LEGO Star Wars 2024 Set Discussion - READ FIRST POST!!!

[Mandalorianknight]

19 hours ago, PreVizsla said:

I actually really appreciate your comment. For some reason I just assumed they are $15+ each, $6 is for more than fair. 

I get it, most clones are pretty expensive. Honestly I might pick some up myself, even I didn't realize how good it was when I searched to make sure the prices were still low-ish.

5 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

That is something i really would like to understand! Why does Lego not pump out SW battlepacks (and battlepacks for other themes as well)?? For a toy like Lego, it seems logical to have a wide array of battlepacks on shelves all the time. Children and adults alike love minfigs, love to armybuild, love to put minifigs into their mocs, etc, so why not have more battlepacks??

My guess is threethings:

1: minifigs are expensive to produce. I'd guess battlepacks, even with their sometimes tiny builds, have a lower profit margin (read in wat tambor voice) than, say the 18+ buildables. 

2: with star wars specifically, they might not want to do too many depending on that grey area legal contract stuff everybody always speculates about. If it is as much of a grey area as is sometimes rumored, lego might not want to trigger a closer look into the legalese by pumping legions of battlepacks out.

3: Most importantly, I think, self-competing. If there are 4 rebel battlepacks on shelves at the same time, they're going to start eating into eachother's sales. (I do think we saw this with the clone packs- both 2023 packs are starting to shelfwarm where I am and have hit some pretty nice discounts.)

[Coryo]

This year's 'super' battle pack that revived the B2s was one of my favourites in terms of character ratios (and the fact I could find it on sale), it's nice to just get the basics sometimes without any niche variants.

If Lego were to make another one in that price point, I wonder how many troops would be on each side, do 2 Battle Droids and 3 Super Battle Droids work out to be worth 4 minifigs? 

 

8 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

I’d also like an imperial remnant pack. Scout Trooper, Incinerator Trooper and 2 Battle-damaged Stormtroopers would be the dream.

I think that Lego should avoid printing battle damage on figures unless it's specifically part of the design, like the Night Troopers.

Overall versatility seems more important than specific scene-accuracy, and often certain printing choices can ruin the chances of that, like Anakin & Obi-Wan's burnt torsos. (I also kinda hate their pilot headsets)

[Llewop]

So in the U.K. Amazon have got the ISD at 15% off they are the only ones outside of Lego themselves that sell the set. My question is do we think Amazon are likely to do a bigger discount at some point in the future or is 15% good. 

they’ve also got Rivendell at 15% off as well which I think is a great deal but I’m definitely too poor for that set

[ArrowBricks]

1 hour ago, Llewop said:

So in the U.K. Amazon have got the ISD at 15% off they are the only ones outside of Lego themselves that sell the set. My question is do we think Amazon are likely to do a bigger discount at some point in the future or is 15% good. 

they’ve also got Rivendell at 15% off as well which I think is a great deal but I’m definitely too poor for that set

Yes for the ISS. I’d imagine 25% off at some point early next year. 

[Samppu]

On 10/7/2024 at 8:23 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

That is something i really would like to understand! Why does Lego not pump out SW battlepacks (and battlepacks for other themes as well)?? For a toy like Lego, it seems logical to have a wide array of battlepacks on shelves all the time. Children and adults alike love minfigs, love to armybuild, love to put minifigs into their mocs, etc, so why not have more battlepacks??

We can only speculate about the reasons. I would give a kingdom for a official and honest statement about this topic.

Agreed. I was once working during my studies in a big toy shop, and the battlepacks were the standard I gave to the busy buyers, who were looking for something for a birthday gift into a birthday party of a friend of their child (around 15 to 20 dollars seemed to be the acceptable price point for such gifts in the area). "But what if he/she has one already, can I return?" "Even if they did, I assure you that you don't have to."

