Updating Your Minifigs

[General Magma]

That's because the X-wing pilot HAS a jumpsuit. The printing on the Snowspeeder pilot indicates the jacket by also not having a gray vertical strap at the bottom...because the jacket goes on over the gray harness straps (and over the jumpsuit) in the movie costume, as the movie photos show (tho that Snowspeeder Luke pic seems to be lacking the gray harness entirely...)

Also, the unique collar's more apparent on the back for the Snowspeeder pilots...

*snip*

Ah, I see it now. Well, in that case...

[JVM]

I'll upload a picture soon but used similar methods to the first page for upgrading a Tarkin figure. I also used the 2008 Landspeeder Tat Luke with the new hair acquired from the Echo Base set where he's in the bacta chamber. I also upgraded a Leia to the Millennium Falcon version by ordering the new head and hair pieces separately. Nothing too impressive.

I've thought about upgrading pilots but I keep wondering if it's worth the money and effort I could be spending on other sets.

[wesker]

I'm very interested in seeing how Leia turned out. I've been wondering how the new face would look on her other costumes from the past couple years.

Both the Snowspeeder and X-Wing uniforms are available fairly cheaply in the Microfighters so it wouldn't be a bad idea picking up a couple when they're on sale. Although when it comes to upgrading any minifigure I think its best to focus on the characters that are unlikely to be released again in the near future, like Porkins. For someone like Luke you're better off waiting for the next X-Wing he shows up in.

Edited August 2, 2015 by wesker

[BigDumbWookiee]

Thinking The Doctor from the upcoming Dr Who Dimensions pack would make for a perfect Tarkin face and hairpiece:

[Mr Man]

Thinking The Doctor from the upcoming Dr Who Dimensions pack would make for a perfect Tarkin face and hairpiece:

The hair maybe, I'm not too sure about the face.

[Tariq j]

The hair maybe, I'm not too sure about the face.

Yeah, the eyebrows are way too thick! The hair though, is almost perfect.

[wesker]

That hairpiece would look great on Tarkin. Doesn't it also come in dark brown with one of the Ghostbuster minifigures? I think it would be perfect for a custom Ric Olie too.

[Darth_Brick360]

it might work with one of the new capes that are popping up in superheroes sets, but I don't think any of them are long enough.

What do you mean by "new capes"

[bountybossk]

That hairpiece would look great on Tarkin. Doesn't it also come in dark brown with one of the Ghostbuster minifigures? I think it would be perfect for a custom Ric Olie too.

It's reddish brown in one of the three Dimensions Ghostbusters Level Packs that were announced today. That hairpiece and face combined with the torso/legs of the 2015 Naboo Fighter Pilot would make a great Ric Olie!

[bountybossk]

I made some minor changes to a few of my minifigs today:

- Changed Bib Fortuna's regular cape for the graduate's robe. I think the robe looks a lot more like Bib's robes in the movie than the regular cape.

- Changed the hair of my Han Solo minifigs to the reddish brown tousled hair piece.

Nothing big, but for anyone wondering what it looks like:

[Robianco]

That hair mod for Han is something that should have officially happened a long time ago. It looks much better. I always forget to add aroun 10 of those hairpieces to BL orders for the very same thing!

[Lego Fett]

That hair mod for Han is something that should have officially happened a long time ago. It looks much better. I always forget to add aroun 10 of those hairpieces to BL orders for the very same thing!

Lego already gave him that piece on the old version.

[Blondie-Wan]

What I don't understand is that they have the figure on the left for X-Wing pilots, which looks more recent and far more detailed but was released in 2014,

while they use the figure on the right for snowspeeder pilots, which was released this year and doesn't look as good. Weren't the orange pilot suits all the same in the films,

whether worn by an X-Wing pilot or a snowspeeder pilot?

As Venkefedo already explained the difference between the uniforms, I'll just go ahead and note I don't think the new Snowspeeder pilot design actually looks either worse or better, to me; it just looks... different. That's not bad, except that even the chest box looks different, when it shouldn't, and that's annoying.

Beyond that, I'm terribly frustrated with the constant "updates" to perfectly good minifigures. I don't mind too much with unique characters in their personal outfits, but it's pretty vexing when trying to army-build any sort of uniformed troops, and the Rebel pilot flightsuits are a perfect example. I didn't entirely mind when the original design from 1999 was updated in 2010; the old design really was in need of it, what with no backprinting and all. But I have to say I very much liked the new one introduced in 2010 (ironically in a Hoth Rebels battle pack, where it represented Zev in his Snowspeeder flightsuits rather than an a Starfighter one), and I'd have been fine if it had stuck around. In fact I thought it was going to, so after slowly amassing 20+ of the old ones over the first decade of the theme, I started over again and got about as many of the new ones in just a few years, and resigned myself to repurposing the old ones. Then, however, they not only finally introduced differentiation between Snowspeeder and other pilots, which would've been fine on its own, but also redid the "regular", non-Snowspeeder flightsuit again, just a few short years after the previous update. Do I go ahead and invest in a bunch of new X-wing pilots, starting from scratch again, right when I'd gotten to the point of finally having as many as before? Or do I ignore the new one and just stick with the older ones? If the former, I have to spend a bunch more money just to get to where I already was (twice!). Ugh. If the latter, then I'll have a tough time expanding my forces beyond where they're already at, plus I have to live with having greater differences between the new Snowspeeder pilot legs, which are nicely printed, and the (second) Starfighter pilot legs, which aren't (I do find I do want to at least use the new speeder pilots, for the different jacket print as well as the white "gloved" hands, but the incongruities between them and the previous generation of fighter pilots annoy me). I'm actually thinking of using new torsos for speeder pilots and the previous (second gen) torsos for X-wing / Y-wing pilots, and downgrading the Snowspeeder pilot minifigures slightly by swapping out their printed legs for the old unprinted ones from my original X-wing / Y-wing pilots, so they'll better go with the second-gen torsos I'll use for my "active" X-wing / Y-wing pilot minifigures (and at least I'd be getting use out of those original minifigures again).

