General Star Wars Discussion

datsunrobbie

'Go not to the Lego for counsel for they will answer both no and yes.'

#10188 has no UCS labels, but appears in the center of the Ultimate Star Wars poster https://lego.fandom.com/wiki/UCS_Promotional_Poster along with 20 of the 23 sets that actually had UCS labels on the boxes. And #75159, a near-clone of #10188, DOES have a UCS label on the box.

SumoLego

Ugh.  That poster never goes away.  That's not an accurate list, either.  Those are 'ultimate LEGO sets', not anything to do with the Ultimate Collectors Series.

Frankly - those pictured set could just be labeled 'big expensive' sets.

SumoLego

There's no label on the box, not that it matters.  As with most unintelligible LEGO marketing it's... unintelligible.

https://youtu.be/whgtd8atMrQ

Chromide

Weird.

nexander

There are actually 2 Vader torch designs, one with a much wider helmet than the other. I prefer torches way more than clocks, not as practical but way more fun, I like to use them in displays as the proportions are good and you can play about with scale.

Fizyx

https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/05/04/build-and-program-your-own-star-wars-droid-with-this-lego-boost-droid-commander-set-news/

Excerpt from writeup: LEGO has revealed Star Wars Droid Commander, a 1,100-piece set that let’s you build and program three droids from the Star Wars universe including the iconic R2-D2, a Gonk droid and a Mouse droid. The set uses the LEGO Boost platform in combination with a new free app to help learn programming to achieve success in more than 40 pre-loaded missions. The set is expected to retail for US $199.99 | CAN $249.99 | UK £179.99 starting September 1st.

There are a couple pictures, but just going to  include one:

playwell

^ On the front page too

Fizyx

SMC said:

^ On the front page too

Ah poo.  Looked at the front page like 5 minutes before it got posted, then saw this 10 minutes later and just assumed it still wasn't on the front page.  ;_;

Bumblepants

Is that one droid teal? Please say it is teal and not med azure.

VorpalRyu

^ Looks to be teal from the video I saw on Twitter.

Bumblepants

My older kids watched Phantom Menace for the first time today. I am proud to report they both picked Darth Maul as a favorite over Jar Jar. A great May the Fourth so far.

Chromide

No battle droid in the boost set, disappointed.

Kaitch

^Give it a few more decades. Getting robots to walk like humans is seriously challenging, and while leading researchers have made progress, it's far too early to appear in Lego robot kit. It's not that TLG are ignoring demand (seriously, a gonk is liked but hardly a favourite) but that current tech just isn't up to sci-fi standards. So no battle droids, protocol droids, super battle droids, they might be able to do a droideka that putters around on three legs but doesn't roll in another dozen years or so, no BB-units (how does the head stay on a spherical body that moves completely independently and doesn't appear to have anything tethering the two together? Not even any tracks in the body for the head to slot into).

Brainslugged

Kaitch said:

So no BB-units (how does the head stay on a spherical body that moves completely independently and doesn't appear to have anything tethering the two together? Not even any tracks in the body for the head to slot into).

Not sure I fully understand, but you know you can already get toys of remote-controlled rolling BB8s? Or do you mean no rolling Lego BB8s?

Kaitch

I think in my last comment I got side tracked by how impossible BB unit motion is in the films. The sphere body of a BB unit moves completely. Any part of it could be in any position. So how does the head stay on? Maybe by some sort of magnetism? But you'd still need cables for power, sensory data, etc connecting the two.

I suspect the remote-controlled BBs don't have the same range of movement as the film versions.

Also, now I think about it, how do you make a block of Lego sufficiently spherical to roll easily?

monkeyhanger

Kaitch said:

I think in my last comment I got side tracked by how impossible BB unit motion is in the films. The sphere body of a BB unit moves completely. Any part of it could be in any position. So how does the head stay on? Maybe by some sort of magnetism? But you'd still need cables for power, sensory data, etc connecting the two.

I suspect the remote-controlled BBs don't have the same range of movement as the film versions.

Also, now I think about it, how do you make a block of Lego sufficiently spherical to roll easily?

