Siegfried

Well that's only as "official" as the Clone Wars being Jedis vs the Mandalorians . George might forget about this or change his mind. Until then I'll try to forget the nature of Anakins conception.

I'm surprised people dislike the colours so much. They are realistic afterall.

Find them here (offsite) and discuss it there or here! Via Brothers-Brick via Flickr member leggymclego.

I like them. Sure the lime-green is annoying, but I'll probably get over it.

This has turned out far better than I thought. ImperialShadows: Yes I have heard that he has a team for continuity, but I find it hard to believe that they do much. Perhaps the mistake is having a team; one dedicated person (with an assistant or two for minor details) would be good enough. Pick any Star Wars fan at random and they would do a better job. I have a friend who is a huge Star Wars fan and he knows about 100 times more than me with the new movies as he plays the table-top war game. He'd be a great choice! Talking to him though highlights the silly situation of the Star Wars story. Movies are the undisputed "truth", and when there are contradictions you should refer to the newest movie. Books and comics are to be seen as secondary truths, unless they are contradicted by the movies. I have no idea where "fact" books come in, but I suspect they are secondary as well... The Zahn books were very good. I never liked Luke until I read those books. He always came across as a whiner who got lucky, Zahn fleshed out the character nicely and highlighted that even without the force he was impressive. I can't recommend these books enough. (Same other books by Zahn, especially the Conquerors_Trilogy) I didn't read any of the other novels as they didn't seem as well written. Incidentally, I found a reference that says how Joruus C'baoth was supposed to be a cloned Obi-Wan but was changed. The reason given is vague; it says "When it became apparent that such a direction was not possible". I agree about Epidode I. Many insulted it, but my only major objection was the choice of Anakins age. Episode II was where the story went wrong for me, but I must confess that I still like it as a "scene movie". Some of the sequences are stunning, and Ewan McGregor's performance is incredible considering most of his scenes has little or no real actors or sets. I find III unwatchable, the highlight to me, as a scene, is the Order 66 part. It's beautiful in a sad way. I think your Episode III would have been much better, and you aren't the only one that suspects Palpatine is Anakins father; it's a better story any way. (By the way, there isn't an official death of Jar Jar yet... and no, Robot Chicken sadly doesn't count.) It is funny how bad that fight in Episode IV is. It's one of the scenes that made the movie at the time, but in hind sight it's pretty lame. Moral of the story? Old person vs tall body builder was probably not a good choice. The best Jedi fight in the series for me was Darth Maul... but he was too good and he made the others look silly. Doctor Sinister: The problem is that Owen Lars is from Tatooine so it's hard to not start there. There has to be a reason why he was chosen, and it's clear that he knows the truth. But I agree that it makes the opening scene in IV odd. C3PO is another matter. There's no need for him to be in the prequels at all; a walk-on would have been good enough. I also completely agree with you about the Death Star. That short scene also kicks dents in some expanded universe stories too for no good reason. hewkii9: I still have to read Outbound Flight. Does it fit in with the books or the prequels? Or does it some how manage to do both? 5150 Lego: It is hard to meet fans expectations. "Snakes on a plane" is a good example of trying too hard to do so. M'Kyuun: I don't like Return of the Jedi that much, but that Rancor keeper scene is one of my favourites. There were a lot of good actors in the prequels, but they weren't given chance to show it. There's this great part in the behind the scenes with the Jango actor, Temuera Morrison, where he says "So what's happening today George? Any dialog?". Privateer: As much as I hate to say it, what Luke wears in Return of the Jedi, is described in the book as "The Robes of a Jedi Knight". I think it's a silly costume, but that wasn't changed. Mr. Mandalorian: I've never heard that quote but I wish George said it rather than Douglas. Hitchhiker's was supposed to be nonsense after all. Nitpicking its story is as silly as questioning why Lister is on a suspended platform while painting the outside of Red Dwarf...

Thanks for the review. This set never got me, so I didn't get it! I also don't like the droid-head-only thing and I haven't bought any set like that. I planned to buy this on sale... but it never happend.

