Fallenangel

I wouldn't say so...

I wish Lucas had thought of this before he made Attack of the Clones...

Doesn’t seem like that would be much of an issue... 8017 is already an oddball since it’s in grey, 4479 is exempt since the TIE/sa and TIE/ln were never in a scene together, and with the TIE/ln it’s a simple matter of building the radiator panels from 6206 in grey and attaching them to the body of the new set.

And this is a problem because...?

You’re right, but: - Most famous X-wing MOCs (Brucey-wan’s, marshal_banana’s, psiaki’s, etc.) have used that same piece, so the assumption is that it’s acceptable in the community (though I personally feel that 4-wide engines would have worked much better in the case of this new X-wing. - Using the 3-wide cylinder reduces the piece count significantly and probably keeps the price down. It doesn’t look as good as a solution using brickbuilt 4-wide engines would, but I suppose it’s passable for a toy. And in all fairness there do seem to be some more pieces around the 3-wide cylinder this time – they don’t look nearly as awkward as they did on 4502. On that last note, it’s almost comical how little the design has changed between the preliminary and final boxes when so many people here were expecting otherwise.

I do believe I see printed pieces in the air intakes and flick-fire proton torpedoes on that X-wing…

The grey of 7140 fits in wonderfully with the general muckiness of the whole scene. Lighting is very nice as well... I suppose we'll be looking for a great warrior soon? It’s modded... I wouldn’t say it was the best in scale, but it was definitely the best in style.

As much as I am pleased by the fact that The LEGO Group is releasing small sets again (Weequays! ), I find it unusual that Jabba’s Palace appears to be the only large set of this line. Unless the ‘Felucian Fighter’ and ‘The Old Republic Starfighter’ turn out to be $60+ each... The Old Republic is italicized, so my guess is that the set will feature a new fighter from the game, which seems like an unusual move for The LEGO Group considering how past attempts (7672, 8087) were received. It may even be one of these... We’ve had quite enough of those! Hopefully the predicted Eta-2 will be this one... New astromech prints are always welcomed, are they not?

Agreed. This wasn’t all that great of a set in my opinion - the wheelbike was too <insert that tiresome argument>, Boga too unconvincing. There really isn’t a whole lot of actual building here, just a bunch of large pieces. The Episode III line had its hits and misses, and this was one of the latter. There are some decent wheel bike MOCs like this one that feature brickbuilt wheels – if the LEGO Group ever decides to redesign this set, I’m hoping that this is the direction they will go.

Old news. The color was explained a long time ago.

10030 was still being produced when The LEGO Group changed the greys, so the piece in question also exists in bley. As Anio said, it can be found in 10030s made after '03.

"C-3PX was a Cybot Galactica 3PX-series protocol droid reprogrammed to be an assassin droid."

Having played with Transformers and other fighting robots in my early years, violence has never really struck me as an issue with toys aimed at 5-year olds. Indeed, the biggest problem is that they simply aren't able to appreciate a franchise for what it is because they've never been exposed to it. I cringe to see pieces of great classics like 7163 and 7140 mixed in with all the other LEGO that some unknowing parent bought for their kid that knew absolutely nothing about Star Wars (resulting in said kid disassembling, losing parts of, and ultimately dumping a good portion of the sets). Occasionally I also find myself wishing I could identify the sets in my own ancient boxes of LEGO (impossible at this point as most of the pieces are lost ).

Fantastic review, Penguin. I must say I quite enjoyed the blatant irateness that oozed forth in every sentence - who would have guessed that Spongebob was a Shoggoth and Patrick a transvestite? I do agree that this set does seem to be one of the more disapointing Spongebob sets - as you said, the 'boatmobile' is pitiful. I'm looking at 6205, which sported less large and <insert that tiresome argument> pieces, less goofy colors, and no flick-fire missiles for $5 less (with a nice clone pilot minifigure to boot), and this simply doesn't match up.

Wait, that was LEGO?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu45ClQbXK4 Beautiful.

How many of the LEGO exclusive bag charms can actually be built? Has anyone attempted to replicate them without glue?

Yes, 9494 is 'Limited Edition' or something like that, as is 9495 (which I presume is why pictures of this set remain elusive).

I think Aeroeza has already spoken for me here: To expand on this point, minifigures redirect play toward people rather than toward building. With "minifigure-scale" MOCs, MOCers are forced to compromise aspects of a build, whether it be size, stability, or technique, to accommodate a minifigure. 10212 with its opening cabin is a perfect example of this. Take minifigures out of the equation and more Star Wars MOCs may have been along the lines of this - indepedent of scale with the MOCer's choices in construction determined more by the original subject than anything else - as opposed to this, in which parts usage and depiction of certain areas are largely depedent on the size and shape of the minifigure. If we continue to tolerate minifigures in UCS sets, we risk The LEGO Group bringing down the higher standard that UCS sets have enjoyed. Furthermore, regarding 10221: @Brickdoctor: If anything, I think UCS sets have been getting more accurate. The thing is that they may be becoming more toy-like. The thing about a UCS X-34 is that the The LEGO Group would release it in tan.

Walter Kovacs made a pretty good UCS TIE/d a few years back, as did cavegod.

Ah, early 90s. My mistake - at some point they all start to run together... I wasn't trying to imply any sort of cultural superiority - I was trying more to make the point that children and youth in general easily make icons out of the contemporary. As you said, kids have always liked stupid things - it's very possible that a few decades into the future the Prequels (or even all of Star Wars for that matter) could be viewed as just another one of those stupid things. @KielDaMan: I'm afraid I don't quite see how linguistics ties into all this. But in any case, I feel it is important to note that StoutFiles used the phrase 'in time' in evaluating whether or not the Prequels could be considered iconic. Perhaps the contemporary figures you mentioned in your post will be rightfully considered iconic to their respective fields; perhaps not. It's been well established that StoutFiles has a very conservative and exclusive view of the Star Wars franchise, which is why he cannot regard the Prequels as icons, at least not at this present time.

You mentioned in your other Republic Gunship MOC thread that you were considering revisiting the craft, so that's what I was referring to. This is certainly true from a cultural viewpoint, but for this discussion - concerning the viability of marketing meritable display models to dedicated FOLs and possibly children - I feel it is necessary to stretch or otherwise modify our standards of what is memorable or 'iconic' to accommodate the standards of the target audience of the Prequels. Remember that these kids also went gaga over 'N Sync and Digimon.

Oops! My mistake. To avoid generating misleading discussion, I've removed the picture from my post.

EDIT: Never mind.

UCS Republic Gunship on! * *Of course, Kiel, I'll be waiting to see your own take on the craft...