Robianco

I’ve always thought the light tan worked better for ANH but his hair certainly seems darker for ESB.

Anything that's made by Lego that hasn't been modified is purist. I've only ever really seen 'purist' used in terms of creating custom figures. As long as the parts are regular lego pieces without any recolouring or messing with print then it's a purist. Once you modify a part in some way (rubbing some of the print off or recolouring) then it's no longer considered purist. I'm not sure why Lego packaging or instructions would need to be considered purist?

Stormtroopercaptain's autocorrect is making him a very determined and slightly angry Lego buyer. ;)

The Mini is one of the greatest pieces of contemporary design ever created. Never mind one of the best car designs ever made. Rock stars, royalty, your nan... no other car has had the same kind of appeal as the classic Mini. It's not just a good looking car. It's a great looking car. The Lego set was an excellent representation of that shape. The inclusion of all of the gadgets and elements look very impressive on this and it's obviously an incredibly well thought out build but the shaping still looks off to me. Some of the details are very Aston Martin. The front grille, the headlights, bumpers with over-riders, side vent, spoked wheels... all of them excellent but one of the things that really makes the DB5 as painfully beautiful as it is is the soft curves. I know Lego is inherently blocky and doesn't lend itself to those kind of curves but there's the challenge. With that in mind It hasn't achieved enough of the overall feel of a DB5 to make me part with £130 regardless of it being a Bond version or not. If Mike Psiaki can't create that car shape as I'd like to see it then maybe it can't be done. At least for me.

Phoenix Customs did a Collector that was far more accurate and better than the Lego one. It cost $30. The SDCC one looked like a purist custom compared to it. I think Lego should have released a Collector figure by now into the wild though. When Shazam gets released I think that figure will get a release... Bizarro has had a micro fighters version (Something at least)... Dark Knight Batman and Green Lantern have had regular Lego versions done now. Green Arrow now has two Lego versions. That still leaves a few figures that we've had nothing of... Alternative versions of figures are one thing but having others that are completely unique is another.

I’m unsure too...

The notion of collecting is interesting. In having a collection it's then down to the collector to decide what makes a collection 'complete'. Apparently the tipping point of a collection is two. If someone owns one of something they may never feel the compulsion to buy another one... but once they have a second then the floodgates invariably open to a third, fourth, fifth etc. How this relates to Lego figures is something that happened to me... I started with one Lego set and from that had Rebel pilots... I then wanted some other pilots and one each of the main heroes of the rebellion. Well over the years that's seriously gone out of the window... down to the point of having 35 Stormtroopers all with custom printed arms, never mind originally aiming for less than 35 individual figures full stop. I then got into Batman figures and eventually tracked down all of the regular releases... and that then led me to SDCC figures. I managed to pick up Batman ZEA as a genuine figure... but I picked up a pad printed custom (on genuine Lego parts) of the earlier Batman SDCC figure for £20. It was perfect. I then picked up Atom and Arsenal as original figures (Usually straight after SDCC is the cheapest time to get them)... but I got pad printed customs of Bizarro, Shazam, Green Lantern, Black Suit Superman and actually got a really good bootleg of Green Arrow. Total cost of all of those was around £100 (maybe a bit more). There are options and alternatives when it comes to SDCC figures and I can understand the frustration when a particular character, especially a fan favourite, is made but seems out of reach. I collect Hot Toys figures now and they release several SDCC exclusives... They released several this year to be picked up at the event... but they've now opened that up to be able to pre-order and have them shipped from Sideshow in the US. They use the event to release a special edition figure, maybe an alternate figure of a character, but they're available for a very limited time externally. They released Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper disguise one year and then four years later the Han Solo Stormtrooper disguise got a normal release. The frustration for people will be those late to the game that want the Luke to complete things... but it certainly available on the secondary market. There's a nervousness with AFOL's now when it comes to SDCC time to see whether it'll be a new character or an alternative version when it comes to those figures. It probably should be like that. As Ryan has said print a special SDCC logo on the back of the figure or make it exclusive packaging. If Lego did an SDCC exclusive of a Star Wars figure I really wanted I'd be tempted by the after market depending on the price but if it got silly I'd but a custom or a bootleg as long as the quality was comparable (And they invariably are).

A well known source of information, formerly of this parish, has dismissed the Reddit list as nonsense. That’s all I need to know at this stage.

Now you've got me... So is it more sensible to have two commanders and two regular?

Ha... I've gone for dual moulded for them. Syndrome I think? This photo was taken before the printed arm updates and the leg updates for the Snowies.

