TeddytheSpoon

That shot of the A-wing flying into the bridge is superb! One of my favourites you've done.

Wow! I almost can't believe how small it is, there's so much detail here!

Ooh I like your idea for the arms! Might make use of that for a minifig hardsuit.

I dunno, I like the fact that you can get a commander/leader figure in one of the cheapest sets. Perhaps the construction team captain could've been in the rover, though.

The Invisible Hand is my favourite of these sets. Will definitely try and pick that one up. Maybe the Tantive IV as well, if only because I like midi-scale capital ships (Radiant VII next please!); otherwise I can take it or leave it. Ditto for the Falcon. I'm pleasantly surprised how good R2 looks, but since I'm not bothered about him or Malak that's a pass for me. Fives might be a BL buy depending on the price.

I don't know if the geometry between clips and hands is too different for it to count, but arguably any minifig holding a tile. Off the top of my head I know the Saturn V rocket had the flag tile between two studs, which is similarly legal for tiles and not plates. I'm sure it has been seen before though - I have a feeling that some Architecture sets use the clip and tile connection but couldn't say for sure.

Yep. It doesn't help that TLG doesn't seem to be getting the same advanced access to these shows that it used to, which means it can't ride the initial hype wave when these shows do come out, and by the time they can figure out what would make for a good set with decent demand behind it (e.g. the Haulcraft), people's interest has moved onto the next show. Them seems to be the breaks, I guess.

From what I've seen (warning! Anecdotal evidence approaching), TBB seems to be most popular with precisely that group of people - those who grew up with the Clone Wars. I would surmise that for those who haven't seen at least some of that show, including the last season, the Bad Batch doesn't hold much appeal. We can kinda see that with all the returning characters. TLG will also have some sales data on how these sets sell as well; granted, the Justifier is not a great set per se, but by all accounts the shuttle wasn't exactly flying off shelves either. Still, I do agree there would've been room for more sets. I can't help thinking a V-wing with a handful of figs would've fit perfectly in the slot taken up by Yoda's Starfighter last year, for instance.

Off the back of this discussion I looked up what the exact definition of sci-fi is, and there's a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to its various definitions... As John Campbell put it, "science fiction is what I say it is" So it seems very subjective. The basic tenet seems to be fictional elements, based wholly or partially on existing science, that are essential or important to the plot of a given story. I guess that's why, to me, the original Arctic theme doesn't 'feel' like sci-fi. The fictional element - the neon spiders encased in ice or meteors - could be completely forgotten about (ahem), and the sets would still work, I think. I can now see how it fits under the sci-fi banner, though. Perhaps it comes down to personal preference too - I prefer a bit more 'fi' in my sci-fi!

Wow, I didn't know they made streamlined tank engines as well! Saves the need to build any pesky running gear very nice model.

I absolutely love the old Arctic sets, but they are certainly closer to the real world (and a better fit for the Town/City themes) than this current crop of Space sets. Personally I wouldn't describe them as sci-fi. Some of the stores in my area didn't get the new sets in until the second week of the year, but nonetheless they didn't seem to be any more or less prominent than other sets or themes. I will say that when I visited a LEGO store in the UK at the start of the year, the Space sets did seem to be popular with the kids (I had to wait my turn to be able to grab one!). This is the target demographic for LEGO, after all, so that gives me hope we'll get a second wave at least.

Picked up the 6-wheeled rover to go with the construction mech. The windscreen was scratched, which sucks, but otherwise I love it! There are some great printed pieces in these sets. The only thing I would question is putting your vehicle's fuel cells right in the middle of two massive wheels kicking up dirt and rocks I guess it's not necessarily an explosive energy source, but still... Seeing a pile of black, orange and sand blue pieces did remind me of the Titan XP, and by extension the Creator Surveillance Drone (?) from a few years back. In the 'canon' of LEGO Space, such as it is, I wonder if the two factions could be somehow related. Perhaps separated by a few centuries when the robots have taken over!

As a professional design engineer myself, I can assure you that the cost of employing designers and developing molds is certainly not a non-negligible cost nevertheless, while it's cheaper than starting the whole process again, it's still pretty expensive to get new molds made. That's assuming the surrounding tooling, materials and machines are exactly the same as they were 10 years ago, which to be fair I imagine they would be. Man, what I would give to learn more about the engineering at TLG... Speaking of engineering - you raise a good point about the 'Uglies' set. If both the TIE and X-wing get the capability to open and close the s-foils, that could make for quite an interesting mechanism combination.

What a mad set of rumours. Still not sure what to make of it, but I have to applaud the variety.

I was about to say - red outfit surely means cannon fodder, if Star Trek is anything to go by!

Seconded for Aphra. She's probably the most well-known character from the SW comcis, and she'd make an extremely interesting minifig choice - more so than Mara Jade or Galen Marek IMO. (Wait, why don't we just do characters whose names sound similar? Mara, Marek, Maul, Malak, Malichos...)

Neat! At least R2-D2 is now slightly closer to being in the correct scale

Finland is the (or at least one) exception. The prices are routinely higher here, from S@H but also in most retail stores (albeit to a lesser extent). @legoturtle - let me know if you find somewhere that has it! I quite like the look of the polybag too. In the meantime, I've picked up the mech. I was debating whether to go for that or the smaller rocket ship first but my wallet won out in the end; I expect I'll pick up the 6-wheeled rover soon too. My first thought with the helmet is how it would look for a purist Halo Spartan, maybe in conjunction with the armour.

Very nice! The packaging is impressive, fascinating to see your thought process as well. However... I can't quite wrap my head around the fact you did this in a day and a half!

Woohoo! Always like seeing new MOCs of the Radiant VII, it's my favourite capital ship! Your design is excellent, the solution for the cone at the front is interesting. If I may offer some feedback, I wonder if the engine nacelles could be rounder? I feel like the 'bridge' between them would look better being one stud thick instead of two, although it's difficult to say without seeing the internals. Nevertheless - great work!

Nice build! Very cute. Lots of details to like. You're assuming they didn't put it there to mess with their colleague!

The height proportions are a nice improvement! I'm not so familiar with the old DB stock, but the length of the coach seems about right to me. The only thing that jumps out is the top of the cab on the loco. It seems a shame to lose the nice curves of the early version for those angled modified tile pieces, although again I don't know which is the more accurate solution. Otherwise it's a superb model! Is it buildable in the brick?

Great idea! Seems like such a natural cross-over with the saucer pieces. I like the way the trans-neon-green has been integrated too, particularly in the engine nacelles.

Thank you! Nothing to report on the motorising front I'm afraid. I've been focussing on getting some rolling stock made, which strangely has proven more of a challenge than the loco! I agree it would almost certainly need some gearing, and I have no idea how I'd go about it at the moment. The bogies aren't very big (only 2 x 5 studs and 4 plates tall), and the space immediately above it is taken up with the structure for the cab. Cramming everything in is therefore going to be a not inconsiderable re-design...

Thank you! I think I do have a parts list somewhere - I might even have the studio file, I will check later. That said, I am working on an updated version with a slightly better front end or I was, until I got distracted by other projects!). I may have some time to work on it over the holiday period if you're willing to wait a few more weeks! There's also a cockpit piece in one of the new Friends sets that would be a perfect fit for this ship - if only it came in trans-clear... So here's hoping that comes soon!