The Sphero remote control BB8 works exactly like the film BB8. Gyroscope tech (like on segways to keep you upright) keeps the ball rolling and the head placement with square on top or leaning forward for sprint, with magnetism helping to keep the head stuck to sphere, whatever position it is in. 

Clever stuff. I have one boxed away somewhere. Need to buy one of those "Force Bands" for it so I don't have to entrust our clumsy 4 year old with a fragile £600 phone to control it!

Brainslugged

I built the new Tantive IV today. Pretty much the penultimate step is putting on the four curved dark red stickers at the sides of the front canopy. Trying to align those so they're symmetrical is a nightmare. However, I measured them with a ruler, marked them out and was delighted to apply all four absolutely perfectly.

The next (and final) step is to apply the two front stickers with the windscreen on. So I put the first one on perfectly, made sure it was pressed down nice and firmly, then realised I'd stuck it on upside down.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

The_Rancor

^ I did exactly the same with one of the large decorative Republic Gunship hatches in 2008. Since then I now take more time aligning and checking stickers in any given Star Wars set than I do building the actual Lego, which isn’t ideal in itself. I definitely feel your pain. Comment like issued in sympathy.

Fauch

I did that with one of the banners on the london bus, but managed to remove it and place it back the right way. well, there is a small crease in the corner

omnium

I think such examples merit a call to CS to ask for replacement stickers. I've not tried it, but when the stickers for a City set we're all curled and peeling right from new, they replaced them without fuss, so it's worth a try, surely?

Brainslugged

omnium said:

I think such examples merit a call to CS to ask for replacement stickers. I've not tried it, but when the stickers for a City set we're all curled and peeling right from new, they replaced them without fuss, so it's worth a try, surely?

I was going to give that a try. With a small sticker that you've just put on, you can get away with quickly unsticking it. I'd originally pressed this one on pretty good though so it does look fairly crap now.

Due to how important stickers are to the finished product, I'd already been thinking I'd order a printed set from www.steindrucker.com (assuming they become available). I'd also wanted to do that with the UCS Y-Wing, but it took 6+ months for them to add that to their product list, at which point my excitement for printed parts had ebbed a bit.

Never seen the quality of the steindrucker prints in person. I know some people who got them the the UCS Falcon. Has anyone seen how good their colour prints on white parts are? If it's as bad as Lego's, I think I'll pass. I've seen some semi-custom minifigs where the print quality blows Lego's out of the water.

560Heliport

I think LEGO should  include an extra sheet of stickers in EVERY set.

datsunrobbie

monkeyhanger said:

Kaitch said:

I think in my last comment I got side tracked by how impossible BB unit motion is in the films. The sphere body of a BB unit moves completely. Any part of it could be in any position. So how does the head stay on? Maybe by some sort of magnetism? But you'd still need cables for power, sensory data, etc connecting the two.

I suspect the remote-controlled BBs don't have the same range of movement as the film versions.

Also, now I think about it, how do you make a block of Lego sufficiently spherical to roll easily?

The Sphero remote control BB8 works exactly like the film BB8. Gyroscope tech (like on segways to keep you upright) keeps the ball rolling and the head placement with square on top or leaning forward for sprint, with magnetism helping to keep the head stuck to sphere, whatever position it is in. 

Clever stuff. I have one boxed away somewhere. Need to buy one of those "Force Bands" for it so I don't have to entrust our clumsy 4 year old with a fragile £600 phone to control it!

Hasbro also makes a remote control BB8 with proper motion. Not as much fun as the sphero droid, but a lot less expensive. 
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Force-Awakens-BB-8/dp/B00WHX8Z1O

Kaitch

Quick question. If you're on [email protected], and buy sufficient Lego to get an advertised freebie kit, should it appear in you order summary?

dmcc0

Usually they appear, but I think the current Star wars freebies are no longer being added to orders; presumably because they are out of stock. 

Kaitch

Damn...

Astrobricks

dmcc0 said:

Usually they appear, but I think the current Star wars freebies are no longer being added to orders; presumably because they are out of stock. 

