Faefrost

Would it make you feel any better to know that the Milenium Falcon and Han Solo did not appear in the SW lineup until the third release wave, in the second year of the SW license? Both the Gungans "Bongo" Sub and the Sith Infiltrator preceded it.

Any designed unique creation is a MOC. Be it digital or physically built. As others have pointed out MOC is simply "My Own Creation". Now by building it in the brick you create a Validated MOC. One that not only has heft and feel, but that has been worked through such that it obeys the rules of physics, gravity and material strength that digital designs do not impose on it. They are all MOCs, they are all designed to get what is in your head to a firm that can be shared with others.

When are these supposed to be hitting the streets? I'm surprised to see them out so early when the movie doesn't come out until July?

While not a huge western fan, I am simply falling in love with this theme just for the shear versatility of these sets. Above and beyond how well crafted the sets themselves seem, with interesting builds and great color palettes, is the amazing amount of accessories and details that can be cross used. Just look at the huge variety of distinct yet versatile pink skinned heads. Not to mention the hats guns torsos etc. Right now I'm just hoping that the movie is half as good as these sets are.

I think one constant is that the promo polybag figs do not use new molds, or at least not new molds distinct to them.

I think TRU may either be being much more careful about actual designated release dates, or Lego may be using more of a "just in time" distribution strategy for them after they broke a few street dates last years, especially regarding the licensed lines.

SONY owns nothing. They have a finite license for they movies and some direct derivatives of those movies. Marvel however may also use those derivatives in their non movie materials. Ever since they scrambled to create characters like She Hulk, Ms Marvel and Spider Woman in the 70's in order to prevent the TV producers from getting a character foothold in their universe, they have been very very careful in how they license things. So while Marvel cannot make a Spider-Man movie or use a select pool of characters in movies while SONY has the Spider-Man movie license, Marvel has an absolute right to and ownership of anything SONY creates in those movies that is new or unique to said franchise. If SONY creates a new character for the movies, that character reverts to Marvel and they may use it at will in comics, and other non movie formats. So Marvel themselves may incorporate the SONY Oscorp graphics and signage into other media.

Those boxes are great for the end consumer / purchaser. Unfortunately they are a nightmare for the stores and merchants, as they are real easy for the aisles surfing bandit is to damage or selectively pilfer parts from. Simply shrink wrapping the boxes might be a better option. Although that runs counter to some of TLG's desires for "green packaging". (I'll leave it to others to ponder the absurdity of one of the worlds oldest injection molded plastic companies courting a green image.)

I agree that Detours is probably dead and buried. I suspect that the decision was made that a self deprecating mess of toilet humor and pop culture jokes would be fine as a way of reminding people about a 30 year old property in order to keep merchandising it, but it runs counter to the main goals once they started seriously ramping up to make a new series of frontline movies. Publicly portraying Princess Leia as a whiny little Paris Hilton type b***h while amusing in the short term, does damage to the character once they planned to bring back Carrie Fisher in the role. And this spreads across the stable of characters. (I suspect that Lucasfilms would prefer that people think of the Emperors voice as that of the late Ian McDirmid and not Seth McFarlane). Lucas himself seems to love that sort of humorous homage. But I can see where Disney and those looking to the future might not be quite so fond of it. I actually think Disney seems to be taking a longer view with SW. They seem to be pulling back from milking it every which way possible, and seem to be actively trying to avoid over saturation ahead of the new movies. I'm not sure that's a good thing, as it has cost us some great stuff, like TCW. But I'll take a wait and see approach still. I'll agree that I am not so thrilled with JJ Abrams, while his stuff is superficially like able I always find it shallow. I wish they had grabbed someone like Wheedon. What makes it worse is Abrams could essentially poop in a film can, and it is still guaranteed to be the highest grossing movie of all time.

And yet there was no condemnation of the Prince of Persia line and its vast array of Hassasim?

Bah! I missed that

Lego isn't shooting themselves in the foot in any way. I guarantee they are drawing exactly the same profit from a set sold in Europe or the US. If anything they may get a slightly higher margin on sets sold into the US. The differences between US and Euro pricing are pass through costs. Shipping and Transportation, Taxes and Tariffs, Cost of retail space etc.

Unless you are really short it should be a non issue. The upper tiers in the Pick a Brick walls are dummies. The actual filled containers stop at about head height for an adult.

It's not a bad figure. Actually the printing is quite good. And I love the face with the ski mask and gogles. Granted not my first choice for a bonus giveaway fig, but not that bad. Certainly an improvement over "Darth Vader with a medal".

Its just an illusion because he has leg printing. It looks like Lego gave the fig Han's knee high Mukluks.

