LEGO Star Wars 2016 Pictures and Rumors

[Bantha Fodder]

After looking closely at the leaked pictures, It's clear that the new DS is actually WORSE than the old.

Here are some of the reasons:

- The dianoga is now reduced to only one tentacle, and there is not even a printed brick with the eye. The old DS had a complete build, which was very cool (WHY DID THEY DO THIS??? the exotic creatures are one of the coolest features in Lego SW sets IMO)

- The red and yellow technic pieces everywhere totally destroys the design. The death star is a metallic grey place for god's sake, not a red and yellow theme park...

- There is no interrogation droid (Why?)

- The box art is the worst box art on an UCS set EVER.

- The price is ridicules

- Where are the 200 extra pieces?

If you just bought the 10188 don't be sad, be glad. You have the better build, and the old minifigs are easy to replace, most of them are already available.

I don't want to overreact, but this is a disgrace to Lego and to the UCS label...

[DarkLordSauron]

In 2015 I spent a solid $1000 on Lego SW. In 2016 I've spent $30 and that was out of boredom really to compliment my Sandcrawler with the Droid Escape set. WTH happened? I guess Lego just doesn't want my money anymore.

You might want to put some focus back on us 40yr olds with cash to blow Lego unless our money is not good enough for you. A good start would be to get rid of stickers on $200+ sets.

As an AFOL, I can relate perfectly. My Lego budget this year has been spent almost entirely on ebay this year, picking up more Mandalorians and Orcs as the only thing Lego has released this year that I'm interested in was the escape pod. BUT. This is a toy brand. Think about all the other toy brands you know of. How many other toys do you drop $1000 on a year for yourself? Lego has attracted adult fans because of how great of a brand it is. It is not in the business to sell to adults. Period. As much as we wish they would, I seriously doubt those Lego line planners/set designers considered for more than a few moments what AFOLs would want out of this set. There are sets clearly geared toward adults, like Slave I, but I think our attitude should be that those are blessings, not expectations. Lego has to release sets that are marketable to kids. If they can make adults happy in the process, great. But there simply aren't enough AFOLs to warrant sets that would ONLY be marketable to us.

The old Death Star set sold well, presumably. Why would Lego spend money for designers to remake the whole set just so they can sell a second one to people who already have one. If this set is looking at a shelf future of, what, 8 years?, the vast, vast majority of buyers will be first-time Death Star buyers. I'm pretty sure Lego wasn't focusing on the AFOLs who already have 10188 (and a $1000 lego budget--MOCs?) as their target market. You said you spend $1000 on Lego SW last year? I can assure you if you go the lego store in the richest part of the surrounding 100 miles of your home, there will be kids (yes, kids) there with the same buying power as you. Or, at least that's the case for me.

I remember a post maybe 10 pages ago from someone annoyed at how quickly our mood for Lego swings--sometimes we're praising them for good sets, then a month later we're shaking our fists at them. The lesson here isn't that we should have low expectations of Lego. The lesson is that we should realize that Lego is a toy and that not every set it releases will be marketable to AFOLs. This year wasn't a very good year for us (I mean, except for the RO wave ). Some sets will be KID-ORIENTED (like Hoth). There will be times when the UCS sets aren't geared towards us, but don't let that get you down. There will always be future sets, and it's not like anyone's forcing you to buy the ones out now. 2016 wasn't a great year for AFOLs and UCS. That doesn't mean 2017 won't be .

[analogkid81]

Last year gave us the excellent UCS TIE Fighter and Slave 1 and next year a Snowspeeder is already on the way. I haven't lost hope in the UCS line yet.

On the bright side, I can use the $500 I saved by not buying this to brick link the DS2.

[JekPorkchops]

Also, as a long time Lego SW collector, I don't see the old minifigs as a downside. Sure, they don't fit with the current ones and they would't appeal to today's kids, so I get the upgrade. But as a set by itself, the 10188 is fantastic! I still buy lots of sealed old sets when reasonably priced and I don't mind the old figs. I quite like them for what they are, a piece of Lego history. Of course, I do keep them seperate from modern sets, which might be a negative factor for current collectors, but in case of 10188: you can just update the figs if it bothers you.

