Supersonic

I don't hate the set! It's quite good really, just overpriced. Takodana had a figure more, and the figures were way more exclusive - sure, the Shoretroopers are amazing, but you get Jyn AND Cassian in the U-Wing while Kylo and Finn were only available in sets totalling $270 before Takodana. They should have added just one more figure to Scarif - a random Stormtrooper, K2SO, just something to spice things up for the price.

Indeed - in Germany battle packs are down to 14,99 again, and much of the new wave is also very acceptable (30 for Yoda's Starfighter, the Landspeeder, or Duel on Naboo, 70 for the Y-Wing). Battle on Scarif (60) confirms that location sets are almost always overpriced - at least last year's Takodana had good exclusive minifigures with Kylo, Fin and Maz plus two troopers. Scarif seems like a good deal for 40, maybe. The Phantom II and the A-Wing just continue the trend of popular exclusive characters adding 10-20 to the price.

Rogue One seems to be doing really well in theaters (>1 billion box office is pretty much guaranteed), so the chances that more Rogue One sets will follow in the next years aren't terrible. We're still getting sets for Episodes 1-3 and TCW (Yoda's Starfighter), and Episode 7 is getting two more sets in the summer - so I'm somewhat hopeful that Rogue One will get some goodies in the future. And of course stuff like X-Wings and Star Destroyers always sells, no matter if it's officially a RO or an ANH set (see the new Y-Wing). And everything that appears both in Rogue One and Rebels (without spoiling anything) has decent chances as well.

No way. A lot more AFOLs, maybe, but there's a lot of LSW consumers that aren't AFOLS, and even AFOLS buy things like the Death Star and the new A-Wing...while I find it hard to believe children would be excited about Yoda's Hut. Remember, TLG has sales data, we don't. Reissues of classic vehicles have been a thing for a while now (we currently have the fourth Y-Wing and A-Wing), for UCS as well (X-Wing). The Death Star made people angry because the previous one never even really retired - meanwhile the UCS Falcon has become the single most valuable LSW set out there, has been out of production for ages and generally looks amazing. It was a sure bet Lego would re-release it one day, apparently they've decided now is the time.

Let me play devil's advocate for a second here - TLG most likely have early sales data for the first two Freemaker sets, and they know how many people watch the show. If they decide to release two more, the first two can't have done that badly, or at least the promotion for the show is worth it. Also, the Rogue One sets are from a movie that is completely unsuitable for kids, so it might make sense for them to diversify a bit and release stuff that is targeted directly at children. I hate the fact that those things keep more Rogue One stuff from getting released, definitely - but TLG have people working full time on these things. Their opinions are probably worth more than those of fans.

I thought they stopped doing that? The last few sets I opened didn't have that yellow glow even for obviously new figures.

Honestly, there aren't that many iconic vehicles left to do as UCS, and many of the obvious ones were done ages ago. Prices for the Y-Wing, Falcon, Star Destroyer, or Snowspeeder are ridiculous - LSW got many many fans since those sets were released. I feel like at this point, every brand new UCS would do worse in sales than a repeat of the popular old ones.

It's really pretty simple, most people don't see the difference between OT and ST X-Wings, they just see an X-Wing. I do hope we'll get a Rogue One X-Wing at some point, but not before at least Poe's X-Wing has retired.

This looks pretty great! Great minifig selection for a set of that size, and the speeder looks close to perfect. Can't really expect anything more.

I think it's safe to say (without spoiling anything!) that the U-Wing is a fantastic representation of the vehicle as seen in the movie. In fact, all of the sets seem spot on - after TFA's problems (the Snowspeeder getting cut, the wrong wing mechanism on the Shuttle...) that's a relief.

Yay, I won! Has been a few years :) thanks for doing this CopMike! I also really like the added excitement of the manatees!

This one is weird because the figures listed for the Rebel Hangar are definitely the ones that ended up being the A-Wing set, but the set number 75179 doesn't fit the A-Wing, so there might be a second set there. It might even be a Rogue One set! Speaking of set numbers, 2017 has many that have no set yet. In 2016, there's only a small gap between winter and summer wave (75143 and 75144 are missing), the rest of the numbers are in direct succession. Compare that to 2017 where the summer wave will have 75178, 75179, 75180, 75182, 75183, 75185, 75186 and 75191. That's six possibilities for additional sets, some of which will be filled by exclusives and UCS sets for sure.

