Beagle

These are a mixed bag to me.... some look great, like the Y-Wing (that's hands-down my favorite.... it's practically a UCS!). Grievous' ship and the landing craft don't do much for me. The AT-ST looks better than it did before, but its face is too long and stretched, with a big gaping mouth. It looks like it was re-designed by Edvard Munch. But the figure that comes with it is great... finally an imperial bucket-head helmet! The blasters are also cool.... and I hope they stick with the traditional, non-painted stormtrooper legs. I never liked the painted ones. Still, mixed bag or not, I'll look forward to these coming out!

I'm working on a full-scale (well, minifig-scale) Lego Clue Board right now. I know it's been done before by some folks, very well, but I wanted to take a stab at it. It's a lot of fun. I'll post pics when it's done. *sweet*

Wow, getting to this topic a little late, but this is great news! I can't wait to see all of them, but particularly Grievous' ship and the new Y-Wing.

Ha ha, the energy sword is very clever!

I really like this vignette. The upside-down plate doesn't bother me... though I suppose if you wanted to you could just cover it up with some other plate or a roof of some sort. The foot-bar is really clever, and a nice detail!

Wow, that's a great idea! That head is perfect. And it's got the smug little smile of someone who survived the entire SW trilogy. I'm off to order one right now! Thanks for the idea!

Ummm.... Wow. This set is really.... boring. Talk about a minimal redesign. I was hoping they would at least do it in grey and lose the rubber-band wing-opening mechanism. Oh well. Well, on the upside, it's still a cool enough little ship that I wouldn't mind having an extra one if I see it on sale. But I'm not exactly going to be rushing to the store in search of this one. :-/

Ah, yes, perhaps you are right, Yoda. And here I walked right into it. :-$ (Er, the OT/PT war, that is, not Yoda's slimy mud home.) When all is said and done, ANY new SW Lego is good news in my book. X-Wing, AT-AT, Gunship.... heck, I'd probably buy a "Tatooine Outhouse Playset" if they released one. Even rereleases don't bother me, 'cause so far they've all been marked improvements over their original versions. So hey, the more the better! *sweet*

Uhm..... I actually WOULD prefer a new X-Wing over a Gunship or AT-AT. Maybe I'm in the minority.

Peculiar, it's not available for us U.S. folks. Maybe they've got a surplus of them in European warehouses that they're trying to clear.... and shipping it over here would be too expensive and defeat the purpose. Or perhaps it is a Dollar/Euro conversion issue.

I'm not sure that's quite true. While I don't have any inside info like Sam (and thus am simply theorizing), I would be surprised if we NEVER get a Wampa or Taun Taun. Just having watched these forums for a couple of years, it seems like those are two of the most requested figures (along with other Hoth stuff like a probe droid). With five years left to go on the SW license, I would be astounded if they don't produce these sets eventually. Personally I think it makes a lot of sense to put the Taun Taun, Wampa and probe droid all together in one smaller-sized set. That would make a lot of folks happy.

Holy cow, at first I thought you were just PROPOSING such a set... I can't believe they actually DID this. Seems like there would be a pretty limited number of people out there who would (or could) go for this set. Perhaps it would work as a gigantic parts pack, but it seems that there are cheaper ways of getting parts. Are the old UCS Star Destroyers being released in new grey now? If so, maybe they figure people will combine these two sets and make an even bigger minifig-scale playset (actually that would be kind of neat if they included instructions to combine the sets in a way that would result in an AWESOME SD playset). But still, this seems like a strange choice to me. Maybe they've got UCS SD's that are clogging up the shelves, and are trying to find new, creative ways to get them to move. They should have included a mini Star Destroyer as well. :-D

While I'm excited for this X-Wing and will definitely snap it up, I do agree that it seems strange to be doing it now. I don't think anyone was clamoring for an X-Wing redesign, as there have already been two. It would make more sense, to me, to do a Y-Wing redesign now (since that's the only classic starfighter that hasn't had one yet) and then save another X-Wing for near the end of the line in 2011 (since it's the more iconic ship and would be a strong way to end the line). But then, who know, that's still years away.... they could still release another X-Wing then anyway. :-/

If that's the case, my apologies again! :-$ Sarcasm is such a tricky thing on the internet! :-D

Er.... actually that's not lego, just a model someone built. It was just the best pic I could find online to illustrate what I was saying about the X-Wing's design. Sorry for the confusion! :-$ I actually don't think I would want a lego model to be that spot-on accurate.... it would kinda stop feeling like lego at that point!