Seems like a bad business choice to discard them in this respect, too. Unless they have a reason to think that the children don't care about Star Wars anymore and that other themes fill that birthday gift for a friend of one's own child -gap, which sadly may be true. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

There has to be a reason BPs have become so inconsistent  Maybe they did start to self-cannibalise, as some have suggested? If so, you think they‘d diversify them a bit though to prevent that. …which they‘ve actually done in a way this year!

We had a larger Clone vs Battle Droid BP, a regular size Imperial Armoured Commando vs Mando one, and now the exclusive Stormie vs Rebel Trooper set. Great selection if you ask me!

Now if only they continued that next year… Maybe we‘ll get one or two next Summer!

[Llewop]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

There has to be a reason BPs have become so inconsistent  Maybe they did start to self-cannibalise, as some have suggested? If so, you think they‘d diversify them a bit though to prevent that. …which they‘ve actually done in a way this year!

We had a larger Clone vs Battle Droid BP, a regular size Imperial Armoured Commando vs Mando one, and now the exclusive Stormie vs Rebel Trooper set. Great selection if you ask me!

Now if only they continued that next year… Maybe we‘ll get one or two next Summer!

I think pre disney plus shows they had genuinely ran out of ideas we were getting 4 a year and when we got like the bounty hunter pack and the tatooine pack and they took that as a sign that we didn’t want any more battle packs and then we’ve got all this new content with new factions/ troopers and they could do dozen or more from just the Disney plus shows let alone redoing ones from the past or doing ones that they missed from the 11 films. 

We’ve had 3 this year (2 are big packs) and they’ve all been different enough to not ruin sales imo.

I think there is room for the traditional 4 figure one but I think I like the idea of the 6-8 faction vs faction ones more. I think battle packs give the opportunity to get your basic trooper (or the odd specialist) and you leave room for more desirable named figures in your more expensive sets. 

[Darth_Bane13]

I'm not really a fan of the large combined battle packs, when I was a kid battle packs were good small sets that I could convince my mom to buy when we were at the store. A $30 or $40 set is less of a purchase on a whim.

[CloneCommando99]

On 10/7/2024 at 6:23 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

 (and battlepacks for other themes as well)?? 

Green Lantern Corps 

Jurassic Park Security 

Ultron Bots

Red Coats

Joker’s Goons

AIM Agents

Hydra Agents

Shield Agents

Orcs

Rohirrim

Koopas

Goombas

Whatever those things are

3 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

There has to be a reason BPs have become so inconsistent  Maybe they did start to self-cannibalise, as some have suggested? If so, you think they‘d diversify them a bit though to prevent that. …which they‘ve actually done in a way this year!

We had a larger Clone vs Battle Droid BP, a regular size Imperial Armoured Commando vs Mando one, and now the exclusive Stormie vs Rebel Trooper set. Great selection if you ask me!

Now if only they continued that next year… Maybe we‘ll get one or two next Summer!

The thing with Battlepacks is that Lego should always prioritise armoured units (stormtroopers, Clones, Mandalorians) over rebels. As they have a distinct shape. Whilst you can easily kit-bash some guerrilla rebels.

In other news, my order arrived whilst I was out today. I came home to find that the delivery guy had left it in the rain, the packaging had completely soaked through all the cardboard boxes and destroyed the GWP instructions. Thank god for online instructions. This is also the only time I’ve been thankful for Lego’s lack of environmental friendliness with the plastic bags. Actual payed for set instructions seem to have luckily been cocooned against the water by the plastic bags. DPD will be getting a strongly worded email.

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

2 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Whilst you can easily kit-bash some guerrilla rebels.

But you still need a collection of minifigures to kit-bash them. It would be nice to get a rebels battlepack every now and then, or a bounty hunter one, or one with random aliens. Or a updated Tatooine BP with Boba's Tusken vs Pykes. But I reckon chances for BPs like these are near zero these days:

[JohnTPT17]

40 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Goombas

That one arguably exists with 71433.

