Interview with Star Wars designers - 75288 AT-AT and UCS poll
Posted by CapnRex101,
The final section of Brickset's interview with Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Michael Lee Stockwell discusses 75288 AT-AT and the exciting Ultimate Collector Series poll.
Brickset: 75288 AT-AT is the largest set being released this summer. How does it compare with other models of the AT-AT?
Jens: As usual, the model has been completely redesigned. Its dimensions have been altered quite substantially and I believe we have improved the proportions when compared with the movie. Whenever we are designing new versions of something we have released before, we always try to improve upon any issues which might have affected the earlier model.
Michael: I designed 75054 AT-AT from 2014 and there was nothing wrong with that version! Seriously though, there is always potential for improvement, especially following the constant introduction of new pieces. The cockpit looks particularly accurate now and the body certainly looks appropriately square, without the dramatic sloping sides on past designs.
Jens: There is also space for three minifigures, including both pilots, which we have not been able to achieve before. The body is very spacious as well, with ample room for Snowtroopers.
The new AT-AT is arriving in August but 75259 Snowspeeder - 20th Anniversary Edition was retired during December. Why does their availability not overlap?
Jens: This is definitely a puzzle. We are trying to make sure that compatible sets are available concurrently but products must always be retired to create space for new ones. Our production capacity is limited, despite how it might appear from the outside, so certain moulding machines could only be available for limited periods.
Michael: We cannot expand the LEGO Star Wars portfolio indefinitely, much though we might wish to! Introducing new models means retiring old ones and the marketing department makes difficult decisions about how long particular sets remain on shelves based upon their popularity.
Jens: The lesson here is always to buy everything on day one!
Another exciting development with LEGO Star Wars this year was the Ultimate Collector Series poll. Does the Republic Gunship winning prove the fan demand for UCS sets from the Prequel Trilogy and did that result surprise you?
Jens: Firstly, it was extremely exciting to run that poll and directly involve as many people as possible. We were slightly surprised by the margin of victory for the Republic Gunship, driven partially by people listening to each other and voting together. In answer to your first question though, it definitely demonstrates that not every UCS model has to be 'classic'.
Michael: We think it is fantastic that we have so many fans who are interested in the Prequel Trilogy, perhaps having grown up with those movies and the associated animated series.
Of course, many of those fans, myself included, are now of an age where they might focus more upon larger UCS sets.
Michael: Absolutely. That has been the subject of some internal discussions. There are now parents who grew up with the Prequel Trilogy introducing their children to Star Wars and that market for larger products from the Prequel Trilogy period certainly exists.
Before publishing the poll, had you designed sketch models for each of the three options?
Jens: Yes, we have numerous prototypes for UCS models around our office but only limited slots to actually produce those sets each year. I should also assure everybody that the other options remain on the table for future products. Just because the Republic Gunship won this poll does not mean the others are not viable sets.
You will be aware that there is considerable interest in LEGO producing a minifigure-scale TIE Bomber. I wondered whether the reason the vehicle has not been produced recently may be that a model in scale with modern LEGO TIE Fighter sets would be prohibitively expensive.
Jens: You are right. We realise that the TIE Bomber is iconic but it is not exposed very much during the films and doing it justice would require a large and potentially expensive set. Those price points really need to be kept for the biggest and most popular subjects and I think the TIE Bomber might be too niche. That is why it was given among the options on the UCS poll as we know many older fans love the vehicle.
Michael: We also have to consider the building experience and the potential functionality with sets that we produce. I expect the TIE Bomber may struggle in those categories, in relation to the necessary price point.
Many thanks for speaking with us!
We have already published two previous parts from this interview, covering other topics:
Look out for our first Star Wars summer set reviews this weekend!
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60 comments on this article
“Jens: The lesson here is always to buy everything on day one!”
Yeah, wish I could. Unfortunately that’s not the case.
The Tie Bomber is to niche to make it a set? Then how does Lego justify the Quad Jumper? The Tie Bomber is in quite a few movies... Albeit brief shots.
It's heartbreaking what they said about that the Tie Bomber may end up expensive relative to its size, but if it's an awesome set I am sure I can set aside the funds to buy it (it might end up in the $99 slot), thanks for this interviews.
@mdonahue7 said:
"The Tie Bomber is to niche to make it a set? Then how does Lego justify the Quad Jumper? The Tie Bomber is in quite a few movies... Albeit brief shots."