While I agree with you that this is a great set, Captaintau, I do think there's still room for improvement. I agree totally with Yoda on things like removing the tan pieces, making it grey instead of white, swapping the red for dark red, and simplifying the wing-opening mechanism. I would also add: * A slight redesign of the engines: making the rear thruster part beefier (instead of just the little trans-orange radar dishes), and putting a T-bar across the front intake to make it more movie-accurate. * Making the rear end more hexagonal (lose the hinge piece and the little 2x2 dome). The X-wings have a very distinctive hexagonal shape from the back. * The top of the body: could have long tiles along the borders, and greebly pieces in the central area * A couple of inverse slopes on the underside of the wings, next to the engines * Long-shot: making the line from the nose to the windshield flatter (this is really unlikely since they'd have to do a new windshield mold.... and frankly, I'm not even sure I would WANT this, because I like the X-wing windshields. And I like my Lego vehicles to be a bit tall and stylized to fit minifigs.) Here's some pics to illustrate what I mean: Plus, add a Wedge and a Death Star trench turret, and I think that's plenty to justify a re-release! *sweet*

Ha, I knew they would eventually do another X-Wing. The Dagobah one just didn't seem like an "official" redesign. I hope in the new one is more grey than white.... frankly, more like the color scheme of the original X-wing. Weird.... I like blue TIE fighters, but not so much white X-wings. *wacko*

Huh, interesting topic! It's a good reference point to see what other folks spend. I myself spend, on average, probably only about 500-700 USD a year (counting both sets and piece-by-piece purchases off Bricklink). It helps that the SW sets have slowed down a bit. As folks have been saying, I think it's important not to let Lego purchases start getting in the way of other important financial obligations (family, mortgage, school, retirement savings, etc.) That's one of the signs of an addiction, after all, when something begins to affect your quality of life. However, I also agree that as hobbies go, there are definitely more expensive ones.... and ultimately ANY hobby will end up costing you some cash. If it brings you happiness and fulfillment, it's worth spending a bit of money on. As long as it doesn't get so out of hand that it puts you in financial trouble.

If they release a UCS R2, I want there to be a little Lego Kenny Baker inside.

Gahhh, that godawful electronic AT-AT is winning!!! What the.....??? I know they're not the greatest choices, but c'mon, that's the WORST of them. I would have liked the R2.... but that doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

You know, while I agree with you (I dislike stickers in general) I was browsing through Bricklink the other day and stumbled across this set from 1974 (four years before I was even born!): Double Decker Bus It just goes to show that Lego HAS used stickers before, instead of printed pieces. I bet there are other sets from this era that do, as well. So one could theoretically argue that in some ways, by using stickers Lego is "going back to it's roots." *sweet* No? Yeah, okay, I know I'm reaching a bit with that one. :-P

Great review, Yoda! Thanks for being so thorough! It was never a question as to whether or not I would get this set.... I've taken on that dubious title of "collector," so I would be getting it even if it were made all of teal bricks and contained nothing but old Luke and non-printed-legs-Boba minifigs. :-P But it's nice to see it up close nonetheless! This seems like a good set that could be GREAT with a few modifications. Like you (and others) said, a plate to cover the cockpit, replacing the green parts of the cannons, removing some of the lame "shooting" features, shoring up the inner partitions with proper walls instead of technic bricks, etc. I might also add some sort of framework to strengthen the base, and a couple more hinges for the hull plates. My only big gripe is the escape pod. Why is it there? An escape pod never played a big role in an ISD in the films... I would much rather have had that whole front section be more of a walkway, where Vader and Tarkin could stand and survey. And there could be sunken pits on either side where Imperials could be working at computers. I guess that doesn't have as much playability.... but c'mon, this isn't really a good set for kids anyway, why not go all out and give it a proper bridge that would appeal to adult collectors? Ah well, still a cool set that I will quite enjoy adding to the collection. :-)

I plan to buy the tank for all the figures, plus the extra cannon and BARC Speeder.... can't have too many speederbikes, after all! Then the tank parts themselves will be added to the ol' parts bin.

Wow, cool stuff! What are those pieces he used for Chaplin's feet? And how'd he get Frank Zappa's head to angle down like that? I love the Marilyn Monroe... using the different slopes as the legs and the teeth as the feet is brilliant.

I saw that a while back myself, how expensive Jango is! Sheesh! Makes me wish I had snapped up every single Jango's Slave 1 that I used to see crowding the bargain bin at KB Toys. Who'd have thought the figure alone would someday be worth more than the entire set? Anyhow, back on topic, the lack of minifig sets really is strange and conspicuous. I understand why they can't do it with Star Wars figures (or possibly other licenses), but that shouldn't stop them from producing minifig packs of homegrown Lego themes. I think BlueandWhite is probably right.... so many of the sets now are driven by the minifigs, that if they sold the figs alone it might cut into set profit. That makes the most logical sense. :-/