Designer Panel: LEGO Star Wars The Clone Wars

Clone Wars is my favorite Star Wars era- always happy to get a Clone Wars set

Great interview! It was interesting to hear about how because the way the 6x6 tile is made you can't print on it. It makes sense now that I look at one, but I wouldn't have thought that would have been a limiting factor, even if it leads to the disappointing use of stickers.

I haven't gotten to watch it all yet. Did they address why they used only 2008 TCW for the ”20th anniversary"?

Just watched David’s recap. It’s weird how the questions he recapped were all *vaguely accusatory,* as if to passive aggressively complain to the design team why the recent output wasn’t *exactly* what they’d been hoping for. There’s definitely a degree of entitlement I pick up on, which isn’t out of the ordinary in any Star Wars-based discussion.

I know it’s a product and we’re the consumers, yada yada, but complaining about decisions already made is less interesting to me than discussing the future and getting into more of the design ethos of the team. But LucasFilm and TLG are so secretive about future projects that I suppose they’ve sorta help breed this little cesspool that can make online LSW discussion so tiring.

I hate to say it but the whole idea of “consistency” for Lego Star Wars clone trooper Minifigures with Kamas is dumb. People have hated the printed waist capes since they first came out. Back in 2008 the republic fighter tank shows the commander with the plastic waist cape on the front of the box and without it on the back. Minifigures can still sit down with the cloth waist cape on using the new slot connections or 2 front stud connections. If you’re worried about the waist cape being damaged then just take it off. For cases like the Captain Rex who is standing up the legs won’t even bend the waist cape, for Fox the connection I think is the slotted connection. At the very least if Lego doesn’t want to do the cloth waist capes just come out and say it and dual mold the legs black and white so it looks complete or give the minifig side leg printing. Also Wanda got a custom waist cape in the End game Battle set and a Dreamzzz minifig got one in the Nightmare shark. Not to mention the Baron minifig from the dune set got a brand new cloth piece that is twice as big as Lord Business’s tie and the buildable Harry Potter got an extra large cape.

I’m not saying this not because I hate Lego and Lego Star Wars. I’m saying this because I grew up on Lego Star Wars and dedicated almost my entire life to it and Lego. I want to see the company progress not produce things that are worse quality than some of the previous figures.

Anyone else find it disappointing how much the Venator engines seem to be drooping in that image?

@Astrobricks said:
"Anyone else find it disappointing how much the Venator engines seem to be drooping in that image?"

JANG talked about this a little in his review. The section between the engines tapers inward toward the back, creating an optical illusion that makes it look like the engines sag more than they actually do. I recommend watching his review starting at about 3:15 for a good look at the engines.

And, this is why- in part- it's necessary to a call out the obvious biases... from time to time.

Access is privilege that breeds objective hesitancy. So does free product. Familiarity breeds fear of objective criticism.

I've only watched the first 20 or so minutes, but mostly seems fairly sensible. The bit that raised eyebrows about the printed 6x6 tiles was when SBS went "just redesign the mould, it's a $600 set."

Re-designing a part mould just so you can print something would be an ENORMOUS undertaking. No doubt the moulds will have been through several iterations of design to get that right in the first place, and the moulds will have a life - and therefore cost - associated with them. Not to mention the additional development cost. I'd be willing to bet that scrapping them early could well have resulted in a more expensive Venator.

But shouldn’t a mould of a large tile have been designed with the idea of future printing? That seems pretty short sighted. Tiles are what get printed the most, are they not?

@Endermen39 said:
"At the very least if Lego doesn’t want to do the cloth waist capes just come out and say it and dual mold the legs black and white so it looks complete or give the minifig side leg printing.
...
I’m not saying this not because I hate Lego and Lego Star Wars. I’m saying this because I grew up on Lego Star Wars and dedicated almost my entire life to it and Lego. I want to see the company progress not produce things that are worse quality than some of the previous figures."
My thoughts exactly. If they consider two thin lines of print a proper representation of kamas when the color abruptly changes on the sides and back of the legs, proper enough to want to stay consistent with that design, then I really can't take them seriously.

