Blondie-Wan

Also, it's simply the most notable, memorable, classic, iconic vessel in the saga. The ship simply means Star Wars. Edit: Yes, exactly!

The Millennium Falcon seems to me to be the likeliest candidate of all previous UCS subjects to be revisited with a new UCS. As awesome as the original set is, there are just multiple obvious areas for huge improvement, such as having any kind of interior.

I do have to say I'm utterly gobsmacked at the idea of this of all projects being held up as an example of sets "that.. that literally do nothing" (!). Saying that is kind of like saying they hardly ever make minifigures of major Star Wars characters, or that they never use enough flick-fire missiles, or that City has too few cops and firefighters.

As much as I hate to say it, I do think the Particle Accelerator is unlikely to be approved - not only would it be expensive, as well as probably reliant on those older individual rail elements that TLG may no longer even have molds for, but I could see a case to be made that would make this possibly the only CUUSOO / Ideas project declined on safety grounds (but given all the sets that are actually designed specifically to launch missiles, I could also see that not being an obstacle after all).

As someone else noted, it's funny you'd say that - not only because it quite literally does something (obviously you didn't watch the video to see it in action; in fact it actually arguably does more than all twelve CUUSOO/ Ideas sets released to date combined), but because I for one also consider it one of the most entertaining, exciting and worthwhile projects on Ideas right now, and one of the ones I've most wanted to see turned into a set, though I very much doubt it would, for multiple reasons. Some of us actually really do enjoy these supposedly oh-so-"boring" science sets, at any rate (as repeatedly evidenced by the fact numerous such sets have made it to review, and occasionally store shelves, and I very much doubt it's just the same 10,000 people who have voted for every one of them, even if there's surely a great deal of overlap). I love JK Brickworks' stuff, and vote for all his projects. I'm looking forward to the maze, but I think this would be way cooler - not just than the maze, but most other things on Ideas. I love lots of Ideas, both licensed and not, and I've gotten multiple CUUSOO / Ideas sets of both types. I plan to submit both kinds of projects myself.

I thought it might be something like that, but they're so tiny, and frankly easily ignored. And they actually really fit in pretty well if one doesn't activate them.

I have reservations like everyone else here, but as I think about it, I'm not really sure why the inclusion of play features is s turnoff to so many. Most of the most significant play functions are just natural features of the designs anyway. Should the turrets be built solidly, without turntables, so they couldn't rotate? Would that really be an improvement? What about the main door - should it be fixed in places, rather than able to slide open? Few, if any, of the play features detract from the visuals in any meaningful way, I think. My issues are a) the price (which honestly, I think might even be fair, but which is still a big hurdle for some of us), and b) the endless figure updates, which for me make it harder to combine this set with other, previous ones. Classy! AT-STs actually have appeared in all versions of the movie, including the original 1980 releases. Given how many people are complaining about it being called "Assault on Hoth" but having just two Imperials, I think it might have been better to just swap out the two of them, so that it's 100% Rebel (well, aside from the Wampa), and change the name accordingly to "Rebel Base" or "Echo Base" or some such thing. It would fit better with previous big location sets, anyway, like Cloud City (not "Betrayal at Bespin"), the Death Star (not "Station Drama") and the Ewok Village (not "Encounters on Endor"). If they swapped out the Snowtroopers and the Wampa (and its cave), they could have replaced them with Artoo, Threepio, Leia, Rieekan, Luke (in treatment), Too-Onebee, and the medical center. Alternately, they could have some of that, plus the Wampa (to fit with the material excised from the final film, but still perhaps canon, about Wampas at the base). Again with this. Where on Earth do people get this impression? AT-STs were always in the movie - only in literally just a couple shots, true, but still there. Alternately, it may well be that the significance of the "UCS" label and whether it's applied or not is being seriously overthought by some of us.

I'll second this. Aww, I love that one. :(

One thing I've been wondering about lately is TLG's relationship with Volkswagen, which has yielded not just a few sets in recent years, but also the logo of another company actually molded into an official LEGO element (seen on the camper van shell of the Fillmore character in one of the DUPLO Cars sets), which I think might be the first or only example of something like that in the last few decades (I know there have been things like Esso signs and the like, but unless I'm mistaken, they're all from ancient sets of the '50s and '60s, of the sort LEGO Historian posts about). It seems TLG and VW have had a good relationship for all this to have happened. With VW's recent serious ethical lapse, though, I have to imagine TLG has at least reconsidered whether it wants to continue associating its brand with theirs.