U.S. [email protected] is still adding the Hoth freebie.

omnium

Brainslugged said:

omnium said:

I think such examples merit a call to CS to ask for replacement stickers. I've not tried it, but when the stickers for a City set we're all curled and peeling right from new, they replaced them without fuss, so it's worth a try, surely?

I was going to give that a try. With a small sticker that you've just put on, you can get away with quickly unsticking it. I'd originally pressed this one on pretty good though so it does look fairly crap now.

Due to how important stickers are to the finished product, I'd already been thinking I'd order a printed set from www.steindrucker.com (assuming they become available). I'd also wanted to do that with the UCS Y-Wing, but it took 6+ months for them to add that to their product list, at which point my excitement for printed parts had ebbed a bit.

Never seen the quality of the steindrucker prints in person. I know some people who got them the the UCS Falcon. Has anyone seen how good their colour prints on white parts are? If it's as bad as Lego's, I think I'll pass. I've seen some semi-custom minifigs where the print quality blows Lego's out of the water.

I've never seen his printing on white, but I have the MilF printed parts. They look excellent quality to me - as good as anything LEGO would have printed, for sure. The only problem I had was with 2 different prints being on the wrong colour parts, and he quickly sent me the correct replacements, without pushing back. So I happily order from him again. But it's very expensive, I know. So I won't be ordering for regular sets in my collection.

Kaitch

Astrobricks said:

dmcc0 said:

Usually they appear, but I think the current Star wars freebies are no longer being added to orders; presumably because they are out of stock. 

U.S. [email protected] is still adding the Hoth freebie.

So if I hit the limit, they should add it to my order?

Astrobricks

Kaitch said:

Astrobricks said:

dmcc0 said:

Usually they appear, but I think the current Star wars freebies are no longer being added to orders; presumably because they are out of stock. 

U.S. [email protected] is still adding the Hoth freebie.

So if I hit the limit, they should add it to my order?

For me, it showed up in my cart as soon as I added items totaling more than $75. I’m signed in with my VIP account.

But, in typical [email protected] fashion, the May the Fourth promotions page on their web site currently leads to a Page Not Found error, despite the promotions being valid through today.

Kaitch

...any chance I can appeal if the Hoth set doesn't come with the rest?

Astrobricks

Kaitch said:

...any chance I can appeal if the Hoth set doesn't come with the rest?

You can always call CS and ask.

stlux

@Kaitch The GWP still being available in the US has no relation to the situation in Europe. Promotions are frequently the same, but as they are coming from different warehouses, availability on one side of the Atlantic doesn't tell you anything about availability on the other side.

[email protected] in Europe seems to have run out of the Hoth set yesterday, so CS will unfortunately not be able to help you. It is not unusual for popular GWP sets to run out (well) before the end of the promo period.

catwrangler

Yesterday we became the last people on earth to see The Last Jedi. I liked it very much and it's made me want to get back into Star Wars building again. I managed to restrain myself from participating in May The Fourth, but one day I'm going to find a good price and get #75189...

Lego_Lord_Mayorca

So that new BOOST kit is just an upgraded remake of the Droid Developer Kit from 19 or so years ago. The droids still look weird to accommodate the electronic and mechanical functions. Its sequel, the Dark Side Developer Kit, allowed one to build walking AT-ATs and Droidekas!

Aanchir

Chromide said:

SumoLego said:

(It's not a UCS.  Too many minifigures!)

#10236 had far more and is labeled a UCS, haha.

I take the simple approach: If it is labeled as such by Lego, then it is UCS. This isn't, so it's not UCS.

Well, for what it's worth, this page describes it as a UCS set: https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/star-wars/products/tantive-iv-75244?icmp=StarWars-75244

According to a commenter on The Brothers Brick's Facebook page, the same message is on the box itself (possibly on the bottom or one of the inside flaps), but I am having a hard time finding any reviews that verify this since most don't spend a lot of time analyzing the box.

Also, there are a lot of sets almost universally considered UCS that would fail this test, such as #10143, #10212, #10221, #10225, and #10240. These sets all came out during the ten-year period from 2003 to 2013 during which Star Wars D2C sets had the same packaging design standards as other Star Wars sets. During that time the UCS Millennium Falcon was the ONLY set with an "Ultimate Collector's" label on the box, and only because unlike any other Star Wars set before or since, it was part of the set's actual name.

