Clone OPatra

The manuals for Mando's N1 look like that too, and I think one other set. Maybe that's what LEGO is doing now. Weird because they already have artwork designed for the box fronts, but at the same time, who really cares what the cover of the instruction book looks like. Hogwarts does look pretty nice in the proposed layout. I like that they have tried to put the Great Hall in the right place.

I like Cad Bane too (and am lucky I guess to have the two previous versions of him by pure happenstance), and it still doesn't make any sense for them to do such an expensive version of his ship that appeared in one episode. A smaller $100 version I could accept more, but this is a stretch. It's a nice theory that maybe it plays a bigger role in Bad Batch Season 2 and maybe LEGO "knows something", but it's also just as likely they don't. Lucasfilm sends them what smattering of material they can, and either tells them what to make or LEGO decides themselves. It's like the Rogue One situation where Lucasfilm was pushing them to do the transport shuttle as the big set (which by the way is a much better design than the Justifier). LEGO might have seen it, thought "ok that's a big ship and it's attached to Cad Bane", and put it into development. Again I feel the irony of complaining when they're actually producing something new, but I still can't help feeling it's a misguided thing to release at this scale and price point, and I doubt seeing the actual set will change that opinion.

Most of these sets sound pretty good overall with decent minifigure lineups, but I still don't understand who thought it was a good idea to do a big flagship set of Cad Bane's very unimportant ship. I mean on the one hand, cool that they're giving the big set treatment to random new material, but on the other hand... Venator? Anything else actually important and memorable? The minfigure lineup of that set is also pretty slim for such a big one. I'm sceptical of the diorama-like treatment of the Obi-Wan vs Vader set, but that might be more to do with thinking that the idea of an Obi-Wan vs Vader showdown is an absolutely terrible story decision. The set itself sounds pretty good and perhaps could be repurposed into a proper RotS Mustafar battle. I'm sad no Joel Edgerton Owen at this point either, but maybe there's more to come.

No. Except when they do moulded heads, I think LEGO is solidly against noses at this point. (Just one example but noses are also essential to Flinstones designs, for instance)

Ooh like which? That's originally an Orc hairpiece from Hobbit sets.

What about the brown and dark grey ones, plus the sand blue spread-wing one in unspread wing form?

You're narrowing it down to very specific parameters. I bought the last AAT because of Ahsoka. Ok that one was only $40 (in the US, more here in Aus). I don't care much about her clone trooper and the actual tank didn't look great. Had I know she'd come in another smaller set I probably wouldn't have bought it, but they got me. And like others have chimed in, I could've BL'd her for a bit less but I felt like I might as well buy the whole set. But anyway, my initial point was just that a $200 UCS set of not the most interesting subject matter has something a little extra special included with it. Not the most radical special thing, but a special thing, and if that wasn't one part of its selling point then it wouldn't be there or it would've been included in the simultaneously released version of that same character.

And long may it continue! Although I can't say I've really seen this in any Minifigure themes apart from City ones. Duplo and Friends have always had sets laden with animals.

Very glad to see the dark orange husky back. I've been eyeing that one on BL but it's fairly pricey (and sellers with it on the lower end never have anything else I want). What a wave and a treat for animals, and especially nice that a couple of sets have lots of them in one go. Between the Farm and the City Missions set you get heaps of the new ones.

Yet another new spread-wing owl in the new City Missions set! And the Patronus Hare finally used as a living hare! Awesome to see that new skin tone in between Light Nougat and Nougat. That was arguably a bigger jump that needed filling than between Medium Nougat and Brown. Now give us hands in these colours please LEGO!

I'm sitting here looking in amazement at all the fabulous new pieces in the new set pictures (the shopping cart back finally! The hare as a living hare! The synthetic leg!) and crying inside that we have no idea if they'll ever be available to buy all in the one place and time from LEGO.

