Darth Caedus

Eegh, I'd be careful on this one. Lego is already always serious with their Brand Retail about breaking street dates even on lower-intensity licenses like Simpsons or Minecraft, Star Wars and Disney's major spoiler embargo is even more intense. Unless you want to risk getting people at your local Lego store fired, I wouldn't go begging for sneak peeks at the new kits. We already have seen most of the minifigures and about half the sets via the assortment of images that have filtered out so far - just be patient, it's not like September 4th is the only day they'll be sold.

Rampant Speculation Time! TFA: Battlepacks: As long as we get some sort of basic Rebel trooper and the basic FO Stormie, we good. Battle on Takodana: Who knows? Between this and the next one, needs to be a Luke and Leia though. TFA Threepio/R2 might not be out of place either. Supreme Leader Snoke a possibility? The Pirate Transport: Lupita bettter get her plastic form here. OT: Hoth Battle: Seems redundant with the Echo Base? What the heck is left to do on Hoth? Maybe if the Echo Base doesn't include an Atgar Cannon or a Turret??? Totally at a loss for this. As far as figures go, I just hope for whatever Rebels that don't end up appearing in Echo Base. Toryn Farr, Rieekan, Bren Derlin, Zev Senesca, Hoth Wedge, Wes Janson, all would be acceptable. Droid Escape Pod: Haven't grabbed one of these since the early 2000's, so I'll probably pick it up if the figures are any good. Everyone is assuming it will be on Tatooine, but what if it's the Escape pod with figures from the Tantive IV? A chance for a Captain Raymus Antilles or Commander Jir. Hard to say where this one will fall in terms of figures. It's got to have something more than just the 2 droids though. Bespin: Finally. This one is all about which figures they go with - rooting for Lando, either formal or whitesuit Leia, Bespin Luke, an Ugnaught or two, and another variation on the Bespin Guard. Rebels: Microfighters for Rebels is an odd choice, especially when we so desperately need more Season 1 characters and Season 2 material. Speculating here what could be the fresh character potential, even though it'll likely just be generics. AT-DP: Zare Leonis The Ghost: S2 Ahsoka (yeah right), Lando (yeah right), recolored Zeb, Sabine or Hera with a better faceprint Tie Advanced: Inquisitor with a different expression??? Wookiee Gunship: Kitwarr, Kanan with a new faceprint (fear/rage perhaps) Battlefront: Rebels: Hoping for classic troops - not Endor or Hoth. We'll definitely see that jetpack Sullustan I think. Too much of a standout to pass up. Empire: dream assortment - 1x normal classic Stormtrooper, 1x Death Star Trooper, 1x Imperial Officer (grey), 1x Spacetrooper (normal classic Stormtrooper but with removable space gear, seen outside the Death Star briefly in Episode IV) PT: Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter: This is the set I am absolutely most excited for, because every single possibility is gold. -Episode II: This is the least likely since they said 'interceptor' which typically refers to the Ep III design. However, an Ep II Obi-wan starfighter, with or without docking ring, would be brilliant because of the potential minifigs. R4-P17, Taun We, Lama Su, Clone in Training, Young Clone, any Separatist leader - Geonosis and Kamino characters are totally possible. Again, this is unlikely though since it will probably be Ep III. -Episode III Red: This is the most exciting because it's never been done in the modern line (I count modern as basically once they started printing the minifigure faces properly with detailed eyes). R4-P17 is a guarantee if this is the one, though the other minifigures are the most boring, since it'd basically be another buzz droid, and then possibly Odd Ball or Lushros Dofine - nobody much else to do from the Battle of Coruscant. -Episode III Blue: Also hasn't been done for a long, long time, this is almost as cool a possibility build-wise as the Red one, but the minifigs are so exciting. Ring or not, you gotta have R4-G9, and a copper astromech is nothing to scoff at. Besides that, anybody on Utapau is fair game. Tion Medon would be superb. Lampay Fey and Zyn Javeb are extremely unlikely and there's no real reason to make them. I'd prefer more Sep leaders, since they do appear on Utapau - Wat Tambor would be killer. A Commander Cody is definitely sorely needed though, and if the lineup was Obi, Tion, R4-G9, and Cody, that'd be more than acceptable. Though Lego does like to toss in baddies if possible, so some kind of Separatist would not be amiss.