I've never really liked the cloth kamas- they're fiddly to put on, get damaged relatively easily, and interfere with the poseability of the legs. I much prefer the old solid plastic kamas.
But if they're going to go with printed kamas, then they MUST print the sides of the legs too, not just the front. Or dual-mold the legs.
Printing the kama on only the front of the legs just looks cheap.

@560heliport said:
"I've never really liked the cloth kamas- they're fiddly to put on, get damaged relatively easily, and interfere with the poseability of the legs. I much prefer the old solid plastic kamas.
But if they're going to go with printed kamas, then they MUST print the sides of the legs too, not just the front. Or dual-mold the legs.
Printing the kama on only the front of the legs just looks cheap."

Perfect world for me they dual mold the legs, but then we know the colour matching of white plastic and white paint on black plastic is absolutely abysmal for Lego so it will never happen.

I'll always be grateful to Jens for his work on Rock Raiders.

26:18
"They hate Star Wars, they're big Lord of the Rings Fans. Sorry Shrek."

@Endermen39 said:
"I hate to say it but the whole idea of “consistency” for Lego Star Wars clone trooper Minifigures with Kamas is dumb. People have hated the printed waist capes since they first came out. Back in 2008 the republic fighter tank shows the commander with the plastic waist cape on the front of the box and without it on the back. Minifigures can still sit down with the cloth waist cape on using the new slot connections or 2 front stud connections. If you’re worried about the waist cape being damaged then just take it off. For cases like the Captain Rex who is standing up the legs won’t even bend the waist cape, for Fox the connection I think is the slotted connection. At the very least if Lego doesn’t want to do the cloth waist capes just come out and say it and dual mold the legs black and white so it looks complete or give the minifig side leg printing. Also Wanda got a custom waist cape in the End game Battle set and a Dreamzzz minifig got one in the Nightmare shark. Not to mention the Baron minifig from the dune set got a brand new cloth piece that is twice as big as Lord Business’s tie and the buildable Harry Potter got an extra large cape.

I’m not saying this not because I hate Lego and Lego Star Wars. I’m saying this because I grew up on Lego Star Wars and dedicated almost my entire life to it and Lego. I want to see the company progress not produce things that are worse quality than some of the previous figures."

I will preface this by saying that I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but I do understand your frustration about the lack of cloth kamas. I don't have a dog in this particular fight since I don't care about clone trooper Minifigures, but I am a major Scarlet Witch fan and was upset about the lack of a cloth skirt for her.

I don't know how new cloth pieces are made or what restrictions there may be, but it took forever for Wanda to get a new skirt piece. We got one in 2016 but then we had three Minifigures afterwards that desperately needed a skirt and didn't have one (2021 CMF, 2021 Endgame Battle, 2022 Sanctum Sanctorum). Now that the piece is back in production, I expect her to have a skirt in whatever sets she appears in next. But it took two years to get a new one!

I wonder if it's the same situation with the clone troopers, where fans will need to be very vocal about wanting the cloth piece in order for the investment to be made, and then the piece will appear in a few years' time. I don't know when cloth kamas disappeared though, so I don't know how long Star Wars fans have been asking for them to come back.

@CapnRex101 said:
" @Prof_Physika said:
"Just watched David’s recap. It’s weird how the questions he recapped were all *vaguely accusatory,* as if to passive aggressively complain to the design team why the recent output wasn’t *exactly* what they’d been hoping for. There’s definitely a degree of entitlement I pick up on, which isn’t out of the ordinary in any Star Wars-based discussion.

I know it’s a product and we’re the consumers, yada yada, but complaining about decisions already made is less interesting to me than discussing the future and getting into more of the design ethos of the team. But LucasFilm and TLG are so secretive about future projects that I suppose they’ve sorta help breed this little cesspool that can make online LSW discussion so tiring."

