Faefrost

That's basically what the battle packs are. Lego can't release individual minifigs s it conflicts with the action figure makers license. It needs to be a building set. So a few figs and a small thing like a speederbike.

The monsters / bad guys not selling as well isn't unique to Atlantis. It seems to happen in a lot of the 2 sided non licensed lines. Just look at Aliens Conquest. The big Hero HQ set seemed to do so much better than the alien saucers. It's a shame they really didn't have a low / mid priced hero ship in that line. Part of its failing. It needed a $30 ish ADF truck of some sort. Ninjago suffers from this even worse. Tons of those lime green fang pier sets languish while you are hard pressed to find the hero sets still on shelves. (except the ugly expensive flying boat.) Part of the problem with the Lego created / non licensed stuff, is while they control the story it is a fairly hard process to get the buyer / user sympathetic with or choosing to role play as the villains. The licensed stuff gets away with it because the kid ( or childlike AFOL) has a strong point of reference to start with from the media source. They understand Stormtroopers. They've seen them move. But nbrain eating green aliens? Much harder sell. Whereas the heroic viewpoint is pretty much hard wired in to us. This is where certain types of themes thrive or will thrive. Dino's does well because there are no real villain sets. It's heros against big lizards and the kids readily understand both well. Monster Hunters will flourish in this same sort of way ( the kids will understand the monsters. While not actually licensed we all know the wink and nudge. It will only be hurt by less cool vehicles than the spaceship lines.) Just my 2c

Sadly MegoBloks has the license for Starcraft. They picked it up along with the license for World of Warcraft and showed some samples at the NY Toy Fair. I keep thinking that Lego would do well to go after a classic Heinlein Starship Troopers sort of theme. They now have the Space Marines. They have all these wonderful various sized bugs and spiders, such as the new Shelob and the stuff from the Pharoah's Quest line. Make some drop ships and APC's and there ya go. You could even blend some Insectoid styling s into the ships or transport mechanisms used by the bugs. Ready made cool space theme to compete with Halo and Starcraft.

But it still doesn't show if or how the booze dispenser works :cry_sad:

That line of thought raises or further reinforces some thoughts about whatever the next space theme will be. Just look at that nice space marine suit they gave us. Although by the same token the possibility of an entire "bunny suit" theme has my slightly terrified. ( "Space Marines vs Bunnymen"? )

While we are talking about baseplates, is there any way to suggest to TLG that they start offering the most basic, fully studded plates in a few more colors besides green and blue ( and the big gray ones). It would be nice to be able to sit a finished model or set on something that seems reasonably color appropriate, without having to wipe out most of the plate stock of my collection. I'm not even asking for the fancy printed ones. Just some standard 32 x 32 ones in gray, brown, tan and white? Something to better simulate city / industrial / space hangers, earth / field / dirt, dessert and snow settings. I'm willing to but these separately, don't need them added to the sets.

The Tantive IV / rebel blockade runner and maybe a Bail Organa fig?

I'm sure we will start seeing the domes and globes put to good use now that Lego has the basic molds. I can see them being used as LP Gas storage tanks for the City and Train based sets. Plus lots of uses in SciFi themes. Honestly? It's not the minifig. Padme's face in the Clone Wars show is very off putting and odd. She suffers the worst in the big head animation style, and ends up looking like a grotesque Gerry Anderson puppet. Moreso than any other character.

I can almost understand the previous few A7B Jedi Starfighters. Anakins is a given, figures prominently. Ashoka's is a major element of at least one major story arc in the show. Plus it is really the only girl centered ship that had been made. ( the only other is Sugi's bounty hunter ship.) so some worthwhile dynamics happening there. Plo Koon's is a distinctive ship that shows up early and frequently throughout the show. Mace Windu's shows up in one of the fan liked story arcs, featuring the return of Boba Fett, and is most known for the scene flying over the wreckage of the Crashed Venator. So big visual recognition there. But now we come to Saesee Tin's... Ummm whaaaaa? Does his ship even appear in TCW? And? Are there three TOR ships? I thought there were just the two? The Sith Fury and the Republic Striker?

Ok that's just gorgeous, in so many ways. As a graduate of American public schools I am so jealous of such stately and classy school buildings. ( US school buildings tend to come in three flavors, very very old ( but can't change or fix anything because it's on the historic registry), designed by committee ( a style best described as 70's politburo) and ultramodern "Escheresque" buildings that make your head hurt and seemingly have different dimensions inside then out.)

