Four steps to improve LEGO Star Wars

I very much agree with this. I'm more than happy to create SW MOCs and custom minifigs are expensive. Minifigs having glaring inaccuries is a particular problem for me because it leads to me not wanting to buy a set for figs that I would normally want.

Nah, just make sets cheaper. Or at least make it seem that they are value for money. For example, I got 75437 Cobb Vanth's Speeder for quite a bit off and I still was underwhelmed. I store my sets in bags and it fit in the second smallest bag I use. Lego wants 45 euro for it...

And I think the link between Star Wars and Lego isn't that strong with kids.

Personally, I don't care about little details in minifigs, but I have no idea how 'the market' feels about that.

@CCC said:
" @ALSTDA said:
"How about a fallow year?"

Why would they? It is still one of their top selling themes. Just because users (often the self-proclaimed loyal fans) complain here and on other sites, it doesn't mean people aren't buying the sets (and current consumers are the most important fans).

And if they tell Disney they don't want to do Star Wars, even just for a year, Disney will sell the license to another brick building company and they'd probably want at least a few years to make it worthwhile. So LEGO loses the license and another company becomes more popular as they managed to get the Star Wars license away from LEGO. "

Let me introduce you to a toy line called Blokees. (Which now has the Star Wars license.)

@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"Somebody needs to do a legitimate, non-fan oriented analysis of the economics of how a product is made, developed, tested, and then sold. Unfortunately (not aimed at you, just in general), a lot of these discussions tend to devolve into "just make more stuff that I like!" arguments rather than analyze how you market a popular product to a point of profitability. (Personal comment: I would love if Lego made a set with Jaina Solo or Cade Skywalker. These are sets that will appeal to *very few people* relative to the number of sets that may actually sell. The juice isn't worth the squeeze, as they say.)

There's a comics youtube channel that I listen to (Comics by Perch) that frequently gets into the business aspects of how comic books are made and how to make them profitable. Yesterday, he approached the problem of how to get comics to sell in large numbers again based on a multilateral marketing approach. Somebody in the comments unhelpfully offered: just fire this writer I don't like. It's like: sigh, that won't fix marketability. It just eliminates one author you, personally, don't like.

I don't know if a range of cheaper sets fixes this. It might? I'd love to see Microfighters make a meaningful comeback rather than the random single set every year. Lego may be increasingly leaning towards the model that it's better to sell 10 $1,000 sets rather than 1,000 $10 sets. (Believe it or not, this is a business trend right now--and companies may be following it because it works?) "
Oh for sure, I don't pretend to know what people want, and all feedback here is going to be limited and skewed. The only reason I mention a mini line is not because it's what *I* want, but because I thought it might fit the bill of being affordable while still providing a two-vehicle battle.

As for comics, there's no mystery there. The *obvious* way to make them sell in large numbers is to polybag them with a trading card! ;)

I'm not too keen on minifigure accuracy, but I agree with you about the smaller size sets.

I buy all Lego themes EXCEPT for Star Wars. They are just big, ugly, unicolored morasses of grey or black.

The only NICE Star Wars set they ever made was the Ewok Village.

The only one of these I see a major problem with is “Anticipate Interests”. Disney has stumbled so frequently since December 12, 2012, that there’s not a guarantee that making sets based on the TV shows (which, face it, have a minuscule audience compared to what the theatrical films can reach) are going to be popular. Heck, there’s no guarantee they’ll be begrudgingly tolerated. I don’t think anyone can accurately call the success of shows that haven’t even been released yet. If it was possible, that person would be in the big chair, and a lot less stuff would have been greenlit in the past 14 years. And until they can establish a proven track record, I don’t think you’re going to see TLG jumping at the chance to make sets based on upcoming TV shows, when they can keep mining the OT, the PT, and the one show that Disney has managed to build interest in.

The lesser problem is he range of subthemes. Many people have gotten burned out on seeing the same ships repeated umpteen times, so the diversified portfolio might be the only source of interest for them. I know I’ve bought a few helmets, and I try to keep up on the Lucas-canon battle packs, but it was the midi-scale Starship Collection, the scaled-up droids, and the dioramas that have been the main subthemes that I’ve collected in the past half decade. Trim those out of the lineup, and I’m not likely to find enough to qualify for one May 4th GWP each year. Maybe not even every other year.

@8BrickMario said:
"

SW CMFs are allegedly off the table because they would tread on action figure merchandising rights that LEGO does not have. How that didn't prevent the Buildable Figures, however, is beyond me."

LEGO just needs to pay for another license to get them made, but Lucasfilm probably does not allow that just based on the impact it would have on product sales. The era of Magnet Figure 3-packs was ended by Lucasfilm or some other licensor to glue them, or at least that was said in public.

That does ignore the Magazine gifts though.

Much as I collect and love the 18+ sets, I agree that a higher proportion of play sets would be preferable. The:

Dioramas
Busts
Helmets
Starship Collection
Buildable Characters

Are too many sub-lines. The Dioramas were great, but seem to have vanished, while the good Capn is correct that either busts or helmets must go. As someone who owns every helmet set and dislikes the execution of the busts, I would prefer the busts to disappear. I would suggest that 1 each Helmet, Diorama, Starship and Buildable Character should be released each year, with the scope for 2 of one or two of these, but not all of them. Make them consistent evergreen lines, but don’t saturate the Star Wars lineup with too many in total.

As far as I’m concerned, the Microfighters and Mechs can go. Sacrilege, I hear you say! Why are they appealing? Because they’re cheap sets with desirable figures (presumably). So introduce similar cheap sets with desirable figs that are actually playsets with small minifig scale scenes or vehicles.

4+ sets are pointless and no one likes them, but I doubt I’d persuade them to disappear, sadly.

As a UCS enthusiast who sees them as some of the only well executed sets these days, 3 a year seems ideal, like 2025 just ideally without one of them being that Death Star.

In the UK and Europe the cheap set has been replaced by magazines for kids. For £4 or sometimes more if you get a double "gift", you get a minifigure or a 50 or so piece build. That is the equivalent of 12 of the old polybags a year.

