General Star Wars Discussion

SumoLego

Random observation, the Fifth Brother minifigure looks less blocky than the actual live-action Fifth Brother.

I didn't know that was possible.

J0rgen

Is that Darth Toadstool? That was my initial reaction to the set reveal as well (only based on his appearance in the trailer though). The bald guy looks better in LEGO too, I think.

The_Rancor

Not directly related to Lego (initially), but is anyone else planning to go to Star Wars Celebration Europe in April 2023 at the Excel in London? The initial wave of tickets went live today and I managed to snag a couple for myself and one of my cousins.

What intrigued me was that part of the ticket purchasing process required you to say what you were most interested in at the event. Toys was one of the options so I had to choose that as I’d want to know the very latest for Lego. I know TLG usually has a dedicated stand there and there’s plenty of additional input from fan sites such as Jedi News so they’ll be things to look forward to. I’d gladly get my Brickset logo brick and Dots name tag out to find the Lego fans!

Brainslugged

@The_Rancor - I took my eldest daughter to the last one. She was probably a bit young, but we had some great Daddy/daughter time and I kove some of the oictures I got. I'd love to take both my daughters (who will be 11 and 7 in April). It looks like Saturday adult is already sold out. Your post makes it sound like further batches will be released at some point. Is that right?

I hate committing to stuff so far in advance - especially seeing as I live in the North East and my kids have so much extra curricular stuff as well. I'm hoping that weekend falls in a school holiday.

todler

Was after 4 day tickets for the show but when I got access after 1hr in the queue they were sold out. Wasn't paying another £100+ pounds each for individual day tickets for the 4 days. Just a warning that one day isn't enough if you want to do specific things (shows/panels etc) and even these and show exclusive items are on a lottery system. Shame really as secured cheap rooms at excel travelodge just fter it was announced. 

todler

Brainslugged said:

I hate committing to stuff so far in advance - especially seeing as I live in the North East and my kids have so much extra curricular stuff as well. I'm hoping that weekend falls in a school holiday.

Its Easter Bank Holiday weekend 

The_Rancor

Brainslugged said:

It looks like Saturday adult is already sold out. Your post makes it sound like further batches will be released at some point. Is that right?

…I'm hoping that weekend falls in a school holiday.

todler said:

Just a warning that one day isn't enough if you want to do specific things (shows/panels etc) and even these and show exclusive items are on a lottery system. 

@brainslugged - For previous Celebrations they usually tend to have at least one other ‘face value’ ticket release before the event. But they do have reselling on a specific brand marketplace - Lyte. The Easter Bank Holiday weekend is 7th-10th April 2023.

@todler - I knew various products/merch were on a lottery system but assumed the panels/presentations were more of a ‘first come first serve’ system so interesting to learn that they might be like a lottery too. I did manage to secure the full 4 day tickets and a room in London for the duration though, so I’ll be spending as much time as possible around the event to do what I can.

lkliment2

Has anyone else noticed the significant changes to SW minifig cataloging on BL by one user and strongly disagree?

Jezzatheshed

Sainsburys UK this morning. 

autolycus

Well, the giant gray Dorito (aka the Imperial Star Destroyer) is confirmed retiring this year. I would ideally wait until Black Friday to buy it with 2x VIP points and a GWP, but maybe it's not worth the risk?

What other good buying opportunities might exist between now and then? Any 2x VIP and a decent GWP will probably do the trick. I'm not hugely enamored by the Sandwich Shop GWP -- it's a cute little set, but not enough to make me buy something just for that.

SumoLego

I'd be surprised if there was a run on Star Destroyers, but nowadays, who knows.  I'm loathing the retirement of the Colosseum - as then I'll have to decide if I need to purchase and never build it, despite my best intentions...

xwingpilot

It's been a long time since I've posted - I don't collect LEGO anymore, although I have kept a few sets to display.

Anyway, I was just browsing those few sets in my collection on Brickset, when I noticed the value of Darth Revan. What on earth is going on with the value of that minifigure!?

Fizyx

xwingpilot said:

It's been a long time since I've posted - I don't collect LEGO anymore, although I have kept a few sets to display.

Anyway, I was just browsing those few sets in my collection on Brickset, when I noticed the value of Darth Revan. What on earth is going on with the value of that minifigure!?

ALL of the rarer SW figs from the past have been spiking enormously lately.  Quite a few from other themes too, but the SW figs have been the worst that I've seen.

Astrobricks

Fizyx said:

xwingpilot said:

It's been a long time since I've posted - I don't collect LEGO anymore, although I have kept a few sets to display.