The leaks are largely irrelevant to the vast, vast majority of Lego's consumer base. Fanatics are the only people actively aware of the leaks, and they're a very small portion of the customer base. As for the marketing, Force Awakens kits don't NEED to be marketed at *all* - the movie has done that for them 100%. The September 4th release also kicks off the holiday purchasing season, and Lego doesn't need to air a single commercial or lift a single finger to ensure that every single one of the Episode VII sets will sell out multiple times before Christmas. Star Wars VII is *the* movie of the holiday season and thus *the* gift of the year. When the January wave rolls around you could reason that we might see a push for those new kits. You just have to put yourself in Lego's shoes: hype has never been greater for a Star Wars, not since Episode I. Hype is the ultimate marketer. That's why there's no need to spend time or resources marketing the first wave of Force Awakens kits - and why most of the sets can just include generic Imperial troops and few main characters - because they're all guaranteed to sell like they're made of gold. I mean, seriously, look at the Jurassic World stuff. Those sets have sold out en masse and you have hordes of rabid consumers hunting the elusive Indominus Rex restock - and JW, for all intents and purposes (and no shade against the film), is just a dumb dinosaur movie. It doesn't have a sprawling canon, it's just a fun summer sequel. And those sets all sold at an absurd rate. Just think how quickly and how insanely the Force Awakens kits will sell. Kids adore Star Wars Lego to begin with, and you've got legions of adults ready to splurge on a new Falcon, X-Wing, and TIE Fighter because The Lego Movie has made Lego 100% cool for all ages in the public eye. Only dolts, rubes, and millionaires will actually be armybuilding FO Stormies in 2015. It's easily the dumbest thing the average Lego SW fan could do - we know the history, we know how battlepacks work. Of course a normal FO Stormie will drop in a battlepack in 2016. Why throw $10+ to some third party on bricklink when you'll more than likely to give your $ to TLG in 2016 for triple or quadruple the amount of Stormies?

Grabbed the MM and Plane at the local Lego store yesterday. Might build them today. The box design on these is ace, really pops on the shelf. I think it might be a good idea for them to do a second half-wave, like Elves or something, maybe 1 kit with a cheaper Velma, and 1 kit with Scrappy.

The only argument that holds weight for no Suicide Squad sets is the word in the title. The 'kids won't buy it' argument has no weight at all. Boys 7-12 are the target audience for the Superhero kits and there is a Batman in every other set out there, minus a handful. It is night impossible for a kid to not have a Batman. So a Suicide Squad set does not need Batman to sell - you just put Joker and Killer Croc in there and boom, sold. Kids want the hot, new, fresh version of the Joker, and Killer Croc not only hasn't had a figure in a gorram decade, he's a villain with strong kid appeal. Deadshot is basically an antihero at worst so it's hardly a set purely full of villains either. That said, I could see there being a single Suicide Squad set, including whatever Batman cameos/appears in Suicide Squad, just to guarantee sales. Personally, I think the strongest approach would be one larger kit with Batman and the lesser known Squad villains - Enchantress, Rick Flagg, Captain Boomerang, Katana, Amanda Waller, etc. - and then a smaller kit with Deadshot, Joker, Harley, and Croc, characters who have name recognition and popular appeal already. Maybe split it up over three kits. There's a lot of approaches you could take. We also don't know which other JL members will pop up in SSquad. Wonder Woman or Aquaman could pop up and make it into a set, no real way to know this early on. Though anyone besides Batman definitely feels like a long shot.

No reason for an advent calendar to have things from a movie nobody knows anything real about. Advent calendar is a fun activity for kids, so it connects with the existing six movies. Maybe we'll get a Santa Kylo Ren in Dec. 2016 or something, but not before.

I didn't think Lego would be gutsy enough to do this, but locking the hero of the movie into the flagship set is a bold, brilliant move. Never will the hype be greater for Star Wars than this holiday season. Finn, the new hero, along with the Falcon & the classic duo are going to be must-haves, and kids/parents will break the bank and cross everything else off their lists just to get them for the holidays. Putting the "new trio" (BB8, Finn, and Rey) in a 20 dollar set would be a truly boneheaded move that would cannibalize sales from the rest of the wave - it's just something we had kind of taken for granted as happening anyways since the marketing has shown them together so much with that speeder (and the BB8 magazine pic with the shattered speeder parts). Now, if you want all the new heroes - Finn, Rey, BB8, Poe - you have no choice but to drop 230 clams. Which is the smart thing to do - every Star Wars fan who buys Lego worth their salt has to get the essential ships: Falcon, X-Wing, TIE Fighter. People here are crapping on the Falcon's exterior, but we have no idea how different the internal build and interior detailing is. And the bottom line is, it's been a LONG time since the 2011 Falcon for the general populace. Same thing for a generic TIE fighter, the last one hasn't been on shelves for over a year or more.

