Venkefedo

Rebels was greenlit for Season 2 before "Spark of Rebellion" premiered last week. Why do you (and others) seem to think the show will get dropped when the movie finally hits? Despite MCU movies getting released every few months, Disney's got Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble, and Hulk: Agents of SMASH all running at the same time on the animated side, along with Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter on the live-action TV front... so there's no reason they can't have two (or more!) concurrent Star Wars series in production, even if they're set decades apart. Rebels keeps viewers familiar with the OT era that started it all, while any newer sequel-related series gives fans access to more content set closer to that era.

The horns seem the same to me... I even swapped them after reading this yesterday, there were no problems at all plugging them in.

If they clearly want that, then why is the stormie pretty much the only figure to do so? That is where most of these complaints are coming from; if the entire span of the sets reflected the stylized look of the show as TCW did, most of the complaints would dry up (not all, tho; people would still complain about a pure stormie BP being Rebels-style instead of OT). TCW did its own thing, and that was fine for the most part... but with Rebels, it's only the stormie (and maybe the TIE pilot) that show any 'abnormal' stylization. The Imp Officer has an extra mark on his hat, sure, but his face & uniform still scream "movie-style minifig". There are enough elements in the sets that reflect the show itself, there's no need to have changed the stormies, especially when the ISD stormie is something many want to see in more (affordable!) sets. Had the ISD Stormie been used in all the Rebels sets containing a stormtrooper, Lego (and Disney) would still sell tons of sets; by stylizing them for no logical reason, they're gonna lose some sales. It may not be a large percentage at all, but it's something... and even if army-builders are an extreme minority, there are undoubtedly some that would've bought several (dozen?) ITT BPs had the ISD stormie been included that may not buy any of the Rebels-style; and those who will buy lots of the Rebels ITT don't really make up for that loss, as the vast majority of them likely would've bought the same number (or more) of the sets with ISD stormies instead.

The helmet as a whole is my favorite part, too, & the robot-arms on the short nunchaku hoses for the bit works very nicely for that! Not feeling the sword/shield, but the rest looks nice!

Welcome! Nice to see a Wiley Fusebot torso & legs in a sigfig... I'll have to include him in something since I've got a spare! (not sure if I've got a matching head, tho, so he may end up with General Madine's as a stand-in)

I was under the impression that it was more TPM-3D's lackluster performance and merchandise failure that led to the cancelation of AOTC & ROTS in 3D more than the Disney sale (or maybe it was Disney that came in and said "the numbers weren't what we hoped for when we bought this, so...no more!)... Hasbro practically revisited 1999's TPM merchandise onslaught with all the stuff they pushed for the 3D release. There were some good figures in there, sure, but lots of terrible decisions (packing the same Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan figures on the collector-targeted Vintage cards and on the kid-targeted Saga Legends cards at the exact same time with different accessories, for instance--with hardly a price difference between 'em; pegs were clogged for pretty much a full year with all those bad decisions!). That 3D release pretty much killed my interest in Hasbro's toys, because it became so difficult to find the non-TPM figures I wanted with all of it gumming up the works, and I know I'm not alone in the negative reaction to it... Given the incredibly heavy onslaught of ROTS sets this year, I doubt the Boga was "cut" from the lineup. All Rebels did was take TCW's place; I doubt it drove out any particular ROTS set. I imagine the only way the Boga was planned but not produced is if they originally had the Wheelbike set slotted at a larger price-point, and cut it so it'd fit into the $25 range so many other ROTS sets hit.

To be fair, the X-wing and MF are currently available... how long they remain that way is anyone's guess, but they're still around (I wish the TIE fighter was, too; where there is a non-UCS X-wing, there should always be a non-UCS TIE!) Once VII hits, we may go a few years without an OT X-wing since the concept/Z-95-style X-wings used in VII will likely be targeted for sets, and it probably won't be too long between the retirement of the current Falcon and the design & release of a new sequel trilogy Falcon. Different characters, perhaps, and a different dish, but it'll largely scratch that itch (and it'd be easy enough to get parts to make an OT-style dish)

The change in print was unnecessary, tho... the ISD/Slave I stormie is also fairly new, and quite different from the one BP full of Stormies that Lego made several years ago (even different than the Endor BP just a couple years ago due to leg print at least). The ISD/Slave I stormie is plenty 'relevant' to the new era, because the new era of Rebels is, for all intents & purposes, the OT era. The trooper that needs an update the most is the Scout Trooper, using the same old helmet from 15 years ago (while Kashyyyk Troopers got a shiny new helmet mold that might--I haven't actually checked--look decent as an OT Scout with proper visor printing rather than the tiny high-up lenses of the Kashyyyk & preliminary Geonosis versions).