I just want the Rotring drawing board.

@Modok said:
"As for comics, there's no mystery there. The *obvious* way to make them sell in large numbers is to polybag them with a trading card!"

The 1990’s called and said they want their idea back.

@560heliport said:
"We definitely need more smaller, less expensive sets. Look at the first SW sets: a landspeeder with Luke and Obi-wan for $6- about $12 today. Yes, it's quite simple, but it gets the job done. There were a number of sets back then that were small, cheap, but good."

Yeah, except the very first time they redesigned the X-Wing, the AFOL community gushed over how detailed and accurate the new version was compared to the old. And when they released the first substantial redesign in 2021, the AFOL community whinged about “juniorization”, when the fact of the matter is the 2021 one is the most accurately scaled version, and the “accurate” one is the Canyonero of X-Wings.

Very much appreciate this!

I'm shocked there isn't any sets for Maul Shadow Lord, as well. Honestly, I was expecting maybe two sets. I recall back in 2008 for The Clone Wars, 10 playsets were available at the same time.

One thing in my mind that would be an improvement and I would buy in a heartbeat, would be a battle pack with regular plain Stormtroopers. (Clone troopers have had plenty which is lovely!)

For Stormtroopers, 75262 was the most recent in 2019, as a remake set to the absolute favorite 7667 from 2008. 75078 in 2014 I think it the best example as it solely came with plain regular troopers, and the only time that has happened. Stormtroopers are extremely popular so in my mind, a new battle pack that came with four, or maybe even five of them would be an improvement to the line.

The lack of small sets is likely on purpose. Since LEGO knows Star Wars products sell, they price gate the vast majority of them. With a paucity of cheap offerings, the average Star Wars fan can buy little without getting repeats. It's also generally more economical to produce expensive products rather than a large amount of cheap products.

@namekuji said:
"I just want the Rotring drawing board."

What does this mean?

@Anonym said:
" @8BrickMario said:
"

SW CMFs are allegedly off the table because they would tread on action figure merchandising rights that LEGO does not have. How that didn't prevent the Buildable Figures, however, is beyond me."

LEGO just needs to pay for another license to get them made, but Lucasfilm probably does not allow that just based on the impact it would have on product sales. The era of Magnet Figure 3-packs was ended by Lucasfilm or some other licensor to glue them, or at least that was said in public."

That claim falls apart the instant you ask who demanded they glue the Ninjago minifigs to the magnet bricks. I think there was at least one other in-house theme that got the same treatment, plus nobody was sitting on the Indiana Jones action figure license (which has never been the smash hit that the SW action figure license has been in the past).

Before that, they cancelled all the minifig 3-packs. Not just Star Wars, but Ninja, Rock Raiders, and City as well. SW was the only licensed theme that affected, so Hasbro couldn’t have forced them to stop making 3-packs in general.

"That does ignore the Magazine gifts though."

None of the arguments for Hasbro getting involved hold water once you start looking across the entire LEGO portfolio. They’ve never done a general Ninjago CMF wave (TLNM doesn’t count), but they have done a general DC wave, Nd three general Marvel waves. There are active DC and Marvel action figure licenses out there, but apparently no major conflict there.

Sadly, a lot of potentially great Lego sets get compromised by Disney.
SPOILER ALERT
75374 The Onyx Cinder is one of the top 5 most awesome SW ships if you know what it can do. Sadly, Disney probably didn't let Lego know about the transformation feature when they were designing the set. It would have been a very popular Lego set if the feature had been included.

Thanks for this. Good article!

@CapnRex101 said:
" It is true, according to my understanding of the situation."

Can confirm, Hasbro has exclusive rights to Star Wars action figures for kids in most of the world. The SW buildable figures were OK because they were construction sets.

BanDai, Mafex, Hot Toys et-al get a pass because their action figures are adult collectibles, and Hasbro has a different licencing agreement in Asia.

Lego Minifigures would *not* get a pass unless the figures come with some other elements or serve a different purpose. Keyrings, magnets, bonus polybags etc aren't straight-up action figures, as they are sold under a different description (although it is pretty easy to convert a keyring into a figure - just say hello to my $5 C-3PO with a dual-moulded leg!) or have some additional purchasing condition attached, for example by buying a magazine.

"Everyone knows Star Wars fans love to complain"
That's definitely one way to shift focus away from WHY they're complaining. What's this cope doing on my LEGO website?

I miss the dioarmas, they were very good sets, even if they were not scenes which were interesting, they at least captured iconic moments well.

I think there's a need for a mini figure series or several.

One of the gripes for me about the 'death slice' was not just the price, but that it was not a sphere. Given the design complexity lego has, the price should have justified an outer shell that could be removed to reveal inner scenes. I'm sick of the supposed doll house open back theme, that exists throughout lego now.

The alternative could have been a collectable section series, like they've done with HP.

And where are Ahoska, Padame, Leia, Rey, Jyn, Hera, Mon Mothma? I am struggling to recall any set that doesn't minimise the existence of women. It's all such a male dominated set design fandom that puts me off now.

And as for a wane in popularity and expense, the discounted jabbas sail barge sold quickly enough on the website.

Page me when a better SW set than 10195 shows up, until then I'm retired

@CapnRex101 It would be interesting to see the 'cohesive range' spread over target age groups. My feeling says a too large majority of sets is aimed at higher age groups resulting in strong financial results but making LEGO also shift away from the overall LEGO target audience where Star Wars is targeting a older group. Meanwhile Ninjago and City are killing it for the younger audiences.

Regarding "Anticipate interests"; Maul: Shadow Lord is hardly a kids show; Star Wars has become so broad you need a huge amount of knowledge to follow certain series. For example my father hasn't seen TCW so everything from Ahsoka to Bad Batch to Maul: Shadow Lord just doesn't resonate at all. This also translates in LEGO; kids are seeing ships they don't recognize or feel attached to. A 8 year old probably hasn't seen the Mandalorian and doesn't care for Zeb or the Razor Crest.

This was an interesting article., thanks for writing it.

