LEGO Star Wars 2020 Set Discussion - READ FIRST POST!!!

[FeepoGerbin]

Landino just shared a post on his Instagram by someone with an official Lego P2 Clone helmet in pearl dark gray, saying it’s an early Bad Batch figure production test!

[BrickBob Studpants]

46 minutes ago, FeepoGerbin said:

Landino just shared a post on his Instagram by someone with an official Lego P2 Clone helmet in pearl dark gray, saying it’s an early Bad Batch figure production test!

Or, you know, just an unprinted version of this:

 

[Willsy]

So I'm a bit confused about the Bespin Duel release date, is it supposed to be October still or has it been brought forward? For some reason, I thought that catalogue listing was for next month.

[THELEGOBATMAN]

47 minutes ago, Willsy said:

So I'm a bit confused about the Bespin Duel release date, is it supposed to be October still or has it been brought forward? For some reason, I thought that catalogue listing was for next month.

People say it's September 1st.

[Willsy]

Just now, THELEGOBATMAN said:

People say it's September 1st.

I'll keep on eye on it then, thanks!

Razor Crest and this are going to make September an expensive month...

[Balrogofmorgoth]

Ordered the SW and HP advent calendars from Kohl’s 

[LurkingEhlek]

I could see the helmet being part of Hunter, as he would be the only member of the Bad Batch to not need a unique helmet, but at the same time I will never rule out Lego making another Kashyyyk set with Gree as Kashyyyk has basically become the Hoth of prequel sets. However, the Bad Batch will absolutely get a set with the show, so no shame either way.

 

Edit: Ah so it's the darker metallic. So unless we get some Republic Shadow Troopers out of non-canon nowhere then I have a good feeling about this.

Edited August 20, 2020 by LurkingEhlek

[FeepoGerbin]

2 hours ago, Lego-Freak said:

Or, you know, just an unprinted version of this:

 

Nope, that’s pearl light grey, which he shows the new one next to in order to confirm that this one’s different!

[Snazzy Bricks]

Maybe a CIS MTT? based of Season 7?

[Mandalorianknight]

4 hours ago, FeepoGerbin said:

Landino just shared a post on his Instagram by someone with an official Lego P2 Clone helmet in pearl dark gray, saying it’s an early Bad Batch figure production test!

This would suggest a CW S7 set in january if true. I'd guess the shuttle or a separatist vehicle like the octuptarra droid or @Snazzy Bricks's suggestion of an MTT.

10 hours ago, jdubbs said:

Completely free reign? No. Disney/LFL offers guidance about upcoming initiatives (we have this movie coming out, plus these books, this video game, and these shows...) and which are getting major marketing support (we're spending XX million promoting Galaxy's Edge, and YY million promoting Disney+...) and who the main heroes/villains/vehicles are, etc. All of which licensees like LEGO absorb and use to map out their product lineup for the coming year(s). Most often, the licensee follows the money, because marketing spend by Disney rubs off on corresponding products by the licensee.

Disney has a chance to respond and offer feedback (we love this... we're iffy on that... we wish you would do something to support XYZ because we have big plans for it moving forward... we would really prefer you time your launch to coincide with Force Friday because we're spending a ton to promote it...) and eventually, approve the plans. When individual products aren't approved, it's most often because it portrays the character in the wrong light, or breaks a rule in some way (this character can't be depicted with that one, these costume details are wrong, etc.) not because Disney commands from on high, "YOU MUST MAKE THIS PRODUCT INSTEAD." 

This is how virtually all IP licenses work, be it Star Wars or Harry Potter or Marvel. There is always a give and take. There are rules, certainly... you'll produce at least X number of products per year and guarantee Y dollars in sales and so on, and a select few things are off-limits (as in, "you can't make products of the Tonnika Sisters because we don't have the rights to their likeness")... but one party does not dictate terms (or products) to the other. LEGO, as the largest toy maker in the world, isn't told by Disney how to sell toys any more than Disney, being the largest movie studio in the world, is told by LEGO how to make movies. The two companies are in a licensing partnership. Each needs the other to succeed, and each trusts the other to know their own business and do their best to ensure that partnership is as profitable as possible. 

