Venkefedo

This is a movie about stealing the Death Star plans. It likely takes place over the days leading right up to ANH, which means the Alliance base on Yavin IV is established. The stonework, the decor, the timeframe, it all screams "Yavin IV temples"

In the one cast photo that's been released so far, the background seems clearly to be the Massassi temple interior. Dusty, cobwebbed stone structures with vines & other growths all over it, some garage off the main hangar probably (or in another temple; for all we know, they converted multiple structures into their base for different divisions). Granted, the Resistance Base interiors looked a lot like Yavin IV as well--could be they intentionally did that so they could reuse a bit, and just made sure the exteriors of D'Qar were quite a bit different. As for the FO transports, it may be a case of them using the physical prop/set for the interiors, and then changing the exterior digitally to de-evolve it a few decades for use in Rogue One. Then again, the regular FO TIEs are just a color-swap of OT TIEs... Even if they do alter the new "old" transports digitally, I doubt they'll make a set outta them (so we'll just have to hope for more stormies in other sets, and/or a Battle Pack come January)

The problem there is that Iron Patriot should've been in one of the Iron Man sets, since they were all based on Iron Man 3--which featured Iron Patriot! War Machine should've been the bonus figure... or, better yet, Iron Man Mark II with WM in a regular set somewhere.

I prefer exclusives to be more like this... minor variants that aren't really vital to most collectors. That's what bugged me about the SDCC minifigs, so many were characters that comic Lego fans would LOVE to have (Bizarro, Phoenix, Symbiote Spider-Man, etc), even if some of them have been redone in regular sets since.

I think the primary design is intended for the Nexo Knight "power" icons that are placed on the big shields in the line, but it's also finding use in other ways in opaque colors. Great modification!

I kinda hope we'll see new ships...maybe a TIE Interceptor, since it's so overdue. There's a very real possibility those will be introduced into the timeline prior to ROTJ, after all, since we've already seen TIE Bombers, A-wings, and B-wings pre-ANH now. As for the "computer" copy, remember this is a toy vendor catalog or something, not meant for public consumption. It's full of buzzwords and corporate speak that sounds ridiculously alien to normal people, but is second nature for people delivering powerpoint presentations to clients.

Not likely. They'd either need to make the quillons out of unicorn horns in trans-red (not sure that's possible, as the horns traditionally are of the softer material if I'm not mistaken), or make newer short 1 or 2L bars. Or...something. Structurally I don't know that a saber-hilt size piece could support 3 openings that close together.

If it isn't him, then it's a strange choice of design as it's a guy dressed just like him. Look for yourself... It's a new print, but brown armor, white head with a printed flesh face, the Clumsy Guy bandage cap... unless Lego is creating their own Jodo Kast--but the guy passes himself off as Dengar--then it's gotta be Dengar, right?

Given we've got Qui-Gon and Watto in the Infiltrator set, Shmi or Kitster are possibilities... but there's also Padme, Jar Jar (hopefully not, with the AAT still available) and other podracer pilots. Those could bump either (or both!) down the list of potential figures...

JJ has gone on record that he regrets the lies about Khan. He's not doing that with Star Wars. People tried to use the Khan precedent before the premiere to suggest that Kylo and Rey really were the Solo Twins, that Kylo was really Sith, that Kylo was Anakin, that Luke was Kylo, that Luke was Snoke, any number of things. Now people are trying to use it to back up Snoke as Plagueis. When will they learn?

What minifigs there weren't final?

It's not just the beard, tho, but the skin tone. I used Panaka's head and matching arms (tho I'd much prefer "short-sleeve" arms, same skin tone but with the sleeves as either black, white, or blue). It's as disappointing that the obviously-darker skin of the clones isn't represented in the figures as it is that Tarkin, gray-uniformed Tarkin, has a dark tan Lego uniform because of one bad decision they refuse to back away from. Edit: it IS Dengar! You see him in the video showing the lineup of characters, in the smaller second row behind the first row. Mostly the same as the last figure, but with the bandage headgear from the CMF Clumsy Guy.

