Flieger

Lovely design. This would be a fine entry level set, and it is the epitome of swooshable.

Not just the number of minifigs... their quality is not overwhelming either, especially compared to other themes (Ninjago....), and even past SW waves. Few new moulds, lack of arm printing, and now reusing the Mustafar-bodies. Since minifigs are a very important part of LSW this is a very unsettling development. (to be fair: the Solo line got 12 new moulds, but TRoS less than half that number) Two things: a) Lego already knows afols are willing to pay insane prices. Lego is a high price product anyway. It could get worse, yeah... ...but, b), one has to choose his battles. Right now it is more important to me that Lego understands my wish for many more PT/TCW-sets. That's my vote; that's my battle.

Many of the traditional BPs were not so much army builders, as they were supplements to the main line. The Patrol Trooper pack perfectly supplemented the two Solo Speeders e.g. The "4 identical figures" gold standard was rare anyway. Thing is, the people who army build are often adults and relatively well-off. Lego knows they would pay double if it is a true army builder people want (501st, OT Stromtroopers). The 15€ BPs are more kid friendly and a good way to get some, not dozens/hundreds, minifigs on a budget. (This why I bought BPs in the early 90ies). These two kinds of sets can coexist if designed correctly, the 15€ sets being starter or supplementary sets for children and people on a budget, the 30€ for affluent, army building afols. Indeed. They often bought one, and that's it. When I was a kid, the army was ready in my imagination rather than in true minifig numbers anyway.

Question: would you want a Star Wars Squadrons Battle Pack? There are some very interesting pilot helmets and suits, which would add to attractive minifigs. Of course that is not a traditional army builder, more like an Inferno Squad or Bounty Hunter type pack. But I would like it very much. ...listens to their adult fans, to their PT/TCW fans, and to their army builder fans.

I am quite happy about them, even if I do not agree with some of their explanations. The recent interviews clearly demonstrated that Lego knows how important the afols are for Star Wars, be it as parents or otherwise. They also understand that there is a generation of afols who want of PT/TCW-sets, system scale as well as UCS. I mean, it was rather obvious but it is nice to know Lego acknowledges that fact. The 'lego is making sets for kids'-argument may be true but it is getting weaker and weaker by the year when it comes to Star Wars. That will be very interesting, indeed. With the demand for TCW, The Mandalorian, and classic (non-ST) stuff, the IT-S is hard to explain. Arguing the price point of a system scale (!) TIE Bomber would be to high for such a nice set while releasing a 100€ I-TS is plain contradictory if that was the main reason I do believe a modern TIE Bomber would easily be 100€, too, if not 120€. And while it is not as iconic as some other sets, it has a cult following who would easily pay that 120€, or buy it for their kids. Despite a few seconds of screentime in the movie, there were many toys e.g. And you cannot tell me all the other toy companies lost money with it all the time. Yeah, it lost against the Gunship in the UCS scale, but the Gunship would have won against pretty everything except the most iconic OT vehicles. And the play value of the bomber if quite high anyway: bomb drop mechanism, spring loaded shooters, and space for minifigs, plus being very swooshable. It would be a good set.

I too would have preferred a Delta series, but I have to admit the Bad Batch is a great source for new minifigs. The helmets alone are pure gold.

Some of what he says can be seen in official Lego interviews and promotional videos, too. The Lego Patrol Trooper designers e.g. anticipated a much larger role of those troopers, hence the elaborate dual moulded helmet. They were very disappointed that they were almost completely cut. That is probably not malevolence by Disney but it certainly does not help Lego, and definitely proves Disney's incompetence to handle the production of the movie and its merch correctly. (And yes, that has something to do with the reshoots of Solo, but again: who's fault is that, if not Disney's?). If you break it down to that, one cannot disagree. However neither does it represent my argument, nor was it my main concern. That would be your highly toxic language, calling others "fanboys". Ok, I can agree with that, even though I never focussed exclusively on FO sets, I was speaking about a relative lack of sets for other media, like the Mandalorian.

Apparently Lego did shift their approach to secondary media and did make a big leap of faith this year. They release a top-of-the-line 100€ set with characters that rank as obscure even among die-hard fans, from a medium that hardly warrants the term 'secondary'. I do have a hard time believing Lego would prioritise it over any Fallen Order/Mandalorian set, however small, without incentives offered by Disney.