Nodding in agreement at most of your thoughts, though I don’t really have a view on minifigs as I’m a bit of an outlier not really being bothered by their presence in sets… I actually loathe ‘display stand dust collector’ minifigs that don’t integrate into a minifig-scale set (eg my 75341). But I respect other folks’ passion for them.

What I’m curious about is the presumed tension between Disney and Lego when it comes to new sets, possible conflicts of interest, etc. Disney obviously wants heavy focus on merch promoting the imminent film release, but does Lego? Everyone, even with only casual interest, knows the original trilogy vehicles… but many folk may not even give sets related to the more niche Disney series, etc, a second glance?

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts and any knowledge you may have and could share on that @CapnRex101

My personal wish list item would be for the Speed Champions designers to be let loose on small, very densely detailed, Star Wars vehicles. Snowspeeder, X-wing, etc, etc :-D

@CCC said:
" @ALSTDA said:
"How about a fallow year?"

Why would they? It is still one of their top selling themes. Just because users (often the self-proclaimed loyal fans) complain here and on other sites, it doesn't mean people aren't buying the sets (and current consumers are the most important fans).

And if they tell Disney they don't want to do Star Wars, even just for a year, Disney will sell the license to another brick building company and they'd probably want at least a few years to make it worthwhile. So LEGO loses the license and another company becomes more popular as they managed to get the Star Wars license away from LEGO. "

We appear to be in the midst of it.

'I don't care no more!

I don't care what you say
We never played by the same rules anyway
I won't be there anymore
Get out of my way, let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don't care anymore...'

Happy belated May the Fourth, everyone!!

R.I.P., Star Wars Lego (circa 2026)

@Rare_White_Ape said:
"Thanks for this. Good article!

@CapnRex101 said:
" It is true, according to my understanding of the situation."

Can confirm, Hasbro has exclusive rights to Star Wars action figures for kids in most of the world. The SW buildable figures were OK because they were construction sets."

Nobody is disputing the fact that Hasbro holds the action figure license. They do, and they have since 1997. The contention is about the idea that Hasbro in any way pressured Lucasfilm to force TLG to stop making the minifigure 3-packs, to glue Minifigs to the magnet bricks, or to keep SW CMFs off the table.

@CapnRex101 said:
" With regard to the licensing situation, I have obviously never seen any legal documentation on the subject, but if it is only a rumour, it is a rumour that lots of LEGO employees seem to believe."

Or more likely, haven't got a clue themselves and go with the commonly held collective belief. I really doubt anyone involved in the signing of sensitive contracts would ever divulge details about the limits of what they can or cannot do with other employees, especially other employees that frequently speak to the public, or direct with the public themselves. All they need to decide is that their is an in-house policy of no SW CMF series and leave it at that without explaining the reasons. If staff believe what others believe and it doesn't harm the company, there is no need to correct their beliefs.

If they were going to do exclusive print single minifigures in a bag with no build, I'd expect them instead to do it some other way that makes them more money such as doing them as an Insiders rewards. Imagine how many orders they'd get placed if they did SW fig polybags for say 1600 points (£10 equivalent). They'd get people to use up their Insiders points instead of using cash discounts, and get them to place more orders. And that way, they are also gifts and not retail packs, so if there is some licensing agreement that stops them selling single figure packs they get round it like they used to with the minifigure GWPs of the past.

@CapnRex101 there's some info in the article that needs to be corrected.

The Imperial Shuttle Pilots in whatever episode of The Mandalorian they appear have Imperial logos on both shoulders, it's even evident in the picture you provided.

So Lego didn't print on the wrong side, they just elected to only print on one side. And obviously there is no way they would be able to fit both the symbol and the code cylinders on the upper arm as you've alluded to already.

A lot of this points to the design team which needs a major overhaul. Many successful sports franchises know how to rebuild.....

My opinion, and just my opinion, is that the entire Star Wards franchise has taken a hit. LEGO has got swept up in it. I used to be excited for new movies or shows, now I don't care. They don't carry the impact they once did. Same with SWL. The two for me used to work together well. Now I don't even like the new Disney content and the lackluster efforts of LEGO has really just turned me away from the entire franchise. If this was a new theme just based on recent movies and recent sets - post Disney - I am not sure many of us would not care about it. The roots of the franchise are what created it and Disney along with current LEGO seem to not have the skill or the passion to keep the bar as high as it used to be. Just my take and my personal feelings.

@smurfybloke said:
"My personal wish list item would be for the Speed Champions designers to be let loose on small, very densely detailed, Star Wars vehicles. Snowspeeder, X-wing, etc, etc :-D"

Ooh, that could be awesome.

They should hire M&Rproductions (Ryan) to QC the minifigures. Just saying.

They should make more sets from the prequels

@TheOtherMike said:
" @smurfybloke said:
"My personal wish list item would be for the Speed Champions designers to be let loose on small, very densely detailed, Star Wars vehicles. Snowspeeder, X-wing, etc, etc :-D"

Ooh, that could be awesome."

You mean, instead of the ol' dusty beard that doesn't care we could have the energetic, detail-oriented, young, cool head of SC who repeatedly goes back to his designers and says, "surely, you can do better."

Thank you for these pointers.

@StyleCounselor said:
" @CCC said:
" @ALSTDA said:
"How about a fallow year?"

Why would they? It is still one of their top selling themes. Just because users (often the self-proclaimed loyal fans) complain here and on other sites, it doesn't mean people aren't buying the sets (and current consumers are the most important fans).

And if they tell Disney they don't want to do Star Wars, even just for a year, Disney will sell the license to another brick building company and they'd probably want at least a few years to make it worthwhile. So LEGO loses the license and another company becomes more popular as they managed to get the Star Wars license away from LEGO. "

We appear to be in the midst of it.

'I don't care no more!

I don't care what you say
We never played by the same rules anyway
I won't be there anymore
Get out of my way, let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don't care anymore...'"

Always nice to find another Phil Collins/Genesis fan in the wild.

@560heliport said:
"That first landspeeder is closest to scale, but still around 50% too big. Part of that is because minifigures are a lot wider than humans, so it had to be six studs wide to fit two minifigs."