Something big, but licensed? I was under the impression it'd just be Bionicle, since that was their big announcement recently with the golden mask teaser... kinda thought NYCC might just be the grand unveiling of the entire line.

All the Battlepack talk in the 2015 News/Rumors thread got me thinking more about BPs... in a perfect world, spread out perhaps, we'd get 4 Endor BPs. Two would be similar to what we already got, just divided up by faction: 4 Rebel Commandos (with trees, perhaps, or maybe an ITT-style chibi version of the Kenner Endor Forest Ranger minirig), and 4 armored Imps (2 scouts, 2 stormies, and a couple speeder bikes or a bike & a tree again). But 2 more, IMO, would be awesome to see: 1) a 4-Ewok set with a catapult, the 4 Ewoks fairly generic and in different colors: tan, dark tan, reddish brown (or dark brown), and a striped one in dark & light bley (or dark bley & white, perhaps), and 2) a Shield Bunker set with two black-tunic Imperial Officers (using the Death Star Trooper badgeless officer uniforms), and two Imperial Navy Troopers just like in the ISD set. The build for it would be a challenge, perhaps, as the bunker interior doesn't hold much action potential aside from explosions, but it could work... the figures, tho, would be perfect! A ready supply of DST helmets, black officer caps, and plain black tunic and jumpsuit torsos to fill the ranks in any Imperial display you've got. Swapping hats fills even more roles, as jumpsuit-wearing Imps with black caps are seen at the Emperor's arrival and often considered pilots (as with the Microfighter Star Destroyer), while the officer uniforms with DST helmets gives you proper Death Star Troopers, as the jumpsuited ones in ROTJ tend more to be working at computer stations. If they ever revisit Endor in the BPs, I'd love for the Ewok & Bunker Crew ideas to be the target... our Ewok Villages would get a larger population and our Emperor's Arrival dioramas would look more impressive!

Rocket is more like Batman & Robin and Chopper from the SDCC sets this year; none of those figures were exclusive. Rocket still is, due to the TRU emblem (and sadly not likely to be as simple to get as "buy the Juniors B&R set or Rebels Phantom), but he's not in the same league as the "exclusive minifigures" of SDCC (Green Arrow is still exclusive; we're getting a different version in the Darkseid set)

TPM or not, between the MTT and the new droid transport there are a LOT of Battle Droids available, which can be sent against the Geonosis BP clones and Senate Commandos. Battle Droids don't need to be orange to be dropped on Geonosis for battle. Despite the movie-style armor of the Shadow Troopers, you can still send them & the Guards against the heroes in the Rebels sets; same with the ITT Stormies. Kanan, Ezra, Sabine, and the Wookiees are their enemies for this wave. There aren't any Rebel troops for the ITT Stormies to fight, anyway, since the Rebel Alliance isn't really a 'thing' yet... they've only got scattered, unorganized resistance to combat, small groups like the Ghost crew or rioting slaves or civilians. As REBELS goes on, we may see more organized groups be encountered... we may see some of the behind-the-scenes work Bail (and Leia) are doing to prepare an armed resistance... but right now, we know too little. The ITT is just so kids & AFOLs can have more Rebels-style Stormies for Kanan to shoot & Zeb to knock around.

Luke had a discussion with the 2-1B as he was suiting up in the medbay, and there was reference to not being able to load the "T-47s"... which is the designation of the speeders, so presumably they had more than what was sent against the Imps--or just that they were gonna abandon them as the pilots transferred to spaceworthy craft like we saw with Luke & his X-wing after the battle. So those specific speeders were probably mostly abandoned on Hoth (and likely collected by Imperial or Imperial-hired salvage teams in the aftermath)... various airspeeders were seen in EU/Legends, this is only one type, modified for combat, probably often used by planetary security forces. In any case, in the EU the focus tended to be more on space battles rather than planetary action, and since Rebel/Republic starfighters are usually good for either writers probably didn't feel the need to have them switch to speeders... and if any speeders were commandeered by combatants on the ground, they were often civilian or local security types suitable for multiple passengers.

