Robianco

Well that didn't take long. Probably the single best relaunch of a theme I've ever seen with some of the most cost effective and figure laden sets Lego have produced in recent years. New moulds all over the place and fan favourite figures in abundance all in a first wave. A huge, detailed Hogwarts to work as a display piece to work alongside it and then one promo microscale set of Diagon Alley and the moaning starts. It's a small promo set. That's it. If Lego are going to continue HP then their planning will be longer than this. A second wave is probably already planned in and sets developed but the success of the waves and the continued popularity of HP may very well cement the idea of a continued HP theme going forward. That will mean lots of opportunity for scenes and characters throughout the books. They even created different size articulated legs so they can have characters at different stages of their development. This set doesn't mean no Diagon Alley will ever appear... it just means you're not getting a mini figure system scale set of it right now... in the first wave. And the HP giveaway at Smyths is probably going to be the wand build or the polybag with Harry... certainly not the Bricktober set or this DA set.

Nope. Getting things moulded isn’t their bag. Quite an expensive deal.

I may even get a torso printed up before then! :)

My only worry about those two Batman figures are they look like images of customisers figures (I think Red Son is UG Minifugures and Knightmare looks like OLS)

The torso would have been plainer but they already have some of the detailing between the vest design on the Hoth figure. It can't be any plainer than ANH gown Leia in the DS.

I've not commented on this set as I watched the shitstorm happen over on certain groups on FB and other places but now things have calmed a little... I actually really like the set. I think it's a great looking playset that will probably display larger than people think. The minifigure choice pretty much picks itself and there are no real surprises. IG-88 does actually make an appearance as a deactivated droid hunched over in the scrap metal room with the Ugbaughts which is exactly where he is in the promo shots of the set. Whether kids would even know the EU story about IG-88 trying to ambush Fett for Han and getting his metallic backside handed to him is another matter...but at least it's a reason for him to be there. There are four stars of the show for me. One of them is Leia. I think that Bespin gown version looks fantastic although I'd be adding the celebration hair to the figure to make it more accurate (as the original CC set had). Second is Slave 1. I think it looks superb at that scale and is one of the best midi scale ships I've ever seen lego make. Thirdly is the printing on the inside of Lando's cape. That's going straight onto my Phoenix Customs Land as I prefer that design... but I love that cape detailing. And then finally it's Han's printed legs. That Han is perfect. The greatest version of Han in Lego form we could have hoped for (someone is going to point out that he could eventually have the sleeve pockets printed aren't they!). I have a couple of minor gripes. One of them is the reuse of Hoth Leia. We've had her twice now and one in a reasonably priced set... so having the Bespin Escape version here would have completed the Leia OT set (ANH Gown, Hoth, Bespin Gown, Bespin Escape, ANH Gown again (Medical frigate with Luke at end of ESB), Boussh, Slave, General Leia / Endor and Ewok Village dress. No other issues with the figures. I didn't need Willrow Wood as I can make a pretty good purist custom and no kid is going to know or care who he is. I also think the Cloud Car is a nice design but eh wrong colour. Red doesn't seem right at all and orange or dark orange would have been perfect. The price just seems a little high to me although the piece count does kind of point towards this being about right for the amount of bricks, size of bricks and the amount of minifigures. If I was able to get this for around £250 I'd probably earmark it for day one purchase.

I'm definitely thinking the Celebration hairpiece for Leia will be better on the CC version. At least that's what I'll be using anyway

I genuinely doubt Zuckuss would be in that Slave 1

The more I look at that Calendar the more I think I’m just going to BL Merrick.

Even if the original leak list is true.. I'm not convinced the detailed listings including figures is completely legit.

She wasn't until Rogue One. ;)

It is. Dreis & Dinnes are customs from Firestar. Pops Krail is also done but I’ve not got Gold Squadron finalised yet.

That Lando was horribly fake. Don’t bother going there. Fett is a maybe but we’re not sure how it fits in as the Slave 1 version is perfect for CC. Maybe it’s just a test for the dual moulding arms but that’s about it. But seriously... that Lando looked crap. Worse than the original release... we’ve had far superior customs since then... if we get a CC it’ll have a Lando... it doesn’t mean that figure in the photo means anything.

I did the other Aphra build that I think was originally done by Rich Pepperall:

Looks like I’ll be venturing further into digital custom territory. Kat’s work on those figures at Firestar and the quality of the print is persuading me to pick up Thrawn, Kyle and Jaina. Damn it.

How about a chrome silver head for Tubes?

Which ones in particular? ;) Dreis, Antilles, Darklighter, Brannon, Skywalker, Porkins, Binli, DInnes, Naytaan, Nett, Chan, Naeco

That looks great. I think I’ll keep the arms tan and maybe go for dark grey legs with straps for a holster to contrast to the tan colours.

There is no rumour about CC being micro scale. None. Not a single rumour or piece of evidence that it's micro scale. This is why mods used to be so strict on the slightest bit of wish listing or guessing on these threads as once it's appeared it can very quickly descend into a full blown rumour. If someone mentions it here then it gets shared on an FB group or even makes its way onto another forum and it comes back here with the other forum as a source. There is nothing to say that CC is micro scale. The only reason people brought it up was probably due to Hogwarts Castle being that way. That's it. Nothing more. Let's not get into a conversation about whether someone would like something that doesn't exist or whether someone doesn't like something that doesn't exist.

Rich... It's the sloppiest of slopes. I'm at around 50 Stormies, 25 X-Wing Pilots, 8 Blue Squadron, Greedo, Imperials... etc... They do make the figures look better though. I had to message Firestar as I'd made loads of orders but apparently had only 30 points in my account. Now I've got enough for a discount at least.

In the continuing update of arms here's the Greedo/Blue Squadron/Stormtrooper arms on various figures.

I’ve updated them both. Relatively subtle updates.

I think you should keep it as a TIE... then get a second one... then have them flanking Vader’s advanced. :)

If you wanted to go down the route of applying waterslide decals they can be added and simply sprayed over with a light coat of clear acrylic to seal it. They should stay on no problem. With regards to printing heads the issue you're going to have is quantities. It's going to be an expensive process to just print on head... even double sided. There was a seller on eBay that did a package whereby they printed 5 of something for around $15, whether that be a torso or a head. With anything like this you're going to be printing digitally onto the Lego piece... which is a different process to regular Lego print. That may not be an issue but you'll need to be aware that if you're going in close on the head the digital print is actually raised slightly so can catch highlights depending on how your diorama is lit.. this will be highlighted by how close your zoom is on the head in question. For something to be pad printed it's going to be prohibitively expensive to get it done as a one off. You'd need to be getting 50 or so of them and selling the rest off to be close to worth it (most places will have a minimum run anyway)

Unfortunately the OP hasn't logged onto the site for three months, and his only three posts have come in this thread so it doesn't look like he's active in any other capacity other than this thread. Fingers crossed he comes back once the build has moved on.