of us. Lego has released battlepacks for Hoth, Endor, and (soon) the Death Star. Sandtroopers are basically the last territory for Empire battlepacks. By having them in the battlepack, they don't infringe on the minifig counts of the other two sets, and can expand independantly by buying multiples. Because a Docking Bay 94 set is too big to be practical (and the Falcon itself would likely be out of production by the time a series like this is available), it would also help inspire and populate custom builds of this scene.

It's awesome to see it finally completed. It looks real nice with the other three there. I have been thinking about revising the design a little bit, myself. The large part of the back of the fuselage could use some tweaking to give it a more rectangular look overall. The sides just behind the cockpit could be a little more in line with the studio models. The inside of the engine rings could be better too, but I'm not sure how it will be done. In changing it there could be a way to solidify the area around the droid. I want to keep that slight droop from the weight of the cockpit because it makes the top and bottom slope somewhat symmetrically, as well as give it a more accurate stance when viewed from the front. By offsetting the connection by a plate's height, it may be possible to keep that slope while adding a contact point forward from the droid. There's a few unnecessary bricks that could be replaced with a couple SNOT brick of some sort to connect there. As for the pilot, inside the cockpit there is a 2x2 cavity behind the 4x4 black plate. The minfig sits down there, leaning forward slightly. Its arms should be facing forward to fit just underneath the cockpit sides. It's a tight fit that requires taking off the roof and at least one of the sides, but the minifig should be able to sit in a natural position. Any changes with your Y-wing with the landing gear or greeblies would be great to see.

A lot of the non-Jabba Tatooine stuff has been lacking. Tusken Raiders, Jawas, and Greedo were all very memorable from the first film, and each of them have only appeared in one set each, way back in 2002, 2005, and 2003, respectively. It would be great to see Lego revisit this area which feels overlooked. The biggest draw of Mos Eisley would be the minifigs, and we all know that Lego has definitely ratcheted up the quality several notches in this area. I think there's basically two ways Lego could excel with Mos Eisley/the Cantina. 1. Like The Jabba's Palace/Sail Barge/Rancor Pit/Desert Skiff (as Tariq J suggested) with multiple sets. Pros - The "Jabba series" had lots of great minor characters. The colorful background cast is part of Mos Eisley's charm. Multiple sets would be the best way to include the more unlikely characters. - There would be more versatility to individual parts. Some may not be want a huge playset, but they may want a smaller one, a vehicle based set, or a battlepack. Cons - It seems like it is tricky to split up main characters across multiple sets. The Jabba series avoided this, but with a few repeats. It would be harder here with the fewer key characters present. - Similarly, each Jabba set has some sort of internal action that sells them individually, and it would be harder to parcel out Mos Eisley in a similar way. 2. Like the upcoming Ewok Village. One giant set centered around the cantina. Pros - Method 1 could potentially have the same pitfalls the old 2003 set had by being made up of smaller sets. A larger set would more likely avoid those problems. - The Ewok village proved that Lego is willing and able to create huge sets that address lots of material. I wouldn't have thought a set like that was possible, but I hope this trend continues. Cons - While the Ewok Village does a lot, there is a limit to what one set can include. Some stuff might get left out, and the number of minifigs would ultimately be less than a combo of multiple sets. - I know I'm not the only one that dislikes when key characters are exclusive to very expensive sets. This approach would obviously make these minfigs more costly to obtain. Speaking of MaceWindu's comment, what do we think the next UCS might be?

That's true. I can't find anything about what Gold 4 looks like, either. I like to think of this as a "mind's eye" of the ship. I tried to convey the common attributes of most Y-wings, but include memorable details from different examples. It is about the look, rather than perfect accuracy. Case in point, the Gold Leader Y-wing has those angled bar things that outline the back of the fuselage, and I've never really liked that detail. When I saw that not all Y-wings had that, I took advantage of it and left it off . The other bonus was that I didn't have a good way to recreate it. Something to do with a minifig neck stud, probably. That picture's great, by the way. It surprised me to see the pile look so "granulated", but I guess with its ratio of piece count to size, it can't be anything other than lots and lots of tiny parts rather than fewer large ones.

I agree about The Ghost being almost guaranteed. It looks like it'll be a Corellian YT-series ship. It's similar to the YT-2000 in particular. OT seems like it will get interesting pretty soon. It's no secret the bread and butter of the line is the vehicles, but almost every one of the really popular vehicles is either being sold now (the X-wing, TIE Fighter, Falcon, Y-wing, A-wing, Sail Barge, Skiff and Escape Pod), or was only recently discontinued (the AT-AT, Imperial Shuttle, Slave I, and Landspeeder). The Snowspeeder was in the Wampa Cave, which is gone, but will return in Battle of Hoth. I think we'll be due for a B-wing and/or TIE variant soon. I'm guessing a TIE Bomber. This is not because it's been a decade since it last was made or because I really want one, but because I can totally picture the jarring green Yoda box art with the new design as something that's bizarre enough to happen. If it follows the lead of recent starfighters, it would probably include a TIE pilot, a black R4 astromech, Admiral Piett, and Zuckuss. Probably a little expensive at 60-70 bucks, rapid-fire missiles and bombs in the second pod, has the new 9492 cockpit with flick-fires underneath etc. What I really hope for is something from Ep 4 Tatooine, Yavin IV (something like that old prototype would have been great) or any non-Hoth Empire Strikes Back (I love Hoth, but they've thoroughly covered the territory).

