For what are the (lego) armies fighting?

[Trudop561]

Just a small reminder : the separatists are fighting the republic because they are secessionists so they strike at strategic cities and outposts of the republic to take control of it. And the rebels are fighting the empire because they want to come back to the old republic era.

But on many of the lego star wars boxes, the background is never a city, base or outpost (which are very important places to take control of a planet and have more chances to defeat a enemy). Let's take some examples :

The imperial dropship and rebel scout speeder : it's the desert! If the rebels want to defeat the empire, why are they attacking in the desert instead of more important places? (like Coruscant)

AT-AP : forest!

AT-AP commercial : geonosis desert!

AT-TE : I don't even know what the background is supposed to be.

Almost every clone set in 2005 : forest!

Hailfire droid and spider droid : desert!

Clone and droids battle packs : forest!

Droid gunship : land!

Fighter tank : desert!

So the great question of my topic is : WHY are the empire, rebel alliance, republic and droids always fighting in nature instead of base, cities and outpost like I said on line 4???

Edited July 12, 2008 by Trudop561

[The Rancor]

So the great question of my topic is : WHY are the empire, rebel alliance, republic and droids always fighting in nature instead of base, cities and outpost like I said on line 4???

Well...

There's a lot more space for a giant conflict in the middle of a desert or forest!

It would seem a bit cramped to have straight marching rows of 100s of 1000s of troopers in a building wouldn't it?

[Justin2224]

Well you see, it all happens when one faction and another faction hate each other very much. One faction meets the other faction in some place no one will ever expect. So they begin to fight. And on the box art note, I dont think a kid will want to buy an AT-AP that has no blaster bolts shooting by and its locked up in storage. Boring. And most major conflics take place in the desert or forest(I.e, battle of geonosis, battle of tatooine, battle of kashyyyk,ect)

Edited July 12, 2008 by Justin2224

[filefolders]

These locations are memorable. A large portion of episode six was in the forest of Endor and in episode three the Separatists attacked the Wookiees' jungle planet and in the original Star Wars the was in the desert investigating the escape pod. Never in all three of the movies were there any huge battles in an urban area. In the movies they seem to be fighting over seemingly worthless landscapes so they can get to the military base or city.

[Oky]

Well, here is my theory:

Cities = Civilians

Civilians + War = Death

Lego = Childrens' Toy

Childrens' Toy + Death = Bad Morals

Now, I know that there are a lot of deaths in SW anyway, but those are just clones and droids which are expendable. Besides, TLG seems to be unclear about their no-violence policy at the moment themselves.

[Justin2224]

lego has a non-violent policy?

[commandosevy]

lego has a non-violent policy?

only for little kids... but like 9-?? its ok to have violence.

and also the sets are linked in one thing sometimes... like BPs (2007) and the AT-AP and alot of other sets... well mainly what I'm saying is lego sometimes makes a 10 sets on the same planet... or biome ....see my drift?

[Justin2224]

the sets from 05 were from ep 3, and its major battle was the battle of kashyyyk, thought it should have been utapau that lego made

[JimBee]

only for little kids... but like 9-?? its ok to have violence.

Now thats exactly what we dont want. Violence to kids= bad influences. and I consider ages 0-12 kids.

Anyways, it doesnt really matter where/ why the armies are fighting. It is a fantasy universe, and if you take it apart and think about it, there is no reason, there is no "why" (Matrix line). Who really cares? well, apparently you, but still, the clones fight for planets, their resources, and alliances with the natives. The rebels fight for peace and justice (just like every other action/ drama story). And the CIS and Empire fight for power. Its how war is, you dont just decide to send in troops to the main city, and thats that. You have to weaken defenses, attack their army, make sure your troops lives arent in vain, etc.

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

I think Oky is right, but in basis nobody lives (besides from the soldiers), too. I think the bachground from the AT-TE shows the location from this scene.

It reminds me a bit of a city, or a base... But we need more boxes with a location that makes sense!

I hate those boxes with the Tatooine dessert. It looks so empty. So incomplete...

[MacK]

Interesting question you have, as for the answer I guess it's because cities are usually going to be more heavily defended, since that's where people live and there are more resources, to launch successful attacks on cities you need more troops, and supplies as its going to be harder, and take longer to attack. The Rebels can't attack Coruscant, because they don't have a big enough army. I think JimButcher has a point that you need to go and attack other areas around the cities to weaken defenses.

Also since the defenders are protecting the city that means they have to move away from it to protect it better, otherwise the city will be completely destroyed by the battle, and everyone will be killed. Which is also why; the major military bases/factories aren't located in cities, but rather near them just to try and draw the major battles away from them. If you're attacking some city the defending army would most likely (but not always) try to set up outside of the city so that’s where you would have to fight them. It's there in the forests or deserts where the major battles occur. Once they are finished you and your troops are free to move into and take over the main city, although there may be a bit of resistance from the remainder of the defending army there won't be that much compared to outside the city.

[BlueBard]

Well, here is my theory:

Cities = Civilians

Civilians + War = Death

Lego = Childrens' Toy

Childrens' Toy + Death = Bad Morals

I could have not say it better

An "urban" war it's allways more heavy because there's allways much more deads...

[Norrington]

An "urban" war it's allways more heavy because there's allways much more deads...

Pretty much. The in-city fighting only really happens in EU. Ever played Star Wars Battlefront? You fight in Bespin, Mos Eisley, etc. You fight in cities in (this is kind of an old game, but I still like it) Galactic Battlegrounds, Coruscant, Bespin again, Theed, etc. Plenty of the old Star Wars books involve urban fighting.

But, considering we've got this kinda stuff for real in say, Iraq, I'm sure LEGO doesn't want to invoke that.

[Dragonator]

You know I think that this was a marketing choice by TLC mainly. They chose a couple of rather plain box-art designs to use on the various sets. This way they don't have to design a new background for every set. Also, I think they may have chosen desert and forest backgrounds because they don't want any distractions from the model they're trying to sell. That's my thoughts anyway.

Have you guys noticed that the explosions on many of the boxes are exactly the same? And for that matter, the laser beams? Yes, this is another point to show that they are trying to cut costs by re-using previous designs, meaning they don't need to make new graphics etc for every set. What do you guys think?