Anyway, I was just browsing those few sets in my collection on Brickset, when I noticed the value of Darth Revan. What on earth is going on with the value of that minifigure!?

ALL of the rarer SW figs from the past have been spiking enormously lately.  Quite a few from other themes too, but the SW figs have been the worst that I've seen.

Or the best :)

Yes, I have one.

Bumblepants

Time to pull out my chrome vader and make a few $$?

Fizyx

Bumblepants said:

Time to pull out my chrome vader and make a few $$?

Average sales price over the last 6 months for new in bag is close to $300.  And given the prices listed now, that average is probably still going up.

xwingpilot

Does anyone make any nice acrylic display cases for single minifigs? I've seen FireStar and Wicked Brick, but are there others? I was thinking more like the sort of case that graded figures come in.

Bumblepants

Fizyx said:

Bumblepants said:

Time to pull out my chrome vader and make a few $$?

Average sales price over the last 6 months for new in bag is close to $300.  And given the prices listed now, that average is probably still going up.

I got a weird one, it has a small crack in the back of the torso covered by the cape. Got it for a song because of that but it does make it a tougher sell.

Astrobricks

xwingpilot said:

Does anyone make any nice acrylic display cases for single minifigs? I've seen FireStar and Wicked Brick, but are there others? I was thinking more like the sort of case that graded figures come in.

What? And take it out of the sealed polybag (in the case of Revan)?

xwingpilot

My Revan isn't sealed.

560Heliport

#75036 Utapau trooper on the left, #75337 AT-TE trooper on the right. l

J0rgen

As if I didn't regret not getting that battle pack enough already...

560Heliport

I regret only buying one! What was I thinking?!

MrGudz

xwingpilot said:

Does anyone make any nice acrylic display cases for single minifigs? I've seen FireStar and Wicked Brick, but are there others? I was thinking more like the sort of case that graded figures come in.

   These are high quality cases for Polybags:

https://www.gwacrylic.co.uk/product-page/lego-polybag-deluxe-acrylic-display-case

CCC

I wonder if 2023 might see a new Jabba. It is almost ten years since he was last done. It seems a long time for such an important character.

Astrobricks

CCC said:

I wonder if 2023 might see a new Jabba. It is almost ten years since he was last done. It seems a long time for such an important character.

Yeah. Where’s the Jabba Brickheadz?

CCC

Astrobricks said:

CCC said:

I wonder if 2023 might see a new Jabba. It is almost ten years since he was last done. It seems a long time for such an important character.

Yeah. Where’s the Jabba Brickheadz?

Please, no! I remember seeing a not too bad one on rebrickable, but the face was too weird. The nose level with the eyes, if I recall.

Bumblepants

I demand a Ziro!

560Heliport

Then we need Ziro's mama, too!

Lobot

The UCS Razor Crest looks incredible - and I'm highly tempted to order it.  However, I'm a bit concerned that they'll use the new awful looking opaque plastic for the cockpit glass as it's likely to totally ruin the overall look.  Presumably there's a cost/environmental benefit in moving to another material - but it just looks cheap and not something that should be used on UCS-type sets!

todler

Blue Milk Luke. Have seen online a new lego Star Wars game is being released with a Blue Milk Luke. Hopefully prices will drop with more on the market.

The_Rancor

I recently found a boxed #7171 Mos Espa Podrace & a couple of other 1999 sets, missing only a few minifigs and tan parts for the stands - and wanted to re-share the love of Podracing!

In interviews over the last year or so it seems that TLG are recognising a growing audience, particularly in the AFOL age range, for Prequel sets. After they released a handful of Podracing sets in the first couple of years of LSW, all we’ve had since then has been the decent 2011 Anakin & Sebulba’s Podracers #7962 , and then the anniversary Anakin podracer #75258 in 2019 which didn’t even have any rivals to go up against.

I realise that from a marketing perspective any new Lego Podracing set probably has to include yet another Anakin podracer but it would be interesting to see a representation of one or two new podracer pilots in minifig form. Ratts Tyrell, Mars Guo, Dud Bolt, Ben Quadinaros, Teemto Pagalies, Ody Mandrell - some of which are admittedly more prominent than others. Mandrell and Quadinaros’ podracers both break down so it would actually make sense on box art to include them watching from the start/finish line without their podracers if needs must ;)

lowlead

The_Rancor said:

...In interviews over the last year or so it seems that TLG are recognising a growing audience, particularly in the AFOL age range, for Prequel sets....

Makes sense.  If an 8-year-old saw Ep. 1 in theaters and thought pod racing was so wizard, now they're 31 - perhaps with a salaried position in their career of choice and growing disposable income.  Meanwhile, many of the die-hard OT fans are busy sorting junk mail from AARP.