One need only compare the diversity of toys offered by LEGO versus Hasbro versus Funko to see that each licensee has a great deal of latitude to choose the types and subjects of the toys they sell. Case in point: there are Star Wars licensees that have never produced a ST product (or PT, for that matter) because it doesn't fit their brand or work for their customer, or whatever.  And if, as some of you imagine, Disney really exerted the sort of dictatorial control over what toys each of these companies produced, Hasbro would have stopped producing Legends/EU/non-canon action figures years ago... and yet more come every year.

First of all, I'm not saying at all that disney is exerting "dictatorial control" over the brand. Heck, I don't think disney high-ups concern themselves with the lego brand. 

I agree with most of the things you're saying, I think it's just terminology I'm using that's causing the misunderstanding. I'm not saying that disney is going around saying "NO LEGO, INSTEAD OF CLONE WARS YOU MUST MAKE TROS SETS" as some have implied they do, I'm saying Lucasfilm probably says things like "Hey lego, can you make a set for The Mandalorian" or "We'd like it if you made the ghost as it's the main ship in our new show".  

[BigGuy4U]

Nice to see that it looks like we're getting the Bad Batch in some form, I wonder if it'll be based on season 7 or the upcoming show. I'd be surprised if the series comes out that early to warrant January wave sets for it, but you never know.

[jdubbs]

8 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

First of all, I'm not saying at all that disney is exerting "dictatorial control" over the brand. Heck, I don't think disney high-ups concern themselves with the lego brand. 

I agree with most of the things you're saying, I think it's just terminology I'm using that's causing the misunderstanding. I'm not saying that disney is going around saying "NO LEGO, INSTEAD OF CLONE WARS YOU MUST MAKE TROS SETS" as some have implied they do, I'm saying Lucasfilm probably says things like "Hey lego, can you make a set for The Mandalorian" or "We'd like it if you made the ghost as it's the main ship in our new show".  

I think we're on the same page, though there are still a lot of folks who are convinced Disney controls everything LEGO does. My point was just that even when Disney makes these kind of requests/suggestions, they don't necessarily get their way... one of the LEGO designers even said this happened with the Rogue One sets... Disney suggested the cargo shuttle, LEGO pushed back to do Krennic's shuttle instead... and we all know how that turned out. Kind of a bummer in that case, as the cargo shuttle is probably too big for LEGO to do at this point, unless it shows up in some new show or movie.

[astroboy75]

Do we know when Mos Eisley D2C is supposed to be released?

[jpipes7261]

I would love some bad batch and season 7 clone wars sets as much as the next guy, but I think people are reaching with that helmet. There are tons of different color molds for helmets and other things. Particularly in the the Star Wars theme, they have blue, red, gold, green, and many colors of the standard blaster as well as the Vader helmets in different colors. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

2 hours ago, FeepoGerbin said:

Nope, that’s pearl light grey, which he shows the new one next to in order to confirm that this one’s different!

Hm, you‘re right  Maybe there is something to that! Then again, @jpipes7261 has a point. I remember the speculation about all the colourful blasters that leaked in early 2019, only for them to end up being prototypes of sorts (the pink one should have been a dead giveaway though ). I think at this point, it could go either way...

[TeddytheSpoon]

1 hour ago, jdubbs said:

Disney suggested the cargo shuttle, LEGO pushed back to do Krennic's shuttle instead... and we all know how that turned out.

I thought Krennic's shuttle was a great set in fairness, but it is a shame we didn't get the cargo shuttle. I'd love to have seen the prototype they made for that, assuming they did one.

If they are to make Bad Batch sets I imagine the shuttle would make the most sense - it was in TCW S7 and will probably crop up in the new series seeing as it's basically their equivalent of the A-Team van.