[MaximillianRebo]

33 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The thing with Battlepacks is that Lego should always prioritise armoured units (stormtroopers, Clones, Mandalorians) over rebels. As they have a distinct shape. Whilst you can easily kit-bash some guerrilla rebels.

I don't think this is a situation where prioritizing helmeted figs is the way to go (Constraction, buildable figs yes, but not battle packs). I think many people were disappointed that this years Mandalorian battle pack just used plain black heads for all figs, missing the chance to include various faces and skin tones that could be used for kit bashing elsewhere. Also I'd say that Endor troopers have as much of a distinct look as any helmeted faction.

Since it doesn't look like there'll ever be a return of the 'character packs' of the past (at least not in LSW), sets like the Rebel Battle Packs from 2016-17 can in someway fill that gap and do provide an opportunity to mix and match bodies, faces (especially non-human heads) and headgear to create multiple varied looks in a way that armoured faction battle packs don't.

[ARC2149Nova]

3 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The thing with Battlepacks is that Lego should always prioritise armoured units (stormtroopers, Clones, Mandalorians) over rebels. As they have a distinct shape. Whilst you can easily kit-bash some guerrilla rebels.

Stop this tired narrative...

Rebel Fleet Troopers, Hoth Wilderness Fighters, Rebel SpecForce (Endor Commandos), Jumptroopers, even Rogue One's Commandos had similar helmets, and uniform styles, even if the colors didn't always line up (think like WWII soldiers). The only, only guerrilla fighters we've seen are Saw's Partisans, which were an outlier amongst the Alliance proper. The Rebels had a legitimate, organized army.

People love saying Rebels have no uniform when it is blatantly untrue. They've had uniforms the entire OT. Hence, Lego should provide said battle packs. Now, should larger, more diversified, militaries (yes, the Empire has far more uniform variety than the Rebel Alliance) take priority over smaller groups? Yes. Which is why the Endor BP wasn't popular, as there were only like 13 commandos in the initial strike team vs untold legions of stormtroopers. The size of the Empire, Republic, CIS, etc. makes them necessitate more battle packs, as well as the variety of troop types within each military. Rebels should get less battle packs due to being an underdog force, outnumbered and outgunned in every fight.

3 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Ultron Bots

AIM Agents

Hydra Agents

Shield Agents

Orcs

Rohirrim

We've had most if not all of these (SHIELD and AIM noticeably absent). LOTR did super battle packs, which, while more expensive than $15, still gave you a decent number of massable troops with few unique characters. AIM was sprinkled generously throughout the Avengers video game sets, I'd only care if it was the Beekeepers. HYDRA just got the AOU battle pack (nothing spectacular, but I'd argue it counts), and Ultron had his battle pack in 2015.

 

4 hours ago, Darth_Bane13 said:

I'm not really a fan of the large combined battle packs, when I was a kid battle packs were good small sets that I could convince my mom to buy when we were at the store. A $30 or $40 set is less of a purchase on a whim.

Same. Plus, it lets you be more selective. I love the new Rebel Scout Speeder, that thing could sell on its own. The dropship on the other hand, not so much. But, if I want to build my stormtrooper corps, I'd want more stormtroopers than rebels.

[Flawless Cowboy]

All this battle pack discussion just reminds me that we have all these massable figures, and nowhere to put them. We need more sets to store or display our figs! More gunships, walkers, carriers, troop transports. I’m not interested in gray baseplates

[Yperio_Bricks]

26 minutes ago, Flawless Cowboy said:

All this battle pack discussion just reminds me that we have all these massable figures, and nowhere to put them. We need more sets to store or display our figs! More gunships, walkers, carriers, troop transports. I’m not interested in gray baseplates

Put them in MOCs!

[PreVizsla]

18 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

We had a larger Clone vs Battle Droid BP, a regular size Imperial Armoured Commando vs Mando one, and now the exclusive Stormie vs Rebel Trooper set. Great selection if you ask me!