It is, but it looks runty for a couple reasons. The proportions are wrong, largely because it is too wide, but not too long. Minifig geometry also makes them look much taller when seated, so the landspeeder actually looks undersized in relation.

"I'm not saying shrink everything, I'm saying there needs to be more affordable sets."

Yup, I get that, and I agree that smaller sets shouldn’t be culled from the lineup. But the fanbase has pushed for biggerbiggerbigger because, to many, that always meant “more accurate”. And they continued to sell. I don’t see the incentive to bring a bunch of small sets back into the lineup, especially if their retail partners have any sway in the range of price points.

"I truly don't think Lego will thrive if they focus primarily on adults. How many AFOLs never had Lego as children? I'm sure there are some, but without a healthy assortment for kids, I think they'll fade away."

100% agree…but I’ve also done probably 250+ displays in the past quarter century. I guarantee that kids are still interested. Young kids in particular have a hard time not seeing “thing for me to play with” when their eyes lock on our layouts.

"I'm 56 years old. I have been playing with Lego for 52 years, and I like minifigure-scale sets. The adult-focused stuff is seldom of interest to me."

I’m a little bit younger, and I have no issues with either. I like stuff that’s just supposed to hang on the wall, like The Great Wave and the Gotham skyline, but I also design a lot of stuff specifically to go into minifig displays. My tastes in just about everything are quite eclectic.

The year so far has been a bit of a slow one for me but, to be fair, I’m pretty sure that’s mostly a me-problem. I haven’t seen the Mandalorian, the printing on Smart Play minifigs bothers me, and I don’t like UCS: Not many kits left over! I’ve got my hands full budgeting for all the kits I liked from previous years and other themes, anyway.

Honestly, my only real issue really is price, but it’s selective. Specifically, the Juggernaut and MTT from last year, and the Lambda Shuttle and Razor Crest from this year (I’m not counting the Smart Play set since that has other factors). There’s something about that £139.99 price point and its kits that hasn’t felt good at all, and — having just done a quick search — perhaps its newness is throwing something off.

(I’m ignoring personal preferences like: More microfighters and dioramas would be nice. I’d like them! But if they sold well enough to justify that I’d be getting them, so it’s not useful to wail about it.)

We don’t really have enough data on sales for me to feel comfortable being definitive about anything less personal, really.

I do want to mildly push back on the idea that kits are the only way to get into Lego as a child. I never had any (kits were expensive) but I still had plenty of Lego, it just came from boxes of random parts acquired at jumble sales. I’ve still bought Lego Star Wars kits as an adult.

The biggest issue with the theme is that it still prints money and Lego has no reason to improve it. I love these suggestions and completely agree but the multi-billion dollar corporation isn't going to hear them when fans clamber to buy everything on shelves and refuse to vote with their wallets.

an X-Wing from the Starship Collection

"prices are presumably determined by what the market will sustain" meaning by what they think they can get away with without pushback from their biggest spenders

The two graphs say it all - large drops in both sets under $40 and minifigure scale sets. My SW spending has gone down in a similar slope. I would prefer the opposite but I don’t run the theme.

How would the graph look, if inflation was calculated to it?
+ it could be interesting to see more than the 2016 at 40USD as base.
10USD in 10USD steps to... maybe 50-60USD? with base being 2016 or similar and follow inflation.

@KyloBen1012 said:
"all the points maybe except the last are universally accepted I feel, I feel the last is the most 'people care less about this' point, most people like having those characters, without the need for hot toys level details
"

This isn't asking to have more details though. It's asking to accurately represent the level of detail already being applied.

@CCC said:
" @CapnRex101 said:
" It is true, according to my understanding of the situation."

Has there ever been any real evidence either way though? For me, it is just an internet rumour that started a couple of decades ago that has been repeated so many times it becomes true.

I imagine LEGO just doesn't want a SW CMF. Why would they and what would it contain? If they put in only better known figures, would it be interesting for adults or longer term fans given they have done just about every variant of Luke and Han and Anakin and Vader possible. If they go for lesser known figures for collectors it wouldn't sell to others. Plus why would they do either, when they can put the same figure in a set with hundreds of cheap bricks and charge 10-15p per brick rather than charging £3.49 for the figure on its own. And I think the larger audience for SW is older people not kids these days, ones willing to spend money on larger sets. Of course some kids are into it but I don't think as much as in the past hence smaller numbers of kid sets and more adult collector sets.

Then there is also the issue that even if it were true 15-20 years ago, why has LEGO and Lucasfilm, now Disney, not changed agreements as they are renewed. I find it amazing that the world's largest toy company cannot come to an agreement with one of the world's largest entertainment companies over a really minor point if they wanted to. They have had a long relationship and if LEGO really wanted to make and sell individual figures then they'd put pressure on Disney to adapt agreements such as stating a size limit on the action figures other companies make. So for example, define action figures to have jointed arms and legs and are at least 10cm tall.

I also imagine LEGO is fully aware of the rumour and has no reason to stop it, as it works for them. People believe LEGO cannot make a CMF because other companies block it. If there was evidence this is not the case, it becomes LEGO will not make a CMF because they don't want to, as it would presumably impact sales of the brick built sets that LEGO makes more money from. There is no reason for them to debunk the long running rumour, as it works in their favour."

THIS!!

I’d imagine a line of Star Wars CMF would sell REALLY well - but all the AFOL’s would complain, regardless, about the character selection and the detail / dual-moulding or lack thereof!

@legoDad42 said:
"Cohesive range like you said is what I feel people want. Besides lower prices 'natch.
Group themes from Original Trilogy, Prequels, etc. to collect all and for play.
Go back to the variety of price ranges for each theme, of course things are more expensive but have a $15 - $20 set, then $40 to $60, $80 to $100, $150 to $200. And the big UCS high dollar set anchoring it all.
But what I really think would grab everyone from kids to collectors and collectors who don't buy Lego, a full CMF Star Wars line. Twice a year would sell like hot cakes!
"

CMF would be cool but even if there was no scalping concern, I believe (though this should be taken with a grain of salt) the big reason for the lack of Star Wars CMF lines has been Hasbro. If Lego were to sell minifigures on their own, they could classify as "action figures" and violate the deal that Disney/Lucasfilm has with Hasbro, which they don't want to risk given the current profitability of both brands as is; nobody likes sabotage.

