Hoth- what will we get this time?

SumoLego

The Snowspeeder is 10+ years old.  I think the criticism for re-releasing a set from four years ago is a little different.

dougts

BrickDancer said:

^Because a rehash or re-release from an Exclusive line like UCS SW or Modular or Creator Expert is a travesty. Just like it is for the Winter Village Toy Shop. Should we go over that point again?

While I generally agree with you, there is a lot of apples vs. oranges here.

• With regards to SW UCS vehicles, there is a limited supply of subject matter to draw from to begin with.  With Modulars or the Winter Village range, there is no such limitation.  It is somewhat inevitable that designers are going to run out of suitable subject models to fit the SW UCS criteria and sales goals.  Only imagination limits the possibilities on those other lines.
• Comparing a reissue of a 2009 WV set to a reissue of a 2003 UCS set is quite a bit different.  11 years ago vs. 6 years ago.  Designs, parts, and techniques changed dramatically in the mid to late 00's, and rehashing sets from before that renaissance allows designer to make significant improvements to the models.  Also, it is substantially more likely that a rehash from the early 2000s will appeal to a much larger audience of buyers who don't have the originals than a rehash from more recent times will.
• A new UCS snowspeeder is likely to be a major overhaul/redesign compared to the 2003 version.  Different pieces, different techniques, major significant changes.  the WV Toy Shop is virtually a straight up reissue of the exact same design, with a few minor color changes and small detail tweaks. Any portion of the build of any substance is just a straight copy of the previous design.

steveomcl

I think unique parts and colours should be a must with every UCS set! Otherwise it doesn't really make it so hot to own! Would be nice to set an entire new colour set and new parts on a snowspeeder! With as little stickers as possible! 

Fauch

not a very valid argument. apparently galaxy explorer was incredible for its time as well, but that's probably not what we would be expecting today.

chuxtoybox

steveomcl said:

I think unique parts and colours should be a must with every UCS set! Otherwise it doesn't really make it so hot to own! Would be nice to set an entire new colour set and new parts on a snowspeeder! With as little stickers as possible! 

Something like this?

SumoLego

I'm diggin' the Elves Snowspeeder...

chuxtoybox

In the New Friends SW Universe, there is no ice and snow!

Shib

I'm surprised the Tauntaun's horns haven't been replaced with bows in that picture!

wardm

Still no word? We've been waiting so long for this!
Also, am I the only one who quite likes the 2011 Hoth set? I know it's far from perfect, but I really liked building and displaying it... 

monkey_roo

Given that there are no posts or comments surrounding the Assault on Hoth #75098 set there probably isn't any but with all the summer set news breaking and a slew of new images appearing I am hoping we get some news soon.

without evening knowing what the set looks like my wife held off getting me a Christmas present this year instead promising to buy this set when it comes out... Which is adding to my excitement and childish desperation for images :)

hoyatables

It must have sausage. Lots of sausage. 

playwell

hoyatables said:

It must have sausage. Lots of sausage. 

I am sure it will as Leia will likely be the only female in the set.

canon03

With pictures now available (on fbtb), 75098 just looks small and a complete rehash of previous sets.  I'm excited to see another tauntaun & wampa, but not sure if this warrants $250 if you already own some of the prior hoth sets.

monkey_roo

I think more images are needed and details about how the front of the base is constructed before final judgement is passed. First impressions are that as a set it is nice, it has taken the best bits all all the previous sets and if you own no Hoth stuff this is a great looking one stop shop. But as a play set it look inferior to set like Ewok village, Death Star and even the sandcrawler.

i think if you have all previous sets (like I do) then this might no pt be as appealing, but there are some good component parts, the generator and round gun look nice. The main gate has only ever been made once in a limited set way back when and there is nothing stopping people adding existing component to this to make it bigger and better, which I think is a better option than buying two of this set.

still probably a day one for me (given it was my Christmas IOU present) but looking forward to getting my hands in this and adding in other sets, and an AT-AT of course.

Steve_J_OM

I'm trying not to be hasty in my judgement based on the leaked box pictures, but my reaction is one of abject disappointment. It really looks like a mish-mash of previous Hoth sets, shield generators and ion cannon notwithstanding. I'm scratching my head as to where the 2100 pieces are, because to my eyes it looks less substantial than 7879. Really hope that the official unveiling at the Toy Fair changes my opinion, because I've been really looking forward to this one. 

richl

Its almost inevitable that a Hoth Empire battlepack is incoming, right? Because those 2 Snowtroopers are hopelessly outnumbered.

BACbrix

Only two snowtroopers? The set looks like a fake preliminary photo. I don't belive that is the actual set. 

madforLEGO

canon03 said:

With pictures now available (on fbtb), 75098 just looks small and a complete rehash of previous sets.  I'm excited to see another tauntaun & wampa, but not sure if this warrants $250 if you already own some of the prior hoth sets.