In my opinion, as an army builder, all these BPs have major flaws and feel like a rip off, as most people only want one faction out of them. Instead of building an army with a faction you love and getting a bunch of figures for $20, you are forced to pay for stuff you don't care about. Even if you want both factions, getting only six figures in the Rebels vs. Family Guy Stormtroopers BP for $40 is atrocious. And let’s not even talk about how they are making these expensive $30 battle packs now but can’t even get something simple like the BARC speeder build right, or even its size for that matter. I hated these type of sets as a kid and I hate them even more now.

I also disagree that BPs shouldn't include rebels as I love Endor rebels personally and I would have also bought Tantive rebels now if they weren't in a versus pack.

[CallumPears]

1 hour ago, PreVizsla said:

In my opinion, as an army builder, all these BPs have major flaws and feel like a rip off, as most people only want one faction out of them. Instead of building an army with a faction you love and getting a bunch of figures for $20, you are forced to pay for stuff you don't care about. Even if you want both factions, getting only six figures in the Rebels vs. Family Guy Stormtroopers BP for $40 is atrocious. And let’s not even talk about how they are making these expensive $30 battle packs now but can’t even get something simple like the BARC speeder build right, or even its size for that matter. I hated these type of sets as a kid and I hate them even more now.

I also disagree that BPs shouldn't include rebels as I love Endor rebels personally and I would have also bought Tantive rebels now if they weren't in a versus pack.

Yeah I much prefer the smaller 1-faction packs. 75280 was a blatant cash-grab but people proved that they'd pay those prices. 

 

And yes please I've been begging for a new Endor Rebel pack since they made the updated design back in 2015. Crazy that we haven't had a single Endor Rebel since then, aside from the terribly inaccurate Luke and Leia figures in the Speeder diorama. 

[Alexandrina]

17 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The thing with Battlepacks is that Lego should always prioritise armoured units (stormtroopers, Clones, Mandalorians) over rebels. As they have a distinct shape. Whilst you can easily kit-bash some guerrilla rebels.

I couldn't disagree more, and this isn't just me preferring the look of rebels over the armoured factions. Battle-packs imo should always come in pairs - two opposing factions designed to do battle with one another. That's what battle packs are for. I have no use for a dozen stormtroopers on their own. Give me rebels too, and they have somebody to fight.

It might be a controversial take, but I don't think the battle-packs have been worthwhile since 2008. After that, we had ugly Clone Wars faces alternating with ugly Hoth rebels, then they started putting named characters in battle-packs (not the point of a battle-pack) and the price crept up.

[CloneCommando99]

Ok. I hear your criticisms of me saying that Rebels can easily be kit-bashed. I think it just comes down to personal ideology on what a rebel is. There are Rebels who are an organised military with uniforms like in the OT. But I usually think of the Lothal resistance from Rebels, the heist crew from Andor and general workers revolutions in history (I’m a history fanatic and studied Russia back in the day)

But I do still think that Stormies and Clones should be prioritised more than rebels in BPs due to their larger numbers. A couple of Rebel soldiers (with the exception of Hoth rebels who do need specific sets) should be thrown in a set here and there whether it’s an imperial ground vehicle, base or rebel ship.

The first Rogue One wave in 2016 is an example of this working very well. (Of course the second wave had both imperial and rebel BPs in Jan 2017)

 

[Alexandrina]

40 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

But I do still think that Stormies and Clones should be prioritised more than rebels in BPs due to their larger numbers

But if you don't make Rebel battlepacks available when their Imperial counterparts are on the shelves, who are the Imperials fighting against? A handful of minifigures dotted like tokens in larger sets isn't really sufficient, and it also reduces the likelihood of kids being able to afford to get them. I wasn't a particularly hard-up kid but I still almost never got sets above the lowest few price-points - I'd get a £40-or-thereabouts set for Christmas each year, but other than that, if it cost more than £25 I had to save my pennies to buy it. This is in an era when the cost of living was lower, too. Looking at Lego.com, there are currently five sets that aren't Brickheads, Microfighters or Keyrings in this range, and they're pretty much all battlepacks. (In fact, 75738 is the only non-battlepack regular set currently available; at a push 75760 might have been in my price-range). The low-end sets tend not to have 'spare' minifigures, either (and they never have), so if you take away Rebel battlepacks, a lot of kids are going to be maybe able to get one or two Rebel troopers over the course of years.