This is an excellent article.

However, I don't think I'm your target audience for the overhaul. I personally like UCS sets, large vehicle playsets, the dioramas, helmets and buidable characters. I don't purchase smaller playsets because I find they make my shelves look cluttered and not as visually striking, and although I appreciate a minifigure they've never been my primary reason for a purchase.

With that being said, I agree Lego needs to find a balance between AFOLs who have different interests even within the hobby and theme and kids who are continuing or starting their Star Wars balance and I think your suggestions help contribute to that balance

Ok, I'm back for a substantive comment.

Making SW Lego fantastic is incredibly simple. It has been raised repeatedly- including in this thread. If Lego followed these instructions they could charge even more and the followers (including myself) would be fanatical.

1) SW is a character-driven story. Give us minifigs at the level of CMFs. Capes, kamas, printing, accessories, new characters, creatures, details, lack of mistakes... all of it!

2) SW is a space opera with lots of cool scenes and ships. Give us sets that have Speed Champions level of care and attention to detail.

3) Remakes should be sparing and always an improvement.

There was a time when the theme followed these ideals or something similar. It brought so many of us back from the Dark Ages and fueled the love of the theme and Lego in our kids (who are now adults).

The demise of this theme could be a reckoning for the whole company. It's time for a change.

@jayflight said:
" @legoDad42 said:
"Cohesive range like you said is what I feel people want. Besides lower prices 'natch.
Group themes from Original Trilogy, Prequels, etc. to collect all and for play.
Go back to the variety of price ranges for each theme, of course things are more expensive but have a $15 - $20 set, then $40 to $60, $80 to $100, $150 to $200. And the big UCS high dollar set anchoring it all.
But what I really think would grab everyone from kids to collectors and collectors who don't buy Lego, a full CMF Star Wars line. Twice a year would sell like hot cakes!
"

CMF would be cool but even if there was no scalping concern, I believe (though this should be taken with a grain of salt) the big reason for the lack of Star Wars CMF lines has been Hasbro. If Lego were to sell minifigures on their own, they could classify as "action figures" and violate the deal that Disney/Lucasfilm has with Hasbro, which they don't want to risk given the current profitability of both brands as is; nobody likes sabotage."

I guess what I don't understand is Funko can make SW figures (but they're static), and Tamashii Nation makes Star Wars action figures (lots of articulation, high end).
Also Jada Toys, Blokees, Jazwares have licensed SW figures too.

@BrudderandHisBricks said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @CCC said:
" @ALSTDA said:
"How about a fallow year?"

Why would they? It is still one of their top selling themes. Just because users (often the self-proclaimed loyal fans) complain here and on other sites, it doesn't mean people aren't buying the sets (and current consumers are the most important fans).

And if they tell Disney they don't want to do Star Wars, even just for a year, Disney will sell the license to another brick building company and they'd probably want at least a few years to make it worthwhile. So LEGO loses the license and another company becomes more popular as they managed to get the Star Wars license away from LEGO. "

We appear to be in the midst of it.

'I don't care no more!

I don't care what you say
We never played by the same rules anyway
I won't be there anymore
Get out of my way, let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don't care anymore...'"

Always nice to find another Phil Collins/Genesis fan in the wild.
"

Definitely. Back at-cha. ;)

@AustinPowers said:
" The reality is also that while prices have increased across the board, income has not done so accordingly, leading to many people having to adjust their spending. With more money needed for basic living less money is available for hobbies and other luxuries. In such a climate, a new generation of kids is priced out of LEGO Star Wars from the get-go, leading to fewer LEGO Star Wars AFOLs in the future.
This might not seem like much of a problem to some, but it's similar in other themes like Technic as well. Even many City sets these days are in a price range far out of reach of kids - or their parents who are having to make do with what they've got.
Such kids might not get LEGO sets at all any more, but rather more affordable toys instead.
And someone who never had a chance to enjoy LEGO as a kid is less likely to be nostalgic about the product as an adult. "

Or those kids get less LEGO than 10 years ago, which is probably still more than kids had in the 70s and 80s. I had no LEGO Castle, LOTR or Star Wars as a kid, as the latter two didn't exist and the former came along probably too late for me to get into. Yet I am now into those themes despite not having them as a kid. I also doubt LEGO and Disney care if LEGO SW becomes less popular and eventually disappears in 30 or 40 years time, so long as LEGO Insert Future Disney Popular Franchise Here has taken its place.

My suggestions:

-LESS STICKERS, More PRINTS PLEASE! Especially in premium priced sets

-Move back to big scaled playsets (2005-2013 era). Stop this shrinkflation trend, because it's awful, especially in recent cases like Jango Fett Slave I (not the UCS one) and the tiny tank.

-Please, bring back the 2014 phase II clone trooper helmet design, it was PERFECT. I hate so much the new cartoonish version, they look SO BAD with the narrower and thicker visor & mouth. Also don't mind the helmet holes, but put them at the correct place.

-More variety in wave choices, we don't need 50 X-wing variants. Star Wars felt way richier in the past than now.

-More episode I to episode VI based sets. That may be more personal but I don't care about the new stuff from Disney.

Thanks!

@CCC said:
" @SolidState said:
"The biggest issue with the theme is that it still prints money and Lego has no reason to improve it. I love these suggestions and completely agree but the multi-billion dollar corporation isn't going to hear them when fans clamber to buy everything on shelves and refuse to vote with their wallets."

They do vote with their wallets though, they choose to buy. That is voting with their wallet, just with a different opinion to you."

After all, voting "yes" is still voting.

For me personally Star Wars theme is like a cancer. TLG should make only UCS for the AFOL fanatics and the rest should be canceled. They should create new space theme.

Honestly, the minifigures are starting to get so complex that they look like customs to me (although customs have better attention to detail). Maybe they should walk it back to a level that costs them less but allows them to be faithful to the source material.