Long story short: get 10188 or be happy when you still have that one (in case you still have it as MIB, I advise to just build that one).

[DarkLordSauron]

And another thing: maybe the lesson is also not to get too hyped up about toys six months before they're released. Remember when people were taking the comment about opinion likely to be "divided" to mean the set would have, was is half a shell you all were speculating? Yeah...

Just don't be mad at Lego that AFOLs were hoping for a shell.

Edited August 19, 2016 by DarkLordSauron

[pcsguy88]

DarkLordSauron,

Oh, I get it. I run a forum for 1:18 military toys. Lego has been great in the past couple years and now Mega is filling the adult brick building and adult military gap for me.

Takara is the only toy company I know that actually makes toys for 80's adults and they carry the price tag to match. Gotta love the Japanese for doing what other's say can't be done. :)

[RetroInferno]

Of course they are toys, it don't mind buying play sets either as long as they look nice and have interesting figs. But there are several offenders tis year that IMO did nothing to any type of fans.

Take Takodana for example; the play features are terrible, looks average, nice figs and has an extremly bad value for what you get at full retail price.

I get that the Death Star is a playset and I'm completly fine with this, what I'm not okay with is not even trying to improve the set and taging an additionnal 100$, for inflation and updated mini figs.

[Mymaker123]

Welp, I'm someone who never got, had enough room for, or could afford 10188, so this set is fine in my books. In all honesty this set still looks sensational - if 10188 hadn't come out this would be the best thing ever right now - but I can see the complaints for the AFOLs that own the previous model.

Even for those hard core complainers here, at least this creates the silver lining that we could get a nearly identical 10179 remake in the future. Imagine that...exact same as the previous, but it has updated figures from both OT and TFA, maybe even Nien Nunb and Lando for ROTJ. £500/$600. I bet that would shut up all this 'LEGO is dropping the ball' nonsense ;)

[DarkLordSauron]

Of course they are toys, it don't mind buying play sets either as long as they look nice and have interesting figs. But there are several offenders tis year that IMO did nothing to any type of fans.

Take Takodana for example; the play features are terrible, looks average, nice figs and has an extremly bad value for what you get at full retail price.

I get that the Death Star is a playset and I'm completly fine with this, what I'm not okay with is not even trying to improve the set and taging an additionnal 100$, for inflation and updated mini figs.

I mean, it couldn't stay the same price forever... But yeah, they could've put some more effort into upgrading it.

I agree with you on the other bit. Now, I happen to like Takodana more than most of the TFA sets, but I agree that this year was full of bad sets all around. Even for $500, the Death Star is still a pretty good set. If I were going to complain about one set released this year to Lego, 75159 wouldn't be it.

I'm just pointing out that 75159 clearly wasn't designed for AFOLs who already own the set that looks exactly like it, and perhaps everyone could keep that in mind before bashing it.

Even for those hard core complainers here, at least this creates the silver lining that we could get a nearly identical 10179 remake in the future. Imagine that...exact same as the previous, but it has updated figures from both OT and TFA, maybe even Nien Nunb and Lando for ROTJ. £500/$600. I bet that would shut up all this 'LEGO is dropping the ball' nonsense ;)

[xboxtravis7992]

The more I think about it the more I want to save money to buy the Death Star set. Is it a lazy remake? Yes. Is it a remake of a set I wanted but never got? Yes. Hopefully it's shelf life is a few good years so I can get it once the funds are secured.

[CM4Sci]

A giant, giant picture of the back of the box is now out, thus ruining all claims it is fake.

[joeyl19]

A giant, giant picture of the back of the box is now out, thus ruining all claims it is fake.

Where can you find this?

Edited August 20, 2016 by joeyl19

[CM4Sci]

Where can you find this?

I don't think I can even link it now, so I'm just gonna say "the usual places"

[Ashnflash]

There you go, interrogator droid included! New Luke head? Tarkin looks great

Also smiling Death Star Trooper face?