Really you think Minifigures aren't a very important factor in buying a $50-$70 set? Sorry but that's a bit absurd. LEGO has been locking cool exclusive Minifigures into $100+ sets for decades and it's not like it's a coincidence. Minifigures are part of the package and can totally throw people over the line into buying a set or not. I'm talking about people who are somewhat interested in the set and weighing it up, not people who have no interest and are buying it ONLY for figures, which I agree wouldn't be the case for a $200 set. LEGO has a massive and growing "very well off" consumer base. Just look at how many expensive sets come out these days. The resale market is also huge and Minifigures from popular themes are commanding ever higher prices on the aftermarket. This is getting off topic, but Instagram and the visibility of collecting and showing off collections has a lot to do with it IMO. It's not just LEGO by any means but many hobbies that were once more niche and had somewhat stable aftermarket values are now skyrocketing for a number of factors. So while I'm not going to get vox pops from two of the tens or hundreds of thousands of people buying the set or whatever, I absolutely stand by saying that, for someone thinking about buying even a set as expensive as $200 (which isn't even a lot of money to many many many employed adults), a cool exclusive Minifigure could factor into their decision.

The very public whinging about the UCS Gunship has led to some strange outcomes indeed. First UCS ships didn't come with Minifigures at all because they totally didn't need to. The UCS (now MBS) playsets did have and continue to have some totally warranted exclusive ones that fit their scenes and haven't belonged anywhere else. Then they started including some slightly enhanced Minifigures, like the TIE Pilot with extra printing or officer with arm print, which in my mind was no biggie - the versions without those extras are perfectly fine. But now after they made a strange and unnecessary pronouncement specifically to say they will NOT be doing exclusive minifigures, they've turned around and included the new best version of a main character while simultaneously releasing an inferior version. It's mind-bogglingly weird, and tone deaf how they seem to always want to blame the fans/consumers rather than their own decisions. I.e. "we did a random clone commander because consumers don't care what clone it is" "We did an exclusive 3PO because fans want exclusive figures" Maybe the better idea would've been to not say anything, because the honest answer could be "the UCS Gunship is cool and sells itself to interested consumers. The UCS Landspeeder isn't quite so desirable so we've included a very desirable Minifigure to boost sales" Someone probably isn't going to buy a $350 Gunship unless they really want it - a minifigure won't make much difference. Someone might be influenced to buy a $200 Landspeeder they sort of want or are considering given the cool figure, making the set more enticing.

I wouldn't be sure from a rendered image. They've tricked us before, including one on B&P that looked pearl gold, but it still has only ever come in chrome gold. I really wish they would make the mould for a non chrome version, which would open it up to many recolours. Maybe it is happening or will happen.

June according to Jay's Brick Blog. One might think June 1st, but given how haphazardly the last series appeared, I wouldn't bet on it.

As far as I know, no BAM-exclusive animal recolours have shown up in sets thus far. The vast majority of BAM-exclusive parts and prints haven't. There's really no reason to expect this fan owl to show up in a set.

Reminder: There are two and a half weeks left to enter our Dynamic Action Contest over in Licensed Themes! Click Here or on the image below to head to the topic with all the rules, and see what you can win.

Thanks Aanchir, this helps a lot - in fact, it covers everything! It's a shame the LEGO resources out there like Bricklink and Brickset don't have this information, but I'm grateful you could provide it here with your breadth of LEGO colour knowledge.

Hi everyone, I'm wondering if anyone out there can point me to a resource that lists the actual colours LEGO used to use for Duplo people's skin tones. I'm talking about the various figures that came in 9171 for instance. Bricklink doesn't list the colours used for these figures' heads besides sometimes "brown", though it looks like a darker brown than LEGO's regular old brown. Does anyone know where I can find details about these colours, and if they match other parts from the same time or were only used for Duplo figures? Thanks!

Ah, in stills and promotional images even when she's with other characters it doesn't look that way, but I haven't watched the show so I'll take your word for it. It's definitely tricky and I'm keen to see when and for whom LEGO uses the "new medium brown" skin tone found in the Magical Trunk set.

Yeah I did the same. Light nougat can be the right choice even when a character's racial or ethnic background may not be called "white".

Custom stickers for what? Background scenery? I'd lean towards saying no (under the no custom parts rule) as I think they are irrelevant to the type of build for this contest. The action is the focus and that's about brick building.

For MOCs and general building, this service will still be quite good. I'm someone that only ever used it for new cool pieces, usually minifigure and accessory pieces, and that's what's now missing with no real answer on if it will return.

Great catch! I was surprised Mary would have a new head when she is so minor, but then again I'm also surprised that that Yaz figure has so many exclusive parts - head, torso and legs. Like why? Is she some important character? It also makes me more annoyed when major characters like Mighty Thor get so very common reused heads, when there are random ones that are more rare.

No. That's the first rule under rules.