It also appears in: Rebels, the upcoming game SW Squadron, SW Battlefront 1 and 2 as well briefly in Jedi Fallen Order. That is surely a poor excuse by them.
I suppose I don't understand why a TIE Bomber would be so much more expensive than a comparable Minifigure scale TIE Fighter, or why it would lack in play functions. Seems like a solid version could be done for 70.00, which would of course cost 90.00 US including Disney tax. Such a set would have the same play functions, plus dropping bombs, as other TIE's. What I'm saying is... give me a TIE Bomber already, I already have just about every other ship in both Rebel and Imperial fleets!
Bye, bye, System scale TIE Bomber..
The empty space on my shelf will never be filled.
The Republic Gunship UCS set is perhaps my most anticipated model of 2021, hearing they were surprised about it winning was slightly surprising to me to be honest. The Clone Wars and prequels have a massive following, and seeing as though we almost never get prequel UCS sets, the support for this model was bound to be massive
Why no question about a UCS AT AT, surely the one vehicle due a UCS version.
The AT-AT is on my list! :-)
I'm sorry but claiming the TIE Bomber is too niche is pure untruth. It was basically the third TIE to ever be introduced (after original TIE and TIE Advanced) and has shown up numerous times in movies and video games and toys. If you asked any SW fan to list TIE types, I guarantee it would be in the top 5 every time. There is a mountain of SW LEGO sets that have been produced that don't even exist in any movie. Let's get one made LEGO!!
I do not believe Jens is denying that the TIE Bomber is popular, only that it may not be sufficiently well known to justify releasing a large minifigure-scale model. The set would probably cost about $99.99, realistically, as I think it would need to be constructed in scale with 75211 Imperial TIE Fighter.
Another factor which might work against it is the possible minifigure selection. This is only my own speculation but it may be difficult to include many minifigures which are likely to attract children. Admiral Ozzel, Captain Needa and a TIE Pilot are the most obvious candidates, perhaps along with Darth Vader.
Having said that, I would love LEGO to release a minifigure-scale TIE Bomber which is why I brought it up during the interview!
They've seemed to have some iffy excuses now for both Fallen Order and the TIE Bomber. Given that we basically irritated them into producing the 501st set, perhaps that is a viable option?
The only thing that worries me about the UCS Gunship is the minifigure selection. As long as we get a Jedi Bob and a hard - to - find named clone trooper, such as Phase II Cody, I'll be happy.
The original minifigure scale TIE series worked pretty well, being scaled to the minifigures themselves and not UCS-aspiring screen accurate models. There was a lot of charm in the more compact models, but the trend to enlarge the TIE since 2012 has made them more difficult to produce at current costs. I feel like the recent 75240 Major Vonreg's TIE Interceptor could be the way forward, striking a balance between scale and design. Follow that pattern and maybe they can squeeze in a decent TIE Bomber.
"driven partially by people listening to each other and voting together"
a youtuber or two begging followers to vote for it you mean?
Cap when do you think we will see the Gunship, did you ask about timelines?
@HandPositions said:
"The only thing that worries me about the UCS Gunship is the minifigure selection. As long as we get a Jedi Bob and a hard - to - find named clone trooper, such as Phase II Cody, I'll be happy."
Good figure choices there! My concern with the UCS Gunship is how stellar the last minifig-scale rendition was. It's going to be hard to improve upon it, and increasing the scale to provide enhanced detail will either make it prohibitively expensive, or still too similar in size to the last version to justify the UCS label. Personally, I'd rather they just release an updated version. It's been long enough to revisit it now.
About the TIE Bomber: I would love to see one too. Jens didn't just say it's too niche, though. He also said it would take up an important price point. I.e., the TIE Bomber is too niche relative to the other potential candidates in the price point. Iirc it didn't perform too well on the UCS poll either, so there's that.
@Double_J_Bricks said:
"The Republic Gunship UCS set is perhaps my most anticipated model of 2021, hearing they were surprised about it winning was slightly surprising to me to be honest. The Clone Wars and prequels have a massive following, and seeing as though we almost never get prequel UCS sets, the support for this model was bound to be massive "
I think Lego ultimately fails to see this. I have been a huge fan of the prequels and just because the old crowd doesn’t care for the prequels they don’t seem to make sets from the prequels. Myself and all my brothers grew up on the prequels and we would much prefer prequel sets over the original trilogy. We’ve been hoping for geonosian arena and a Jedi Temple set for years, but Lego would rather rehash the same thing over and over again(speaking of the rumored ucs cantina, which we have already had several times in minifig scale sets)
Soo, they won't make a Tie Bomber, but they'll make a Tie Defender (8087), which is an even more obscure and niche TIE craft?