I also really hate the unnecessary ongoing revisions to the stormtroopers. I'm fine with updates to a point, but beyond that point they seem to have the opposite effect of the one intended - i.e., they make me less interested in buying new sets, since I feel somewhat less able to use the new minifigures (at least for any kind of uniformed troops) with my old ones.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[JVM]

I have to wait until I see it in the flesh - most LEGO hairpieces always look ugly to me when I first see them, no matter how much I end up loving them - but it looks like it might be a bit too spiky for Tarkin. We'll see tohugh! :)

I'm very interested in seeing how Leia turned out. I've been wondering how the new face would look on her other costumes from the past couple years.

Both the Snowspeeder and X-Wing uniforms are available fairly cheaply in the Microfighters so it wouldn't be a bad idea picking up a couple when they're on sale. Although when it comes to upgrading any minifigure I think its best to focus on the characters that are unlikely to be released again in the near future, like Porkins. For someone like Luke you're better off waiting for the next X-Wing he shows up in.

I really love the new face - if it was more cheaply-available I'd probably make it my go-to face for all female characters in the future.

Yeah, it's a tough call for me but sometime I might just bricklink the new parts, aside the head. The faces can't be replaced too effectively, especially for Porkins.

I also really hate the unnecessary ongoing revisions to the stormtroopers. I'm fine with updates to a point, but beyond that point they seem to have the opposite effect of the one intended - i.e., they make me less interested in buying new sets, since I feel somewhat less able to use the new minifigures (at least for any kind of uniformed troops) with my old ones.

I think the thing that's ultimately frustrating about it to me is that whereas LEGO once updated minifigs after several years and left the change for a years more, the last five or so year they seem to update the same fig in each wave. Darth Vader got a new head and legs last wave, only for a new mask this wave as well, for example, or the Stormtroopers getting a new body a few years ago, new legs, and then a new helmet, all separately. Whereas maybe it would've been better to leave the old designs for both another year and then debut a COMPLETELY new design. Hasn't the TIE Fighter Pilot changed almost annually for the last couple years, too?

It's crazy to think how simple and consistent the line was for the first seven or eight years.

[Darth Kylo Ren]

I was unhappy with the Force Pikes (see here), so I tried this:

That is amazing, the Palpatine with his Guards I am speechless

[Darth_Brick360]

Can anyone post a pic of lando with finn's harirpiece?

[bountybossk]

Can anyone post a pic of Lando with Finn's hairpiece?

Here you go! My own version of Rebel Alliance General Lando:

Lando's head (Desert Skiff), Finn's hair and General Cracken's body.

[fatsomania]

I wonder if new clones will look like this?

[bountybossk]

My Bricks & Pieces order came in so I made a few small updates:

- I gave General Veers and the First Order officer Batman's legs to resemble their high leather boots

- The Imperial officer received the Batman legs and a reddish brown hair piece, but lost his hat to the Imperial crew from the Battlefront battle pack

- The Imerpial crew from the ISD micro-fighter received the black hat from the Imperial crew form the Battlefront pack

- I bought a bunch of AT-DP pilot legs for my Snowtroopers to replace their plain leg pieces

[Richpepperell]

- I bought a bunch of AT-DP pilot legs for my Snowtroopers to replace their plain leg pieces

I really liked the look of these snow trooper legs and to my amazement they were available for pennies on bricks and pieces today - ordered 20 sets! Also did a bricklink order, a firestar and an arealight order today - will post pictures when it all arrives my imperial forces will be much updated!

[Richpepperell]

Finally got round to updating my imperial officers to match the officer that came with the ISD (who I'm presuming from the side burns is General Bast). The main issue is the old-style vs the much improved new-style hat. The problem here is that the hat has been very hard to get hold of in the correct colour on bricklink, and actually still is... individually. However, The imperial technician minifigure from the ISD is only a few pounds on bricklink and comes with the correct hat. I grabbed 2 extra technicians to go with the one that I got with the ISD and bingo - new hats for the officers!

Now with new hat! From left to right Captain Needa, Admiral Ozzel, Amiral Piett, Juno Eclipse and General Bast.

I'm sure you'll agree, they look a lot more commanding! Of course this now left all the technicians without hats. Kuckily, with the inclusion of the Imperial Crew minifigure in the recent battlepack, the black version of the hat can be picked up cheaply from Firestar - all my crew, my extra ISB agents and Juno Eclipse now have the correct black hats, ready to make up a Death Star scanning crew etc.

I've got some more bits on the way to update some Hoth minifigures - pictures to follow.

[Forresto]

Here is my updated scout trooper using the Mad Scientist's arms from the recent wave of collectible minifigures and the legs from a space commando from an older wave. I personally would prefer not to have to buy the new scout designs until they appear in a cheaper set so their market price goes down, so this is my solution

[Sucram]

I find it a real pain, because I have heaps of Sandtroopers from 2012, now they come out with the new design, which I like alot.

[Robianco]

Edited February 29, 2016 by Robianco

[Sucram]

Those look spectacular! Porkins looks kind of out of place though, with the not so detailed visor.