For 249.99 USD I think there should be an AT-AT

Rsa33

The total for all this cost me roughly $300 I believe, and looks a little better imho :)

altho i do want a wampa and snowspeeder...

leetshoe

^Yes, yours looks much better. That is something that is more fitting of the UCS label than this new hoth

Huw

Please don't post images or lnks to them. LEGO is going ape over the leak.

thedingman5

Sounds like they should have put more energy into a.) a better set; b.) market research as to what the hell people expect for a $250 UCS set and c.) improved security over their own damn information.  Simple rule - once anyone has it, everyone has it.

monkey_roo

better throw them a banana... (Sorry, couldn't resist)

pharmjod

I can honestly say that set will be a big pass for me. Not seeing $250 worth of anything there. So far the only big sets for me this year are GBHQ, Brick Bank maybe the big Technic flagships. 

@Rsa33 yours looks exponentially better.

Legoboy

Huw said:

Please don't post images or lnks to them. LEGO is going ape over the leak.

Apologies Huw.  Assumed it was okay without the watermarks.

Still, "Oh dear".  Complete pants.  Could this be the break in collecting UCS sets I've been looking for? Could this be the first Hth set I turn my nose up?

LEGO, you need to sort yourselves out.  You're going to lose out big time if you carry on like this.

Rsa33

Thanks @leetshoe and @pharmjod!  It's baronsats custom moc.  

I added stuff inside like the bacta tank w luke, and han chewie and leia arguing etc...

Have to echo, pun intended, other board members sentiments on here, as this is quite a letdown.  Was really looking forward to purchasing this and the 66 batman cave, but now both are definite passes having seen the photos sadly :/

TheLoneTensor

I used to be really excited before big Lego releases, and really excited after big Lego releases.

Legoboy

I wonder what it would cost to substitute the white snow for yellow snow?  Mocs costing less p1ss all over this.

willobee498

LoneTensor has nailed my feelings on this.

matticus_bricks

I don't think it looks that bad honestly. I'm not sure what those who are disappointed were expecting. There's no way they could have done a Hoth base including both a Snowspeeder AND an AT-AT for $250, though the absence of Leia and the Bacta tank are a little disappointing. Hopefully a new AT-AT is on the way. 

I can see how this looks like a rehash to anyone who collected all the Hoth sets in the past few years, but for those of us who missed out, this is a wonderful way to start a Hoth display. And IMO, this improves upon most of what came before. 

fourstud

monkey_roo said:

better throw them a banana... (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Hehehehe

Probably the biggest D2C pass next to the upcoming Minecraft Village.

Pitfall69

Hmm?

Lobot

I was really looking forward to a large UCS Hoth set, but I'm quite disappointed by it. 

I think the key problem is that TLG included several unnecessary 'ad-ons' which have severely eaten into the available part count.  If they'd excluded the Snowspeeder, trench and wampa 'cave' they could have made the hanger a reasonable size and it would have been a far better set overall. 

I might get this at £200 but at anything more I'll happily pass.... I suppose the only positive is that it suddenly makes the EV look almost attractive (and I say that with a rabid hatred of all things ewok!).

Pitfall69

I get the Snowspeeder, but the Wampa scene should have been deleted and more put into the hangar area or something else. They have included yet another Han and Luke, but where's Leia?

LostInTranslation

Hoth Leia May the Fourth polybag? 

(Chrome,  obviously) 

Steve_J_OM

matticus_bricks said:

I don't think it looks that bad honestly. I'm not sure what those who are disappointed were expecting. 

A halfway decent hanger, for one thing, rather than another blast doors facade with nothing behind it like 7666. A control room that is an improvement on that in 7879, not something inferior. Something that doesn't look and feel like a thrown-together compilation of past Hoth releases. Essentially, a Hoth equivalent to the Ewok Village, a set that brilliantly captures the essence of its source material.

TheLoneTensor

matticus_bricks said:

There's no way they could have done a Hoth base including both a Snowspeeder AND an AT-AT for $250

AT-AT #75054 was $110
Snowspeeder #75049 was $30

That leaves $110, enough to build out 2/3 of a modular, which tells me they could have done it much better than this mess.  Plus, where the hell is the probe droid?  Did they even see the movie?  Get off my lawn!

chrisalddin

TheLoneTensor said:

matticus_bricks said:

There's no way they could have done a Hoth base including both a Snowspeeder AND an AT-AT for $250

AT-AT #75054 was $110
Snowspeeder #75049 was $30

That leaves $110, enough to build out 2/3 of a modular, which tells me they could have done it much better than this mess.  Plus, where the hell is the probe droid?  Did they even see the movie?  Get off my lawn!

the probe Droid can be found in set #75138 Hoth™ Attack

mathew

What's really sad is that 7879 Hoth Echo Base at $90 looks better.  This is honestly a very bad set.  Lego really needs to think about what they are releasing for what they are charging.  There is nothing substantial here to warrant the $250 price tag.  Nothing.

CircleK

Can't say I hate it, but I was expecting more - the Hoth equivalent to Ewok Village as @Steve_J_OM said. It could have been / should have been better, but my inner eight year old still wants to set this mother up in the living room with a few AT-ATs on a Saturday morning though. It still looks fun to me. 