Edited August 20, 2016 by Ashnflash

[wesker]

The new Death Star Droid is awesome! Looks so much creepier with the RA-7 head than the last version did. R3-M3 looks pretty nice too.

Bit surprised Palpatine's throne is the same as before. Would've thought they'd go with the new design from the Final Duel set. It does use the new window piece though.

I like that despite the Imperial Navy Officer is wearing the same uniform as the Death Star Troopers, only he comes with the rank insignia. Just a nice small detail. Hopefully these new Death Star Troopers find their way into next year's Advent Calender like the Bespin Guard recently did.

Leia and Tarkin are still my favourites of the new minifigures though. Both look perfect now.

[Forresto]

Tarkin, imperial officers, and the imperial naval troopers look fantastic!

I don't think I can even link it now, so I'm just gonna say "the usual places"

When I want the reddit it was through a link someone made about you that I found the enhanced picture

[PicnicBasketSam]

Well, yes, this is so far a disappointing year for Star Wars fans, which is why I stopped bothering with it and moved on to Superheroes and Technic. All of the Rogue One sets are good, and as far as we know, reasonably priced. Most of the first wave this year was rubbish barring ~3-4 sets, and most of the second wave was ludicrously expensive despite being pretty good all round. Except the Star Scavenger. That thing sucks.

However, there's great non-75159 stuff coming in October, and some new and interesting stuff in January. So I am not going to write off the entire theme as garbage, I'm going to ignore it for at least a month, when the reviews will start coming in for the Death Star... point being, if nothing happens in the next month besides an official reveal and leaked prelims of the 2017 sets, fine. There's all sorts of other interesting things to do besides moan and complain about one set.

[joeyl19]

I don't think I can even link it now, so I'm just gonna say "the usual places"

So Reddit I assume? Just looked around there but couldn't find it.

Edited August 20, 2016 by joeyl19

[analogkid81]

Eh if you don't like it don't buy it. This recent lack of mind blowing UCS sets is allowing me to pick up some old ones like the UCS 10212 Shuttle I just got. Also I am hoping AoH goes on sale next May 4th so I can pick that up :)

[CM4Sci]

So Reddit I assume? Just looked around there but couldn't find it.

Guess you didn't look hard enough.

[analogkid81]

So Reddit I assume? Just looked around there but couldn't find it.

It's there, I was just looking at it. Keep scrolling - it's not one of the top posts in the sub

[atreyu2112]

Thankfully in 2016, a certain competitor cleaned up their QC issues and focused their designs on adult static display models all while keeping their prices at sane levels, so they have gotten all of my brick money. I mean, heck, they got me to buy a 34" long starship from a 50yr old series I never purposefully watched and I squeal a bit inside every time I walk by it.

You might want to put some focus back on us 40yr olds with cash to blow Lego unless our money is not good enough for you. A good start would be to get rid of stickers on $200+ sets.

^THIS^

Especially with how one license LEGO gave up, that competitor has been releasing sets that completely blow the LEGO versions off the shelf! Talk about giving fans what they really want, AND at a reasonable price with far greater attention to detail. LEGO should take a hint instead of rehashing old crap and releasing half-sets. If that DS is real... What a joke! Want LEGO to listen... teach them with your wallets. What a disappointment this past year (and continuing) LEGOs offerings have been.

[Aethersprite]

Tarkin looks amazing; it's too bad he came with that horrid brown uniform in 75150... Here's hoping they include him in a cheaper set down the line.

[Ultron]

Tarkin looks amazing; it's too bad he came with that horrid brown uniform in 75150... Here's hoping they include him in a cheaper set down the line.

Doubtful. There's not much he could really come in unless he's featured in rebels again. I think this will be the last time we see tarkin for a good while.

[TheNerdyOne_]

Doubtful. There's not much he could really come in unless he's featured in rebels again. I think this will be the last time we see tarkin for a good while.

Rogue One. The sets for next year aren't the cheapest, but they're not $500 and he could very easily be featured in one of them.