@Bycougars said:
" @Double_J_Bricks said:
"The Republic Gunship UCS set is perhaps my most anticipated model of 2021, hearing they were surprised about it winning was slightly surprising to me to be honest. The Clone Wars and prequels have a massive following, and seeing as though we almost never get prequel UCS sets, the support for this model was bound to be massive "
I think Lego ultimately fails to see this. I have been a huge fan of the prequels and just because the old crowd doesn’t care for the prequels they don’t seem to make sets from the prequels. Myself and all my brothers grew up on the prequels and we would much prefer prequel sets over the original trilogy. We’ve been hoping for geonosian arena and a Jedi Temple set for years, but Lego would rather rehash the same thing over and over again(speaking of the rumored ucs cantina, which we have already had several times in minifig scale sets)"
I think there is a generational thing at play too. I think the crowd that accepts the Prequels more is generally those who grew up with them, the Millennial and Gen Z crowd. When the UCS line first launched it would have been primarily towards a Gen X crowd who saw the original trilogy as their favorite part of the franchise, so not surprisingly the UCS line has always catered to them. The few Prequel stuff from the UCS line has always struggled against the Original Trilogy aimed stuff. Now that the Millennials are all adults and Gen Z is beginning to enter adulthood, the potential for more Prequel stuff is now much better than it was even 5 years ago, now that a Prequel-loving audience is of age to shell out $300 for a UCS Gunship or something like that.
Mark my words though, don't be surprised in 20 years from now when the generation that is 7-10 years old right now will become adults themselves, and the Lego community will be full of "Lego doesn't do enough to give the Sequels love in the UCS range! I love the Sequels and that is the Star Wars I grew up with and I want that shown in more sets instead of more Republic Gunship and Venator class rehashes!" I know it sounds silly, but seeing how generational Star Wars is, I have no doubt that if Lego is still producing Lego Star Wars 20 years from now we will see a sudden demand for the sequel stuff our generation currently dismisses as "trash" and "the worst Star Wars trilogy ever!"
@Bycougars said:
" @Double_J_Bricks said:
"The Republic Gunship UCS set is perhaps my most anticipated model of 2021, hearing they were surprised about it winning was slightly surprising to me to be honest. The Clone Wars and prequels have a massive following, and seeing as though we almost never get prequel UCS sets, the support for this model was bound to be massive "
I think Lego ultimately fails to see this. I have been a huge fan of the prequels and just because the old crowd doesn’t care for the prequels they don’t seem to make sets from the prequels. Myself and all my brothers grew up on the prequels and we would much prefer prequel sets over the original trilogy. We’ve been hoping for geonosian arena and a Jedi Temple set for years, but Lego would rather rehash the same thing over and over again(speaking of the rumored ucs cantina, which we have already had several times in minifig scale sets)"
But there’s not much in the way of vehicles in the prequels that come anywhere close to the brilliance of the original trilogy designs. The gunship isn’t bad, maybe the clone tank, but x wings, y wings, AT ATs, tie fighters, etc etc are iconic and much loved. It’s impossible to say that for the prequels, or the recent trilogy
Not to worry, at the rate Lego releases them, I'm sure there will be another 5 snowspeeders in the next few years.
LEGO could pair a TIE Bomber in a system set with another opposing vehicle, similar to how the TIE Advanced had been included with a Y-wing and A-wing in 7150 and 75150 respectively. You could even throw in an exclusive figure to sweeten the deal
Oh man did anyone else read that headline like I did? I thought we were getting a UCS AT-AT in a new poll. Argh... still excited for the new one. Time to throw the old ones out and in with the new!
@Double_J_Bricks said:
"The Republic Gunship UCS set is perhaps my most anticipated model of 2021, hearing they were surprised about it winning was slightly surprising to me to be honest."
I was not surprised. Not because Clone Wars has a large following, but because the other two models split the vote for fans of the Original Trilogy. Once I saw the poll with two OT options and just one Prequel Trilogy choice, I knew immediately which set would get made. They shouldn't have been surprised and I thought (and still think) that it was a deliberate choice from the start.
"Building experience and potential functionality" of the TIE Bomber? They would be -excellent-! You could build just about any other TIE from its parts as an alternate. In fact, they really should just make it a 3-in-1, only UCS.
