Venkefedo

Correct, AFAIK. TCW is still very much canon, but the Microseries not so much. I can think of lots of Legends/EU sets I'd rather see before ever getting an Azure Angel. Initially I liked the ship, mostly for the color scheme, but it really doesn't "fit". It looks like wing extensions were welded on with more guns, the dopey podracer curves at the front were tacked on, and those giant engines slung beneath... "Let's make this MOAR awesome!" It's a mess, like adding a ton of weapons and extra engines to Luke's landspeeder. I love that Plo Koon's JSF took its color scheme from the AA, and that TCW's Deltas shifted the astromechs to in front of the cockpit so they wouldn't be the integrated head-only droids or the Chopper-size droids the EU flip-flopped on after AOTC hit (let alone the movie's deleted Jedi hangar scene suggesting the droids are regular-sized astromechs whose bodies must vanish into another dimension to fit into the super-thin wings of the Deltas). Anyway... Long-winded way of saying that if this turns out to be legit, I hope it's configurable as a regular TCW or ROTS-style Plo Koon fighter, too. I remember seeing bad reactions to the TCW Plo set, and I never got around to buying it.

Well, if it had been a new Castle/Fantasy theme, it's not like they actually would've "terminated" LOTR to get to it; more likely "the license is expiring and we won't have enough media support to produce a new wave, so let's just focus on a new non-licensed Castle theme and get some more bang for our buck on some of these elements" Maybe this theme will be Keeblery, using the Christmas Elf hat as a springboard and making the elves rather Smurf-like... But if it's just a 3rd pink-saturated minidolls theme, probably an easy pass

Signed! Fall of the Witch King must happen!

I really wish it was the Jedi Outcast versions... Cud that might mean we'd get a set with Kyle Katarn soon after ...but I know that won't happen anytime soon.

I think that's an overreaction... The Hobbit's getting TWO with a new Tauriel and Galadriel. TCW didn't have a lot of options; Ventress would've only made sense with the Coruscant Dropship, Padme didn't fit too well in any of the actual TCW sets of the year or even the new crop of movie sets really. Gotta remember, SW in general has too few female options, and Lego is mostly gonna focus on the main ones (so Toryn Farr might be low on their list). Sabine is a main character from a brand-new property, and we don't know what all the sets are or contain yet for Winter 2015. She's also a Mando, so her helmet is an easy element: it's just a new print on the existing helmet. She'll be made, in the first year of Rebels sets. I feel certain of it. The question is... Will they use the bley DC-17 rather than the black small blaster with a scope they've been so fond of recently? The DC-17 is the closest to the pistols of TCW Mandos (and most clone commanders; Phase II Rex should've had black DC-17s, dangit!)... But they might also go for the new stud-launching blasters.

If the space miner is like the render on page 18, he should have printing on the shoulder of the armor, which kinda looked like the CS logo with a drill bit in place of the spaceship.

I loved the old Kenner mini-rigs! I had all the ESB ones, but only the AST-5 from the ROTJ assortment. I was glad to see Hasbro put out several a few years ago in the Deluxe assortment that felt very much like the old rigs yet a little more entrenched in the look of SW vehicles. Now I'm curious to see if anyone has MOC'd other mini-rigs, including the recent ones! Very nice work there/

Opened my birthday gift from my wife this morning... 10236 Ewok Village! ...either my memory fails me or I just never looked closely enough at the figures before, but I was thrilled to notice TLG finally gave Luke dark tan hair! I had just replaced the hair on my Desert Skiff and Rancor Pit figures, too. Can't wait to start building!

Seems a little too heavy on the TPM... I know, we got a hefty TPM set just recently and an AAT on the way, but another N-1? It's only been a few years since the last one. I would hope for more OT or Rebels for the exclusives, tho I'd probably jump at that Flash Speeder set because of a) cool speeder, and b) Battle Padme (Panaka's a cool figure, but is another fairly-recent character--a different Naboo soldier/guard might be nicer there)

Read the latest comments next time, he noted it was actually a pilot a couple hours before you posted No word on WHICH pilot, but I'd hope for Wedge or Wes Janson. Zev was already released too often, even his print is outdated, Luke & Dak just got new releases... The only other pilot that could make sense is Hobbie, and he's pretty easy to make on our own since he's got Gold Leader's helmet. Janson's helmet would be a brand-new deco, I think, which makes him awfully appealing... but you can't go wrong with Wedge. Unless you're one of those people who always confuse him with Zev

They're a little too mean for regular Castle tho... The Fantasy trolls/orcs look surly, but in a way that they can easily be turned into protagonists if you so choose, especially if they had some more expressions. "Troll Towns" like The_Cook and others have made show off the potential to expand them nicely. The greenies are basically like Warcraft orcs: serious-looking folk who may actually be good people. While I'm mostly planning to use them as baddies in my builds, I also plan to work in some less-aggressive moments for them.