[jdubbs]

10 minutes ago, TeddytheSpoon said:

I thought Krennic's shuttle was a great set in fairness, but it is a shame we didn't get the cargo shuttle. I'd love to have seen the prototype they made for that, assuming they did one.

It is, and great minifigs. I just feel like, being a sub-$100 set, there was more of a chance of it getting made 2, 3, 5 years down the road... whereas the cargo shuttle would need either a retail store to sponsor it as an exclusive, or a giant gaping hole in the fall wave to stand a chance of getting made. But, who knows... maybe it will show up in Mando or the Cassian Andor prequel series and we'll get a second crack at it. In the meantime, I wish someone would do a MOC of it that isn't thousands and thousands of pieces...

[MGS6735]

2 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

This would suggest a CW S7 set in january if true. I'd guess the shuttle or a separatist vehicle like the octuptarra droid or @Snazzy Bricks's suggestion of an MTT.

As much as I like those ideas, I doubt they'd show up if this supposed set is released in a winter wave. Unless they do a tiny version of the Octuptarra droid as they did with the Utapau troopers battle pack, stability/durability issues would likely stop that from being made, and a CW MTT would likely be out of the price range we usually see in winter releases (unless they find a way to make the 2014 MTT smaller and less expensive).

35 minutes ago, TeddytheSpoon said:

If they are to make Bad Batch sets I imagine the shuttle would make the most sense

I agree. Especially if this set is supposed to be a winter release, the shuttle would make the most sense and would fit within the usual pricing of winter wave sets, unless they give it the Grievous' Starfighter treatment.

44 minutes ago, Lego-Freak said:

I remember the speculation about all the colourful blasters that leaked in early 2019, only for them to end up being prototypes of sorts

I hope this helmet means we are getting a Bad Batch set, but this could be the case as well. I'd like for all of the set ideas people have proposed this could be to come out, but I think they either aren't feasible as winter wave sets or won't be what we would want them to be if they get made. We'll have to wait for more developments, but don't have any expectations if you don't want to be disappointed.

[Kit Figsto]

2 hours ago, astroboy75 said:

Do we know when Mos Eisley D2C is supposed to be released?

At this point nothing confirmed, but historical release patterns would suggest probably October.  

[Azani]

I wanted to follow up on what @jdubbs and a few others have been saying about the $14.99 US battle packs: they aren't on the tentative 2021 winter price list, and there's no indication of their presence in the Spring as well, but we did skip over four set numbers in the second half of 2020. Nothing is impossible; certain likelihoods remain strong.

I will say that SW 2021 looks as though it will be more expensive than 2020, not less...

Edited August 20, 2020 by Azani

[lego_guyon02]

Welp, the official Star Wars YT channel just confirmed the Bespin Duel set to be available only in the US  

[Redroe]

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

This would suggest a CW S7 set in january if true. I'd guess the shuttle or a separatist vehicle like the octuptarra droid or @Snazzy Bricks's suggestion of an MTT.

Must be the shuttle surely. Though I'd seen a rumour somewhere of a blue MTT. Would make sense.

 

57 minutes ago, Azani said:

say that SW 2021 looks as though it will be more expensive than 2020, not less...

Oh that familiar mix of childish excitement and toe-curling dread. 2020 has been a slow year. Overpriced stuff, uninteresting stuff (personally) and poor quality stuff. Some gems, like Ahsoka, Obi Wan's Hut and hopefully Mos Eisley. But if its true we are getting smaller and fewer, and more desirable (or so I assume if we're going to be cash strapped)... well my interest is piqued.

1 hour ago, Kit Figsto said:

At this point nothing confirmed, but historical release patterns would suggest probably October.  

Hm, I turn 30 in October. What a way to celebrate. It's that or a convertible and I know which will get past the wife easier. 

I'm gonna have to come clean here and say.... someone tell me what D2C means? Big and expensive? Love child of UCS and MBS? Love child of R2D2-C3P0? I've tried for so long to figure it out but no.