It's very versatile; they're just airspeeders. Remember, Han couldn't take one out to look for Luke because they weren't yet adapted to the cold (luckily at least one was ready by the next morning!). If any were evacuated from Echo Base, or new ones acquired later, or even the Hoth ones before being adapted on Hoth, they could easily be used elsewhere. They're only "snowspeeders" because they were used, once, in a snowy environment, like some folks call Luke's old ride a "sandspeeder".

If Lego did some full-on regular BPs of movie troops, we'd probably be a lot happier. I loved the Death Watch BP since it was 4 identical Mandos... great for army-building! A set like that with the 501st troopers from the AT-RT and Z-95 sets? Gold. I didn't go crazy on the Hoth BPs since the Rebels had Zev in there for no reason, while the Imps had an AT-AT Driver and an AT-AT Commander (probably meant to complement an AT-AT set). The RFT and Imp Drop Ship sets were closest to perfect as far as single-faction OT BPs go, if you didn't mind the Shadow Stormie. The recent switch to single-faction again is nice... not all the "battle in a box" sets were bad, like the Old Republic one or the Endor one, but with these it just feels nicer. If there is some oddball officer or "shouldn't be too many of these" in a box, it's only one out of 4, instead of HALF the faction of the mixed-faction packs. My main issue with the Shadow Trooper pack is the same as one of my issues with the DST pack: I don't want or need that many guards! (I don't want/need all that many Death Star Gunners, either, but they can be put to use manning consoles & cannons anywhere; Royal Guards, like Shadow Guards, should be rather limited in number... but Shadow Stormies can be built up into dozens easily for a nice company of troops) At least with the Inquisitor around, the Shadow Guards can be repurposed as his Force-trained troops... I'm not sure of their TFU backstory, but for my Rebels-inspired idea they'd brainwashed to be utterly loyal to the Empire; they'd be more dangerous than regular troops or even regular Royal Guards due to their powers and saber-staves, but due to their mental tampering wouldn't be as big a threat as the Inquisitor, Vader, or the Emperor. Perhaps they're other younglings & padawans, like Kanan, only rounded up like they tried to do with the babies in TCW and corrupted into Imperial service... ...okay, bring those sets on, I wanna get a bunch of Shadow Trooper BPs

...and that's why it'd never work. Too much chrome, sadly. The interiors would be of different colors, of course, but producing all the outer bricks in chrome is unlikely; even flat or metallic silver seems unlikely. But it's still strange that they haven't attempted one, really... Guess they just know what to avoid. Blame George for insisting on chrome ships!

It's clearly not Luke, based on their current Luke prints, not to mention the box simply says "Skyhopper Pilot". Tank was Luke's other friend that left Tatooine like Biggs, and was not in the novelization or the actual deleted scene; he was revealed to have joined the Empire in Dark Horse's "EMPIRE" series, but as that's now non-canon we don't know where he disappeared to. I'm hoping the new canon will eliminate the "Imperial Academy" idea, since the idea of Biggs and Luke leaving Tatooine to join the Empire has always been ludicrous (not to mention the deleted scene makes it pretty clear that Biggs isn't in Imperial service, as he wants to jump ship and join the Rebellion before getting drafted). In any case, since it's just some generic Tatooinian, I'm gonna pretend he's pre-ANH Tank, before he leaves for the Academy or whatever.