Anyway, fully agree that they don't all have to be classics and in fact, it's just as well since I couldn't afford that much UCS anyway. I'm sure the Gunship will be nice, but I'm a bit relieved I can sit one out while at the same time knowing someone else will be getting something they've waited a very long time for.
I hope the Gunship is just the beginning of more UCS sets based on the prequels. A UCS ARC 170 would be nice, along with an ETA - 2 Starfighter and a Venator - Class Star Destroyer.
"As usual, the model has been completely redesigned."
"As usual", huh. Yeah, I believe it. Case in point:
@tfcrafter said:
"Not to worry, at the rate Lego releases them, I'm sure there will be another 5 snowspeeders in the next few years."
...any Snowspeeder since the second one. Very different, complete redesigns every time.
So despite the fact that the TIE Bomber appears in Empire Strikes Back, Rebels, Battlefront 1 and 2, and Star Wars Squadrons, it's too niche, while a Quadjumper which appeared in one scene where it exploded gets a set?
I don’t understand the obsession in the community for the TIE bomber, at least we have actually had one rendition of it in the past - where’s our TIE Reaper, which arguably gets just as much screen time on film? I like amassing a fleet but I probably wouldn’t drop £90 or £100 on a bomber so TLG are probably right.
The designers didn’t mention the cheeky reel mechanism for Luke’s piton cable in the AT-AT part but I do agree it looks more film-accurate now.
With regards to a greater market for prequels out there - come on TLG, bring it on! And not another Naboo starfighter please ;)
@behemothjosh said:
"I'm sorry but claiming the TIE Bomber is too niche is pure untruth. It was basically the third TIE to ever be introduced (after original TIE and TIE Advanced) and has shown up numerous times in movies and video games and toys. If you asked any SW fan to list TIE types, I guarantee it would be in the top 5 every time. There is a mountain of SW LEGO sets that have been produced that don't even exist in any movie. Let's get one made LEGO!!"
We have one made. If you really want it just buy it from bricklink.
If you can, ask them about: OT Tie Interceptor, Tie Reaper, Tie Defender, AT-ACT, ITT (Imperial Troop Transport) and why they have ignored sets with Saw as well the UT-AT. We may need to do a campaing for those.
I think the suggestion by people here that a TIE Bomber could fit in the $99.99 slot is a bit ridiculous. Think about how overpriced recent TIEs have been. Now consider that a Bomber would have to be TWICE THE SIZE OF THEM. 75211 was $70 in the US! We're talking about a $140 USD TIE Bomber, minimum.
Come on LEGO! If you can give us a Quadjumper, Sith TIE Fighter, two T-16 Skyhoppers and four sets based on the really obscure Freemakers show, then you can give us a minifig scale TIE Bomber!
And no, another Snowspeeder, Landspeeder or X-Wing would not do!
I have to agree with the others that their claim that the TIE Bomber wasn't well known enough to be produced is utter nonsense. How many A-wing and B-wing system scale sets do we have? And we have a UCS version of each. If those ships with such little screen time can get set after set made, why not a TIE Bomber?
The TIE Bomber was also in Rogue One.
A play scale Tie Bomber would simply cost too much, especially if they wanted to make it at the same scale as 75211. That set had 4 figs, 519 parts and was 70$. Last year, they released 75272 with 3 figs and 470 parts at 80$. A Tie Bomber would require a very large amount of parts. Rebel builder released instructions for a nice bomber that has the same scale as 75211 and has more than a 1000 pieces ( https://sellfy.com/rebelbuilder/p/oDhG/ ) (btw, I built it. It looks great but it’s not as sturdy as LEGO models). If they made a 1000-part Tie Bomber with 3-4 figs and if they priced similarly to 75211 and 75272, it would cost more than 120$ and I would not be surprised to see it at 140$ (I can’t even imagine how much they would charge in Canada). That’s too much.
I would buy a 1000-piece, $120 TIE Bomber.
I really need to dust off my TIE Bomber design from the contest on here a few years ago and get it up on Rebrickable. Firing spring missile launchers that didn't impact on appearance, a working bomb function. It was just a bit too heavy to sit comfortably on the wings, but I can work on that.
@mdonahue7 said:
"The Tie Bomber is to niche to make it a set? Then how does Lego justify the Quad Jumper? The Tie Bomber is in quite a few movies... Albeit brief shots."
Too niche for a massive, super-expensive UCS set.
@CapnRex101 said:
"I do not believe Jens is denying that the TIE Bomber is popular, only that it may not be sufficiently well known to justify releasing a large minifigure-scale model. The set would probably cost about $99.99, realistically, as I think it would need to be constructed in scale with 75211 Imperial TIE Fighter."