Happy birthday all! I hope someone has dug up some good presents for you LuxorV!

Thanks to those that read this, and extra thanks to those that commented! M'Kyuun: Very good rant! I completely agree that the Stormtroopers aren't clones. To me it would be too expensive to clone foot soldiers, only people like Jedis would be economical. But considering the amount of clones that die in the movies it must be rather cheap... Supposedly George has said in one of the commentaries that Stormtroopers are mostly clones and always were meant to be clones, but as you say this doesn't make sense. Besides, I've never heard of a war named after the tools used; places, times, countries, maybe. Should we re-name the Vietnam war "That Chopper War"? It would make more sense that during the "Clone Wars" people were fighting clones... The timeline issue is one of the biggest problems. I think there needs to be more time, but there can't be because Luke has a fixed age of 18. (On that subject, it's interesting to note that according to the script Leia had an age of 16. Looks like Leia was born first. ) By the way, the Anakin burning scene is described in Jedi. Ben says; "We fought... your father fell into a molten pit. When your father clawed his way out of that fiery pool. the change had been burned into him forever..." (Chapter 3, Page 64) A lot of these scenes were filmed, and I hope that they will be re-inserted one day. Many important scenes were chopped from Empire too; there was an entire sub-plot involving the wampas, and it was shown in the early previews. ImperialScouts: Palpatine's rise is "explained" in the Return of the Jedi book. It goes on about increasing corruption in the Republic, and then it says; "And so Senator Palpatine had seized the moment. Though fraud, clever promises, and astute political manoeuvring, he'd managed to get himself elected head of the Council. And then though subterfuge, bribery and terror, he'd named himself Emperor" (Chapter 4, Page 69) I think my version somewhat reflects that line, but I did rush the last "movie". I need to re-work it anyway as I did some more re-reading and realised that it is written (in Return of the Jedi, page 174) that Anakin was married. Darn; I preferred the "wham, bam thank-you ma'am" idea. Anakin never seemed to me to be the type to marry. As for the Yoda and Ben parts, I have little to support that. The books make it clear (in Return of the Jedi, page 176) that Anakin didn't meet or even know Yoda, and that's one of the hard parts to work in since Ben also states that he was taught by Yoda, and that he trained Anakin. Thus it would make sense only if Yoda was out of the picture in movie 1, but I went for a compromise. As for Ben going to Tatooine first, I did that as I needed time for gestation, but that whole part needs to be re-worked now anyway. I'll post an updated version later. I have a lot of respect for George Lucas (his contributions to cinema go far beyond his movies), but it's quite clear that Star Wars was made up as he went along. This wouldn't bother me, if it wasn't for the fact that he keeps contradicting other official Star Wars stories. The Heir to the Empire series makes little sense now, and Splinter of the Minds Eye is a complete laugh to read today. For this reason I don't read any Star Wars books anymore; I might as well make up my own stories as they'd be just as official! George needs to assign someone to maintain a book of facts, and no, he isn't qualified.

A gunblade! I didn't see that one coming. What's next, a buster sword...?

Yes. I wrote all of that today. Trying to achieve balance between the "movies" has been delaying me finishing this rant so I decided to just finish it and improve it later. If I revise this I'd probably end the Clone Wars in part 2. Thanks.

Yay! It won't help my MTT, but yay none the less!

It's a very good start! I might be borrowing that decal!