@legoDad42 said:
" @jayflight said:
" @legoDad42 said:
"Cohesive range like you said is what I feel people want. Besides lower prices 'natch.
Group themes from Original Trilogy, Prequels, etc. to collect all and for play.
Go back to the variety of price ranges for each theme, of course things are more expensive but have a $15 - $20 set, then $40 to $60, $80 to $100, $150 to $200. And the big UCS high dollar set anchoring it all.
But what I really think would grab everyone from kids to collectors and collectors who don't buy Lego, a full CMF Star Wars line. Twice a year would sell like hot cakes!
"

CMF would be cool but even if there was no scalping concern, I believe (though this should be taken with a grain of salt) the big reason for the lack of Star Wars CMF lines has been Hasbro. If Lego were to sell minifigures on their own, they could classify as "action figures" and violate the deal that Disney/Lucasfilm has with Hasbro, which they don't want to risk given the current profitability of both brands as is; nobody likes sabotage."

I guess what I don't understand is Funko can make SW figures (but they're static), and Tamashii Nation makes Star Wars action figures (lots of articulation, high end).
Also Jada Toys, Blokees, Jazwares have licensed SW figures too. "

Ah, my mistake then - I hadn't heard of those companies until now! Also did a bit more digging on the topic and the Hasbro theory is false, so I stand corrected on my comment. Further research around the internet has a variety of theories - Jay's Brick Blog interview from 2021 with the LSW Creative Lead and Design Manager says the reason is because selling minifigures on their own (no magnets or extra accessories like the keychains) won't be enough pieces to constitute "construction toys" in LEGO's contract with Disney for Star Wars products.
Brick Fanatics is saying the same thing in essence, although they suggest that this is another reason why battle packs are fairly frequent (since they give LEGO the excuse to sell new clone figs with vehicle/landscape builds to fill out the set).
I've also seen some people on places like Reddit and YouTube saying that LEGO could make CMF but simply choose not to, whether that be for profitability (if plenty of people will buy large sets for exclusive figs already, why bother changing that) or for some other unknown reason.

@StyleCounselor said:
"Ok, I'm back for a substantive comment.

Making SW Lego fantastic is incredibly simple. It has been raised repeatedly- including in this thread. If Lego followed these instructions they could charge even more and the followers (including myself) would be fanatical.

2) SW is a space opera with lots of cool scenes and ships. Give us sets that have Speed Champions level of care and attention to detail.

3) Remakes should be sparing and always an improvement.

There was a time when the theme followed these ideals or something similar."

These two points have never coexisted in the entire history of the theme. The first few years were clunky designs that had slightly better than Tiny Turbos level of detail, and like the Solver Age of comics, the transition to increased detail began with a slew of remakes, including the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, the X-Wing, the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, and Luke’s landspeeder. Oh, also, an X-Wing. I might have forgotten to mention that one.

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"Ok, I'm back for a substantive comment.

Making SW Lego fantastic is incredibly simple. It has been raised repeatedly- including in this thread. If Lego followed these instructions they could charge even more and the followers (including myself) would be fanatical.

2) SW is a space opera with lots of cool scenes and ships. Give us sets that have Speed Champions level of care and attention to detail.

3) Remakes should be sparing and always an improvement.

There was a time when the theme followed these ideals or something similar."

These two points have never coexisted in the entire history of the theme. The first few years were clunky designs that had slightly better than Tiny Turbos level of detail, and like the Solver Age of comics, the transition to increased detail began with a slew of remakes, including the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, the X-Wing, the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, and Luke’s landspeeder. Oh, also, an X-Wing. I might have forgotten to mention that one."

There was a Y-Wing in there, too.

@Hiratha said:" @Matt_Saderson said:"For me personally Star Wars theme is like a cancer. TLG should make only UCS for the AFOL fanatics and the rest should be canceled. They should create new space theme."

They did. It was great. I loved and bought almost every kit. And also I’m guessing there were not very many other people doing that because we went from eight kits (plus one polybag and two odd misc kits that still fit with the others) for the launch two years ago, to one kit (plus one polybag) last year, to zero kits this year."

One set (or "kit" if that's your preferred term) this year. 40921 has the Space branding.

@Hiratha said:
"Y’know, I don’t think we can have both “remakes are sparing” and “there should be a solid offering for children at all times”."

Absolutely not. Kids want the iconic vehicles, which were all basically tapped out before the prequel films even concluded. They’re not going to care about anything that’s still on the “to be made” list. Plus, only one X-Wing from Rogue Squadron has received the 2021 treatment, and there are at least four more of note to go. And even AFOLs who are just getting into the hobby aren’t going to want to pay upwards of 5x MSRP to build a fleet of starfighters when it’s so easy for Billund to just make new versions. Unless it’s a TIE Interceptor or a B-Wing, in which case you’re kinda screwed from every direction.

"Also, I for one am fine with kits being smaller than whatever came before. Bigger is not always better."

I’d really like Wedge’s X-Wing from Ep6 next. 2021-style. They only ever make Rogue Squadron X-Wings from Ep4 for some reason.

But regarding the Classic Space stuff, I don’t know that they planned to keep that going. Such a widespread crossover theme doesn’t feel like something they’d want to keep a heavy focus on for Friends, for one thing, and City also shifted to F1 last year. I feel like the Space crossover thing ran its course, and to keep going would risk both overwhelming the various participating themes, and running really thin on ideas. It worked for Space as a theme because they kept cycling through new subthemes all the time.

Quite frankly, I don't think Lego SW can be improved. It already occupies a huge chunk of LEGO's portfolio and offers a massive range of products. Being a franchise, there's little room for imaginative designs or new ideas. It will inevitably be tethered to the objects and designs predefined within the franchise, hence the perpetual reiterations on the same few iconic ships or whatever else every few years.

LEGO has already explored (if not outright exhausted) just about every possible way to innovate within the theme, from poly bags to full play sets, helmets to busts, articulated figures to mechanized battle suits, micro-builds to UCS--so much so that SW defines the entire potential range of what LEGO can cost, from $1 to $1,000.