Very nicely done. It just grabs the eye. How well does the chrome stand up to handling or building? (and now you have me wondering how well Alclad II sticks to Lego's. This is a bad mental path to go down. I came back to Lego to avoid painting things dagnabit! )

At almost $200 USD one would kinda hope that it would be self mobilating, and come with the fully stocked booze dispenser from Jabba's sail barge.

Sorry about drifting a little off there :( On a more on topic note my local Lego store dude said they will have the new R2D2's on the shelves tomorrow (I think we knew this one already) and the rest of the sets would not be until late summer Am I the only SW Lego fan that is completely un-exited about the $180 "8 bit Artoo"?

It looks to be Harry in his "Formal Dress Robes" from the Yueltide Ball in Goblet of Fire or the wedding in Deathly Hallows. Kind of obscure I agree. But it's not like there really is that wide a selection of distinctive Harry Potter outfits. It's HP school uniforms, or HP grungy civilian clothes (just swap him onto any number of city figs, or maybe the collectable Lumberjack). This does at least seem a little more distinctive than a "HP in a BEIGE JACKET!" minifig. I agree the Tri Wizard robes would have been better. This would be a much better fig if there was something else to match to it. A formally dressed Ginny, or Ron is his archaic dress robes.

Bleah! Replying to myself how awful. But thinking on it a little more I see a few more avenues for some of these ships. Barring the above, I can think of just a handful of EU ships that might have any chance of seeing the light of day as Lego sets. 1. The Outrider - probably the most asked for and wildly desired EU ship. Pro's; It is well known and appeared in a host of media from books to comics to popular video games, all as part of the Shadows of the Empire story. It even had a brief digitally inserted cameo in the recent blue ray release of the movies. (making it not technically EU by extension, see "Imperial Landing Craft") Like the Sith Fury, it is also very recognizable as a Star Wars ship. You can see that it is like the Milenium Falcon. Con's; It's like the Milenium Falcon, which means it's starting point would be a $100+ usd kit. Probably not the best starting place for an EU subject. While it appeared in a lot of media, it's all fairly old these days. And the final Score; I think we will eventually see one. I suspect that TCW might force their hand and use the ship for a few episodes for some purpose, thereby making it cannon from several angles. It will still be expensive. 2. Imperial Gunboat - A weirdly popular little ship from the X-Wing/Tie fighter games. Plastic modelers can tell you it remains a strangely popular subject. The fighter/bomber variant of the Lambda Shuttle line. Final score; iffy. It's something easily recognizeable and mould make an affordable kit, but without some more definitive on screen appearence, probably not. 3. The Moldy Crow - Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors ship from a whole host of games. Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, etc. Pro's; It's been actually seen a lot. Fans know what it looked like as it has appeared in not just one, but a large number of games over an extended amount of years and platforms. It's a nice compact and swooshable design. Con's; It's kind of plain, being designed for far lower graphics fidelty than modern standards. A bit blocky even by Lego standards. A little more obscure than something like the Outrider (which while not everyone knows what it is, as soon as they see it they instantly recognize it as Star Wars. The Moldy Crow looks more like a generic 80's kids toy). Final Score; iffy. A great little ship that would work well in Lego. But it doesn't scream SW the way some of the other do. My final prediction. Things we will not ever see. Anything that appears souly in the books. Especially the newer books. No Yuhzon Vong (or however you spell them) No New Jedi Order stuff. If it has not had at least a digital model of it shown somewhere it will not be in the running. just my 2c on the EU subject. The SWTOR sets give me hope that we will see some other stuff. But I think what we see will be limited in it's scope, size and time periods.

Has anyone noticed if set 4430 the Fire Transporter / Fire Command Unit has been released anywhere? I have yet to see this beast in my neck of the woods, and it looks kind of cool.

The bus is gorgeous. Wonderfully done. So many little details especially on the roof. The ice cream van is really nice, but I can't shake the feeling that it is missing something? Like an evil Dominic demon clown or some such? ( sorry, sorry I obviously read way too much of the wrong sorts of things. )

Right now our best hope for some of the cooler EU ships is actually the Clone Wars show. The folks making that are obvious fans and have been sneaking some EU ships in, some in rather prominent roles. In the last season of the show they gave us Bossk's Hounds Tooth, the Z-95 Headhunters and the Luxury Yacht 3000 / Lady Luck. All familiar EU ships that would make fantastic candidates for Legofication.