NOTE: I've been writing this for a while and it's clear it will never be perfect so I decided to "finish" it today. As a kid I used to read the novels of the Star Wars movies over and over again. In fact, my first novel I ever read or owned was Return of the Jedi. I probably have read the novels to Episode 4-6 twice as much as I have seen them. Possibly for this reason I was sure of what the Clone Wars would consist of; Jedi defending against an invasion of Jedi-wanna-bes dressed like Boba Fett, otherwise known as Mandalorian Warriors. My thought was that these guys for some reason (probably general evilness) wanted the Jedi gone, and decided that the best way to do this was to make an army that emulated Jedi powers via technology. (For example the jet pack gives the power of Jedi jumps, the cables give the power of force manipulation, the helmet gives the power of Jedi senses and communication...) Interestingly, probably because I read the books from an early age (about 9) the name "Clone Wars" meant nothing to me. I think I thought it was a location! Even when I learnt what the word meant to me I didn't think too much about it. It wasn't until the 90s while reading the Zahn series the concept of cloning an army was blatantly pointed out to me within the Star Wars universe that it all clicked for me. For those that haven't read the Timothy Zahn books, there are two cloned Jedis in the series, one a Luke, cloned from his hand lost at Cloud City, and the other a older Jedi Master. (It is rumoured that it was going to be Obi-Wan but Lucas objected.) This then gave me the final piece in the puzzle; the "Clones" in the Clone Wars were Jedis, who replicated themselves to counteract the superior numbers that the Mandalorians had. Eventually the Jedi win, but then the Clones go bad, leaving the way open for Palpatine to strike... Thus when I at last saw Episode 1 I was quite excited... and was thus very disappointed by the end when it was clear that my version was not what we were going to see. Droid armies?! As much as I love robots and A.I., it simply doesn't fit in with the established universe. Why didn't the Rebels use droids then? They obviously had no shortage of money; look at their vast transport fleet, base and how well equipped Hoth was. Any way, here's my rough version of what it could have been... _______________________ Episode 1. The Mandalorians attack the Republic by surprise. They take about a third of all worlds and it is clear that they will win. While assisting Tatooine defend itself from the invasion Obi-Wan (a padawan of Yoda at the time who is about 30) notices a talented fighter pilot who has been instrumental at holding off the Mandalorians. In one of the lulls he meets the pilot, Anakin (aged about 15), and realises that he is incredibly strong in the force. (He just senses it; no blood test is required.) Obi-wan ask him to leave when the Republic forces retreat to Alderaan and become a Jedi. Anakin's younger brother, Owen, begs him to stay and help out on the farm, but there never was much of a farmer in Anakin. 15 years pass... Episode 2. The Jedi are losing the war and they decide that the only solution is to clone the surviving (around 1000) Jedis with Sparti Cloning tanks. Only Master Yoda refuses, and Jedi Obi-Wan and padawan Anakin out of respect follow his lead. Master Yoda is banished from the order by his decision as an example and isn't seen again. Before he goes though, he tells Obi-Wan of his planned destination. At this time it is also decided that the Jedi cannot be used as local security so Corruscant forms an Imperial Defence Force under the lead of Senator Palpatine. The Cloned Jedis are sent out and eventually win, but when they learn from Palpatine that they will be destroyed now that their work is done they rebel. The last stage of the Clone Wars has begun... 15 years pass (To save people the maths, Obi-Wan is about 60 now and Anakin is about 45. They act and look like they are 35 and 30.) Episode 3. The Clone Wars is coming to a close. The Jedi have been decimated (less than 100 out of 10,000 remain) and the universe is a much fragmented place. Palpatine expresses his concern over this and the Jedis, knowing there is no choice, support moves for the Corruscant defence force to be expanded. Due to his expanding respect he is named head of the Council of the Republic. At this point Palpatine tells Anakin many half truths about the governments of many worlds, and he becomes his assassin in an effort to help stabilise the Republic. One of his mission takes him to Alderaan to kill Bail Organa, but he fails this as he meets a servant who realises what he is there for, and persuades him otherwise. Anakin finds her courage attractive and... er... he boffs her. On his return Palpatine punishes Anakin by sending him to a volcanic planet for another mission. The servant from Alderaan, worried about Anakin, tries to contact him, but can only reach Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan then realises why Anakin has been so distant, goes to Palpatine, and assaults him to find out the truth. Palpatine allows this and tells him what he knows as he feels that Anakin will win. Obi-Wan confronts Anakin, they fight, and Anakin is burnt as a result. Unable to kill his friend, Obi-Wan helps him to a nearby hospital and heads back home. However while he is gone Palpatine tells the Council of Obi-Wans actions, declares himself Emperor, and disbands the Jedi as a useless relic of the past. Obi-Wan fearing for his life starts calling himself Ben and hides on Tatooine to watch over Owen, who he has started to see like a brother he never had. He is eventually found by Bail Organa, who brings news of a pregnant servant who want to find Anakin. Obi-Wan explains what happened and Bail agrees to keep it a secret. However soon after the birth she hears of a new servant of Palpatine called Darth Vader who has been hunting down the remaining Jedi, and she realises what the man she loves has become. She kills herself, and Bail Organa decides to repay the life debt by raising the girl as his own daughter, and send the boy to be care for by Owen. _______________________ There is substantial supporting evidence for this possible story, but most is from non-100%-canon sources. For example, in the Empire Strikes Back novel, while describing Boba Fett it is said; "He was dressed a weapon-covered, armoured spacesuit, the kind worn by a group of evil warriors defeated by the Jedi Knights during the clone wars." (End of chapter 9, page 127 of my book.) Another piece is when Obi-Wan says in episode 4 "I haven't gone by the name Obi-wan, though, since before you were born". While this is trueish, it is only barely true. Additionally, when it is revealed that Obi-wan was in the Clone Wars Luke says "But... that was so long ago". Even though it was only 20 years before and Obi-wan looks at least 40 so it shouldn't be that remarkable. However George constantly changes his mind, and while he claims that he has a magical complete story, I simply don't believe him. But the fact is that there are many contradiction from the various sources. Foe example, for a while it was official that Obi-Wan and Owen were brothers, but it's mostly seen as a mistake now. (If it was true you would have expected some sadness when they died...) So what are your thoughts? Do you think I am way off?