The April store calendar just appeared, and not only gives us our second look at the final maze (the first in its entirety), but also indicates there'll be in-store competitions with it! Apparently, people who get the balls through the maze fastest will actually win... something. Will they just give away a free copy of the set at each store? That would be... a-maze-ing, but frankly a little more generous than I'd expect. Store credit? A poster of the box art? A limited-edition Maze add-on polybag containing three extra balls?

Not just the picture - the calendar also indicates there'll be store competitions with it! Presumably, people who can get balls through the maze in the shortest time will win something. Exciting!

I kind of want to, myself, but as long as someone else is already doing a version of it (even one that uses different criteria and thus isn't complete according to my own rules), I'm less interested than in doing something new. Right now I'm thinking of a flip-side complementary list - characters (who have official LEGO versions, obviously) who have been portrayed by various actors, ranked by how many actors have portrayed them. Thus, someone like Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader would place highly, for being represented by Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, Matt Lanter, Dave Prowse, James Earl Jones, and Sebastian Shaw, for example. I would have to resolve first how to list characters portrayed in multiple versions - not just different actors portraying a character at different ages or in different forms of whatever (like all the incarnations of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, for example), but versions from totally different versions (different adaptations, etc.) of a character / story - for example, there are multiple different versions of the DC universe (or portions thereof) that are officially represented in LEGO (the current DCCU, the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy, the '60s Batman show, etc.). Obviously I want to include all the Batmen - Adam West, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, etc. - but I'm trying to decide whether or not to list them as the same character or not, since they come from different continuities. The resolution to that determines whether the list has a single listing for Batman / Bruce Wayne high on the list (because it's then a lot of actors for a single character), or a whole bunch of Batmen / Bruce Waynes, lower on the list (since most of them would have a single actor each). I'm thinking of going with the "separate continuities" route. At the same time, though, I think I'd like to cover all of a continuity that's been officially represented in LEGO, even if that LEGO representation doesn't cover all of that continuity - i.e., I would include an actor's portrayal of a character even if that specific portrayal isn't represented in LEGO, just so long as it's part of the same continuity as a portrayal that is. Thus, for example, I'd include thirteen different actors for the Doctor (of Doctor Who), even though the three extant minifigures for the character represent just two of those incarnations, and five different actors for Indiana Jones, even though all the Indy minifigures are of just one actor's performances. This is going to be a tough one...

I wouldn't add minifigures who are merely inspired by people, if they're not explicitly stated to be those people. The Egyptian Queen is referred to as Cleopatra in The LEGO Movie, so perhaps her, but I wouldn't mention others. At any rate, that would be a different list from one of actors who play characters who get minifigures (which is one reason I personally would include voice actors on the same list as embodiment ones, but that's just me).

A DeLorean - not Doc Brown's famous time machine, but just a "regular" ol' DeLorean DMC-12.

I think we can be quite sure it does vary. Note how there have been sets that sell out in days, while others are available continuously for over a year. The creators of the approved projects should know how many copies are made of their own sets, but their contracts with TLG undoubtedly call for confidentiality so they can't publicly disclose those figures, and since different sets undoubtedly have differently-sized runs (and/or different numbers of runs) even they surely don't know how many copies are made of all Ideas sets, only of their own. That said, between this thread and the original CUUSOO thread I've seen a lot of guesses and estimates, based on things like what is known about production numbers of "regular" (non-Ideas) sets, minimum numbers required to make sense, etc., and from these I've gotten the (possibly mistaken) impression that the minimum number for an Ideas set is perhaps around 10,000 copies, possibly topping out at a few thousand more to twice that many for a non-licensed set, but typically getting more and/or larger runs for pop-culture licenses. This might be way off, but I think we can at least safely assume typical Ideas sets get smaller numbers produced than typical non-Ideas, mass-market retail sets, so it seems like it might be at least in the general area. I would imagine that Alatariel, as the only person with more than one Ideas set produced so far (and whose sets include both one non-licensed one and one licensed one), probably has a much better idea than anyone else outside TLG of the range of possible numbers... but of course she can't share that information. I think if we want to know, we'll all just have to get sets approved of our own.