The nature of Star Wars means that Stormtroopers are going to be more represented. This is because pretty much every film/TV show has a large cast of heroes who we're following, and a handful of named villains, including at least one per film that doesn't actually interact with the heroes at all. So a lot of scenes are naturally going to have Stormtroopers to supplement the villains (or instead of named villains; it seems like half of the Original Trilogy is our heroes fighting nameless Imperials) whereas the reverse isn't true. Generic Rebels basically never appear in any Star Wars media without there also being plenty of main characters - and those main characters are going to fill a lot of minifigure spots, particularly in lower-end sets.

Fwiw, anecdotally, I was more excited for the 2008 Rebel battlepack than I ever was for an Imperial/Clone battlepack.

[ARC2149Nova]

2 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

I think it just comes down to personal ideology on what a rebel is. There are Rebels who are an organised military with uniforms like in the OT. But I usually think of the Lothal resistance from Rebels, the heist crew from Andor and general workers revolutions in history (I’m a history fanatic and studied Russia back in the day)

No. You're just wrong. Even the Lothal cell had uniformed soldiers (notably the crew aboard Phoenix One and those in the Quasar), Andor's team still had a consistent look amongst them (like even modern day Special Forces), and revolting factory workers are not Star Wars rebels. The Rebel Alliance is the Rebel Alliance, the OT depiction takes highest priority as it is the very essence of Star Wars. All other depictions are derivatives or outliers from the central Alliance. Even the games understand this, from Sullust to Jakku, the soldiers of the Rebellion maintain a uniformed identity.

3 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

But I do still think that Stormies and Clones should be prioritised more than rebels in BPs due to their larger numbers. A couple of Rebel soldiers (with the exception of Hoth rebels who do need specific sets) should be thrown in a set here and there whether it’s an imperial ground vehicle, base or rebel ship.

The Empire has more troops, and more trooper types, yes. But the Rebels had a decent military for their size. Even if the bases on Yavin and Hoth are to be considered exceptions, the soldiers of the Alliance maintained company and battalion strengths all across the galaxy. We need more Endor Commandos, maybe the Sullust Rebel Soldiers, urban commandos, Twilight Company, etc. In addition to more troops sprinkled into faction relevant sets. Besides, army building is what battle packs are for. People want a Rebel army. Hard to do so when they only come out one at a time in $50+ sets.

3 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The first Rogue One wave in 2016 is an example of this working very well. (Of course the second wave had both imperial and rebel BPs in Jan 2017)

It's almost as if people want troops for both factions, and Lego realized this...

2 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

But if you don't make Rebel battlepacks available when their Imperial counterparts are on the shelves, who are the Imperials fighting against? A handful of minifigures dotted like tokens in larger sets isn't really sufficient, and it also reduces the likelihood of kids being able to afford to get them....

...The low-end sets tend not to have 'spare' minifigures, either (and they never have), so if you take away Rebel battlepacks, a lot of kids are going to be maybe able to get one or two Rebel troopers over the course of years.

Exactly. Even if AFOLs can manage their Rebel Alliance off a few scraps here and there, kids can not.

2 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

Fwiw, anecdotally, I was more excited for the 2008 Rebel battlepack than I ever was for an Imperial/Clone battlepack.

That and 8083 are two of my favorite battle packs.

[Alexandrina]

15 minutes ago, ARC2149Nova said:

That and 8083 are two of my favorite battle packs.