True, but it's worse than that. This means we can't have any Knights Kingdom re-releases. Er... on second thoughts...

Are you talking about colour consistancy or piece strength? I've noticed some cracking with orange, but I've had no problem white, yellow or red.

How can you be so sure? It's quite possible that there are a large amount of failures in manufacture and thus we aren't seeing the full picture. The fact that purple has been rarely made does support this. Besides, why would he (or TLG) lie or even want to remove the colour for any other reason? It's in their best interest to have a wider colour pallette as it sells more sets.

Well I'm actually going to believe him. Different colours do have different strengths. I doubt it's a cost issue as TLG has never had a problem with overcharging!

Aside from work, there is also the factor of page loading time. I'm curious at the result of the poll.

It would be easier to make a topic about what does make sense! The entire prequal trilogy doesn't fit in at all. Last year I was trying to write an essay about what I thought the prequals were initially going to be (based on what is said in the original movies), but it was harder than I expected to put together a logical reason for mine making more sense. The simple fact is there is too little time in-between 3 and 4 to explain things, but the time can't be expanded due to Luke's birth. What things? For example Obi-Wan being seen as really old ("you were in the Clone Wars?! " ) when if anything he looks too old considering his age in number 3. To cut a long story short, I think the original story was going to be the Jedi vs the Mandalorians. When they found their numbers were not enough they started cloning Jedis who beat the Mandalorians, but after the cloned Jedis went insane and fought the Jedis. The Jedis eventally beat their clones, but around then Papatine turned Anakin... and the rest is history. There is a lot to support my version and I'll discuss this another time.

Gee, you'll be too old for Lego soon! Happy birthday!

...and believe it or not, it just did!

Well I read most of them, but rarely comment. It's just that it gets tiresome saying "Great interview, thanks guys. It's great to learn about our members" over and over and over. Lack of comments on a MOC often means it's not liked, but I don't think this is the same. Like reviews, some people appreciate them by just reading, but they don't see any need to comment. I was surprised what you asked us though; I expected some deeper questions.

Well, I did download it, but for ease-of-browsing reasons I de-archived it and then sorted the images. I recall it was rather lame and I'm not sure if I kept it all. However, I looked around and here's some stuff that I think might have been in it. If you have any idea what was in it, or if you had any specific images in mind just ask and I'll look around.

Yes. It is really cute!

Nice cannon. Is this supposed to be fixed or portable/luggable? If it's fixed I'd go for orange, otherwise red. It seems more like a human weapon to me.