A reasonable question. It's possible the size of this set is part of the reason why. With that set, they had a specific reason to get it out quickly, in time for the movie's 30th anniversary. Note that it leapfrogged another project in the queue (the Exo Suit, which was approved earlier but released later). There's no particular reason to release the maze at one time rather than another, as far as I can tell, so perhaps they've been a bit leisurely with it to more easily accommodate it with their regular production schedule.

A lightsaber project made it to 10,000 votes and the subsequent official review on LEGO Ideas a while ago, but wasn't approved. It's possible TLG won't make "prop"-style models like this for a somewhat similar reason to that for which they no longer release packs of just Star Wars minifigures - i.e., a perceived license conflict. Various other companies have held the rights over the years to make detailed, realistic, full-scale replicas of Star Wars weapons, gear, etc. (and/or the production props used to represent them onscreen). If minifigure-only packs can be considered to conflict with Hasbro's license for action figures, it seems somewhat likely sets to build full-scale lightsabers might be considered a violation of the prop replica licensees. But of course we can't know for sure... Oh, and BTW, nice creation, demonhunter.

A Lobot minifigure had of course been released before, but waaaay back in the early days of the theme, before licensed minifigures got "skin" in realistic fleshtones; that one obviously doesn't work too well with most minifigures released anytime in the last decade, and then some.

I know this recent-but-now-defunct line had its detractors, but I don't care. I think it was a nifty way to get certain characters and vehicles in a small, display-friendly form at affordable prices, and though I do like the Microfighters as well, I miss this line and wish it had continued (and really wish the last wave had come out in the U.S.). Am I alone?

The life-sized Artoo is a nice start, but I think it doesn't go far enough. I think I should submit a project for all the Rebel heroes as they appear in the victory celebration at Yavin, all life-sized - life-sized Artoo, life-sized Threepio, life-sized Luke, life-sized Leia, life-sized Han, life-sized Chewie, life-sized Dodonna, etc., plus the steps for them to stand on. That's a set we all really need, and I'm sure TLG can pull it off in under five million pieces. And hey, no new prints needed, even! It's a shoo-in!

A few weeks ago my wife and I saw a nearly complete copy of 7190, the first Millennium Falcon (missing most of the minifigure parts plus about four other pieces, but otherwise in nice shape) in a local thrift store. This morning she presented it to me as a Valentine's Day gift! I love her. :)

Being clear they would probably not make one isn't the same as it being flat-out impossible. It's within the realm of possibility they might approve one someday.

I like it, but with some major caveats. Like many here I would like to see something more substantial for the price, perhaps with another Snowspeeder (and crew), or at least another Tauntaun. I'm torn on the minifigure selection. OTOH, part of me feels it really should have included more main characters (Leia, Artoo, Threepio, Chewie), but... well, all of them have appeared in multiple sets already, and it's nice to have the focus be mostly on previously-unrepresented characters or "generic" background troops. I do have a quibble about those, though: The new Rebel trooper print actually detracts from its value rather than adding to it, for me, since I have a bunch of older troopers and I want all my uniformed troops to actually look uniform. If these and my older ones don't look good together, I won't want to use both, which means part of my money is going toward minifigures I'll just throw in a drawer and won't use. That does give me pause for wanting to buy it (not that I'm in a position to afford it anyway). I hate, hate, hate the endless "updating" of perfectly good designs in the licensed lines, at least when it comes to any sort of "army builder" types. There have been several Star Wars sets of comparable size and price to this one, most of which I haven't gotten because I just couldn't afford them. This might be the first OT one for which even if I'm able to afford it, I'll have to think about it - the others were all ones I would absolutely get, just so long as I had the money. With this one, I feel like a lot of what I'd be paying for I couldn't fully use and appreciate, since so many of the minifigures are ones for which I'd have to choose between the ones in this set and ones I already have, rather than pooling all of them together. I'm still looking forward to seeing more of it, though, and I can't say I just don't want it. But it's one I have to think about.

With licensed sets, it may run afoul of their licenses - they have the rights to sell construction sets, not "individual figures" (or parts thereof). Selling someone a hundred licensed torsos could very easily be seen by the owner of the license as TLG violating the terms of its license with them.

This series will definitely be the biggest so-called "CMF" series yet, if it has 18 minifigures; Series 10 of the regular line had 17, and no other series has had more than 16.