The book is non-canon tho (despite the elements the same author put into the canon "Tarkin" novel), and the readership is still a drop in the bucket of the moviegoing audience. One of the justifications for Snoke being Plagueis in this thread (and others) is who could top Palpatine but the guy who trained him? Palpatine is not Sauron, a demigod who once served the god Morgoth. He's a Sith Lord who replaced his master in a long-standing tradition. His apprentice should top him, as Vader had the potential to do so (Palpatine said it himself to Yoda). Palps was the big bad of two trilogies... His master shouldn't be the big bad of the third. It makes both look like chumps for different reasons. Palpatine's story about Plagueis was probably mostly a lie to lure Anakin with "powers" the Jedi don't possess. Back to the sets, I'd hoped we'd see something more like this for the clones in the AT-TE

Again, "elements". Referencing Malachor doesn't "force" KOTOR into canon anymore than less-than-3000-year-old Hammerhead-style transports does. Just as Thrawn appearing doesn't make HTTE canon, for what should be incredibly obvious reasons based on what we saw in TFA (ie Kylo is not Jacen, is older than Jacen, and has no twin sister--Rey is a decade younger than Kylo and isn't Han or Leia's daughter, either) It's based on the movie, for the most part. The Quinlan figure is just a bonus despite not appearing in the movie.

Not officially, yet... it's still only a rumor (so far). It's a good bet he will be, tho, given the mysterious character in Aftermath who seemed pretty Thrawn-like, and how Agent Kallus was almost a Chiss himself.

...while it's possible it's only a placeholder (especially given that there's a Slave I available right now), I thought it was interesting that in the icon for Rogue One, you've got a head-on shot of Slave I. Or at least a Firespray-class ship.

The colors might actually be closer with the new BP Duros, as far as the blue (tho the Duros/Niemoidian lines on the eyes are a problem for Chiss)... I think HTTE, the book, just described his skin as having a blueish tint pointing to him being "not quite human", along with his glowing red eyes, rather than being a deep blue like the Cad Bane heads (while his hair was blue-black). I've got a mockup stashed somewhere in my Lego bins of a blank light blue head & matching hands, a gold epaulets piece, and a blank white torso...just haven't gotten around to printing out decals!

Nice little vignette! I like the chair a lot. I also thought Yularen's head would make a perfect Pellaeon... In the novel "Aftermath", there's a mysterious Operator who gives some tips to the New Republic regarding Imperial matters, and at the end you find out he's a fleet admiral looking to excise the weak elements in the remaining Empire, to leave a stronger core. Some of his plans, and the fact that when another character approaches him to speak he has them wait until the music he's listening to has finished, make him sound pretty Thrawn-like. We wouldn't find out his identity until July's 2nd installment at the earliest (unless they leak it early), but it might tie into Rebels in that way... especially since--planned or not--Rebels had a nice bit of synergy with the comics this week, with the latest Kanan comic hitting Wednesday morning, featuring Caleb & Master Billaba being rescued by Mandalorian pilots including Skull Leader, Fenn Rau, and then the new episode of Rebels Wednesday night features...Fenn Rau! And Kanan mentions to him that Fenn saved his life on Mygeeto years ago. Anyhoo, point being, they've now linked a new character between the show & the comics, so having Thrawn turn up in a book and then we see him in the show, years earlier, might not be so far-fetched... and if he's in the show, there's a decent chance Lego might make a minifig out of him! (hopefully, if it happens, both the show and Lego will use a proper Grand Admiral badge--tho I'm not confident he'll be a "Grand Admiral" at the time of Rebels... the Yularen torso is a great white uniform print, but the badge doesn't really fit for a GA)

...except even if he appears in a white uniform--whether or not he's "Grand Admiral" at this point--TLG will put him in a dark tan uniform because "It's a Rebels set!"