Agreed - it has one fig less than Takodana which was already on the pricey side. Still, looks like one to pick up with some discount because Shoretroopers! I also agree with @Lobot, after seeing the movie, that there's still plenty to work with for TLG - mostly big ships seen in the trailers, but another T-65 X-Wing wouldn't hurt. The 2012 looks painfully outdated next to the amazing TFA one.

I've only seen the trailers so far (so this post can't be a spoiler btw!) but what about Star Destroyers and Blockade Runners? We haven't had the latter since the Tantive IV ages ago, and both would profit from the fact that they can easily pass as OT sets. TLG doesn't seem to like doing capital ships, but there's usually a big summer exclusive like 2016's Rebel Frigate, so I wouldn't count out these two yet. Of course there's also the standard TIE and X-Wing, but with the Ep VII versions of those still very recent I doubt we will see them.

Yes! I.e. 30+€ spent on Star Wars gets you the fig until 31/12.

That shuttle (which most people believed would be the big set in the first wave before Krennic's was spoiled) and the AT-ACT are extremely obvious candidates for the summer 2017 wave - there's usually 3-4 100$+ sets each summer, so plenty of space, and shuttles and walkers are usually popular. So far we have no information about Rogue One sets next summer - might be because the film is not yet out?

The battle packs are up on the German site and they actually reduced the price! They're 14,99 again instead of 16,99 like the last few years. That's pretty great news, especially since both battle packs are close to perfect anyway (the rebel one with its four different torsos, heads and helmets is magnificent). No idea if or how this should translate to other countries' prices, but it's a really nice surprise.

There won't be a Rebel Hangar set though. The rumored Hangar set included Lando, a Rebel crewman and a Rebel pilot - i.e. it was just another possible explanation for the minifigures in the set that ended up being the A-Wing. The pricing in this wave is really weird - compare the A-Wing for 50, Scariff for 60 and the Y-Wing for 70. The Y-Wing is really the best deal by far.

Part count is really not the best measure of whether a set is worth its price, especially with smaller sets where the minifigs are the main selling point. Yoda's starfighter will definitely be a smaller build than Obi-Wan's and Anakin's, and the Landspeeder builds into a decently sized model with twice the amount of minifigures.

Yup - the A-Wing looks good, but the set is expensive because of Lando, not because of the build. The Phantom looks good too...but it's expensive because of Thrawn. Exclusive/sought after minifigs will always be milked with higher prices.

Yeah, the prices are a little worse than expected in Germany, too - the A-Wing is 50 and the Phantom is 40, the rest 30. US prices don't have to be the same, of course, but the price point for the A-Wing makes it really hard for me to buy it, no matter how good it looks... Well, there's a scene with Lando in a rebel hangar in ROTJ - with crewmen and A-Wings in the background. So unlike other character-vehicle combinations we've seen in sets, this one actually met!

That's probably the equivalent to 2016's Homing Spider Droid, an exclusive 30-40$ January set. Explains why we didn't see it earlier, too. Wonder where the almost 200 extra pieces (compared to 2013's A-Wing) come from - with the rebel crewman present, there's hope for an additional ground vehicle like the ones the Y-Wing and Poe's X-Wing got.

Same in Germany - even the brand new sets are 20-30% off almost all the time, TIE vs A-Wing was 40% on Amazon for a week or two. That's the thing about the high prices people sometimes complain about - if they really are too high, the market will adjust them. In the past people appear to have accepted most prices, but it's obvious not many people demanded the A-Wing/TIE or the CTT set for anywhere near retail price.

Sorry for the terrible quality - Deep in a snow storm on Hoth, Han suddenly realizes why the snow below him keeps moving... Thanks for the raffle and happy holidays everyone!

Still almost a year to go till Ep VIII sets though, and they didn't retire Poe's X-Wing this summer when they released a second X-Wing...it definitely feels like the A-Wing set isn't selling well - it's permanently on discount where I see it.