*plugs in shredder*

autolycus

I would love a MBS set with 3-4 nicely-detailed pod racers plus some maybe a small pit scene with pit droids and a couple extra minifigs. Or maybe with a small section of grandstand. The pod racers should be more detailed than the previous versions, but don't need to be extremely detailed like the oversized UCS sets. Minifig scale or slightly larger, but nothing like the Landspeeder (which is amazingly well done, but not what's needed for a pod racer MBS set)

Fauch

yeah, I've just thought about a MBS set too, it's one of the most popular scenes in the prequels.

lowlead

Looking at those #7171 pics brings me back to an interesting time:  Different home in a new state, new job, and emerging from the Dark Ages because there's freakin' Star Wars LEGO sets on the shelves everywhere.

Spent much of my free time buying multiples of #7151 to make a better Sith Infiltrator...

...I must have modded this a dozen times, because the new grey didn't even exist when I started this one.  Little did I know, this ship would become one of the few well-trodden PT sets - and they still haven't really got it right.

SearchlightRG

Anyone else wondering when/if we might ever see more Inquisitor minifigures after this year's Transport Scythe? There are certainly a few candidates.

The Second and Ninth Sisters have appeared most prominently in the game Jedi: Fallen Order. With the recent release of a set based on that game and the upcoming sequel Jedi Survivor in the works, additional sets featuring the two seem like possibilities. The Second Sister is encountered several times throughout the game, and could thus be worked into a number of sets along with her heroic adversary Cal Kestis. Personally, I think that it would please a number of fans were she to be included in a set featuring her TIE Interceptor, seeing as that ship hasn’t appeared full size in Lego form since 2006, unless you count 75240 Major Vonreg’s TIE Fighter of the Resistance theme.

As for the Ninth Sister, who is Bigfig material if ever a Star Wars character has been, she also has a few possibilities. My vote would be to include her in a set based on the TIE Reaper, her apparent preferred method of transport. This unusual TIE variant appeared briefly in Rogue One but has yet to appear in Lego form. It would thus not only give us the chance for a new vehicle, but a character who would be only the second physical female Bigfig after Ninjago’s Dogshank.

This set features three Inquisitors from Kenobi, but omits the character of the Fourth Sister. This less prominent member appears in fewer scenes and with less dialogue-if any?-than her compatriots. I’m not sure what the best way to include her might be, unless they make more sets based on season one of the series or include her in season two or some other project. One of the best possibilities is, of course, Fortress Inquisitorious, which has potential for including many of the missing Inquisitors.

Then there’s the Seventh Sister and Eighth Brother. Like the Grand Inquisitor and Fifth Brother, they debuted in Rebels, but were not fortunate enough to receive minifigures while that series had a running theme of sets. Barring Lego revisiting Rebels for some unused concepts, their best chance to get them would seem to be appearing in a future season of Kenobi, in Ahsoka flashbacks, or in some other project. I personally wouldn’t mind some more Rebels sets, but sadly I think the line lacks the popularity of the film trilogies or The Clone Wars that makes Lego confident in continuing to base sets on them.

There are other Inquisitors, but their appearances have mostly been in comics or books rather than on screen. Among these is the Sixth Brother, the only one missing from the single digit lineup-unless he’s the one recently featured in the Tales of the Jedi series. There was also one in the Star Wars Visions episode “T0-B1”. These Inquisitors seem unlikely to get figures, unless they return in some other live-action or animated media.

Of course, almost any set that features Inquisitors could also come with Purge Troopers…

iwybs

lowlead said:

Looking at those #7171 pics brings me back to an interesting time:  Different home in a new state, new job, and emerging from the Dark Ages because there's freakin' Star Wars LEGO sets on the shelves everywhere.

Spent much of my free time buying multiples of #7151 to make a better Sith Infiltrator...

...I must have modded this a dozen times, because the new grey didn't even exist when I started this one.  Little did I know, this ship would become one of the few well-trodden PT sets - and they still haven't really got it right.

Fantastic! I probably saw that build on FBTB or Brickshelf back in the day. What's your username on Brickshelf?

lowlead

Thanks!  Also lowlead on Brickshelf.

iwybs

Good stuff there. I went on an X-wing binge earlier this year, but your X-wing in that gallery is still something I could learn from if I were to do a few more X-wings sometime.

lowlead

@iwybs Thanks for visiting that dusty 'ol page =oD

From 1999 to around 2006 I was very active on FBTB and Brickshelf.  MOCs were my main focus that whole era.  But I'll be the first to admit that any talent or ability I had for custom builds has been entirely surpassed by the genius-level builders of the past and present.  Even LEGO has stepped up their game to the degree that I'm perfectly happy with an official version instead of my own.  Case in point: The big AT-AT, etc... 