Suffice to say, this set NOT having UCS labeling on the front of the box appears to be just another change in the packaging design standards for these sets, not any sort of admission that LEGO doesn't consider it UCS.

560Heliport

It cracks me up, the way some people obsess about what is (or isn't) on the box, rather than what is (or isn't) in the box!

Chromide

Yeah, this is kind of silly....

Astrobricks

Ok, here’s a possible explanation for TLG’s recent waffling on the use of the Ultimate Collectors Series label. Maybe they have done market research indicating that the label may actually hurt sales for two possible reasons -
1) The hard core AFOLs now have such high expectations for a UCS set that they are more prone to being disappointed and will postpone purchasing waiting for a discount or even skip it altogether.
2) The non-AFOLs have started to perceive UCS as meaning “not much fun to play with”, and “too expensive for me”.
It makes sense to me that TLG might decide to just release really detailed, cool, and relatively (but not always) expensive sets and let them stand on their own, rather than relying on the UCS branding. It certainly isn’t true that people won’t buy expensive sets, as the recent number of huge D2C sets indicates. This is just speculation on my part - I have no training in marketing.

SumoLego

560Heliport said:

It cracks me up, the way some people obsess about what is (or isn't) on the box, rather than what is (or isn't) in the box!

Because some of us like complete collections, and if something doesn't have all of the correct pedigree, then we don't want it.

Or so says the snooty UCS Collector.  

(Or Creator Modular collector.  Or keychain collector.)

SithLord196

Since the discussion seems to be about whether #75244 Tantive IV is an Ultimate Collector Series set or not, I would like to point out that it has the same box design but with some added texture as both #75181 Y-Wing Starfighter and #75192 Millennium Falcon but without the the 'Ultimate Collector Series' branding clearly visible.  

The set #75222 Betrayal at Cloud City also the same box design (but without the added texture). 

Use this information in the debate as you see fit. 

monkeyhanger

I almost bought it, but every plan to drop by the metrocentre over last weekend was thwarted.

The final nail in the coffin was finding out that our new car is almost ready to pick up (next week) and the missus hasn't been putting as much money into savings as she should have to cover the difference between the old one and the new one, but buying crap she doesn't need instead, stopping me buying crap I don't need as I have to scratch the shortfall together. :(

Who needs 3 pairs of shoes from Dune that look almost exactly the same?

I will get it when I can get a discount on it. I wasn't fussed on the freebies, but would've ebayed them to subsidise the buy. 

SumoLego

The Tantive IV is not a UCS set.  Not that it really makes a different.

KaCe

Hello,
Does the difference between the 20 YEARS Lego Star Wars logo and the 20 YEARS Lego Star Wars 1999-2019 with Luke and Darth holding light-sabers mean anything to collectors?

I was lucky enough to be at the store on the 6th and got everything but Lando (which I got at Target) and the Battle of Hoth and the red light-saber poster.  I also spent money on that auction site to get the Darth Vader bust to get the complete set.
So did I do good? Do I have something that might gain value?
And I guess did I get the complete set?
Here are the set numbers I have:
75227 Darth Vader™ Bust Star Wars TM  (this is a Target Exclusive according to the Lego rep)  
75258 Anakin's Podracer™ – 20th Anniversary Ed Star Wars TM
75259 Snowspeeder™ – 20th Anniversary Edition Star Wars TM
75261 Clone Scout Walker™ – 20th Anniversary E Star Wars TM
75262 Imperial Dropship™ – 20th Anniversary Ed Star Wars TM
75243  Slave1  ( which is not coming up on the Lego website right now -10:29 may 10)
40333  40333 Battle of Hoth™ – 20th Anniversary Editi Gift with Purchase
5005887  Gift with purchase poster that looks like a red light-saber

I am only looking for items with Luke and Darth holding light-sabers.