Some major updates to haves and wants. Still need PV, Aurra, and Iron Patriot!

No, that'd never happen - it may make sense from a fan perspective but for Lego it'd be financial suicide. Releasing all those rare figures for a $20-and-under pricepoint would be insane. Key example from the first wave: putting a Jedi Luke and a Vader in the constraction kits would give most people no reason to purchase the Final Duel, losing Lego tons of money. If we wanted to get minifigures in the Constraction kits, the Constraction characters would have to be limited to only characters that have been done to death and are readily available in small sets.

Death Star Final Duel for sure, try and catch it on sale or find a damaged box that's been marked down. Superb set with ultimate versions of key characters. Smaller sets on a budget - any of the Battle Packs are a good choice, or Battle of Saleucami. Also, the 2014 kits probably have to be going on sale soon because the TFA stuff is coming in just 2 months, so maybe watch out for discounts on those. Many sets are good. Much easier to tell you what sets to AVOID paying full price for - fbtb's reviews are good for this, but off the top of my head from sets currently available: Ghost and the Phantom suck with significant modification, Naboo Starfighter is a lot of fluff, Tyderium isn't worth it unless you really like that ship and those specific iterations of the characters, and the Hailfire Droid is pretty pointless.A lot of the ROTS stuff from last year as well, like the Vulture Droid or the V-Wing or Anakin's yellow starfighter.

Rogue One is *the* Star Wars movie of 2016. It is the movie all kids will be seeing and the toys on every kid's wishlist, just like Episode VII stuff is this year. Of course it will get its own wave. This is not like some minor Marvel movie that gets 1 set (Ant-Man), this is STAR WARS, Lego's #1 eternal license. It's gonna get focus - and lots of it.

You're twisting my words - I never said anything about a "rehash" of Tarkin. Sabine and Kallus (and the generic Imps) are exact repacks of their previous appearances, except with new headpieces. Kallus' hair is nothing super exciting, and Sabine's helmet should have been included from the get go - and it doesn't do much to mitigate the fact that she was already completely butchered as a minifigure (skin tone whitewashed, completely alien faceprint, badly molded hairpiece that pops off with the slightest adjustment, randomly bare arms). Not only is the IAC the big flagship set of the wave, it's the only Rebels release for the summer (and the rest of the year), and thus, the weakness of the minifig assortment is even more painful. Tarkin, on the other hand, has never had a proper version in the perfected modern style Lego has been using since 2010. Thus, he's something we definitely could use, and has the added bonus of fitting seamlessly into any Rebels kit due to his presence in the series. And adult Ahsoka would look nothing like Shaak Ti - simply compare two images of them, their outfits are completely different.

The minifig assortment on the IAC is very weak (complete rehashes except for headpieces, and a mediocre astromech variant). There's so many great characters from Rebels season 1 that deserved a slot - Maketh Tua and Lando are the big ones, Tarkin is sorely lacking any kind of modern version, and honestly, it would have been the perfect time to release an adult Ahsoka (Shaak Ti's headpiece and you're good to go, no new mold required). However, I suppose it's nice, if nothing else, to get a new Imperial capital ship, as others have said. Personally, I'd advise passing on the Star Destroyer - obsolete Vader, forgettable figs, weaker interior than the 06 version - and there will undoubtedly be a new Star Destroyer for Episode VII, either in the September wave or a mid-2k16 wave. Flash Speeder and Final Duel are the only guaranteed buys for me right now - Infiltrator I'll need more images, Shuttle is just a little pricey, IAC has a really lackluster interior and doesn't have an iconic appearance (a $50 Sabine's TIE would have been a much better set choice).

Big updates. More stuff to trade. Iron Patriot, Pre Viszla, Aurra Sing are the priorities.

Summer wave releases June 1st. We've known that for a while now.