Simon Pegg isn't terribly tall, so Unkar being the height of a regular minifig seems fine. Teedo's legs are a waste of printing, but at least it's easily fixed by giving him dark tan short legs. Tarkin is incredibly disappointing; TLG needs to quit with the dark tan Imps in Rebels sets, period. They clearly based that originally off whatever stills they had where the lighting on Lothal made the uniforms of the two guys in Spark of Rebellion look "dark tan", when everywhere else the uniforms were much grayer... and the hair should probably be light bley, not dark bley. Still, it's a new Tarkin face, so I can always throw it on my old Tarkin torso. Sabine, would've been nice to have a better hairpiece (since this one sits too high), and nice to correct the skin tone, so they dropped the ball twice there. With the clones... that's even more disappointing with Gregor standing next to Quinlan. They should be as dark as Quinlan. This would've been the PERFECT time to correct that 8-year-old mistake of making them the same 'light flesh' as all the caucasian characters, and they could've even just said "It's a tan from living on that desert world" if people complained that these old guys don't match the other clone minifigs they have. As for the rest... I like the TIE & A-wing, tho I'm surprised they didn't go for the McQuarrie blue deco for the A-wing... Sabine & Tarkin are disappointing, but having Vader & a new pilot is nice. The Luggabeast set looks pretty good, but the prices in general are rough for all of these--understandable, but rough. The X-wing set looks great, the CTT looks pretty fun and I'd love to get a non-TCW Quinlan & Luminara (her hat's dark brown, finally!). The AT-TE looks as crazy as I'd hoped, tho the heads of the clones are immensely disappointing. Hopefully there are more goodies hidden within that set to make up for it. So that is Dengar (with the new CMF bandage headgear) with the Eclipse (which doesn't mean it's replacing his EU ship; it obviously belongs to the Sith-ish guy also packed in the set)...interesting! Couldn't tell what all the other figs in the 2nd row were as the camera panned by, but Dengar was clear. The advent calendar minifig assortment looks pretty good. A Snowtrooper & Hoth Rebel might be "boring", but with new Hoth sets out I won't say no to more troopers...especially up-to-date ones! Having an ROTJ Luke in the set is a nice thing, too, for those who skipped the Ewok Village or Throne Room Duel. The silver 3PO is fantastic! I'm surprised so many are upset or disappointed at it... whether E-3PO or not, it's another protocol droid. I never really thought the "chrome" rumors would pan out, anyway... and white Chewie isn't meant to be Hoth Chewie at all, merely a gimmick "snowy-white Chewbacca" which is fine. I can use him as an albino Wookiee (or as Itchy from the Holiday Special). Looks like he has his new crossbow, too, to fire snowballs at others! An Imperial Naval Trooper/DST is always welcome, and I'm very stoked they included a Cloud City guard! Hooray!

Yeah, it'll probably be that--blue would be my guess--and/or yet another attempt at it refining the build (maybe they'll try to get the angled wings in there as well?)

I expect some of the trooper-types will be from TFA... probably a Stormie or Snowtrooper (and accompanying weapon rack), maybe a Resistance trooper. If the Chewie is "Hoth Chewie", dusted with snow, that'd be pretty spectacular... even if it's just a white Wookiee, I'd be stoked (provided it's got a printed face and isn't a just a snowman Wookiee)

The Lars family speeder hasn't been made, and has turned up in Rebels... so that speeder, Aunt Beru, Luke with his floppy hat maybe (the CMF Scarecrow/Farmer hat in tan?), and post-Academy Biggs with his cape, maybe a moisture vaporator build and a Gonk droid? That could work. I almost suggested in an earlier post an E-wing in Alliance/NR deco (rather than the deco used in the Jek-14 "It's an E-wing but we aren't calling it that" set) with an R7 droid and a couple pilots like Tycho Celchu & Corran Horn, plus Whistler)... but really that's for another topic. Still, maybe the new show will deliver some interesting characters, even EU ones as it's not gonna be canon anyway.

...and it may have been at the time that art was created. But in the final film, it isn't. Such is the nature of concept art... she has no ship, just a speeder. The quadjumper belongs to Unkar or someone else on Jakku.

That'd be disappointing for me, since I don't really go for the UCS ships. Not swooshable enough (tho I'd be tempted if they ever redid the Falcon). I'd rather get starfighters, transports, speeders, etc...