Thank you for any input.
KaCe

TheBigLegoski

@KaCe    

(Just my proverbial two cents)

Don't buy Lego SW because you think it will gain value, because to my knowledge the majority of them won't really gain value. From the perspective 'as a financial investment' I think SW Lego is not all that interesting, but then I never bought any of the many Lego sets I purchased with that idea in mind. I always just thought to myself (especially after letting go of this silly compulsive notion of the need to be a completist); do I like a particular set: yes or no, and at what price I am willing to buy it, and then live with that decision.

Having said all this, I cannot decide for you, nor does it matter that you may hold an entirely different take on collecting than me, and value what and how you go about managing your Lego hobby. The only thing that matters is that you are happy with the sets you decided to buy for yourself.

To me the sets themselves are important, yes I keep all boxes (though flattened) when I open the sets, though slight differences in logo's on the packaging, or whether it is labelled UCS or not, to me is irrelevant.

bpk2300

^ you’re missing the two 20th Anniversary poly bags, commonly found at target. Not sure if that’s helpful or not, and I’m not necessarily sure what your goal is. 

#30384
#30461

monkeyhanger

Really don't think people are going to be drawn to a box design in the aftermarket unless if was an incredibly limited run, like a design error that got recalled and a few didn't make it back. Other than that, people care more about what's in the box as long as the box itself is in good condition. Usually theh want it to be an OT.set and not something TLG always have on the go e.g. X-Wing or MF.

That dropship just looks like evidence of Lego inflation - almost a carbon copy of a (then £9.99) stormtrooper battlepack, the drop ship being a smidge bigger, for double the price of 10 years ago.

TheBigLegoski

As an example how I go about 'collecting' Lego (I am sure some people won't consider this 'true collecting' as it does not align with their definition of it).

This particular set really appeals to me:

https://brickset.com/sets/75240-1/Major-Vonreg-s-TIE-Fighter

I always thought TIE-interceptors were cool SW spaceships, and this set is no exception, even though it is from a cartoon series I do not follow that closely. I have watched the 1st six episodes or so, and did not like it all that much. I am sort of planning to give it a second attempt, as I am curious to see if it gets better later on, though I know I am not its target audience etc. Regardless as a Lego fan and a SW fan this just looks like both a fun build and a good looking, well designed SW fantasy spaceship, so when I can get it at Amazon discounted at about 30% for about 50ish €, that thing is going to be mine. It is not OT or PT, it will probably never appreciate and go up in value in the future, but it is a good Lego set, with some awesome minifigs (as well as a Sequel Trilogy Leia I don't care for) some great special parts and plenty of generic Lego elements, that all in all make this one of the better SW sets released in 2019 so far.

As @monkeyhanger stated #75262 is ridiculously overpriced. It is essentially an armybuilder stormtrooper battleback. Personally I do not care for the '20 year anniversary'Han Solo, and won't buy it at RRP for €20. The troopers come with stud poppers instead of proper SW blasters, the so called 'dropship' looks like something you will drop immediately into your parts bin. Other than the 3 stormtroopers and 1 shadow trooper minifig, this set has no appeal to me.

Also I think TLG did not design the new helmet all that well. You used to be able to pose stormtrooper minifigs looking a little sideways. The new helmet will not allow you to do that any longer. I wish they had kept the overall shape of the helmet identical to the way it was moulded before up until 2018. Redesigning a duo-moulded helmet in a sense, the way they have, has defeated its purpose of improving upon it. Also the face/visor of the helmet is a little too elongated. The result is not abysmal but neither is it great.

While at the same time TLG e.g. still has not provided astromech units with backprinting, and they cannot get the dome printing right without crooked wobbly lines etc.

On the other hand #75259 Snowspeeder  &  #75258 Anakin's Pod-Racer look really nice.

KaCe

@bkp2300 - These sets do not have the same logo as the others.

#30384
#30461

If I went for everything that had the 20 years Lego Star Wars w/o the date I think the collection would be much larger!

Kaitch

In case anyone's interested in my attempts to get a Battle of Hoth microbuild, it didn't arrive with my delivery, I messaged Customer Services, and they said theyd run out and so gave me 100 VIP points instead. Not quite what I was after, but I hadn't really expected to get anything, so reasonably satisfied.

Anyone have a Battle of Hoth microbuild they don't want?