560Heliport

So I just watched a YouTube video about the upcoming SW sets- 501st battle pack, Slave I microfighter, (quicker to type than "Boba Fett's Starship"... oh crap.), and TIE Bomber. The YouTuber questioned why the TIE Bomber had the "Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary" branding on the box when that ship wasn't in that movie.

Duh... The branding is because 2023 is the 40th anniversary; it'll probably be on all 2023 SW sets. 

The_Rancor

560Heliport said:

So I just watched a YouTube video about the upcoming SW sets- 501st battle pack, Slave I microfighter, (quicker to type than "Boba Fett's Starship"... oh crap.), and TIE Bomber. The YouTuber questioned why the TIE Bomber had the "Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary" branding on the box when that ship wasn't in that movie.

Duh... The branding is because 2023 is the 40th anniversary; it'll probably be on all 2023 SW sets. 

Admittedly the TIE Bomber’s box art (from people buying legit in store it seems) is clearly from the asteroid field of Episode V so it seems quite bizarre that it has Episode VI anniversary branding. The other smaller sets don’t have it on. Hopefully we’ll see some bigger Episode VI sets later in the year though. 

560Heliport

Okay, to continue the discussion from the Unpopular LEGO Opinions thread, about why you do or do not like Star Wars... Who's next? :)

PJ76uk

Grew up playing with the kenner toys, older brother was obsessed with Star Wars and that influenced our play and relationship. Loved playing the video games together on the Nintendo 64! We saw most of the films together at the cinema multiple times until his passing. The last one we saw together was Rogue One, so for me Star Wars is synonymous with the love I felt for my brother and his passion for a galaxy far, far away...

In Lego terms, I try to restrict myself to only getting the UCS sets I can afford and then live vicariously through my son playing with his collection - especially the Bad Batch Shuttle and Razor Crest which he still excitedly tells me came from "one of daddies friends in America from the website" (AKA SumoLego!)

The_Rancor

My perspective on Star Wars is probably quite unusual because I was exposed to the Original Trilogy for the first time very close to the Prequel Trilogy starting, so I saw it as a 6 film story pretty much from the very beginning until Disney changed things up. 

Looking back on the stories and attempting to analyse from less of a nostalgic perspective (which is admittedly difficult) - the appeal stems from a combination of aspects - strong central characters, a combination of sci-fi and fantastical elements, an Everyman being a chosen one, some good humour, great SFX, the idea of rebellion against an Empire is pretty universal.

Some people don’t like Prequel era stories because of the politics or because it becomes ‘too complicated’ explaining aspects they’d prefer to stay vague from the OT. I actually quite like those characteristics. Viewed as a whole (1-6) you get a cautionary tale of democracy vs autocracy and how conflict shapes that. It just so happens that when the first couple of PT films came out, I also enjoyed the more family-friendly characters aimed at my age group that already-adult fans hated (of course I didn’t know that immediately until I heard what adults thought!).

It all ties back together for me too with good Star Wars content. Andor asks the fundamental question of how far the Rebellion had to go to earn their liberation, which was touched on superficially before but not quite at that grounded, more mature level. The Mandalorian is almost an outlier in relation to much of what I’ve said above though and it’s refreshing in that sense. The overarching story of Star Wars is the backdrop, but not the fundamentals of the driving plot. So far…

iwybs

For me a large part of why Star Wars, as a franchise and as the original movie, has more staying power than other silly whiz-bang sci-fi movies of the last forty years is the score and the scenery. Even the worst of the Skywalker Saga films boast tremendously stirring, evocative scores that I can listen to over and over, and most of them have a lot of wonderful, evocative scenery filmed on location around the world. Another thing is that I used to love to check out the Dorling Kindersley Incredible Cross Sections books from the library over and over. I would spend hours trying to notice every detail of their illustrations of military jets, other airplanes, ships, tanks, and other interesting vehicles. The first few Star Wars Cross Sections books were illustrated by the same people who were responsible for the best of the Dorling Kindersley illustrations. With their matter-of-fact tone and their nearly identical art style, they slotted nearly seamlessly into my love of military aircraft. In turn, I would spend hours drawing my own cross-sections of made-up vehicles, about half of which were inspired by real aircraft and about half of which were inspired by Star Wars. So between the movies, the cross section books, and the Lego sets, Star Wars was a big part of my childhood - but the score, the scenery, and the simple mythic grandeur of the story are what give it staying power in my adulthood.