^That's a superb set idea, Anduin1710. Ravenhill would work perfectly as a Lego because it's vague enough to be adjusted down to Lego scale, and small enough to function as a mid-high range kit. Here's something for Hobbit fans - though I'm not a Simpsons fan, I will be seeking out one particular figure from the new wave - Superhero Bart. It just occurred to me today - Superhero Bart has a molded slingshot. This is essential to properly equip Ori, who only ever got a printed one (covered by his cape, no less). Since Lego never did enough armybuilders for the Tolkien sets, I'm focusing on making my full Company and Fellowship figures as equipped as possible, and Ori's slingshot is his signature weapon.

Pretty spot-on. Only one thing - Iron Man Vs Ulton is all exclusive figures (the drones are only in that kit, and it's the distinct Iron Man MK XLV armor, not the XLIII armor which appears in the Tower, HuckBusta, and Quinjet).

Well, it's not like Lego has ever released a set from the post-ROTJ era before anyways, so that'd hardly be something to be 'stopped'. Sets from the old EU in general I doubt we will see any more of. Remember, it's not just the NJO - everything EU besides Clone Wars prior to 2014 is wiped from canon.

Sigh. Can people please stop yakking about this Shadow trooper battlepack "when will they appear" conspiracy? It's a Force Unleashed battlepack, plain and simple. Interpretation and creative liberty is always a factor when Lego translates a character design to the minifig. The Shadow Guards are clearly Shadow Guards, even though they have robes on and not the armor that they wear when fought in the game. The Shadow Stormtroopers are clearly TFU Shadow Stormtroopers - before you jump to any kind of conspiracy theory, you gotta do your research thoroughly. TFU Shadow Stormtroopers have always been depicted in a variety of different ways across all the merchandising - some outright clear/blue, some grey/blue, and some like this: http://jedibusiness.com/images/actionFigures/The-30th-Anniversary-Collection/The-30th-Anniversary-Collection-Shadow-Stormtrooper_Big_2.jpg - Lego's minifigure version clearly went with this interpretation. It's quite odd to me how people are so eager to try and impose order on the chaotic kitchen sink that is the Jan 2015 SW Lego wave - it's quite obvious that this was Lego's last chance to churn out sets they'd had in the can or always wanted to make before the product line has to focus 100% on the new movies. Hence why we get a set from the 2003 microseries, a set from TFU, a set of Geonosis trooper completely foreign to the canon, a random T-16 with a Tusken (both updates simmering since the early 2000s), a Clone Wars Senate Commando battlepack long after the Clone Wars was the focus of the Lego SW brand...

Lego stores have the AoU and they're on sale now. The shelf date is March 1st, not April 15th.

The Rebels series finale leaves us in an odd place as to future sets.

Nope, the Gozanti class Cruiser looks to be the last Rebels set this year. I'd be shocked if we don't get at least one more in January 2016, but with the focus on TFA, the earliest "sure" date for more Rebels would be Summer 2016 (since the show will be going strong and we'll have over a dozen TFA kits by then, in all likelihood).

Ho-hum. Maria Hill is the only POI here and she doesn't have a new head so it's not a painful one to pass on. I'm glad there's no Coulson, still pulling for the fever dream of him showing up in an Agents of SHIELD set down the line.

Just bricklink it. Seriously, one bad experience doesn't define bricklink, it's definitely worth another shot, especially if the alternative is dropping 100 bucks on a set you don't want! Summer sounds like a real good wave. I'll be picking up the IAC for sure. The Tyderium sounds likely too, I like the pricepoint. Final Duel is also a strong possibility. Naboo Starfighter sounds like a total waste, but the jury is still out on the Flash Speeder. The minifigs and the build are the make-or-break at this point. Would've liked a couple more battlepacks before Episode VII hit, but hey, January's offerings are pretty generous.

Funniest string of posts I've ever read on eurobricks. Well done just2good. Well done. I'm in a strong wait-for-pics holding pattern regarding Jokerland. The Batboat is an autobuy given the Deathstroke (unless he turns out terrible), anything even vaguely Arrow-related is gold to me. Jokerland if all the rehash figs are cool new prints and the build is good *could* be worth it, but if it's mostly poorly made gimmicky junk then it's a pass for me - I have no affection for the Teen Titans. But I'm happy that the TT fans out there can begin to assemble their team.