I think it is reasonable to question decisions when the reasons behind them are not obvious and fans have other solutions in mind. To me, there are three potentially useful results from 'did you consider...?' type questions:

1. Asking a question that many people will already know the answer to, but is still a common subject of discussion and an answer worth having on the record. For example, the Venator-class Star Destroyer lacks an opening dorsal hangar because that space is needed for the internal frame. I think that was everybody's assumption, but now it is confirmed.

2. Asking a question where a problem has been identified and a seemingly plausible design solution has been discussed in the fan community, to learn why that decision was not taken. Ideally, the answers to questions like these provide further information about considerations within LEGO that might not be obvious from outside the company.

3. Asking a question that draws attention to a topic of frustration in the fan community, either to record LEGO receiving the feedback or to discuss a potential solution."

Nice job on the presentation. Here's a couple hints (from someone who asks questions in public for a living):

1. Relax. The focus is on you as host. Let your questions shift it to the subject. It will help you to be calm and develop a flow to your presentation. Try to enunciate and speak louder and more slowly than you would normally. Pressure speeds everything up. Slow and calm shows confidence and gives you time to think.

2. Don't interrupt or pull focus from the subject. Let them answer your questions fully without interruption. Don't help them with answers. The focus should be on them. This also helps you to calm down and think.

3. Follow-up with secondary questions to get the full details. Like Lego, details matter.

CapnRex101's secret identity has been revealed!

@CapnRex101 said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @CapnRex101 said:
" @Prof_Physika said:
"Just watched David’s recap. It’s weird how the questions he recapped were all *vaguely accusatory,* as if to passive aggressively complain to the design team why the recent output wasn’t *exactly* what they’d been hoping for. There’s definitely a degree of entitlement I pick up on, which isn’t out of the ordinary in any Star Wars-based discussion.

I know it’s a product and we’re the consumers, yada yada, but complaining about decisions already made is less interesting to me than discussing the future and getting into more of the design ethos of the team. But LucasFilm and TLG are so secretive about future projects that I suppose they’ve sorta help breed this little cesspool that can make online LSW discussion so tiring."

I think it is reasonable to question decisions when the reasons behind them are not obvious and fans have other solutions in mind. To me, there are three potentially useful results from 'did you consider...?' type questions:

1. Asking a question that many people will already know the answer to, but is still a common subject of discussion and an answer worth having on the record. For example, the Venator-class Star Destroyer lacks an opening dorsal hangar because that space is needed for the internal frame. I think that was everybody's assumption, but now it is confirmed.

2. Asking a question where a problem has been identified and a seemingly plausible design solution has been discussed in the fan community, to learn why that decision was not taken. Ideally, the answers to questions like these provide further information about considerations within LEGO that might not be obvious from outside the company.

3. Asking a question that draws attention to a topic of frustration in the fan community, either to record LEGO receiving the feedback or to discuss a potential solution."

Nice job on the presentation. Here's a couple hints (from someone who asks questions in public for a living):

1. Relax. The focus is on you as host. Let your questions shift it to the subject. It will help you to be calm and develop a flow to your presentation. Try to enunciate and speak louder and more slowly than you would normally. Pressure speeds everything up. Slow and calm shows confidence and gives you time to think.

2. Don't interrupt or pull focus from the subject. Let them answer your questions fully without interruption. Don't help them with answers. The focus should be on them. This also helps you to calm down and think.

3. Follow-up with secondary questions to get the full details. Like Lego, details matter."

Fair points; thank you for the feedback. I was actually feeling relaxed, but that does not necessarily come across from my body language in the video, admittedly!

With regard to helping the designers with answers, you are doubtless aware that some interviews are best conducted with very open-ended questions, while others benefit from narrower questions to direct the conversation. I think the LEGO Star Wars team usually gives more detailed answers to the latter, which is why I tend to go down that route with them."

I think you did a very nice job.