Nothing on that list that wouldn't bring a tear of happiness to an aging nerdling. Lego and GIJoe and Transformers. Your family won't see you for weeks.

Many thanks. That is exactly what I was looking for

I like the coloring of it. I will stand out on the shelf without being too garish. Now if we could just see what the Jedi Defender will look like

OK strange question. I know that there are official Lego plans out there somewhere for Dash Rendar's YT-2400 Outrider, the "MF like" Smuggler ship featured in the Shadows of the Empire series from the 90's. It has been shown as an official alternate build using the parts of one of the Imperial Star Destroyer sets. Now my question, does anyone know if they ever have presented actual building instructions and/or a parts list for the alternate build to make this ship? It would be a really neat ship to MOC up and sit on the shelf next to the MF.

The definition that I seem to find most often regarding "Purist" is that any and all plastic parts used must be specific and official lego parts. No cut altered or physically modified parts. No non lego brand parts. No custom created, clay sculpted, 3d printed parts etc. The only points where this definition is typically relaxed a bit is for minifig customization, custom printing and signage, and in some cases ship sails and rigging. Minifig customization is kind of recognized as its own special branch of the hobby. Custom Minifigs are normally great in MOC's if they are using just lego parts, with custom printing to create the new characters. Waterslide decals for new faces, etc. Minifigs with true custom made parts such as hand skulpted hair pieces are fine as Custom Minifigs and Minifig competitions. But maybe not to be used in Compettiton MOC's. The same with custom stickers or waterslide decals for signs and markings for MOC's. As long as they are more or less "Lego Like". Sometimes you just need to add a sign or something to tell the needed story. Much like Signage, I don't see an issue with custom cutting out the sails you need using an appropriate type of thin canvas. Or having said canvas printed on using an inject or infusion printer. For some more advanced Pirate / Ship MOC'ing you really have little choice. Some will also use string to create hand tied rigging. As long as it is the standard Lego black type string. Why not. Custom printing on parts is more than fine if it can be done well and it is being done on real parts. Now honestly unless some sort of a competition or contest is involved, all of this si nothing more than Nerd Baiting or Nerd squabbles. Lego is a medium to express your creativity, and any such Purist labels or rules are simply the path you choose to follow. The personal challenge you put before yourself. Just my take on it.

Rumor or reports seem to indicate that we will only be seeing 2 of the season 6 story arcs. even though they have voice work on the whole season completed and supposedly 4 arcs pretty much done. I still think we will see at least a few more TCW sets in the next two Lego release cycles. Lego and the other merchandise license holders have done pretty well with the various unique named clones with custom armor printing. They will be a bit annoyed to see those go without a suitable replacement from Disney/Lucas. One of the easiest and most basic "gimmie" sets for Lego to make would be an Eta-2 Jedi Interceptor in Asohka's colors from the beginning of the last story arc.

I do mainly the System / Minifig stuff. I love how detailed the UCS sets are and they look so fun. But I just don't have the space for them, plus at this stage I could never afford the ones I really want like the MF.

I love all of those. I think the only one that sadly would not work well in Lego is the Umbaran fighter. Lego does not do "complex curves " well (ok Lego does not do complex curves at all.)

Now that it is pretty much official that "The Clone Wars Ended Has", it's probably a good time to ask what sets or ships based on the series we would still like to see or we wish would have been made? High on my list are a few of these gems; The Hounds Tooth - Yeah I know I mentioned this one earlier. But it would be nice to have another bounty hunter ship, and something that has the rouch crude blocky and brown Corelian Mining craft sort of feel. Plus any excuse for more Bounty Hunters. The Hounds Tooth would make a great set with Bossk, Teenage Boba Fett (With that oddball helmet), Denegar, Latts Razzi and Asajj Ventriss. The Crucible, The Old Republic era Jedi Cruiser where Younglings get their Lightsabers. While I know the Youngling story arc is widely unpopular for good reason, oddly it shows some truly great ships. The Crucible, being an ancient Jedi ship that falls somewhere between the Jedi Defender class and the Tantive IV. It would make a nice good sized set on par with the T IV or the Republic Cruiser. Asohka, A youngling or two, And Hondo and some Pirates or Battle Droids. The Stealth Ship, Anakin, The General, The Spider General a couple of clones. Maybe a Twilek or two? Trandosian Hunting Platforms - A nice small set. Trandosians, 2 battle pods. Asohka, Chewbacca and a few younglings. Luxury Yacht 3000 - The Lady Luck! Lots o Bounty Hunters etc So what would you all like to see before the sets dry up?

For light or dark grey you will probably need Bricklink. It's been well over 10 years since those colors have been seen in sets. Silver is currently used in Chima sets so those should be available and pearl gold was used heavily in the 2009 Pirates plus the CMFs.