Again, there are multiple ships less well known that have been produced (see quad jumper for one), and I think the price is Lego's own fault for backing themselves into a corner with overpriced TIEs lately
@mdonahue7 said:
"The Tie Bomber is to niche to make it a set? Then how does Lego justify the Quad Jumper? The Tie Bomber is in quite a few movies... Albeit brief shots."
Consider how much a normal TIE Fighter costs. The recent models have been in the $70-$80 dollar range. Now take one of those ships and DOUBLE the cockpit. We're not looking at a $100+ dollar set.
I would love to have a TIE Bomber, but it's also a much more demanding prospect than something like the Quadjumper.
I thought the Quadjumper was quite a cute little ship, and a pleasantly different colour too.
And it served as an important plot device to necessitate the introduction of a certain piece of junk, in a scene which is very fun to recreate.
Maybe it's time for a UCS Quadjumper...
@Bycougars said:
" @Double_J_Bricks said:
"The Republic Gunship UCS set is perhaps my most anticipated model of 2021, hearing they were surprised about it winning was slightly surprising to me to be honest. The Clone Wars and prequels have a massive following, and seeing as though we almost never get prequel UCS sets, the support for this model was bound to be massive "
I think Lego ultimately fails to see this. I have been a huge fan of the prequels and just because the old crowd doesn’t care for the prequels they don’t seem to make sets from the prequels. Myself and all my brothers grew up on the prequels and we would much prefer prequel sets over the original trilogy. We’ve been hoping for geonosian arena and a Jedi Temple set for years, but Lego would rather rehash the same thing over and over again(speaking of the rumored ucs cantina, which we have already had several times in minifig scale sets)"
I grew up with the prequels too but I always preferred the original trilogy. The far superior non-wooden acting, no Jar Jar and less sand talk. I watched the prequels before the originals and I wish I had watched the originals first. The prequels completely spoiled the “I am your father” twist which I had managed to evade spoilers before then. In addition, the CGI spectacle rarely serviced the plot. Did we really need the “bigger fish” or the overdramatised podrace or Yoda flipping like a monkey only for Dooku to still escape?! The battles and chases were a waste of my time.
To further explain my problems with the prequels, I will be taking a look at the opening of Episode 1. It starts off with the opening crawl, an exposition dump on galactic politics. Then it transitions into Qui Gon talking about more politics. One exposition dump is enough - we don’t need two! Then the film continues rambling on more politics in Naboo. Star Wars is a space opera NOT Blade Runner. While politics where always a part of Star Wars (the Nazi influence on the Empire), it was always in the background, a neat feature if you caught it. But in the prequels, galactic politics were pushed to the forefront. Like Lucas was waving a bunch of manifestos in our faces to “prove” how adult Star Wars was. The prequels thought they were smarter than they actually are. The politics bogged down the pace more than they contributed to the story. We only need to now that Naboo has a blockage, stop with the senate talk! Talking in shrewd political terms does not make the film moe intelligent, it just makes it pretentious (a more recent example would be Batman vs Superman). I am totally fine with people liking the prequels. Film is a personal experience after all. But the prequels are just not for me.
P.S: Watching the Before Trilogy after finishing the prequels also did not help elevate the prequels’ terrible romantic dialogue. In fact it through it into sharp contrast!
Some bs reasons for not producing a tie bomber from the only company that I know of who made toys from e.g. the quad jumper and now the ship of the Knights of Ren - both of which are blink-and-you-miss-them appearances, so I'd be really interested in the reasoning behind that... Besides, the A-wing didn't appear in the OT much more either, and we had like 56 versions of that, including a current UCS...and to say anything would be "prohibitively" expensive....have you met the UCS Falcon?
It’s not at all difficult to plan a connected theme, they do that all the time, thus planning to have the snowspeeder available at the same time at the AT-AT should be dead simple.
@GrizBe said:
"Soo, they won't make a Tie Bomber, but they'll make a Tie Defender (8087), which is an even more obscure and niche TIE craft? "
That was before the increase in size. The Defender was somewhat in scale with the original TIE Bomber they actually released.
@Robo_Nui said:
"That was before the increase in size. The Defender was somewhat in scale with the original TIE Bomber they actually released."
It was more my point that the Defender hasn't appeared in any of the movies, or the majority of video games while the Bomber has. Ergo saying that the bomber is 'too niche' is a total moot point when they've made far more obscure craft that far fewer people know about.