Host your images on Flickr first. Then click on the photo in Flickr and there's a button on the menu under the image that looks like a forwarding arrow. Click on that and you'll have a link to 'share' the image. Just paste that link into the message window and it will automatically appear. Uploading to Flickr is very easy if you haven't done so already. Just open an account and there's a button on the top menu to upload images. Click that and you can then just drag any images onto your browser window and you can then name them / give descriptions etc or just upload them without any of that.

Exactly. Jumptroopers too. Thankfully Snowtrooper arms are white with white armour so maybe no need for any print there. Yeah. Their photographer really doesn't get the best shots for them. The helmets were another one that didn't look at their best from the FS site, but in hand and even with our own photos they all looked great.

It's no coincidence that Slave 1 is still available at the same time as the ESB Falcon... If we do get a Cloud City then those two are a must. Factor in the Solo TIE and the upcoming X-Wing and we have all the vessels flying around CC. If we do get a Cloud Car then the only thing missing from that part of ESB would be a Star Destroyer...

I think I'll just stick with the arm printing on mine. *Searches for backpack Realised I need an extra few Stormy arms once I noticed the Jumptroopers and Sandtroopers needed them too! A batch of five Blue Squadron arms should do the trick too...

If If it's on Flickr then simply click on the share photo arrow and then paste the share link that's shown into the message window. It'll automatically appear after a second or two.

I really like the build... gets across the muddy and treacherous terrain of Mimban. The thing I like most about it is that it isn't just a showcase for the figures from the Solo sets but figbarfs from older releases... that make it feel more 'authentic' as a diorama.

I think it's a bit harsh on the UCS Slave 1 to call it a shelf warmer. It's arguably the best Star Wars set released in recent years (taking into account the cost of the UCS MF). A fantastic set.

Things like this normally gets a universal look when a reboot of merch is done. There might be style boards sent out to producers such as Lego and Funko to get a continuity across all of the items, like then Wedge Antilles in SW had dark green helmet colouring rather than the grey he'd been depicted as for years.

I think it's just that I'm friends with Kat rather than me being a Firestar customer. In fact I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with me being a customer. I used to do some design work for the company years ago including exhibition stand design and some of the press ads that appeared in things like Blocks magazine... but my contact at the time left the company a while ago so it turns out that pretty much just a coincidence. I was drawing up some helmets from RO and playing about with some other designs and it went from there.

Well the Catana Fireclaw figure is an alter ego of Speed Cat, a character created by Catanas... and as she's the designer for Firestar the figure now exists. I just asked nicely, pulled a favour, did a secret handshake and designed a helmet of my own... and now that exists too.

Yeah. They work. Pink Squadron pilot Fireclaw & Red Squadron recruit Anco reporting for duty.

I've got a set of the blue arms arriving in the morning along with stormy arms... I'll try them on the Cassian figure and post a pic

I liked that set. :)

There's these: https://store.bricklink.com/Rubberduck?itemID=99845213#/shop?o={"invID":"99845213"} They look like Eclipse Grafx customs to me. Seller has 3 of them at £4 each.

I'm not sure where or why someone should be grateful for a toy company releasing a toy. It's a 'buy if you like it' or 'don't buy if you don't like it' deal. We're a site of adults (supposedly) who support Lego by buying their products and as such I think people have the right to express an opinion on how a set looks. If Lego are to release a DB5 then how that car looks built in Lego is the most important thing. The Beetle and Mini were excellent builds and captured the essence of both of those vehicles. As a former Mini Cooper owner I absolutely loved that build. I love how Alec Issigonis's design was translated into Lego. The classic Mini is my favourite car design ever... It never changed in 50 years of production. My favourite 'fantasy' car is the DB5. It's one of the most breathtakingly beautiful car shapes ever created and is both spectacular and understated at the same time. Having a Bond version with revolving number plates, tyre spikes etc could have been fantastic... but not at the expense of the shape of the car. I could buy a scale model of Slave 1... or a Snowspeeder... or build a DeAgostini Falcon if I just wanted something resembling a studio model but I have UCS Lego versions of them all because I like the Lego process and aesthetic as well as having a love of those vehicle designs. It's not just about complete accuracy. But the DB5 build, to me at least, and from the angle we've seen, doesn't give me any sense being an Aston Martin DB5. It has some of the elements such as the front grill, headlights, side vent detail, bull bar detailing on the bumper works well too... but overall shape... especially the rear end and rear side window shaping looks way off. I sincerely hope that it's down to the angle we've seen and a full view will make it look better. But as it stands it's not something I'd buy. I feel neither grateful nor ungrateful for that.