There seems to be this overwhelming but pervasive and ill-defined force driving people to clamor for smaller, cheaper army building sets. I can only assume it's because they have some inner desire to build some giant display like you commonly see people do with LEGO cities. These callbacks to those old, painted, plastic (or even wooden) miniatures depicting train yards, towns or historical battles aren't that well-suited for themes that encompass vast open spaces like space or even to a lesser extent, water.

Furthermore, those kinds of displays were almost always painstakingly created, usually done for some historical, educational or deeply personal reason, which is something SW simply can never really hope to achieve. As a commercialized meta-franchise built around mass production, selling and making money, it's just never going to have the same level of sentimental value.

I'm inclined to think LEGO has basically done everything it can. All that's left for LEGO is to keep reiterating and adding more details. If people are unhappy with that but are unwilling to abandon the theme, perhaps they could transition to custom.

Finally, in my experience, kids simply do not care that much about SW. A couple of years ago, I did a space-themed LEGO exhibition at a museum with several other parents and our kids. A few of them brought various UCS SW sets and I brought a few older, space sets. Despite their relative simplicity, the kids were far more impressed with sets like Deep Freeze Defender and Ice Station Odyssey than they were with any of the SW sets. The trans-neon orange and bold color schemes make the sets really stand out and we had the largest group throughout the entire event because it was something they had never seen before.

@legoDad42 said:
"Cohesive range like you said is what I feel people want. Besides lower prices 'natch.
Group themes from Original Trilogy, Prequels, etc. to collect all and for play.
Go back to the variety of price ranges for each theme, of course things are more expensive but have a $15 - $20 set, then $40 to $60, $80 to $100, $150 to $200. And the big UCS high dollar set anchoring it all.
But what I really think would grab everyone from kids to collectors and collectors who don't buy Lego, a full CMF Star Wars line. Twice a year would sell like hot cakes!
"

They can't do minifigs by themselves due to licensing for action figures. I worked for Lego for 4.5 years and we got asked about that a lot. That's why minifigures always have to have a build with them. Otherwise they are considered action figures and that licensing belongs to Hasbro, I believe.

@eric0529 said:
" @legoDad42 said:
"Cohesive range like you said is what I feel people want. Besides lower prices 'natch.
Group themes from Original Trilogy, Prequels, etc. to collect all and for play.
Go back to the variety of price ranges for each theme, of course things are more expensive but have a $15 - $20 set, then $40 to $60, $80 to $100, $150 to $200. And the big UCS high dollar set anchoring it all.
But what I really think would grab everyone from kids to collectors and collectors who don't buy Lego, a full CMF Star Wars line. Twice a year would sell like hot cakes!
"

They can't do minifigs by themselves due to licensing for action figures. I worked for Lego for 4.5 years and we got asked about that a lot. That's why minifigures always have to have a build with them. Otherwise they are considered action figures and that licensing belongs to Hasbro, I believe."

Thx Eric, I appreciate the info.
But I guess as just a fan out here, what I don't understand is how these guys got around it;
Funko can make SW figures (they're static of course no articulation), and Tamashii Nation makes Star Wars action figures (lots of articulation, high end).
Also Jada Toys, Blokees, Jazwares have licensed SW figures too.

Love to know what designs you worked on. I might have some in my collection already. Best to you.

@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"The Star Wars comic book line at Marvel is currently a zombie property (for the first time since 2015, Marvel has *no* ongoing monthly Star Wars comic--the last one petered out at 10 issues). "

In some european countires (Spain, Germany, Italy, ...) they release monthly Lego Star Wars comics, even if they add already seen minifigures, I'm happy to collect them. Minibuilds are especially welcome.

@CCC said:
" @SolidState said:
"The biggest issue with the theme is that it still prints money and Lego has no reason to improve it. I love these suggestions and completely agree but the multi-billion dollar corporation isn't going to hear them when fans clamber to buy everything on shelves and refuse to vote with their wallets."

They do vote with their wallets though, they choose to buy. That is voting with their wallet, just with a different opinion to you."

Well yes, but my point here is that any complaints about helmet holes or set selection falls on deaf ears when the people criticizing these things happily gobble all of them up anyways. Why would Lego improve? They have zero reason to.

@TheOtherMike

I was only counting the City ones, since that seemed like the biggest and most cohesive range most similar to an independent theme, rather than the megatheme as a whole. The buildable minifig is cool, though, and I do like the whole megatheme thing in general. It’s excellent packaging design.

I don’t really care about kit vs set except insofar as I try to be consistent within comments, so whichever I use first I stick to. More or less. Assuming I notice.

@PurpleDave

I think if the City Space kits had sold well enough to suggest theme potential, we would still be getting them. Lego hasn’t struck me as generally inclined to leave money on the table if it seems like the sales will be there.

(Also, the buildable minifig isn’t the only Space megatheme set this year: 31378 and 42221 also have the nice cover art. I assume we’ll be getting the packaging design on every non-IP and NASA-IP spacey thing for some time, and I heartily approve, even if it doesn’t come with more themey-singular sets like the City ones. I believe they’re all kept in the ‘Space Branded’ tag.)

@Hiratha said:
" @PurpleDave

I think if the City Space kits had sold well enough to suggest theme potential, we would still be getting them. Lego hasn’t struck me as generally inclined to leave money on the table if it seems like the sales will be there."

Ninjago would like a word with you. And then a second word.

Product development cycles can be cut short at the drop of a hat, but they aren't something they can just throw together in an afternoon. Batman, from what I could tell, sold out in a flash in 2008, on the _anticipation_ for The Dark Knight, but the theme was already cancelled by the time that wave of sets hit store shelves. It took another four years before retail sets returned. Last year the City focus shifted to F1. If you exclude all Make&Take, polybags, and bundled sets, City had 32 boxed sets last year, and six of them were F1. That's nearly 20% of the lineup. The F1 push wasn't really something they could avoid, either, since basically the same thing happened to Speed Champions and Technic. F1 was effectively the followup to Space, in terms of a major crossover theme.