I'm not buying the excuse that the Bomber is too niche either. They just made an Imperial Landing Craft a few years ago for $90 that briefly appears in ANH and is in Rebels, with less appearances than the Bomber. The real problem is that the TIEs are so stupidly overpriced that a good Bomber would be at least $120.
Why am I not surprised by this interview. It basically confirms everything I have ever thought about the understanding of TLG and what would be popular choices for sets.
They have produced so many obscure SW sets (at high price points no less) that turned out to be shelf-warmers while really popular stuff is deemed too niche or whatever.
Typical, but not at all unexpected.
"As usual, the model has been completely redesigned."
Like the Death Star, the Final Duel, numerous Snowspeeders or the infamous Landspeeders?
@mdonahue7:
Primarily, I suspect there's a lot of appeal in designing something completely new, compared to rehashing the same stuff over and over and over again. I mean, imagine how boring it must be to be tasked with designing the next Snowspeeder, considering they've only tweaked it to incorporate new elements in the most recent renditions.
@CapnRex101:
Clearly they aren't thinking like SW fans, who generally fall into two groups. One group wants primarily their favorite Rebel and/or Imperial fighters, and the other group wants all four from each side.
@Hylocera:
A lot of people _REALLY_ wanted a UCS Gunship, but the next driving factor was that UCS was likely the only way they'd ever release a Rebel Frigate (the only ship in that poll that has never been produced in an official LEGO set). The Bomber simply ended up pitted against two opponents it couldn't hope to beat. Really the main reason a lot of people seemed to vote for it were because it's the only TIE that has not been released in UCS form.
@Bycougars:
I grew up on the OT, and I like stuff from all six SW movies. Even though Ep3 is my least favorite of the group, I'd still _love_ a UCS-scale Soulless One. Top of the list, however, is a UCS Ep6 Speeder Bike, and I also wouldn't mind seeing the STAP get the UCS treatment.
@Gremer:
The Imperial Landing Craft actually didn't appear on film until ANH:SE, 20 years after the first SW movie premiered, but it was introduced in conjunction with Shadows of the Empire (specifically in the video game. However, the first set they released based on that craft was in 2007, nearly a decade before the Rebels series even premiered, and at a time when that cameo shot that was added to ANH:SE was really the only appearance that the vast majority of people were familiar with (it had a scene in SW:Battlefront, which was cut from the final product before it was released in 2004).
Lego, take a break from Original Trilogy redesigns! Lego should have fans vote on every new Star Wars set possible, cause we don't often get what we want.
Great interview, thank you for sharing the current ideas going on at Lego Star Wars. No doubt 75288 will be a great model for those who do not already own an AT-AT, but for the rest I just don't see any massive changes from previous versions to justify the spend when there are so many star wars sets available at the moment. I agree with the previous comment that some more never done before prequel sets or Mandalorian sets would be appreciated. Personally, I'm just waiting to build the Razor Crest 75292.
I'm late getting around to reading this but I'd like to thank Brickset and CapnRex for the interview and the insights they shared.
Still gutted about missing the Nebulon B.
I'm quite disappointed by the last releases of AT-AT.
It is a set that misses in my collection and I'm waiting from years something that meets my tastes. Unfortunately all the last releases are even more poor and contains ever less printed brick that makes the figure a bit poor. I miss old releases where, for example, printed dishes used in the joints of the legs makes the figure more pleasing to the eye. For my tastes, at least.
And, of course, price increases.
@CapnRex101 said:
"Another factor which might work against it is the possible minifigure selection. This is only my own speculation but it may be difficult to include many minifigures which are likely to attract children. Admiral Ozzel, Captain Needa and a TIE Pilot are the most obvious candidates, perhaps along with Darth Vader.
Having said that, I would love LEGO to release a minifigure-scale TIE Bomber which is why I brought it up during the interview!"
Thank you for asking the question Captain Rex. I'm certain LEGO could deliver a System-Size TIE Bomber that would be shelve-compatible with the TIE from SOLO for under $100.00.
If they included a redesigned and well-printed TIE Pilot, the missing Imperial officers you've pointed out and perhaps an Imperial deck crewman/woman, any one of the Bounty Hunters, Vader, Emperor or a new Imperial Astromech (save costs on that one), the set would sell well.
“Jens: The lesson here is always to buy everything on day one!”
I wish that was an affordable option. But as it is with star wars these days. Most sets are just too expensive before sales