If you are looking for something a little closer to reality, simply take the water cannon off of the roof. Or replace it with a small light crane and winch. While the truck really doesn't look like anything that an actual fire department would routinely take into the woods, it does look more than pasibly like eith a European or American heavy rescue truck. ( someone really needs to teach Lego that not ever fire truck sprays water). It follows the patern of most such trucks. A very square boxy truck with a cab, often a comunications station midship, and the rest big cabinets containing tools for cutting, lifting, rescuing, diving, hazmat, etc. basically a gigantic mobile toolbox for any situation. Should be fairly easy to mod into one

Wow! 5 years late to the party Sorry for posting on such an older thread, but I just picked one of these up at Target (I can't believe it's been in production or release for 5 years?) and figured I had a little appropriate commentary. I see there have been a lot of mixed comments above, particularly on things like the wheels etc. I wanted to set the record straight. This little number is probably the most accurate Fire Truck Lego has ever made. I was an American Firefighter for many years and this set is a surprising example of a light duty brush fire truck converted from a common pickup. I drove one of these for at least 10 years. The seemingly oversized wheels. They are absolutely correct. Most departments would take a Ford F series pickup, raise the suspension, add grossly oversized sand tires, some light roll bars and a reinforced push bumper. The back bed would be filled with a small water tank and an independent pump that was mounted on a skid that could be dropped on site. The trucks would have one or two booster reels with fairly short lengths of hose and nozzles that look like guns. ( high pressure nozzles. They look sorta like Stormtrooper rifles). While not perfect, the set is much more accurate than many are giving credit for, and honestly is the only thing in the newer Lego Forrest Fire focused series that looks like an actual truck that would be taken into the woods. ( the trailer not so much. While the truck would often tow a supply trailer, that would get left on the street. )

I'm thinking a large Gorilla based on the Wampa or Hulk large figs, the top of a tower. A captive maiden and a biplane?

I think there were some new pieces spotted over in the monster hunters series. Mainly new decorative elements, which are easier to spot. As far as new construction pieces there are a few new ones that we have seem in the Marvel sets. I would guess they stretch through the SW stuff as well.

Well yes, that's kind of what I meant. The Sith Fury is such a cool looking ship, while at the same time being a very obvious and traditional / faithful SW design, (both in game and in Lego form) that it might actually pull it's own weight and appeal to those SW and Lego fans who have never seen it before (Plus it has some fantastic minifigs. Those cool Sith Troopers and a new Sith Lord). Which in turn has a good chance of them getting curious about the ship and where it comes from, resulting in more people checking out the game. I don't think the Striker has anywhere near as good a chance of pulling the same thing off. (Obscure ship in the game, not the most inspired design overall, minifigs aren't as exciting etc) And in the past The Rogue Shadow, the Tie Crawler and the Tie Defender all had similar results. (I think the Tie Defender probably did the best overall out of those. It is a cool ship that was in large part hindered by a less than sturdy Lego design)

The Expanded Universe stuff can be very problematic. Figure for a subject to have any chance as a marketable Lego Star Wars set, the source material in question needs a minimum number of eyeballs appreciating it. Say a measurable fan base of between 1 and 2 million fans. The movies hit that easily with hundreds of millions of fans. The Clone Wars tv series hits it with about 10 million viewers worldwide and about 1 - 2 million on the US Cartoon Network. The video games just barely hit into this range, with the "good" ones bouncing at around 2 million( a little extra weight can be given to mmo's simply for their long term and less transient nature, but even then it is very limited.) The book's, that many feel form the heart of the EU. Their numbers are In the hundreds of thousands. Typically bouncing around 250,000 ( excepting the Timothy Zahn trilogy which still outsells every other SW book.) . Comics are even worse, with circulation and readership in the tens of thousands. Assuming even a huge 1% translation of fans to Lego purchasers, the EU stuff just has horrible chances of turning a profit vs the costs of a licensed product. In most cases Lego would be better off doing something in house such as the Alien Conquest stuff, rather than an EU set. We may be surprised. The Sith Fury may be the first EU subject to do well. But recognize that it is probably in the Lego catalogue as a Lucas loss leader. A cool ship that will then drum up fan interest in where it comes from, and hence get them to check out the monthly subscription game. As a normal subject it will still leave most fans scratching their head. ( at least it's not as confusing or strange as the Rogue Shadow.)

A good modern system scale cloud car release in the $29 price range would be a real treat however.