I did like 8083 a little bit, but I wasn't a fan of having Zev Senesca - named characters discourage buying multiples imo. And Hoth Rebels are my least favourite (Empire is my least favourite OT film)

Still, it was better than a lot that came after

[ARC2149Nova]

20 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

I did like 8083 a little bit, but I wasn't a fan of having Zev Senesca - named characters discourage buying multiples imo.

Very true. Even as a kid I didn't understand why a pilot was in a battle pack.

 

21 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

(Empire is my least favourite OT film)

Blasphemy! 

But I agree that the 2008 battle packs are the GOATs.

[Alexandrina]

Just now, ARC2149Nova said:

But I agree that the 2008 battle packs are the GOATs.

2008 and 2007, too. Then we got treated to Clone Wars faces, and they moved away from the original design philosophy for minifigures in even the OT sets.

I often wonder what 2009 would have looked like in a world where TCW isn't a thing. Presumably for battle-packs we'd go back to the Clone Wars era, and get some new variants of the original Phase II helmet. I'm sad we never got the blue markings on that mould. But is there a chance we get some proper EU/Legends stuff? Most of the standard stuff from the OT would still have been on the shelves then, and they had started to experiment with EU sets. Possibly we get a Thrawn set to really test the waters for book-based stuff.

Or possibly Star Wars starts to fade away as there's no new material to make sets from, and iirc the licence was up for renewal in 2008 - and originally planned to discontinue the range.

[CloneCommando99]

1 hour ago, ARC2149Nova said:

No. You're just wrong. Even the Lothal cell had uniformed soldiers (notably the crew aboard Phoenix One and those in the Quasar), Andor's team still had a consistent look amongst them (like even modern day Special Forces), and revolting factory workers are not Star Wars rebels. The Rebel Alliance is the Rebel Alliance, the OT depiction takes highest priority as it is the very essence of Star Wars. All other depictions are derivatives or outliers from the central Alliance. Even the games understand this, from Sullust to Jakku, the soldiers of the Rebellion maintain a uniformed identity.

I was talking about the Lothal Resistance Group in season 4. They were a ragtag bunch of freed prisoners, pilots, farmers and workers led by Ryder Azadi.

But aside from that, I think I might just have this weird preference for making my OC rebels working class revolutionaries (because history has had such a huge impact on my interests) I often forget that most kids don’t share the same historical influence to imagination as I had.

Though come to think of it, Pheonix Squadron Soldiers would make a great BP because of their enclosed helmets.

1 hour ago, ARC2149Nova said:

Besides, army building is what battle packs are for. People want a Rebel army. Hard to do so when they only come out one at a time in $50+ sets.

 

I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be Rebel BPs at all. I’m just saying that there’s a reason armoured units are more common in BPs and why it’s a relatively good strategy to sprinkle a couple of rebel soldiers here and there in sets. I think the reason why I’m as against Rebel BPs as I am is because I don’t like the idea of having multiple of the same face print on show in a unit. (This is especially a problem with Rebel Fleet Troopers as there’s currently only a couple of different face prints with the helmet strap.) so I may be a bit biased in that sense. I do think a remake of the 2012 Endor BP would be awesome though.

 

Besides, this is a very intriguing debate. I get that I’m in the minority. But It’s always interesting to gain an understanding of everyone else’s POV on such matters.

30 minutes ago, ARC2149Nova said:

Blasphemy! 

But I agree that the 2008 battle packs are the GOATs.

Agreed. Though not as bad as @BrickBob Studpants’s heresy.

1 hour ago, ARC2149Nova said:

Exactly. Even if AFOLs can manage their Rebel Alliance off a few scraps here and there, kids can not.

Touché. 
 

59 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

I did like 8083 a little bit, but I wasn't a fan of having Zev Senesca - named characters discourage buying multiples imo. And Hoth Rebels are my least favourite (Empire is my least favourite OT film)

Still, it was better than a lot that came after

I personally find Hoth Rebels to be my least favourite OT rebel trooper since they aren’t as versatile. Same goes to imperial snow troopers. I still find them cool though.