I also hope for non-clone heads for the Senate Commandos; a range would be nice, as with the Republic Troopers vs Sith Troopers BP; different skin tones would be great as well (I love the Panaka head for some variety!). The Battle Droid Trooper Carrier will be pretty expensive... even with so many pieces being the cheap "an extra in every bag!" Battle Droid arms, and the BDs being fairly cheap as minifigures go, it's still over 500 pieces and likely $50 minimum. The TIE doesn't have curved wings because...Lego. They do add curved slopes on the outside of the folding panels to give it more of a curved surface... basically it's a prototype of Vader's TIE, and while the Eta-2 interceptors are obvious precursors to TIEs (along with V-wings), this one draws more influence from another, older precursor: the Sith Infiltrator (hence the curved wings in the Hasbro/show model, just like Maul's ship) Lastly, that's not Luke in the T-16 set... merely a Skyhopper Pilot. I'm gonna pretend he's Luke's other pal, Tank, since he's obviously not Biggs or Luke... ...which means Jar Jar is the only major movie character in this whole wave, if you exclude Slave I and if the Custom Starfighter Anakin bears any cartoon styling.

10 soldiers, even if generic, in a medium-size set wouldn't fly... you'd be looking at $50-$60 each set, minimum. I think expanded BPs (more the size of Battle of Saleucami or something, maybe up to $20-25) with 4-6 troopers might work... but Gremer's right, tho we may want those hallways & environments beyond iconic scenes, Lego probably won't deliver...because they're just hallways. A kid's not gonna enjoy building the predominantly-white Tantive IV corridor, even with those bins (from the Lego SW games) with black panels breaking it up a bit. They'd want a ship, or some environmental piece that has a trap or something. I'd rather see Kenner minirigs and other such small vehicles in sets like that, sorta like the Hoth Rebel BP except with "just offscreen" vehicles.

I wonder if this will be one of those "buy $50+ of Super Heroes Lego sets to get this poly!" things like the Redbird Cycle... ...and I wonder if it'll sell out as quickly as that cycle did at my local TRUs (I know I can fairly easily buy the cycle for under $20, but still).

The scale's pretty good... if it had slightly taller legs, maybe the just a bit shorter than the middle walker's, it'd probably be spot-on. A fun puzzle to try! <heads off to DL the instructions for the Turbo Tank and other AT-RT sets>

The rapid-fire stud shooters were probably planned even before last year's Winter wave pics were revealed... ...and I would think kids would love the stud shooters, rapid or otherwise, aside from the one small problem: they shoot little, round, easily-lost studs. I appreciate that extras are included in stud-shooter sets (beyond the usual extra pieces), and that anyone with a collection of any kind of Star Wars or Agents or many other sets will have extra 1x1 rounds of many colors for even more ammo, but it's still begging for them to be lost behind couches, amidst the carpeting, off in a corner until a cat bats it around into the path to the bathroom, which you'll discover barefoot at 3am... That said...the few times I've fired one of the shooters, it's been kinda fun! Gives me a bit of that "childhood" feeling the flickfires just don't capture (a similar feeling to making a little Lego polybag car, or any small wheeled vehicle build, and rolling it across a table or floor). I'm not crazy about them replacing SW blasters in Battlepacks outright, and I'm not sure what to think of the rapid-fire ones yet, but I don't hate them. I do agree that the "AT-RT" in the Geo set is kinda weak, but there are so many modified walkers scattered around the Clone Wars comics & games that it's easy enough to accept it as something different that just didn't see a lot of wide-spread use... an AT-RFS, maybe? All Terrain Rapid Fire Scout? RFT, Rapid Fire Transport? I dunno!

They're bigger (probably closer to the size of the middle AT-RT in the comparison pic) with extra stuff on the sides, and seat two (tho I think the two are side by side, rather than front & back), but it feels more like the little BP walker anyway. I hadn't heard of it until mentioned here, too! I still haven't nabbed the 501st AT-RT yet...partly because it's so gigantic. It's more to scale with Hasbro SW figures that minifigures!

Closer, as Gallardo said, to an AT-RCT; it's about the right size for a proper AT-RT, but needs several mods to make it work as a proper AT-RT (like in the one Arc posted).

In my experience it's better to just feel the bags; the dots are tough to see so you're constantly shifting around the packs to catch the light just right, then have to compare them to a pic/printout of the dot codes for that wave, and some are either too similar to others or sometimes the dots don't quite print correctly so it's easier to make mistakes. If you know what to feel for, it can be a lot quicker to move thru packs that way. So what if the guy at the store thinks you're a lunatic? Lego fans--and TLG itself--know that's the main method used by people who care about which figures they get.