What we feel and what others see are dramatically different things. It's always frightening and difficult to watch yourself perform in public at first. Yet, it will help immensely as you progress.

When I first started, I thought wearing glasses made me look more intelligent. However, as I watched myself on video, I realized that it took half of the emotion out of my face and made me seem stiff and robotic. I haven't worn them for public speaking since.

@CapnRex101 said:
" @Prof_Physika said:
"Just watched David’s recap. It’s weird how the questions he recapped were all *vaguely accusatory,* as if to passive aggressively complain to the design team why the recent output wasn’t *exactly* what they’d been hoping for. There’s definitely a degree of entitlement I pick up on, which isn’t out of the ordinary in any Star Wars-based discussion.

I know it’s a product and we’re the consumers, yada yada, but complaining about decisions already made is less interesting to me than discussing the future and getting into more of the design ethos of the team. But LucasFilm and TLG are so secretive about future projects that I suppose they’ve sorta help breed this little cesspool that can make online LSW discussion so tiring."

I think it is reasonable to question decisions when the reasons behind them are not obvious and fans have other solutions in mind. To me, there are three potentially useful results from 'did you consider...?' type questions:

1. Asking a question that many people will already know the answer to, but is still a common subject of discussion and an answer worth having on the record. For example, the Venator-class Star Destroyer lacks an opening dorsal hangar because that space is needed for the internal frame. I think that was everybody's assumption, but now it is confirmed.

2. Asking a question where a problem has been identified and a seemingly plausible design solution has been discussed in the fan community, to learn why that decision was not taken. Ideally, the answers to questions like these provide further information about considerations within LEGO that might not be obvious from outside the company.

3. Asking a question that draws attention to a topic of frustration in the fan community, either to record LEGO receiving the feedback or to discuss a potential solution."

Oh, for sure, I understand the reasoning behind it and whatnot. Hence the whole “consumers and products” side note.

I don’t think many would deny the whininess and entitlement these “good intentions” often breed, however.

@Endermen39 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Endermen39:
I've seen the sticker jobs kids do. Somehow I don't trust that they do any better with cloth waist capes, even if they don't see any issues."

Well those are stickers everyone who has gotten into Lego at any point in their life hates putting on stickers. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t get any Speed Champions."

I have never hated putting on stickers. I hate STAMPs and poor color matching.
I've been a Lego fan since 1973, with no Dark Age.

Who on earth was the guy asking if LEGO is looking at target demographics to assess demand? Has that guy never learned BASIC economics? Jesus Christ...
These LEGO designers were all very nice when answering some questions. I would have answered with a more blunt "yeah, we're a business. We do what we think will generate us more profit. That's our actual job, not pander to one or another demand from someone online" ??????

I’m old, and I prefer my minifigures to be one hundred percent pure beskar … er … ABS. Bring back the plastic capes from Castle. Down with fabric skirts! Print the kamas! Bwahahahaaaa.

I'm just going to repeat(ish) myself in the hope that it helps others measure their reactions:

@bananaworld said:
"My brain must be wired wrong.

I love LEGO, and I love Star Wars, and I love the Clone Wars. I love it all so much that I'm watching all seven series of the Clone Wars for the fourth time, followed by Rebels, just to prepare myself to fully appreciate Ahsoka.

...but I cannot fathom the passion required to have such deep-seated feelings about the decorations on toy soldiers.

Yes, the phrase "only the best is good enough" will be trotted out, but we are talking about a toy, for children. A ten-year old watching the cartoons (sorry - "animated multimedia graphic series project") and getting a LEGO set to play out their favourite scenes is not going to worry about the inclusion or lack of a skirt piece or print for the toy clone (yes, of course, YOUR particular child will notice the difference before any of the other kids in the playground - give them a gold star).

If you want accuracy, buy the scale replica models. Otherwise: in a few years, when the latest batch (bad, good, or indifferent) of clones have stood, unmoving, with the rest of your hundreds of regimently lined-up toy soldiers, you won't even see their kamas or lack thereof under the dust."