One note: laying down a little is how you fly a snowspeeder! That's how they did it in the movies, in the technical manuals... the problem is Lego minifigs (and even many Hasbro figures) can't really tilt their necks forward to compensate for their posture. Good review! The figs look great and the ship looks like a nice build.

Yay, more dwarf stuff! I love those crenelations/battlements. Re: short legs, there's always BrickFortress. They added dark brown last year, and dark green (which looks cool, tho I don't own any of those yet). They make the figures a tiny bit taller, but the only problem I've really had is they don't clutch well on the cheap green baseplates from the Lego containers, but even official Lego legs & short legs don't clutch well on those. They look a bit odd at some angles, but that's basically unavoidable even if TLG tried to make articulated short legs.

Very successful! The capes as motion lines/speed blurs look really good!

I'm not sure TLG thinks of them in that kinda way... The Utapau clones have that buildable droid to fight, the Kashyyyk BP is really more of a companion piece to the AT-AP (so someone can pilot the vehicle AND man the cannon, leaving Gree free to command)... Besides, with most PT/TCW clone-based BPs, the opposing army would just be more BDs and SBDs, which get tiresome & dull, and some buildable droids like Destroyers (much as I'd like it, I doubt they'd give us Neimoidian Warriors, Umbaran Troopers, etc in BPs). It's a little disappointing not to get some ROTJ or even ANH Rebels to go up against the Death Star "Troopers" pack, but then again the Gunners and Royal Guards aren't typical troopers (but Rebel Honor Guards or Dresselian Commandos could've been some good less-common Rebels to get!)

Amortug? What happened to Omurtag?!

We got a lot of FLESHIE elves with LOTR/Hobbit... It'd be nice to see all those hairpieces with yellow ears (and the CMF Elf/Wolfman one in new colors as well) ...and a new stag mount to go with them!

Yeah, but that Tarkin has pre-highlight eyes, and a weak hairpiece (either CW or Movie Dooku's hairpieces in bley would be best) Did I mention Zayne Carrick before? Even if I did, he's worth mentioning again. Hasbro really dropped the ball by not releasing him in the comic line (he was the main character on the KOTOR comic!), would be nice to see Lego pick up Hasbro's slack (and get another use out of the trans-yellow saber blade they've got in the Green Lantern vs Sinestro set). I also wouldn't say no to the Moomo Brothers, to get more mileage outta the Ithorian head from the Jedi Scout Fighter set!

I wondered if that might've been my sigfig in there! Like most dwarves, Haarits enjoys a good axe-throwing tourney. I love the setup, the posing, and especially that midair axe!

K'lëïxlbvrû'stæòrbr: HRMPH! ...nice ogress! Fun build and fun story!

It really works well in both a "Troll Town"/Fantasy way and an over-the-top Warcraft way. I love it! Great details... I can hear the greenies yelling "For the Horde!"

I would hope they'd have fun with peppering in some EU ships in the MicroFighters line as ways to deliver interesting characters, but with (so far) only one wave per year and the bland lineup of the rumored Wave 2, it's not a very big hope... Would be nice to see Bossk in a smaller set, an Ebon Hawk with HK-47, etc.

I was hoping for epicness, but a couple dozen human Jedi in tan and brown with only blue & green sabers on an orange background where compositing was extremely obvious going up against reddish CG droids only slightly darker than the orange dirt behind them... not epic at all. To me it looked almost as cheesy as the live-action bits from Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight. I also hope for new worlds. I know we'll see some familiar places (and faces), but working them in organically if possible... Not obvious ratings grabs. But so long as we get some neat ships and, dare I hope?, scene sets from it, I should be at least somewhat accepting of most of what Rebels delivers

While hopefully Rebels will visit more planets than just Lothal (and wherever they run across Wookiees, if not Lothal), I hope they steer clear of Geonosis. Despite the great TCW episodes set there, the Obvious CGpalooza that was AOTC's Geonosis still leaves as bad taste in my mouth 12 years later.

They're not saying "the originals are all that matter" or "the SEs are no longer canon"... They're saying "Hey, fans, we hear you want high-quality versions of the originals. George had his reasons for not giving you that, but we're not George"