[Chill]

On 8/18/2020 at 6:48 PM, STARHAWK said:

After the lego holiday special, i understand the figure selection in the Advent calendar and it will be a +1 reason NOT to buy it. The cant let the ST go ...

Hope the sales will be low so that they will let the ST finally go away.

At the moment, im happy wit not so good SW sets (im lucky i dont need 501 so much and i have all previous Ahsokas, so i can wait with the tank). Transformers from Hasbro are perfect at this moment so my money can go there.

Waiting on the Cantina (impatiently refreshing instagram) and now on Ninjago City addition - whether they will attack my valet or not :)

I'm more excited for this calendar than I have been for some of the other recent ones.  And I've really enjoyed the last coupe years.

7 minutes ago, Redroe said:

Must be the shuttle surely. Though I'd seen a rumour somewhere of a blue MTT. Would make sense.

 

Oh that familiar mix of childish excitement and toe-curling dread. 2020 has been a slow year. Overpriced stuff, uninteresting stuff (personally) and poor quality stuff. Some gems, like Ahsoka, Obi Wan's Hut and hopefully Mos Eisley. But if its true we are getting smaller and fewer, and more desirable (or so I assume if we're going to be cash strapped)... well my interest is piqued.

Hm, I turn 30 in October. What a way to celebrate. It's that or a convertible and I know which will get past the wife easier. 

I'm gonna have to come clean here and say.... someone tell me what D2C means? Big and expensive? Love child of UCS and MBS? Love child of R2D2-C3P0? I've tried for so long to figure it out but no.

Direct 2(to) Consumer - Meaning sold by lego directly, and not available through typical retailers.

[tastyshrimp2596]

The summer wave sets have their release moved up to August 24th for Canada/US on Lego store!

[Mandalorianknight]

4 hours ago, jdubbs said:

I think we're on the same page, though there are still a lot of folks who are convinced Disney controls everything LEGO does. My point was just that even when Disney makes these kind of requests/suggestions, they don't necessarily get their way... one of the LEGO designers even said this happened with the Rogue One sets... Disney suggested the cargo shuttle, LEGO pushed back to do Krennic's shuttle instead... and we all know how that turned out. Kind of a bummer in that case, as the cargo shuttle is probably too big for LEGO to do at this point, unless it shows up in some new show or movie.

Yeah, I think we had the same point and were just misunderstanding each other's posts. It's interesting that LEGO refuses their suggestions sometimes...a cargo shuttle would have been a great set, but I guess it'd be hard to get at the same price is krennic's shuttle.

1 hour ago, MGS6735 said:

As much as I like those ideas, I doubt they'd show up if this supposed set is released in a winter wave. Unless they do a tiny version of the Octuptarra droid as they did with the Utapau troopers battle pack, stability/durability issues would likely stop that from being made, and a CW MTT would likely be out of the price range we usually see in winter releases (unless they find a way to make the 2014 MTT smaller and less expensive).

I agree. Especially if this set is supposed to be a winter release, the shuttle would make the most sense and would fit within the usual pricing of winter wave sets, unless they give it the Grievous' Starfighter treatment.

They are somewhat unlikely, but the bad batch don't have many options for sets. There's those vehicles and the shuttle, of course, and you could throw one or two of them into a LAAT or AT-TE but then you run into the pricing problem you mentioned.

1 hour ago, Guyon2002 said:

Welp, the official Star Wars YT channel just confirmed the Bespin Duel set to be available only in the US  

I feel bad for you guys, that set is IMO one of the best in the past few years.

17 minutes ago, Redroe said:

Must be the shuttle surely. Though I'd seen a rumour somewhere of a blue MTT. Would make sense.

Love child of R2D2-C3P0?

Blue MTT was from a fake list from this guy who made multiple alt accounts to defend himself, from what I remember.

Fun fact related to the second bit I quoted: BB-8 has a girlfriend in the Poe Dameron comics.