The 39 year old me will never allow that to happen though bc the price for what we are getting here looks pretty damn bad. It's honestly disheartening. Not bc this one set appears to be a horrible value but bc that scenario appears to be the new norm. Oh well. My ultimate goal is to keep my money and Lego is making that a little easier every day. 

Rsa33

^^^
this is why i find myself buying custom moc instructions and bricklinking more and more.  Lego is dropping the ball seriously compared to what's out there from far more talented builders...

if vitreoleum, snailad, etc. sold instructions, game over

Rsa33

Shoutout to jkbrickworks as well! Free instructions +  partlists + short synopsis videos = killing it

Rainstorm26

Is this a tipping point in Lego's increase in popularity?  Outrageous price increases, dwindling general population excitement with the fading of The Lego Movie from short term memory, investor websites discussing hoarding any set that might retire in a year or less, parents finding they have to way overpay at Christmas because of Lego scalpers?

dougts

TheLoneTensor said:

I used to be really excited before big Lego releases, and really excited after big Lego releases.

At what point will we finally stop setting ourselves up for disappointment on these big releases?

SumoLego

I would say, the slick marketing, wide variety of product, wide variety of price points, popular licenses, perceived premium quality, repeat playability, new markets...

I don't see any factors that would cause an immediate decline.

I belabor this, but TLG doesn't sell their product on the secondary or collector market.  They don't care who buys product for what reason - they just care that their sales meet their production.

The fact they are family-owned also reduces the impetus to continually maximize growth.

matticus_bricks

TheLoneTensor said:

matticus_bricks said:

There's no way they could have done a Hoth base including both a Snowspeeder AND an AT-AT for $250

AT-AT #75054 was $110
Snowspeeder #75049 was $30

That leaves $110, enough to build out 2/3 of a modular, which tells me they could have done it much better than this mess.  Plus, where the hell is the probe droid?  Did they even see the movie?  Get off my lawn!

I get that costwise it seems to work, but consider part counts. #75054 has 1176 parts and #75049 has 289 parts. Compared to part count for the UCS Hoth set, and that would leave only around 679 parts for the actual base. If we estimate that the new Snowspeeder has around the same part count as the last one, that means the new base has around 1855 pieces for the non-Snowspeeder elements. 

I'm just saying while this new set is certainly lacking, a truly satisfying Hoth set would have had to cost a whole lot more. 

Pitfall69

chrisalddin said:

TheLoneTensor said:

matticus_bricks said:

There's no way they could have done a Hoth base including both a Snowspeeder AND an AT-AT for $250

AT-AT #75054 was $110
Snowspeeder #75049 was $30

That leaves $110, enough to build out 2/3 of a modular, which tells me they could have done it much better than this mess.  Plus, where the hell is the probe droid?  Did they even see the movie?  Get off my lawn!

the probe Droid can be found in set #75138 Hoth™ Attack

"Eureka"!!! I hadn't thought about that!!! 

MrJ_NY

I can't understand why TLG would stop selling 75054 AT AT right before they release an Assault on Hoth set.It may as well be called Waiting for Pizza's at Hoth since they won't have much in the way of an assault happening.The guy who made that decision must've been the same person who decided to stop production of blue baseplates just as the last Pirates line came out.

madforLEGO

TheLoneTensor said:

matticus_bricks said:

There's no way they could have done a Hoth base including both a Snowspeeder AND an AT-AT for $250

AT-AT #75054 was $110
Snowspeeder #75049 was $30

That leaves $110, enough to build out 2/3 of a modular, which tells me they could have done it much better than this mess.  Plus, where the hell is the probe droid?  Did they even see the movie?  Get off my lawn!

This, the sad thing is likely no probe droid because it is in the other soon to be released Hoth set for this year ( #75138). I have not seen any pics of this UCS set (and I understand that LEGO does not want them seen). Maybe I am misunderstanding LEGO with this design though. They are making an 'ultimate' UCS hoth base, but then insist on you buying ancillary sets to be released this year to 'complete' it?
I think they could have even used the #7879 like @mathew said (or even parts of #7879 and parts of the old #7666 set). Even with just the AT-AT, 7879, and Wampa Cave, it comes in to under 249.99 USD.

AT-AT= 110 (or, like LEGO already does with every new AT-AT design, make it a bit smaller to save a buck)
+7879 Rebel Base= 90 USD
+Wampa Cave= 40

Still 10 USD left, either for 'inflation' -though I do understnad inflation would likely be a bit more- or for another tauntaun (as I will be surprised if LEGO puts more than 2 tauntauns in this UCS set). I could even see this set with all of this stuff, and more (imperial troops) being around 269.99 USD, which would probably be a better deal than the 249.99 they are charging for what sounds like 1/3 of it.
I mean they are already going to ask 249.99 USD, why not make it 269.99 and make it right?

SumoLego

I love that it only comes with two Snowtroopers.  Perhaps this is an ironic set?