Yeah, that must be a difficult job, especially as both Lego and Star Wars are culturally important (at least here in my country). Regarding the afol influence... I believe it has increased, even if children are still the main target audience. It will be interesting to see how Lego handles Star Wars without main movies coming up. I mean the Mandalorian, Fallen Order and even the later seasons of TCW are more mature anyway. The reception of the 501st pack will probably be important for Lego's future decisions. If successful we might see not only more afol stuff but also more PT/TCW. Perhaps that is no coincedence since many children from the 2000s, who grew up with PT/TCW, are adults now and possibly return to Lego in the coming years.

Nobody said scheming must be the reason, so let's not fall into extremes which do more harm than good to any discussion. I for one merely reject the idea that everything Lego/Disney/Lucasfilm is doing must be the right business choice by default, and that anyone critizing that choice must be wrong (or worse...) as a consequence. I do believe there is the possibility of something going on in the background - not the certainty, mind you. Of course, it is possible that everybody was just surprised by the success of Fallen Order and the Mandalorian. In that case we are essentially back at Lego/Disney/Lucasfilm making mistakes. There is nothing inherently wrong with pointing that out, as long as it is done respectfully. On the contrary customer feedback is essential. And as the recent 501st interview has proven, Lego does value afol input to a certain extent. -

It is simplistic, because the statement you made is correct but too simple to use as an analytical category. Of course a company wants to make money. That does not mean every decision a company makes is best designed to achieve that goal, otherwise we would never see a business fail. And what's more: people want the money, not an abstract company - people. And people are well capable of putting their own good, or that of their faction, above that of another group, explicitly including the company they work for. Considering the level of power and wealth coming with a Disney executive position, it would be rather naive to assume those people would flawlessly and virtuously do what's best for all the company (and their employees, and their business partners, and their pets), disregarding their own interests and advancements within the company. There is the possibility that factions within Disney/Lucasfilm have an interest in seeing the merchandise associated with the products a rivalling faction within Disney/Lucas making less money than their own, because that strengthens their positions and weakens that of rival faction. And again, even disregarding the rumours about the Lucasfilm rivalries, this is not uncommon in big corporations if people think they can get away with it. This may not be sabotage but simple favouritism, like incentivising Lego to do a set based on a theme park thereby cutting other media short. This kind of favouritism fits right within power plays inside a company, and offers a little more nuanced explanations than "they did it, so it must be the best business choice". Companies can do wrong, people can do wrong, and they can do it for many reasons. So the people who think Disney and Lego can do no wrong and always make the best business decisions, including the choice of sets, are not the fanboys here?

Power plays, politics and plotting are nothing out of the ordinary in big corporations. And if only half the rumours about the situation inside Lucasfilm atm is true, sabotaging each others' merchandising opportunities is about the least I expect. Of course that does not mean that's what happened, but one should be very careful when dismissing one or the other explanation. "Lego/Disney does x, so x must be the very best for business" is a rather simplistic approach anyway.

Actually, rather few Battle Packs are true army builders. Some are supplemental in nature. The Imperial Patrol BP from the Solo Line works best combined with the two speeders to recreate the chase scene. It is not like you need hundreds of Patrol Troopers or Emigration Officers... And how many Praetorian Guards or Imperial Red Guards do you need? Sure, a few more to complete (supplement) the scene, but not dozens or hundreds of them. Some BPs are character driven like the Bounty Hunter set that was mentioned or the Inferno Squad or even the Mandalorians. Some BPs are true army builders, of course. Army building however is largely an afol thing (as a kid I just imagined having 100s of them...), so it makes sense that Lego listens to the afols in that regard. I for one like all of those types and hope all of them are continued. Still, even though I am not an army builder myself I think it is strange that Lego does not go for the simple 4x (movie) Stormtrooper BP. That would sell like crazy. But who am I telling this?

I sure hope you are right. There are some interesting opportunities for new sets... I mean, even if I do not like the movie or series itself, the sets could be nice. And I am probably not alone in wanting Dryden Vos/ Paul Bettany or Galen Erso/ Mads Mikkelsen in Lego. (Although that might be an afol-only thing).

Here is a very interesting interview with the designers of the 501st Battle Pack: https://brickset.com/article/52341/interview-with-star-wars-designers-75280-501st-legion-clone-troopers In short, the set is a response to the online campaign (so for much for 'Lego does not listen to afols'), they don't mind the campaign (wether that's true or not is up to debate), and they had early access to TCW when designing the set. Also, BPs are not necessarily always for army building, and we will might see some non-army builders in the future, too.