I can only recall two instances where a substantial set was cranked out with almost no lead time. The Winter Village theme was never really intended to become an annual release, and the only reason they haven't missed a year is because someone realized they could cobble together a reprise of the initial Toy Shop, with a few minor adjustments based on available parts. It probably wasn't until they got complaints about the repeat that they realized they actually needed to ensure a new set got released each year. The other was Steamboat Willie, and that was only because someone had already worked up a final design before the Ideas team announced it had been picked in that review session. Usually we don't see an Ideas set until about a year after it's confirmed, but Steamboat Willie was out exactly six weeks after being announced.

They've also learned that you can make a large theme and have it fall flat on its face, but you can dish out just a taste of that theme every few years and have it sell really well. This is an issue where you might have a substantial enough core audience that they'll all want to buy _something_, but when given a wide range of choices they might not agree on which specific set to buy. Limiting their choices can push more of them to buy what's available, where you can't count on them all to buy the whole range when several are released at the same time. Space will continue to make appearances going forward, but without an IP attached it's too easy to oversaturate the market.

The question right now is, if 2024 was the Space year, and 2025 was the F1 year, is there any crossover theme planned for this year?

@PurpleDave said:
"The question right now is, if 2024 was the Space year, and 2025 was the F1 year, is there any crossover theme planned for this year?"

If a crossover theme was planned for 2026, we'd have known about it a long time ago. Maybe there will be a crossover theme for 2027. Crossing my fingers for Castle?

@iwybs said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"The question right now is, if 2024 was the Space year, and 2025 was the F1 year, is there any crossover theme planned for this year?"

If a crossover theme was planned for 2026, we'd have known about it a long time ago. Maybe there will be a crossover theme for 2027. Crossing my fingers for Castle?"

I just had a crazy thought, and I think there _is_ one. It's not as widespread, for sure, but Space was probably intended to tie into the Artemis program (even if it did fall right in the middle of the gap between Artemis I and Artemis II), and F1 lead up to both the F1 film and the reveal of the LEGO F1 Academy sponsorship deal. This year, that sort of zeitgeist theme would appear to be soccer. Sure, it's its own theme, rather than being spread across other evergreen themes, but it ties into some championship that's being held this year, and there is 71052-9 for a bit of actual crossover. And next year, it will have blown over, and they can move on to something new.

The Space crossover theme was meant to tie in with Artemis 2, as you can tell by the fact that they did the Artemis SLS rocket in Icons in 2024. But then the mission was delayed from 2024 until 2026 so NASA could make sure the heat shield was safe, so Lego made a smaller Technic set in 2026 to have something new on shelves when the mission actually flew.

@iwybs said:
"The Space crossover theme was meant to tie in with Artemis 2, as you can tell by the fact that they did the Artemis SLS rocket in Icons in 2024. But then the mission was delayed from 2024 until 2026 so NASA could make sure the heat shield was safe, so Lego made a smaller Technic set in 2026 to have something new on shelves when the mission actually flew."

So there's a good chance they'll at least do a set for the next moon landing in 2028.

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"Ok, I'm back for a substantive comment.

Making SW Lego fantastic is incredibly simple. It has been raised repeatedly- including in this thread. If Lego followed these instructions they could charge even more and the followers (including myself) would be fanatical.

2) SW is a space opera with lots of cool scenes and ships. Give us sets that have Speed Champions level of care and attention to detail.

3) Remakes should be sparing and always an improvement.

There was a time when the theme followed these ideals or something similar."

These two points have never coexisted in the entire history of the theme. The first few years were clunky designs that had slightly better than Tiny Turbos level of detail, and like the Solver Age of comics, the transition to increased detail began with a slew of remakes, including the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, the X-Wing, the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder, and Luke’s landspeeder. Oh, also, an X-Wing. I might have forgotten to mention that one."

Well, what I meant is that the Golden Age of SW Lego (11-15) marked a significant focus on minifig and set design- both in terms of aesthetics and function. This led the way for nouveau-AFOLS to blossom the profits of Lego.

In order to reawaken this sort of passion, Lego needs to re-adopt those values. My recommendations are easy methods for them to get bored SW-AFOLS to get excited again.

I'm bored. This is the least I've spent on May 4 in a decade. I used to get all sets immediately on release. There's more than a dozen sets I've yet to buy more than a year after release. Because.... they suck!!

@StyleCounselor said:
"Well, what I meant is that the Golden Age of SW Lego (11-15) marked a significant focus on minifig and set design- both in terms of aesthetics and function. This led the way for nouveau-AFOLS to blossom the profits of Lego.

In order to reawaken this sort of passion, Lego needs to re-adopt those values. My recommendations are easy methods for them to get bored SW-AFOLS to get excited again."

They do need to make sure they split their focus between stuff that will appeal to longtime collectors and stuff that will appeal to new ones. Everyone keeps complaining that, “They need to focus on only doing the stuff _I_ want”, but that way will kill the theme. If all they release is one X-Wing, one Snowspeeder, and one Landspeeder per year, longtime fans will throw their hands up and walk away. Conversely, if those people get their wish and they stop repeating any vehicle that has ever been done before, they’ll run out of material that will actually drive sales. Increasingly, as more sets get released each year, the list of Stuff That Hasn’t Been Done Yet keeps shrinking down to exclusively include Stuff I’ve Never Heard Of In 49 Years Of Being A Star Wars Fan. That sort of thing can be neat every once in a while, but the theme does need to regularly churn out vehicles that even people who’ve never watched the films will recognize, or the market will dry up.

"I'm bored. This is the least I've spent on May 4 in a decade. I used to get all sets immediately on release. There's more than a dozen sets I've yet to buy more than a year after release. Because.... they suck!!"

Fortunately for me, the last year there was not a single SW set that I wanted to buy was 1998. Now, that’s not to say they’ve _released_ a new set I wanted to buy every year, but I learned a useful trick several years ago. I don’t buy SW sets when they’re new. I wait to buy them the following year during the May 4th promo, so I’m not fighting for stuff that’s going to go to backorder right away, and I’m not buying sets I don’t really want just to meet the threshold for a choice GWP. I’ve never had any real trouble with this theme ever since.