This information about the Y-wing on the web gets pretty confusing, but one of the best sources is the Richard Sung Collection, which is sounds like you may be familiar with already. This model is basically between a Gold 5 and Gold Leader, because I was totally ignorant to the differences between them. Comparing them now, making a true Gold 5 or Gold Leader would only take some minor tweaks. I may do this now that I know. The good news is that for those that want accuracy, the arguably more popular Gold Leader is cheaper to build because of its lack of copper detail.

I've been collecting the sets since 2000, so it's a weird tradeoff between which ones have sentimental value, and which ones are really just better models. The "worst" ones are harder to pick for me (EP4 and 5 in particular) because I can find redeeming qualities in almost every set. Best I: Mos Espa Podrace: Great memories of building this with my family and playing with this set for hours as a kid. The 2011 podracers look better, but this one was quite a set back then. II: Jango Fett's Slave I: Huge improvement over the original Boba Fett Slave 1 which had come out only 2 years prior. Jango himself was an awesome figure for his time. CW: Republic Fighter Tank: I had never thought Lego would make one of these, but the CW series made it possible. They hit it out of the park on this one. III: ARC-170 (2010): This one improved on the original in almost every way (bigger engines, longer guns, better minifigs, great sticker details). One of the best remakes ever. IV: TIE Fighter (2012): Killer assortment of figures (like all the 2012 fighters) for a set that wouldn't necessarily call for them. Credit to Lego for ditching the old TIE windscreen, too. V: AT-AT (2003): The original has stood the test of time. The pilot and snowtroopers were a great surprise, and except for the sides of the head, a very stable build worthy of the name. VI: The Battle of Endor: I consider this to be a perfect set. Great figure assortment, and the unlikely combination of accuracy and great play features. My most favorite of all. EU: Sith Fury-Class Interceptor: This was an unprecedented amount of care for an EU set. Natural progression from the quality of the Rogue Shadow. Worst I: Sith Infiltrator (2007) Better than the old one (being fair to the age of the original), but man did Lego go overboard with the curved slopes. The 2011 set ended up making up for it. II: Jedi Duel: More or less just a vehicle for the Dooku and (then) new Yoda figs. Dooku's brown speederbike is oddly in sand blue. For a big lightsaber duel, this set is quaint at most. CW: T6 Shuttle: The design seems kinda stale. It's a little unfair because Lego didn't have much to work with, but it almost looks like a 2000-2001 era set. III: General Grievous Chase. The new molds really did a number on this set's value. Grievous' cape was just about the best thing about the whole set. My very least favorite. IV: TIE Fighter & Y-wing (2004 reissue): Cheap shot, I know. It retconned in the 10131 TIE X1, but hung onto the old Y-wing. The whole '99 wave had been remade except for the Y-wing. V: Battle of Hoth: If you've missed previous Hoth sets, its a great recap. If not, it's an obstacle to get to the General Rieekan minifig. The '03-style Snowspeeder also needs to be retired. VI: AT-ST (2007): Indicative of the cheap, empty feeling of the 2007 wave (especially after how great 2006 was). The first AT-ST was worse, but it gets a pass because of its age. EU: TIE Defender: Admirable choice on Lego's part, and introduced the great new TIE helmet, but the ship itself seems really blocky and awkward.

It's funny that you bring up the headlights. I was going to mention those for the same reason. The fuselage uses the same colors as the real one (except for the old/new grey thing), but the engines have some differences. On mine, the sub-assemblies on pages 74, 75, and 79 are all in different, primary colors. You can almost get away with using these being in different colors, but the color is still slightly visible through a gap if seen from the direct top or sides. When I mentioned the "refinements" on the model, one of the biggest was actually that 6x10 plate. The real one actually uses a combination of a 1x6, 2x6, 4x6, and three 2x3s from front to back. The 6x10 adds some reinforcement, but that's the sturdiest part, so it's not totally necessary. For the cockpit, the real one also uses these with one of these instead of a just these as the instructions show. I prefer the way the instructions do this, but if you wanted to change those, it's possible, but more fragile. The 4x12's are actually what I used on the real one, but you should be able to swap those too. The only place I would advise against substitution would be on page 46. It would be easier to just use 1x4 plates or a single 1x4 brick, but that separation down the center is needed to lean the cockpit roof forward a little so that it meets the wedge at the front the right way. As far as the 20L goes, I don't cut stuff personally, but that's really up to you. There's a lot of people that do, and the 3mm tubes are the most common parts to modify.

Yes, those are the same domes from the UCS Y-wing. Strangely, it was the second set to use them. They appeared in The Scorpion Palace a year prior to the UCS's release in 2004. The Bear and Krispy will have more relevant information than me in regard to pricing. I built most of it from my existing parts, with only a small portion being bought online. Most of the ship is built from pretty common, familiar parts, so that should keep the cost down. The rarer parts are only needed in small amounts, typically just pairs.