The whole post-Lucas Disney Star Wars merchandise (ST, Rebels, Resistance, Anthology, Forces of Destiny etc.) seems to be on a downward trend, though some vehemently disagree. However, I would argue Mimban and related troopers might be an exception. Even people who dislike Solo often like the Mimban scenes, and getting a Mudtrooper or a Mimban Stormtrooper on Bricklink is rather costly. But I know it is a bit of a shaky argument. And it is quite certain that Lego will not return to the Solo Movie any time soon. The ship has sailed. Even the much better received Rogue one did not get much attention after its two waves. The era itself could be explored though.

...which is a shame. Even though Solo was a flop, many of the sets and especially minifigures were actually good. And judging by the after-market prices of the Mimban Mudtrooper and Stormtrooper, I am comvinced a Mimban AT-DT could work. Walkers and big guns are always popular, plus attractive minifigures... it could work. It could be typical mid-range set like the AT-AP: AT-DT: 700 pieces, 1x Han Solo Mudtrooper, 1x generic Mudtrooper, 1x Mimban Stormtrooper, 1x Mimban Specialist (many of those in the movie's background, like technicians with headsets, medics etc.), 1x Pilot I know it is almost definitely not going to happen, but the Mimban scenes were almost universally liked, and I think it would be a fine set. It surely is a missed opportunity.

I really like the build. It offer a lot better play features than the 2014 AT AT. But I miss the Snowtrooper commander; I would have liked one more trooper anyway, and I could have lived without Luke though I understand why he is here.

Great, a Clone Battlepack! And one featuring an important clone unit! Strange attitudes here, though. I thought AFOLs and influencers did not matter to Lego (or us) in the least... Tbh, I too was unaware of any campaign as I rarely watch MandR; there are much better Lego channels to watch imo. It is just weird seeing people switching from one extreme to another, from 'he's irrelevant' to 'they listened to him, now he will...' - and somehow be mad about both. I don't care either way, I just will enjoy the set and army build a clone legion, the most prominent one. That is about the only thing I dislike about the new figures. I am prepared that, if we ever got new 501st troopers, that they would look different. I don't mind the white arms. But the hips...

Thanks for the review. The greatest flaw imo are the minifigs. Finn should not be there, and the pilot is uninspired and likely wrong considering the Sith military uniforms and armours feature the colour red to varying degrees. Also, of course, there should be four minifigs. I do not know why Lego thinks three is ok when previous, similar sets like Solo's Tie Fighter 75211. The ship design itself is ok, but I think the concept was much better done by EC Henry (here and comparison here). However it should be easy enough to change. If the set is discounted massively I might do that.

Perhaps a mild spoiler from IX so: ...whatever their canon name is. I think they had a new helmet based on McQuarrie concepts, and I love this kind of figures. Also, of course, Werner Herzog.

I was undecided about the Tie Dagger. It is reasonably fresh (and yes, I know about EC Henry, who imo did a better version...), and even though the minifigs are underwhelming I seriously considered it. But once again, I did not like the film enough to justify buying it. The fact that it was a background vehicle did not help. And the KoR... no spoilers, just saying it was not enough for me. But I do understand the appeal, and I hope Lego completes the line-up for the KoR-fans out there.

Sorry to return to this thread... but: The Mandalorian happened. Well, I am not a fan of Mandalorians and I had no interest in the character before I saw the show. Then I saw the show, and now I want sets from the show. Many sets. I won't spoil anything but even in the first two chapters I saw many possibilities for sets I would buy.

I would buy a battle pack of Arvala-Jawas immediately. Anyway, I hope Lego releases some more Mandalorian sets sooner than later.

...as long as it is a civil discussion, i.e. without terms like 'SJW' or 'toxic'. One has to respect other people's personal preferences. The commercial success and future of toy sales, which is the topic of this discussion, has very little to do with those preferences. I for one liked Solo a lot; I would love to see more Lego sets from that movie. That does not mean I have the right to accuse anyone of 'negativity' (aka being 'toxic') simply for pointing out that the movie was an outright flop and that more toys, especially Lego sets, are rather unlikely at that point, given the climate of decling SW toy sales. It is generally better to focus on the issue itself rather than the attitude of the person bringing it up - whatever you think about that attitude. Like movie preferences, 'attitude' is a very subjective and delicate affair. I don't think summary judgment about people you don't know is the way to a fruitful discussion.